Time for a little something that's different. Been reviewing, looking back, and then talking about bad dungeons and what not. Let's look at a certain trait the Suikoden games had. You all know the drill if you've played at least one of these games, gather 108 characters who are the Stars of Destiny to get the best out of the game's ending. And by looking at the tablet, you can gauge which characters you have. But what do those Japanese names mean? What is the correlation for making certain characters under certain particular named stars? Do you notice a trend in which characters with similar characteristics end up on the same star numbers?
This post focuses on the very first of the stars, the Tenkai Star. This is Star #1 on the tablet, the so-called Chief Star of Heaven. Suikosource lists this very star as the one in which the game's main hero is on. And for the most part, that's completely right, as each and every one of the characters on this star for the five main games is controllable by the player on the field. Tir McDohl was the hero in the first game, Riou in the second, Thomas in the third, Lazlo in the fourth, and Prince Freyjadour in the fifth. But not all are equal of course. While these characters are all controlled, there is one outlier in this group.
You see, Thomas isn't the main hero of Suikoden 3, despite being the Tenkai Star. You have three main heroes in that game, any of which can become the Flame Champion, but none of those can be Thomas. Thomas is simply a rich boy that ends up owning a large castle, and said large castle ends up being the main headquarters of course. He gets his own chapter where you play as him, but it's both optional and too short to be of nominal importance as opposed to the stories of Chris, Hugo, or Geddoe. So what exactly is Thomas's connection to the Tenkai Star? I'd say it's because he's a gatherer of the stars. This can easily apply to the other Tenkai Stars in the series as well, but it's Thomas's own castle that ends up being the headquarters. Even when he gives the ownership up to the new Flame Champion in-game, it still counts in a way.
That's what I think the Tenkai Star is about in the Suikoden series. It's not about being a hero, and it may not exactly be about being young either (despite all the Tenkai Stars all being young). It's about gathering the remaining stars under your cause.
Friday, March 15, 2019
Thursday, March 7, 2019
A look back at: Dragon Quest IV
Who had done more, the Dragon Quest or the Final Fantasy?
Oh Dragon Quest, you certainly provide the same sort of cliche fantasy RPG style that you've been doing for the past three games. Only now you decide to make things chapter-based, have different protagonists, bring them all together, and include travel wagons, casinos, and, what is this? An AI-based battle system?
Maybe it's the experience of playing so many RPGs that my interest may be waning thin. That's not good, I want to see each of these games for myself to see just how good each and every one of them are. Dragon Warrior IV pulls its punches, managing not to be as tough as its predecessors, but still grindy enough that it's not gonna be a breeze. The idea of the tactics system causes quite some randomness, when you have one character consistently attempting a spell that won't work (like Cristo using an instakill spell on a boss in Offensive tactics), you're in for it. On the other hand I'm of course glad things are easier to handle overall, and there still are always those interesting tidbits.
Poker in a casino? Not a fan of that usually, but then again, the double-or-nothing minigame was quite a lucky one to allow me to get some fantastic prizes. Also Taloon's chapter allows you to go behind a store counter early on and buy and sell weapons from customers, which predates what you can do in Breath of Fire 1 with Gobi. The whole "cave of betrayal" which makes you fight off impostors of Mara and Nara is also splendid. Not to mention the separation of characters from the wagon, limiting experience gains. Money also isn't a problem at all, for the most part.
Of course, I said this series is full of cliches. The standard classes do exist here. We also get to know that this game's main villain becomes lovestruck, then the girl dies, then the guy goes mad and wants to resurrect an even greater scope villain, one who we just sort of catch in the middle of resurrection (and one who could start his battle asleep!). I will also say that Necrosaro's main battle is pretty rad, take his arms off, watch him transform numerous times, it gets easier, then harder with each.
Yeah, I would've loved to play the remakes of this game too, especially considering that Saro or Psaro as he's known in the remakes gets better and really wants to right his wrongs. At least that's what I've heard. But that's for another time.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Terrible RPG Dungeons: Part 5
Wow, I have been incredibly inactive as of late. Been doing a lot of revisiting of non-RPG games as well as playing several mods. Also trying to find new means of work overall. But regardless, I still got a good memory on a number of really bad dungeons. Let's look at the SNES platform.
Infinity - Breath of Fire 2
Everyone who has played BoF2 knows why this is on here. It's long, filled with numerous passageways and dead-ends, areas that require Sten's field ability (he's not that bad of a character, but he's just plain average overall), and worst of all, an encounter rate up the ass. You can't even make eight steps anywhere in the dungeon without triggering an encounter. It's probably worse in the SNES version, which doesn't have a much-needed dash ability. And of course, the enemies are deviously strong, many different kinds exist that will force you to constantly strategize. While the fights against Barubary and Deathevan truly are epics, just getting to them will fatigue players. It's even worse for those who wish to keep shaman transformations, because not only do you have to keep everyone alive as much as possible, there's a certain part where you will get Anfini, and that will reset the transformations, meaning you have to go all the way back to Township then. Dologany is a much-needed rest stop of course, but the dungeon is long on both sides, and undeniably grueling to conquer.
