Final Fantasy XIII, you are my only hope...

So I'm fighting the Pope, I've nearly beaten him several times then the game just decides to **** me over. Maybe I should change teams? But I really don't want to use Snow. Hmm.
 
Chrono Mizaki said:
What did FF7 provide? It provided the same, old elements as previous Final Fantasy, just in 3D. Final Fantasy VII was nothing more than a jump from 2D to 3D. But beyond that, I believe FFVI did everything better. VII has a Materia System, which I applaud them for, but that's about it.

First of all, there's something very important you're failing to grasp: everyone, without exception, will look back fondly at what introduced them to *insert genre here*. They'll also be critical of what comes after and improves on what they've already seen before, because there will be nothing new or original to see. That's a given.

Let's take the original Suikoden as an example here since I rambled about Suikoden II at length previously. The second in the Suikoden series built on the first; using it as a blueprint of sorts. It took the basic characterization, unrefined story, decent 2D characters, average soundtrack, low quality avatars and improved EVERYTHING; even doubling the length of the game. But there are some that played the original Suikoden before the second, and despite the second clearly being superior in every aspect, they claim it to be the best of the two.

The only logical reason for the views of these people is that, after having played the first, the second lacked originality in their eyes, and as a direct result the sequel didn't have the same 'wow factor' the first did. What this means is that the people who rank the first higher rank it higher because of nostalgia; not taking the overall quality of the game into consideration.

Final Fantasy VII is hard for me to judge as a result. I'll never know how I'd feel about if if I'd played FFVIII first--maybe FFVIII would be my favourite game. But saying its only redeeming quality is its graphics is complete and utter nonsense. If that were the case, it'd score high in terms of graphics and low in every other category. You're forgetting that FFVII was the game that 'broke' the western JRPG barrier; getting rave reviews before Square had become a name that sells games with minimal effort outside of Japan. Don't you think it would've had to be pretty special to achieve that?

It's true that, if you break it down and look into the past, FFVII didn't exactly bring anything earth shattering to the table in terms of gameplay. But it wasn't originality that made FFVII great; it was the structure and pacing. The first few hours deceived players into thinking the entire game would take place in Midgar, and then, out of nowhere, the real, huge world of FFVII was revealed. After that, to hook players, an excellent flashback involving the lead and introducing the villain played out, and that gave players the motivation to push-on; exploring the world as they hunted for Sephiroth. And then, just when chasing Sephiroth got old, Square did something different: they killed off a main, playable character, using the PS1's graphical prowess to impact on players like 2D games would struggle to because of the obvious graphical limitations.

FFVII is loved because it isn't boring. It doesn't have a period after the slow(ish) start that leaves players wanting. And, at the very end; right when players tend to lose motivation because of being used to the gameplay mechanics and whatnot, Square chucked in a silly amount of extras to allow even more hours to be spent playing. Chocobo breeding, chocobo racing, hidden materia, a sunken ship, super-bosses, a battle arena, mini-games and, of course, the various extras that were available earlier; such as Wutai. Not every game has so much endgame content--you only have to glance at the far newer Grandia 2 to know that much.

And, of course, the battle system. The materia system is both easy to use and intricate, depending on how it's used. It can be picked up and used by newbies, or experimented with by experienced players; making it close to being the perfect system. I spent many hours maxing out materia - at Wutai and the end of the game - simply because I loved the materia system. I can't say the same about other battle systems I've encountered.

As a story and character piece, FFVII is flawed. Very flawed. It has holes, unexplained aspects and the characterization is nothing earth shattering. But it got the job done, with just enough quality provided not to detract from the gameplay, and that's all that's required when the gameplay and exploration aspects are as high as they were in FFVII.

No JRPG (that I've played) has bettered the 'experience' FFVII provided. None. Some have better characters, some have better stories and some have better music, but none play better.

Instead, Chrono Trigger is miles-advanced ahead of Final Fantasy VII. No Transition, No Random Battles [if you say FF is about random battles, I will kill you]

What's so special about a game having no random battles? That doesn't make a game more advanced - it's a style choice, as much as anything. FFVII had to be split across three discs WITH random battles, so it wouldn't have been pretty with monsters wandering around in 3D, and switching over to the then stunning battle graphics instantly would've been an impossibility in the CD age.

