Games Beaten 2015

[BoneSnapDeez]

You guys are wacky. Games should be played in the chronological order they were released. No exceptions (unless certain installments are super-rare, Japan-only with no translation, whatever)!

I wasn't really feeling Earthboud

FFVI and Chrono Trigger are the only JRPGs I enjoy more than EarthBound.

[Ack]

Yeah, but you know about the plot reveals between Lufia and Lufia II. The truth is that Lufia spoils the best part of Lufia II, and it spoils it right at the start of the game.

I really wish they had been released in a different order.

[Westane]

You guys are wacky. Games should be played in the chronological order they were released. No exceptions (unless certain installments are super-rare, Japan-only with no translation, whatever)!

I wasn't really feeling Earthboud

FFVI and Chrono Trigger are the only JRPGs I enjoy more than EarthBound.

Actually... I didn't love Earthbound when I tried it either. FFVI and Chrono Trigger are possibly my two favorite games ever, but Earthbound didn't hit me like I wanted it to.

That said, I only gave it a few minutes to make an impression and I'll be "forced" to play through it via my project probably early next year, so I'll get through it one way or another and I'm hoping/expecting my opinion will change.

[MrPopo]

But when should I play Lufia: The Ruins of Lore and Lufia: The Legend Returns?

I was actually thinking of playing Lufia: Curse of Sinistrals - the Nintendo DS remake of Lufia II - before Lufia & The Fortress of Doom. (I will save Lufia: The Ruins of Lore and Lufia: The Legend Returns for last.) Is this the best approach? Or, should I play Lufia II (SNES) rather than its remake?

Play The Legend Returns as the third game, since it apparently summarizes the first two Lufias at the beginning. The Ruins of Lore is a sidestory, so you should probably save it for the end.

Exhuminator already handled Curse of the Sinistrals, but I want to echo him. There is one dungeon in particular with a set of puzzles that stumped me for a while back when I first played through the game. It's damn good gameplay, and that ending...

...a kick. In the nuts. Really, Prfsnl, you gotta play it.

Legend Returns is the third game in the chronology, so play it after the first two. Ruins of Lore is a weird side story set after Lufia II that doesn't feature any of the stuff that makes the first three games good.

[Sarge]

I don't think Ruins of Lore is that good, either. Passable, maybe, but not really good.

[pierrot]

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't think the story of FFIV is any better than the story of FFV. They're both pretty crap in the story department to be honest

I agree. If you are playing 16-bit JRPGs for their stories, you really need to read more books (or just watch more movies).

Exactly. Not all video game stories are created equally, but there still likely aren't any 8/16-bit console RPGs worth playing for story alone.

I would absolutely take the story in FFV over IV, VI, VII, VIII, and X any day. V's is a fairly simple story with some subtlety. The others have stories fashioned from cudgels of useless, pandering drama and emotion, used to club baby seals. I would also argue that IV and VI are more shonen manga than V; just slightly different eras.

On SNES? Howabout Dark Law: Meaning of Death, Energy Breaker, Dark Half, Shin Megami Tensei II, or Chaos Seed: Feng Shui Chronicles? All these have above average stories, definitely better than FF V by all means.

Have you beaten all of these? I've never heard anyone specifically reference the stories of these games, aside from SMT II, which I've heard is a clear step back from the story in SMT due in large part to the first act comprising of all the shit hitting the fan. Even SMT's story isn't really that good. Probably the only things worth mentioning about it are its issues of morality, and that it used FFVI's driving hook a couple years earlier. Although, I'm inclined to believe Dark Half probably does have an above average story, since it's by Westone, I'm equally inclined to believe it's upstaged by the game-play; because it's by Westone.

[Ack]

...so are you defending FFV or just shitting on JRPGs from that era?

[pierrot]

I'm saying that stacking old console RPGs up by their stories is an exercise in futility, and that engaging mechanics trump whatever third-rate script was pumped out for them.

[Ack]

Right, so shitting on the genre at the time then.

[pierrot]

If you play JRPGs for the story alone, then I'm sure it seems like I'm shitting on the genre. I think the genre in its early years is better as a legacy of game-play than story.