Let's continue this overdrive on some crappy and not-so-crappy minigames, this time making ourselves into Suikoden II, a game where RNG will likely throw itself at you the same way and it's certainly harder to manipulate.
I'm not even sure how it's done, honest. It is still possible to savescum some of the minigames here, as well as the war battle mechanic. Hell, I'll even mention the war battle mechanic at the end of this rant. So about the other ones. Well, there's a rope-climbing minigame easily accessible in the castle. It's probably the only game in which savescumming can in fact win the game easily, all of this involving a dice roll. Actually, since all the prizes are different in the rope-climbing minigame and you'd probably reset multiple times until you find the appropriate prize, you'll actually realize how hard it is to come in second place, whereas it's much easier to be first or last.
Certainly is odd how a rope-climbing minigame involving a die is much easier to manipulate RNG than the series staple of Chinchirorin, where you can't just sit next to who you are playing against and hope they get a different hand each and every time. It's just not exciting anymore. What's worse is that this is a required minigame for crossing a river, again. And it's required two more times, one to get the guy who sailed you across, and another to recruit another guy, both for 108 stars. The biggest issue may actually not be the RNG itself, but the maximum bet limit. For both recruits you have to rake in 5000, the max possible to bet is 3000 and unfortunately there are no consecutive earnings this time around. Congrats on making a game-breaking classic minigame into one I wouldn't want to touch again, Suikoden II.
So any other notable ones pertaining to characters? Well, Yam Koo offers a fishing minigame, entirely what you would expect if you are a fan of the Breath of Fire fishing minigames. But it's much better in those games than it is here. Tony the gardener has some whack-a-mole minigame which isn't really rewarding. Karen offers for you to dance to get her to be recruited, and it's rhythmic, but nothing else exciting.
And then the meat of the minigames that truly end up unique is culminated in something culinary. I'm talking about the cookoffs, which are unique in nature due to their outlandishness and Iron Chef-esque presentation. It's not just a minigame, but an entire sidequest revolving around Hai Yo, with recipes to win, one chef which is hopeless to win against because he cheats, and a storyline involving characters and a sacred recipe. So where's the RNG? The judges, picked from the character's own recruits, constitute the four judges, and they all have different tastes, so you are definitely not going to get a fair game each and every time. This is especially true for some characters, so imagine you have a vegetarian like Nanami as a judge, combined with a meat lover as well as a judge who's harsh. Good luck, because as soon as you input which recipes to cook, it's all dependent on it. There's no control over the characters (your own or the other team) once the recipes are decided, and there's pretty much no control over which judges you get and what their scores end up being. I give them credit for the overall presentation but will not tolerate the random factor of actually winning.
And so I get to the war battles, which of course consitute its own minigame and is integral in the Suikoden series. Also it changed from the boring rock-paper-scissors variant from the first game, well, somewhat. Parts of it still do apply but it is often not entirely noticeable. Thing is, RNG can really be nasty in this game, especially if you lose a unit with a character that can be permanently killed like Tuta. The battle system here is quite Langrisser-esque, go towards the character you want to attack and let the game take over. Sometimes nothing happens, sometimes a soldier or two on a side goes down, sometimes half of them (which is a sword's worth of damage), and well, you know what happens after that. Sometimes, luck really does have a factor in that a really powerful unit gets run through by a unit that's not as tough. There are ways to inflict some good free damage on units, and there's not too many instances of war battles that are really awful. Perhaps what I really hate is how you don't have full control over most troops in war battles until the midpoint of the game, where many allies are computer controlled and often are defeated easily (not to mention recruiting Gilbert). With such nastiness in RNG that often can't be manipulated, I say Suikoden II's war battle system is the worst. I get this game is a classic, and really shines in its overall gameplay as well as just about everything else apart from horrid translation, but really these minigames are a major source of frustration should I be tasked with doing them.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Monday, July 30, 2018
Top 5 Most Terrifying RPGs.
We can tell just how horrifying games can get sometimes, and RPGs tend to never be an exception. So many games have at least one thing that will likely terrify a young audience, whether it's through character death, world destruction, or just about anything that isn't truly good and doesn't lead to a usually cliche "happily ever after" ordeal. This list counts down five of the RPGs that I truly think are the most horrifying overall, the ones that if you were a character in them, you run the risk of an unfortunate happening at just about any moment.
5. Grandia
Honestly, both of the first two Grandias belong here, especially considering the Eldritch horrors you go through for the endgame dungeons, as well as the corruption of a major figure that is eventually killed. Grandia 1 edges out over its sequel in an interesting way, because it most definitely not a grim RPG on its onset at all. It's only until you reach the second disc and meet Rapp where you realize that things take a grim turn. Rapp's original village has been turned to stone, obviously with no way of resolving the victims. For that matter, the original Laine faired even worse, with petrified bodies floating in a location that sure as hell isn't a friendly abode. The bosses met during this disc also drive the point home, along with the crises that eventually happen all because of Gaia. Not to mention the motif of sacrifice, which attempts to take a toll on certain characters in hte game. Now Grandia II only had the corrupt demonic church as its main horror, but it managed to do so well enough, so it gets an honorable mention. But it's in the shadows when it comes to the horror presented in the second half of Grandia.
