March Games Chat Thread: So Bland Only The Worst Stand Out

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > March Games Chat Thread: So Bland Only The Worst Stand Out

Lurdiak: Feb 26, 2006; I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do.

FF9 is also the first video game where I remember being genuinely annoyed by cutscenes and overly long bad dialogue, another sign of things to come for the franchise.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 13:50

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 24, 2024 00:42

virtualboyCOLOR: Dec 22, 2004

10 is garbage and so are its fans (like most/all final fantasy)

# ? Mar 4, 2015 13:51

Golden Goat: Aug 2, 2012

virtualboyCOLOR posted:

10 is garbage and so are its fans (like most/all final fantasy)

Every game is the worst game in the series.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 13:53

Lurdiak: Feb 26, 2006; I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do.

Like when the FF4 DS port was being made, one of the devs gave an interview where he explained that he felt like you could get away with cliched and hammy storytelling when you had it as little sprites who fall over and disappear to show that they died and short dialogue. People would get the core of what you're conveying and fill in the blanks. But if you start going on and on and having lavishly produced cutscenes and extremely long dialogue sequences, suddenly people are gonna just examine your story in detail and all the flaws are going to stand out. You're not making the storytelling better by doing this, you're just making it take up more space in the experience.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 13:59

hubris.height: Jan 6, 2005; Pork Pro

i found a chocograph of the last page of talking about ff9 and its a pic of the goatman

# ? Mar 4, 2015 14:10

FactsAreUseless: Feb 16, 2011

hubris.height posted:

i found a chocograph of the last page of talking about ff9 and its a pic of the goatman

Giant Canyon

"I heard you should look for the ring, kupo..."

# ? Mar 4, 2015 14:36

hubris.height: Jan 6, 2005; Pork Pro

FactsAreUseless posted:

Giant Canyon

"I heard you should look for the ring, kupo..."

# ? Mar 4, 2015 14:36

gay skull: Oct 24, 2004

Bicyclops posted:

were any of the mana games any good after secret of mana? that's one of my favorite snes games but i think it's only because of the 2P functionality

Secret of Mana is one of the best games ever made, and then Seiken Densetsu 3 and Legend of Mana have a few obnoxious fans out there that scream their names from the rooftops so I guess they're good for some people? I didn't like them though

Literally nobody in the world, ever, likes a single Mana game besides those though. Even the super big numbered release, Dawn of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 4 on PS2, was junk. Remember how in like 2004 realistic physics engines started being a thing and every game started licensing Havok and had to shoehorn in a weight puzzle or something to show it off? Dawn of Mana was S-E's "WE JUST DISCOVERED HAVOK WOWZERS" game, only a few years too late. It was bad and nobody likes it.

And then there was a shovelware roguelike and a shovelware RTS and they're all bad bad bad and nobody likes Mana games from beyond the 90's. Kind of like everything else Square-Enix does.

gay skull fucked around with this message at 14:51 on Mar 4, 2015

# ? Mar 4, 2015 14:48

Golden Goat: Aug 2, 2012

gay skull posted:

Secret of Mana is one of the best games ever made, and then Seiken Densetsu 3 and Legend of Mana have a few obnoxious fans out there that scream their names from the rooftops so I guess they're good for some people? I didn't like them though

Secret of Mana is actually kind of poo poo. Most people don't know that.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 14:52

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

secret of mana is in fact a great game and final fantasy x isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. it has some bad sidequests and whoever directed the voice acting had no idea what they were doing. the story is perfectly fine video game fodder, as is the sphere grid system. it takes a little too long to get off the ground, which is par for the course for final fantasy.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:03

Ekster: Jul 18, 2013

FF1-6: Boring.

FF7: Nice for its time.

FF8: Garbage story, but otherwise fun.

FF9: Boring.

FFX: Last good Final Fantasy game.

FFX-2: lmao

FF12: Single player MMO = garbage.

FF13: Pretty bad. Never played any of its sequels.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:12

Golden Goat: Aug 2, 2012

Man I forgot FFIX also had that stupid end boss that comes out of nowhere and quotes Star Wars of all things.

