RPG Progress Report

[Sarge]

Or, if you like actual hardware, get an SD2SNES. That's how I play the stuff I don't own. I've got most of the SNES RPGs, but I'm still missing Brandish and Harvest Moon. I know there are a few of the Western RPGs I'm missing, but they don't all come to mind right now, and they're not exactly a high priority for me, given their presence on other platforms (and generally in better form).

[Exhuminator]

Harvest Moon must really be rare. Even back in the late 90s when I used to trawl flea markets, pawn shops, and yard sales for SNES carts, I can't recall ever seeing a copy of it anywhere. Let alone seeing it at a Walmart or Roses or whatever.

[fastbilly1]

It came out in late 96 so like most late console releases it skyrocketed in value. Its in the $200+ range now cart only, thats insane.

[Sarge]

Oh, yeah, definitely. I never saw it, or I'd already own it. Late release, low print run, and pretty high quality. Pretty much all you need to get a game that sells for a bit more than I want to pay.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I remember the Harvest Moon launch pretty clearly, oddly enough. One of my good friends, who was even more into RPGs than I was, picked it up. I ended up getting a cheaper older game that was on sale - Breath of Fire maybe?

The original Harvest Moon and 64 are the best in the series I'd say. And I don't own either one.

Moving on, I'm getting close to the end of Magic Knight Rayearth. In the final dungeon now, so I should wrap things up this evening.

[Sarge]

I do somehow own Harvest Moon 64. Pretty lucky find. It's not nearly as rare as the SNES version, though.

[flash1987]

Is there a link to Exhuminator's blog? Wouldn't mind a read.

Also I think using guides for older RPGs are fine, if I'm stuck for more than 10 mins I definitely do. Some of the puzzles or paths are pretty bizarre and/or arbitrary.

[MrPopo]

It's a rule that you're not allowed to complain about obtuse RPGs until you play an 80's dungeon crawler.

[Betagam7]

I started the Chinese bootleg Tales of Phantasia. I was enjoying it up until characters started swearing in a really annoying Western way ("Piss off", "This band sucks ass".)

Looking it up Im guessing this is the DeJap translation, apparently things only get more graphic. Hopefully it doesn't take me out of the experience too much.

[Exhuminator]

Is there a link to Exhuminator's blog?

http://ardentexhuminator.blogspot.com/

I wrote that blog from August 2014 to November 2014. There's a total of 19 entries. It starts with a review of Crystal Beans - From Dungeon Explorer, and then goes into a lot of theory about video game culture and why things are the way they are. The final entry is just me being disappointed with lack of feedback and walking away. The blog might have lasted longer if I had bothered to promote it whatsoever.

If you're short on time, these are the three entries in my old blog I think are the best:

Don't Scratch on the Story

The Five Golden Rules of Good Game Design

Push A to Kill



I also made my own video game last year:

http://ardent.atspace.cc/Ardent%20Shado ... 20Ash.html

It's an adventure game, that is to say a small visual novel with puzzles. It only takes about 30 minutes to finish. I did everything in it myself; graphics, music, writing, puzzle design, all of it. If someone is sensitive to subjects like suicide, they might want to pass though.

I think using guides for older RPGs are fine, if I'm stuck for more than 10 mins I definitely do.

I want to be more clear about what I said about walkthroughs.

All of this is entirely my own personal elitist opinion, so no offense intended:

I don't think using walkthroughs if you're completely stuck in an RPG (or any game for that matter) is bad. Sometimes designers just do a bad job of communicating to the player what they want them to do. Sometimes this was on purpose even, to promote the sale of a strategy guide in tandem with the game itself. So yeah, using a walkthrough once in a while, just to get yourself back on the right track, isn't bad IMO.

What I don't agree with, is using a walkthrough or strategy guide the entire time you're playing an RPG. As in, you constantly refer to it as you play through the game. This removes a lot of the challenge from the experience, because the guide is always telling you where to go, and it tells you how to setup your party for optimal battle preparedness, and usually the best ways to take down bosses. At that point, the guide is beating the game, not you. With that scenario, you might as well just watch a Let's Play of said RPG.

Now some people use guides as they play RPGs, because they are deathly afraid of missing something. My answer to that is I don't care. I'd rather miss stuff, than never have any surprises, because the guide is constantly telling me what's going to happen next.

Now, all that said, if you're playing a Japanese only RPG, and you can't read Japanese, then there is no shame at all in using a walkthrough the entire time you play it. Just so you can actually make your way through the game. But that only applies to games you can't actually read.

So that's my personal philosophy on walkthroughs. I expect no one to agree so please carry on folks.