So here we are, the final (for now) look at Suikoden's minigames. I of course haven't started Suikoden V yet, and Tactics didn't actually have any minigames so it's automatically out. Oddly enough, Suikoden IV didn't do that badly with its minigames, given that only two are required to recruit characters and the rest are completely optional. So let's see here.
Tops
This minigame can be played with Basil before being exiled from Razril or after you recruit the guy, but thankfully you don't have to play it to recruit him. I hate this game if it isn't obvious, but that may be because I played it via keyboard. Think of this one game as something to do with Beyblades or whatever kids in the 2000's played that involved spinning things, except done with a Playstation 2. It's awkward. The goal is to put spinning tops on a table, you have up to three, and you need to ensure you have the last spinning top standing in order to win. Which is harder than it sounds because you can lose even when you have tops in reserve, and you also gotta ensure that the tops don't either fly off the table or lose their spin. Apparently, it is possible to get a valuable Treasure map for another minigame, but only after twenty consecutive wins. I played this game once and decided not to do it again. Hey, maybe having a PS2 controller would help.
Chinchirorin
Yep, it's back, although Gunter (the guy who has it) calls it Triple Toss. It's entirely the same deal as before, completely luck-based, very save-scummable (hey, they didn't find some way to tinker the RNG this time). Only real difference is three 1's, which quintuples winnings instead of losing triple. Also there's this "Down to One" game, but no one played that, seriously. Gunter is an annoying recruit, but not actually because of this minigame, you don't even have to play him in order to actually recruit him. It's just he has to be seen in a few towns before he actually becomes recruitable.
Ritapon
Well, here's the big one. I STILL have no idea how this game is supposed to be played, and the bad news is that you not only need to play it to recruit Rita, but also have to earn a set score, apparently such thing has to exist for this very complex game. It's save-scummable still, but it's complicated nature is really bothersome. What you are supposed to do is get 3 sets of 3 identical coloured tiles, or the 1-2-3 combo ordeal. It's also got these rune tiles which are liable to be used right away to help you or hinder your opponent. My biggest issue is that Rita immediately uses one the moment she gets one, and these things often turn the advantage to her. Not helping is the terminology. I often confuse Ron (a winning condition) with Pon (not actually a winning condition). I can probably picture a few people thinking it's fun, but only after getting into it a lot. I couldn't figure out a lot of it and it was pretty much luck for me.
Cards
I don't know what this game is called, but Noah plays it, pre-recruitment and post-recruitment. But it's not necessary to recruit her by playing this minigame. It's sort of like Blackjack, except the target value is 51 and you can go over, also you alternate turns. There's combos with elements and all that. The prizes for this minigame are really not worth it and this game isn't all that fun. Thankfully it's optional.
Fishing
Well there's two kinds, the net-fishing with Shiramine, which isn't a minigame, and the regular rod one with Ugetsu. This is the more minigame one is and exactly what you expect.
Treasure hunting
This almost doesn't count as a minigame, but it's actually the most rewarding thing I can think of in this game. Basically after recruiting Rene, she can be controlled on some islands, and the treasure maps help in finding the treasures in places. It's nice and free stuff too, high-level runes and equipment are good to get. Only problem is random encounters, which is why I don't necessarily consider this that much of a minigame. Still, the rewards are excellent.
Coin-tossing
Once you recruit Igor this one becomes available. It's also simplistic to a fault due to just guessing which side to land on or to get more heads than Igor (or all tails for some reason). The prizes are not worth it. There's again no need to play this to recruit him.
Mice-catching
This is the other required minigame, for Nalkul and Champo. It's super silly and actually fun, because you are Champo catching the mice in the building and putting them into a cage. Sometimes when chasing mice some will try to free the caged ones, which is easy to tangle with, and it's somewhat funny watching the cat bang into the wall. Afterwards, I think you need to have Champo in the party to redo the minigame, and there are a few good prizes.
Mushroom/Mint wars
The procedures for getting to do this are lame, but like Chinchirorin, it's a purely nostalgic game. A throwback to the original war battle system in Suikoden. Something so fun to see for once, even if it's completely silly. Obviously, it functions exactly how fans would expect, with only marginal differences. No real rewards besides maybe the mushroom/mint, and no real penalties either.
So yeah, only two minigames are required, while the rest are either not fun and not required or pretty good overall and also not required. I didn't include the naval battle system, even though it could count, it's pretty integral as part of the storyline overall (despite being lame). I also don't include the Training Hall or the Confession Booth. One's not an actual minigame while the other, you are really supposed to forgive people anyways, since not forgiving them is actually gonna hurt the chances for Suikoden IV's best ending.
Monday, August 13, 2018
Sunday, August 12, 2018
RPGs: The classic Doomsday MacGuffin and mysterious character archetypes.
We are gonna go here right away due to the connection with the previous cliche. "The aforementioned mysterious girl will be wearing a pendant that will ultimately prove to be the key to either saving the world or destroying it".
Again, I don't like this one, due to it actually being less common than what it implies. It's been awhile since I played the first two Lunar games, but I don't think either Luna or Lucia even had all-important pendants, they were just important female characters when it came to plot-wise. Lucia just wishes to destroy Zophar and find Althena, who of course was simply Luna from the first game. Lufia from Lufia I is Erim, but had no real pendants to speak of. Shana from Legend of Dragoon is the same way also. Arieta from Growlanser 2 is just simply mysterious, and possessed, as well. Final Fantasy 6's Terra also counts, as does Langrisser 2's Liana. Of course, I initially made this post in August of 2018, so afterwards I found even more ladies with mysterious pendants, those being Skies of Arcadia's Fina, Final Fantasy IX's Dagger, and Star Ocean 2's Rena.
So who usually has the pendants or Macguffins that the villains usually go after? Why, the heroes of course! How exactly did Cless lose his hometown again in Tales of Phantasia? Because the enemy was after his pendant, the one he received from his parents. You would think Mint, the actual female lead, would have one, but not really. Justin from Grandia also has what's known as a Spirit Stone, something you would think Feena would actually possess. These are definitely plot-relevant items, but the heroes have them, not the heroines.