Chrono Trigger is an old, lacking in detail 2D game. It wasn't an impossibility to work in battles without the screen changing if they kept the same graphics, and there was nothing remarkable about it. It's true random battles are an annoyance when the encounter rate is as high as in the Suikoden games, and I found it refreshing when I played through P3-4 and FFXII, but random battles are a JRPG tradition some people actually like.

I played Grandia as a kid, and I loved being able to pick my battles. But that didn't stop me loving FFVIII, FFIX and so forth.

The odd thing here is that you have previously expressed that you like Nocturne... despite it having random battles that are not only frequent but hard as nails. You can't praise CT for not having random battles, attack FFVII for having random battles and not mention random battles when praising Nocturne.

I can go on. And I'll assure you, a lot of people will remember about Frog. About Schala. Even today, people want to see what happened to Schala. To say they are not memorable is such an ignorant statement.

Unless you can tell me what makes those characters in particular special from the rest; unique in their own right, and developed to the point of being easy to relate to, then you're just saying, 'I'm right, you're wrong!' If you view my stance to be ignorant, then I view yours to be childish.

And that's why I preferred Kefka as the ultimate villain of the series =P

Why is he "the ultimate"? Honestly, I never felt anything for him; he looked like a weak clown, his laughter sounded retarded and, if my memory is serving me here, he was just another 'pure evil/black' type of villain. I take mine 'gray', personally.

I mean, anyone who put FFVII over Chrono Trigger, especially when it makes so much advances for what it does, is an idiot.

How is someone an idiot for not appreciating a shallow, straight-forward JRPG after playing far newer JRPGs; ones with better execution?

It's fair to suggest someone may be an idiot for calling something 'drivel' when that something has the most in-depth world of any JRPG in existence and many of the games could be transformed into novels. It isn't fair to label someone as an idiot for not being born/getting into the genre when CT was considered special.

PS: Chrono Cross is better than VII as well.

How is it? CC just throws a ton of characters at the player, doesn't develop them and leaves it at that. And the leveling up system is a pain; it being based on battles fought rather than experience points. Graphics aside and a good twist halfway through, CC brings nothing of note to the table.

If we're talking character recruitment options, Suikoden blows CC away, and actually develops the important characters very well.
 
i have to agree with Aion, although FF7 wasn't exactly new, it was pretty much everyone's first FF game and as a result, it grabbed the attention of many people and amazed them, sure the Materia system effectively meant that every character was potentially the same (excluding Limit Breaks) but that didn't matter, and is arguably a massive improvement over the Esper system FF6 used

plus it was a game that was easy to get into, and had what i think is one of the most original settings in any RPG i've had the pleasure of playing, and those highly original settings are still being continued with the newer Final Fantasy games

when it comes to combat well, i don't really care about combat in an RPG, i play games such as this for their story and their story alone
 
stuart-says-yes said:
Im actually rather annoyed that random battles have been written out, that was the best part of FF, you couldn't avoid normal battles meaning you had to grind.

Also im yet to actually play VII having only played III, IV and XIII
i recommend you play it, i also recommend IX and X as well, they're both pretty solid games
 
Aion, I'll read over it and reply to you tomorrow. My mind is fried, but I'm going to detest your argument on 'Random Battles'. Sure, some people like it, but I don't for the sheer fact it's very archaic element and should have been abandon ages ago.

As for Nocturne/Lucifer's Call, I never once denied that random battles didn't exist in Nocturne/Lucifer's Call. It did and whilst it was special, it was a waste of potential due to its constant random battles. It was just merely special, nothing more. It's a disaster in some parts of its game-play mechanics.

I'm sorry if I appear a bit ignorant in the wording of my post and such.
 
That-Bastard-Bad-Guy-Aion said:
Chrono Mizaki said:
What did FF7 provide? It provided the same, old elements as previous Final Fantasy, just in 3D. Final Fantasy VII was nothing more than a jump from 2D to 3D. But beyond that, I believe FFVI did everything better. VII has a Materia System, which I applaud them for, but that's about it.

First of all, there's something very important you're failing to grasp: everyone, without exception, will look back fondly at what introduced them to *insert genre here*. They'll also be critical of what comes after and improves on what they've already seen before, because there will be nothing new or original to see. That's a given.

