Rediscovering JRPG

JDR13 · January 14, 2010

Relayer said:
It was light-hearted but not goofy or childish, the characters actually had a charming quality (except for Quina…that was a strange one).

Sorry guy, but you seriously played a different game than I did, or you just have a very different opinion of what charming is. Maybe charming in the same way that Snow White was.

I'm not the only one that thought FF IX was "Disneyish", but I'm glad you enjoyed it, even if I didn't.

Might give Rogue Galaxy a try since you mentioned it. I've had that sitting on my shelf for almost a year.

txa1265 · January 14, 2010

Benedict said:
Glad to have confirmation on last remnant, I thought about buying that but sounds like it's to be missed.

Chrono Trigger I'll probably try at some point, at least on the DS.

Chrono Trigger is quite good ... that has made the rounds from me through both my kids ... classic.

Relayer · January 14, 2010

JDR13 said:
Sorry guy, but you seriously played a different game than I did, or you just have a very different opinion of what charming is. Maybe charming in the same way that Snow White was.

I'm not the only one that thought FF IX was "Disneyish", but I'm glad you enjoyed it, even if I didn't.

Might give Rogue Galaxy a try since you mentioned it. I've had that sitting on my shelf for almost a year.

Snow White was some cutting edge animation at the time, even to this day that forest scene is pretty impressive. But Sleeping Beauty's beautiful painted backgrounds in muted colors really does it for me

Come on, you can't say The Emperor's New Groove isn't one of THE funniest films, animated or otherwise, ever made!!!!

Guess I'll never truly grow up

I'm confused though, aren't you a fan of the older FFs? Like IV, V and VI? Because IX was a good attempt at capturing the whimsical and simpler feel of those earlier games, before the plots got convoluted and the characters too moody and complex for their own good in VII and VIII.

JDR13 · January 14, 2010

Relayer said:
I'm confused though, aren't you a fan of the older FFs? Like IV, V and VI? Because IX was a good attempt at capturing the whimsical and simpler feel of those earlier games, before the plots got convoluted and the characters too moody and complex for their own good in VII and VIII.

You might feel that it was similar to the older ones, but many fans don't feel that way. In fact, I think the only reason some people even say that is because Squaresoft put that idea in their heads when they claimed they were "going back to the series roots." Sorry, but none of the classic FF games ever reminded me of Disney.

Relayer · January 14, 2010

Well obviously you disliked the game, and can't convince you otherwise.

But I still don't get the whole Disney comparison.

Watch these fan trailers - I was a fan of Disney films as a child and I have 2 daughters so I've seen more than my share of them - I don't see much that reminds me of Disney.

The character designs are "cute" but the same can be said for the pixelated overly large heads on squat bodies of the 16 bit games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwrPK0ulK4I&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlTVfBnk51Q&feature=related

JDR13 · January 14, 2010

You seem determined to make a connection between FF IX and the "classic" FF games that just isn't there. Sorry but IX had none of the magic that IV, V, or VI held for me. Then again… neither did VIII or X.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwrPK0ulK4I&feature=related

Not Disney like at all huh? Within the first :30 I see 3 characters that look like they were ripped straight from Pixar. :lol:

txa1265 · January 14, 2010

Sadly (for me) this back and forth makes me intrigued to ry out FF 8 just to see ...

Relayer · January 14, 2010

JDR13 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwrPK0ulK4I&feature=related

Not Disney like at all huh? Within the first :30 I see 3 characters that look like they were ripped straight from Pixar. :lol:

FF IX came out in 2000. The bulk of Pixar's films were post 2000 (Toy Story & Bug's Life were the only films released up until that point and NEITHER look like FF IX). So what you're saying is that later Pixar films look like FF IX.

As far as traditionally animated Disney films before 2000, there aren't any that resemble FF IX in any way.

But I was also talking more about the feel of the game/story, not about the look. You didn't mind playing IV, V, VI when the characters looked very cutesy, unrealistically squat and big headed. So why should the look of IX be such a turn off?

As far as feel, there aren't many Disney films I recall that had that as many explosions and death (a whole town!) as in FF IX. In fact, Disney films aren't very violent. Or tend to be that dark.