The more I think about FFIX the dumber it sounds.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:19

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

1 - pretty good for its time, compared to similar games like dragon quest. obviously way too much grinding by today's standards
2 and 3 - i forgot about these ones, i never played them really
4 - good for its time, glitchy as all hell toward the end, to the point where you have to save before leveling
5 - preposterous in all ways but the job system is really, really fun
6 - one of the best at keeping you engaged
7 - it's pretty good but has too long of an aggravating tutorial in midgar and most of the sidequests, including chocobo racing, are tedious
8 - let's you screw around with the mechanics really quickly but stops being interesting after you get eden
9 - i already said
10 - it's good.
12 - actually decent. it took the fact that the games basically play themselves during combat (with all the work being beforehand, setting up contingencies and leveling trees) and took that to its logical conclusion.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:24

A Spider Covets: May 4, 2009

Bicyclops posted:

1 - pretty good for its time, compared to similar games like dragon quest. obviously way too much grinding by today's standards
2 and 3 - i forgot about these ones, i never played them really
4 - good for its time, glitchy as all hell toward the end, to the point where you have to save before leveling
5 - preposterous in all ways but the job system is really, really fun
6 - one of the best at keeping you engaged
7 - it's pretty good but has too long of an aggravating tutorial in midgar and most of the sidequests, including chocobo racing, are tedious
8 - let's you screw around with the mechanics really quickly but stops being interesting after you get eden
9 - i already said
10 - it's good.
12 - actually decent. it took the fact that the games basically play themselves during combat (with all the work being beforehand, setting up contingencies and leveling trees) and took that to its logical conclusion.

im sorry about your severe, crippling video game autism

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:25

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

i will not have my enjoyment for video games be called autism in this, the games chat thread.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:28

A Spider Covets: May 4, 2009

Bicyclops posted:

i will not have my enjoyment for video games be called autism in this, the games chat thread.

your enjoyment is good, your insulting of chocobo racing, a fine art for adults and children of all ages, is unacceptable, and i will duel you at dawn with a nerf gun.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:29

Phantasium: Dec 27, 2012

gay skull posted:

Secret of Mana is one of the best games ever made, and then Seiken Densetsu 3 and Legend of Mana have a few obnoxious fans out there that scream their names from the rooftops so I guess they're good for some people? I didn't like them though

Literally nobody in the world, ever, likes a single Mana game besides those though. Even the super big numbered release, Dawn of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 4 on PS2, was junk. Remember how in like 2004 realistic physics engines started being a thing and every game started licensing Havok and had to shoehorn in a weight puzzle or something to show it off? Dawn of Mana was S-E's "WE JUST DISCOVERED HAVOK WOWZERS" game, only a few years too late. It was bad and nobody likes it.

And then there was a shovelware roguelike and a shovelware RTS and they're all bad bad bad and nobody likes Mana games from beyond the 90's. Kind of like everything else Square-Enix does.

I liked Dawn of Mana. And Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret, SD3, & Legend.

That DS game wasn't even a roguelike, the stages were just boring prefabs.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:30

Golden Goat: Aug 2, 2012

Bicyclops posted:

7 - it's pretty good but has too long of an aggravating tutorial in midgar and most of the sidequests, including chocobo racing, are tedious

Tape down dash button. Leave room. Win race.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:30

Heavy Lobster: Oct 24, 2010

ff14 is great as far as mmos go which makes it the best in the series because the other numbered ones aren't even that good as far as rpgs go

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:30

FactsAreUseless: Feb 16, 2011

Chocobo racing didn't get good until Chocobo Racing, the game where you race as a golem or Squall.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:30

A Spider Covets: May 4, 2009

smdh...

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:31

FactsAreUseless: Feb 16, 2011

A Spider Covets posted:

smdh...

*uses Goblin's special power to steal this post and make it myself*

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:33

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Golden Goat posted:

Tape down dash button. Leave room. Win race.

You also need to tape down L and R2, but yes, and then you have to do it like forty times to get your chocobos to S rank so they can breed proper. i also wish that the three hardest to get materia were not the ones you win from winning A and S class races, which are not even very good materia but things like Sneak Attack.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:33

Third World Reagan: May 19, 2008; Imagine four 'mechs waiting in a queue. Time works the same way.

there was never a good final fantasy game

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:34

A Spider Covets: May 4, 2009

FactsAreUseless posted:

smdh...

holy poo poo what the fcuk!??!???? the old switcheroo!!

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:34

Golden Goat: Aug 2, 2012

Bicyclops posted:

You also need to tape down L and R2, but yes, and then you have to do it like forty times to get your chocobos to S rank so they can breed proper. i also wish that the three hardest to get materia were not the ones you win from winning A and S class races, which are not even very good materia but things like Sneak Attack.

