tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686604596525532282024-03-18T22:44:28.920-07:00Thinking Inside the BoxThe RPGenius rants about RPGs.The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.comBlogger573125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-75581958303507350812024-03-18T08:08:00.000-07:002024-03-18T08:08:00.145-07:00Cris Tales's Currency<p>Who here’s been jonesing for another rant about a completely insignificant and silly subject? For any of you unabashed lunatics who answered “Me,” today’s a special treat for you!<br /><br /><br /><br />When it comes to the forms which money takes, RPGs have quite a variety. Sure, you’ve got your garden-variety RPG currency like Gold or Gold Pieces, which hails all the way back to the genre’s Dungeons and Dragons origins, and plenty of others will just just refer to the money you’re looting as Coins, Leaves, Lucre, etc., and call it a day.* Equally often, you’ll get a case where it’s some nondescript made-up currency that could be bills or coins or pretty shells or tulip bulbs for all we know, usually with a dumb name that no one in society would actually be able to regularly use with a straight face--imagine trying to have a serious conversation about finances while repeating the term Gil, Potch, Gella, or fucking <i>Zenny</i>, over and over again. On occasion, you’ll get a currency whose form actually had some thought and reason put into it, such as Bottlecaps in (most of) the Fallout series, Shadowrun’s Nuyen, Reál from Disco Elysium, or space RPGs like Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic relying on Credits.** Things like Cents, Dollars, and Yen are an easy go-to for series set in the real world, like Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, or the South Park RPGs. Suffice to say, I’ve seen me a lot of different forms of money in my time as The RPGenius, and it rarely catches my attention.<br /><br />But the decision to make Marbles the currency of Cris Tales’s world does give me pause.<br /><br />Marbles?<br /><br />Like, the little glass orbs that kids used to play with, back before fun was invented? With the colors and the little swirly things in them and whatnot? Real-life Materia, sans both the magical powers and the teenage dunce trying to steal them because she’s convinced that they’ll solve all her family’s and culture’s problems? That’s what we’re using for currency in Cris Tales. Marbles.<br /><br />Huh.<br /><br />You know, I’m trying to envision a functional marble-based economy, and it’s just not happening for me. I mean, first of all, these little fuckers are <i>round</i>. Practically perfectly so, in fact. Not only are they not gonna conveniently stack the way a coin does--good luck carrying any decent pocket change around--but the moment you drop one, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve got a chase on your hands. You drop a paper note, the wind may catch it. You drop a coin, well, it may fall on its side and roll a little. But so long as Fengalon isn’t really going to town that day, you’re gonna be able to pretty easily get that buck back, and as long as you weren’t cliche-adjacent to a sewer grate, you’re gonna be able to pretty easily retrieve that shekel. But you drop a marble on a decently paved walkway, and that little fucker’s gonna be off like an escaped convict. Bifelgan the Trader help you if you happen to drop more than 1 of these things at once; I guarantee you’re not retrieving even half of them once they’ve become a cartoon tripping hazard.<br /><br />And speaking of losing the things, I know I made a crack about playing with marbles not actually being all that fun, and I’ll stand by that, but the world of Cris Tales <i>is</i> one in which basic, less-a-toy-than-just-an-object-we-can-force-into-that-role playthings seem appropriate to the setting. I mean, for God’s sake, when you initially enter the town of St. Clarity, the first thing you see, I mean the <i>first</i> damn thing that happens, is a kid <i>voluntarily</i> allowing himself to be carried away by a wave of <b>waste-water</b> down into the <i><b>sewers</b></i>, with the loud proclamation that there’s nothing better to do around here. With that being the entry bar for “fun,” don’t even TRY to tell me that kids in Cris Tales wouldn’t be playing marbles with the family’s weekly paycheck and losing them left and right. The cliche of the deadbeat gambling addict husband losing all his family’s income at the roulette tables probably doesn’t even exist in the world of Cris Tales, instead it’s a cliche of the fun-starved child losing all his family’s income in a game of marbles.<br /><br />Most of all, I think of the sheer, staggering inconvenience and weight of the situation. Because let me tell you, the economy of this world is <i>not</i> in a healthy state. If you think 2022’s inflation was bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet; individually, these marbles are basically worthless. The cheapest item on a merchant’s menu costs <b>200</b> of these things. The <i>cheapest</i>. Going by the average weight of a marble, that shakes out to something like 2 pounds’ worth of glass beads you have to hand over for the least expensive item you can buy! The first time you get money in this game, like the initial gift that introduces the fact that there IS a currency, you’re given a startling starting stipend of 2,000 marbles as your initial allowance of pocket change. Imagine being the RPG heroine who has to slam an entire 10-pound bucket of little solid glass balls down in front of a merchant every time she wants to purchase a goddamn juicebox. Crisbell’s out here trudging through the wilderness, hauling around a colossal garbage bag on her back just filled to fucking bursting with glass bearings, her teeny-tiny little stick legs teetering with each trembling step taken as she tows her 2-ton trash tote teeming with translucent legal tender.