Cecil has some progression, Kain and Golbez are fleshed out. Everyone else's development stops after their plot arcs stop. Gosh, that's reminiscent of a certain game that people like to pan lately, isn't it?
Cecil has some progression, Kain and Golbez are fleshed out. Everyone else's development stops after their plot arcs stop. Gosh, that's reminiscent of a certain game that people like to pan lately, isn't it?
Who do you consider the high standard for JRPG characters? I noticed in the 16-bit vs 32-bit golden age JRPG thread you have been playing JRPGs since like, the beginning. I would like hear the opinion of someone who has seen the genre evolve and experienced in its nascent form.
Or what does anyone else on this thread think constitutes a strong JRPG character?
I've been pondering this for quite a while and would be happy to hear anyone's definition of strong characters in the genre.
Heh. I miss some of the better threads when I'm not home, it seems like.
I mostly stuck to platformers last year and for the most part this year, so I'd need to think about that a bit. I'd throw some Suikoden characters in there somewhere, though. And how generally some SMT writing is somewhat decent and generally lets the players connect the dots themselves. There are a lot of older RPGs that take a lot of influences from Ultima, Wizardry and Dragon Quest... which in turn took a lot of influences from older computer adventure games and MUDs, so they generally liked to adhere to an appropriate amount of text to tell the player what they meant (where the text described the player's journey), or a "show me, don't tell me" type of thing. The latter is a large reason why I like the first few Phantasy Star games so much, and why I value character/enemy animation a lot. That's why I always felt that giving me reams and reams of text for exposition doesn't tell me everything and that's why it kind of annoys me in some games. I don't think I'd started to even really really like character-driven games until I'd played a Suikoden game in the mid-90s, or even Phantasy Star II with its more cinematic narrative (waaaay ahead of its time). Now I can go without it and mechanics are more important to me these days considering there aren't a lot of RPG characters whose development I'd consider as adequate.
Pretty sure Aeana would throw some Kiseki characters into the fray and I'd agree with her, though. Especially Kevin in Sora no Kiseki 3rd.
At the same time, you do have to admit that there is a fair bit of correlation between 4 and 13's design elements, right down to the kind of character development that happens. 4 simply benefits from having a larger cast, actual dungeon design, and side elements that aren't just limited to one particular type of "side element". That was the point I was trying to make in my playthrough. I'm surprised no one really understood that I was making subtle correlations between the two while subtly mentioning that both games had a lot in common. However, FF4 ends up being the better game due to allowing the player to have a lot more flexbility throughout the game.
I mostly stuck to platformers last year and for the most part this year, so I'd need to think about that a bit. I'd throw some Suikoden characters in there somewhere, though. And how generally some SMT writing is somewhat decent and generally lets the players connect the dots themselves. There are a lot of older RPGs that take a lot of influences from Ultima, Wizardry and Dragon Quest... which in turn took a lot of influences from older computer adventure games and MUDs, so they generally liked to adhere to an appropriate amount of text to tell the player what they meant (where the text described the player's journey), or a "show me, don't tell me" type of thing. The latter is a large reason why I like the first few Phantasy Star games so much, and why I value character/enemy animation a lot. That's why I always felt that giving me reams and reams of text for exposition doesn't tell me everything and that's why it kind of annoys me in some games. I don't think I'd started to even really really like character-driven games until I'd played a Suikoden game in the mid-90s, or even Phantasy Star II with its more cinematic narrative (waaaay ahead of its time). Now I can go without it and mechanics are more important to me these days considering there aren't a lot of RPG characters whose development I'd consider as adequate.
Pretty sure Aeana would throw some Kiseki characters into the fray and I'd agree with her, though. Especially Kevin in Sora no Kiseki 3rd.
Interesting. The medium has changed a lot from what you have described. It's kinda crazy to think these games have been around for quite a while and it was only the mid-90s when you started to really enjoying character-driven games. I grew up through the 16-bit only experiencing SNES JRPGs vicariously through my cousins stories and watching him play. I never really absorbed any of what was happening on the screen since I was young and it all looked complicated to me. As I got older, the PlayStation introduced me to JRPGs properly, many of which were sequels to established franchises my cousin recommend to me as a child. Final Fantasy, Chrono Cross, Breath of Fire. It's kinda humbling knowing that there are so many RPGs and JRPGs around, makes me want to explore the depth and variety the genre has to offer. I've only scratched the surface with my love of the FF series, Persona 3/4, Breath of Fire III, both Chrono games, the few Tales games I've completed, or almost completed. I've been playing Parasite Eve here and there and I'm finding more JRPG entertainment in the first few hours than most of the 70 I put into FFXIII.