4. Live-A-Live
Here's an oddball. You have eight total settings in this game, and yet somehow, all but two of them are rather horrific. So let's leave out both the prehistoric and the Western scenarios, as both tend to be mostly comical in how they are done and the only terror present is shown in the final boss fight. The Ninja scenario is quite nasty with whichever characters you decide to kill, similar to the demon path in Soul Nomad, but this is overshadowed by Ode Iou's true form. The present chapter involving the strong fighters seems fair enough, but then you find out Odie Oldbright killed all the previous competitors. The Kung Fu chapter was something I described a bit in my analysis of doomed hometowns, and my point still stands there when the master's dojo is raided and two students are actually killed. The medieval chapter which serves as the game's culmination shows the emptiness after Oersted takes power as the demon king. And yet the most horrifying chapters are the futuristic ones. Mechanical Heart is entirely a survival horror game in an RPG, with a behemoth that can instantly kill your robot character as well as maul others onboard the ship. And Blood Flow? Surprisingly the most terrifying. It's bad enough the enemies are bikers, it's even worse when the gang is involved in a process to liquefy humans, all to awaken some deity. It somehow manages to be even worse than when Thuris was eating his followers in Soul Nomad. You obviously don't get to see how it's done, and that's for the better, but the mere thought is inane in itself. So somehow, the majority of the game manages to actually be quite the heart-wrencher
3. Legend of Legaia
Yep, this one is on here, and if you played the game, you'll know exactly why. The entire intro shows what went wrong, the idea of cybernetic enhancements to do everything, going wrong thanks to a mist, causing these Seru to go out of control as well as grip and zombify individual humans. There's so many in-game examples of horror in this game. Remember the underground Octam and the earthquakes? And to think again, an actual sacrificial ritual also exists in-game, in which your sole female offers herself up to save a poor NPC from being offered, then the two guys have to save her from the largest Seru. It gets far worse later on. Sim-Seru are considered way worse than the regular ones. You think that fight against Gaza was bad, wait till you reach Conkram, an actual seashell constructed out of a Sim-Seru. Nothing could be done about the inhabitants there, and to make things worse, they are completely doomed. Rim Elm almost suffers this way but is saved at the very end, but those thoughts of all the villagers you know, including your sister, father, love interest, her mother, people you know about, all fused in an abomination so completely fleshed out. It's truly horrifying. No wonder this game got compared to Silent Hill.
2. Breath of Fire 2
I have fond, fond memories of this game. Memories that made me feel like not playing another RPG ever again. This game aces the corrupt church plot far better than Grandia 2 did, and giving in the fact that almost every major boss you eventually fight has not only been a con-artist but a demon at the same time. From the impostor frog prince Quadra/Kuwadora, to the rich businessman Trout. From the tournament chairman Augus to the crazed Highland general Shupkay. And then the terrifying-looking Necroman and his deadly attacks, all of these are demons. Not to mention a zombie status effect that is truly nasty and original for a SNES RPG. Oh yes, this game manages to terrify in its gameplay, which is quite the feat. Let's not forget that you can easily end up killing your own father without realizing he's strapped to the church's main machine, as well as the opening of the demon gate. And the motif of sacrifice rears its head yet again, in order to get Anfini/Infinity, you get to see each of your party members make statements of how they enjoyed their adventures with Ryu, while his clone tells him to sacrifice one of them. The thought of doing so is truly wrong, just like in Grandia. But if that weren't enough, even after the denial of a sacrifice, the actual confrontation against Deathevan is one with circumstances that actually crystallize and shatter all of Ryu's companions right before the final confrontation. Despite the happiness of bringing them back and killing off Deathevan, there's the matter of this game's endings, and most players see the one where Ryu ends up being the new gate guardian, forever dooming himself to a fate such as this. Breath of Fire 2 was not only an extreme tearjerker, but an extreme heart-wrencher.
1. Xenogears
To some, it's no surprise that it's at the very top. For those of you who don't know, this game sure has a lot going for it. Just look at Fei, he's got an omnicidal maniac persona inside of him that doesn't distinguish anything as friendly, so it murders anything: the denizens of Fei's village, the comrades in the Nortune sewers, and the entire city of Solaris, practically destroying the surface landscape as well. Rather horrifying is the fact that Fei is unaware he's responsible for all this thanks to the persona. And the other characters don't help matters. Grahf telling Fei he's the true destroyer of God? Yeah, thanks for that. Oh and speaking of Solaris, can you guess what you go through when you reach there? A high-security compound at first, and an underground laboratory. They really went there when they decided to have a scene with Fei and Elly getting hungry, then eating from canned food without realizing it (making matters worse is that Citan is hesitant to tell them about this). We then see the dead remains of humans, all done because the high city's caste system deems them unworthy of life and to be used as food. Holy cripes. And while Disc 2 was a rushed disc, it provides enough information about those on the surface world being turned into Wels in the cutscenes. Wels, of course, are pretty much zombified humans. Two things make this terrifying. One of course is that the characters realize this fact too late, and have murdered quite a few people who were turned into Wels. The other, well, let's just say that the best efforts of the heroes somehow make the situation worse, causing even more Wels to form. The main characters ought to be extremely lucky about not turning into Wels or used as canned food items, because this game manages to make just about everything grim and horrifying.
5. Grandia
Honestly, both of the first two Grandias belong here, especially considering the Eldritch horrors you go through for the endgame dungeons, as well as the corruption of a major figure that is eventually killed. Grandia 1 edges out over its sequel in an interesting way, because it most definitely not a grim RPG on its onset at all. It's only until you reach the second disc and meet Rapp where you realize that things take a grim turn. Rapp's original village has been turned to stone, obviously with no way of resolving the victims. For that matter, the original Laine faired even worse, with petrified bodies floating in a location that sure as hell isn't a friendly abode. The bosses met during this disc also drive the point home, along with the crises that eventually happen all because of Gaia. Not to mention the motif of sacrifice, which attempts to take a toll on certain characters in hte game. Now Grandia II only had the corrupt demonic church as its main horror, but it managed to do so well enough, so it gets an honorable mention. But it's in the shadows when it comes to the horror presented in the second half of Grandia.