I guess one good example, that unfortunately has a girl who isn't mysterious using it, is Wild Arm's Tear Drop, an apparently family heirloom the demons are after to take over the world. But Cecilia definitely doesn't strike anyone as mysterious overall. The only other female character who has a good example is Sailor Moon, but it's already established in the anime and Usagi herself is definitely not mysterious either.
So yeah, maybe I haven't played enough games which I can easily remember both parts of this cliche actually happening, since most of the time, when this actually happens, it's usually from a non-mysterious female or an actual male who has the world-changing device. The actual mysterious girls are just mysterious by themselves. If there's anything to know about pendants, or other fancy jewelry in RPGs, you're more likely to see them used as accessories for stats and other things, but not necessarily plot-relevant ones.
Again, I don't like this one, due to it actually being less common than what it implies. It's been awhile since I played the first two Lunar games, but I don't think either Luna or Lucia even had all-important pendants, they were just important female characters when it came to plot-wise. Lucia just wishes to destroy Zophar and find Althena, who of course was simply Luna from the first game. Lufia from Lufia I is Erim, but had no real pendants to speak of. Shana from Legend of Dragoon is the same way also. Arieta from Growlanser 2 is just simply mysterious, and possessed, as well. Final Fantasy 6's Terra also counts, as does Langrisser 2's Liana. Of course, I initially made this post in August of 2018, so afterwards I found even more ladies with mysterious pendants, those being Skies of Arcadia's Fina, Final Fantasy IX's Dagger, and Star Ocean 2's Rena.
So who usually has the pendants or Macguffins that the villains usually go after? Why, the heroes of course! How exactly did Cless lose his hometown again in Tales of Phantasia? Because the enemy was after his pendant, the one he received from his parents. You would think Mint, the actual female lead, would have one, but not really. Justin from Grandia also has what's known as a Spirit Stone, something you would think Feena would actually possess. These are definitely plot-relevant items, but the heroes have them, not the heroines.
I guess one good example, that unfortunately has a girl who isn't mysterious using it, is Wild Arm's Tear Drop, an apparently family heirloom the demons are after to take over the world. But Cecilia definitely doesn't strike anyone as mysterious overall. The only other female character who has a good example is Sailor Moon, but it's already established in the anime and Usagi herself is definitely not mysterious either.
So yeah, maybe I haven't played enough games which I can easily remember both parts of this cliche actually happening, since most of the time, when this actually happens, it's usually from a non-mysterious female or an actual male who has the world-changing device. The actual mysterious girls are just mysterious by themselves. If there's anything to know about pendants, or other fancy jewelry in RPGs, you're more likely to see them used as accessories for stats and other things, but not necessarily plot-relevant ones.
Saturday, August 11, 2018
RPGs: Heroes being blatant with heroism
So let's keep going with this third one. "No matter what she's accused of doing or how mysterious her origins are, the hero will always be ready to fight to the death for any girl he met three seconds ago."
This is a cliche that actually makes me hate cliches in general because really, not only is it not as common as it should be, it's also somehow a reason why people tend to hate RPGs, or any other game with the "save the princess" mantra which this cliche actually stems from. Not every RPG female is a mysterious sort of character, and not every male lead is energetic enough to gut-bust his way through opposition just to either save her at some point, or to prove how strong he is.
This rule is also apparently called the Hiro rule, after Lunar 2's Hiro, who of course would do this for Lucia. It's not TOO obvious, especially in the beginning since Lucia is clearly stronger than Hiro while being just as mysterious. Luna and Alex from Lunar 1 are actually better examples of this, as Alex's determination is in all honesty much better than Hiro's.
There's not a whole lot of other examples outside Lunar I can think of with mysterious girls and steadfast heroes. Langrisser II has one with Erwin and Liana, while Growlanser II has one with Wein and Arieta, although in that case it seems like the two knew each other before hand and the circumstances involving the latter actually end up being a lot more dire. Dart and Shana in The Legend of Dragoon is probably a direct case of this rule too, as is the titular Lufia in her game given the main hero's desire to do what he can for her. Not to forget Wain and Seena in Lufia 3.
An even harder case to pull out is Final Fantasy VIII, which again, I'm still playing as of this writing, but Squall sure as hell didn't feel super-heroic when Rinoa was in trouble in the first disc. Yet somehow, it's at the third disc where his inward personality reveals he is in fact fighting for her, which honestly just sort of came out of the blue. This is a case of the girl being mysterious (I think, haven't really played enough of this game to fully see if its true) but the hero not really feeling like fighting for her.
But in most cases, there's not much in the way of a mysterious girl most of the time that the hero actually fights for. It's usually a girl who's a commonplace female character without any mysterious backgrounds to speak of. Feena in Grandia sure is adventurous and popular, but not necessarily as mysterious. You can say the same for Elena in Grandia II as well, as she's a commonplace priest. Can't say the same for Millenia naturally, but she's a completely different character altogether. And Tia and Selan in Lufia II don't strike as mysterious. Iris does, but you don't see Maxim fighting for that character. Cecilia and Lilka in the first two Wild Arms games are sorceresses, but neither are mysterious, while Kanon and Marivel in Wild Arms 2 are significantly more mysterious but neither are characters Ashley fights for. In Romancing SaGa 3, Sara's the only really mysterious one out of the main females, but nobody really fights for her all the time until probably the very end of the game anyways. Sharl and Muse are examples of this though, although Sharl's not a main character so it doesn't apply to the cliche fully. A gender-inverted version is in Rhapsody, where Cornet, the would-be princess, fights to reclaim Prince Ferdinand, yet neither character is mysterious in the slightest. Even Thousand Arms, which manages to imply Sodina as the main female lead, just pulls the "hero" part of the cliche, since Meis decides (and fails hilariously) to fight to prove his worth to her. Nobody would know that Sodina is mysterious until later though.
So yeah, I don't like this rule. Who does? It's basically "save the princess" except said princess is usually someone moreso tied in with your average JRPG plot than just being a static princess/love interest/whatever. And only a few games, and even fewer franchises, pull it often.
