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• Series That Have Lost All Identity

  Grandia was one of my favorite JRPGs on the original Playstation; despite the game's wonky translation and status as a crummy Saturn port, it had a certain air of infectious, Dragon Quest-y, aw-shucks adventuring that made it very refreshing. A few years later, though, I was unexpectedly disappointed by Grandia 2, which featured the evil church-iest of "evil church" plotlines along with a distinct attitude that didn't mesh well with the previous game--it wasn't too fun to play, either. So, I dropped the series in the early days of this decade and never looked back; and since then, both Grandia Xtreme (argh) and Grandia 3 have come into being, each with their own confused take on what Grandia is supposed to be (whatever that is). Read More... Posted Apr 22 2009, 12:05 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: jrpg, identity, bob mackey, shining force, jrpgs, series, grandia, franchise

• Unsolicited Scares: St Eva from Breath of Fire II Loves You Thiiis Much

  Circumstances beyond my control got me thinking the other day about Breath of Fire II, Capcom's SNES RPG for totally buff men (unless the US box art is lying to me). Breath of Fire II was my first experience with a God-slaying JRPG, and it stuck with me for a few reasons. Reason one: it nearly made me crap my pants. Every good Messiah hunt includes a foray into the Master's den of cultists, and Breath of Fire predictably sends the hero Ryu and his pals into the heart of St Eva's town towards the end of the game. St Eva is God, but he's not benevolent. What a twist! The story makes it obvious that St Eva stinks of corruption and rancid food (flowing robes are catch-alls for cheese and salsa drippings), so Ryu is a bit put off when he walks into St Eva's town and finds it a bustling, happy place. Revelers comment on the beautiful weather, the lame can walk, the blind can see, and every dog has a wagging tail. Ryu thinks, “Well, maybe I had this Eva fellow pegged wrong,” and decides he needs to reconsider his options. He exits the town-- --and finds himself back inside the town gates. Suddenly, the warm air is icy, and the friendly townspeople have transformed into cackling, shambling husks. I'm making the event sound especially chilly because it had a personal effect on me. See, there was this time I was in a death cult, and—just kidding. But there is a specific reason I never, ever forgot my trip to St Eva's Land. Read More... Posted Apr 13 2009, 11:02 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: snes, rpg, retro, super nintendo, 16-bit, jrpg, nadia oxford, unsolicited scares, breath of fire ii

• Watcha Playing: AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon

  The DS has been my platform of choice lately, mostly due to the fact that the limited nature of the technology forces developers to show some self-control. Case in point: 10 minutes into AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon, and I was actually playing the game; compare this to my experience with Persona 4, where I've already sunk in an entire hour without fighting so much as a single demon. When I was a kid, I never thought I'd see the day when interminable prologues would become the norm. You may have missed AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon because the title had a quiet October release with little fanfare; and considering that the DS is absolutely overrun with RPGs, it's incredibly easy for something from the genre to be forgotten about after release week. Admittedly, AWAY is a little simple, even when compared the old-school DS Dragon Quest remakes--but it's refreshingly fast, fun, and perfect for short bursts of gaming. Read More... Posted Mar 19 2009, 01:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: ds, jrpg, bob mackey, majesco, away: shuffle dungeon, mistwalker

• Whatcha Playing: Dungeon Maker II

  These days my launch PSP is held together by masking tape, spit, and prayer. But it does work (for now), and I’m trying to get to know it a little bit better before it inevitably decomposes into its constituent parts. The game of the hour is Dungeon Maker II: The Hidden War, a title from last Christmas that was roundly ignored by all humans. To be fair, it’s a bit of a minor effort. It’s low budget, free of any and all flashiness, and doesn’t have a lick of polish. But it’s also curiously addictive, so it provides a nice contrast to the modern AAA titles that hide their mechanics deep under pixel shaders and mocap animation. Dungeon Maker II is a throwback: like the low-tech games of yore, its mechanics sit exposed and naked under the nose of the player, and so have to be compelling on their own. Read More... Posted Mar 18 2009, 11:00 AM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, psp, diablo, jrpg, joe keiser, dungeon maker, nethack

