dated chrono trigger

i haven’t been motivated to play anything even remotely taxing for a while, but hopefully i’m over my summer slump. this week i finally “finished” a game that i’ve been slogging through off and on for ages, the original chrono trigger for SNES. over the years i’ve realized i’m really not much into RPGs in general, but as one of the most lauded games of all time i felt compelled to check it out. as you might have guessed, i clearly didn’t love the game, and although i grew to quite like “the other” mega-popular SNES RPG classic, final fantasy 3 (i.e. FF6), when i played it a couple of years ago, the needle of my interest in chrono trigger rarely moved past mere tolerance.

the ardent devotion for the game among its legion of fans (evidenced by any number of reviews, such as this one at nintendolife.com) may in part be due to simple nostalgia and in part to elements that can only be appreciated by fans of RPGs, but jeremy parish’s look back on gamespite.net (in which he posits that the game combines the best elements of the FF and dragon quest series) does a good job of providing some historical context and highlighting the game’s innovations.

first off, the revamped ATB battle system takes the system from FF6 and adds combo attacks on top of it. the game is so mindlessly easy overall that i didn’t even bother with combo attacks until late in the game when i actually had to start strategizing during battles, and in retrospect i should’ve at least tried each of them out. the game auto-levels the characters you’re not currently using, so i probably also should’ve experimented with the other characters and combinations instead of just sticking to a core group as i usually do (in my case, crono, frog, and marle). the seamless transition between dungeon crawling and battling is very well done and keeps the game moving forward, but the much-touted claim that “random battles are optional” since you can see the enemies onscreen and choose to engage or not is completely false for the majority of the latter parts of the game where literally every battle you fight is a mandatory surprise attack. likewise, exploiting the enemy’s physical positioning when choosing your attacks is completely underutilized.

aside from the battle mechanics which i found less than engaging (which i’ve come to realize is pretty much the sole determiner of whether or not i’ll enjoy an RPG since you spend 90% of an RPG battling), the game is also known for its sidequests, multiple endings (which personally didn’t interest me much at all), and completely novel “new game +” mechanic in which you can carry over all your stats, equipment, and items of a completed game to a second playthrough. i didn’t investigate the latter elements at all, and although the game lets you attempt to beat the final boss early on it seems pointless on a normal playthrough since your characters aren’t going to be at a high enough level. i completed only a few of the obvious sidequests since apparently many of the others require you to fly around and track down what new areas have appeared and then trigger certain events by using certain characters. as i’ve come to realize is often the case, the final dungeon is a dull, drawn-out affair, and i was exceedingly annoyed that the final boss is so much more difficult than the entire rest of the game, so much so that i refuse to grind to finish the game and have set the game aside indefinitely.

this isn’t to say that i didn’t enjoy the game in general, to some extent. the music is quite good and the graphics are memorable. the time travel hook is unique, although, again, the past-future causality elements are somewhat minimal, which makes me interested in trying and comparing the well-received recent DS RPG release radiant historia which seems to more fully use time travel as its central mechanic. i found the characters and the story to be reasonably engaging, although even given the fact i played this game in fits and starts the story seemed to be presented in a piecemeal fashion.

so it seems this is another classic that i found to just be dated. glad i can finally cross this off my list, and hopefully i’ll be working my way through the last handful of all-time classics i have left sooner than later.

time for some chrono trigger links:
- the two main sources for info on all things chrono trigger are the entry at strategywiki.org and chrono.wikia.com. the former includes a nice summary of all the endings, a guide to all the characters, and a table comparing the names in the original vs the DS releases, while the latter includes a nice page on the enemies with sprites.
- speaking of the DS rerelease, IGN has some good information on the added multiplayer monster training features

the grandaddy of mario RPGs

i’d mentioned earlier this year that i had been stuck on pokemon gold for ages because all the copies of the game i had had dead batteries. similarly, i was prevented from playing the original mario RPG, super mario RPG: legend of the seven stars for the SNES until i finally took matters into my own hands and replaced the battery myself.