4. Live-A-Live
Here's an oddball. You have eight total settings in this game, and yet somehow, all but two of them are rather horrific. So let's leave out both the prehistoric and the Western scenarios, as both tend to be mostly comical in how they are done and the only terror present is shown in the final boss fight. The Ninja scenario is quite nasty with whichever characters you decide to kill, similar to the demon path in Soul Nomad, but this is overshadowed by Ode Iou's true form. The present chapter involving the strong fighters seems fair enough, but then you find out Odie Oldbright killed all the previous competitors. The Kung Fu chapter was something I described a bit in my analysis of doomed hometowns, and my point still stands there when the master's dojo is raided and two students are actually killed. The medieval chapter which serves as the game's culmination shows the emptiness after Oersted takes power as the demon king. And yet the most horrifying chapters are the futuristic ones. Mechanical Heart is entirely a survival horror game in an RPG, with a behemoth that can instantly kill your robot character as well as maul others onboard the ship. And Blood Flow? Surprisingly the most terrifying. It's bad enough the enemies are bikers, it's even worse when the gang is involved in a process to liquefy humans, all to awaken some deity. It somehow manages to be even worse than when Thuris was eating his followers in Soul Nomad. You obviously don't get to see how it's done, and that's for the better, but the mere thought is inane in itself. So somehow, the majority of the game manages to actually be quite the heart-wrencher
3. Legend of Legaia
Yep, this one is on here, and if you played the game, you'll know exactly why. The entire intro shows what went wrong, the idea of cybernetic enhancements to do everything, going wrong thanks to a mist, causing these Seru to go out of control as well as grip and zombify individual humans. There's so many in-game examples of horror in this game. Remember the underground Octam and the earthquakes? And to think again, an actual sacrificial ritual also exists in-game, in which your sole female offers herself up to save a poor NPC from being offered, then the two guys have to save her from the largest Seru. It gets far worse later on. Sim-Seru are considered way worse than the regular ones. You think that fight against Gaza was bad, wait till you reach Conkram, an actual seashell constructed out of a Sim-Seru. Nothing could be done about the inhabitants there, and to make things worse, they are completely doomed. Rim Elm almost suffers this way but is saved at the very end, but those thoughts of all the villagers you know, including your sister, father, love interest, her mother, people you know about, all fused in an abomination so completely fleshed out. It's truly horrifying. No wonder this game got compared to Silent Hill.
2. Breath of Fire 2
I have fond, fond memories of this game. Memories that made me feel like not playing another RPG ever again. This game aces the corrupt church plot far better than Grandia 2 did, and giving in the fact that almost every major boss you eventually fight has not only been a con-artist but a demon at the same time. From the impostor frog prince Quadra/Kuwadora, to the rich businessman Trout. From the tournament chairman Augus to the crazed Highland general Shupkay. And then the terrifying-looking Necroman and his deadly attacks, all of these are demons. Not to mention a zombie status effect that is truly nasty and original for a SNES RPG. Oh yes, this game manages to terrify in its gameplay, which is quite the feat. Let's not forget that you can easily end up killing your own father without realizing he's strapped to the church's main machine, as well as the opening of the demon gate. And the motif of sacrifice rears its head yet again, in order to get Anfini/Infinity, you get to see each of your party members make statements of how they enjoyed their adventures with Ryu, while his clone tells him to sacrifice one of them. The thought of doing so is truly wrong, just like in Grandia. But if that weren't enough, even after the denial of a sacrifice, the actual confrontation against Deathevan is one with circumstances that actually crystallize and shatter all of Ryu's companions right before the final confrontation. Despite the happiness of bringing them back and killing off Deathevan, there's the matter of this game's endings, and most players see the one where Ryu ends up being the new gate guardian, forever dooming himself to a fate such as this. Breath of Fire 2 was not only an extreme tearjerker, but an extreme heart-wrencher.
1. Xenogears
To some, it's no surprise that it's at the very top. For those of you who don't know, this game sure has a lot going for it. Just look at Fei, he's got an omnicidal maniac persona inside of him that doesn't distinguish anything as friendly, so it murders anything: the denizens of Fei's village, the comrades in the Nortune sewers, and the entire city of Solaris, practically destroying the surface landscape as well. Rather horrifying is the fact that Fei is unaware he's responsible for all this thanks to the persona. And the other characters don't help matters. Grahf telling Fei he's the true destroyer of God? Yeah, thanks for that. Oh and speaking of Solaris, can you guess what you go through when you reach there? A high-security compound at first, and an underground laboratory. They really went there when they decided to have a scene with Fei and Elly getting hungry, then eating from canned food without realizing it (making matters worse is that Citan is hesitant to tell them about this). We then see the dead remains of humans, all done because the high city's caste system deems them unworthy of life and to be used as food. Holy cripes. And while Disc 2 was a rushed disc, it provides enough information about those on the surface world being turned into Wels in the cutscenes. Wels, of course, are pretty much zombified humans. Two things make this terrifying. One of course is that the characters realize this fact too late, and have murdered quite a few people who were turned into Wels. The other, well, let's just say that the best efforts of the heroes somehow make the situation worse, causing even more Wels to form. The main characters ought to be extremely lucky about not turning into Wels or used as canned food items, because this game manages to make just about everything grim and horrifying.