• The 61FPS Review: Star Ocean The Last Hope

  Star Ocean 4 is a tragic creature. It’s not a great game, nor can it even see greatness from where it is now. Instead, it feels like it was dragged, kicking and clawing, away from greatness by wicked beasts that feed only on the worst excesses of Japanese pop storytelling. So its story is almost unfathomably bad. Here is one Edge Maverick, who goes against what his parents wanted for him by being neither edgy or a maverick. Born on a post-apocalyptic earth, he is but a cog in the government division tasked with finding a new home world for the remainder of humanity. A coincidental calamity sees him promoted to captain of his own ship, with his mission clear: mankind is choking on fallout, so go find a new planet for them. Preferably one without giant man-murdering insects. He immediately loses the plot. Long before he finds himself embroiled in a conflict for the fate of the universe, Edge is compiling his ragtag team of horrifying cosplay clichés: there’s a winged girl in there, and an embarrassingly clad catgirl, and at least two different varieties of space elf. He takes this merry band of awfully voice-acted annoyances across a series of nearly non-sequitur adventures, none of which have anything to do with colonizing the galaxy. Perhaps because he has confused being the universe’s most incompetent space captain with being a maverick, he messes up nearly all of these missions, which apparently excuses him to spend hours and hours as a mopey drama queen. Read More... Posted Mar 10 2009, 06:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: xbox 360, 61fps review, jrpg, joe keiser, star ocean 4, star ocean: the last hope

• Realize the Futility of Life with The Linear RPG

  Being a serious RPG gamer involves a certain amount of lying to yourself--especially if you happen to be a fan of traditional, linear RPGs. I'm currently in the middle of Dragon Quest V (review forthcoming, I swear), and for as much fun as it is, if I were to view the game solely based on its most essential elements, I'd be rather disillusioned. For what is the Japanese RPG but a place to do nothing but sink one's time? Sorry for the formality--my mind has been blown apart by the subject of this post, and all I can do is think back to my high school English classes to form cogent sentences. The reason my world has been rendered to rubble is primarily because of Sophie Houlden's Flash game, The Linear RPG. As I stated before, there's nothing more shameful for an RPG gamer than to have his (or her) genre revealed to be a total sham, and that's what The Linear RPG is all about. The game breaks the genre down into its most simple components; you control a stick figure who wanders from town to town as the game's story scrolls by in the background, completely dependent on your progress. It's not technically a game, per se, but that's exactly the point it's trying to make; all of your traditional RPGs are essentially The Linear RPG, except dressed up with bells and whistles. Read More... Posted Mar 09 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: rpg, fan projects, jrpg, bob mackey, grinding

• The One Thing Games Should Take From Star Ocean: The Last Hope

  Perhaps you recall that one cutscene that was posted here a week ago from Star Ocean: The Last Hope. It was a beastly thing from the darkest depths of the uncanny valley, writhing grotesquely in vibrant 720p. Well, it’s even worse in English—I have embedded that version after the jump, and if you think that I did that because I hate you that is completely fair. I’m playing the game for a forthcoming 61FPS Review, and thirty hours in the good news is that so far this wins the battle for the “Worst Cutscene in Star Ocean: The Last Hope Award”. The bad news is that the battle for that award is titanic in scale—this game is packed densely with cutscenes, many of them twenty minutes long., and eventually they all combine into a single Lovecraftian horror of wild gesticulation and ear-wrenching voice acting. The producer of the game recently talked about games surpassing film as a storytelling medium. I hope he was speaking in general terms, because his team sure can’t do it alone. I’m off topic. “Make sure your cutscenes are consistent in their ability to cause pain” is not the lesson the industry should take from Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Instead, it’s the elegant way the game lets you skip them. Read More... Posted Mar 06 2009, 04:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: xbox 360, cutscenes, jrpg, joe keiser, star ocean 4, tentacled horrors from the depths of madness

• Where is Shadow Hearts?

