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[JRPG]s Are Teambuilding Exercises

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Posts

  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    CC remake would be cool. Also I could see it as a way to gauge interest in a series revival.

    I haven’t played it, but from what I’ve heard, I really hope a remake would retcon what happened to the Chrono Trigger cast. Ascribe all differences from the original game to timey wimey shenanigans. Maybe drop some hooks for Chrono Break.
    I don't really want them to change anything about vagrant story, it was the pinnacle of PS1 games artistically and I bet a lot of that would be lost in a remaster
    maybe just a straight port with perfect emulation

    I played Vagrant Story for the first time four years ago or so, and any remake needs to modernize the crap out of the controls and menus, bare minimum. To play optimally, you need a different weapon for every class of enemy AND the only way to switch weapons is by navigating a submenu (IIRC) two levels deep? No.

    The game badly needs some accessibility improvements, too. The only way to cast spells is to hit a tiny counterattack window, and my aging reflexes cannot hit that window worth crap.

    It was a graphically stunning game; with some QoL improvements I might have even had fun playing it.

  • OwenashiOwenashi Registered User regular
    Frem wrote: »
    I haven’t played it, but from what I’ve heard, I really hope a remake would retcon what happened to the Chrono Trigger cast. Ascribe all differences from the original game to timey wimey shenanigans. Maybe drop some hooks for Chrono Break.

    Yeah, not exactly fond of the idea that they pretty much dropped rocks on most of the CT cast off-screen just to set up a game that's an indirect sequel.

  • DemonStaceyDemonStacey TTODewback's Daughter In love with the TaySwayRegistered User regular
    iguanacus wrote: »
    Maddoc wrote: »
    Fuck all of that

    Remaster Brave Fencer Musashi

    remaster bushido blade

    Vagrant
    Story

    I knew I liked you for a reason.

  • KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    I ended up ordering Tales of Arise, since the PS4 version was on sale.

    I generally try to get one game during the holidays to play since I have more free time during that month, so I'm looking forward to digging into a JRPG ass JRPG.

    Any starter tips since I haven't played a Tales game since the Ps1?

  • MadicanMadican No face Registered User regular
    Kyougu wrote: »
    I ended up ordering Tales of Arise, since the PS4 version was on sale.

    I generally try to get one game during the holidays to play since I have more free time during that month, so I'm looking forward to digging into a JRPG ass JRPG.

    Any starter tips since I haven't played a Tales game since the Ps1?

    Craft new weapons as you unlock them if you can get the materials and don't sell any of them even after they're outclassed, because some will be used as ingredients in future recipes

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    If anyone's been waiting on Tales of Arise, it's 25% off on Steam for the autumn sale. Finally bought it for my wife for Christmas.

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    Owenashi wrote: »
    Frem wrote: »
    I haven’t played it, but from what I’ve heard, I really hope a remake would retcon what happened to the Chrono Trigger cast. Ascribe all differences from the original game to timey wimey shenanigans. Maybe drop some hooks for Chrono Break.

    Yeah, not exactly fond of the idea that they pretty much dropped rocks on most of the CT cast off-screen just to set up a game that's an indirect sequel.

    don't fuck with the time stream!

  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    Owenashi wrote: »
    Frem wrote: »
    I haven’t played it, but from what I’ve heard, I really hope a remake would retcon what happened to the Chrono Trigger cast. Ascribe all differences from the original game to timey wimey shenanigans. Maybe drop some hooks for Chrono Break.

    Yeah, not exactly fond of the idea that they pretty much dropped rocks on most of the CT cast off-screen just to set up a game that's an indirect sequel.

    don't fuck with the time stream!

    “Actually, time travel is bad,” is a great plot hook. Chrono and friends grappling with the unintended consequences of rewriting history is a fantastic premise for a Chrono Trigger sequel. Unfortunately that’s not the sequel we got.

  • PolaritiePolaritie Sleepy Registered User regular
    Frem wrote: »
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    Owenashi wrote: »
    Frem wrote: »
    I haven’t played it, but from what I’ve heard, I really hope a remake would retcon what happened to the Chrono Trigger cast. Ascribe all differences from the original game to timey wimey shenanigans. Maybe drop some hooks for Chrono Break.