<br /><br />And keep in mind, even if she’s got the proportions of a stick figure on a hunger strike, Crisbell is an RPG heroine engaging in several different types of strenuous physical activities and combat, regularly leveling up and improving that Strength stat. What about the normal, average citizen of Cris Tales’s world? You telling me every average Joe on this planet is totally cool with and capable of lugging a laundry basket full of marbles across town every time he wants to do his grocery shopping for the week?<br /><br />I know it’s objectively not the silliest or least logical form of currency I’ve seen in an RPG. Meat in the Loathing series is much sillier, and Rupees in The Legend of Zelda are far less practical. But Loathing gets a pass because its whole point is to be humorously absurd, and at least with rupees, the game clearly shows us that different colors correlate with different values, so Link is, ostensibly, just carrying around a silver and a couple golden rupees when he’s got 500 in his wallet, rather than weighing his person down with 500 green solid crystals.*** I guess it’s not unreasonable to assume that there are different denominations of value for different kinds of marbles, too, but the game doesn’t actually give evidence of this, so it’s an amusing and completely impossible-to-debunk probability that Crisbell’s walking-around money is a 12-foot-long burlap sack of glass orbs that collectively weigh as much as a train car, which she’s dragging behind her with every step of her global trek. And hell, even without that, a perfectly round, smooth little ball of solid matter is gonna be inconvenient to store and carry, and easy to lose. Marbles are a ridiculous currency.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* Or they’ll name their currency some misspelling of an actual word for cash and act like it’s clever. Yeah, Tales of and Kingdom Hearts writers, you really flexed your creative muscles there with Gald and fucking <i>Munny</i>. Legendary stuff.<br /><br /><br />** Odd that RPGs with a tie to modern era or science fiction settings so much more often make an effort to consciously adapt their currency to their lore and give it a reason for existing in the capacity that it does, while more typical RPGs just say “Here’s your money, it’s called Oth, fuck you I’m not explaining why.” Then again, putting some thought into the currency of Secret of Evermore is what led to that game’s annoying currency exchange mechanic, so maybe it’s just as well not to have anyone going into more detail about Zehn and Gilda and Meseta and so on.<br /><br /><br />*** Although who knows what process of exchange is going on to transmute the 5 green rupees he just found by trashing the local Pottery Barn into a single blue rupee on the fly. Maybe Navi and Midna and the rest of the LoZ companions all happen to be able to open a direct portal to the Kakariko Credit Union, and we just don’t know because it doesn’t really come up much in the plot.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-83507873576382367632024-03-08T08:08:00.000-08:002024-03-09T21:09:01.481-08:00Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5's Morgana's Narration<p>To call either Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 or 4 a rough or uncoordinated game would be silly. While no game is perfect, and Persona 4 has significant problems with its narrative content, <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2024/01/shin-megami-tensei-persona-4s-use-of.html">approach</a>, and execution, they each certainly feel like tight, smooth works, nuanced with personal touches and features. Yet their successor, SMT Persona 5, does an absolutely remarkable job in building upon the traits and details of 3 and 4, improving and polishing them. 5's Ryuji, for example is the perfect culmination of Yosuke’s genuine, solid value as a best friend in 4, with the endearing bro energy of 3's Junpei along with Junpei’s appealing buddy-buddy/partner-in-crime dynamic with Yukari (taking the form of Ann for Ryuji), taking the best traits of both previous pal characters to become Ren’s perfect bestie. You wouldn’t know that Junpei or Yosuke were only pieces of the buddy character they could be, until you see them brought together into Ryuji’s whole. Persona 5 builds on and polishes the characteristics of its predecessors like this, in ways both great and small. But of all the cases in which Persona 5 has refined the formula of its predecessors into something better, it’s Morgana’s role for the player that stands out to me as the greatest improvement.<br /><br />Now, in his own right, Morgana is really only okay as a character. He’s likable enough,* but certainly not the stand-out personality of the cast on any front--Ryuji’s more fun, Futaba’s more quirky, Haru’s more unique and compelling, Makoto’s cooler, Sumire’s more earnest, Akechi’s more of a bishounen douchebag (a douche-ounen?), etc. He’s got a character arc, some history, some significance to the plot, and some depth, but in none of these arenas does Morgana really stand out as especially memorable; his story’s simply not that gripping. The strongest emotions I felt as regards the cat was to be a little annoyed at him when he was being a brat with his solo shenanigans during what <i>should</i> have been Haru’s spotlight, and some sadness at the end of the game when he died, which he ended up coming back from so fast that it barely counted as a catnap, anyway. In terms of the overall plot and cast, Morgana serves a function, but it’s more as a utility for keeping things moving than as 1 of the characters who really represent the heart and soul of the game.<br /><br />But that’s okay, because Morgana’s real calling and purpose in SMT Persona 5 isn’t his major story role, or his contribution to the personal dynamics of the team, or his development through his Social Link. Nope. It’s to be the narrator of Ren’s day-to-day life.