What Games Are You Playing?

Put aside Wind Waker for another game I bought recently...

Chrono Trigger.

Now let me tell you about Chrono Trigger, I've known about this game for a good six years or so, always see it getting praised, I never assumed it to be bad, just never figured it was as good as they say and that it was just nostalgia. But let me just say, I was wrong, dead wrong in fact.

Over the past few years now I've been quite an admirer of Sakaguchi's work and recently I've been playing Dragon Quest and this game sees both the best of both JRPG series creators (For their time) come together and make Chrono Trigger bringing along Akira Toriyama, Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda. I'm not the biggest fan of Akira Toriyama (Mainly because of how most of his male designs are just copypasta of Goku and Gohan) but his designs on this are really ******* good in this game. Uematsu and Mitsuda's work on this game are great too but that's too be expected, really.

But man, this game has some great writing, all the subplots and events are all tightly woven together throughout time, I'm amazed it's -that- good. Not sure how far I've come in this game over the weekend but I'm at the point where Crono is dead and I'm on the verge of resurrecting him or about to attempt to I've also heard about all the multiple endings and such but I'm just going for the best ending possible right now.

I also see a lot of people complain regularly about how they want this series to return and I'm honestly dreading finishing this game but you really don't want Square Enix messing with this series, not with the state their in now, did you see what they did to Parasite Eve? Yeah best remember the series for what it is.

tl;dr - Game is ******* amazing, never really noticed until I played it, glad it took me so long to play it so I can understand why after years of praise.
 
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Lupus said:
I also see a lot of people complain regularly about how they want this series to return and I'm honestly dreading finishing this game but you really don't want Square Enix messing with this series, not with the state their in now, did you see what they did to Parasite Eve? Yeah best remember the series for what it is.
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Actually CT fans were about to get a fan sequel called Crimson Echoes, but Square-Enix got pissy and shut that down. A shame as I really wanted to try it out. Luckily they recorded everything they did in the game as part of the beta testing, including the ending.

So if you have time, have a look at what the Chrono Compendium made with their CT fan sequel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSTpkMB9kNk

For me, it's a case of "How the **** did a bunch of fans based in the west made a better story than... Square".

tl;dr - Game is **** amazing, never really noticed until I played it, glad it took me so long to play it so I can understand why after years of praise.
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Nice to see you are enjoying it.

Chrono Trigger is an excellent game. It broke many JRPG conventions with its lack of random battles, use of team skills and an actual good story. People would argue that Ted Woolsey's inaccurate, but humorous writing is better, but I prefer the current translation. The only thing I am miffed with is calling the monster 'fiends' instead of 'mystics'.

It is because when you visit the monster's village, you find they aren't bad people. But calling them 'fiends' makes them as if they are bad people... and even the monsters themselves acknowledge themselves as 'Fiends'. It seems they are using 'current square terminology'.

I prefer Frog's dialogue better in the DS version, though I'd love the Characterisation even more in Crimson Echoes. Mostly because of the banter between Frog and Magus.
 
can somebody explain the whole appeal to RPGs like FF. personally i've played ffx, FF7 - dirge of cerberus and ff tactics.

All three completely different, the latter two i've had no problem with, in dirge of cerberus i could actually move around and attack as and when i wanted to, controlling the battles or dodging an attack when i see fit.

ff tactics, similar to playing chess really, found it entertaining.
ff on psp - the one where you play as Zack - right this ones more like typical ff.


FFX, right.... this is where i have a problem with FF, i don't get the appeal of running around and ending up in dull fights where the furthest i can go to control the outcome is to click different attacks or just a basic attack, half the time the attacks wouldn't hit and when they did it wasn't an instant attack as soon as i pressed the attack button, although it may look very nice in fight scenes, unless i can shoot when i want to shoot, jump wheni want to jump and slash with a sword when i want to. it really doesn't appeal to me

now my main question is... how can somebody find them fun?



*edit*
what a way to post my 7000th post :p
 
If there is enough options, good visuals and its paced right, they can be an awesome way to battle. Pokémon is a slow and relatively dull variation on it, but don't tell me you didn't get excited trying to capture or defeat your opponents enemy.
 
Jayme said:
If there is enough options, good visuals and its paced right, they can be an awesome way to battle. Pokémon is a slow and relatively dull variation on it, but don't tell me you didn't get excited trying to capture or defeat your opponents enemy.
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yeah i guess pokemon and FF are essentially similar...

but the one main difference between them is - pokemon had a better story imo. i'd gladly waste hours walking round trying to get a pokemon, knocking its health down, using tactics and then catching it.

golden sun - same as ff... i played about an hour before turning it off because that sort of RPG bores me.

what else makes them types of games fun?
 
Tachi- said:
but the one main difference between them is - pokemon had a better story imo.
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I had a good laugh from that, I've lost interest in Pokémon, gonna try the new games and if I can't make it past the third badge I give up on them. But yeah, FF:X and Dirge of Cerberus aren't very good starting points for RPGs nor are they even good games at all, play FF:VII or something.
 
Tachi- said:
pokemon had a better story imo.
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lolwut?

Please man, do explain what about the Pokemon story is so great?