You also forget something. I'm not easily blinded by Nostalgia. Final Fantasy X was my fourth RPG [and the first RPG I've completed] and I pretty much criticise it on numerous points. It was nostalgia, as I was around 11, but as an 18 year old who plays numerous RPGs? I can see many faults with it, which is why I said XIII was superior to X.

Final Fantasy IV was my real first RPG. And when I came back to it, it was still a tremendous improvement for its time. Sure, the story was a little silly... and characters pretend to be killed off, so that more characters were introduced in the party, but FFIV was a true template, not FFVII.

FFV built onto that, but taken away all the extra characters, leaving you with four playable characters, but a wide variety of job classes. And you can change them if you wish. Still, it has its flaws.

FFVI took the formula a lot farther, refined it and added tons of improvement in pacing, storyline and the espers. The storyline took the back-seats, but the character shine through. All the characters separate at times and you get to play their part of the story... or they reunite at times and venture forth. Everyone has their part. Terra, Celes, Locke, Edgar, Saban, etc.

About Terra and why she was being chased, despite having Amnesia. Or Locke being a treasure hunter, but was party responsible in his girlfriend's accident... and eventual memory loss. About Edgar losing his brother, whilst Saban was afraid of taking over the Kingdom. About Celes being a general, but was accused of 'treason'.

There are many motives from each character. And their side of the story whist simple, is still excellent. And you know, this was one of my later RPGs I've played.

-snip due to not knowing about Suikoden after being underwhelmed by the introduction of Suikoden 1 and rather be arsed playing Fallout 1 at the time-

Final Fantasy VII is hard for me to judge as a result. I'll never know how I'd feel about if if I'd played FFVIII first--maybe FFVIII would be my favourite game. But saying its only redeeming quality is its graphics is complete and utter nonsense.

Did I say that? Final Fantasy VII did nothing but brought it from 2D to 3D... and that was an admirable step in it alone. The Materia System I preferred over the Esper System of VI, but otherwise, it was about a step back.

Translation didn't help as the script was poor at times. And the explanation of Jenova was mistakable thanks to the script. The characters were all quirky and interesting, but they felt underwhelming compared to VI. Tifa was pretty much your average childhood friend, whilst Aerith was just a woman who was an Ancient and pretty much got stabbed by Sephiroth.

Though... It was a huge shock that Aerith died in FFVII, bringing its shock value in ways more than VI. But in a consistent story with the event surrounding it? VI does it better.

If that were the case, it'd score high in terms of graphics and low in every other category. You're forgetting that FFVII was the game that 'broke' the western JRPG barrier; getting rave reviews before Square had become a name that sells games with minimal effort outside of Japan. Don't you think it would've had to be pretty special to achieve that?

It's special, but I wish you don't try hard to be Citizengeek, considering it's that kind of drivel I hear from his mouth, not yours.

It's indeed special, however. It broke the western barrier and thus, JRPG became more appreciated and sold more in the west. A lot of JRPGs came over, such as Tales and such. But bringing onto that, I could say the same for Chrono Cross, which got a consistently better reviews and hype than Final Fantasy VII

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... tasy%20VII

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... no%20Cross

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... onotrigger [due to a lack of SNES collection of reviews]

And Chrono Cross has a perfect score of 10... at Gamespot.

It's true that, if you break it down and look into the past, FFVII didn't exactly bring anything earth shattering to the table in terms of gameplay.

Glad we're in agreement about that, though it has refined the Esper System into the Materia System.

But it wasn't originality that made FFVII great; it was the structure and pacing.

The Structure and Pacing has a see-saw of 'being great at times' and 'being poor at times'. The Midgar Sections had some of the best pacing around, yet outside of Midgar, in places that I can't remember the names of, from what I can remember, they were horrendous.

I have more fond memories of Midgar than anything else.

The first few hours deceived players into thinking the entire game would take place in Midgar, and then, out of nowhere, the real, huge world of FFVII was revealed.

Sounds great on paper, but I missed Midgar. It has one of the best pacing of the game... and I really wanted to explore other parts of Midgar. If it has that, then FFVII would've been unique. I wanted to see how sectors differ from each other.