    Yeah, not exactly fond of the idea that they pretty much dropped rocks on most of the CT cast off-screen just to set up a game that's an indirect sequel.

    don't fuck with the time stream!

    “Actually, time travel is bad,” is a great plot hook. Chrono and friends grappling with the unintended consequences of rewriting history is a fantastic premise for a Chrono Trigger sequel. Unfortunately that’s not the sequel we got.

    Even that would leave a sour taste in my mouth. Chrono Trigger ends with a fairly happy ending for all the party members. I feel that it's narratively unsatisfying when someone makes a sequel that reopens something after a clean "The End" and all.

    Sure, it's a theme you can explore in a game. But do it with a fresh cast/world because you already closed the book on Trigger. (And of course, my understanding is that Cross is downright malicious in how it treats the cast of Trigger, which is even worse.)

    Steam: Polaritie
    3DS: 0473-8507-2652
    Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
    PSN: AbEntropy
  • Shenl742Shenl742 Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    My head canon is getting the true end in CC just magically..."fixed" everything. I guess...

    Shenl742 on
    FC: 1907-8030-1478
  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    Frem wrote: »
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    Owenashi wrote: »
    Frem wrote: »
    I haven’t played it, but from what I’ve heard, I really hope a remake would retcon what happened to the Chrono Trigger cast. Ascribe all differences from the original game to timey wimey shenanigans. Maybe drop some hooks for Chrono Break.

    Yeah, not exactly fond of the idea that they pretty much dropped rocks on most of the CT cast off-screen just to set up a game that's an indirect sequel.

    don't fuck with the time stream!

    “Actually, time travel is bad,” is a great plot hook. Chrono and friends grappling with the unintended consequences of rewriting history is a fantastic premise for a Chrono Trigger sequel. Unfortunately that’s not the sequel we got.

    chrono cross is not a sequel

    that is why it is chrono cross and not chrono tigger 2

  • DelzhandDelzhand Hard to miss. Registered User regular
    It's... more a sequel than Final Fantasy II was to Final Fantasy...

    I mean, I understand what you're saying, but your supporting point doesn't bear out

  • JavenJaven Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    I never really got that Chrono Cross did the original crew dirty
    Chrono Cross establishes that time travel works via multiverse rules. Changing something via time-travel will change it for YOUR universe, but it will also create an alternate timeline where the change never happened. So while the CT crew saved their universe and lived happily ever after, there are versions of them that did not fare as well. Which I guess you could say is ultimately the fault of the CT crew, but it's ultimately Belthasar's, for creating a time machine which led to Chronopolis

    Javen on
  • DelzhandDelzhand Hard to miss. Registered User regular
    By touching the Flame, Serge was designated it's Arbiter by the Prometheus Circuit, simultaneously preventing FATE from using the artifact by extension. The Dragons were aware of this situation, creating a seventh Dragon under the storm's cover. This Dragon was Harle, who manipulated Lynx by serving as his accomplice.

    i swear every time I try to read a summary of the CC plot I just... zone out

  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    Delzhand wrote: »
    By touching the Flame, Serge was designated it's Arbiter by the Prometheus Circuit, simultaneously preventing FATE from using the artifact by extension. The Dragons were aware of this situation, creating a seventh Dragon under the storm's cover. This Dragon was Harle, who manipulated Lynx by serving as his accomplice.

    i swear every time I try to read a summary of the CC plot I just... zone out

    that single quote explains 90% of the background plot tho

  • KamarKamar Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    I picked Tales of Vesperia back up. Combat is still a chore, like I'm hardly one to push Tales combat to its limit, but just for meandering through the game it's the only Tales game I've ever played where I've found combat actively unpleasant.
    edit: what the fuck

    unknown.png?width=1202&height=676


    Also, of all the JRPG tropes in the world, 'let's take this safe route/shortcut through the sewers even though this seems like a huge waste of time, oh no monsters, oh well we've committed to brutal combat with mysterious foes in the dark so let's get on with this whole quicker/safer thing' might be the one I loathe the most. It's always a dull slog through the blandest dungeon in the game with zero plot significance except 'well, the plot is happening like five feet from the inn but we need a dungeon here'.