As for how the games are fun - you're taking the total wrong outlook. These aren't action games - You won't get your Assassins Creed/Devil May Cry combat heavy stuff here. Action games generally require little planning ahead - they're all about being able to dodge in time, and pull off combos (in the case of Bayonetta/DMC, Assassins Creed is just keep hitting attack, let's face it).

If you play Final Fantasy VII, you'll soon realize that you can't go crazy blasting Magic, because you an MP bar that's a bitch to fill up without resting (iirc you can't buy ethers), and a health bar that won't just come back on its own - You will need potions or healing magic to get that **** back. So- when you come to a combat encounter, you need to really think about whether you want to finish the fight as quickly as possible (Essentially using magic, as generally it does more damage) but lose out on MP, or do you risk taking it more slowly using basic attacks - but leaving yourself at greater risk of taking excessive damage. It's not that black and white - but you get the idea.

Various RPG's tackle this differently though - In the early stages of Eternal Sonata you unlimited 'thinking' time before you make a move! So you could really plan your attack, but this gets reduced in order for you to access more powerful combos. In Final Fantasy VII there was a timer before you could attack again - so you really wanted to plan your attacks quickly so not to lose valuable attacking time.

In conclusion I'm just gonna say - I don't think RPG's are for you if you can't stand the idea of not having deep, real-time control over your character.


Note: Also, RPG's are generally far more story driven than other games you like; Final Fantasy VII has a fantastic story - as does (Please Lupus, don't kill me) Final Fantasy XIII. Most (but as always, not all) action games have a shite story - and are simply (as the name suggests) action driven.
 
Stuart-says-yes said:
Agreed, that and FFIV are probably my favourite definitions of what makes a good RPG.

On the subject of using MP wisely, it took me until my second play through on golden sun to realise that you could effectively spam "Psyenergy" because it was constantly being restored somehow, despite the bar depleting.
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Walking restores it. lol RTFM!
 
In story terms, FFXIII is ridiculously overblown and convoluted. I liked the battle system a lot in that game, but my god, there is not a narrative there - it just goes on, and on, and on. That usually doesn't bother me but the world-building wasn't exactly original. The battle system made it enjoyable for the hours I played though.
 
Dead Space 2 - Complete - It took me 7 and a half hours to complete......=/ This wouldn't be a problem, if it wasn't for the fact that the first one was 12 hours long, and this one was on two disks. Two disks? Really?, I think it could have easily been packed into one for what it covers. I get this feeling, and i wish i could confirm it to be true, that the inclusion of multiplayer was what dropped the overall single player length. I didn't even buy Dead Space 2 for the multiplayer, heck, it didn't need it. Sure, it's not that bad, but it is nothing spectacular either.

Granted, i will put in at least one more playthrough, but that's because of hardcore mode. My challenge senses tingled when i saw that. 3 saves total, deaths bring you back to last save point and limited health/ammo. Plenty incentive to see how good i am.

Asides from that, i'm not playing too much else. I'm going on a couple games on my PSP when i get the chance, but that's when i do. And i go on DC universe from time to time as well.
 
Arbalest said:
Dead Space 2 - Complete - It took me 7 and a half hours to complete......=/ This wouldn't be a problem, if it wasn't for the fact that the first one was 12 hours long, and this one was on two disks. Two disks? Really?
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WTF? I got the 'Limited Edition' version, and mine came on one disc, with Dead Space Extraction also included on the same disc. :O



Also, platinumed Borderlands yesterday. :D
 
Mutsumi said:
Arbalest said:
Dead Space 2 - Complete - It took me 7 and a half hours to complete......=/ This wouldn't be a problem, if it wasn't for the fact that the first one was 12 hours long, and this one was on two disks. Two disks? Really?
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WTF? I got the 'Limited Edition' version, and mine came on one disc, with Dead Space Extraction also included on the same disc. :O
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You're a PS3 gamer, he's a 360 gamer ;)
 
I thought that might be the case, but I had forgotten that Dead Space was on 360 as well. In my mind it was a PS3 only game, which was obviously me remembering incorrectly. XD
 
right so the maze idea has been scrapped. in favour of a zombie game. taken inspiration from tomb raider/ call of duty's Nacht die untoten (night of the undead) and red dead redemption undead nightmare.

already made secret rooms and trap doors
 
Godot said:
Jayme said:
In story terms, FFXIII is ridiculously overblown and convoluted.
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I suppose since I went into the game expecting this, and looking forward to this, it explains why I like/enjoy it.
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You went into FF:XIII expecting the story to be a mess? wut.

Also glad I never bought Dead Space 2 now, I'll wait for the inevitable price drop in a few weeks time like with the first game.
 
Venetica (Xbox 360)

If you have seen my twitter posts, you may know my feelings towards the game:

Reevothemusefan's twitter said:
Venetica on the Xbox is a badly made RPG, filled with bugs, terrible voice acting and horrible level design, yet it's still sucked me in.
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It's a budget title that I picked up for a tenner. Fairly easy so far, the game isn't broken but it just suffers from terrible design choices.

I'm doing a journal on my progress and this is so far my weirdest one:

Reevothemusefan's twitter said:
Venetica Progress: Help a drunk - receive beer, lotsa gold, conviced a man to give sweets to his young runner instead of beatings. ಠ_ಠ
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