I guess from what I have played, I consider Cloud a strong character, primarily for his character arc. Cocky ex-SOLDIER, to capable leader who cares for the planet. I found myself liking Jecht for the same reason, his character arc. I guess, to me at least, a strong JRPG character needs an interesting character arc.
Jecht is an interesting selection. I guess since his tale is told unorthodox-ly through a lot of flashbacks and Tidus reminiscing, his character was allows to develop in a manner that you wouldn't see many jrpg protagonists take. The fact that a lot of what we know of him initially is told through Tidus I think helps that. Until you can place the Jecht spheres together and allow the player to then make their own opinion.
Hmm. I'm actually having trouble thinking of a protagonist I like a lot. I really enjoyed David Nassau from Last Remnant, though that is a game that I am not unbiased on. Aside, I think Jason Liebrecht should get more work. A lot of the scenes David is in are a sort filler of him talking on his throne, but you see a lot of sides of him as he takes on a brotherly role to both Irina and Rush, a leadership role as the Marquis of a fledgling nation, a lower role to the leader of Celapaleis. It could just be that he's surrounded by a bunch a poorly acted, poorly voiced, paper-thin compatriots as well. Or maybe it's the fact that he's kind of a foil to goofy ol' Rush that he seems better by comparison.
Yuri is another one, from Tales of Vesperia, though that's been a more common, less interesting opinion. In short, he's the opposite of a lot of Jrpg protagonists, and yet still shows some degrees of weakness that he has to overcome before the game ends.
Edit: I feel a little silly mentioning only relatively recent games. I've played a lot of jrpgs from the PS1/64 era but nothing comes to mind for a character. Earlier than that I was mostly playing things on PC, and not JRPGs.
In an alternate world Rosa and Cecil are better characters than Yuna and Balthier.
Mental note: Do not read the Kotaku comments section anymore, it isn't healthy.
Rosa no, but I'd say Cecil, Kain and Golbez top anyone in XIII by virtue of not being annoying as fuck. Except Cecil in Dissidia, but nobody is in character in Dissidia. Not 10 or 12, though. I mean, those games came out well after 4.
Cecil has some progression, Kain and Golbez are fleshed out. Everyone else's development stops after their plot arcs stop. Gosh, that's reminiscent of a certain game that people like to pan lately, isn't it?
You know my stance on this. I really think that as of the DS version, and with TAY lumped in, Cecil, Kain, and Golbez have some really decent development. I mean, they're not Zidane, Terra, Cloud or Ramza, but they're solid dudes.
Which is something I'd say 4 has over 13: the cast is consistent between games. I mean 17 years went by and they still managed to keep the cast consistent, but the same cannot be said of the cast between 13 and 13-2 (unless you want to say like, consistently shitty, or douchey, or crappy, or whatever.)
4 has some dudes like Rosa and anyone not named Cecil, Kain, Golbez or maybe Rydia, but eh, what'reyougonnado. It's a frickin' SNES game, and technically it's more of a dolled up NES game.
Schala, I do think some of the side quests have some cool stuff (Chapter 7 was pretty amusing) but they aren't presented very well. They don't really
explain how much each world is different and the protagonists actions don't really make much sense. In chapter 6 is quite obvious that some of the Eternian guys aren't really that evil yet the cast just murders the crap out of them without commenting on it.
At least in XIII if they had learned that
someone was betraying them to make them start the apocalypse I'm pretty sure they would have actually changed their actions instead of continuing to do the exact same thing and making no mention of said knowledge for a decent chunk of the game.
XIII's writing is bad but I at least the characters actions at least make sense in relation to whats going on.
Rosa no, but I'd say Cecil, Kain and Golbez top anyone in XIII by virtue of not being annoying as fuck. Except Cecil in Dissidia, but nobody is in character in Dissidia. Not 10 or 12, though. I mean, those games came out well after 4.
