So, any RPG fans here?

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:09 am

Oh yeah, Reeve. Reeve isn't fat. What was his affiliation, anyway? I don't remember.

WhoopA · Post by **WhoopA** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:46 am

I think his assigned position is City Planning for Midgar.

Post by **Popcorn** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 2:53 am

RPGS?!

smiths32 · Post by **smiths32** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 6:05 am

I think his assigned position is City Planning for Midgar.

I believe that Reeve's position was Urban Development, which I think is just a fancy way of what you said whoopA.

Vincent rawks, my first ever team was Cloud, Red, and Vincent. The ammount of times he saved my under-leveled party by transforming is unreal.

Isambard · Post by **Isambard** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 7:07 am

*drops a 32 ton weight on Popcorn, then pours kerosine on the weight and lights it on fire. Then dances on it...then runs of screaming while on fire*

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:19 pm

That doesn't work on Pop, I tried it just last week.

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:51 pm

No, there wasn't. In a dot.hack interview session, the heads of the CC Corp. dev team talked about the aforementioned ad, and how they'd drop everything to work on a sequel to Tail, but Bandai outright denied them on the grounds it wouldn't make any money.

What!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
*Storms Bandai's office to stick my sword up their arses*
~Neo

Isambard · Post by **Isambard** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 2:06 pm

Did someone mention .Hack? I watched that series once, trying to impress a girl. She disappeared and I immediately sold the DVD's for initial D points.

Go figure. I can't believe that's actually considered good.

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 2:48 pm

.Hack was awesome because it was 100% character driven. Every single episode was another character expose'. They didn't get to the plot till the last 5 episodes - but what was there was good.

Post by **Delphine** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 3:11 pm

.hack can kick your ass all up and down the court, 'bard.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 3:21 pm

I was all excited about .hack, and looking back, I'm not too sure why I let myself fall for the hype. I played through the first one and about halfway through the second before I finally accepted the fact that it was never going to be anything more than a generic, painfully repetitive dungeon crawl.

I saw the first 6 or 7 episodes of the TV series, and my opinions on that are largely the same. I think it's the single most generic anime I've ever seen. I watched the first two OVA episodes that were packaged with the games, and those were moderately decent.

It's kind of too bad about the whole thing, because the story was unique enough. I believe it's the first literature ever about the phenomenon of network RPG's.

Post by **Delphine** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 3:48 pm

I like it... but I also like repetitive dungeon crawlers. Four games are two too many, though. I stuck through because I'm stubborn, but they should've cut the game down to two parts, if not one. It's funny... I used to love long drawn-out RPGs where you could get away with avoiding battle most of the time (ala the FF series) but now I'd rather hack and slash than sit through an FMV. I think I just want to kill things.

plasticwingsband · Post by **plasticwingsband** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 9:52 pm

I've been away for a few days, so I'm just gonna list my favorites with a little blurb.

Wild ARMS Hands down, this is my favorite RPG. People tell me I'm crazy, but it just left such an impact on me.

Suikoden/Suikoden II Almost tied for first with WA. I haven't played the third yet, although I've meant to for a while.

Tales of Symphonia This game is awesome. Most fun battle system ever. You should really pick it up, Gibbon.

Phantasy Star IV I love this game. The best RPG on the Genesis.

Earthbound Great game. I love the weirdness and humor.

Super Mario RPG This was actually the first RPG I ever played. I had no fucking clue what was going on and why Mario wouldn't just jump when you pushed the button.

Vandal Hearts Really simplistic strat-RPG, but it's a lot of fun. I love the way blood explodes out of enemies upon their death.

Grandia II I really love this game. I never got the opportunity to play the original SoA, so this is my favorite DC RPG.

And of course the obligatory Chrono Trigger, FF IV, & FF Tactics.

I am currently playing through Skies of Arcadia: Legends on GameCube, and I'm sure that it will make my list, seeing as how everybody creams over it. I am enjoying it alot so far, however.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 11:24 pm

I started playing Front Mission 4, and yeah... it's pretty boring.

I think the main problem is that the maps are way too vast, and the terrain is flat and uninteresting. I respect them for trying to expand the scale, but when you've got that much space to cover all the time, it's just distracting and detracting. I don't really like the link system... since it costs as much AP for a character to perform a link action as it does to perform a normal attack, they'll usually use up their whole turn just aiding a comrade, which is kind of pointless.

The mech design is also pretty dull. This time it's less Gundam and more Mechwarrior. Most of the wanzers lack uniqueness... I usually can't even tell the difference between my mechs and the enemy mechs.

There isn't much to say for the character design. The cast of Front Mission 3 was plenty trite, but at least you could tell one member apart from another. Now it's just like, army guy and other army guy. They're not bad, just... boring. The same can be said of the whole visual style. Grays and earthtones are not particularly grabbing.

It's like they've gone gung-ho for realism this time. I understand what they were trying to do with it and it was a noble ambition, but there's absolutely nothing here that's engaging. None of it's bad, per se, but I just don't care about any of it. It lacks soul.

The story seems a bit more interesting than Front Mission 3, at least. Darril's side starts off running on all cylinders. I think that's the first time I ever played a group of misfit soldiers trying to escape from a country with $25,000,000 worth of stolen gold.