This is a cliche that actually makes me hate cliches in general because really, not only is it not as common as it should be, it's also somehow a reason why people tend to hate RPGs, or any other game with the "save the princess" mantra which this cliche actually stems from. Not every RPG female is a mysterious sort of character, and not every male lead is energetic enough to gut-bust his way through opposition just to either save her at some point, or to prove how strong he is.
This rule is also apparently called the Hiro rule, after Lunar 2's Hiro, who of course would do this for Lucia. It's not TOO obvious, especially in the beginning since Lucia is clearly stronger than Hiro while being just as mysterious. Luna and Alex from Lunar 1 are actually better examples of this, as Alex's determination is in all honesty much better than Hiro's.
There's not a whole lot of other examples outside Lunar I can think of with mysterious girls and steadfast heroes. Langrisser II has one with Erwin and Liana, while Growlanser II has one with Wein and Arieta, although in that case it seems like the two knew each other before hand and the circumstances involving the latter actually end up being a lot more dire. Dart and Shana in The Legend of Dragoon is probably a direct case of this rule too, as is the titular Lufia in her game given the main hero's desire to do what he can for her. Not to forget Wain and Seena in Lufia 3.
An even harder case to pull out is Final Fantasy VIII, which again, I'm still playing as of this writing, but Squall sure as hell didn't feel super-heroic when Rinoa was in trouble in the first disc. Yet somehow, it's at the third disc where his inward personality reveals he is in fact fighting for her, which honestly just sort of came out of the blue. This is a case of the girl being mysterious (I think, haven't really played enough of this game to fully see if its true) but the hero not really feeling like fighting for her.
But in most cases, there's not much in the way of a mysterious girl most of the time that the hero actually fights for. It's usually a girl who's a commonplace female character without any mysterious backgrounds to speak of. Feena in Grandia sure is adventurous and popular, but not necessarily as mysterious. You can say the same for Elena in Grandia II as well, as she's a commonplace priest. Can't say the same for Millenia naturally, but she's a completely different character altogether. And Tia and Selan in Lufia II don't strike as mysterious. Iris does, but you don't see Maxim fighting for that character. Cecilia and Lilka in the first two Wild Arms games are sorceresses, but neither are mysterious, while Kanon and Marivel in Wild Arms 2 are significantly more mysterious but neither are characters Ashley fights for. In Romancing SaGa 3, Sara's the only really mysterious one out of the main females, but nobody really fights for her all the time until probably the very end of the game anyways. Sharl and Muse are examples of this though, although Sharl's not a main character so it doesn't apply to the cliche fully. A gender-inverted version is in Rhapsody, where Cornet, the would-be princess, fights to reclaim Prince Ferdinand, yet neither character is mysterious in the slightest. Even Thousand Arms, which manages to imply Sodina as the main female lead, just pulls the "hero" part of the cliche, since Meis decides (and fails hilariously) to fight to prove his worth to her. Nobody would know that Sodina is mysterious until later though.
So yeah, I don't like this rule. Who does? It's basically "save the princess" except said princess is usually someone moreso tied in with your average JRPG plot than just being a static princess/love interest/whatever. And only a few games, and even fewer franchises, pull it often.
Thursday, August 9, 2018
Suikoden Minigames: Part 3
Yep, I am still doing this for some reason. Anyways, Suikoden 3 didn't have a whole lot of minigames, which is both good and bad since I don't generally like minigames but Suikoden tends to be decent overall when it comes to them.
First things first, Chinchirorin is out. I guess this little dice-in-a-cup game didn't catch on in the Grasslands region. Whatever. If you want a luck-based minigame, play the lottery. It's just as save-scummable, although it's liable to take a lot longer. But do it as early as your first few chapters and you'll end up not worrying about money for the rest of the game, or at least until you start spending all your cash on smithing the weapons, since those will take up more than eight times the cash cap.
So yes, there still are recruits that require minigame-winning to get, but not a whole lot of them. Two recruits, Mike and Billy, have card games, which yes you have to beat them once. The game Kabu, which Mike plays, is a little like Blackjack, and, well, it plays like it. I don't remember if there were any prizes to win after beating him the first time and challenging him again. But I do know that Guppo, the game Billy plays, does have prizes. Of course, he has to be beaten the first time, and the game is essentially a High/Low card game. Some of the prizes are unique, but not really game-changing, but hey, that's all fine and dandy.
There's apparently a horse-racing minigame which you can do if you really want. Again, there are prizes for winning. But also you don't even need to do it to recruit the one who hosts it, Kathy. That's great. As a result, this game is completely optional.
There's not a whole lot of things I can actually constitute as minigames. The way to recruit Kathy is by counting horses in the field, made somewhat annoying since you do it in a place with random encounters. Recruiting Kidd involves a lame detective story but you aren't really being challenged to do anything. Ernie just offers a trivia game. And the rest of the optional recruits, of which there are far fewer in Suikoden III, usually just require an item, another recruit, or something like doing a duel which isn't much of a minigame given how it's a Suikoden mainstay.
Perhaps the most unique one may also not count as a minigame, but I feel the need to mention it because it is unique. Yep, the theater. It's quite interesting, you get to pick a play, and pick from your own stars of destiny for the cast. And then you see how it's done, with many characters doing either well or terribly, a lot of humor value can come from these things. And regardless, you still earn money. It's a very nice touch overall.
So yeah, this was the low point when it came to actual minigames, as Suikoden III is considerably more plot-oriented. Not that it's that bad though.
First things first, Chinchirorin is out. I guess this little dice-in-a-cup game didn't catch on in the Grasslands region. Whatever. If you want a luck-based minigame, play the lottery. It's just as save-scummable, although it's liable to take a lot longer. But do it as early as your first few chapters and you'll end up not worrying about money for the rest of the game, or at least until you start spending all your cash on smithing the weapons, since those will take up more than eight times the cash cap.