Fanatic's Tower - Final Fantasy VI
Stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs, this is seriously some lazy ass design for a tower. You may as well call this a lighthouse given just how the dungeon is nothing but stairs. The enemies are also quite unoriginal, being Lvl X (X is any number from 1 to 9) Magic. Then again, unoriginal only refers to the names, as the enemies themselves will have very powerful magic to cast, some of them already having annoying properties like being inherently reflective. And you can't just fight enemies, as the tower relegates you to only using magic. You're almost better off wearing the Moogle Charm and skipping all the way to the top, only to fight the Magimaster, an insanely tough mage who uses Ultima as his curtain call. Many ways to fight him, it actually may be best to just Rasp his MP while giving him Berserk status.
Sunken Worus Tower - Final Fantasy V
What do you know? Another timed dungeon? Makes sense since you're underwater, but geez, you have to speedrun this one just to get to...Gogo? Having a Thief or the Dash ability is required for this one, hands down. Run, run, run until you get to the boss, and you've got two choices. Wait while the clock is ticking (you better have enough) and he'll forfeit and give you the win, or actually fight the guy. To me, the latter just seems impossible. Being a mimic, he's obviously gonna do what you do to him, but better. Again though, you're timed, and that always sucks.
Reptite Lair - Chrono Trigger
This one's only a bit problematic in honesty. The issue of course, since I'm a completionist at heart, is getting the treasures. Gotta wait for these drill enemies to get in just the right position, then drill down so I can hopefully get what is at the bottom. Nizbel can also be a wake-up call boss. This isn't that bad, but I find the treasure hunting to be a little tedious.
Mare Tower - Breath of Fire
Having fun trying to actually defeat Mote? How about getting to him? It's already bad enough that this is supposedly a "nightmare" dungeon, meaning anything out of the ordinary sure will happen here. And that would be the spinning room. While it's already bad enough in making you seem dizzy (honestly that shouldn't happen), the disorientation will always occur. You're gonna need to figure out which of the spins results in a simple 90 degree counter-clockwise rotation, or a random spin, or none at all, and there's a minimum of seven tiles needed to actually cross to the finish. Mote ain't a picnic either, his pixelated appearance and apparent invulnerability sure would fool players here.
Up next, well, I dunno yet.
Infinity - Breath of Fire 2
Everyone who has played BoF2 knows why this is on here. It's long, filled with numerous passageways and dead-ends, areas that require Sten's field ability (he's not that bad of a character, but he's just plain average overall), and worst of all, an encounter rate up the ass. You can't even make eight steps anywhere in the dungeon without triggering an encounter. It's probably worse in the SNES version, which doesn't have a much-needed dash ability. And of course, the enemies are deviously strong, many different kinds exist that will force you to constantly strategize. While the fights against Barubary and Deathevan truly are epics, just getting to them will fatigue players. It's even worse for those who wish to keep shaman transformations, because not only do you have to keep everyone alive as much as possible, there's a certain part where you will get Anfini, and that will reset the transformations, meaning you have to go all the way back to Township then. Dologany is a much-needed rest stop of course, but the dungeon is long on both sides, and undeniably grueling to conquer.
Fanatic's Tower - Final Fantasy VI
Stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs, this is seriously some lazy ass design for a tower. You may as well call this a lighthouse given just how the dungeon is nothing but stairs. The enemies are also quite unoriginal, being Lvl X (X is any number from 1 to 9) Magic. Then again, unoriginal only refers to the names, as the enemies themselves will have very powerful magic to cast, some of them already having annoying properties like being inherently reflective. And you can't just fight enemies, as the tower relegates you to only using magic. You're almost better off wearing the Moogle Charm and skipping all the way to the top, only to fight the Magimaster, an insanely tough mage who uses Ultima as his curtain call. Many ways to fight him, it actually may be best to just Rasp his MP while giving him Berserk status.
Sunken Worus Tower - Final Fantasy V
What do you know? Another timed dungeon? Makes sense since you're underwater, but geez, you have to speedrun this one just to get to...Gogo? Having a Thief or the Dash ability is required for this one, hands down. Run, run, run until you get to the boss, and you've got two choices. Wait while the clock is ticking (you better have enough) and he'll forfeit and give you the win, or actually fight the guy. To me, the latter just seems impossible. Being a mimic, he's obviously gonna do what you do to him, but better. Again though, you're timed, and that always sucks.
Reptite Lair - Chrono Trigger
This one's only a bit problematic in honesty. The issue of course, since I'm a completionist at heart, is getting the treasures. Gotta wait for these drill enemies to get in just the right position, then drill down so I can hopefully get what is at the bottom. Nizbel can also be a wake-up call boss. This isn't that bad, but I find the treasure hunting to be a little tedious.
Mare Tower - Breath of Fire
Having fun trying to actually defeat Mote? How about getting to him? It's already bad enough that this is supposedly a "nightmare" dungeon, meaning anything out of the ordinary sure will happen here. And that would be the spinning room. While it's already bad enough in making you seem dizzy (honestly that shouldn't happen), the disorientation will always occur. You're gonna need to figure out which of the spins results in a simple 90 degree counter-clockwise rotation, or a random spin, or none at all, and there's a minimum of seven tiles needed to actually cross to the finish. Mote ain't a picnic either, his pixelated appearance and apparent invulnerability sure would fool players here.
Up next, well, I dunno yet.
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