  The last generation of consoles wasn't exactly kind to JRPGs; for as much as genre shined--or perhaps peaked--in the 32-bit era, the early years of the PS2, XBox and GameCube gave us nothing but a shoddy lineup of lukewarm titles with an endless supply of randomly-generated dungeons. These systems were eventually home to some great RPGs that haven't yet been topped by anything on the current generation of hardware--like Dragon Quest VIII and Final Fantasy XII--but we had to wait until said consoles were on their last legs before we got anything worth playing. But amongst all of those shoddy Shining Force derivates and tri-Ace travesties, a certain trilogy sat quietly in the background, ignored by most who (rightfully) assumed it was just another exercise in inanity. This mystery series I speak of is Shadow Hearts, which may in fact represent the last time a developer actually had fun with the JRPG genre. Read More... Posted Mar 05 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: where is, jrpg, bob mackey, shadow hearts, mia

• JRPG Stories: Awful

  I have to watch my step around these parts, as I am surrounded by JRPG devotees. That won't stop me from making fun of them occasionally, or praising my fellow journalists when they do so. Paul Ryan at Games Radar has crafted a list of JRPG tropes out of which even superfans should get a chuckle. Read More... Posted Mar 04 2009, 02:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: cole stryker, jrpg, cliches, games radar, paul ryan

• Star Ocean: The Last Hope Is Creepy as Hell

  Whenever I see media for Square-Enix's Star Ocean: The Last Hope (out this week if you didn't know), I can't help but feel a deep, troubling sickness in my soul as my skin literally tries to crawl off of my body to a safe place where the game's creepy anime RealDoll versions of human beings do not exist. Of course, I could just be feeling residual effects from having suffered through Star Ocean: Till the End of Time oh so many years ago, but that doesn't mean something is not very wrong about Star Ocean 4's creepy puppet people--especially when you consider the fact that the director harbors a desire to make "adult" games. I don't know if you can picture dead-eyed automatons like the one above bumping uglies, but I imagine the rape scene in Silent Hill 2 is far more arousing. Read More... Posted Feb 26 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: uncanny valley, star ocean, jrpg, bob mackey, square enix, star ocean 4, tri-ace

• The Things We Do For Levels

  It all started about 10 years ago with a little game called Final Fantasy VII--actually, it started many years before that, but in my head the origin of this particular issue starts with Square's world-changing blockbuster. You see, as a teenager with a lot of time on his hands and no real income to speak of, I felt obligated to get the most out of every game I purchased; and with Final Fantasy VII, this meant I eventually invested hours and hours in the delightful field of Chocobo breeding. But there was just one problem: the racing necessary to beef up your breeding Chocobo's stats was extremely boring, and, if I remember correctly, only required the mashing of a single button. My solution to combat this boredom? Whenever a race started, I would entertain myself by hitting "play" on the nearest VCR remote control--usually with a recent episode of The Simpsons--and come back to my game minutes later, already in progress. But the problem of needing backup entertainment to entertain me when my regular entertainment wasn't cutting the mustard didn't really dawn on me until later in life. Let's just say that I'm happy I never played video games on a picture-in-picture set; it probably would have corrupted my gaming habits permanently. Read More... Posted Feb 23 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: rpg, jrpg, gaming habits, dragon quest iv: chapters of the chosen, grinding

• Roundtable Discussion: The Relevance of Japanese RPGs

  Roundtable Discussion takes the intrepid 61FPS blogging team and pits it against itself in the search for deeper truth. The moderator for today is Bob Mackey. This week’s conversation deals with the mythical and possibly endangered beast known as the Japanese RPG. The genre really seems to be suffering during this generation, for two major reasons: 1.) escalating development costs due to the new necessity of high-polygon, HD resources and 2.) developers’ inability to combat the most damning problems of the genre. Over the past few years, we’ve seen quite a few JRPGs hitting the shelves that feel half-finished at best; and even when a fully-realized JRPG comes along, I worry that the absolutely abysmal pacing the genre is infamous for will end up sucking all the fun out of what could be a fantastic game. To start us off, I have two basic questions: 1.) What does the genre need to do to become interesting again, and 2.) what do you think it will do? On a side note, the only RPGs I’ve been interested in lately have been ports of remakes of classics. Is this a sign that the genre is becoming antiquated and only accessible to those (admittedly, quite a few at this point) with an understanding of its unique grammar? Read More... Posted Feb 13 2009, 03:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 9 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, final fantasy, rpg, japan, chrono trigger, cole stryker, square-enix, dragon quest, square, jrpg, bob mackey, mother, squaresoft, joe keiser, roundtable discussion