So yes, there still are recruits that require minigame-winning to get, but not a whole lot of them. Two recruits, Mike and Billy, have card games, which yes you have to beat them once. The game Kabu, which Mike plays, is a little like Blackjack, and, well, it plays like it. I don't remember if there were any prizes to win after beating him the first time and challenging him again. But I do know that Guppo, the game Billy plays, does have prizes. Of course, he has to be beaten the first time, and the game is essentially a High/Low card game. Some of the prizes are unique, but not really game-changing, but hey, that's all fine and dandy.
There's apparently a horse-racing minigame which you can do if you really want. Again, there are prizes for winning. But also you don't even need to do it to recruit the one who hosts it, Kathy. That's great. As a result, this game is completely optional.
There's not a whole lot of things I can actually constitute as minigames. The way to recruit Kathy is by counting horses in the field, made somewhat annoying since you do it in a place with random encounters. Recruiting Kidd involves a lame detective story but you aren't really being challenged to do anything. Ernie just offers a trivia game. And the rest of the optional recruits, of which there are far fewer in Suikoden III, usually just require an item, another recruit, or something like doing a duel which isn't much of a minigame given how it's a Suikoden mainstay.
Perhaps the most unique one may also not count as a minigame, but I feel the need to mention it because it is unique. Yep, the theater. It's quite interesting, you get to pick a play, and pick from your own stars of destiny for the cast. And then you see how it's done, with many characters doing either well or terribly, a lot of humor value can come from these things. And regardless, you still earn money. It's a very nice touch overall.
So yeah, this was the low point when it came to actual minigames, as Suikoden III is considerably more plot-oriented. Not that it's that bad though.
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Top 5 Stupidest RPG Heroes
Yep, another Top 5. Isn't it strange how RPG heroes tend to be the most dynamic individuals? You watch them do things in-game that makes you think, hmm, maybe that wasn't a good idea in hindsight, although it gets the job done and alleviating overall party and world anxiety. Some heroes are pretty dumb though. This list will count down heroes that I found to be the most idiotic, as even though they are heroic in a sense, they are easily ratted out by party members or others who pretty much are smarter, party members who despite their loyalty, know that these heroes can do much better.
This list was pretty tough to put together. For one, silent protagonists pretty much don't count. I also decide to use characters that aren't the main character, because they try in their heroism or what not but fail in the end. And just so you know, quite a few notable characters don't make the cut. Justin from Grandia isn't the brightest kid at all, his lust for adventure tends to get him in trouble, but he at least is competent enough to be more heroic than idiotic. Meis from Thousand Arms is another one, showcasing idiocy when trying to look awesome in front of a girl in the beginning, but you don't see much of that later in the game for it to qualify. And Sailor Moon? Surprisingly Sailor Moon: Another Story shows the title character at her most heroic, moreso than any other form of media featuring her.
5. Laguna (Final Fantasy VIII)
This serves as a slight spoiler for me, but I am actually in the middle of playing Final Fantasy 8 while typing this. So I don't know literally everything there is to know about Laguna, but from what I have seen of this guy, he belongs here. How he managed to get into the Galbadian army amazes me giving his overall attitude, falling head over heels over this woman, and naturally failing at expressing his feelings. And even before that, he causes a traffic jam. He's pretty much the butt of jokes from Kiros and Ward, but his real stupid moment comes from the second time you control him. Okay cool, let's trigger some traps for enemy soldiers to fall into, then eventually you still have to fight a few, which wound the hell out of Kiros and Ward. So Laguna, who presumably also gets injured roughly but not as bad as his comrades, reaches a cliffside. His comrades are in considerably worse shape, then Laguna spots a window of opportunity below. What does he do? Plunge his friends down the cliffside into the water while they are nearly dead. Of course, he jumps off too. But you should never do that to your friends. It's absolutely miraculous how all three of them survive, but Christ, this guy really doesn't have the ability to be decent.
*UPDATE* Laguna isn't entirely that idiotic. Naturally, he's an "at heart" person who doesn't really use his brain all that much, and after he had quit the military he ended up being a rather fatherly-like kind of guy to Ellone. In other words, he's fully light-hearted, and somehow manages to come up with a brilliant, albeit somewhat still stupid, strategy to liberate Esthar from Adel, then becoming the president of the land and managing to rule it surprisingly well enough. Because of this, he and Stahn switch places on the list, but what he did during the Lunatic Pandora dream sequence cannot be unaccounted for, so he still remains an idiotic hero.
4. Stahn (Tales of Destiny)
For some reason, and I'm not entirely sure why, Stahn is considered to be the token idiot hero as far as JRPGs are concerned. Though I don't really think he should be the prime case of an idiot hero, he still counts as one. Since Cless wasn't an idiot in the first Tales game, they decided to make Stahn the guy who gets the abuse from party members, or to be more specific, his talking sword, which he just finds and somehow the two are mutually bonded. Some of the other party members do rat out his stupidity at times, but none so much as that sword of his. But they do make fun of his heritage a lot, angering Stahn just because he's a country boy. I say who cares. Stahn's not really too idiotic, but when it comes time for a heroic stand, you shouldn't spend most of your time sleeping. This is why he's on the list, due to the fact that he's such a heavy sleeper, apparently you have to rudely wake the guy up. Real slow, pal.
3. Snowe (Suikoden IV)
It's hard to judge Snowe. On one hand, he stands opposed to the main hero of the game completely after the events involving the Rune of Punishment, almost as an anti-hero sort of character who you end up fighting due to being on opposite sides. On the other hand, he's under the belief that what he does is the right thing entirely, no matter what it is. Then when the pushing turns to shoving, he's all cowardly because he doesn't want to stand defeated against powerful foes. Now, it's quite amazing, because Snowe certainly shows he wants to be a fighter, as seen in the opening of Suikoden Tactics and the first few parts of Suikoden IV. But he's got no strategy. Diving headlong into a battle isn't gonna do wonders, neither is the aforementioned faking of an injury. Once the main hero is exiled, Snowe is somehow put into command, and naturally his attempt of heroism by selling Razril out to Kooluk fails when the townsfolk all want him out. All this because he believed this was the right thing to do. Then again, maybe that wasn't entirely as bad a move as his other ones, since other options would have been far worse in that case. Again, a very hard character to judge. He's doing what he thinks is best, but no one else thinks its heroic at all.