<br /><br />Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 and 4 had a dispassionate, objective, and very understated narrator for the basic actions and impressions of Makoto, Kotone, and Yu in the previous titles. It was a very utilitarian, get-the-job-done, keep-your-thoughts-to-yourself matter. Something happened, the narration let you know what that something was strictly within its neutral confines, and you moved on. “You have decided to study. Your Academics has increased.” “You sense someone watching you...A mysterious fox suddenly appears before you...!” “The teachers seem busy...You decide to leave.” That sort of thing. Simple, clean, straightforward, no-fuss. Even when it’s descriptive, it’s pretty impersonal.<br /><br />And that’s <i>fine</i>, make no mistake. It gets the job done and it never would have occurred to me that the narration for the protagonist’s everyday actions and reactions should be anything more. Hell, it’s not like it doesn’t fit the largely reserved, chill silent protagonists of the games--Persona 3’s recent remake changed the narrative voice from this distanced second-person POV to a first-person one, and it’s all, as far as I’ve seen from clips of the game, virtually the same, because that’s just the kind of guy Makoto <i>is</i>. Hell, there’s even something ever so slightly endearing about the “voice” of Persona 3 and 4’s narration to me, although I’m not sure how much of that is real, and how much of it is my love for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7lj9qI8VFc">Hiimdaisy’s take on it</a> and the great work that Sapphire and Kenneth Bruce put into the voicing of it.<br /><br />But SMT Persona 5 mixes this formula up by having the majority of this narration be done by Morgana, Ren’s almost constant companion in his daily grind. When Ren hits the books to raise his Knowledge, it’s Morgana who observes that he’s been so diligent in his studies that he must be smarter now. When Ren dodges the chalk his teacher throws at him, it’s Morgana, who MUST be developing spinal issues from cramming himself in a school desk for 8 hours straight, that observes that his boy has the entire attention of the class for his sick dodge, and thus Ren’s racking up the rizz. Morgana’s there to remark upon the businesses and landmarks Ren examines, to share his impressions of the movies and shows Ren watches, to cringe at Ren’s early disastrous attempts at working out...he’s basically the voice of Ren’s life and the player’s choices. There’s still some room now and then for the classic muted narration for the stuff that Morgana’s not around for or can’t comment on--in the chalk-dodging scenario, for example, there is such narration for Ren in which he senses a murderous intent from his probably-should-be-fired teacher--but I’d say Morgana takes care of a good 90% of the game’s moment-to-moment narration.<br /><br />And this is a really great feature that benefits the game. With the encouraging, curious, and expressive Morgana always lending his thoughts as Ren reads books and scarfs down burgers and takes in the sights of Tokyo, Persona 5 maintains a more outgoing, engaging atmosphere. Sure, it’s serviceable to have some omniscient voice in your head tell you, “You feel more knowledgeable after studying,” or “There might be something to gain from drinking this special menu item,” or “You feel more charming after finally taking a bath, you unhygienic animal.” But it’s much more interesting and fun when it’s some cat sticking his head out of your backpack to say “Whoa my dude you’re studying like a goddamn CHAMPION!” and “bruh u srsly gonna chug that grimace shake holy shit” and “OK so theoretically no homo but seeing the water glisten on your be-toweled body after you’ve emerged from a steamy room full of other naked men is making me pop one <b>hell</b> of a cat-boner right now.” Morgana’s personality may not be the strongest within the major cast nor the most compelling within the main story, but it’s <i>perfect</i> for being the narrative face of the game. <br /><br />It may seem like a small thing, but keep in mind, the daily living aspect of the modern SMT Persona is <u>more than half</u> of the entire game, and even if you remove Social Links from that equation (as Morgana is usually less involved or not present at all for them), it still represents a huge chunk of your Persona 5 experience. Having a cast member engage with you and add personality to your daily grind is a small improvement that adds up to a big one when stretched out over so long a time and so many different activities. And it helps Morgana’s character overall, too; more screen time is almost always the most reliable method of personalizing and cementing a cast member. Most of what makes Morgana likable is the fact that his constant presence, input, and support really sell to the audience the place he has in Ren’s life as a buddy and pet.**<br /><br />So yeah, I think it was a great idea for Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5 to take 1 of the cast and make him your ever-present, companionable narrator. Certainly, what Persona 3 and 4 had going for them worked just fine and took nothing away from their personality, but I definitely think that Morgana added a valuable appeal in his role as slice-of-life narrator. It’s a great example of the intelligent polish that SMTP5 puts on the already solid practices of its forebears. Hell, it makes me wish we could retroactively apply the method to the older Personas; Morgana’s reaction to Yu’s habit of consuming drastically expired food for the sake of his Courage stat would doubtless be priceless!<br /><br />...Although if it were Persona 4, it wouldn’t be Morgana constantly chiming in, it’d be...Teddie.<br /><br />...<br /><br />Yeah maybe this narration approach came exactly when it should have and no later.