The RPG Thread

[Almeidaboo]

This makes me left ball itch. "FF7 was generic." In what? Not a original story? Characters were shallow? Oh, the materia system was overused...

I can say I played more RPGs than most people here and I still see no flaw in that game.

[Roland_Deschain2]

Almeida, do you not like KH because it was childish? I have a few younger relatives who have the game, first time I picked it up was baby-sitting them. I played for a minute and liked the overall combat system and rented it and the second awhile back. I dislike the Disney part, but the core mechanics of the game were pretty damn good.
As for FF7, it was my first attempt at a "true" JRPG. I was massively disappointed. Putting aside the simple, mind-numbing combat and the ridiculously annoying random encounters (dammit let me go five feet without a battle, thank you!) I just think it was poorly executed. The graphics were horrible. I understand it was PS1, but look at the difference between it and #8, even. The "people" in 7 looked, outside of battle, like malformed gorillas. The backgrounds were admittedly good for a PS1 game, but they put almost no effort into anything else besides the battle graphics. The story was alright, but a few things seemed to happen too quickly, like the Shinra president's death, which is incidentally where I stopped playing.

[Phayre]

Playing up to the end of the Shinra building.... alas! That's a very small chunk of the game, one that even I, a hopeless FF7 fangirl at times, detest for the most part. But if it's graphics and random battles that got you.... ouch. Keep in mind it was the first 3d game Square did, the FMVs (groundbreaking, or so I've heard).... graphics are negligible in my opinion. And the random encounters weren't that bad, unless you don't like that kind of battle system. It was my first RPG outside of Pokemon, and it was sort of a gateway drug....
My favorites? FFVII is one of them. I adore the materia system so much it hurts sometimes, and the story, though in some ways nonsensical and disjointed, was pretty damn good. Most of the characters had life to them (others not so much, but oh well), and many of the "emo" charges are from people who can't seem to accept the difference between angst and actual emotion. Hey, it would mess with your head if you suddenly thought you were a clone of the guy who screwed your life over.
FFVIII was okay too, but a bit too disjointed. Alas, my avatar friend didn't have the necessary motive, and junctioning magic and playing cards made the game terribly easy. That too easy thing goes for FFX, as well.... doublecast Ultima for 60,000+ damage each.... for 2 MP?!!!
Storyline wise, I love Tales of Destiny. Its battle system was great as well, but any event storyline wise that can make me drop my controller and stare in total disbelief (and still be plausible) wins more vanilla cokes than you can shake a stick at.
Oh, and on the "not a Leon" front.... Kingdom Hearts was dull. That's all. KHII was a little better, but had so many cool plot points that were completely ignored. Not worth dealing with the Disney, but my inner squealing fangirl had a lot of happy moments from the Final Fantasy cameos.

Games I've disliked.... I can't stand FFIX. *hides* It drags in so many places, and there were only a select few characters I gave a damn about.... it wasn't much of a damn. Playing it was like a chore, and visually, except for the FMVs and a few areas, it just looked like too much detail had been squeezed into everything. Minor, unimportant detail compared to everything else that makes me dislike it.

By the way, I've recently started playing Xenosaga Episode 1. How does that series fare among the best?

[Shady Ultima]

People who don't like KH for Disney... how many of you grew up watching disney movies?

I actually much prefer the disney characters in KH than any of the FF chars. Oh, look, it's Squall, but he's so emo he changed his name. Who's that red neck, oh, that's Cid. What GREAT characters. The disney characters are more fun because they're less serious.

But hey, to each their own, and as said before, IMO, Final Fantasy sucks balls. They haven't made a good Final Fantasy since 6, and I'll be damned if they ever show that they realized their first 3 (released in the US) were the best they ever made.

[DarkFlood2]

Originally posted by Shady Ultima
They haven't made a good Final Fantasy since 6

Final Fantasy Tactics would like a word with you.

[Darrellito]

Originally posted by Shady Ultima
People who don't like KH for Disney... how many of you grew up watching disney movies?

Agreed. The adult side of me liked the fact that they made a game with most of the FF characters, and the story was pretty cool. The child side of me was happy to join FF with Disney because most of the movies I watched growing up were Alladin, Pinochio, The Nightmare Before Christmas, all those great movies (IMO). Think of it as in this formula:


Take one thing you currently like + Something from your past that you liked/space time*the route of SquareEnix = Something special.

But hey, some people didn't watch Disney. For them, I say you missed out in your childhood. But that's just me.

[Shady Ultima]

Originally posted by DarkFlood2

Originally posted by Shady Ultima
They haven't made a good Final Fantasy since 6

Final Fantasy Tactics would like a word with you.[/B]

I was only meaning the numerical games. 7,8,9,X, XI, are all just awful. I haven't played XII, so yea.

[HobomasterXXX]

12 is good, shame about the enforced grinding though. Some die-hards hate the reworked battle system, but its a nice change.

[Moosetroop11]

Originally posted by Roland_Deschain2
The graphics were horrible. I understand it was PS1, but look at the difference between it and #8, even. The "people" in 7 looked, outside of battle, like malformed gorillas.