2. Danette (Soul Nomad & The World Eaters)
I really wanted to put someone in between Danette and my #1 pick, but I couldn't find any worthwhile idiots, so Danette is #2. You think going up against a big bad World Eater is gonna earn you a lot of brownie points? Well, you'll need a lot more power to beat one, Danette. And besides, you're not the one with the cool evil guy inside you. The same guy who calls you a stupid cow* because you don't understand situations you're in and are pretty much inconsiderate. Amazing, Gig can backlash this lass and not get killed, since that would kill the main character too. And threatening to snap peoples necks really wears off after a while. Fun fact: Danette never snaps a single person's neck in-game. Her dive into the one-way portal leading to Drazil with the hero defines how wrong she makes things, so much that later on the main hero has decided to call her "Dumbette" due to her ineptitude at keeping hidden. It's just amazing how she's somehow got a terrible backstory with her parents and Crimson Tears that you sort of feel sorry for her, yet she still does some dumb things in-game.
1. Wain (Lufia 3)
Oh man oh man, I really don't want to say it, but people really do need to understand sarcasm. Repeatedly, Wain is not a character that does. Not helping is the fact that his first companion is the one to call him stupid all the time. Seena's not the only one, but she does it repeatedly, even upon meeting just about every new character that joins up. Heck, when Dei is first met, this is how Wain loses sight of him, by being called stupid. Perhaps before that, we have another really stupid moment, by insulting Gades. Now, you shouldn't insult a Sinistral in the Lufia world, and even Seena does this too, it's amazing how the two manage to survive against the big guy afterwards. And then, of course, falling for Seena's obvious trick very late in the game, how she was bad all along, one last "You really are stupid" coming in from her. In a surprising twist though, despite all the stupidity and the betrayal that came upon him, Wain's victory ends up with him and Seena being happy together. I find this amazing, mostly because unlike Lufia in Lufia 1, Seena was pretty much a full-on snark character, especially one who knew about her past and everything. Tricking Wain might just be another thing on her mind even after the game is over.
*Another fun fact: Danette is of the Sepp race, which is a hybrid of a human and a cow. The insult makes complete sense.
This list was pretty tough to put together. For one, silent protagonists pretty much don't count. I also decide to use characters that aren't the main character, because they try in their heroism or what not but fail in the end. And just so you know, quite a few notable characters don't make the cut. Justin from Grandia isn't the brightest kid at all, his lust for adventure tends to get him in trouble, but he at least is competent enough to be more heroic than idiotic. Meis from Thousand Arms is another one, showcasing idiocy when trying to look awesome in front of a girl in the beginning, but you don't see much of that later in the game for it to qualify. And Sailor Moon? Surprisingly Sailor Moon: Another Story shows the title character at her most heroic, moreso than any other form of media featuring her.
5. Laguna (Final Fantasy VIII)
This serves as a slight spoiler for me, but I am actually in the middle of playing Final Fantasy 8 while typing this. So I don't know literally everything there is to know about Laguna, but from what I have seen of this guy, he belongs here. How he managed to get into the Galbadian army amazes me giving his overall attitude, falling head over heels over this woman, and naturally failing at expressing his feelings. And even before that, he causes a traffic jam. He's pretty much the butt of jokes from Kiros and Ward, but his real stupid moment comes from the second time you control him. Okay cool, let's trigger some traps for enemy soldiers to fall into, then eventually you still have to fight a few, which wound the hell out of Kiros and Ward. So Laguna, who presumably also gets injured roughly but not as bad as his comrades, reaches a cliffside. His comrades are in considerably worse shape, then Laguna spots a window of opportunity below. What does he do? Plunge his friends down the cliffside into the water while they are nearly dead. Of course, he jumps off too. But you should never do that to your friends. It's absolutely miraculous how all three of them survive, but Christ, this guy really doesn't have the ability to be decent.
*UPDATE* Laguna isn't entirely that idiotic. Naturally, he's an "at heart" person who doesn't really use his brain all that much, and after he had quit the military he ended up being a rather fatherly-like kind of guy to Ellone. In other words, he's fully light-hearted, and somehow manages to come up with a brilliant, albeit somewhat still stupid, strategy to liberate Esthar from Adel, then becoming the president of the land and managing to rule it surprisingly well enough. Because of this, he and Stahn switch places on the list, but what he did during the Lunatic Pandora dream sequence cannot be unaccounted for, so he still remains an idiotic hero.
4. Stahn (Tales of Destiny)
For some reason, and I'm not entirely sure why, Stahn is considered to be the token idiot hero as far as JRPGs are concerned. Though I don't really think he should be the prime case of an idiot hero, he still counts as one. Since Cless wasn't an idiot in the first Tales game, they decided to make Stahn the guy who gets the abuse from party members, or to be more specific, his talking sword, which he just finds and somehow the two are mutually bonded. Some of the other party members do rat out his stupidity at times, but none so much as that sword of his. But they do make fun of his heritage a lot, angering Stahn just because he's a country boy. I say who cares. Stahn's not really too idiotic, but when it comes time for a heroic stand, you shouldn't spend most of your time sleeping. This is why he's on the list, due to the fact that he's such a heavy sleeper, apparently you have to rudely wake the guy up. Real slow, pal.
3. Snowe (Suikoden IV)
It's hard to judge Snowe. On one hand, he stands opposed to the main hero of the game completely after the events involving the Rune of Punishment, almost as an anti-hero sort of character who you end up fighting due to being on opposite sides. On the other hand, he's under the belief that what he does is the right thing entirely, no matter what it is. Then when the pushing turns to shoving, he's all cowardly because he doesn't want to stand defeated against powerful foes. Now, it's quite amazing, because Snowe certainly shows he wants to be a fighter, as seen in the opening of Suikoden Tactics and the first few parts of Suikoden IV. But he's got no strategy. Diving headlong into a battle isn't gonna do wonders, neither is the aforementioned faking of an injury. Once the main hero is exiled, Snowe is somehow put into command, and naturally his attempt of heroism by selling Razril out to Kooluk fails when the townsfolk all want him out. All this because he believed this was the right thing to do. Then again, maybe that wasn't entirely as bad a move as his other ones, since other options would have been far worse in that case. Again, a very hard character to judge. He's doing what he thinks is best, but no one else thinks its heroic at all.
