RPG Progress Report

[BoneSnapDeez]

Those screenshots look boss.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Now, what's this Shadow Tower stuff all about then?

Chance Card!

"Go directly to Demon's Souls. Do not play Shadow Tower. Do not spend 60 more hours on inferior From Software games."

[Exhuminator]

People like you are why we will never have a new King's Field.

[prfsnl_gmr]

People like you are why we will never have a new King's Field.

Hey! That's not fair! Unlike everyone else in the world, I am actually playing through a King's Field game right now! I think it's pretty great...but it's apparent to me that From Software learned a lot about game design between 2002 and 2009.

[Exhuminator]

inferior From Software games

Maybe you should finish a few KF games in their entirety, before making that assumption, is all I'm saying.

I own Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls II. And I shall play them in due time. But I owe it to myself, and From Software, to experience the Shadow Tower games first. Considering those games were strongly influential in the creation of the Souls series, it's at least of scholarly worth to do so. And who knows, they might even be awesome in their own right.

[prfsnl_gmr]

inferior From Software games

Maybe you should finish a few KF games in their entirety, before making that assumption, is all I'm saying.

I own Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls II. And I shall play them in due time. But I owe it to myself, and From Software, to experience the Shadow Tower games first. Considering those games were strongly influential in the creation of the Souls series, it's at least of scholarly worth to do so. And who knows, they might even be awesome in their own right.

The first one looks OK, but the second one looks rad. I really wish it had seen a release in North America...

[Jmustang1968]

It's easier to just nail down the best time for RPGs in general. I think that was the SNES-PSX-PS2 era. There was so much good stuff then that it's hard to complain even now, when we're getting comparatively less quality stuff overall.

Speaking of RPGs, I put down Paper Jam for a bit and booted Brandish: Dark Revenant back up. I hit the tower last night.

I think the quality of stuff now is high, perhaps higher than then, but I also have higher expectations now. Those are the games I grew up playing, and got me hooked on the genre. I am not sure how well they would hold up in a lot of aspects had I first played them recently.

Stuff like the Persona series and Trails games are representing JRPGs well, and we have had a renaissance of classic style WRPGs as well as more modern takes. 2016 is packed with RPGs that look promising.

Actually this is part of why I'm enjoying playing through so many RPGs from that era now. I can find out what I really like as an adult who has a lot of experience versus the nostalgia that I have. For instance, Arcana? The Shadowrun games? 7th Saga? I only played through these in the last few years, and I've found them immensely interesting and entertaining. Impressively so for games that I just didn't hear folks talking about. And even the big names of the genre, while I don't put them in my personal top 10, I can see why folks like them so much. Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana...these are some pretty great games.

That's not to say this always works out. I took serious issue with some of the foibles of the early Breath of Fire games. And some games were considered middle road with good reason, like Secret of Evermore. And the ports of WRPGs to the SNES are...lackluster, we'll say. But overall, the quality has been pretty high, even if mechanics are sometimes rudimentary and experimental. There's a vibrancy in the relative youth of the genre that I don't see as much nowadays, particularly on the JRPG side.

Now WRPGs... I'd say they're having a Renaissance, but that would imply there was a generation of them that was bad, and frankly I just can't think of one. They've been impressive from the get go, though they're a lot more accessible than they used to be.

Yeah for sure, good games are good games. They have an undeniable charm. Chrono Trigger I can still go back and play and get wrapped up in. SoM, I enjoyed back in late 90s, but when I replayef some a year or so ago, while still good, wasn't as great as I had recalled it to be. The hit detection was rough and the combat got old quick.

When I said renaissance, I was emphasizing the classic style WRPG. Pillars, Wasteland 2, Divinity, new upcoming Baldur's Gate game etc... The genre evolved in the 2000s to a degree, but we have now have the more modern representations with Dragon Age and Fallout 4 alongside these modernized classic styled. I love it.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Here's a really random memory: my brother had a PlayStation back in the 1990s and subscribed to the PlayStation Magazine. As I recall, Shadow Tower received a half-star (or "half-disc") score accompanied by a stupid snarky review.

This made me irrationally angry because the game looked cool. And the writers held up Final Fantasy VII as the pinnacle of RPG design, which was dumb.

I really hated that magazine in general. It tried too hard to play up the "video games aren't just for kids anymore!" angle and was always filled with forced sarcasm and "edginess." One of the many things initially turned me off to the 5th gen.

[Jmustang1968]

Here's a really random memory: my brother had a PlayStation back in the 1990s and subscribed to the PlayStation Magazine. As I recall, Shadow Tower received a half-star (or "half-disc") score accompanied by a stupid snarky review.

This made me irrationally angry because the game looked cool. And the writers held up Final Fantasy VII as the pinnacle of RPG design, which was dumb.

I really hated that magazine in general. It tried too hard to play up the "video games aren't just for kids anymore!" angle and was always filled with forced sarcasm and "edginess." One of the many things initially turned me off to the 5th gen.

I had wanted a PS1 badly. I got an N64, and then regretted seeing all the awesome RPGs on the PS1 and none for 64 really until OB64.

I would have buddies come over and bring their systems and played through Final Fantasy Tactics and Armored Cores and such. After a few years my uncle gave me his PS1, and thats when I played through Tactics Ogre and the Suikodens and such. My local Blockbuster actually had a Tactics Ogre copy and before that even an Ogre Battle. I regret not trying to buy those when they were being phased out.

[Exhuminator]

Shadow Tower received a half-star (or "half-disc") score accompanied by a stupid snarky review.

This made me irrationally angry because the game looked cool.

I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but sometimes you can judge a game. Based on its cover alone, Shadow Tower is obviously not an experience built for the average joe 5th gen fuckwit gamer who was blown away by CG and voice acting. So what I'm saying is; I'm not surprised at that review. Most critics couldn't even stand King's Field, and Shadow Tower is King's Field with every player concession stripped away entirely. It's for madmen only.