i’d played the paper mario game for gamecube, so playing mario RPG was a definite step back. the game originated the subsequent spin-off series’ action commands during battle, but despite getting to play as certain members of the mario universe for the first time (although there is one painful omission), the rest of the game played out with very few surprises. as i’ve found with the other mario RPGs, it always feels a bit weird and unnatural to have characters other than the familiar ones we know and love from the classic platformers, although for this game square did a pretty good job of coming up with a host of new enemies and side characters that integrate well enough. i’m not a fan of mini-games and sidequests, but the game made them tolerable by keeping them in the background for the most part. and the general level of easiness of the game (with the exception of the beginning, which is actually a bit harder than you’d expect) ensures that level grinding is never an issue. as with other RPGs although you do get 5 characters to play with, there’s really never any motivation to use the two you don’t want to, although it is nice that the characters you don’t use level up the same as if they had participated in battle.

the biggest drawback for me was the annoyance of having platformer-type stages thrown in every once in a while. while i thoroughly enjoy platformers in general, the isometric view more often than not makes it frustratingly difficult to tell where ledges, etc. actually are supposed to be or how far you should jump, and there’s way too much “try and die” gameplay involved. ugh.

not much more to say. i’ve already checked out some of the other mario RPGs, and although i’m finding them on the whole to be only marginally more interesting than the average RPG, they do tend to be packed with charm and that special brand of nintendo whimsy. i’m really looking forward to seeing my main man ‘uigi team up with his older bro and delving more into the paper mario series as well, so perhaps i’ll be pleasantly surprised.

mario’s RPG links:
- themushroomkingdom.net has a good section on the game, including details on the nintendo cameos and a comparison of the japanese version.
- speaking of the nintendo cameos, here’s a link to a video of the link cameo and the samus cameo.
- PDF of the manual at replacementdocs.com
- random site with a nice compendium of secrets in the game
- entry at mariowiki.com including a list of all the psychopath skill quotes
- entry at wikipedia.org

the world continues with TWEWY

i seem to be continuing my DS gameplaying jag, most recently the much-lauded square-enix action RPG the world ends with you. nintendolife has a good review, and although i wouldn’t heap quite as much praise as most reviewers have, i did enjoy it. the story, characterization, music, and graphics are all above average, although the game is quite linear. the touch screen-based battles, where, as with all RPGs, you’ll be spending the vast majority of your time, are complex and in general pretty fun, although i think many people would agree that having to divide your attention between two screens even after hours of play never ends up feeling very natural or “fair”, given that the character you’re not directly focused on inevitably gets mercilessly beat up. the enemy designs are quite repetitive, but the palette-swapped enemies do have slight physical differences and distinctive attacks that are generally worthwhile. boss battles are fun, although they tend to be significantly harder than regular battles. as with most RPGs there’s a ton of equipment (in the form of clothes) you can get but only a fraction of which is necessary. it would’ve been more entertaining if the clothes you wore actually affected your appearance, which would give the game a more sims-like motivation for collecting them all. similarly, most of the battles could be tackled with the same pins (i.e. moves), but there are a huge number of moves to try out and experiment with that give the game a nice amount of longevity, even given the fact that many of the distinct pins provide moves that are pretty much identical to other pins. there are also a large number of post-game, obsession-inducing tasks, including battling each enemy at multiple difficulty levels to fill your enemy bestiary, and replaying the whole game to fulfill new tasks, such as tracking down certain new items. there’s also a prominent (mostly too prominent) marbles-esque mini-game that you can spend time mastering if you choose.

