RPG Thread XVII - Talk of RPGs past.

[quote name='j-cart']There are still a handful of more RPGs that are going to come out later on in the year too![/QUOTE]
Yeah. I still don't know whether or not to preorder Soul Hackers-- my MegaTen backlog never, ever seems to shrink D: And who knows when we're getting the Dragon Quest VII remake?

I also want to get Tales of Xillia sometime in the future, but don't plan on preordering it.
 
I starting playing FF7 for the first time in about 10 years this weekend. I forgot how enjoyable this game is. Even the dated graphics on a 50" screen don't seem to bother me. This game makes me feel like I'm 15 years old again.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), it's going to take a backseat here soon since Ni No Kuni is on its way to my house.
 
Just wanted to make sure people were aware of the Dreamfall Chapters Kickstarter. I love Dreamfall and really really want the sequel to get made. :D I've never contributed to a Kickstarter before this one, and I don't even have a gaming PC.
 
[quote name='whoknows']Naw man.

FFVII is the greatest RPG ever.[/QUOTE]

I know you're joking, but looking at the big picture, historically speaking, I think it's an arguably valid title. Its popularity (along with Pokemon) catalyzed the late 90's RPG renaissance in the west. Think of all the games we would never have seen in the U.S. if not for the popularity of Final Fantasy VII.

We'll forget about Ni No Kuni (as excellent as it is) long before we forget about FF VII.
 
[quote name='willardhaven']I know you're joking, but looking at the big picture, historically speaking, I think it's an arguably valid title. Its popularity (along with Pokemon) catalyzed the late 90's RPG renaissance in the west. Think of all the games we would never have seen in the U.S. if not for the popularity of Final Fantasy VII.

We'll forget about Ni No Kuni (as excellent as it is) long before we forget about FF VII.[/QUOTE]

I honestly do really like FFVII. I just can't help being sarcastic sometimes :p
 
[quote name='whoknows']I honestly do really like FFVII. I just can't help being sarcastic sometimes :p[/QUOTE]

You got me thinking... will we ever see an RPG replicate that kind of success? I guess World of Warcraft did something similar for MMORPGs, but it seems to me like RPGs have become a niche.
 
we'll never see anything successful like ff7. it single-handedly blew open the RPG market in the US. all the conditions were just right for it to happen: the debut of 3d technology, the relative tameness of rpgs up until that point, the gigantic marketing push relative to other videogames at the time, innovative mechanics when they were the exception and not the norm, a properly executed script and story at a time when they weren't mainstream, the futuristic setting which was not really done in a JRPG at the time, etc...
 
[quote name='kainzero']this stardew valley game looks interesting

rune factory + terraria/minecraft + co-op. could be real fun[/QUOTE]

Waiting on Starbound personally. Though I'd probably give that a go at some point too.
 
[quote name='elessar123']Depends on whether Mass Effect or Borderlands count.[/QUOTE]
Sales would be a good objective metric. I think Mass Effect would be a decent contender for the FF7/WoW of single-player WRPGs, but did it have FF7/WoW sales figures?
 
[quote name='blueshinra']Yeah. I still don't know whether or not to preorder Soul Hackers-- my MegaTen backlog never, ever seems to shrink D: And who knows when we're getting the Dragon Quest VII remake?

I also want to get Tales of Xillia sometime in the future, but don't plan on preordering it.[/QUOTE]

There's a dragon quest 7 remake? If that is the case I better sell my PS1 version of the game on ebay soon.
 
[quote name='kainzero']we'll never see anything successful like ff7. it single-handedly blew open the RPG market in the US..[/QUOTE]

I would say stuff like Halo and CoD count for bringing FPS to consoles and to a less extent, SF4 for bringing fighting games back in a big way.

[quote name='elessar123']Depends on whether Mass Effect or Borderlands count.[/QUOTE]

Definitely not Borderlands, and I think too many people hated ME3 for it to count as a series and being honest, the first game is pretty bad. I'd much rather play FFVII over that.

ME2 is one of the best games ever though. Probably second to my Xenogears.
 
[quote name='Indignate']ME2 is one of the best games ever though.[/QUOTE]

I think I'm going to play this soon (for the first time). The PC version better not be gimped. And I don't want to play the first so my hope is the narrative stands on its own.