As you can see I avoided mentioning FFXIII characters when making such comparisons. I just think some "old school fans" should stop lumping 10, 12 and 13 together when making that kind of assertions, because there are many differences between them and the first two managed to do some remarkable things even if they had some flaws.
Which is something I'd say 4 has over 13: the cast is consistent between games. I mean 17 years went by and they still managed to keep the cast consistent, but the same cannot be said of the cast between 13 and 13-2 (unless you want to say like, consistently shitty, or douchey, or crappy, or whatever.)
I can't understand how a series of three games made in quick sucession managed to destroy its characters' development much more than a sequel made 15 years later as a low budget affair. It blows my mind, really.
As you can see I avoided mentioning FFXIII characters when making such comparisons. I just think some "old school fans" should stop lumping 10, 12 and 13 together when making that kind of assertions, because there are many differences between them and the first two managed to do some remarkable things even if they had some flaws.
I can't understand how a series of three games made in quick sucession managed to destroy its characters' development much more than a sequel made 15 years later as a low budget affair. It blows my mind, really.
someone was betraying them to make them start the apocalypse I'm pretty sure they would have actually changed their actions instead of continuing to do the exact same thing and making no mention of said knowledge for a decent chunk of the game.
XIII's writing is bad but I at least the characters actions at least make sense in relation to whats going on.
But... they did know. They knew exactly what they were supposed to avoid doing at all costs hours before the end, and then somewhere amid the ass pulls, deus ex machinas, and general insanity... they decided "Fuck it, TIME TO SAVE THE WORLD" and did everything BARTYBOY WANTED THEM TO DO and had to have one final asspull save them.
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I can't understand how a series of three games made in quick sucession managed to destroy its characters' development much more than a sequel made 15 years later as a low budget affair. It blows my mind, really.
I think it honestly comes down to the fact that they didn't know what to do with the characters. LR (and XIII-2 to some extent) is rife with reused character motivations, retreaded character arcs, redundant plot arcs, etc. But I guess the same could be said for Cloud. I mean, I don't think Cloud's case was as drastic as everyone makes it sound, but it was Normura himself who said he made Cloud the way he was in AC since he thought fans would recognize Cloud better that way... character development be damn (well, that last part is what I'm saying).
Watching Mistermv speedrun FFVI is always a good time, but he always has the worst luck I have ever seen. I guess it's inevitable if you play the game as much as he does, but some of these are exceptionally ridiculous. I'll pull some excerpts from his channel.
In an alternate world Rosa and Cecil are better characters than Yuna and Balthier.
Mental note: Do not read the Kotaku comments section anymore, it isn't healthy.
Ugh, its the guys opinion and all, but to me its terrible. 10 and 12 had great casts and Yuna, imo, would have to be up there with the top female protagonists in the series. 13 is definitely a large step down but at least I will remember Snow as a b****.
What would make that statement more legit would be if it were describing villains. Sephiroth, Kefka and Kuja were all great villians and even the Weapons were not the joke they are in the last few installments.
Of course. Go to JPSN on your PSP and download "UMD®登録アプリケーション". You put the UMDs in your drive and follow the directions.
Ugh, its the guys opinion and all, but to me its terrible. 10 and 12 had great casts and Yuna, imo, would have to be up there with the top female protagonists in the series. 13 is definitely a large step down but at least I will remember Snow as a b****.
For the most part, I loved X's cast. I'm with you Yuna is up there in my top female protagonists of the series. XII's cast was alright. They were great in their own way and well voice acted, but none of them really resonated with me. Except Ashe, she was the best character of the six. The only thing I remember about Vaan was that one talk he had with Ashe about revenge, and his washboard abs.
Of course. Go to JPSN on your PSP and download "UMD®登録アプリケーション". You put the UMDs in your drive and follow the directions.
Ah, okay that makes sense. I've set my Vita to Japan already just in case my fate, which will be sealed this Thursday @_@, has me end up in Japan later this year. Now I just need to set my PSP to Japan when I want to do UMD passports. I was kind of hoping that by then there would be an official Vita/PS3 ver. paired with a localization? Although, maybe that dream is dead.
Come to think of it, Type-0 is shockingly cheap on PSN already.
Interesting. The medium has changed a lot from what you have described. It's kinda crazy to think these games have been around for quite a while and it was only the mid-90s when you started to really enjoying character-driven games.