despite the novel gameplay, the game was slow to interest me, actually, and it wasn’t until i had reached the end of the first third (i.e. the first “chapter”, which is the first seven days of the game’s story) that i got really hooked. this was mostly because at that point i had started experimenting more with lowering the character’s level (i.e. making the game harder), which provides some significant in-game bonuses. the end of the first chapter was also pretty fun, and after that you’re able to set battles to an even harder difficulty, which made the game much more interesting since it made the battles much more challenging. being able to set your own difficulty and constantly adjust it was new to me (i’m curious if any other games have a similar mechanic) and prevents one of the classic problems of RPGs which is having characters that are too over- or underlevelled. i can see how relying on players to set their own difficulty could be a bit of a gamble, but the game’s bestiary keeps track of the highest level of difficulty you’ve beaten an enemy at, and once you’ve completed the main mode you can always go back and tackle the same enemy on a higher difficulty. it also gives you more opportunity to experiment with new underlevelled pins instead of relying on the same set of already levelled-up pins.

in the end despite not being converted to a complete zealot of the game, i definitely did enjoy it and would definitely get a sequel if it came out. i really hope it does, though, because there’s some definite room for improvement, such as better use of the in-game “meme” mechanic and more motivation to buy different clothes brands. it would also be great to see a new iteration of the battle mechanics: although they worked great in general, some of the touch gestures seemed to be easily confusable with others. anyway, here’s hoping!

ending with some TWEWY links:
- official site
- official deviantart account, which includes concept art
- great wiki on the game including a list of pins and how to evolve them and differences in the japanese and US versions of the game,
- PDF of the manual at replacementdocs.com
- wallpapers at total-manga.com
- developers’ discussion at the official site
- gamespite has a pretty good article analyzing the themes of the game
- entry at wikipedia

uwao, aooh! ragin’ and dancin’ through final fantasy 6

in recent times i’ve realized that i’ve become really, really bored with turn-based RPGs, so much so that the thought of taking on another one becomes rather disheartening. i’ve cast enough fir1, lit2, and cur3 spells to last me a lifetime. but final fantasy III for the SNES (a.k.a. final fantasy VI) is another one of those games that’s so universally praised that i knew i would have to play through it at some point, so despite not having finished FF2 (i.e. FF4) i finally forced myself to sit down and start in on it.

and it actually wasn’t so bad. in fact, i’d even say that the first half kept me reasonably well engaged. having avoided reading anything about the game the climactic event that occurs at the 1/2way point was fairly surprising and pretty notable. there were also a few distinctly memorable events, such as the opera scene and celes’ “leap of faith”. the characters are entertaining, and it’s interesting that each has his/her own special abilities, although rather too many of these specialized abilities are pretty much useless.

the second half was less interesting, however. this nostalgia-avoiding reminescence at gamespite.net puts most of the blame of the second half on the game’s espers mechanic, which enables any character to learn magic:

“[I]t’s hard to really care about the characters once you get so far into the game. Until the World of Ruin, the characters are all distinct in some manner, each with their own skills and the little bit of magic they’re able to learn. … the characters in Final Fantasy VI lack significant distinction as they all eventually become walking death-machines, each with the same magic. Their individual skills, so useful at the outset, are frankly useless in comparison. After a certain point, it’s just hard to care about making a unique team anymore; all of the characters’ original traits are soon destroyed by a broken magic system where anyone can learn anything.”

this is an interesting observation, but not my main complaint. the second half of the game has a somewhat interesting setup where your party is scattered to the winds and you have to find each person one by one and re-recruit him/her. but the bit-by-bit pacing gave the whole sequence a feeling of being just a series of sidequests rather than an actual story, especially since you’re revisiting previous locales. (although the world map’s geography changes, the towns are still pretty much the same.) the writer at gamespite likens this second half to an early version of a sandbox game, and comments that it feels “like a single-player MMORPG in a very empty world”. i’m not quite sure i agree with his assessment, although i do agree with his comment that “after a certain point in the World of Ruin, there’s really nothing left to do but grind for levels, items, rages, lores, and the errata that’s hard to find interesting as an adult.”