• Whatcha Playing: Tales of Phantasia (PSX)

  I've just sent my unfinished copy of Tales of Vesperia back to that big GameFly distribution center in the sky (or possibly Pittsburgh), which makes it the fourth Tales of title since Symphonia that I've been completely bored with--the others (in chronological order) were Legendia, The Abyss, and Dawn of the New World. As much as I wanted Vesperia to grab me, it was loaded down with the same problems that make me feel like a jackass for still showing interest in the JRPG genre; hell, even I can't tell you what keeps me coming back. Around the same time I started playing through Vesperia, I picked up my first laptop, which unexpectedly became a portable Playstation--through completely legal means, I assure you. And since I'd been holding onto the new-ish translation of the PSX Tales of Phantasia remake (unreleased here), I figured I'd give it a spin to see if my interest in the franchise was always so ill-fated. Would you be surprised if I told you I ended up sinking more time into Phantasia than its much younger sibling? No, I guess you wouldn't. Read More... Posted Feb 11 2009, 04:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: tales of vesperia, jrpg, bob mackey, tales of, tales of games, tales of phantasia

• On the Importance of World Maps

  One of the major reasons JRPGs lost me a little during the last generation was the stripping away of one of the genre's most defining features: the explorable world map, which was taken out of many games in favor of less resource-intensive travel options. Now, I'm still a little conflicted about this; on one hand, I do like the intuitive menu-based exploration of games like Persona, and I've repeatedly learned (especially this fall with Opoona) that making a player traverse large expanses of land is an excellent way to pointlessly stretch out a game for dozens of hours. On the other hand, including a Super Mario World-ish map in an RPG always felt a little cheap and cop-outey to me; when I saw this choice show up in Final Fantasy X, I assumed that Square had signed some sort of contract with The Devil himself (little did I know they had done this a few months prior with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within). It seems that the whole world map issue is entirely about fooling players into thinking your game world is more than a bunch of "rooms" stuck together, all while making sure not to bore them with interminable traveling. It's a tricky balance. Read More... Posted Feb 09 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: rpg, dragon quest, earthbound, jrpg, bob mackey, square enix, design

• Whatcha Listening To?: Ebben Flow Soundtrack

  Behold, the Spinal Tap of JRPG music! Ebben Flow is a nonexistent Japanese role playing game that serves to provide a conceptual backdrop for the music of one Michael Chadwick. Here's a synopsis of the game, which I repeat, doesn't actually exist: Join Olos, Claire, and Senegal as they try to make sense of a world now mostly underwater, save for a few dry patches of land known as The New United Islands which they each call home. Vast cityscapes loom in the murky depths and hidden treasures pocket the sea floor which has now become dangerously low to visitors. Each of the characters you will meet and control have their own agenda in the land of Ebben Flow. Their paths may cross and diverge at will, leading to exciting new tangents and side stories. Several factions desire to rule their local and remote islands, as well as the depths below, and they're not above treachery or chaos to achieve it. Read More... Posted Jan 27 2009, 05:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: music, cole stryker, jrpg, soundtrack, whatcha listening to?: cole stryker, ebben flow