Well, that isn't true (and I feel like I should correct my mistake), and that was more of an anecdotal statement from me where I was saying that I didn't become as attached to characters in a video game narrative until then. However, characterization in video games happened earlier than that.
I am going to go off on a huge tangent because video game history is like my favourite thing.
The history of RPGs is a mucky, mucky thing to deal with to me and a lot of accounts of it is sometimes left up to what the author's experienced, especially if they experienced it at the time or afterwards or if the stuck to a certain fraction of RPGs. The thing to think of when talking RPGs is thinking that it's chess. Like, each piece has a certain role to play in battle. Combat is turn-based. There are certain pieces towards the end that act as bosses or minibosses, while the pawns play the role of common mooks. The player acts to control their party members against foes.
But it mostly started with D&D--a numbers game. It's the reason why Diablo, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Ultima, Baldur's Gate, whatever your cup of tea... Gary Gygax's DnD is the reason why these games exist. It's what gave us the reasoning behind HP, Mana, armour, classes, enemies, etc. And the narrative was for the player to enjoy. It's why the first dungeon crawler ever, pedit5 was created (within the same year, even!)--where there was only one floor in the dungeon, you had stats, and you fought stuff for cash. That's it. This was in 1975 and computers weren't that powerful, but it was a good start. A lot of college-aged folks consumed D&D so it's understandable why people tried to take D&D's elements and put them into a game.
Temple of Apshai and Akalabeth came from D&D's focus on numbers and stats, and the latter influenced Ultima. Ultima, Wizardry, and Rogue basically gave us everything we see in RPGs today, stuff we seem to barely even think about. Rogue gave us random dungeon crawls and random inventory items and endless replay value due to that randomization. Ultima gave us a ton of stuff, but notably it gave us morality-based gameplay. Ultima 3 gave us tiled graphics, popularized party-based combat, time travel, etc. Wizardry was the thing that started party-based combat (leading Ultima 3 to include party-based combat), and gave us solid menus (ie: selecting commands in battle) and first-person combat.
It's somewhat interesting to marvel that western RPGs had a lot of influence on their eastern counterparts and to see how much they've diverged since then into segmented things entirely. It's just like how chess made it to Asia and got converted to chaturanga in India, and then subsequently converted to a variant in shogi in Japan. In shogi, there are more roles and the game feels more complex than regular ol' chess. And that took centuries. This only took a few decades.
The east was this weird kind of thing because there were soooo many different kinds of computer systems and all of these western games had to be ported to them somehow. Because there were so many different kinds of systems (MSX, NEC-8801, PC-8801, X68000, etc), it was hard to actually port eastern games to western systems because some of these systems were more advanced than their western counterparts (ex: better sound processor, better resolution, etc). Dragon and Princess (ADV), Bokusoka Wars (TBS), and Nobunaga's Ambition (TBS), among others, were the first few computer RPGs over there. Dragon and Princess's main adventure mode, for example is basically text-based, and the combat screen is pretty simple (with some enemies fumbling their attacks like crazy). I feel like some of the earlier RPGs took notes from the visual novel category or even eroge. This is debatable, of course, but that's kind of how I see it in a retrospective kind of sense. 1984's Dragon Slayer was way ahead of its time, and essentially fathered the ARPG and laid the foundations for stuff like Zelda, Ys, etc. Hydlide II had a morality system (because you could kill anything and everything but you have consequences for doing the wrong thing), and Cosmic Soldier had a dialogue system for recruitment.
Dragon Quest wasn't only influenced by Ultima and Wizardry, but it was also influenced by visual novels (basically Horii's The Portopia Serial Murder Case from 1983). It also introduced other mechanics into the genre like sidequests, subquests, romantic subplots, a plot focusing on a character's coming-of-age, musical scores by someone moderately famous, art done by a famous manga artist... and I always felt that DQ's colour palette was pretty amazing for its time, haha. This was as early as 1986. Retrospectively (and I think someone in the games industry said this a long time ago but I can't remember who), Dragon Quest's success seemed to have made scenario writers more important.