    Kamar on
  • turtleantturtleant Gunpla Dad is the best.Registered User regular
    "The Time travel was bad and we never should have done it" is the most boring, played out possible way for any story involving time travel to go and it makes me check out of whatever thing it crops up in almost immediately.

    Lucky for Chrono Cross that it's a fairly minor and vague plot point.

    X22wmuF.jpg
  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    The take I generally agree with WRT Chrono Cross is that it’s an interesting (if flawed) story and game in its own right. But as a sequel to Chrono Trigger, it’s barely related to it for a lot of the game, and kinda mean to it when connections do happen. It might have been better for both games if Cross had been entirely its own thing with no connections.

    I think the funniest thing is that Cross happens entirely in this archipelago that wasn’t anywhere on Trigger’s map, and you don’t leave it to see anywhere else in the world.

  • KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Put in a good couple of hours into Tales.

    It opening with an anime cutscene told me exactly what kind of story I was in. It's a JRPG ass JRPG for sure. Tsundare female protagonist, amnesiac but well meaning male protagonist!

    I'm enjoying the game though. Fun combat and I appreciate it slowly drip feeding the combat complexities. Getting rid of MP for cooldowns on the artes is an interesting way to go as well as the CP stuff.

    Music is really good too, though I feel like the first sections have a weirdly epic sounding music. I would expect this at an area closer to the end.

    Kyougu on
  • KamarKamar Registered User regular
    turtleant wrote: »
    "The Time travel was bad and we never should have done it" is the most boring, played out possible way for any story involving time travel to go and it makes me check out of whatever thing it crops up in almost immediately.

    Lucky for Chrono Cross that it's a fairly minor and vague plot point.

    Depends. I appreciate a time travel story acknowledging that if time travel is your solution, unless you take the trouble to explain why it isn't the case you almost certainly either

    A: Abandoned the people in that timeline to whatever fate you escaped (you jumped to or created an alternate universe)
    B: Annihilated every living being in that timeline so you could live out a better life with different people (you rewrote reality from an arbitrary point forward, killing the people who had experienced those events even if a version of them still exists)

    "We have to undo the time travel because fate is ANGRY" is the worst, though.

  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    Kamar wrote: »
    turtleant wrote: »
    "The Time travel was bad and we never should have done it" is the most boring, played out possible way for any story involving time travel to go and it makes me check out of whatever thing it crops up in almost immediately.

    Lucky for Chrono Cross that it's a fairly minor and vague plot point.

    Depends. I appreciate a time travel story acknowledging that if time travel is your solution, unless you take the trouble to explain why it isn't the case you almost certainly either

    A: Abandoned the people in that timeline to whatever fate you escaped (you jumped to or created an alternate universe)
    B: Annihilated every living being in that timeline so you could live out a better life with different people (you rewrote reality from an arbitrary point forward, killing the people who had experienced those events even if a version of them still exists)

    "We have to undo the time travel because fate is ANGRY" is the worst, though.

    FATE is angry because she wanted to become the arbiter of the flame and become a god, she kinda only exists because of the time travel and what the crew did to mother brain

  • KamarKamar Registered User regular
    PiptheFair wrote: »
    Kamar wrote: »
    turtleant wrote: »
    "The Time travel was bad and we never should have done it" is the most boring, played out possible way for any story involving time travel to go and it makes me check out of whatever thing it crops up in almost immediately.

    Lucky for Chrono Cross that it's a fairly minor and vague plot point.

    Depends. I appreciate a time travel story acknowledging that if time travel is your solution, unless you take the trouble to explain why it isn't the case you almost certainly either

    A: Abandoned the people in that timeline to whatever fate you escaped (you jumped to or created an alternate universe)
    B: Annihilated every living being in that timeline so you could live out a better life with different people (you rewrote reality from an arbitrary point forward, killing the people who had experienced those events even if a version of them still exists)

    "We have to undo the time travel because fate is ANGRY" is the worst, though.

    FATE is angry because she wanted to become the arbiter of the flame and become a god, she kinda only exists because of the time travel and what the crew did to mother brain

    tbh I forgot there was an actual entity called FATE in CC and was talking more generally about time travel stories

  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Trigger was kinda weird about whether timelines get erased.