Sunday, July 29, 2018
RPGs: Destroying a main character's hometown.
Also known as "No, my beloved peasant village!", this is extremely common in quite a lot of RPGs. Just how common you ask? Well off the top of my head I can tell you which ones employ this cliche.
Legend of Legaia, Xenogears, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 5, Soul Nomad & The World Eaters, Tales of Phantasia, Suikoden III, Breath of Fire 1, Breath of Fire 3, and the Legend of Dragoon.
So the Doomed Hometown rule. According to the grand list, the main character's home will be pretty much destroyed in some way, and often before the opening parts of the game are over. All of the above games do this, and there are other ones that count too. Phantasy Star 2 does involve the destruction of Palma, the home planet in the previous game, but it's an oddball since not only is it never explored by the heroes, the heroes all hail from Mota (Motavia) anyways. And then Phantasy Star 3 makes it even more mysterious, since the entire game is in a spaceship of biodomes, almost assuredly assuming that the planets in Phantasy Star 2 were wiped out as well even though none of the characters hail from there.
So what about the games I mentioned. Well, Tales of Phantasia, Xenogears, Suikoden III, The Legend of Dragoon, and the Breath of Fires have this happen in the opening acts. Ryu wakes up unceremoniously in Breath of Fire 1 to find his town being destroyed during the whole dragon civil war, and Seles in The Legend of Dragoon also gets destroyed in a similar motive as well. All the other examples including Breath of Fire 3 all happen once the main characters return from doing regular errands, long before the game really does end up running its course. Though the motives for many of these are all mixed. You can grasp the meaning of the destruction of Totus in Tales of Phantasia easily because they were after Cless's pendant. The other ones? Not so much. It seems like the hut in Breath of Fire 3 was set on fire by Balio and Sunder as a mere act of revenge. And why did the Karayan village* need to be burned again? What did Lahan do to deserve a whole bunch of gears fighting in it? They made this one even nastier since Fei ends up being the one responsible for most of the destruction and deaths that occurred. There are a few other potential examples of doomed hometowns at openings, like the one in Star Ocean 1 where most of the inhabitants in Ratix's town turn to stone due to a virus, as well as the freezing of Crysta's inhabitants in Terranigma that spark Ark's main adventure.
So the other doomed hometowns tend to happen at times different than the opening sequences. In The Legend of Dragoon, Dart's actual hometown of Neet was destroyed long before the game starts, and the same can be said about Nibelheim in Final Fantasy 7. Soul Nomad & The World Eaters has the Hidden Village get destroyed mid-game (though every villager somehow survives). Numerous character hometowns get sucked into a void in Final Fantasy 5, one of which you may not even get to go to if you don't look for it. And Legend of Legaia? Apparently Conkram was pretty much eldritched well before the game started, and Rim Elm suffers this fate near the game's end. So not even the homes that survive to the very end can be considered fully safe by JRPG law.
Most of these are pretty odd, and what's odder is how many of them don't get rebuilt or anything similar. Again, there are some outliers, but the bottom line is most of these hometowns don't seem to improve. Although Totus does become the town of Miguel in the future, and seems alright in the past, the present town doesn't seem to improve. The Kung Fu master's abode in Live-a-Live never gets rebuilt. Seles and Neet are never rebuilt. Neither Drogen nor Rei's hut are rebuilt in the Breath of Fire games. You can't go back to Lahan, Karaya Village, or Clatos once the plot kicks in for those games. And Conkram is probably the single most nightmarish case of a truly doomed location.
So what are the outliers? Well they aren't what you can consider homes, but Marbule and Viper Manor both get rebuilt in the Home World of Chrono Cross. Kant and Boyzby both get rebuild and actually fully operational after the opening acts of Thousand Arms are over. Ien in Lunar: Walking School gets attacked multiple times but after the chapters are done, the next one shows everything seems to be alright there. So there are at least some characters willing to restore things the way they used to be. Rim Elm is incredibly lucky to be fully restored after Juggernauts defeat, and the same goes for the towns in Final Fantasy 5. Nibelheim is an outlier to the outliers, since it's rebuilt but there really is no indication that the town was really rebuilt at all especially by two of the witnesses in the main party that know of its destruction.
What do I think of this cliche? I like it in spades, but hate it most of the time. It was interesting in Legend of Legaia, really and truly, and Suikoden 3 did a good job with the perspectives on Karaya village (and to a lesser extent Iksay village). Xenogears was perhaps the most interesting of all due to the main character being responsible for Lahan's destruction. His alter ego Id would also destroy Solaris, home to a number of major characters in the story. Though the motives really do need to be much clearer than just "destroy everything" At least some games make it clear.
*I would like to point out in Suikoden 3, only Hugo loses his home, at the end of his chapter. Chris's first chapter deals with the exact same ordeal except from another perspective, and even Geddoe's first chapter has them in the village at the time as well. It seems in Hugo's chapter, things went wrong with the truce delivery, but the retribution for it was mundane.
Legend of Legaia, Xenogears, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 5, Soul Nomad & The World Eaters, Tales of Phantasia, Suikoden III, Breath of Fire 1, Breath of Fire 3, and the Legend of Dragoon.
So the Doomed Hometown rule. According to the grand list, the main character's home will be pretty much destroyed in some way, and often before the opening parts of the game are over. All of the above games do this, and there are other ones that count too. Phantasy Star 2 does involve the destruction of Palma, the home planet in the previous game, but it's an oddball since not only is it never explored by the heroes, the heroes all hail from Mota (Motavia) anyways. And then Phantasy Star 3 makes it even more mysterious, since the entire game is in a spaceship of biodomes, almost assuredly assuming that the planets in Phantasy Star 2 were wiped out as well even though none of the characters hail from there.