2. Danette (Soul Nomad & The World Eaters)
I really wanted to put someone in between Danette and my #1 pick, but I couldn't find any worthwhile idiots, so Danette is #2. You think going up against a big bad World Eater is gonna earn you a lot of brownie points? Well, you'll need a lot more power to beat one, Danette. And besides, you're not the one with the cool evil guy inside you. The same guy who calls you a stupid cow* because you don't understand situations you're in and are pretty much inconsiderate. Amazing, Gig can backlash this lass and not get killed, since that would kill the main character too. And threatening to snap peoples necks really wears off after a while. Fun fact: Danette never snaps a single person's neck in-game. Her dive into the one-way portal leading to Drazil with the hero defines how wrong she makes things, so much that later on the main hero has decided to call her "Dumbette" due to her ineptitude at keeping hidden. It's just amazing how she's somehow got a terrible backstory with her parents and Crimson Tears that you sort of feel sorry for her, yet she still does some dumb things in-game.
1. Wain (Lufia 3)
Oh man oh man, I really don't want to say it, but people really do need to understand sarcasm. Repeatedly, Wain is not a character that does. Not helping is the fact that his first companion is the one to call him stupid all the time. Seena's not the only one, but she does it repeatedly, even upon meeting just about every new character that joins up. Heck, when Dei is first met, this is how Wain loses sight of him, by being called stupid. Perhaps before that, we have another really stupid moment, by insulting Gades. Now, you shouldn't insult a Sinistral in the Lufia world, and even Seena does this too, it's amazing how the two manage to survive against the big guy afterwards. And then, of course, falling for Seena's obvious trick very late in the game, how she was bad all along, one last "You really are stupid" coming in from her. In a surprising twist though, despite all the stupidity and the betrayal that came upon him, Wain's victory ends up with him and Seena being happy together. I find this amazing, mostly because unlike Lufia in Lufia 1, Seena was pretty much a full-on snark character, especially one who knew about her past and everything. Tricking Wain might just be another thing on her mind even after the game is over.
*Another fun fact: Danette is of the Sepp race, which is a hybrid of a human and a cow. The insult makes complete sense.
Friday, August 3, 2018
All the aggravating things about: The 7th Saga
Hey look, something different for once. I decided to make this on the account of watching some videos where I won't name exactly who made them but it's inspirational enough for me to nitpick exclusively on things. So I decided to pick an RPG at random and decided on The 7th Saga. This little post is gonna involve me stating all the things that I found wrong with The 7th Saga in an a list format.
1. Hey look, The 7th Saga, wait a minute, this title is misleading. The game is a standalone RPG with no prequel to speak of. Somehow it spawned a sequel in Mystic Ark, which is another Japan-only game. Boo.
2. Cool, pick from one of seven characters, and get seven rules, not bad. Then again, you're stuck with that character and one other one, and sometimes, those combinations don't work out. Wilme and Lux? Not gonna be a good combination due to both being mostly physical fighters and both not being able to equip really good armor.
3. Speaking of which, mage armor to mage characters entirely, fighter armor to fighter characters entirely. Wonderful. I think Lejes is an aversion of this, but I haven't used him.
4. So let's look at these characters. Hmm...Kamil is the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. Meaning he sucks in the late game completely.
5. Olvan is basically Kamil with less magic ability and speed and more physical power. Eh.
6. Esuna is fast and evasive but a squishy glass cannon mage. Not to mention the only female protagonist.
7. Wilme is completely ineffective at magic despite being able to use it, and has the crappiest armor choices. He's one to use if you really want to torture yourself.
8. Lux actually has the worst armor choices, I take that back. He also has this super annoying walking noise. Okay, he's pretty good physically and has unique magic. Somehow, people like him. OH AND HE TALKS IN ALL CAPS.
9. Valsu is the token white mage, who completely sucks in the beginning but has a completely broken spell if you level him to get the Elixir spell.
10. Finally Lejes, the token black mage, and for some reason the guy no one likes because he actually is a demon.
11. Well the premise is good, but you don't see anything majorly storyline-related as soon as Lemele sends everyone to the runes. I want to see some character development dammit.
12. Hey look, the battles in this game are REAL HARD. Yep, especially if you pick someone super squishy as your main character like Esuna or Valsu, the first encounters can one-shot your character.
13. The dodging animations are just silly, How come Esuna's the only really good character when it comes to dodging attacks?
14. Well the level curve is decent enough, although I have to grind excessively. Which is nasty considering the enemies I'm gonna be fighting.
15. Sometimes it takes me several different spells to take down just one enemy, and the experience isn't really worth the trouble for some of them.
16. The Petrify spell doesn't do exactly what is expected. It actually encases the target in some random rock and leaves them defenseless to more attacks. Surprisingly it works well on enemies, but it just looks DUMB. Also they will break from the shell anyways.
17. Vacuum2 has the WORST NOISE EVER.
18. The encounter system is actually unique in that you can just stand in place until a dot comes by and gets you into an encounter. If you're not grinding though, trying to avoid the dots while trying to navigate is a hassle.
19. Oh great, CHEST MONSTERS
20. Bosses are somehow not interesting, not even the Pison guy.
21. Those Sage enemies annoyed me quite a bit considering their magic defense. I usually never use a physical attack when using a mage anyways.
22. Hey look I'm bout ready to kill this guy OH HE RUNS AWAY. This is actually the single biggest headache as far as grinding goes, not really dying unless you are up against something that is strong, but watching one enemy run away. It makes grinding longer than it should be.
23. Getting a partner in the form of another apprentice is dumb luck entirely. You go to a town and talk to other apprentices, they may ask to fight you, they may ask to join you, they may just straight up fight you.
24. And if they fight? Guess what? There's no way they will join you ever again for the rest of the game. Next time you meet them, they fight you, no questions asked.