    In the standard good ending,
    Lucca and the rest are worried about Robo, who came from the ruined future, and whether he’ll still exist now that they’ve stopped Lavos.

    But in the same ending, King Guardia brought one of the dudes from said ruined future back to have a family reunion with Marle, and he’s definitely still existent.

    Enlong on
  • DragkoniasDragkonias That Guy Who Does Stuff You Know, There. Registered User regular
    I hate thinking about Time Travel to much so I just stick to the multiverse theory that the timeline of every universe is definite and every variation is simply a similar yet different universe onto itself.

  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    People keep forgetting that Radical Dreamers exists. Yeah, I know, it was never officially localized, but it was fan translated.

    That's the game where Magus actually saves his sister and where Serge is a cool bard/thief with quips instead of the shitty silent nothing protagonist he is in Chrono Cross.

    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    Yeah, Radical Dreamers is… interesting.

    It was a text-adventure that tracked certain values to influence the endings, released for the Satellaview on the Super Famicom. It involves many of the same character as Chrono Cross, but the story goes in a completely different direction.

    And the weirdest thing is that it doesn’t seem to be completely pushed out of canon by Chrono Cross. There’s a recording you can find in a late game area that plays dialogue that’s very specific to Radical Dreamers, including a reference to Magil (rather than the equivalent character Guile). Also, in Radical Dreamers, Magil turns out to be Magus in disguise, searching for Schala. Guile doesn’t appear to have any connection to Magus, and reveals no secret identity.

    But in the Chrono Trigger remake,
    A bonus ending has an alternate-timeline (or possibly just future) Magus get blown into a different reality, and winds up with amnesia, apparently setting him up to become Magil or Guile.

    It’s all kinda weird how close it sometimes gets to being officially acknowledged. I’d kinda like to see them re-release Radical Dreamers officially. If they are remastering Chrono Cross, it’d be neat to have Radical Dreamers as a bonus feature, since it’s mostly just a text adventure.

  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    Also after you beat Radical Dreamers once it unlocks a whole bunch of non-cannon alternate plots and stories. Some go in... interesting directions. Like, one's called "SuperXtreme Alphacosmos Police Case EX Ultra".

    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
    // Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    I'm deeper into SMTV and I am very much enjoying its cosmology of "libertarians vs. narcs"

  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    That is SMT's whole deal in a nutshell yep!

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • BlackDragon480BlackDragon480 Bluster Kerfuffle Master of Windy ImportRegistered User regular
    edited November 2021
    I'm probably looking at getting SMTV before the new year, but am not in any hurry. Only real experience with the series is from one of rhe spin-offs, that being Devil Summoner vs the Souless Army on PS2. I loved they shit out of it and it was my gateway drug into the Shadow Hearts series as well.

    BlackDragon480 on
    No matter where you go...there you are.
    ~ Buckaroo Banzai
  • EmperorSethEmperorSeth Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    That is SMT's whole deal in a nutshell yep!

    Don't forget the most important part!
    The option in nearly all the games took look at both groups and say "You're ALL assholes."

    EmperorSeth on
    You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
  • KamarKamar Registered User regular
    Related to time travel being terrible, the worst ending that keeps getting recycled (especially in JRPGs and anime): author realizes they've written the story into a grim dark hole but still wants a happy ending instead of a hopeful-but-rough situation. so 'oh the source of bad things was erased from the timeline, new timeline where none of this happened'.

  • chocoboliciouschocobolicious Registered User regular
    The best time travel jrpg is E.V.O.

    No contest.

    steam_sig.png
  • WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    that's not radiant historia though

  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    Chrono Cross should have been its own thing and also Chrono Trigger should never have a sequel.

  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    LiveALiveBoxArt.jpg

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • turtleantturtleant Gunpla Dad is the best.Registered User regular
    I love E.V.O. to pieces

    E.V.O. is not actually very good.

    X22wmuF.jpg
  • WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    Live a Live is absolutely fucking incredible, but I would not consider it a time travel rpg like I would others, it's an anthology that happens to dovetail the stories together at the end

  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    I have not actually played live-a-evil, I thought it involved time travel, huh

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • DonnictonDonnicton Registered User regular
    I have not actually played live-a-evil, I thought it involved time travel, huh

    You really should.

This discussion has been closed.