• Bad Games With Good Music: Eternal Sonata

  Fun fact: I'm such a video game music nerd that I'll usually slog through the worst of experiences if the tunes happen to tickle my fancy. This should serve to explain why I spend so much time with mediocre titles better left unplayed--and also why I keep the contents of my iTunes library far, far away from people who respect me.  One game this past summer is a perfect example of this phenomenon: Namco's Eternal Sonata, a pretty-yet-underdeveloped JRPG with one of the more embarrassing plots I've ever had to sit through.  Because I've played many Tales of games, I was familiar with composer Motoi Sakuraba's previous work; though most of the time I found his soundtracks to be a little too droning and bombastic for my tastes.  I guess it shouldn't be too shocking to find out that a game about one of history greatest composers would have such a fantastic soundtrack, but I was definitely surprised and highly impressed by Sakuraba's work on Eternal Sonata.  It's kind of a shame that this soundtrack might get overlooked in the future, what with it not being in Sakuraba's top-tier Tales of and Star Ocean soundtracks, but it's definitely worth a listen. Here's a little sampler of the music from the first disc of the Eternal Sonata soundtrack. If you'd like to find more, you'll probably get more results by search for the game's Japanese name, Trusty Bell. Related Links: OST: Mother OST: Chrono Cross OST: Everyday Shooter Read More... Posted Jan 06 2009, 02:15 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: ost, namco bandai, jrpg, bob mackey, soundtrack, motoi sakuraba, eternal sonata

• Whatcha Playing: Persona, Fallout, and the Trans-Pacific RPG Ideal

  Somewhere, probably not too far from Hawaii, the perfect role-playing game is waiting to be discovered. A volatile, volcanic outcropping boiling over with an expert blend of relatable, colorful characters, deep, directed narrative, and open, exploration-rich adventuring, alongside intimidatingly deep avatar customization. Its game world is both fantastic and hyper-real, vast yet structured enough to inexplicitly guide the player along scaling challenges. Alright, I’m kidding. I know this game isn’t real. Of course it isn’t. But after the past couple of weeks, I sincerely wish it was. Read More... Posted Jan 05 2009, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, star wars, fallout 3, bioware, peter molyneux, mass effect, fable, jrpg, quest for glory ii, persona 4, wrpg, knights of the old republic, fable ii, quest for glory III

• WTFriday: Bob's Game Is a Big Ol' Slice of Psycho

  Note to readers: WTFriday is a weekly feature where I find something stupid about video games and get you to laugh until it goes away. Please try to forget this is what I normally do every day of the week. If you do something for long enough--no matter how trivial it is--you start to develop an unhealthy sense of entitlement and the inability to see the flaws in your labor of love. And if this "something" happens to be creating an entire game single-handedly over the course of five years, you can add syphilis-grade insanity to the list of unfortunate side effects.  This information serves as a fitting introduction to Bob's Game, a Japanese style RPG named after its creator, who isn't exactly on speaking terms with Nintendo.  You see, Bob (no relation) needs to be recognized as a Nintendo developer in order to publish his game on a Nintendo platform--never mind the fact that there are several other ways for indie developers to sell their games to the public.  Nintendo has been awfully uncooperative--quite possibly because the guy is a total loon--so Bob has decided to lock himself in his room for 100 days of protest that will probably end with him dying of a blood clot. Surely, his game must be amazing to cause so much drama, right? Okay, it's not awful, but it doesn't look much different than something made with RPG Maker back in 1998. Read More... Posted Jan 02 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, fan project, reggie fils aime, jrpg, development

• Whatcha Not Playing: Persona 4

  Persona 4 may not actually be out, but I'm still making an effort to actively avoid it.  This is more than a little depressing, because I'm sure it's a fantastic RPG, and, quite possibly, the last good Playstation 2 release--unless the series decides to stay on Sony's eight year-old console.  I'm not one to have a restraining order on good JRPGs, as they are kind of rare these days, but playing Persona 4 could be very hazardous to my health.  It's not all of the demons and Satanic imagery that's got me scared; it's the fact that this game could very well take over my upcoming (and desperately-needed) break from work, school, and life. Typically, it's extremely rare for me to play a game for me than 100 hours--and hell, most games don't have that much content to spread around. But the last Persona game, Persona 3: FES, can be found in the handful of games where I've actually spent hours in the triple digits.  Before you think that I'm a loser with too much time on my hands, please let me explain: Persona 3: FES was released at a time that I could take advantage of the most: the end of a long, tortuous semester, with 12 weeks of absolute freedom in front of me.  Grad school doesn't give you much to do in the way of jobs or work during the summer. Essentially, I had a Summer of George. And Persona 3 was the catalyst that kicked it off. Read More... Posted Dec 04 2008, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: persona 3 fes, atlus, jrpg, bob mackey, gaming habits, persona 4