In Denzel's Episodes, I loved how the other sectors of Midgar were like, it makes me wish I stayed in Midgar and explored it.

But for FFVII to venture out into the new world, it did so with mixed results, hence the see-saw of 'good pacing and design' to '**** pacing and design'.

After that, to hook players, an excellent flashback involving the lead and introducing the villain played out, and that gave players the motivation to push-on; exploring the world as they hunted for Sephiroth. And then, just when chasing Sephiroth got old, Square did something different: they killed off a main, playable character, using the PS1's graphical prowess to impact on players like 2D games would struggle to because of the obvious graphical limitations.

And as I said, it has the wow-factor. But as for Sephiroth, it was nice delving into his backstory and all, but when compared to Kefka, I had more motivation to track him down later in the story compared to Sephiroth [despite how 'black/white' you see him as]

FFVII is loved because it isn't boring. It doesn't have a period after the slow(ish) start that leaves players wanting.

At the start, I wanted more of Midgar. I was disappointed to see that the whole world didn't satisfy me like Midgar did.

And, at the very end; right when players tend to lose motivation because of being used to the gameplay mechanics and whatnot, Square chucked in a silly amount of extras to allow even more hours to be spent playing.

Oh, Final Fantasy VII indeed has the most amount of extras, so I ain't denying that. But mini-games aren't my thing, sadly.

Chocobo breeding, chocobo racing, hidden materia, a sunken ship, super-bosses, a battle arena, mini-games and, of course, the various extras that were available earlier; such as Wutai.

Wutai was mediocre imo. But you were right on about everything, but when the pacing in FFVII has a see-saw of being right and wrong, then something is clearly wrong here.

Never heard about any Sunken Ship, so I must've missed it somehow in my playthrough of VII.

And, of course, the battle system. The materia system is both easy to use and intricate, depending on how it's used. It can be picked up and used by newbies, or experimented with by experienced players; making it close to being the perfect system. I spent many hours maxing out materia - at Wutai and the end of the game - simply because I loved the materia system. I can't say the same about other battle systems I've encountered.

I agree, I can't think about any other materia system that has that, but I quickly lost my interest in it as it only serves to get me to Fira and Firaga at certain points. There weren't really much experimenting. If I use too much magic materia, I'll even it out with HP materia and it has served me well. I can only remember experimenting for the super bosses, but it shouldn't make me do that.

It should make me do at consistent points of the game. I should be experimenting and changing when come to different part of the games. All I can see is sticking to the same ones... and change them now and then for stronger abilities. It's unique, but that's around it.

Otherwise, I believe that Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep's Command Board and Command System is going to surpass the Materia System of VII, because it combines having abilities to equip in Materia System style, but you could level it up through fighting or playing an extremely fun board game.

No JRPG (that I've played) has bettered the 'experience' FFVII provided.

Apart from the intricate Materia System, I can think of numerous JRPGs. Throw in a few Western RPGs as well, so to speak. These are my personal opinions, however.

But so to speak, I don't want a Jack-of-all-trade, where it barely pass in all, but doesn't succeed in some.

Instead, Chrono Trigger is miles-advanced ahead of Final Fantasy VII. No Transition, No Random Battles [if you say FF is about random battles, I will kill you]

What's so special about a game having no random battles? That doesn't make a game more advanced - it's a style choice, as much as anything. FFVII had to be split across three discs WITH random battles, so it wouldn't have been pretty with monsters wandering around in 3D, and switching over to the then stunning battle graphics instantly would've been an impossibility in the CD age.

Chrono Cross handled existing battles across 2 discs. It's no excuse for Final Fantasy VII to do so, plus Cross has extremely detailed and beautiful enviroments. Sure, Cross was released two years after, but, really...

It isn't impossible, it's just simply stick to a tired element that should have been abandoned since Earthbound/Chrono Trigger Era. It was applauded for that and everyone loved it. Heck, Earthbound and CT were in more Top 10 JRPGs I've seen than a game like FFVII. Suikoden was amongst EB and CT... and sure, that uses random battles, but it must've done something special.

So tell me... Why can Cross do enemies-on-screen, but VII can't do that?

Chrono Trigger is an old, lacking in detail 2D game.