I get lots of gay stuff in this, too, right? Or is that the last one?
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Nah, they were still in their "Shepard just can't be gay, guys." phase in ME2.[/QUOTE]
Not exactly... It was more like, you could RP Shepard as gay if you wanted, but there just weren't any homosexual men in the immediate vicinity for him to mack on. THAT's what changed in ME3. They added a gay crew member and made another formerly straight one bisexual, so now gay Shepard has options.
 
When asked about male Shepard's orientation, Bioware said, "In Mass Effect it's more a third-person narrative, where you have a pre-defined character who is who he is, or she is. But it's not a wide-open choice matrix. It's more choice on a tactical level with a pre-defined character."

There were no gay crewmembers in the earlier games because Bioware considered Shepard Not Gay. They're not a documentary crew cataloging real events; they made the damn game. And they later changed their minds. See also: Kaidan.
 
I don't disagree with what you're saying, but I still think there's a difference between "Shepard is not allowed to be X" and "The game scenario doesn't present Shepard with the option to act on X."

I mean take a female Shepard in Mass Effect 2, her only human romance option is an African-American male. Is that BioWare decreeing that Shepard is no longer attracted to white guys like she was in ME1? Or is it just that a game can only present a finite amount of options at a time, and not every specific preference is going to be accommodated?

All that said I'm glad that BioWare gave players the option to be a gay male Shepard with a gay male love interest, and it would have been great if they would have added it earlier. More options are better.
 
You're not a gay character if your creators explicitly state, "No, this character is not gay."[quote name='Ryuukishi']
I mean take a female Shepard in Mass Effect 2, her only human romance option is an African-American male. Is that BioWare decreeing that Shepard is no longer attracted to white guys like she was in ME1? Or is it just that a game can only present a finite amount of options at a time, and not every specific preference is going to be accommodated?[/QUOTE]

fuck Occam's Razor?
 
[quote name='The Crotch']You're not a gay character if your creators explicitly state, "No, this character is not gay."
[/QUOTE]

If you've got a link to a quote where BioWare stated that male Shepard is canonically straight, then I am wrong and will shut up. :) If that's true then I'm glad they changed their minds before ME3, because that's a dumb thing to say. (If the quote in #868 is what you're talking about, then I have to disagree that that constitutes an explicit statement that male Shepard is straight. I would say he dodged the question and didn't answer specifically either way.)
 
It's from an interview just after the release of ME2. Full quote is as follows.
IGN: Will there be gay relationships for the male Shepard? Here at IGN we've heard a lot of positive feedback from the inclusion of gay relationships in Dragon Age; compare that with the somewhat conspicuous absence of them from the first Mass Effect, especially with the chance for a lesbian relationship.


Ray Muzyka: Here's how the games are different: Dragon Age is a first person narrative, where you're taking on an origin and a role, and you are that character at a fundamental level. It's fundamentally about defining your character, including those kinds of concepts. In Mass Effect it's more a third person narrative, where you have a pre-defined character who is who he is, or she is. But it's not a wide-open choice matrix. It's more choice on a tactical level with a pre-defined character. So they're different types of narratives, and that's intentional.

We're not saying that one approach is better than the other. In our previous games, as we did in Jade Empire, as we did in KOTOR, as we did in Baldur's Gate, and many games before and in the future, we enable those kinds of choices, whereas in Mass Effect it's more about Shepard as a defined character with certain approaches and worldviews, and that's just who he or she is. So we constrain the choice set somewhat, but enable more tactical choices and enable a deeper, richer personality, because it's more focused around defining one character, it's not as wide open. But that's by choice.

It's first person versus third person narrative, and the types of choices you get to make within that are related to that, whether you've got a pre-defined character or a wide-open character. Some of our games have been wide open, and some have been more constrained, and we'll probably continue both kinds of character development in the future.
I guess that's more implicit than explicit. Muzyka's savvy enough not to do that.

In conclusion, this is a lot of words about gay pixels. I really have fuck all to contribute to this thread until Project Eternity comes out. Maybe I'll install Arcanum or something.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']In conclusion, this is a lot of words about gay pixels.[/QUOTE]

This remains the definitive treatise on the subject. Really says all there is to say.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']To change the subject, there is a piano in the lobby of my workplace, and right now a girl is playing "To Zanarkand" on it. :D[/QUOTE]
i tried so hard to learn that piece
but not hard enough. at that time i only started playing piano for like... 4 months.

i think i was able to play the beginning though. fun song though, i'm not sure if there's a better piano piece in the ff series.
 
I was going to make a gay joke, butt fuck it.

