Random Gaming Thoughts

[marurun]

No Ys mahjong yet, sadly.

Falcom only seems to have a single mahjong title in their back catalog, and it's from 1983. That's really unusual for a Japanese developer that's been around that long.

[Ack]

There is nothing wrong with playing a lot of mahjong, pinball, or solitaire video games.

Though don't you be playing Wordtris now. That'd be weird.

[Raging Justice]

I can't speak for others, but there are several things I enjoy about JRPGs

Because you put things so eloquently and clearly enumerated I'm going to respond to your post to try and explain my own relationship to JRPGs. Also note that I do a lot of "JRPGs aren't the only games that do this." This is not me saying I think you're necessarily making a contrary claim (unless you explicitly state one). I'm just setting context. I want to play off your ideas without putting too many words in your mouth.

1. They are comparatively easy. If I can't get past a section, I can just grind a bit and come back stronger. This means I am unlikely to just hit a wall and be unable to progress like might happen in a difficult game with limited continues.
This has become less of an issue with modern games, but was a big deal when games were frequently "Nintendo Hard".

There is a certain truth to this, although western computer RPGs also had elements of this, assuming they didn't try to nip that directly in the bud at points (Wizardry is a real bitch about this, but the very popular Gold Box RPGs were pretty allowing, or at least some of them were). I know I struggled with a lot of PC RPGs, but with the Gold Box Champions of Krynn I really enjoyed leveling up and testing my mettle against enemies. I even figured out some save character cheats to equip starting level 1 characters with end-game equipment (including Dragonlances) and also how to import high-level characters. So basically I could NewGame+ without losing the cool stuff the game takes away at the end. But I also really liked that I could grind my way to victory in FF1 and FF2/IV. It wasn't until the Saturn era that I really became a bit disaffected with games that forced you to grind just to survive.

2. Exploration. I enjoy exploring a world, seeing maps and continents and navigating. This mostly means adventure games and RPGs.

I don't think this is unique to JRPGs at all, though JRPGs were often more straight-forward about it, at least on console. Step in the PC space and both western and JRPGs could be downright inscrutable at times. Might and Magic famously shipped with a hint book that was... cryptic at best. I did really like the sense of exploration-as-progression. The areas you can access scale carefully so you can progress through them, until you get some boat or flying thing that lets you explore more non-linearly, at which point you can take risks to grind in places you're not supposed to be and see enemies that will stomp you. That was always kind of fun. Whereas the western CRPG was more likely to throw you into the world and you assume all the risk, JRPGs tended to be more linear, and even when they open up they still put some guard rails on. And I actually liked this.

3. I tend to enjoy the stories. Particularly back in the eighties and nineties, these were the games with the deepest stories available.

I don't agree with you that they had the deepest stories. They had the most character-based stories, whereas the western RPG was quite a bit more world-building. There was often quite a lot of depth in the world itself and how events play out, but your own characters were just so ancillary to the story itself except as these stoic forces for change. I know my response to FF2/IV was very much a case of "OMG, I'm Cecil, and the story involves me personally!"

4. Clear sense of progress. Grinding and getting stronger can be fun, and when you see stat increases it's easy to see how you have progressed. This gives a dopamine hit. This is also progress that you won't lose if you can't play for a couple of weeks.

Yup, this is a nice thing. RPGs are great for that. Action games your twitch skills for a particular title can really atrophy unless it's something you've just played a whole lot. For me, though, that enjoyment of grinding has a lot to do with how quickly I can knock out the grinding battles. Is the battle system too slow or complicated, or require too much input attention? Then it's probably out for me for grinding. I don't want something too simple, either. What I really like is a battle system that has complexity that's required/can be leveraged for boss fights and difficult battles, but also some simplicity so you can do away with grindmobs without having to tap into all that. Grandia's really good about that. When you're trying to grind you can be pretty lackadaisical in your approach to the easier encounters, but boss battles you can really dig into the meat of the system and sometimes even stunlock bosses for a bit.

So in summary, I largely agree, though I also think many western-designed RPGs of the time on PCs reflected mostly the same sensibilities. For me, the experience of playing FF1 and FF2/IV largely hit the same dopamine spot that the SSI Gold Box games did. Now that I'm older I've gradually become a LOT pickier about what RPGs I want to play, and JRPGs of more modern design are a lot more likely to irritate me in ways that make it feel like the game isn't respecting my time with it. But when one does click with me I get right back into that place I did ages ago and it just sinks right into my brain.