Disagreed, highly. The Antiquity Age [12,000 BC] were one of the best eras... and I'm still amazed by it. It was simply magnificent.

It wasn't an impossibility to work in battles without the screen changing if they kept the same graphics, and there was nothing remarkable about it.

Yet Cross worked well... and that uses two different graphics set. Tell me, what prevented VII, VIII and IX? Whilst we're at it, let's throw in X?

but random battles are a JRPG tradition some people actually like.

I've played JRPGs for around 9 years now. I was perfectly fine with random battlles and it didn't bother me. These days? It's an extremely archaic design choice... and it truly bothers me now when I'm working in a Game Design Course.

Sure, it makes me a snob, but when other games in the past did away with random battles... and it took another decade for that element to be thrown away, then there's something wrong here.

I played Grandia as a kid, and I loved being able to pick my battles. But that didn't stop me loving FFVIII, FFIX and so forth.

The problem wasn't that. The problem was 'claiming VII' to be a stepping guideline to making an JRPG... and calling Chrono Trigger a technological disaster for it.

The odd thing here is that you have previously expressed that you like Nocturne... despite it having random battles that are not only frequent but hard as nails.

Nocturne was special, nothing more. It was down the list for the fact that it still persist to have random battles.



Unless you can tell me what makes those characters in particular special from the rest; unique in their own right, and developed to the point of being easy to relate to, then you're just saying, 'I'm right, you're wrong!' If you view my stance to be ignorant, then I view yours to be childish.

Frog - He was cursed by the Fiendlord/Mystic Lord, depending on which you favour. Ted Woolsey's script or the current script. He was chivalrous, speaks in Olde English Dialect... or in the Japanese version, end up outright rude and swears at time.

He lost his friend and been turned into frog. He vowed revenge against Magus... and through cliches, gained the Masamune. But after that, he starts to change. Depending on where you can take him, you can kill Magus... or you can stop him, because he knew it wouldn't bring back Cyrus or the dead 'Chrono/Crono'.

Magus - Magus was the fiend-lord/mystic lord. Sure, he was an temporary antagonist, but he has his reason, just in numerous wrong ways. He caused a war, let numerous humans die by the hands of his fiends/mystic.

It was eventually revealed that he wanted to have revenge on Lavos, not to summon Lavos as the characters initially had thought. But why? Why would Magus want revenge? As it's revealed, he had a home in 12,000BC and he was a prince. Even though his mother was corrupt, he still had a sister, Schala, who was caring. He was 'Janos', a young child who people were ashamed of, because Janos lacked magical power.

Turns out he didn't want to use magic, because of his mother. Because she was corrupt with magic and immortality. That every 'Enlightened One' was so obsessed with Lavos, to be believed that they could all be immortal.

The Magus from the 600AD era was teleported back to 12,000BC and believe that he can change time. To stop its eventual demise of the flying island. He failed, still. Still, his revenge for Lavos is still so great that he even teamed up with Chrono and Co/Crono and Co... and even told them that there is a way to revive him.

Schala - She's a princess in its cliche terms. Well, she is kind and courteous. Yet she's one of those who has a strong magical power and one that is constantly abused by her mother, to summon Lavos.

She tried to keep equality between the Enlightened and the Earthbound. But in the end, she isn't the 'pure girl' that we all see her as. As in the extra content of Chrono Trigger for the DS, when she fused with Lavos, she even wished in her heart that everything would go away. She has a desire of non-existence, because of her abuse and of her power.

I'll stop there, but I have more up my sleeves in term of which characters I appreciate.

And that's why I preferred Kefka as the ultimate villain of the series =P

Why is he "the ultimate"? Honestly, I never felt anything for him; he looked like a weak clown, his laughter sounded retarded and, if my memory is serving me here, he was just another 'pure evil/black' type of villain. I take mine 'gray', personally.

I love my villains grey. But honestly, from VII-onwards, all the characters who have 'grey motives' ended up failing in terms of taking them seriously. You pointed out the flaws with Sephiroth. I couldn't say much about Ultemecia, since I haven't completed VIII. Kuja was nothing much to write home about.