Cram good greens down it's throat and it'll never lose stamina before the race ends. Alternatively don't bother racing to raise rank and just savescum to get a gold chocobo.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:37

Lunchmeat Larry: Nov 3, 2012

Third World Reggin posted:

there was never a good final fantasy game

I keep trying to play Tactics and forgetting about it an hour or two in. I feel bad because theoretically I should love it. What's the best version, March Games Chat Thread?

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:47

FactsAreUseless: Feb 16, 2011

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

I keep trying to play Tactics and forgetting about it an hour or two in. I feel bad because theoretically I should love it. What's the best version, March Games Chat Thread?

PS1 version with the translation patch that applies the PSP translation

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:48

Golden Goat: Aug 2, 2012

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

I keep trying to play Tactics and forgetting about it an hour or two in. I feel bad because theoretically I should love it. What's the best version, March Games Chat Thread?

The PSP version.
Try Tactics Ogre too.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:49

Sleeveless: Dec 25, 2014; by Pragmatica

Ambivalent posted:

im going to get a bit wordy just because I really like 10 and I think it gets maligned pretty hard...

I think 10 was pretty swell! It starts off a little rough but i think people are a bit unfair to Tidus... the music and art design is really stellar, I enjoyed the battle system and even blitzball, and I thought the turn when it's revealed that the entire journey has been meant to end with Yuna as a sacrifice to appease Sin for ten years or whatever of peace, was really well done and is effective at casting the first part of the game in a different light. It makes all of Yuna's experiences really bittersweet, and I thought ~the kiss~ was a decent stab at making like, a real romance plot between characters that seemed sort of desperate and sincere, rather than just like, Squall and Rinoa being shoved next to eachother because he was the main character and she was the female lead.

the game also works a lot better if you view Yuna as the main character and Tidus as just a player perspective character, especially with the realization that Tidus isn't even a real person', which was another turn I thought was actually really cool.

I dunno, I thought 10 did a lot of interesting things and really was a huge step up storywise from previous installments, stop hating....

10 is a lot like 7 in that the Tidus in the game is completely different from the Tidus of everyone's memory. He's a goofy fratboy from a decadent society so of course he dresses weird and acts silly.

The fact that so many people don't get that the whole point of infamous "laughing scene" is that it's supposed to be awkward says it all.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 18:13

gay skull: Oct 24, 2004

FactsAreUseless posted:

PS1 version with the translation patch that applies the PSP translation

Or the PSP version with the patch that fixes the slowdown that was added because Square-Enix sucks.

What's wrong with the PSP version other than that?

# ? Mar 4, 2015 18:47

FactsAreUseless: Feb 16, 2011

gay skull posted:

Or the PSP version with the patch that fixes the slowdown that was added because Square-Enix sucks.

What's wrong with the PSP version other than that?

I'm not a huge fan of the new content, but mostly I didn't know there was a slowdown fix. I guess if you prefer your ps1 emulator to a psp one.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 18:49

corn in the bible: Jun 5, 2004; Oh no oh god it's all true!

gay skull posted:

Secret of Mana is one of the best games ever made, and then Seiken Densetsu 3 and Legend of Mana have a few obnoxious fans out there that scream their names from the rooftops so I guess they're good for some people? I didn't like them though

Literally nobody in the world, ever, likes a single Mana game besides those though. Even the super big numbered release, Dawn of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 4 on PS2, was junk. Remember how in like 2004 realistic physics engines started being a thing and every game started licensing Havok and had to shoehorn in a weight puzzle or something to show it off? Dawn of Mana was S-E's "WE JUST DISCOVERED HAVOK WOWZERS" game, only a few years too late. It was bad and nobody likes it.

And then there was a shovelware roguelike and a shovelware RTS and they're all bad bad bad and nobody likes Mana games from beyond the 90's. Kind of like everything else Square-Enix does.

sword of mana is ok i guess, since its a remake of an old good game instead of being a new poo poo game

# ? Mar 4, 2015 19:16

Adam Bowen: Jan 6, 2003; This post probably contains a Rickroll link!

Lurdiak posted:

Like when the FF4 DS port was being made, one of the devs gave an interview where he explained that he felt like you could get away with cliched and hammy storytelling when you had it as little sprites who fall over and disappear to show that they died and short dialogue. People would get the core of what you're conveying and fill in the blanks. But if you start going on and on and having lavishly produced cutscenes and extremely long dialogue sequences, suddenly people are gonna just examine your story in detail and all the flaws are going to stand out. You're not making the storytelling better by doing this, you're just making it take up more space in the experience.