So what about the games I mentioned. Well, Tales of Phantasia, Xenogears, Suikoden III, The Legend of Dragoon, and the Breath of Fires have this happen in the opening acts. Ryu wakes up unceremoniously in Breath of Fire 1 to find his town being destroyed during the whole dragon civil war, and Seles in The Legend of Dragoon also gets destroyed in a similar motive as well. All the other examples including Breath of Fire 3 all happen once the main characters return from doing regular errands, long before the game really does end up running its course. Though the motives for many of these are all mixed. You can grasp the meaning of the destruction of Totus in Tales of Phantasia easily because they were after Cless's pendant. The other ones? Not so much. It seems like the hut in Breath of Fire 3 was set on fire by Balio and Sunder as a mere act of revenge. And why did the Karayan village* need to be burned again? What did Lahan do to deserve a whole bunch of gears fighting in it? They made this one even nastier since Fei ends up being the one responsible for most of the destruction and deaths that occurred. There are a few other potential examples of doomed hometowns at openings, like the one in Star Ocean 1 where most of the inhabitants in Ratix's town turn to stone due to a virus, as well as the freezing of Crysta's inhabitants in Terranigma that spark Ark's main adventure.
So the other doomed hometowns tend to happen at times different than the opening sequences. In The Legend of Dragoon, Dart's actual hometown of Neet was destroyed long before the game starts, and the same can be said about Nibelheim in Final Fantasy 7. Soul Nomad & The World Eaters has the Hidden Village get destroyed mid-game (though every villager somehow survives). Numerous character hometowns get sucked into a void in Final Fantasy 5, one of which you may not even get to go to if you don't look for it. And Legend of Legaia? Apparently Conkram was pretty much eldritched well before the game started, and Rim Elm suffers this fate near the game's end. So not even the homes that survive to the very end can be considered fully safe by JRPG law.
Most of these are pretty odd, and what's odder is how many of them don't get rebuilt or anything similar. Again, there are some outliers, but the bottom line is most of these hometowns don't seem to improve. Although Totus does become the town of Miguel in the future, and seems alright in the past, the present town doesn't seem to improve. The Kung Fu master's abode in Live-a-Live never gets rebuilt. Seles and Neet are never rebuilt. Neither Drogen nor Rei's hut are rebuilt in the Breath of Fire games. You can't go back to Lahan, Karaya Village, or Clatos once the plot kicks in for those games. And Conkram is probably the single most nightmarish case of a truly doomed location.
So what are the outliers? Well they aren't what you can consider homes, but Marbule and Viper Manor both get rebuilt in the Home World of Chrono Cross. Kant and Boyzby both get rebuild and actually fully operational after the opening acts of Thousand Arms are over. Ien in Lunar: Walking School gets attacked multiple times but after the chapters are done, the next one shows everything seems to be alright there. So there are at least some characters willing to restore things the way they used to be. Rim Elm is incredibly lucky to be fully restored after Juggernauts defeat, and the same goes for the towns in Final Fantasy 5. Nibelheim is an outlier to the outliers, since it's rebuilt but there really is no indication that the town was really rebuilt at all especially by two of the witnesses in the main party that know of its destruction.
What do I think of this cliche? I like it in spades, but hate it most of the time. It was interesting in Legend of Legaia, really and truly, and Suikoden 3 did a good job with the perspectives on Karaya village (and to a lesser extent Iksay village). Xenogears was perhaps the most interesting of all due to the main character being responsible for Lahan's destruction. His alter ego Id would also destroy Solaris, home to a number of major characters in the story. Though the motives really do need to be much clearer than just "destroy everything" At least some games make it clear.
*I would like to point out in Suikoden 3, only Hugo loses his home, at the end of his chapter. Chris's first chapter deals with the exact same ordeal except from another perspective, and even Geddoe's first chapter has them in the village at the time as well. It seems in Hugo's chapter, things went wrong with the truce delivery, but the retribution for it was mundane.
Friday, July 27, 2018
A look back at: Suikogaiden
Might as well wrap this one up.
Another visual novel thing, unlike Radical Dreamers, this one is fully visual novel and you will get through the story completely. The only things that change are affection points and hidden value points that the two games never even bothers to mention. Did I mention there were two games? Because there are two games. And did you know that completed Suikoden 2 data can be used? Because it can be used for Volume 1, then transfer THAT over to Volume 2. Heck, you can even transfer completed Suikogaiden Volume 2 data to Suikoden 3 as well. Minor, minor details. Unfortunately, almost no one really picked up on this, since this particular visual novel never made it out of Japan.
But looking back on it, I'm glad I got glimpses of story and backstory, as that tends to be quite ingenious. 4 chapters each volume, and yes, there are characters, both old and new, in Nash's sub-story. I of course remember running through it multiple times, as it did have multiple branching paths, but not necessarily multiple endings. Yep, wanted to see everything yet again. The luck meter is the only visible one onscreen, but there are hidden ones for such things as "bonus" or "companion" which may affect character cameos. A full luck meter will allow access to an alternate path in Chapter 3 (of both volumes) both of which are loaded with character cameos and are a lot sillier and more detracting of the original plot.
Like anything within the Suikoden series, Suikogaiden is pretty much plot-driven and character-driven. The ones that Nash meets do more than just make cameo appearances, as most of them are directly involved in the plot. The entire Greenhill segment in Chapter 4 in Volume 1 is my favorite, mostly because we find out a whole lot of the first conflict with Highland then, which of course the main hero of Suikoden 2 will eventually find out about. It's nice how two protagonists have intertwining stories, while not necessarily recognizing one another all that much. Little details are always fun.