XD I can understand that opinion. Loads of people I've talked to have said that... But I don't think FF7 would have worked with better graphics. Barret couldn't have done his cartoony out of battle punches, Cid's weird running style would look ridiculous... Better graphics would've sucked the fun out of it. That showed in FF8, which had practically no fun. FF5 and 6 had loads of expression with funny eyes and such and, although in a different way, FF7 continued that a little bit.

Then again, I'm a bit of a graphics hater anyway. I dunno, it seems as though the better the graphics get, the worse the game is. I really couldn't give a damn about these next gen games... They all seem lifeless. The only new games I find worth playing are DS games because there's still some with 2D graphics, but even 2D handheld games are dying out  

[Phayre]

Actually, KH used some of my favorite Disney movies.... I just found the main storyline more interesting, and was constantly peeved at the prioritization of the crossover characters.... none of whom ever melded into anything more than "Tee hee! I've got Beast in my party!" or "OMGZ SEPHIROTH JUST KICKED MY ***!" And no, I don't think Sephiroth is a Disney character, as my sentence structure there may have indicated.I agree on the woes of 2d games dying out. Given a choice between a 2d RPG and a 3d.... I'd probably go with 2d, just because so many games nowadays just focus on how things look. I don't give a crap about a half hour plus FMV (as much as I defended FF7's graphics, I don't really care ^^) if the game isn't fun, or if the storyline is dull. (Thus FFXII loses big time) As a female gamer, I'm just not a fan of games whose only assets seem to be the wonderfully detailed rendering of the heroine's microscopic skirt.

[Prpl_Mage]

I've played too much video game to even give a **** about character's clothign these day. It just gets less and less at the loss of personality; and I'll hate Square forever for that...

What happened to the good old days when women had to wear dresses and robes(or a power suit)? I wasn't playing a game because it had a hot female...

Yeah, I love KH, it was like Final fantasy but with a younger character. I kinda' hate all the disney content but I got enough creativity to seal off the fact that I'm surrounded bya a walking and talking duck called donald.... He is a black mage in my eyes... I black mage with squeaking voice. And then I got my big and burly Steiner with his shield right next to me. Couldn't give a damn as long as they don't speak more than they already does.

Graphic is overrated... I think Earthbound proved that enough. It looks like a child games but by the gods do it go deeper and darker than Halo? Gods yes.
Companies that have to rely on the graphics to give the player an experience have already failed. They spend hours and hours to make things like a tree and I'm just going to "hmm...  A tree huh? I wonder if there are any shinies in it." and then try to shoot it down.
I will never stay and look at that brick wall just because it's so wonderfully well done and that marble actually falls off when I shoot even though it remains intact.
So no, graphics ruined most things. Xbox games are too much graphic and too little game... Sure it does look kinda' cinematic but then what? It works in FPS but you don't need that crap in other games.
Just see that sacrifice Square did on characters, dungeons, side quests, development and gameplay just so that you would be able to spin your camera around in a wonderfully done world wich has no background...(Yes, FFXII, sorry)

I say we band up and rage against game producers for cutting down on the games itself to make it look better... You can't do more for Kirby! Leave him be! Nintendo will never go the way Sony did and make Kirby into Kirby Schwartsneiger with a minigun and phrases like "oh I'm gonna' suck you good fool!" in a game with dark creatures and highly detailed landscape.
I just want games with content like Kirby Superstar back... Games that tok time to complete and get all the shinies...

[Roland_Deschain2]

I like Disney movies plenty, not the total and complete **** on the Disney Channel, but the old-school stuff I grew up with. However, partnered with a more serious (so I've heard) world like FF, it's just WAAAY out in space.
As for FF, I lied when I said FF7 was my first JRPG... it was actually FF1. I loved that game when I was younger, still do despite my absolute loathing of every FF after 4.... The first four were my first few games, and at the time they were original and unique, now it's just another drawn-out dying franchise that should've stopped while it was ahead. Or at least diversified. The battle system, with the notable exception of 12, has been the same just about every time. I'll admit the Materia system in 7 was a pretty cool concept, but in an old, tired battle system in a game that confused the hell out of me with its monkey-men people on beautiful backgrounds with a skewed perspective.... I've rented every FF since, but never have I felt the same sense of wonder as I did when I first picked up an NES paddle and started playing FF1. Call me nostalgic, but I miss old-school.

Also: Since Zelda counts as a sort of RPG, it has usurped the title of my favorite. That is all.

[Darrellito]

I agree. The market for RPGs now are mostly limited to graphic whoriing systems. I wish that they would take the people that do take all the time in the world to make the tree look like a highly detailed ficus, and think up some new battle styles. I understand that they tried in 12 with the new battle system, but it was hate it or love it. I myself mostly loved the ATB gauge system. I really didn't play FF games for the graphics or the battle system, I really played it for the epic stories. If they made one that did have a good battle system, it was just a plus. I am glad that they did try and mix up the ATB system on the last FF games, by influencing the Limit,Dire Specials,Trance,and Overdrive system. I am hoping that they go back to the ATB gauge for FF13, and I also hope they have a story less about polotics. I'm one of those guys who enjoyed the serious storyline along with the side of romance. I do also hope that they do something to liven up the game, but also not self-destruct it. I know other people have different oppions, such as, they hope the series would just crash and burn and be done with it already.  And to them, I say **** you. I hope that FF last with atleast 4 more titles, if not more. They better stop cranking out **** though, or the series will just wither and die.