This is debatable again, but I felt like Phantasy Star II opened the floodgates for stronger, character driven narratives because of its plot dealing with character self-discovery as a drive for player characters. It included some mature themes, character death (made even more poignant because of the game's canonical nature and because it was more character and narrative driven), politics, social commentary, etc. And that was in 1989. Years before other series bothered to do that. Debatable, but that's how I see it. I'm slightly biased because I like the PS series a lot, but that's kind of how I've always seen it. Edit: And now that I'm thinking about it a little more, the original Phantasy Star focused on a female protagonist surrounded by characters with their own backstories, some event scenes, and finally making sci-fi mainstream in a way. But I don't think it was as character driven as its sequel.
...I guess Final Fantasy's contribution was the create-a-party sort of thing that got a class change later on. I'd have to think about that, to be honest.
I guess that's why I don't put a ton of stock in RPG narratives anymore. I've started to see that the numbers game in the game is just more compelling for me than the narrative itself sometimes. That's why I didn't like Sticker Star too much, for example. I felt like there was little to no progression for the character, and I didn't get a ton out of it. But there you go. A lot of the earlier Japanese RPGs seemed to have influences from visual novels or narratively-driven adventure games. Remember, for text-based adventures, you have to know where you're going and why. People have a story to tell. It just wasn't as so in-depth and the main driving force of a video game as it is now (though that argument in itself is incredibly debatable, and I can scrounge around for a few arguments against that right now).
I honestly felt that the jump from Wizardry to Ultima 3 to Dragon Quest to Final Fantasy/Phantasy Star demonstrated an industry that genuinely learned from each other and corroborated to make a more refined product. None of this focus-group kind of stuff. Experiments are great. But adding and padding mechanics for the sake of doing it or for satisfying everyone else without cohesion is something that grates me every time I see it.
Edit: And after going through all of that, I want to replay The Magic of Scheherazade just because that game felt like it was ahead of its time, much like how Dragon Slayer felt like it was.
Which is something I'd say 4 has over 13: the cast is consistent between games. I mean 17 years went by and they still managed to keep the cast consistent, but the same cannot be said of the cast between 13 and 13-2 (unless you want to say like, consistently shitty, or douchey, or crappy, or whatever.)
I'd actually agree with that. You can't even say the same about the cast between all three 13 games. Some of their development regresses for the sake of making the third game have an ongoing plot which bothers me a little.
...though at the same time, you can kinda say the same thing about one character in The After Years.
Schala, I do think some of the side quests have some cool stuff (Chapter 7 was pretty amusing) but they aren't presented very well. They don't really
explain how much each world is different and the protagonists actions don't really make much sense. In chapter 6 is quite obvious that some of the Eternian guys aren't really that evil yet the cast just murders the crap out of them without commenting on it.
I actually agree with that. The reason why I was going to drop Bravely Default in late December was because I didn't like how the sidequests/overall game was structured. At the same time, though, when I reached the end I realized why the characters did what they did. So it's kind of like half and half with me. I like the premise behind it, but I don't like how it was executed at all.
That's an excellent history lesson. I had seen you or maybe Aeana touch on the subject previously, but hadn't read about Phantasy Star's role before. One series I don't know much about.
I'd actually agree with that. You can't even say the same about the cast between all three 13 games. Some of their development regresses for the sake of making the third game have an ongoing plot which bothers me a little.
...though at the same time, you can kinda say the same thing about one character in The After Years.
? Because I'd argue that that is consistent. It's dumb as fuck and the game's most pointless case of rehashing FF4 this side of another trip through the fucking waterfall cave, but
as of The Complete Collection Kain is a habitual traitor. He betrays Cecil twice in FF4, again during the Lunar Trials, AGAIN in Dissidia and again in The After Years. It's like he got typecast as himself.
On the one hand, you could argue that it flies in the face of his development in FF4, on the other you could say it completes it, since
Kain never does come to terms with his treachery, and it sets up the nice reversal of his relationship with Cecil when Kain is the one busting in with Rosa to fight the mind controlled Cecil.
Honestly, I think that if The After Years is to be praised in its plot in any other place aside from consistency, it's the way it reversed Cecil's role within the plot. I think that that reversal did a pretty good job of helping finish Kain and Golbez' development, and in particular
Cecil's Dark Knight's breakdown during the fight with Golbez gave Cecil some much needed depth, demonstrating that though he had tried, he had never actually put everything Golbez had done behind him.