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* Aside from his unasked-for, tiresome, emotionally shallow romantic fixation on Ann which keeps randomly coming up for no reason to add nothing. Then again, even that flaw could be seen as 1 of Persona 5’s major polished improvements. After all, the last time we saw this behavior, it was fucking <b><u>Teddie</u></b> constantly hitting on chicks with all the sophistication, self-awareness, and human decency of the kind of self-proclaimed “Alpha Male” pick-up artist who proudly posts his personal shame online so that real human beings can make fun of him for it. Except that Persona 4 has no Moist Cr1t1kal or other Youtube funny-man to point out how utterly, infuriatingly worthless Teddie is. Compared to his predecessor, Morgana’s creeping on Ann is downright <i>wholesome</i>. Why, at this rate of improvement, Shin Megami Tensei 6’s mascot’s romantic aspirations might even be mildly tolerable.<br /><br /><br />** Also, it's super cute when he sits up like people to watch DVDs with Ren.<br /><br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-62239574329305314372024-02-28T08:08:00.000-08:002024-02-28T19:07:08.700-08:00General RPGs' AMVs 21<p>AMVs exist and you should watch them and to facilitate that I am sharing some with you right now. Look, I’ve done 20 of these intros now, there’s no need to keep dressing this concept up.<br /><br /><br /><br /><u>DELTARUNE</u><br /><br />Deltarune: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8RkcUiCxuE">Ad Infinitum</a>, by The Stupendium<br />The music used is Ad Infinitum, by The Stupendium. As was made abundantly clear <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/02/general-rpg-amvs-20.html">last year</a>, The Stupendium’s standards for production value of his videos are absolutely sky-high, and his gift for lyrics, both their creation and performance, is nigh unmatched. This video’s another great example of this level of quality and talent as it aggressively, rapidly, <i>darkly</i> displays the memorable Spamton in all his sympathetic, disturbing, terrifying glory.<br /><br /><br /><u>DISCO ELYSIUM</u><br /><br />Disco Elysium: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Xm46_7AA0">Detective. Arriving. On the Scene</a>, by Oblivionblade<br />The music used is Intro, by Alt J. Disco Elysium’s incomparable excellence is such that even though it’s a retro-style isometric game, there’s still a decent number of people who have made AMVs for it. Music videos for video games whose visuals are not large, detailed, and animated within certain parameters (Playstation 1 era FMV or Playstation 2 era in-game graphics are generally the starting point) are a rarity, and yet, DE is simply too significant not to inspire creators. And inspire it has, because this snapshot of the compelling power this game’s scenes and intensity hold is a genuinely excellent work of editing, melding the haunting hold the game has on its audience with the smooth power and flourish of the music to form a terrific trailer-style AMV here.<br /><br />Disco Elysium: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR8WaSnidvM">Good Life</a>, by Yellow-Py<br />The music used is Good Life, by Shayfer James. As with the Deltarune AMV above, this is an AMV whose visual component is fan-crafted rather than lifted directly from the game, although this time it’s a cartoon animatic. And this fanart storyboard is darned well-made, an expressive, appealing take on the characters and setting of Disco Elysium that brings to visual life the exquisite personality and emotion seen only (albeit excellently) through narration in the game itself. The music video merges its art with the beat and lyrics of the song to wonderfully portray the story of Disco Elysium, both its tangible events, and the annals of Harry’s mind, heart, and torment. It’s great all around, and the fact that someone not only merged the visuals of Disco Elysium to the song so well, but actually <i>created</i> those visuals, is impressive.<br /><br /><br /><u>FINAL FANTASY</u><br /><br />Final Fantasy 7 Remake: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wImavOc3O3Q">Enemy</a>, by RivAyshil<br />The music used is Enemies, by The Score. This is one of those classic AMVs set to a piece of music that makes an argument for the need for a genre called Adolescent Edge. But what of it? It’s still a cool AMV that brings game and song together well and is fun to watch. Ain’t nothing wrong with being a good, solid meat-and-potatoes music video!<br /><br /><b>Final Fantasy 7 Remake: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZRot0Yepbw">Madness</a></b>, by RivAyshil<br />The music used is Madness, by Ruelle. I’ll admit that the Disco Elysium AMVs above hit me harder, but honestly, this video is kinda just flawless--it’s perfectly, minutely edited to merge music and visuals both naturally and with effects that enhance rather than distract from the experience, and both the song’s lyrics and tone just <i>feel</i> like the exact right thing to be playing to both this video and the game as a whole. This is just as good as an AMV can get without getting an entire rant of its own.<br /><br /><br /><u>FIRE EMBLEM</u><br /><br />Fire Emblem 14: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHR2RglXtnU">End of an Empire</a>, by LaTeddyNecto<br />The music used is End of an Empire, by Celldweller. LaTeddyNecto’s skill with Fire Emblem is no stranger to these rants, and while this isn’t the best of their works, it’s still worthy of notice and consideration. Does this AMV go on too long? Yes, after a certain point FE14 can’t sustain the duration of the song and its intensity. But considering that this AMV is over 7 minutes long, the fact that the overall quality of it is really good, and that it can manage to stay at least decent to its end, is a laudable testament to its creator’s abilities for scene selection and editing.<br /><br /><br /><u>MASS EFFECT</u><br /><br />Mass Effect Series: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HXt1z__onI">10 Duel Commandments</a>, by Warped Meaning Productions<br />The music used is 10 Duel Commandments, from the soundtrack for Hamilton. Look, Hamilton is obnoxious almost from start to finish and I’m not in the least bit afraid to say that a huge part of that is its <b><u>garbage music</u></b>, but...I must admit that this particular song is kinda fun, and uncharacteristically educational for its rather...skewed vision of the history the musical portrays. And this AMV neatly takes advantage of the quirky appeal of the song, assembling the scenes and characters of Mass Effect to amusingly bring the song to visual life. There’s not much to say here, really, this is just a very fun AMV.