• Your JRPG Narrative is Bad and You Should Feel Bad

  I recently gave up on Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World a scant four hours into my experience for one reason alone: the game was literally stabbing me in the brain with its narrative.  It's not that DotNW's story was exceptionally bad; actually, it was delightfully mediocre, which is really all I can ask for from a JRPG these days.  The biggest problem, you see, is that DotNW's stopped to show me its accursed story about every 5 seconds, like an attention-starved child waving a macaroni art project in my face. "Yes, I see. Very nice. Daddy's trying to play his game now." Listen up, JRPG developers: the stories you're trying to tell?  They aren't necessarily worth telling.  In fact, I can really only name two RPGs in the past decade that've had stories which ranked far above "serviceable:"  Final Fantasy XII, and Mother 3--note that the latter of these two was written by an actual writer.  I may come off as kind of snobbish with this post, though I think that just comes with age; there was a point in my life when I thought RPG plots were totally tubular, but that was back when I was in high school.  Turning into a cranky old man has given me the benefit of perspective; through experiencing a number of excellent narratives (across various media), I've obtained standards that I can't quite drop.  (Also, I need some way to justify my expensive BA.) The problem of lousy narrative is a pretty big hurdle for JRPG developers, but I've taken the liberty of coming up with some easy-to-follow and unsolicited solutions. Read More... Posted Nov 26 2008, 04:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: chrono trigger, mother 3, namco bandai, jrpg, bob mackey, story, tales of, tales of symponia: dawn of the new world, narrative

• Hey, RPG Hero: Go Home and Be a Family Man

  So on Saturday I indulged in my weekly Mother 3 play session-- ("Oh God, she's talking about Mother 3 again, you sneak up behind her with this piano wire while I slip this cyanide into Mackey's coffee.") Please let me live. I don't know when I'm going to be so motivated to pick a game's brain ever again. Mother 3 is unlike any RPG I've ever played--and for the simplest reasons. This, more than anything, is what fascinates me about the game. Shigesato Itoi realises that the easiest way to get people to love your characters is to treat them like human beings. For some reason, woefully few of his fellow RPG designers have picked that up. It's rare to find an RPG cast that everyone can relate to on a human level. Mother 3's world-saving brigade casts ground-shaking magic and racks up experience points and throws giant staples at enemies like any other JRPG (okay, the staples, not so much), but Itoi wants us to feel close to them. So he draws us in by being realstic about the one thing that unites even Superman with the common Earthling: family. Here there be spoilers. (Oh and don't feed Mackey any cyanide. Thank you. His parents appreciate your restraint.) Read More... Posted Nov 24 2008, 07:35 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: rpg, earthbound, mother 3, gba, jrpg, nadia oxford, shigesato itoi, famly

• Whatcha Playing: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

  I've probably blathered about this before on 61FPS, but the original Tales of Symphonia marks the most time I spent with a game during the last generation of consoles. I spent over 100 hours milking that game for all it was worth, and I don't regret it at all--though, to be fair, at the time I was living at home and only marginally employed.  So when a semi-sequel to one of my favorite games snuck up on me, I had to check it out; and while common sense told me the my disappointment in Tales of Legendia and The Abyss may indicate Dawn of the New World's quality, I decided to pick it up anyway.  (I'm a weak, weak man.) As a sequel to Symphonia, Dawn of the New World is a pretty shameless cash-in full of recycled assets with a decidedly last-gen look. But, in coping with its shamelessness, New World has some interesting qualities; namely, its status as a direct successor to a previous RPG. Outside of stuff like FFX-2, you don't find games like this too often--most RPG sequels usually end up taking place 100 or 1000 years before/after their previously-released games.  Not so with New World; the events of Symphonia are in the not-too-distant past, which actually explains the state of the in-game world.  Turns out that 100-hour quest from Symphonia actually made things worse, and managed to turn Symphonia-protagonist Lloyd into a ruthless killer. Go fig. Read More... Posted Nov 20 2008, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, namco bandai, jrpg, bob mackey, tales of, tales of symponia: dawn of the new world

