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Remembering the best GC RPGs [SPOILERS for ToS, SoA, BK]
XenoScholar
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I was looking through my collection the other day, and I came across Tales of Symphonia, Skies of Arcadia, and Baten Kaitos. I just felt the need to relive the best moments in these games. Feel free to add comments or anything special you remember about any of these games.
Tales of Symphonia
I've played this through 3 times now, each playthrough taking about 60 hours. I'm not sure why this game hooked me like it did, but it had such great charm. It was my first game in the Tales franchise, and I'll be looking to pick up Vesperia when it's released later this year.
I was genuinely shocked when Kratos turned traitor on the team. It was one of those rare moments in a videogame where you pause the game to think about what just happened. I also loved how they let you fight him (even though you weren't "supposed" to beat him), and if you were strong enough you could get a Lvl 3 Ex Gem, which was super great at that stage of the game. The game had great music, despite it being MIDI.
I also loved the dual worlds thing. You were presented with an entirely new world with new cities midway through your adventure. I was also convinced that you would have to choose which world you were going to save at the end. I made sure to make a few extra save files before I thought the decision would be made.
The end area was a bit underwhelming, but I did like the final boss battle. The way they embedded dialogue between Lloyd and Mithos overtop of the battle tugged at your heartstrings a little, and the voice acting was (in general) very well done. I also loved the Devil Arm's sidequest (even if you needed to FAQ one or two of their locations), and Abyssion was an enjoyable super hard optional boss. They kind of needed to break the battle mechanics for him to be hard, though (he could teleport randomly, break your combo strings by insta-casting stuff like Indignation), but I think it was needed and I didn't mind.
Skies of Arcadia
I know it's a Dreamcast port, but it was the first awesome RPG on GC and I loved playing it. I still think it has the best music of any GC RPG, and I really liked the story mixed with relatively old-school RPG mechanics. I still believe they captured the feel of a large, mysterious world better than any RPG I've ever played. Going through that big dark curtain thing (the Dark Rift?) through to the other side felt incredibly epic, and you actually felt like you were exploring a world that no one from "civilization" had ever seen before. I liked the tragedy of the game, as well; practically everyone died at the end. They didn't wuss out and make it too feel-good.
One of the main things I like about any RPG is sidequests which involve super hard enemies, and Skies was the best of any GC RPG in that respect (I love the FF12 mark system, for instance). The bounty system made for some really hard (and memorable) battles... fighting the impostor team was hilarious. There was a battle (I think it was the last one or second-last one in the sequence) that took place over Yafutoma, against some rich guy on an airship that kept spawning these ninja guys that was very hard for me. To this day, it's the only battle where I simply could not win without using one of the ultimate items in the game (you know, those things that give you full-everything, but there's only one or two of in the game).
The epic nature of the game will always hold a place in my heart, though. Finding the landmarks, traveling through the Dark Rift (sort of similar to "there be dragons"), traveling through that super hurricane at the beginning of the world and reaching that forest world (Ixa'taka?), fighting the huge Gigas enemies... I didn't want the story to end.
Baten Kaitos
A game I think is quite underrated. The card battle system, while a bit slow at times, was very deep and always enjoyable. I never minded getting into battle and playing around with my deck. In fact, I spent more time in the menus for this game than any game I can remember in recent memory, just tinkering around with my deck, finding the best combination of powerful weapons with defense (and making sure elements didn't cancel out too much). The joy of finding a new card with a higher number than any card you had was much higher than maybe it should have been.
I also liked the treatment of money in this game. You took photos of enemies in neat poses using a camera card, and then you had to take the picture as your loot in the post-battle menu screen. I found they basically always gave you an above-average battle card, too, to make your choice difficult. You may be going around trying to farm some money, but you'll end up with no more money and a more powerful deck.
BK's music is certainly on par with SoA, too. The orchestrated tracks set the mood perfectly. The graphics were also amazing. That one mirror-like world (Mira?) was absolutely stunning. BK definitely had the best graphics of any of the three RPGs, by a long shot. The spell effects in battle were awesome, and so were the limit-break cards you picked up.
I also really admire the way they handled randomness in the game. Since your cards were dealt out of your deck randomly at the start of each battle, it really seemed like that would be frustrating by the end. But I never felt like the game screwed me over. If I wasn't doing well in battle, it was because my deck didn't have the proper balance. I don't know if the designers made it only pseudo-random (making sure that the next card in your deck is "what you might need"), but it just felt really solid to me. Chaining straights and pairs to multiply your bonus was way more fun than it should have been. I got giddy during a long streak when the right cards with the right numbers came up, and seeing a damage number 1.5x higher than your previous best at the end of each sequence felt as satisfying as any RPG battle system.
The plot also had some great twists and turns. Kalas defecting to the enemy was pretty unexpected for me, and by the end I didn't really know what was going to happen. I regretted when Kalas left, because he had all my best cards and was easily my strongest character.
The collection aspect was just done so well in this game. Just turn off the voice acting.
Tales of Symphonia
I've played this through 3 times now, each playthrough taking about 60 hours. I'm not sure why this game hooked me like it did, but it had such great charm. It was my first game in the Tales franchise, and I'll be looking to pick up Vesperia when it's released later this year.
I was genuinely shocked when Kratos turned traitor on the team. It was one of those rare moments in a videogame where you pause the game to think about what just happened. I also loved how they let you fight him (even though you weren't "supposed" to beat him), and if you were strong enough you could get a Lvl 3 Ex Gem, which was super great at that stage of the game. The game had great music, despite it being MIDI.