Thursday, July 26, 2018
A look back at: Radical Dreamers
You thought I was done with look backs? I still got several games under my belt, which I didn't really consider to be RPGs in the first place. Radical Dreamers is one of them. Nestled deep between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross was an apparent visual novel game with a few RPG mechanics.
For whatever reason though, this seems to explain Kid's entire plot in Chrono Cross better than the game itself, all while including a completely different Serge, a completely different Kid, and Magil, who's basically implied to be Magus. The whole plot involving Viper Manor is here, although with a few different changes. For one, Riddel is someone completely different, Viper himself is nowhere to be found (perhaps presumed dead), and someone implied to be Radius because of the way he looks is inside a prison cell lamenting. Kid of course has her backstory with Lucca and her vengeance against Lynx intact, as well as her connection with Schala.
It's all entirely text-driven, almost akin to reading an e-book line after line. Almost. The kicker of course is that this has some semi-RPG moments. Viper Manor is a complex location, so it's not fully linear. There just so happens to be a random battle mechanic, which is a lot slower and actually not all reliable and somewhat annoying. Plus there are affection points, typical for the visual novel genre, so these actually may change the endings you find in the game. Oh yes, multiple endings. If I recall, you get to try them out after the main ending of the game finishes. The endings honestly may not be worth it. Some are interesting side stories, such as Shea's Light and the Sunflower. While others are just super silly like the mecha battle with mecha Lynx and the space cop rock guitar scenario. It looks like Square was trying to go all out humorous with some of these, even for a short-lived series known for some humor. It's certainly a weird outtake to look at, but going through the text and knowing what you need to do ends up much more boring than the RPGs overall.
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Suikoden minigames: Part 1
Yay more minigames. Yay more complaining about stuff in Suikoden. Yes, I still like this series anyways, but things must be said. I'm still not a fan of most minigames, although some aren't too bad in this one. I'll only cover ones that originated in the original Suikoden though.
Chinchirorin (Triple Toss)
So this is the "toss three dice in the bowl" game that is pretty much reliant entirely on the RNG. Wonderful. I'm really not too much of a fan of it, but in Suikoden 1 you can bet a good amount then bet your winnings, scum this game and be rolling in the money. You can't do that in 2 or 4 though, as the maximum bets are lower and you can't get consecutive bonuses for wins. Heck, in Suikoden 2 they made it harder to savescum (but it is still possible to do). The game's rules are basically throw the three dice into the cup, if for some reason a dice falls out, it's an automatic loss. If it's a pattern of three, it's a triple win except if it is all one in which it's a triple loss. 4-5-6 is a double win, 1-2-3 is a double loss. Otherwise, when you have two same numbers and a different, the number on the other dice is your value. Higher wins of course. No score on three rolls automatically gives a score of 0. This game makes the opponent go first. Overall though, there's nothing really important out of this game, and I can't understand of all gambling mini-game opportunities they went with this one. Suikoden 4 has the "Down to One" option, but you bet no one actually played that due to the nostalgia of playing the original "Triple Toss". Having to recruit Tai Ho, Gaspar, and Shilo with this did make it the most memorable minigame. I don't believe you actually have to play against Gunter in Suikoden 4 for him to be recruited though.
Memory cup game
Along with the Chinchirorin above, this one is quite the time-waster. It's exactly what you expect, three cups, one is hidden under a coin, shuffle them around. First time you play this with Marco, it's super easy. When it comes time to recruit him, it's computer-flash speed which is impossible to figure out even with a human eye, but you'd still likely savescum it just the same. Somehow, it fairs better than Chinchirorin because of the fact it is shorter. Still though, who would actually earn boatloads of money doing this? Sometimes I like to keep it real.
Card matching game
This is one that is likely played only once, and then never again because it is terrible. All this just to recruit Georges, a pretty much useless character otherwise. It's a weird card game where you have to match cards under some record time he sent, except that upon a match, adjacent cards get turned over and several other matches disappear. It's pretty interesting in how it is programmed, but it sucks gameplay-wise. I don't know if you actually earn anything important for winning besides recruiting the character.
Spinning wheel game
Yes, this counts. Yes it is probably the worst Suikoden minigame. Yes, it is unfortunately required. Though to be fair, all the minigames I listed are required, but at least those are mostly for recruiting characters. This one though is in the middle of the subquest for the Kirinji to get Lepant's attention. For some reason, there's this huge wheel right outside the Kirinji's room, and stepping on it spins the character in whatever direction it takes you. The problem is, you really only want to get from the south end to the north end, and it will likely take 10 rounds to go through it all. Sure, the ultra-rare Dragon Seal Incense is a possible prize for landing on the lucky treasure spot. But what about those other ones? So you like a random battle for landing on the wrong spot? What about losing experience? Being at the full mercy of the RNG once again. Except there's just no fun in doing that. In fact, the next time I do a blog post involving Suikoden series minigames, I'll once again mention RNG-related things, because it seems that almost every minigame here is going to involve that.