• Game Length Versus Quality: The Debate Continues

  When it comes to game length, how long is too long?  This is a question I've personally pondered for quite some time; thankfully, GameSetWatch's Mister Raroo has done an excellent job of detailing this dilemma in a recent article.  So, what exactly is wrong with the bloated, modern game? Nobody wants to pay $60 for an experience that is over in an evening. Thus, games are usually stuffed with enough content keep players busy for weeks or even months. That said, too often the length of games is artificially lengthened in order to provide players with the perception of a longer experience. I’ve done enough backtracking and fetch quests in games to know filler when I see it. It's true; there's a certain dollar-to-content ratio that we've all come to expect over the years.  But just how much of that content are we actually going to play?  Personally, I tend to check out of a game when it's stopped giving me anything new to care about.  As much as I liked Odin Sphere, the mechanics--essentially unchanged throughout the game's entirety--were so repetitive that I didn't feel bad checking out shortly after finishing the first chapter.  In my eyes, I had "finished" the game.  The "seen about enough of you" defense has been a huge help in getting me to stop playing through games I'm no longer enjoying; though this new healthy lifestyle has only developed recently in my adult life. Read More... Posted Nov 13 2008, 07:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: gaming culture, jrpg, bob mackey, game design, gaming habits, game length, filler

• Low-Rent RPGs: A Good Idea

  Tales of Symphonia was how I spent the summer of 2004, and, along with Dragon Warrior VII and Persona 3: FES, is one of the very few games I've spent more than 100 hours playing. I've known for a long time that a sequel to Symphonia would eventually be hitting the Wii--but I must've not been paying attention, because Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World comes out next friggin' month. While I figure out how to take a leave of absence from graduate school, wet your whistle (or any woodwind instruments you have lying around the house) with the official English trailer: I'll say right now that the Tales games have a pretty low batting average; on the whole, about a third of them are worth playing--and out of that third, only a few are truly excellent. I've actually been a bit disappointed with the series since Symphonia; Legendia--despite having what may be the world's greatest RPG soundtrack--was a major step down, and Abyss was fun until my experience was throttled by constant, inescapable load times. I'm still not certain if DotNW will suck on toast, but at least one thing is clear: I dig Namco's approach. Read More... Posted Oct 07 2008, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: wii, retro, namco bandai, jrpg, bob mackey, tales of, tales of symponia: dawn of the new world

• The 61FPS Review: Dragon Quest IV – Chapters of the Chosen

  I’m not going to lie to you. Dragon Quest and I have history. It goes back some twenty years at this point, but our relationship today isn’t one based on nostalgia. Back in 2005, you could say that Dragon Quest and I were in, to put it delicately, an unhealthily codependent situation. Dragon Quest VIII had just come out in the United States, fresh faced and full of gorgeous cel-shaded graphics, newly minted menus and music, and voice work of unprecedented quality. But Dragon Quest has never had much clout on this side of the Pacific, and this was its first time going by its real name instead of Dragon Warrior. It needed someone, anyone to play it. Me, I was a recovering role-playing addict, coming off of a decade of Squaresoft devotion, trying my best to stay off the ability trees, the melodrama, and the menus. I lapsed occasionally into turn-based adventures to save the world. I’d been doing good up until that November, hadn’t touched a JRPG since Shadow Hearts: Covenant the previous winter, but I could feel myself weakening. I just wasn’t strong enough. So Dragon Quest VIII and I found each other at our weakest. Between November 15th and December 1st, I clocked just under ninety-six hours playing Dragon Quest VIII. Yeah, that’s right. Four days of my life. And I loved it. Each Dragon Quest, since the first game sprung from Yuuji Horii’s succulent brain in 1986, is an exercise in purity, a defining marquee in a genre known today for its decadence, bombast, and tedium. Dragon Quest is more often noted for its resistance to change rather than its consistent quality across the years. It’s true, Dragon Quest has remained, across its sequels, spin-offs, and numerous remakes, largely the same game it was two decades ago. The essential play – explore a large fantasy world, fight monsters in a first person perspective, collect items, talk to every single person you meet – has never changed in the core titles. But every iteration finds its elegant formula incrementally refined, and to great effect. Dragon Quest II introduced multi-character parties, III a job system that went on to become a genre staple, and so on and so forth. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, a DS remake of a Playstation remake of the NES original, could be viewed as a step back from the lavishly produced (though still familiar) Dragon Quest VIII, a retreat meant to acclimate players to the series’ transition from home consoles to portables. Surprisingly, Chapters of the Chosen isn’t a retreat at all. It is instead a perfect model of the JRPG as Horii envisioned it, immediately accessible, streamlined from the menu-juggling, command-selecting rigor moral, and trimmed of the excess narrative fat that’s typified the genre since Hironobu Sakaguchi began emphasizing drama over play in Final Fantasy. Read More... Posted Sep 22 2008, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, final fantasy, 61fps review, square-enix, hironobu sakaguchi, dragon quest, jrpg, yuuji horii