25. Speaking of, the battles against the apprentices are the toughest in the ENTIRE GAME, although of course it depends on who's being fought, Lejes is the only one you'd want to fight, as long as you have the Star Rune, because his first move is always to lower your defense, and the Star Rune is a free defense boost.
26. The real annoyance with fighting the apprentices is that they always heal themselves whenever they get to about half health.
27. Oh of course, the possibility of an apprentice stabbing you in the back once you get a rune, forcing you to never use them again. Apparently Esuna and Lux are the only two exempt from doing this.
28. And as far as battling apprentices go, there are two instances where they WILL have runes, not counting losing to other fights with them and them taking runes.
29. The first is when one goes crazy and enslaves a town called Patrof, you wouldn't know who it is, but upon beating them, they are dead forever. The other instance happens later, and you just simply take the rune from them when you win.
30. Did I forget to mention that the apprentices do in fact gain more as you gain more? With the exception of the insane one that is.
31. Again Esuna and Lux cannot be that one insane apprentice at Patrof. It's like the game wants you to use either of these characters.
32. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH DADADADA DADADADADA, it's in my head forever due to all the battles I fight.
33. I'm actually surprised, this predates Chrono Trigger in terms of time travel. But it's done so much better there anyways.
34. Some subplots are pretty odd. Olvan apparently gets to go through two dungeons if he is either the main character, or if the main character is dead and Olvan is in the party. Thanks for forcing it upon others to use the guy, oh wait these dungeons aren't that cool anyways.
35. The layout of the town of Bone is really retarded.
36. The town of Bilthem is a complete troll of a place upon first visit. Everyone worships the king Doros like crazy. Oh, turns out it's pretty much mind screw.
37. Whee, a glider...oh, crash-landed already?
38. You know what's awful for a mage character? Losing the ability to lose magic. For a good portion of the ice lands, all the magic you have cannot be accessed. And it's all because some sage curses you because he thinks you're a threat. What a twat.
39. You fight Gariso beforehand. An ANAGRAM of the main villain's name. Also having to use some special item to cause the boss to be visible isn't really new either.
40. Like I didn't see the fact that Lemele is evil, oh wait he was dead anyways and is known as Gorsia. That's not a really intimidating villain name. Oh yeah, you lose the runes you had too.
41. Finally, the 7th Saga has THE WORST ending I have ever seen in an RPG ever. Great, you beat Gorsia, oh wait he kills your main character! And then your main character gets resurrected as Lemele!? Wait, I had a partner with me! What happened to him?!
1. Hey look, The 7th Saga, wait a minute, this title is misleading. The game is a standalone RPG with no prequel to speak of. Somehow it spawned a sequel in Mystic Ark, which is another Japan-only game. Boo.
2. Cool, pick from one of seven characters, and get seven rules, not bad. Then again, you're stuck with that character and one other one, and sometimes, those combinations don't work out. Wilme and Lux? Not gonna be a good combination due to both being mostly physical fighters and both not being able to equip really good armor.
3. Speaking of which, mage armor to mage characters entirely, fighter armor to fighter characters entirely. Wonderful. I think Lejes is an aversion of this, but I haven't used him.
4. So let's look at these characters. Hmm...Kamil is the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. Meaning he sucks in the late game completely.
5. Olvan is basically Kamil with less magic ability and speed and more physical power. Eh.
6. Esuna is fast and evasive but a squishy glass cannon mage. Not to mention the only female protagonist.
7. Wilme is completely ineffective at magic despite being able to use it, and has the crappiest armor choices. He's one to use if you really want to torture yourself.
8. Lux actually has the worst armor choices, I take that back. He also has this super annoying walking noise. Okay, he's pretty good physically and has unique magic. Somehow, people like him. OH AND HE TALKS IN ALL CAPS.
9. Valsu is the token white mage, who completely sucks in the beginning but has a completely broken spell if you level him to get the Elixir spell.
10. Finally Lejes, the token black mage, and for some reason the guy no one likes because he actually is a demon.
11. Well the premise is good, but you don't see anything majorly storyline-related as soon as Lemele sends everyone to the runes. I want to see some character development dammit.
12. Hey look, the battles in this game are REAL HARD. Yep, especially if you pick someone super squishy as your main character like Esuna or Valsu, the first encounters can one-shot your character.
13. The dodging animations are just silly, How come Esuna's the only really good character when it comes to dodging attacks?
14. Well the level curve is decent enough, although I have to grind excessively. Which is nasty considering the enemies I'm gonna be fighting.
15. Sometimes it takes me several different spells to take down just one enemy, and the experience isn't really worth the trouble for some of them.
16. The Petrify spell doesn't do exactly what is expected. It actually encases the target in some random rock and leaves them defenseless to more attacks. Surprisingly it works well on enemies, but it just looks DUMB. Also they will break from the shell anyways.
17. Vacuum2 has the WORST NOISE EVER.
18. The encounter system is actually unique in that you can just stand in place until a dot comes by and gets you into an encounter. If you're not grinding though, trying to avoid the dots while trying to navigate is a hassle.
19. Oh great, CHEST MONSTERS
20. Bosses are somehow not interesting, not even the Pison guy.
21. Those Sage enemies annoyed me quite a bit considering their magic defense. I usually never use a physical attack when using a mage anyways.
22. Hey look I'm bout ready to kill this guy OH HE RUNS AWAY. This is actually the single biggest headache as far as grinding goes, not really dying unless you are up against something that is strong, but watching one enemy run away. It makes grinding longer than it should be.
23. Getting a partner in the form of another apprentice is dumb luck entirely. You go to a town and talk to other apprentices, they may ask to fight you, they may ask to join you, they may just straight up fight you.
24. And if they fight? Guess what? There's no way they will join you ever again for the rest of the game. Next time you meet them, they fight you, no questions asked.
25. Speaking of, the battles against the apprentices are the toughest in the ENTIRE GAME, although of course it depends on who's being fought, Lejes is the only one you'd want to fight, as long as you have the Star Rune, because his first move is always to lower your defense, and the Star Rune is a free defense boost.