Chinchirorin (Triple Toss)
So this is the "toss three dice in the bowl" game that is pretty much reliant entirely on the RNG. Wonderful. I'm really not too much of a fan of it, but in Suikoden 1 you can bet a good amount then bet your winnings, scum this game and be rolling in the money. You can't do that in 2 or 4 though, as the maximum bets are lower and you can't get consecutive bonuses for wins. Heck, in Suikoden 2 they made it harder to savescum (but it is still possible to do). The game's rules are basically throw the three dice into the cup, if for some reason a dice falls out, it's an automatic loss. If it's a pattern of three, it's a triple win except if it is all one in which it's a triple loss. 4-5-6 is a double win, 1-2-3 is a double loss. Otherwise, when you have two same numbers and a different, the number on the other dice is your value. Higher wins of course. No score on three rolls automatically gives a score of 0. This game makes the opponent go first. Overall though, there's nothing really important out of this game, and I can't understand of all gambling mini-game opportunities they went with this one. Suikoden 4 has the "Down to One" option, but you bet no one actually played that due to the nostalgia of playing the original "Triple Toss". Having to recruit Tai Ho, Gaspar, and Shilo with this did make it the most memorable minigame. I don't believe you actually have to play against Gunter in Suikoden 4 for him to be recruited though.
Memory cup game
Along with the Chinchirorin above, this one is quite the time-waster. It's exactly what you expect, three cups, one is hidden under a coin, shuffle them around. First time you play this with Marco, it's super easy. When it comes time to recruit him, it's computer-flash speed which is impossible to figure out even with a human eye, but you'd still likely savescum it just the same. Somehow, it fairs better than Chinchirorin because of the fact it is shorter. Still though, who would actually earn boatloads of money doing this? Sometimes I like to keep it real.
Card matching game
This is one that is likely played only once, and then never again because it is terrible. All this just to recruit Georges, a pretty much useless character otherwise. It's a weird card game where you have to match cards under some record time he sent, except that upon a match, adjacent cards get turned over and several other matches disappear. It's pretty interesting in how it is programmed, but it sucks gameplay-wise. I don't know if you actually earn anything important for winning besides recruiting the character.
Spinning wheel game
Yes, this counts. Yes it is probably the worst Suikoden minigame. Yes, it is unfortunately required. Though to be fair, all the minigames I listed are required, but at least those are mostly for recruiting characters. This one though is in the middle of the subquest for the Kirinji to get Lepant's attention. For some reason, there's this huge wheel right outside the Kirinji's room, and stepping on it spins the character in whatever direction it takes you. The problem is, you really only want to get from the south end to the north end, and it will likely take 10 rounds to go through it all. Sure, the ultra-rare Dragon Seal Incense is a possible prize for landing on the lucky treasure spot. But what about those other ones? So you like a random battle for landing on the wrong spot? What about losing experience? Being at the full mercy of the RNG once again. Except there's just no fun in doing that. In fact, the next time I do a blog post involving Suikoden series minigames, I'll once again mention RNG-related things, because it seems that almost every minigame here is going to involve that.
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Top 5 Stupidest JRPG Deaths
Character deaths sure make any form of media memorable. You witness Aeris's unfathomable end at Sephiroth. You witness just about any death in the Suikoden series. Hero or villain, these characters end up being known for their impact, either premortem or postmortem. But then I look at some deaths and I wonder, just why were they made? This little Top 5 list showcases the deaths that I found to be the stupidest. And not like Bolt from Thousand Arms, which is the "stupid but actually funny" death, but rather stupid as to raise a red flag on the overall circumstances of it.
5. Ark (Terranigma)
Techinically speaking, Ark doesn't really die overall, that is, until you reach the end of the third chapter. But this never really made much sense to me. We were in control of the Ark, from the Underworld, bringing everything back to life from the continents, plants, animals, and finally humans, and THIS is what he gets paid back for at the very end of the chapter? Some random Lightside version of himself just shows up, deems him a legendary hero, but just kills him right there, ending the chapter. Sure he gets resurrected right away in the final chapter, but man was it DUMB to watch how that fetch quest was made for Ark to just die. Usually the "fetch quest that goes wrong" ordeal happens when the hero gets all the quest items taken from them. Here, they just decide to kill the main hero for the chapter to end.
4. Mareg (Grandia 2)
I'm probably gonna get some flak for this one, but Mareg's sacrifice, as memorable as it is, isn't needed. This is especially true given how the gameplay of Grandia 2 pretty much shows the game is not all that difficult overall, so even without grinding we can tell that all characters, Mareg included, tend to sift through combat pretty well. Him making a heroic stand so the others can escape because of a wound is all taken at cutscene value. Gameplay-wise, said enemies could be considered easy prey overall, and you could imagine that with the right spell or item, Mareg's back wound would be healed as quickly as possible and he can join his group in the escape from the moon. No, he just decides to Gandalf it out and get eaten up by enemies he can easily mince. It really wasn't that well done of a character death.
3. Michael (Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure)
This death is still fresh in my mind, considering I had just finished playing this game yesterday. If you're not in the know-how, Rhapsody is supposed to be cheerful, satirical, and full of energy but with a few sad moments. This one sad moment flat out makes no sense. Michael, a frog man from the Frogburg kingdom, is apparently trespassing, and that's a crime in the castle according to the king only. He's Caroline's love interest, and Cornet ends up helping him find the Earthstone. Easy enough? Sure. But what happens when he proves his worth to the king? Apparently the king laid out an extra rule involving the guardian of the stone, and Michael is executed on the spot in front of everyone, especially his love interest Caroline. Now, that right there shows how terrible the king is as a ruler, how he seems to trust a not-so-sentient guardian of some nearby ruins with a stone, as well as enforcing rules he can very well change himself in his own kingdom. It's just like #5 above, except with worse reasons. The king's absolute rule seems to overrule all objections, from her daughter Caroline or the queen herself. Making things worse, Caroline would later leave the kingdom and commit suicide herself just to be with Michael.