I guess I'll play another battle or two, just to be sure, but I'll probably trade it in later this week, I guess for Symphonia.

Isambard · Post by **Isambard** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:40 am

See, what GG said is always right. And since he's mostly agreeing with me about .Hack//SIGN (the crap one I saw), I'm going to advocate him, just this once.

I enjoyed the anime when I was renting it for 2 dollars for 4 days. That was fine. Then they stopped carrying it after DVD 2, so I had to purchase the series. And I hate leaving something half-finished. So I got the boxset. And when I finished it I was more confused than anything in my life. so I re-watched it. Still confused. I watched it again and I realized it was horrible.

The translation was vague and poor, the storyline about Aura and the sentient game was annoying. And I know it's supposed to be neat that it's about an MMO, but I'd rather -play- and MMO than watch one. Especially with these characters.

And why is the main characters in anime always quiet and meloncholy or loud and annoying anyway?

The only one that was half-way interesting was Bear, and that was just because of how he was the one that ever said anything half-way intelligent. The other character's obsession with the Key of the Twlight put me in mind of so many people I used to quest for ever with in EQ that I was already annoyed with the basis.

So translation was poorly done, the characters weren't enough to carry the story, and the ending was so rushed and full of holes that I wound up hating the series so much I couldn't stand it.

And why would you even try to play a game if you knew people's souls could literally get sucked up inside them anyway? Much less pay $12.95 a month for it!

So what court is it kicking my ass up and down on anyway? Shuffleboard? Cuz that's how boring this anime is.

I rest my case.

Wyvernlord · Post by **Wyvernlord** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 7:12 am

I never really understood why the hell Aeris was such a popular character. Tifa was way hotter, and a much better character in my opinion. I bet if Tifa died, people would be whining that she shouldn't of died. No one gave a damn when Tellah (FF4), Galuf (FF5) or General Leo (FF6) kicked the bucket. Oh well...

My favorite RPGs are....

Final Fantasy VI: Engaging storyline. Almost all the characters serve a purpose and have a backstory.

Dragon Warrior VI: The best out of all the Dragon Warrior games. Items get a bit too expensive though.

Chrono Trigger: One of the best RPGs ever made. I think it's better then the sequel.

Super Mario RPG: Nice combat system. Very amusing game to play.

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 9:35 am

I never really understood why the hell Aeris was such a popular character. Tifa was way hotter, and a much better character in my opinion. I bet if Tifa died, people would be whining that she shouldn't of died. No one gave a damn when Tellah (FF4), Galuf (FF5) or General Leo (FF6) kicked the bucket. Oh well...

Mainly because FF7 was advertised like hell. Since a lot of people played FF7 then other FFs, people remembed Aerith's death a hell of a lot more. I admit, I was a bit sad when she died because I sorta of liked her, the only part where I didn't being her flirty, pushy self. If Cloud doesn't want to date ya, he doesn't, damn it! Besides, you belong with Sephiroth!!!

.............................*Ahem*

What I don't get is WHY Cloud is SO popular. The dude complains and whines over his angst life for nearly the entire 90% of the entire game. Ugh. Now, Zidane was a clever, sleek guy with a lovable personality. Even when he found out about his past, he didn't go off on some angst road for 3/4 of the entire game, the dude remainded himself. Lots of spunk, that guy had, and the GOOD kind of spunk, not the one Tidus had.
Seriously, I sad, BRING ON MORE VIVI!
~Neo

Owen Axel · Post by **Owen Axel** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 10:03 am

Aeris dying - meh.

Vivi dying - NOOOE!!!

Of course Vivi doesn't get as much attention in that respect because his death was subtle enough to go over most people's heads.

Post by **Popcorn** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 11:53 am

Vivi dies?

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 11:53 am

I happen to like flirty, pushy girls, especially when they're as insanely cute as Aerith. I will not let you speak ill of my deceased woman! You're all just jealous because I was the one she liked.

Vivi died?

Post by **Popcorn** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 11:54 am

Beaten!!

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 12:55 pm

And why would you even try to play a game if you knew people's souls could literally get sucked up inside them anyway? Much less pay $12.95 a month for it!

The soul sucking was heavily covered up by Microsoft, ER - CC Corp for one.

For another, farther into the story - we learn the soul-sucking itself was a side-effect of a hallucenagenic brain-wave thingy that got people actually ADDICTED to the MMORPG.

Kind of like if everytime you played Everquest, someone pumped some Ecstasy into you.

Owen Axel · Post by **Owen Axel** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:17 pm

Vivi dies. He's the only person not present in the ending sequence. The white-on-black text fits his manner of speaking, and it implies quite that the speaker isn't going to be around anymore. Add that to the plot point of his brief lifespan (they never said it would be much longer than the other Black Mages), plus that the ending sequence takes place at least a few years later (Garnet's hair grew back), and the most logical conclusion must be that Vivi dies.

Which sucks.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:47 pm

But, I thought Vivi was in the ending? Didn't he find some woman Vivi and had a bunch of little Vivi's? Or something like that?

Post by **Popcorn** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 2:27 pm

'ADDICTED to the MMORPG.

Kind of like if everytime you played Everquest, someone pumped some Ecstasy into you.'

Ecstasy isn't addictive, though, you GODDAMNED ASSHOLE.