1_up ([info]1_up) wrote,
@ 2006-06-16 00:25:00
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I'm still a fan, but ...
I dunno - Dragon Quest 8 is a great game and all, but there is something missing about it that I really need a good RPG: Serious undertones and Epic Battles. To be honest, what drew me into RPGs as a young lad was the ferocity and grandeur to which they grew at times. The connections that formed between myself and the characters over time. I really feel this is what Final Fantasy 3 excelled at, and what shone through in 7-10, and dare I say the upcoming 12 and 13.

DQ is fun. It's playful, colorful, and enjoyable, but it lacks in the aforementioned areas. I like my boss battles to be satisfying and triumphant, not the result of some foolish mishap where, in the end, the enemy just apologizes, you talk, and then head your separate ways. It's also been unsatisfyingly easy ... so far, anyway. The story is quite basic, too. I still like it, but I like more mature RPGs better. I would really love for someone to develop an adult RPG, with adult character and really dark and deep storylines and developments. But hey, there really is no profitable market for that ...

Guitar is coming along well! I've got all the basic chords memorized, and can play along with some of my favorite songs -but only bits and pieces. The two big things I really need to work on, which will just come with time, are developing my calluses (callusi? calli?) and developing the speed to change chords, or fret faster and more accurately. After that settles in, I imagine Ill be able to piece together the bits Ive learned into a coherent song. Im pretty happy with myself. Im glad I started doing this.



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[info]jnick
2006-06-16 03:06 pm UTC (link)
I feel that way about FFIII too, definitely connected to the characters. You really had to work to beat the boss at the top of Kafka's Tower... plus that dude in the castle during the dream sequence could be *extremely* tough if you hadn't leveled at all by the time you got to that point in the game... plus you couldn't leave if you couldn't beat him.

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[info]1_up
2006-06-16 04:01 pm UTC (link)
Well, to be completely honest, I didn't have much trouble beating Kefka (not to be confused with Kafka, the German writer ;) ) at the top of the tower - but that was only because I had spent inane amounts of time leveling up during sidequests and what not.

FF3 is still the standard by which I compare all RPGs. It was so vast and expansive, you could literally be doing 1 of 12 things at any given time if you wanted to. And it was so goddamn fantastical and extreme at times ... I mean, one of the frickin boss battles occured as you were falling in the sky out of an airship. CMON! WHERE IS THAT THESE DAYS!!

Now, I find myself meandering through mole holes to fight an obese jazz loving mole boss who stole a harp who is racially profiled as a new orlean african american.

Also, Im having trouble placing that exact part of the game with the tough boss in the dream sequence... but thats ok, there were so many awesome things in that game that it would be ridiculous for me to remember them all.

I want to play it again now!

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[info]jnick
2006-06-16 04:42 pm UTC (link)
No, I meant the boss that guards the chest at the top of Kefka's Tower ... not Kefka himself. That's the tower with just rows and rows of stairs that you can only use magic on.

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[info]1_up
2006-06-16 07:12 pm UTC (link)
OsnapIrememberthat!

Yea, that tower was really cool and hard.

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[info]ericmill
2006-06-21 03:40 pm UTC (link)
I know what you're saying about DQ8, but I'm sure you also understand that it's not really *meant* to be an adult RPG. It's not meant to be a kid's RPG either; it's just approached and drawn as a storybook. I found the characters engaging and the story touching because it was presented honestly and beautifully. There is a lighthearted tone to some of the game, but I also found some of the situations, like the flashbacks you witness from the king mourning over the death of his wife, rather heartwrenching.

I'll tell you one thing: Suikoden 2 will spoil you on all other RPGs to look for genuine, dark drama. That game was intense like Shakespeare is intense. Even Final Fantasy games draw much of their intensity from their powerful imagery and visual/aural atmosphere. Suikoden 2 was all people, and I've never found its match in making me feel witness to a true tragedy.

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[info]1_up
2006-06-21 04:02 pm UTC (link)
Yea, that's gotta be it. Suikoden 2 is yet to be matched in the are of creating such vivid and engaging drama. That, FF3, and I think Chrono Trigger as a close third, define what I love about RPG's

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