i also have some less-than-minor quibbles, such as how tedious it is to collect even a fraction of the rages/lores let alone all of them, and the fact that you have to use so many characters for the final dungeon that you probably never really would use otherwise (and as a result a number of them are probably significantly underlevelled). in the end this was an enjoyable game for an RPG (haha) and although it didn’t become a great favorite i have grown fond of most of the characters, particularly my main man gao as well as mog and umaro. i’m clearly never going to be a huge final fantasy fan, but after this experience i won’t mind playing through more of the main series. i’m definitely on the lookout for more-unique RPGs for the future though. hmmm … foreshadowing … … … ?

finally, final fantasy links. FF RPGs have a zillion links online, but here are a few of the more noteworthy ones:
- this is the FAQ that i found the most comprehensive and useful, although it’s rather bloated.
- pretty good game site at ffcompendium.com including a copy of the game script, lores and rages FAQs, and high-res images of the world maps
- another good game site at rpgclassics.com: has a ton of images, including enemy sprites
- entry at wikipedia
- endings at vgmuseum.com
- PDF of manual at replacementdocs.com

final fantasy tactics tackled

fiiiiinally finished the endless game i’ve been plodding my way through, final fantasy tactics for the original playstation. i’d been aware of the game ever since i began my obsession with the fire emblem series, and also b/c the follow-up on the GBA seems to regularly get mentioned in “top GBA games of all time” lists.

having been focused solely on fire emblem there were a lot of adjustments i had to make to playing FF tactics. there’s the isometric view, and the way the battle time advances took some getting used to since you have to constantly check the menus and time meters to see whose turn is coming up next and remind yourself of what commands the enemy has already entered in. one of the main differences between FE and FF tactics is that characters can die but aren’t permanently lost unless they miss three of their turns without being brought back to life. the other main difference is that the majority of your time is spent using “generic” characters who take no part in the story. (although you do get more unique, named characters with their own special abilities later, and eventually they can completely replace your original party if you choose.)

despite the learning curve in general i think my FE experience helped and i didn’t have much of a problem beating the game, although the game seemed to drag on and on. looking back it prob. didn’t take any more time than a FE game, but there were quite a few drawbacks that made the game a chore to finish. i agree with a lot of what the entry on wikipedia says:

Criticism is made on gameplay, plot and the localization effort. One of the reviews of RPGFan criticized the difficulty of the game as being inconsistent with each encounter against enemy units. The factors that influence the difficulty of the game include overpowered enemy units or party members, and time had to be taken to level up before any progress can be made. Though in-depth, IGN also noted that the game’s plot was confusing at times … The game’s localization effort was criticized by reviewers as poorly written, being rife with grammatical mistakes that almost stopped players from enjoying the storyline.

of those complaints, the main one for me was that the story is so lousy. half the time i didn’t really know who was doing what to whom, nor did i ever care. on top of that the localization is one of the absolute worst i’ve ever encountered with tons of awkward as well as flat-out incorrect writing, which is a major problem for a text-heavy RPG. as for the level grinding, this wasn’t too much of a problem and i sort of expected it since the game has a fair amount of emphasis on random battles (unlike almost all the FE games where there are no random battles). the main exception to my general feeling that the amount of level grinding is tolerable is that at one point about halfway through i inadvertently overlevelled the main character, ramza, and everyone else in my party was way underlevelled in comparison. i hadn’t realized that random encounters base the enemies’ stats on your most powerful character, so i was pretty much screwed fighting stupidly tough random battles until i was able to bring the rest of the party up to ramza’s level. one other thing that annoyed me was that unlike FE you don’t get to preview the map before you start it, so you can’t adjust your equipment or characters at all. even setting the start positions of your characters is a virtually completely blind process.