26. The real annoyance with fighting the apprentices is that they always heal themselves whenever they get to about half health.
27. Oh of course, the possibility of an apprentice stabbing you in the back once you get a rune, forcing you to never use them again. Apparently Esuna and Lux are the only two exempt from doing this.
28. And as far as battling apprentices go, there are two instances where they WILL have runes, not counting losing to other fights with them and them taking runes.
29. The first is when one goes crazy and enslaves a town called Patrof, you wouldn't know who it is, but upon beating them, they are dead forever. The other instance happens later, and you just simply take the rune from them when you win.
30. Did I forget to mention that the apprentices do in fact gain more as you gain more? With the exception of the insane one that is.
31. Again Esuna and Lux cannot be that one insane apprentice at Patrof. It's like the game wants you to use either of these characters.
32. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH DADADADA DADADADADA, it's in my head forever due to all the battles I fight.
33. I'm actually surprised, this predates Chrono Trigger in terms of time travel. But it's done so much better there anyways.
34. Some subplots are pretty odd. Olvan apparently gets to go through two dungeons if he is either the main character, or if the main character is dead and Olvan is in the party. Thanks for forcing it upon others to use the guy, oh wait these dungeons aren't that cool anyways.
35. The layout of the town of Bone is really retarded.
36. The town of Bilthem is a complete troll of a place upon first visit. Everyone worships the king Doros like crazy. Oh, turns out it's pretty much mind screw.
37. Whee, a glider...oh, crash-landed already?
38. You know what's awful for a mage character? Losing the ability to lose magic. For a good portion of the ice lands, all the magic you have cannot be accessed. And it's all because some sage curses you because he thinks you're a threat. What a twat.
39. You fight Gariso beforehand. An ANAGRAM of the main villain's name. Also having to use some special item to cause the boss to be visible isn't really new either.
40. Like I didn't see the fact that Lemele is evil, oh wait he was dead anyways and is known as Gorsia. That's not a really intimidating villain name. Oh yeah, you lose the runes you had too.
41. Finally, the 7th Saga has THE WORST ending I have ever seen in an RPG ever. Great, you beat Gorsia, oh wait he kills your main character! And then your main character gets resurrected as Lemele!? Wait, I had a partner with me! What happened to him?!
Thursday, August 2, 2018
The Legend of Zelda: An RPG series or not?
If there is one game series that Nintendo has that seems to egregiously overrated by fans, I'm talking NOT about Pokemon, NOT about Mario, but Zelda. This series is loved so much by avid gamers, and I'll admit I like the series, but not to abnormal levels. Every time I get bored and look on GameFAQs to see whatever competition is going on, I look at the final results eventually, and hey look Link won the character battle, oh wait is that Majora's Mask winning the best game of all time award? Yeah, I don't get the extreme hype the Zelda series gets. That's really not the overall gist of this blog post though. I want to discuss whether or not Zelda is an RPG series.
The short answer is no, as it is more of action-adventure. The long answer is that every game that isn't Zelda II is action-adventure.
See action-adventure can easily be determined by looking at the first game in the series. It's top-down, you have enemies roaming a screen, can kill them at will, they leave stuff behind when they die, and you have several tools of the trade to do all sorts of things. Also a health bar which is easy to figure out, don't touch enemies or attacks to avoid them, get powerups to get things in ship-shape. And the overall puzzle aspect of things tends to take precedence a lot.
Now an action-RPG, which is what I consider Zelda II to be, has some action-adventure aspects, especially the puzzle kind. But more importantly, it utilizes RPG-like stats, gains, experience, and the gameplay isn't turn-based or something you would usually see in a typical JRPG. Zelda II ends up having a level system, so you kill enemies in your spare time and eventually you level up. That's when you can decide a stat gain, for attack power, magic, or life points. Heck, this predates the Mario RPGs on how you want to tweak your stats upon level up. Now Zelda II has a much different perspective than the other Zelda games pre-3D era, but the bottom line is, it did the action-RPG pretty well. Other games also do this formula quite well, the Soul Blazer series, Threads of Fate, Brave Fencer Musashi, even Hydlide, all of which have action-oriented gameplay but allowed for level or stat gains. The other Zelda games, or The Guardian Legend, or Startropics, are action-adventure, in that the overall gains come from pickups and there's no real level-up system.
Does this make me like Zelda II any more than the other games? No, because it is quite challenging and can not be fun at times, as opposed to other games in the series. But I'm not gonna deny the fact that when I look for RPGs, Zelda II qualifies as one.
The short answer is no, as it is more of action-adventure. The long answer is that every game that isn't Zelda II is action-adventure.
See action-adventure can easily be determined by looking at the first game in the series. It's top-down, you have enemies roaming a screen, can kill them at will, they leave stuff behind when they die, and you have several tools of the trade to do all sorts of things. Also a health bar which is easy to figure out, don't touch enemies or attacks to avoid them, get powerups to get things in ship-shape. And the overall puzzle aspect of things tends to take precedence a lot.
Now an action-RPG, which is what I consider Zelda II to be, has some action-adventure aspects, especially the puzzle kind. But more importantly, it utilizes RPG-like stats, gains, experience, and the gameplay isn't turn-based or something you would usually see in a typical JRPG. Zelda II ends up having a level system, so you kill enemies in your spare time and eventually you level up. That's when you can decide a stat gain, for attack power, magic, or life points. Heck, this predates the Mario RPGs on how you want to tweak your stats upon level up. Now Zelda II has a much different perspective than the other Zelda games pre-3D era, but the bottom line is, it did the action-RPG pretty well. Other games also do this formula quite well, the Soul Blazer series, Threads of Fate, Brave Fencer Musashi, even Hydlide, all of which have action-oriented gameplay but allowed for level or stat gains. The other Zelda games, or The Guardian Legend, or Startropics, are action-adventure, in that the overall gains come from pickups and there's no real level-up system.
Does this make me like Zelda II any more than the other games? No, because it is quite challenging and can not be fun at times, as opposed to other games in the series. But I'm not gonna deny the fact that when I look for RPGs, Zelda II qualifies as one.
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