I really like that scene anyway, though, because I think it really brings FF4's central themes of forgiveness and that everyone has light and dark within them full circle.
I actually agree with that. The reason why I was going to drop Bravely Default in late December was because I didn't like how the sidequests/overall game was structured. At the same time, though, when I reached the end I realized why the characters did what they did. So it's kind of like half and half with me. I like the premise behind it, but I don't like how it was executed at all.
It still doesn't make any sense because in Chapter 8
they act like they had literally no idea Airy was going to betray them. There's some part about Ringabel "knowing but not doing anything" which is completely false because he told Tiz, and then Tiz basically told Agnes (with the Sage). There had to be some major problem writing this game or something because it is a massive error considering the entire plot of the game is leading up to that betrayal. I can't really confirm the characters motivations because there is a massive plot hole in way haha.
I really enjoyed FF1 for the GBA. FFV and FFVI hold up incredibly well in terms of classic FF. Also if you HAVE TO play FFIV make sure it's the DS one, that's the best version in my opinion. I can honestly recommend VII through X with not too many qualms about any of them since each is its own unique game. Though there are some similarities through out the series. So mess around with some of them, see which interest you.
I really enjoyed FF1 for the GBA. FFV and FFVI hold up incredibly well in terms of classic FF. Also if you HAVE TO play FFIV make sure it's the DS one, that's the best version in my opinion. I can honestly recommend VII through X with not too many qualms about any of them since each is its own unique game. Though there are some similarities through out the series. So mess around with some of them, see which interest you.
The only time I have played a Final Fantasy mainline game on a PSP is FFIX. It works fine, but there was some slowdown when you enter battles in forest areas, which sucks because the game is pretty slow and animation heavy already. I can't say for sure about FFVII and FFVIII on PSP/Vita. Though I imagine they would work just fine. VII is very accessible, a great one to start with.
Yeah, FFT was fantastic. What jobs did you train your Ramza in? By the end of the game I was an uber-Squire Ramza just because he can equip all the cool stuff. Two Swords, a Chaos blade for damage and an Excalibur for Auto-Haste. Secondary job skill was Draw Out. Start battle, use Ethereal Embrace (pray sword doesn't break) now whole party is Haste/Regen. Too easy, but I enjoyed it.
Yeah, FFT was fantastic. What jobs did you train your Ramza in? By the end of the game I was an uber-Squire Ramza just because he can equip all the cool stuff. Two Swords, a Chaos blade for damage and an Excalibur for Auto-Haste. Secondary job skill was Draw Out. Start battle, use Ethereal Embrace (pray sword doesn't break) now whole party is Haste/Regen. Too easy, but I enjoyed it.
Damn, only a PS1 and PS2 can harness the full potential of FFIX without buckling. I recently used my PS3 to play some FFVII and Knights of the Round worked perfectly, no need to someone anyone else really.
Man, I should try the PSP version, because Dark Knight Ramza sounds awesome. It always kinda Irked me that his "unique job" was Squire (albeit a better squire) the whole game. Though it makes sense, since he was never officially knighted, even though he can become a knight. Should have called his unique job Anti-Church Knight, or Heretic, or I dunno.
The Monk skillset dovetails very, very nicely with Ramza's Guts skillset (especially Scream). Two Swords + Martial Arts + Scream is also an utterly ridiculous combo (basically, since Martial Arts treats your character strength as your weapon strength, each +1 Attack is pretty much 4X as effective with that setup).
I remember going through a phase where I was legitimately angry over the fact that Ramza could never become a holy knight. Over the years, I realized that him being a holy knight wouldn't make a lick of sense, and that I started to appreciate how awesome Uber Squire class was.
For anyone on the fence about FF V and VI iOS, I really gotta post to say how impressed I am with both. Yes, the sprites take a bit to get used to, but seriously, I'm not just used to them now, I think I prefer them. I say this as someone who got VI on my SNES as FF III back in 1994, and hold it in the highest regard as one of my favourite games of all time.
They really have been brought to iOS in almost the best shape they possibly could have been. Aside from the myriad of improvements, my only complaints are:
- The dpad blows for both - moreso in VI, unfortunately. I don't know what kind of technical hurdles need to be overcome to do a better job here.
- The option to use the original sprites should have been included. Again, no idea what kind of technical limitation prevents this.