2. The main character (The 7th Saga)
Man, The 7th Saga isn't really a good game at all, isn't it? Hard gameplay, dumb plot, character competition. But one thing that sticks out to me is just how bad the ending was handled. So you beat Gorsia, big bad of the game that manipulated everything just like any final boss does. Just before he dies, he kills you right there with the last of his abilities. Exactly how? It makes no sense. It's even worse because in The 7th Saga, you are very likely to have a partner with you to ease up combat, and that partner remains completely untouched by this spell. So what happens to them? Oh, and being reincarnated as Lemele is somehow WORSE because really Lemele wasn't really anyone special. The real Lemele who of couse died honestly wouldn't recruit these apprentices in the first place for any real reason.
1. Darum and Tiem (Phantasy Star II)
Morals go completely out the window every time I remember this stupidly icon duo of characters and their reunion. Darum is this guy who's resorted to crime just so he can find his kidnapped daughter. He's willing to stab anyone who dares to pass, unless of course he finds his daughter. So you as the player will naturally find Tiem somewhere and bring her to her father. Tiem unfortunately is unbelievably stupid. She doesn't want to be seen, so she veils her appearance and walks straight up to her father. Well the result is that Darum after realizing that no demands are met stabs her, then realizes he's killed his own daughter and kills himself. Does it not occur to, oh I don't know, the heroes of the game to tell her NOT to do this or to explain to Darum that that's his daughter coming up to him? While they do manage to continue on in their journey now that the tunnel, these two character deaths were absolutely needless and honestly were the most preventable deaths I can think of in any JRPG.
5. Ark (Terranigma)
Techinically speaking, Ark doesn't really die overall, that is, until you reach the end of the third chapter. But this never really made much sense to me. We were in control of the Ark, from the Underworld, bringing everything back to life from the continents, plants, animals, and finally humans, and THIS is what he gets paid back for at the very end of the chapter? Some random Lightside version of himself just shows up, deems him a legendary hero, but just kills him right there, ending the chapter. Sure he gets resurrected right away in the final chapter, but man was it DUMB to watch how that fetch quest was made for Ark to just die. Usually the "fetch quest that goes wrong" ordeal happens when the hero gets all the quest items taken from them. Here, they just decide to kill the main hero for the chapter to end.
4. Mareg (Grandia 2)
I'm probably gonna get some flak for this one, but Mareg's sacrifice, as memorable as it is, isn't needed. This is especially true given how the gameplay of Grandia 2 pretty much shows the game is not all that difficult overall, so even without grinding we can tell that all characters, Mareg included, tend to sift through combat pretty well. Him making a heroic stand so the others can escape because of a wound is all taken at cutscene value. Gameplay-wise, said enemies could be considered easy prey overall, and you could imagine that with the right spell or item, Mareg's back wound would be healed as quickly as possible and he can join his group in the escape from the moon. No, he just decides to Gandalf it out and get eaten up by enemies he can easily mince. It really wasn't that well done of a character death.
3. Michael (Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure)
This death is still fresh in my mind, considering I had just finished playing this game yesterday. If you're not in the know-how, Rhapsody is supposed to be cheerful, satirical, and full of energy but with a few sad moments. This one sad moment flat out makes no sense. Michael, a frog man from the Frogburg kingdom, is apparently trespassing, and that's a crime in the castle according to the king only. He's Caroline's love interest, and Cornet ends up helping him find the Earthstone. Easy enough? Sure. But what happens when he proves his worth to the king? Apparently the king laid out an extra rule involving the guardian of the stone, and Michael is executed on the spot in front of everyone, especially his love interest Caroline. Now, that right there shows how terrible the king is as a ruler, how he seems to trust a not-so-sentient guardian of some nearby ruins with a stone, as well as enforcing rules he can very well change himself in his own kingdom. It's just like #5 above, except with worse reasons. The king's absolute rule seems to overrule all objections, from her daughter Caroline or the queen herself. Making things worse, Caroline would later leave the kingdom and commit suicide herself just to be with Michael.
2. The main character (The 7th Saga)
Man, The 7th Saga isn't really a good game at all, isn't it? Hard gameplay, dumb plot, character competition. But one thing that sticks out to me is just how bad the ending was handled. So you beat Gorsia, big bad of the game that manipulated everything just like any final boss does. Just before he dies, he kills you right there with the last of his abilities. Exactly how? It makes no sense. It's even worse because in The 7th Saga, you are very likely to have a partner with you to ease up combat, and that partner remains completely untouched by this spell. So what happens to them? Oh, and being reincarnated as Lemele is somehow WORSE because really Lemele wasn't really anyone special. The real Lemele who of couse died honestly wouldn't recruit these apprentices in the first place for any real reason.
1. Darum and Tiem (Phantasy Star II)
Morals go completely out the window every time I remember this stupidly icon duo of characters and their reunion. Darum is this guy who's resorted to crime just so he can find his kidnapped daughter. He's willing to stab anyone who dares to pass, unless of course he finds his daughter. So you as the player will naturally find Tiem somewhere and bring her to her father. Tiem unfortunately is unbelievably stupid. She doesn't want to be seen, so she veils her appearance and walks straight up to her father. Well the result is that Darum after realizing that no demands are met stabs her, then realizes he's killed his own daughter and kills himself. Does it not occur to, oh I don't know, the heroes of the game to tell her NOT to do this or to explain to Darum that that's his daughter coming up to him? While they do manage to continue on in their journey now that the tunnel, these two character deaths were absolutely needless and honestly were the most preventable deaths I can think of in any JRPG.
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