• Watcha Playing: Opoona

  As a self-confessed JRPG addict who should have quit using half a decade ago, I tend to try just about anything and everything in the genre--thanks to the work of my inner demons.  Sometimes this works out in my favor, with games like Persona 3: FES, but more often than not I'm trudging through something like Eternal Sonata with no means of escape.  I'm not quite sure where Opoona falls on the cream-to-crap spectrum, but after about three hours, I can at least tell you that it's different. Allow me to explain: The Good: That dude on the right is your protagonist, so that should give you a good indication of what you're in for; Opoona isn't your typical Japanese gingerbread version of Tolkien.  Instead, it's a quirky little space RPG about a family of aliens stranded on a distant planet.  What also separates Opoona from your typical JRPG is the control setup; you only use the Wiimost Nunchuck, which--aside from some problems moving the camera--feels like the optimal configuration for this kind of game.  It makes me think of how great the short-lived one-handed PSX controller from Ascii could have been--it wasn't just a suggestive piece of fiction joked about during the release of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.  Anyhow, the simple, action-y battle system--based entirely around throwing the "bonbon" on Opoona's head--works great with the limited controls available on the Nunchuck. As a relatively loading-free experience, Opoona gets right what a lot of RPGs get wrong. For a genre known for its fragmented gameplay, there's nothing worse than constant, awkward pauses breaking up what would be an otherwise good game.  A flash of black between rooms and battles is all you'll notice in Opoona--if you do notice it. The game also has a surprising soundtrack by hotshot composer Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Tactics, Odin Sphere) that does have its moments of bombast, but manages to play around with the Opoona's lighthearted theme in a way that feels very different than his usual work. More impressions after the cut. Read More... Posted Sep 12 2008, 03:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: wii, watcha playing, jrpg, bob mackey, opoona

• Trailer Review: Riz-Zoawd

  I like me a good Japanese RPG. Actually, let me rephrase: I love Japanese JRPGs. Like many a youth twenty years back, I received a free copy of Dragon Warrior with my Nintendo Power subscription. I didn’t actually play Dragon Warrior myself, I played it with my older brother, start to finish. It was, as I believe was the point of the game, epic. The experience from level one to defeating the nefarious Dragon Lord really did feel like a vast journey, a true hero quest. But I never got around to playing another JRPG until I was fourteen. That game was Chrono Trigger and it turned me into a slavering addict. These days, I only get to play one JRPG a year. They typically require a massive investment of time and, so, I’m forced to pick and choose. I’m not sure if it’s going to come to the US at this point, but if it does, I might have to make Ris-Zoawd the JRPG I play next year. Read More... Posted Aug 08 2008, 05:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, trailer review, final fantasy, chrono trigger, dragon quest, jrpg, riz-zoawd, wild arms, dragon warrior