RPG Progress Report

[isiolia]

It opens up a bit when you get to Gran Pulse, with optional missions to pursue. The final save point area gives you the ability to jump back there to go hunting/grinding, kind of like when you finally get the airship at the end of X.

[GazongaJoe]

So, FF13 will eventually open up and be more like a normal JRPG at some point then? I ask because I plan on giving it as a gift to my brother who loves the end game and battle systems of Final Fantasy's past. I sure he wouldn't mind a bit of a departure from the norm, but so far FF13 isn't a slight departure, it's an entirely different fucking train.

As a side note he will also be getting Lost Odyssey, so it won't be all bad.

Lost Odyssey is a great game. Good choice.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

I do find myself getting burned out lately by Square Enix, Namco, Atlus, and NIS RPGs, mainly due to their length and repetitive nature. This days I prefer to play games by more "obscure" developers like Falcom and great defunct developers like Produce, Quest, Quintet...

Is this more recently, or the whole last decade? I understand the new-school RPG design has been a trend since the early 2000s. Good thing there were a few brilliant experiments too.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I'd say the slogfests began in the PS1 era, yes.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

RPGs are repetitive by nature and it's hard to improve without changing the standard formula. Most of my favorite RPGs are weird in some way. So what about those 8-bit and 16-bit RPGs kept you interested?

I love a good 16-bit game, but I never played too many older RPGs, just the older Final Fantasies, Dragon Warrior III, Fire Emblem and so on.

[BoneSnapDeez]

The 16 bit classics always felt so "fast" and streamlined to me. FFVI feels like such an intense and frantic game, compared to its successor which is bloated and so much slower (though still pretty awesome).

[Sload Soap]

Neil Lennon, manager of Celtic F.C, once described his battle with depression as being like "walking down a long dark corridor never knowing when the light will go on".

Having played some ten hours of Final Fantasy 13, I now have some idea of what he means.

[Xeogred]

You have 20 more hours to go for it to open! Have fun!

[BoneSnapDeez]

How many of you would date a girl if the relationship really sucked but people kept trying to reassure you by saying "trust me, things will be good 6 months from now - I promise!"

[Sload Soap]

I stopped playing yesterday. It's all fur coat and no knickers.

Fuck it. I got Holy Arks to find.