Guys you should all be talking about System Shock 2. Shit is going live on GOG.com tomorrow.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']To change the subject, there is a piano in the lobby of my workplace, and right now a girl is playing "To Zanarkand" on it. :D[/QUOTE]

I think it is time to go to pound town on her because that is my favorite FF song, barely beating out "Besaid Isle" and a few others.
 
whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa

whoa whoa

Kaiden's bisexual?

[quote name='Ryuukishi']To change the subject, there is a piano in the lobby of my workplace, and right now a girl is playing "To Zanarkand" on it. :D[/QUOTE]

You should tell her that song comes from a bad game.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']To change the subject, there is a piano in the lobby of my workplace, and right now a girl is playing "To Zanarkand" on it. :D[/QUOTE]
That's pretty hot... It's also a pretty enjoyable song to play

[quote name='blueshinra']Yeah, "To Zanarkand" is tough to top. It doesn't even come close, but I'm rather fond of "Slide Show, Part 2":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8m5J28Chio[/QUOTE]
Can you actually play this though? Holy shit, I got the sheet music, and I don't even know... I'm no virtuoso by any means, but I'm pretty sure I could never play this (which saddens me)
 
[quote name='Zmonkay']Can you actually play this though? Holy shit, I got the sheet music, and I don't even know... I'm no virtuoso by any means, but I'm pretty sure I could never play this (which saddens me)[/QUOTE]
I wish. Doesn't help that I'm really rusty on the keys :whistle2:| With some practice, maybe... but it would have to be a lot of practice...
 
But that's "Flight of the Bumblebee"! There ain't much that doesn't look too bad compared to it :lol:

Back to "To Zanarkand" for a sec. I learned today that The Dark Id's currently ongoing LP is of Final Fantasy X. Not going to read it until it's done and archived, but it should be fun, as always.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hahaha, yeah, flight of the bumblebee is just a controlled seizure... I really wish I had the dedication to even attempt that, but that's leagues above my (admittedly very low) level...
 
Has anyone here ever come across a bug in Tales of the Abyss that alters the overworld music? After leaving the Desert Oasis today, I noticed that the overworld theme was replaced by that town's music. When I later loaded up a slightly earlier save file where I had saved on the overworld, there was no music whatsoever.

IIRC, this had started after that first anime cutscene, prior to going to the Desert Oasis. After that had ended, there was no music.

Will this problem correct itself later on?
 
I seem to remember that the theme changes as you go along, so that might be what you're experiencing.

Maybe? Possibly?

Everything about the overworld in that game is kind of terrible.
 
[quote name='Indignate']I seem to remember that the theme changes as you go along, so that might be what you're experiencing.

Maybe? Possibly?

Everything about the overworld in that game is kind of terrible.[/QUOTE]
It definitely changes the music to whatever it was for the last location I was in; it happened again with Tao Ruins.

Yeah, I haven't been too crazy about the overworld in general so far...
 
Are you playing on the 3DS?

On the PS2, the overworld would lose frames like crazy and battles would take minutes to load (exagerations, but they feel like truths). I'm wondering if they were able to tune it up a tad for the port.
 
Nope, I'm playing on the PS2. I haven't noticed any battle loading times longer than maybe a minute. Sometimes they take longer, though? Hope it doesn't get any worse for me @_@
 
[quote name='blueshinra']I learned today that The Dark Id's currently ongoing LP is of Final Fantasy X. Not going to read it until it's done and archived, but it should be fun, as always.[/QUOTE]
It's on pause, unfortunately. His last update was in November and he said that he was too busy and would "pick this up next year". The thread for it is currently closed.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']It's on pause, unfortunately. His last update was in November and he said that he was too busy and would "pick this up next year". The thread for it is currently closed.[/QUOTE]
Oh well, not that I expected it to be done anytime soon, though. I really shouldn't waste my time reading LPs right now anyway (plus I recently got my fill with the Metal Gear/Snake's Revenge/Metal Gear 2 LP).
 
Woo! Buy Monster Hunter WiiU + 3DS get 20 off at Amazon. I was hoping there'd be some sort of deal. I'll consider it a free Circle Pad Plus... if it ever comes out...

Anyone else here double (or even single) dipping?
 
So, playing FF9 on my PSP. Enjoying it so far, but just got my ass waxed a couple of times by a dragon who kills my guys with every hit. So, how to I get past him?
 
bread's done
Back
Top