Seymour was a psychopath who wanted to euthanise the world of Spira, but he had a tough childhood, being a mixed-race Human/Guado. He and his mother was exiled by his father, just because his reputation were to be at risk for mingling with a human. His mother died and Seymour was forced to make her into an Aeon. I mean, really, he was traumatised and twisted to an extent.

The sad thing is... He has a great backstory, but he ended up nothing more than a stalker. And when his plans was revealed, about the Euthanasia of Spira by becoming Sin, was underwhelming... because of his current personality being nothing more than stalker... and it felt like his backstory had nothing in his current planning. It just made him into a psychopath.

Kefka was great, in that he was a manipulator and a very humorous and funny character. Sure, some of his line were epic, along with Ultros', such as "I've got Sand on my Boots". But he was twisted. In the course of the game, everything was a mystery. What was Kefka's motive? As a matter of fact, was Kefka really the true villain? He felt more like a distraction, though his action was drastically dark. He poisoned the drinking water at the Kingdom of Doma, because he wanted to destroy their defence at all cost.

Everything was focused on Emperor Gesthals. Up to a point, Kefka seize his chance and killed him. He succeed to be the God of the Ruined World... and smited everyone who didn't obey him.

But wait... Wasn't he a joke? I didn't take him seriously, nor did everyone. But with his backstory revealed, which he took part in experiments and his mind warped, he became twisted, yet appeared as a joker who takes everything as a joke.

He's the Final Fantasy version of Joker from Batman. And... he's an excellent fit for the game. And wait... not all of his motives were clear. I mean, what did he want? He wanted to rule the world, right? Nope, he wanted to eradicate it all. He find all life to be meaningless, including his own.

Kefka was dark, yes. But he was a complex psychopath in so many ways. Not all villains has to be Grey. You can have a complex Black Character as well.

How is someone an idiot for not appreciating a shallow, straight-forward JRPG after playing far newer JRPGs; ones with better execution?

And Chrono Trigger isn't shallow, yet again. Have your preference, I'm not bothered. But claiming FFVII is a techanical advance over Chrono Trigger in terms of pacing, gameplay, etc... is idiotic.

It's fair to suggest someone may be an idiot for calling something 'drivel' when that something has the most in-depth world of any JRPG in existence and many of the games could be transformed into novels.

Can we stop that I've only played Suikoden 1 and thought the beginning was underwhelming? It was a slip of a tongue. Stop going over about Suikoden and give me a chance to replay it.

It isn't fair to label someone as an idiot for not being born/getting into the genre when CT was considered special.

I started played JRPGs in 2000/01. It didn't stop me from appreciating Chrono Trigger.

PS: Chrono Cross is better than VII as well.

How is it? CC just throws a ton of characters at the player, doesn't develop them and leaves it at that. And the leveling up system is a pain; it being based on battles fought rather than experience points. Graphics aside and a good twist halfway through, CC brings nothing of note to the table.

I thought the storyline was interesting. Sure, the character could've done with a lot of expanding, but I liked Cross for its elemental system, it's storyline, some of its characters and the likes. The graphics was simply amazing for its time and the World Map is beautiful. The music was tremendous.

The Levelling System I liked... because at times, I ask myself why do we need an experience counter just to get to the next level. It prevents 'GRINDING', which was one of the downfall of JRPGs. All you need in Cross is a good weapon... and planning of your elements. Not just "Level up" and it solves all your problem.

And it's very handy to have Chrono Compendium at your side when playing Cross, because it makes the storyline and background even more interesting. Also, no random battles, which makes it all the plus.

There. I'm done. Feel free to fight back.
 
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I was enjoying reading Chrono's post then he started posting Chrono Trigger spoilers and I was like

rageface.png
 
what's seen cannot be unseen

doesn't matter in my case, since i've completed CT :)

i agree on the whole thing about the motives of the villan, i think that "grey" motives are kinda dumb, that's why i liked Kefka, sure he's a bit of a cowardly clown, but i bet no one was laughing when he finally destroyed like 90% of the planet and became a god

the only villan that truely works well with "grey" motives in my opinion is Dhaos from Tales of Phantasia, who actually has good motives, but goes about them the wrong way and comes off in everyone else's eyes as an evil bloke when he really just wants to save his planet
 
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Ugh. I'll read through and respond to that wall tomorrow. After my Red Garden rambling, I'm done with long messages for today.

