Random encounters in JRPGs

Aubrielle, what's OOT? And Millenials. I thought that Millenials are people born after the year 2000

Originally Posted by Elel
Aubrielle, what's OOT? And Millenials. I thought that Millenials are people born after the year 2000

OOT = Ocarina of Time. That Zelda game.

And Millennials are people born from 1981-1995-ish. Sometimes that's extended back to 1980, and forward to 2000. People born after 2000 are another generation that hasn't really been named yet…

Good to know. Then I'm a millenial, as well. But I didn't play RPGs back when FF7 was released. I didn't even know they existed

Originally Posted by Aubrielle
While I enjoyed FFVII for the setting, the world, and the soundtrack, I was really disappointed by OOT…I was hoping for another Link to the Past and didn't get it.

I agree about OOT. It was ambitious for sure, and there's things I like about it, but it also has plenty of issues that have been ironed out in modern games. Even back then I disliked the camera controls, and it has not got better with time. At most it should represent the starting point of that type of 3D action/adventure games (or at least the point where it was starting to get popular), not the pinnacle.

Originally Posted by Fnord
I agree about OOT. It was ambitious for sure, and there's things I like about it, but it also has plenty of issues that have been ironed out in modern games. Even back then I disliked the camera controls, and it has not got better with time. At most it should represent the starting point of that type of 3D action/adventure games (or at least the point where it was starting to get popular), not the pinnacle.

Exactly!

Coincidently, I was recently trying to play Majora's Mask, the sequel to OOT. Talk about ugly and clunky.. those games did not age well.

And yeah.. OOT is overrated. I'd even go so far as to say it's one of the most overrated games I've ever played…considering how many people out there have the audacity to claim it's one of the greatest games of all time.

A Link to the Past, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess were all better Zelda titles imo.

About games that are overrated… I'm playing Grandia right now, and I'm starting to come to a conclusion that this game is severely overrated. I was told repeatedly that it's a masterpiece of storytelling. But no way. Yes it has some nice characters, but the story is not only weak, but it pretty much doesn't exist. Dungeons are endless and boring. I went through two full dungeons today and just couldn't take it anymore, they bored me out of my mind. That's a shame. I'll still play the game, but in my opinion it's mediocre compared to modern JRPGs. Maybe it was a masterpiece back in its time.

P.S. On a bright side, hand-placed encounters! Kill them and explore. Too bad exploration is boring.

P.S.-2. On another note, Xenogears that I played before really was a masterpiece of storytelling in my opinion. Even random encounters didn't spoil the game too much.

You'll find that holds true with a lot of 'classics'. They may have been revolutionary in their time, but only nostalgia make them playable nowadays.

Originally Posted by wolfing
You'll find that holds true with a lot of 'classics'. They may have been revolutionary in their time, but only nostalgia make them playable nowadays.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Here I thought I was actually having fun with those old games I'm always playing!

Originally Posted by wolfing
You'll find that holds true with a lot of 'classics'. They may have been revolutionary in their time, but only nostalgia make them playable nowadays.

We need a separate thread on this matter.
Generally, not only for jRPGs.

Originally Posted by wolfing
You'll find that holds true with a lot of 'classics'. They may have been revolutionary in their time, but only nostalgia make them playable nowadays.

Yeah, this in particular tends to hold true for "early" games of any given type. A SNES-era platformer will still be easy to get into even for someone who's just used to modern platformers, as the genre has not really been improved much since (there are offshots, but very little refinement has been done outside of improved graphics). And DOOM will still be playable as the genre changed so much afterwards, so that particular style of shooter has not evolved much, but Quake feels rather dated, much like Lands of Lore feels less dated than Lands of Lore 2 or Dark Sun: Shattered Lands.

Originally Posted by Elel
About games that are overrated… I'm playing Grandia right now, and I'm starting to come to a conclusion that this game is severely overrated. I was told repeatedly that it's a masterpiece of storytelling. But no way. Yes it has some nice characters, but the story is not only weak, but it pretty much doesn't exist. Dungeons are endless and boring. I went through two full dungeons today and just couldn't take it anymore, they bored me out of my mind. That's a shame. I'll still play the game, but in my opinion it's mediocre compared to modern JRPGs. Maybe it was a masterpiece back in its time.

P.S. On a bright side, hand-placed encounters! Kill them and explore. Too bad exploration is boring.

Thank you for the heads-up on Grandia, Elel. I'll take that one off my radar, for sure.

I disagree. I played Grandia Two last year and enjoyed it a lot. Heck, if it wasn't for older games like Wizardry, Might and Magic, the newer jrpg's that pop up on Steam nowadays, my computer would probably only be on for Everquest Two.

Grandia and Grandia 2 are not the same game.

Well, I never heard Grandia 1 had that good of a story it was above average though I guess… but I have fond memories of the gameplay…. Granida 2 has a nice story though, and music!

If you like JRPG combat, I am quite surprised you'd find Grandia's boring as in my opinion it is better than most.

Ahhh my mistake then, I don't think I've ever played the first Grandia.

Originally Posted by Aubrielle
Thank you for the heads-up on Grandia, Elel. I'll take that one off my radar, for sure.

Oh, please don't listen to me too much! Tastes differ. Besides, you can play the second game, if you believe my account of the first. I mentioned my reactions to Grandia to people in our console community yesterday and was told that the first Grandia is indeed lacking, but the reason the series has fame is thanks to Grandia 2.

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
If you like JRPG combat, I am quite surprised you'd find Grandia's boring as in my opinion it is better than most.

I like the combat, but it's way too easy. I don't remember the last time I played such an easy game. Maybe not ever. It could be half of the reason I find it so boring.

It gets ridiculous. Unless the party is ambushed, we go first, and that means that enemies don't even get to shave off 1HP of any of party members. We destroy them quicker than they can have a go. I can't level up water magic b\c healing is not required. (I did it in a roundabout way, by finding a panel in the wall that hurt my party). And 4 party members is far too many for combat, I have to force two of them to "defend", and only Justin and Feena do combat, and it's already as easy as I described. Bosses are equally helpless, they just take a few "turns" to destroy instead of one.

The mechanics of combat I do like, indeed. The system is interesting. But there's no challenge at all.

I played the original Grandia as a kid and enjoyed it. There were many great RPGs for the PS1 back then, just do a little research and you'll find lots of games that are still great fun to play today.

Vandal Hearts, anybody?

Originally Posted by Elel
I like the combat, but it's way too easy. I don't remember the last time I played such an easy game. Maybe not ever. It could be half of the reason I find it so boring.

It gets ridiculous. Unless the party is ambushed, we go first, and that means that enemies don't even get to shave off 1HP of any of party members. We destroy them quicker than they can have a go. I can't level up water magic b\c healing is not required. (I did it in a roundabout way, by finding a panel in the wall that hurt my party). And 4 party members is far too many for combat, I have to force two of them to "defend", and only Justin and Feena do combat, and it's already as easy as I described. Bosses are equally helpless, they just take a few "turns" to destroy instead of one.

The mechanics of combat I do like, indeed. The system is interesting. But there's no challenge at all.

Ahhh, that explains it…. well, there is some special dungeons which are a bit harder… so you might enjoy those!