I also loved the dual worlds thing. You were presented with an entirely new world with new cities midway through your adventure. I was also convinced that you would have to choose which world you were going to save at the end. I made sure to make a few extra save files before I thought the decision would be made.
The end area was a bit underwhelming, but I did like the final boss battle. The way they embedded dialogue between Lloyd and Mithos overtop of the battle tugged at your heartstrings a little, and the voice acting was (in general) very well done. I also loved the Devil Arm's sidequest (even if you needed to FAQ one or two of their locations), and Abyssion was an enjoyable super hard optional boss. They kind of needed to break the battle mechanics for him to be hard, though (he could teleport randomly, break your combo strings by insta-casting stuff like Indignation), but I think it was needed and I didn't mind.
Skies of Arcadia
I know it's a Dreamcast port, but it was the first awesome RPG on GC and I loved playing it. I still think it has the best music of any GC RPG, and I really liked the story mixed with relatively old-school RPG mechanics. I still believe they captured the feel of a large, mysterious world better than any RPG I've ever played. Going through that big dark curtain thing (the Dark Rift?) through to the other side felt incredibly epic, and you actually felt like you were exploring a world that no one from "civilization" had ever seen before. I liked the tragedy of the game, as well; practically everyone died at the end. They didn't wuss out and make it too feel-good.
One of the main things I like about any RPG is sidequests which involve super hard enemies, and Skies was the best of any GC RPG in that respect (I love the FF12 mark system, for instance). The bounty system made for some really hard (and memorable) battles... fighting the impostor team was hilarious. There was a battle (I think it was the last one or second-last one in the sequence) that took place over Yafutoma, against some rich guy on an airship that kept spawning these ninja guys that was very hard for me. To this day, it's the only battle where I simply could not win without using one of the ultimate items in the game (you know, those things that give you full-everything, but there's only one or two of in the game).
The epic nature of the game will always hold a place in my heart, though. Finding the landmarks, traveling through the Dark Rift (sort of similar to "there be dragons"), traveling through that super hurricane at the beginning of the world and reaching that forest world (Ixa'taka?), fighting the huge Gigas enemies... I didn't want the story to end.
Baten Kaitos
A game I think is quite underrated. The card battle system, while a bit slow at times, was very deep and always enjoyable. I never minded getting into battle and playing around with my deck. In fact, I spent more time in the menus for this game than any game I can remember in recent memory, just tinkering around with my deck, finding the best combination of powerful weapons with defense (and making sure elements didn't cancel out too much). The joy of finding a new card with a higher number than any card you had was much higher than maybe it should have been.
I also liked the treatment of money in this game. You took photos of enemies in neat poses using a camera card, and then you had to take the picture as your loot in the post-battle menu screen. I found they basically always gave you an above-average battle card, too, to make your choice difficult. You may be going around trying to farm some money, but you'll end up with no more money and a more powerful deck.
BK's music is certainly on par with SoA, too. The orchestrated tracks set the mood perfectly. The graphics were also amazing. That one mirror-like world (Mira?) was absolutely stunning. BK definitely had the best graphics of any of the three RPGs, by a long shot. The spell effects in battle were awesome, and so were the limit-break cards you picked up.
I also really admire the way they handled randomness in the game. Since your cards were dealt out of your deck randomly at the start of each battle, it really seemed like that would be frustrating by the end. But I never felt like the game screwed me over. If I wasn't doing well in battle, it was because my deck didn't have the proper balance. I don't know if the designers made it only pseudo-random (making sure that the next card in your deck is "what you might need"), but it just felt really solid to me. Chaining straights and pairs to multiply your bonus was way more fun than it should have been. I got giddy during a long streak when the right cards with the right numbers came up, and seeing a damage number 1.5x higher than your previous best at the end of each sequence felt as satisfying as any RPG battle system.
The plot also had some great twists and turns. Kalas defecting to the enemy was pretty unexpected for me, and by the end I didn't really know what was going to happen. I regretted when Kalas left, because he had all my best cards and was easily my strongest character.
The collection aspect was just done so well in this game. Just turn off the voice acting.
Check out my demonstration of the Street Fighter 4 hard trial combos, showing hands on the joystick, on my Youtube channel!
Current characters done: Ryu, Dan, C. Viper
Xbox Live: Infilament
Current characters done: Ryu, Dan, C. Viper
Xbox Live: Infilament
XenoScholar on
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Oh, and I'd add Paper Mario too. You just can't leave it out.
Current characters done: Ryu, Dan, C. Viper
Xbox Live: Infilament
Evolution Worlds and Summoner, Both Lost Kingdom games, and Fire Emblem: PoR.
Pretty okish alltogether.
Also other Xeno, play BKO. It's the best RPG on the Cube.
And Super Paper Mario may very well have been the funniest game to be produced for the Gamecube. Hiding underground and listening to the crows in the twilight world was worth the price of admission alone.
The whole time I was playing it, I just wanted more Tales!
After digging out my Gamecube to play Zelda and K7 again a week ago, a replay of ToS and SoA is definately on the cards.. Maybe i should give BK and BKO another bash.......
Moar liek remembering the best Dreamcast RPGs, amirite?
(Yes, I know you mentioned it's a DC port - it's just funny that yet another Dreamcast game gets the love it deserves on another console.)
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Could never persuade myself to get into the first one as a result.
For some reason, I never touched Skies of Arcadia, though. Looked awfully oldschool to me. So, am I wrong? 'cause I'd really like some new RPG stuff.