<br /><br />Casting The Illusive Man as Aaron Burr is an atrocity, though.<br /><br /><br /><u>THE OUTER WORLDS</u><br /><br />The Outer Worlds: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjtwNeX5wRA">Payday</a>, by Miracle of Sound<br />The music used is Payday, by Miracle of Sound. As 1 of the only guys whose talents for original fan music (and AMVs to go with it) rival The Stupendium, Miracle of Sound has given us a good, solid view of the memorable setting and concepts of The Outer Worlds that deftly emphasizes his music’s tough, appealing tune and lyrics. This is a type of music that Miracle of Sound excels at, and this one’s particularly in line with the soul of the work that inspired it, with some groovy retro background sci-fi sounds to coalesce with the color and artistry of The Outer Worlds, even while the music itself seems to feel aligned to the rustish frontier tint of the game’s visual depiction of its civilization and industry. All this video has to do to be a damn fine AMV is to simply keep apace with its song, and it undeniably does so with great skill, bringing the grit and weary common man’s frustration of the music back to the game built upon it. <br /><br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-41438137296049742462024-02-18T08:08:00.000-08:002024-02-18T16:16:16.383-08:00Octopath Traveler 1's Protagonist Selection<p>Octopath Traveler 1 makes a very big deal about being a collaborative venture between its 8 protagonists. Each is on her or his own individual journey, and the spotlight of the story’s narrative shines so exclusively upon them, that the game doesn’t so much have an ending as it simply has no more significant narration once all 8 main characters’ journeys are complete. Sure, there IS a final quest and last boss that unlocks only after that point, but it feels more like 1 of those post-game ventures that take place after a game’s ending, even if there IS no ending for it to follow.<br /><br />And the game generally does quite well with this iteration of the Romancing SaGa and Canterbury Tales formula of distinct travelers sharing their path and stories with one another. But I do have to say...Octopath Traveler 1 could’ve done a lot better when it comes to the matter of actually choosing which of these 8 fellows will be your protagonist.<br /><br />See, the problem goes like this: you have to choose who you want to be the protagonist, the central figure who unites the rest and is the constant in all of their adventures, right at the start of the game, before you know any of them past the tiny blurb the game gives you. If you’re the type that thinks a party’s figurehead should have a cheerful, can-do attitude and a story that balances self-reflection with a yearning for doing good, you’re not gonna know yet that Alfyn is your man. If your favorite flavor of leader is the cause-less soldier trying to rediscover what it is to be honorable, you won’t be sure this early that Olberic’s who you’ll want at the helm of the game. And if you just prefer to have the best character with the best story as your protagonist, there’s no way of knowing right off the bat that Primrose is the right answer.<br /><br />“The solution to this is obvious, RPGenius, you dithering numbnuts,” you point out, of course, cruel yet rational as ever. “Just start a new game for each character and play through their prologue, then when you’ve picked your favorite, just continue playing with that save file.”<br /><br />And that’s usually the simplest and most effective solution with this sort of situation. That’s how you do it to figure out who you like best as hero of Romancing SaGa 1. It’s how you figure out, in Dragon Age 1, that the best background for The Warden is to be the City Elf. It’s how you determine in Trials of Mana that it doesn’t really matter who’s protagonist because they’re actually <i>all</i> pretty boring. Hell, it’s what Live-A-Live basically forces you to do; 7/9ths of that game just plain IS the protagonists’ prologue auditions.<br /><br />But OT1 is set up a little differently than most choose-your-hero deals, because your playthrough of the game necessarily requires you to go through every party member’s introduction story, regardless of who you chose at the beginning. Even if you decide to go with H’aanit as your heroine, you’re still gonna play through Therion’s opening story, and Tressa’s, and those of all the rest. Whereas in Dragon Age 1 and RPGs like it, you only see the origins of the protagonist you choose, and continue on with the main narrative once that’s over, the normal playthrough of Octopath Traveler 1 is to take you through ALL of its characters’ openings, regardless of who you selected. The only way you’d avoid such a thing is to not recruit the associated character altogether, which would be silly and counterproductive to the intent of, y’know, experiencing the game that you’re playing.<br /><br />So you’re stuck with 3 possible scenarios here. <br />A: You happen to hit that lucky 12.5% chance and pick the protagonist you’d like best anyway, right from the get-go.<br />B: You’re stuck with the rest of us 87.5% schmucks, selecting a protagonist who seems the coolest and best initially (H’aanit), only to discover, multiple hours into the game, that the fourth main character you encounter has a <i>way</i> more compelling story and personality (Primrose) that demands that you start over because you just can’t see the game ever feeling right without her being the driving force connecting the rest together, which costs you all the time and effort you’d spent on it until that point.