Chrono Trigger: This is my latest download, and I'm really enjoying just about every aspect of it. The music is excellent, the story is deep and engaging, and the combat (the bread and butter of any RPG experience, though it is sometimes a grind) is fun. The combat system actually changes and grows differently depending on which characters the player decides to use from the roster, as there are dual and triple techniques that require more party members to execute.
This one threw me for a loop when my main character and virtual proxy was slain in a cutscene, and was gone for like 3 hours of gameplay while I completed an optional(?) sidequest to resurrect him. Most JPRGs tend to allow the player to focus all advances and powerups on that single character, without worrying for his safety. I foolishly did this, and I missed him while he was gone. 3.5
Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: I'll lump these two together, as they're practically the same game. I was skeptical at first, as the art style of both games is, well, Mario-cartoon. They're "kid-friendly" titles as well, and while that tends to turn some people off, I've always been able to enjoy games in an objective space.
Quite simply, if a player can get past the art style and occasionally childish storyline, these games are fucking stellar. I couldn't put them down at some points. The music is amazing, the combat is engaging and awesome, and the writing is great. While all RPG stories are a bit contrived, the Mario RPGs spend a lot of time winking at those conventions, so a savvy player feels like they're always in on the in-joke. Kids won't get that, but since the games are kid-friendly they don't need to; they're still fun. 4.0
Dungeon Explorer: This is a bit of nostalgia for me, as a good friend had a Turbo-Graphix 16 when I was wee, and we played this game then. I played it a lot. However, I never beat it, as I never had the stretch of time at a friend's house necessary to play through a one-player game (it's rude?).
I picked it up to see how it holds up, and I was again pleasantly surprised. Most of the TG16 games I've bought aren't so good in retrospect, but Dungeon Explorer is a blast. It plays like Gauntlet II, but there's two types of magic which have specific effects for each of the dozen character classes. The Fighter and the Thief can beat the game straight through, with no continues, utilizing some strategy. The other classes have a rougher go of it, but it's a lot of fun all around. Good music to boot. 3.0
Final Fantasy whatever: it's the first game for the old Nintendo Entertainment System in the FF series. I guess it's actually like the third release in Japan but the first in the US? Whatever.
I've already given away the pun blind here in that I didn't enjoy this game much. The final fantasy games have, with a few exceptions, always been a mystery to me. I've never been particularly engaged by their story, and the gameplay feels more like a grind than a fun romp.
Final Fantasy Tactics breaks this mold, and I loved it. Final Fantasy Legend II for the Game Boy is another wonderful game (one of my all-time rags actually). But Final Fantasy for the NES is blah. I'm not down on the characters, the music, the combat. . .I just put it down one day and haven't returned. 1.5
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: this is often heralded as one of the best RPGs and one of the best console games in history. Nintendo even plans to release it again (and again, and again in all likelihood) on their 3D handheld. However, I didn't dig it all that much.
There's a difference between party-based RPGs and single-dude adventure RPGs, and for me that gap is huge. I want a deep roster of fantasy character tropes to work with in any game, and as fun as it was running Link all over the countryside, OOT just didn't do it for me in the long run. I was still just one guy all the time.
It didn't feed my fractured psyche at all.
The music was good, the chicken rescue missions were fine, and the story seemed good, but the insipid side quests and childish storyline were too much for me. It amazes me that Zelda games are too childish for me, but Paper Mario was not. Go figure. 2.0
Baby's room: painted.
Baby Furniture
: assembled.
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages: painted, based, and arced.
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One: painted, arced.
Precursor Knights painted (of 12):2
Number of VPs the Flint crew got at the NAC at origins this year: 1
-Merlin out
Location:The Hizzle
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