quite a number of complaints, but as for the good stuff the graphics, although more cartoon-y than i’m used to, are generally well done, with great character design, pretty good environments, and some great battle effects. the gameplay is pretty solid, although i was surprised that the central game mechanic isn’t the battle system so much as the game’s character class system, which is robust and well designed. basically every generic character starts off as either a squire or a chemist. after you reach a certain level you can then change class (a squire can become a knight or an archer and a chemist can become a priest or a wizard). after you reach a certain level in those classes you can change to even more advanced classes. this built-in progression of classes keeps the game feeling fresh, and it’s a lot of fun to experiment with the different classes and combine the abilities of the various classes, although some of the classes and their abilities def. seem like useless padding. there are also a ton of other extra game elements that i didn’t bother getting into b/c they just seemed useless, namely the “propositions” in which you send some of your party away for some time to fulfill missions that you don’t monitor at all and get only paltry rewards for completing; the monster recruitment where you can get monsters to join your party but who don’t change classes and generally don’t have many useful abilities; and the monster “poaching” where you can sell monsters you’ve killed for special items. there are also two lengthy sidequests (the deep dungeon and the quest to get cloud from FFVII) that i had absolutely no interest in embarking upon.

phew! even though i’m ecstatic that i can finally stop playing this game the game was actually pretty good overall; a better story would’ve been a major improvement. i’ll keep the GBA FF tactics on my list of games to play, although from what i’ve read it doesn’t sound like there’s much of a story there either so it’ll prob. be quite some time before i try it out. may try one of the tactics ogre games instead.

finally! some fantastically tactical links:
- battle mechanics guide: indispensible reference for the underlying equations for the game engine
- great fan site at squarehaven.com with tons of great stuff, inc. a great guide to all the jobs, the full script, and official jobs artwork and summons artwork.
- pretty good general FAQ: with class info, battle strategies, and more
- another good FAQ
- youtube video of the main parts of the cloud sidequest
- useful FAQ on what the brave and faith stats do

eden found

i finally got around to officially finishing my first SNES game a couple of weeks ago, the enix RPG e.v.o.: search for eden. the game is fairly unusual for an RPG. the basic premise is that you start off as a fish and as you gain experience (by chomping on other animals in platformer-like stages) you gain the option of upgrading various body parts, such as jaws, a tougher skin, horns, faster fins, etc. the game has quite a few nice ideas, but ultimately they just don’t add up.

one problem with the design is that there’s not really much sense of choice. it becomes pretty clear that only one set of jaws or one skin is “the best”, and there’s not much opportunity to experiment and create really outlandish creatures. (the main exception is that it’s best not to evolve into a human as the human is much weaker than the best mammal.) also, the stages are all fairly ho-hum. there are a few maze-like levels thrown in, but most of the stages are completely horizontal with few or no obstacles. it seems more of the effort went into the enemy design, and for the most part all the enemies’ graphics and movements are well done, including the bosses. but there’s just not enough variation in the gameplay to make it worth playing through a second time.

there are some nice touches though. the maps for the main sections trace the progression of the continents from pangea to our current configuration, and there’s a subplot involving the appearance of some unnaturally evolved creatures. one of the more puzzling aspects of the game is that enemies that are clearly based on real animals are called something slightly different (e.g. “segosaurus” instead of “stegosaurus”). was enix or their translators intentionally trying to remove any remote possibility of the game having any educational value? also, why is the name “e.v.o.” written with periods? what does it stand for? anyway, there’s also a feature where you can save previous forms and at certain points revert back to them temporarily, but while potentially worthwhile it’s never really necessary and thus completely underused.

all in all this was an interesting game to play in terms of deviating from the more generic RPG fare, but it seems with some more time or effort it could’ve been a lot more interesting. it would def. be interesting to see a sequel, although that’s not likely to ever happen. too bad. apparently sims’ creator will wright has been working on a PC evolution game called spore which looks interesting and is supposedly due out sometime this year.

and now … yes, virginia, there are some links:

- rpgclassics.com hosts probably the only site for this game. lots of good info there.
- wikipedia provides some pretty good general info as well. (and “plot” spoilers so beware.)

- this french site has lots of great screenshots.