<br />C: You anticipate the possibility of B and attempt to get ahead by doing the play-each-prologue-first strategy discussed above that you’d employed against games like RS1 and DA1 and such...only to discover, after you finally get your real playthrough going, that you’re going to be playing through ALL those prologues AGAIN, meaning that you’ll be wasting even more time than Scenario B did as you retread them all!<br /><br />I feel like it would’ve been so easy to find a solution to this problem, one where you’d be able to choose your protagonist for the rest of the game with confidence and knowledge of the cast, but still incorporate all of their openings into the full playthrough. Just off the top of my head? Instead of having each member be encountered during the travels of the others, start the game in a tavern, where each of the 8 heroes have stopped to rest during their individual journeys. The player can control a waitress or bartender who’s serving them, and with each stop, the protagonist candidate is invited to share their story with the rest of the tavern, which translates to the player taking control and playing that character’s first chapter as usual. Once all 8 are finished with, <i>then</i> the player is given the choice of who the primary hero of the game will be, and with that selection made, said hero makes the suggestion to the others that perhaps they should travel together, as each could help the others accomplish their goals. At this point, the game starts up properly, and you’re left to your own devices on whose second chapter to pursue first, where to explore, etc.<br /><br />That’s a simple fix, and I feel like it would actually be a better storytelling approach--I think that the Chaucerian feel of the combined stories is better served if they all meet while already travelers, rather than getting stuck onto an ever-growing adventurer party like some bizarre narrative Katamari Damacy. Plus, the first chapter of each character’s story clearly feels entirely and fully like an endeavor undertaken by that person alone, without backup, and OT1’s setup where all but the first protagonist will actually be aided by allies as they go through their origin story always felt off, so with my tavern story-sharing scenario, the opening stories get to keep the single-person situation that they were clearly written to be.<br /><br />Oh, or what about an opening in which the 8 heroes are gathered at an inn or tavern or whatever, and a local disaster drives them all to cooperate as heroic strangers to save the day? Over the course of this opening adventure, each character’s talents are a necessary tool to their success, and as each talent is displayed, you get a “flashback” to the hero’s opening story to play through. When all flashbacks have been played through and the day has been saved, the travelers return to the inn/tavern/whatever, and the player selects the protagonist who will be the one to suggest that they all band together, as they’ve all demonstrated how useful they could be to one another, and that they’re the kind of helping souls who would <i>want</i> to assist the rest. It’s a little more complicated than just swapping stories at the pub, but it’s another good way to establish the characters, band them together in a way that feels authentic to both the intended solitary nature of their origins and the band-of-travelers-on-each-others’-journeys feel of the game as a whole, and give believable cause for them to seek each other’s assistance--more than just “Well, you’re the first adventurer band to pass by, so I guess I’ll just follow the path of least resistance and join up,” at least.<br /><br />Look, Octopath Traveler 1 is unmistakably a solid RPG, 1 of the rare (and always getting rarer) occasions when SquareEnix accidentally published something worth playing, and this situation is a minor problem that does not take away from the title’s virtue in any noticeable way. But at the same time, the way the game handles protagonist selection means that any player who really invests him/herself into the characters and their stories is probably gonna waste a lot of his/her time early on with the process of picking the preferred protagonist. And sure, you can very reasonably argue that maybe it’s the fault of such players as myself that we get ourselves worked up over something that ultimately has very little consequence...but I contend that an audience caring that much about the actors of a character-based plot should be seen as a <i>good</i> thing. Isn’t that kind of emotional investment from an audience a writer’s goal, after all? So it’s just a bit of a shame that Octopath Traveler 1’s set up in a way that the more engrossed you are with it from the start, the more likely you’ll be to have to waste time repeating origin stories as you figure out the right protagonist for you.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-478204541723189272024-02-08T08:08:00.000-08:002024-02-08T08:08:00.333-08:00General RPG Valentines Special Edition: Risqué<p>Babe, we've been doing this Valentines thing for 8 years now, and I think we've got a good thing going. This isn't just some casual gimmick any more. You and I, we're in it for the long haul...and I think it's time we took the next step in our relationship. This Valentine's Day, we're going <i>all the way</i>. That's right--instead of a bunch of silly, stupid RPG Valentines, this year, I've got a bunch of silly, stupid, <i>sexually suggestive</i> RPG Valentines for you! Things're gonna get risqué this year, so viewer discretion is advised!<br /><br />I'd say this is for mature audiences only, but c'mon...we all know that there is absolutely <i>nothing</i> mature about what I'm about to subject you to.<br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR65hLcO3JIgJNghb3Jsemnc4pADXqspXk7SbOwwInlXNhxAZH2jm5xPjZI-h29sr0g8TEWtKCeGylKd1EcYpr41cQaFwSITn5QarTqrM7YRHKvITCmRZjigO9V5OlhZBZnJQdyyFsnbz0Grzqfaq6MpQKH6ZxPWsequ3C-2CK7wKhHdOYve7iWOY1q25T/s522/FFTA1%20Warrior%20Sexy%20Valentine.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR65hLcO3JIgJNghb3Jsemnc4pADXqspXk7SbOwwInlXNhxAZH2jm5xPjZI-h29sr0g8TEWtKCeGylKd1EcYpr41cQaFwSITn5QarTqrM7YRHKvITCmRZjigO9V5OlhZBZnJQdyyFsnbz0Grzqfaq6MpQKH6ZxPWsequ3C-2CK7wKhHdOYve7iWOY1q25T/s16000/FFTA1%20Warrior%20Sexy%20Valentine.