Re: VI - in the final dungeon. Getting wiped out by back-to-back Heartless Angel and Flare Star by fucking trash is a really fun experience. I recommend it heartily.
Hmm. I don't have an iOS device, but I'm asking because I am curious.
Do the iOS versions of those games have the extra content from the GBA versions? I remember an extra dungeon in VI, specifically, that could get pretty tough at times. If I recall correctly the theme was dragonz.
I remember going through a phase where I was legitimately angry over the fact that Ramza could never become a holy knight. Over the years, I realized that him being a holy knight wouldn't make a lick of sense, and that I started to appreciate how awesome Uber Squire class was.
Well I dunno. I mean, Ramza pals around with Orlandeau and Agrias, who, after joining his cause never lose their anointed job classes, so I think it's safe to say that, despite being branded heretics, Ramza and company do not, of necessity, lose their personal faith. They lose their faith in St. Ajora and Glabados, but since that's part of the larger Kiltia movement, who can really say. Especially since 1)Ramza and his friends ultimately wind up fulfilling the Zodiac Brave Story themselves, gathering up the Zodiac Stones and confronting a demon king and 2)For as many horrible things as Ramza and company see, Ramza is also personal witness to no less than two occasions (three if you take Cloud as canon) in which legitimate miracles are brought about by the Zodiac Stones.
I think Ramza's job class should have become Zodiac Brave at some point toward the end to make it clearer, but whatevs.
I've been so busy with work, playing BD and watching this pokemon twitch stream that I haven't posted much in here. I was also supposed to be working on a VIII translation post for the anniversary thread which I'll add later when I actually get around to finishing it.
I'm really enjoying BD. It might as well be called a Final Fantasy.
I just got to Chapter 6 in Bravely Default, and even though I somewhat knew what was coming based on reviews and impressions, my attitude towards the game probably shifted more rapidly than with any other game. It was a great title with a natural expansion of a turn-based (round-based) job system - which is how I felt through Chapter 4. But this 'blemish' of a design decision has really soured me. It's the most rigid padding I can recall of late. And this was how the original Bravely Default release was, only with no option to reduce encounters? Anyways, I'm extremely disappointed by it.
I just got to Chapter 6 in Bravely Default, and even though I somewhat knew what was coming based on reviews and impressions, my attitude towards the game probably shifted more rapidly than with any other game. It was a great title with a natural expansion of a turn-based (round-based) job system - which is how I felt through Chapter 4. But this 'blemish' of a design decision has really soured me. It's the most rigid padding I can recall of late. And this was how the original Bravely Default release was, only with no option to reduce encounters? Anyways, I'm extremely disappointed by it.
Oh man. Everyone keeps talking about this huge change in the game at a certain point and how negative it is, which now includes you. I'm pretty worried about it but we'll see how I feel when it happens. I think I'm still only on chapter 1 searching for
I have a different approach. I get Ninja by chapter 1 and then master duel wield. Switch back to Knight and I'm generally trashing every mob and main battle. I do it with all my characters. Get a Monk and learn duel wield along with my knights(Ramza and ___) and then final spot is my Dragoon.
But this 'blemish' of a design decision has really soured me. It's the most rigid padding I can recall of late. And this was how the original Bravely Default release was, only with no option to reduce encounters? Anyways, I'm extremely disappointed by it.
I really have to wonder what happened with Chapter 5+ in BD during development. I honestly can't think of a single redeeming thing about that section of the game. Never before have I raged so hard at characters in a video game.
Man, I'm about to start Chapter 5 on Bravely Default soon (currently my objective is
to go to the earth crystal; I beat the Vampire questline which was fantastic - loved all the background/lore story bits.
. I'm really uneasy based on the backlash of Chapters 5+. I have an idea of what I'll be having to do based on what some people have said, but I'm still not sure. As of right now, I'm honestly in love with the game. I'm at 65 hours in and at the end of Chapter 4. How long are Chapters 5-8?
Sorry, I realize this is a FF thread, but since everyone was talking about it...
You guys are saving me money by going on about BD wooo!
I'm sure I'll try the game eventually but from the sounds of it, I can wait. I'm all about FFXHD, the new soundtrack still isn't superior to the old one but I find myself growing to like it at least.