But, two points:

1:
Your argument about CT was that it had no random battles AND no transition between exploration and battling. Chrono Cross has a few second transition between the exploration areas, with pre-rendered backgrounds, and the battles themselves with full-on 3D backgrounds.

Grandia was the same; having monsters wandering around and their being a 'battle loading' sequence. That's normal. Only nowadays can 3D games flow seamlessly, without loading times being needed.

The exploration and battle graphics were totally different in FFVII--the characters being deformed outside of battles, with hooves for hands, and realistic in battles. Why? Because that was the only way for the improved battle graphics to function, taking the disc space into consideration.

2: When a character is painted as either black or white, it's childish because there are no such things as 'good' or 'evil' in the real world. All that exists are those who are selfish and those who are totally self-absorbed. Painting a character as pure evil just highlights the target audience the story featuring such a character is aimed at.

Villains without proper development only please the young or simple. I mentioned Luca Blight because, as well as being a great villain, he has logical reasoning behind his insanity.
 
That-Bastard-Bad-Guy-Aion said:
1:
Your argument about CT was that it had no random battles AND no transition between exploration and battling. Chrono Cross has a few second transition between the exploration areas, with pre-rendered backgrounds, and the battles themselves with full-on 3D backgrounds.

And like I said, Cross uses the same technique as VII.

The exploration and battle graphics were totally different in FFVII--the characters being deformed outside of battles, with hooves for hands, and realistic in battles. Why? Because that was the only way for the improved battle graphics to function, taking the disc space into consideration.

So why couldn't they develop deformed enemies for you to clash with? Sure, leave it out of the World Map, but they could've put in the effort to do so with the dungeons.

Then again, it was 13 years ago, yadayadayada

2: When a character is painted as either black or white, it's childish because there are no such things as 'good' or 'evil' in the real world. All that exists are those who are selfish and those who are totally self-absorbed. Painting a character as pure evil just highlights the target audience the story featuring such a character is aimed at.

Aion. In the real world, there are some things painted in black or white. When a psychopathe nutter wants to kill everything, he does so. In cases, he or she don't need a reason. Sure, he or she was twisted, but after that... There's probably nothing good in them.

I've seen numerous serial killers... and some... never have reason. They were 'human' as everyone will put it, but now, literally none. So Aion... Everything has its reasons and not everything is black and white...

But there's some things which are downright evil, no matter how you look at it.
 
...Your argument was that CT was something special for having battles play out in 2D, without a 'random battle' loading screen. I explained to you that FFVII being in 3D and the space limitations of CDs were the main reasons, traditions aside.

You then mentioned Chrono Cross having monsters wandering around, seemingly forgetting about the loading required.

FFVII could've had deformed monsters wandering around so the player could pick his battles, certainly. But FFVII needed three discs without that, and the sequels - both having far better/matching 'out of battle' character models - lasted for four discs.

As well as random battles once being part of all FF games, the limitations of the console and medium Square were releasing the games on at the time obviously played a part.

I'm losing track of what you're arguing about here, and I'm starting to believe you're just responding randomly, but the point is that it was impossible for battles to occur without transition on the PS1 without lowering the battle graphics by a huge amount or releasing a silly number of discs. Having monsters wandering about outside of battles, in narrow areas, wouldn't have removed the need for loading.

Did you like how the space aliens were hard to avoid in FFVIII? I didn't. If the whole game was like that, it would've been Lunar all over again.

And you're being truly simple if you actually believe people are black/evil and white/good. Even serial killers do what they do because of their own selfish desires.

I selfishly horde DVDs and whatever because it pleases me. There's probably someone else out there who kills people at random because it pleases him. Evil is nothing to do with it; it's just the selfish of desires of man being expressed in different forms.

...Bah, I can't be arsed with this **** anymore. Pointless defines such arguments. I'm in a bad mood, typed out and you sharing your insight into good and evil with me is not making me feel any more jolly.

There is one other point I neglected to mention:

Don't insult something if you're ignorant and don't want to be called on it. If you'd simply said, 'I didn't like Suikoden 1', I wouldn't have said anything. But you were silly enough to say, 'I found Suikoden to be JRPG drivel', seemingly not even understanding the word you used to describe it and coming across as if you were insulting Suikoden as a whole.
 