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsBY1QOGLzYaZSJxRnoANhUdh5ykCrOZ_DC1u0736pOY83Z5UmkpEiRfMj7aHiFY09YTSeo9dfe-ydLoPmtqH5cVRS1Ydem0iYD18f6YBLbSKEFCjyDjk0jJv26h8e9cZibMhxmt7ODc6XUI5g5WPxs0MsSu6qRERsn3BGzkCdi-9aDe-9WmYKSiGx1IW/s824/Xenoblade%201%20Reyn%20Sexy%20Valentine.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="824" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsBY1QOGLzYaZSJxRnoANhUdh5ykCrOZ_DC1u0736pOY83Z5UmkpEiRfMj7aHiFY09YTSeo9dfe-ydLoPmtqH5cVRS1Ydem0iYD18f6YBLbSKEFCjyDjk0jJv26h8e9cZibMhxmt7ODc6XUI5g5WPxs0MsSu6qRERsn3BGzkCdi-9aDe-9WmYKSiGx1IW/w388-h640/Xenoblade%201%20Reyn%20Sexy%20Valentine.jpg" width="388" /></a></div><p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />...Phew! Hoo boy. Wow. That was...that was great, darling. So, SO worth the wait. That was special, and you were wonderful, and all I can think about at this second as I look at you is...is...<br /><br />...Say, babe, how familiar are you with the term "post nut clarity?" Well, uh, you're about to be.<br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhM3Cpf59LbZLUouTWKhQIftgvJtGZhITfVelgpFvjyhxIZvAj7c9I7d-XcPJFzVT_Jgzd2g_a2eJgpUw16jxJBRM_QBSb99WctGPwgNNZGdacoJofje4BPsbz_kP9dXa1hDIZ6roXrbyoVxbxI8I_t8F1UcgKhHmwW7tMAJyB49DaRpMhux3aDc59S7g/s655/FFTA1%20Sage%20Anti-Valentine.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhM3Cpf59LbZLUouTWKhQIftgvJtGZhITfVelgpFvjyhxIZvAj7c9I7d-XcPJFzVT_Jgzd2g_a2eJgpUw16jxJBRM_QBSb99WctGPwgNNZGdacoJofje4BPsbz_kP9dXa1hDIZ6roXrbyoVxbxI8I_t8F1UcgKhHmwW7tMAJyB49DaRpMhux3aDc59S7g/s16000/FFTA1%20Sage%20Anti-Valentine.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5qJBGDorhs5hvF0pm_IrARoKfA6LxtNEn-iKHeGBb_qwKF4oG5Al2BiMIx7x4uukOIMXEyQ3TyCQm_e9d6Hz_rSD6BVgK6jfc9-cjAJc0A0Fncw0L-jiTuir6OspKvXOLZ1FTrChX751XwKKIvvtvuT4pnENZxwOjnmkL88-HaIQR6QNpcivmNWXnJ_aZ/s16000/Xenosaga%203%20Kevin%20Anti-Valentine%20(8).jpg" /></a></div><br />The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-49932547491692184822024-01-28T08:08:00.000-08:002024-01-28T08:08:00.152-08:00Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4's Use of Its Setting<p>Major thanks, as is often the case, to good Ecclesiastes for his help with both the brainstorming for this rant, and for looking it over to make sure it’s vaguely coherent. You’re a right proper gent, sir.<br /><br /><br /><br />Hey, here’s a question for the universe: Why did Atlus decide to make Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 set in rural Japan?<br /><br />I mean, don’t misunderstand me, here. I’m not against the idea of setting a Persona title somewhere other than the big city. In fact, I fully respect the idea. The Persona subseries (at least, from 3 onward) has a major interest in showing and reveling in the life, culture, mentality, and rebellion of late adolescence, and while it’s easy and obvious to match Persona’s fast-paced, cutting-edge aesthetic style to an urban environment, the singular experience of those years spent on the brink of adulthood is no less felt and grappled with by teens in small communities, too. The youth of pastoral Japan are just as deserving of a Persona highlighting and immersing itself within their experience and the culture that surrounds them as the youths of the city.<br /><br />But that’s...not <i>really</i> what they got with SMT Persona 4, is it? At least, I don’t think so. Because when I step back and look at the game, it seems to me that Persona 4 hasn’t the slightest idea of what to do with its setting, how to make life in Inaba authentic and how to highlight the kind of lifestyle and aspirations of the kids who live in tiny towns like it.<br /><br />Let’s look at the main cast, for a start. Have you ever noticed that <i>half</i> of the Investigation Team are effectively outsiders to Inaba? We won’t count Teddie for obvious reasons, but Yu, Yosuke, and Naoto are all newcomers to Inaba who have lived their lives elsewhere until roughly the time of the game’s events.* And if we’re being reasonable, we really have to count Rise as an outsider, too. Inaba may be her hometown, but she’s lived away from it for long enough, in an influential enough capacity, that the primary components of Rise’s character and personality make her functionally more of an urbanite than any of them. Not to mention that after the game’s end, Rise’s gonna go back to the idol biz, so this stint in Inaba really is just a mega-star taking a small mental health vacation, and nothing more.<br /><br />And as a bonus, 1 of the remaining cast who are actually authentic, born-and-raised inhabitants of Inaba, is Yukiko. Yukiko, whose initial personal crisis, and a good chunk of whose character development from that point on, revolves around her wanting to get the hell out of this podunk little town, and eventually coming to accept her future in Inaba. She’s not even the first character to use this as an opener to her character development; Yosuke’s conflict with his shadow was also largely based on the fact that he dislikes being stuck in a small backwoods town! There is, thankfully, a lot more to Yosuke’s character than just that, and a little more to Yukiko’s as well, but that still doesn’t change the fact that of the 7 human characters in this game, 4 are complete outsiders to the setting, and of the remaining 3 honest townies, 1’s most memorable and defining character trait is the desire to get the hell out!<br /><br />If Persona 4 is so fucking hot for rustic Japan, why does it need to import half of the main characters to get the team it wants? Why does it need to have multiple residents of the town regard it as a prison? You know how many characters in Persona 5 are newcomers who just moved to the city from a smaller community? 0 to 1, depending on where Ren comes from--and that's me being very generous, because our momentary glimpse into his past sure makes it look like he's from a developed area himself. And it's pretty much a flat 0 for Persona 3; there's close to no chance Minato and Kotone aren't city slickers . You know how many times I can recall a party member from either game talk about how sick they were of living in the city and how much they wanted to get out of the concrete jungle and live in the beauty of the country? Another big fat 0.