Bringing this up again, we talked a few pages back about the pros and cons of rpgs. I wanted to add one thought. I love the focus on cameraderie in RPGs. You know in video games there's often that "chosen" one who must solve every problem and save the world or whatever. Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn, Master Chief from Halo, Link from Zelda (and to a certain extant Zelda herself), or Kratos from the God of War series as a sort of anti-hero version of that. RPGs, particularly JRPGs, almost always focus on a group of disparate people coming together for a common cause. Even when there is a central protagonist like Cloud from Final Fantasy 7, he needs his support group to help him get through the adventure. Cloud is not running around solo-ing every battle in Final Fantasy 7. He'd get his ass kicked.

I like that. I like the banter between characters in combat, seeing how their different abilities synergize as they help each other, watching them get to know each other over a course of an adventure, seeing the whole group pile on an enemy when you get the chance to do group attacks in The Legend of Heroes Trails from Zero. JRPGs are never about "your character", like other genres. They are about "your party".

[bmoc]

I did not have new Shinobi, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage on my Game Awards bingo card.

[Raging Justice]

I did not have new Shinobi, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage on my Game Awards bingo card.

[bmoc]

https://youtu.be/0VHYLJR9pNg?si=O9zsyayU5HKZ9njT

[Raging Justice]

https://youtu.be/0VHYLJR9pNg?si=O9zsyayU5HKZ9njT

What a time to be alive.

Old School gamers are being fed really well lately

It's going to be interesting to see how the REAL Streets of Rage 4 turns out with Sega back in the driver's seat.

Shinobi looks awesome, some Okami vibes with the art style.

Streets of Rage and Golden Axe being 3d is...interesting. I hope they turn out well. 3d beat 'em ups need some kind of renaissance or something. All the popular ones these days are 2d. Here's hoping that Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP also ends up being good.

[Anapan]

Oh wow! All of those games look really well done! I'm excited to play them all. Nothing in the little clips looks at all bad - Sega is really doing it right with these.
Square just announced a new Mana game too - Visions of Mana. I don't know if that was a QTE during the boss fight but it seemed to stop the action right in the middle of the battle. In any case, it's gorgeous - the art style really replicates the 2D art they used for Legend of Mana.


Reposting AI art:
Remember the original Duck Hunt? AI doesn't.

[marurun]

I think if Sega had kept going along the path that they started with Spikeout and Zombie Revenge they could have had a perfectly cromulent Streets of Rage 3D by now. But after seeing that reveal video, what I really want is a musou game based around either SoR, Golden Axe, or Altered Beast. Actually, Altered Beast would probably be best for a musou. Just big, dumb action.

[Raging Justice]

I think if Sega had kept going along the path that they started with Spikeout and Zombie Revenge they could have had a perfectly cromulent Streets of Rage 3D by now. But after seeing that reveal video, what I really want is a musou game based around either SoR, Golden Axe, or Altered Beast. Actually, Altered Beast would probably be best for a musou. Just big, dumb action.

Golden Axe could totally work, it has a campy tone that would fit. Hearing, "Ooooooh Gaaaaawd" while slaying 100 men with my Arnold Schwarzenegger stand in sounds like a fun time. Don't tell me you couldn't imagine this as a cutscene in a musou game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5gi_mW1psI

"The appearance of the Warrior Valkyrie has decreased enemy morale!"

"Enemy general defeated!"

"Ax Battler force's morale is skyrocketing!"

"Gnome Thieves have entered the battlefield!"

"New Mission activated!"

"Prevent thieves from stealing supplies!"

"Chicken Leg located by allied scouts!"

"New mission activated!"

"Ride Chicken Leg to enemy base!"

Oh wow! All of those games look really well done! I'm excited to play them all. Nothing in the little clips looks at all bad - Sega is really doing it right with these.
Square just announced a new Mana game too - Visions of Mana. I don't know if that was a QTE during the boss fight but it seemed to stop the action right in the middle of the battle. In any case, it's gorgeous - the art style really replicates the 2D art they used for Legend of Mana.


Reposting AI art:
Remember the original Duck Hunt? AI doesn't.

It's like AI gives us a glimpse into a bizarre alternate reality similar to our but just creepy in how some things just aren't right.

The Sega announcement ended with "and more", which is even more exciting.