That-Bastard-Bad-Guy-Aion said:
...Your argument was that CT was something special for having battles play out in 2D, without a 'random battle' loading screen.

Actually, last time I remember, I mentioned Chrono Trigger being special in more ways than one.

I explained to you that FFVII being in 3D and the space limitations of CDs were the main reasons, traditions aside.

Eh, I could easily forgive on the fact it shifted from N64 to PS1 development. But it was such a main drawback that random battles still persisted.

You then mentioned Chrono Cross having monsters wandering around, seemingly forgetting about the loading required.

I never said it didn't have loading times. As I said before, Chrono Cross has two different assets. It sill uses the same technique as CT, just needing a transition screen.

FFVII could've had deformed monsters wandering around so the player could pick his battles, certainly. But FFVII needed three discs without that, and the sequels - both having far better/matching 'out of battle' character models - lasted for four discs.

And Chrono Cross had two discs. That was because of a rather one continent spanned over two dimensions. But it managed to be detailed, beautiful, still has monsters roaming and has a good pacing. Not great as it should've been, but still... Their character models were great to right home about on its console.

As well as random battles once being part of all FF games, the limitations of the console and medium Square were releasing the games on at the time obviously played a part.

Chrono. Cross.

I'm losing track of what you're arguing about here, and I'm starting to believe you're just responding randomly,

Thanks to my mistake of wrongfully criticising Suikoden, you ventured off into multiple arguments and I did nothing but answer to each argument.

but the point is that it was impossible for battles to occur without transition on the PS1 without lowering the battle graphics by a huge amount or releasing a silly number of discs.

And I still repeat the same game.

Did you like how the space aliens were hard to avoid in FFVIII? I didn't. If the whole game was like that, it would've been Lunar all over again.

That would be a bad way. But at least you have a chance to avoid it... rather than never be able to avoid a random battle. You can increase and decrease the speed.

And you're being truly simple if you actually believe people are black/evil and white/good. Even serial killers do what they do because of their own selfish desires.

And Kefka has a desire. He wanted to see the world burn. He was nihilistic and his desire was to make it all disappear. Pretty much simple to a psychopath, who wanted people to disappear... or get sexual satisfaction out of murdering someone.

I selfishly horde DVDs and whatever because it pleases me. There's probably someone else out there who kills people at random because it pleases him. Evil is nothing to do with it; it's just the selfish of desires of man being expressed in different forms.

And no matter how you look at it, it's evil, except from a psychopath's point of view. Everyone has desires. Kefka has desires.
Don't insult something if you're ignorant and don't want to be called on it. If you'd simply said, 'I didn't like Suikoden 1', I wouldn't have said anything. But you were silly enough to say, 'I found Suikoden to be JRPG drivel', seemingly not even understanding the word you used to describe it and coming across as if you were insulting Suikoden as a whole.

apologies, I was suppose to say the 'introduction' on it.
 
Evil is concept created by the mind(s?) of humans. There is no such thing as evil and, as such, there is a way to look at it where one man killing as many others as he wants to isn't evil.

Just because you don't understand something, don't try to categorize people with simple terms. Humans are all scum equally; it's just, some are selfish enough to give into their hearts natural desires and destroy. There's nothing else. Us 'animals with intelligence' still have basic instincts for survival and differing desires, and we weren't born with things like morals, or ethics.

What's created as law by humans for other humans isn't the law of God. In a different, lawless time, killing each other for fun could be normal - who knows.
 
So I'm fighting Aion in FF:XIII and it's going really well, he has less than 1/6 of his health left then BAM, the ****** casts Doom on me. Man, I haven't raged this hard in a game since playing Gears of War 2 online. Don't click the link if you're not past the first boss of chapter 10.
 
I Just finished the whole damn game, treasure hunter was a pain, lucky enough I just sold all my items and upgraded the remaining items needed, got the trophy and reloaded my save.

Clocked around 118 hours, I could of done it better if I had some luck on them huge turtles dropping items for me :( .
 
The Nine Hours I spent playing FFXIII were like getting my teeth pulled without being put under and every time a teeth popped out I was punched where it counts.
 
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