Relayer · January 14, 2010

txa1265 said:
Sadly (for me) this back and forth makes me intrigued to ry out FF 8 just to see …

Funny, that! I'm actually tempted to replay to see if it was really as bad as I thought in 1999!

Maybe my expectations were too high at the time, will start a new game tonight I think.

JDR13 · January 14, 2010

Relayer said:
So what you're saying is that later Pixar films look like FF IX.

Sure, if you want to phrase it that way. It's the same thing, regardless of the order.

Relayer said:
But I was also talking more about the feel of the game/story, not about the look. You didn't mind playing IV, V, VI when the characters looked very cutesy, unrealistically squat and big headed. So why should the look of IX be such a turn off?

FF IX felt nothing like the older games, especially if you compare it to the dark, depressing atmosphere of VI. But again, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

wolfing · January 14, 2010

interestingly, no FF figures in my list of favorite jRPGs. I guess it's because until very recently they all used the 'random encounters' system, which I don't like. And unskippable 3 minute videos before a boss battle without a save point? bleh.

JDR13 · January 15, 2010

wolfing said:
I guess it's because until very recently they all used the 'random encounters' system, which I don't like. And unskippable 3 minute videos before a boss battle without a save point? bleh.

I can understand why a lot of people dislike jrpgs for those reasons. Those things never bothered me when I was younger, and probably because I was mostly a console gamer for nearly 10 years before I got my first PC.

I'm currently replaying Phantasy Star, an old 8-bit favorite of mine from the Sega Master System. I'm still enjoying it, but the (frequent) random encounter rate is starting to get on my nerves.

I must say though, the 'unskippable videos before a boss battle' issue has spread to many types of games, not just jrpgs.

txa1265 · January 15, 2010

JDR13 said:
I can understand why a lot of people dislike jrpgs for those reasons. Those things never bothered me when I was younger, and probably because I was mostly a console gamer for nearly 10 years before I got my first PC..

I think those fundamentals color how folks feel about games. I didn't play any JRPG's until Shining Soul II for GBA in ~2003 ... so for me random encounters can really kill the experience for me.

JDR13 · January 15, 2010

My first jrpg was either Phantasy Star on the SMS, or Dragon Warrior on the NES, I don't remember which one I played first. That was 1988-89.

txa1265 · January 15, 2010

... of course, I should have said that I was playing on PC for nearly 2 years before that

Benedict · January 15, 2010

JDR13 said:
I must say though, the 'unskippable videos before a boss battle' issue has spread to many types of games, not just jrpgs.

That doesn't bother me, it's the 40 second odd panning in to your characters before every battle (even ones you know you're going to utterly slaughter with ease) that's pissing me off.

wolfing · January 15, 2010

gladly the random encounter syndrome seems to be a thing of the past. More recent RPGs have either eliminated them by letting you see the enemies on the map, or at least reduced them in the form of an 'encounter bar', so you only fight max. X amount of encounters on a map.
Also I haven't experience the unskippable 3 minute video before a boss since I think FF-X

Relayer · January 15, 2010

Benedict said:
That doesn't bother me, it's the 40 second odd panning in to your characters before every battle (even ones you know you're going to utterly slaughter with ease) that's pissing me off.

I hate this as well but this isn't typically the norm with JRPGs

FFVII was NOTORIOUS for this but you have to consider that it was on new tech (the Playstation) and everyone was trying to dazzle with 3D and effects. And it was pretty awesome at the time.

But this wasn't an issue with previous FF games, and battles tended to move at a much quicker pace. This didn't last too long with FF either, by FFIX they realized how annoying it was and shortened the battle transition time a bit.

Not an issue with too many other games or series though. And there are JRPGs that don't have random encounters (Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross, the Tales series, Persona 3/4, Star Ocean series and others).

For older games, you can't beat the speed of battles in the Phantasy Star games and FF IV and V.

It also helps that the battles are over quickly but still challenging.

But some games are also ridiculous when it comes to the encounter rate - Skies Of Arcadia would have been perfect if the rate had been cut by like 60%!

JDR13 · January 15, 2010

Relayer said:
- Skies Of Arcadia would have been perfect if the rate had been cut by like 60%!

You need to get the Gamecube version.

txa1265 · January 15, 2010

I still find the random rate too high on new games, and the pre and post fight junk gets old fast

Rediscovering JRPG

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