This is really the fatal flaw of modern cinematic games. A person who is bad at writing can still create something enjoyable if they stick to the absolute basics and tell simple stories with one-dimensional characters, as long as those characters stick to that one dimension and don't talk too much. But if that person is given the tools or the budget to create something more, they're inevitably going to try because they never have enough self-awareness to realize that they're bad at story-telling.

Every person responsible for writing video games should be forced to look at themselves in a mirror every morning with "You are not good enough to write in any other medium" painted on the mirror in big bold letters. Except Kojima, because he owns and should make movies.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 19:27

Ambivalent: Oct 14, 2006

for real though, FFTactics is one of my favorite games of all time....

Version is a hard question because the PS1 translation is really really rough in some spots and some concepts are just flat out not conveyed well at all, but the Lion War (PSP and iOS) translation got really worked to crank up the 'knaves' and 'thous'.

I did like how it turns political squabble/succession crisis -> being used by the church to advance its power -> being used to advance political power -> actually being used to advance magical power, it is like a huge cynical double double feint that teaches you the world is poo poo and nobody believes what they say, everyone is exploited - even the exploiters - and our world is a sin-cursed hell

should i spoiler that

# ? Mar 4, 2015 20:49

Stexils: Jun 5, 2008

i would rather they stuck with the political and religious struggle for power because that was the most interesting part of the plot

# ? Mar 4, 2015 20:53

FactsAreUseless: Feb 16, 2011

Ambivalent posted:

for real though, FFTactics is one of my favorite games of all time....

Version is a hard question because the PS1 translation is really really rough in some spots and some concepts are just flat out not conveyed well at all, but the Lion War (PSP and iOS) translation got really worked to crank up the 'knaves' and 'thous'.

I did like how it turns political squabble/succession crisis -> being used by the church to advance its power -> being used to advance political power -> actually being used to advance magical power, it is like a huge cynical double double feint that teaches you the world is poo poo and nobody believes what they say, everyone is exploited - even the exploiters - and our world is a sin-cursed hell

should i spoiler that

No, I think everyone knows Ramza is just the dreams of the Zodiac Espers given form.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 20:54

A Spider Covets: May 4, 2009

there is a meme video game, and it has been taken down because someone issued a DMCA for the ownership of a meme used therein. this is all news to me and i am blown away by it all.

quote:

EDIT: Some people want proof that I am who I claim to be (though I'm not sure why anyone would care to impersonate me), so I added a status update to my deviantArt that I haven't used in forever. http://whynne.deviantart.com/

Hello Reddit. There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding the disappearance of Meme Run from the eShop, so I thought I'd help clear things up since its creator doesn't seem to want to acknowledge it publicly.

A handful of you might remember me, but (hopefully) most of you probably have no clue who I am. To keep it brief, I own the copyright to the Trollface image, and seeing as the image was the 'star' of Meme Run, I sent a DMCA takedown notice to Nintendo and want to try and settle the matter amicably. I don't really intend to have a discussion on fair use or explain my motivations beyond the fact that my business with other parties compels me to make sure that instances of copyright infringement are addressed and resolved. Typically the result in these matters is simply having the use of the image be credited, recovering some kind of monetary compensation, or simply have it removed from the work.

To that end, takedown notices are a necessary first step to quickly open a direct line of communication with the offending party and work on remedying the situation.

I did try to reach out to the creator earlier this year and obtain the information I needed, but he claimed that he was not at liberty to speak about his relationship with Nintendo or any of the particulars regarding the game's sales data. My lawyer had been busy working on another case (which I am actually not at liberty to talk about lest I void the terms of our agreement) and I prefer to let him handle the matter of my legal representation, so I sort of dragged my feet on actually setting this in motion so he could wrap up our current case.

So, whatever you may have thought of Meme Run, its absence might only be temporary. For those of you who were hoping to pick it up and missed their opportunity, I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

# ? Mar 4, 2015 20:55

Excels: Mar 7, 2012; Your plastic pal who's fun to be with!

honestly i don't think meme run or the trollface person getting it taken down is remarkable enough to even discuss.

the only thing i'd ever want to know is who approved it for the eShop to begin with

# ? Mar 4, 2015 21:01

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 24, 2024 00:42

A Spider Covets: May 4, 2009

Excels posted:

honestly i don't think meme run or the trollface person getting it taken down is remarkable enough to even discuss.

the only thing i'd ever want to know is who approved it for the eShop to begin with

this is what i'm wondering. is there any standard for games that get on there? what other kinds of bizarre titles have made their way into the previously-unsullied e-shop

# ? Mar 4, 2015 21:04

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > March Games Chat Thread: So Bland Only The Worst Stand Out

«‹›54 »