<br /><br />It’s not even like they HAD to do this for most of the characters. I mean, why imply that Yu comes from a larger, busier community? He could have functioned just as well as the newcomer to town if he’d moved to Inaba from a similar sleepy little town--making the lateral shift from 1 city environment to another certainly doesn’t get in the way of Ren being an outside oddity of note in SMTP5’s community. Naoto could just as easily have been a local kid detective hero getting more and more involved in the cases as the game progresses; her history and all significant parts of her personality would have remained comfortably intact.<br /><br />And why have Yosuke be a former city kid at all? His greatest role in the story is as Yu’s best buddy, confidant, and initial guide to Inaba as a whole. Yosuke could’ve done all that just as well had he just BEEN a kid from Inaba, particularly the part where he’s Yu’s guide to the community early on. It’s not like you’d have to change the Junes angle at all--there’s no reason Yosuke’s dad couldn’t just have been a local man chosen to run the new superstore. That even would have opened up new avenues of character development for him, as he wrestles with the guilt that his family is benefiting from the destruction of his community’s economy, and it would have made the dichotomy between him and Saki Konishi, and his tormented after-the-fact feelings regarding her, so much more interesting. Yosuke could have been an even <i>better</i> character without the insulating layer of being an outsider that allows him to keep the community around him at arm’s length!<br /><br />And since we’re on the subject, can we also talk about the major issues that characterize Inaba as a whole? The main story of the game is about the murder spree, and that’s fine. But the other major issue facing Inaba as a whole is its local economy struggling to compete with the invasion of a retail titan’s superstore. The Junes situation is essentially the only real characterization we get of the town’s happenings and conflicts beyond the mandated-by-plot murder spree. Which means that the biggest thing that characterizes the rural setting of Persona 4 is its reaction to the intrusion of a major urban influence.<br /><br />That’s the major problem with how Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 goes about utilizing its setting: the writers only seem to know or care about pastoral Japan in the context of its relationship to urban Japan. They can barely manage to write a major character who’s not a displaced urbanite, itching to get out of the sticks, or both. The only way they know how to characterize the town itself is in relation to the encroachment of institutions from more developed areas. The creators of SMTP4 just can’t seem to conceive of rural Japan as a place in its own right.<br /><br />Even the approach to the player’s interaction with the country town environment isn’t handled well. Why is there so little free exploration of Inaba available? The idea of being restricted to certain smaller areas connected by map points feels at home in SMTP3 and 5, games set in city environments where space is a premium and movement from 1 area of the burg to another is usually characterized by public transportation with specific stops. But with the surrounding countryside and freer amount of space for public use in a small town like Inaba, it would have made way more sense to allow the player a freer method of exploring the environs than the same select-which-place-you-want-to-go method that works in SMTP3 and 5. Inaba never feels like a place where you can stretch your legs and take in the surroundings, and that seems counterproductive for utilizing the setting’s potential to me.<br /><br />You know what seems like the most telling thing about all this, to me? The thing that best shows this mindset the game has, where it perpetually sees a small town environment like Inaba as something foreign and hasn’t the slightest idea of what it should do with the place? The fact that the Velvet Room of SMTP4 is set inside of a limousine. A vehicle <i>specifically designed to separate the rider from the people and places he’s driven past</i>. Frankly, the fact that Igor frames this whole venture in Inaba as an obstruction to a journey feels exactly on point to the way the writers approach this setting as a whole.**<br /><br />Look. It’s not like I’m asking that every major character in SMTP4 don a straw hat, stick a stalk of grass between their teeth, and end every sentence with “a-yup.” But you don’t have to pigeonhole townies to tell a story about them and their community. The anime Non Non Biyori manages to create stories about the kids of a rural community--way smaller than even Inaba, I’d like to add--for multiple seasons, and not once does it feel like it’s having trouble finding authentic material for its small-town slice-of-life adventures. The countryside of Japan and its inhabitants are duly respected and <i>celebrated</i> in Non Non Biyori, instead of treated as an obstacle or annoyance as they are in Persona 4.<br /><br />But then, the creative force behind Non Non Biyori has, from what I understand, actual experience with living in the countryside that the show depicts. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, on the other hand, I can only assume was created by a writing team whose origins were uniformly of the urban sprawl. That’s purely speculation, of course, but honestly, I really can’t see any other rational possibility for the way the game handles small-town life.<br /><br />As my good reader and better friend Ecclesiastes put it, “Inaba is a theme park more than a place.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* Admittedly, that’s the standard for modern Persona protagonists; Ren and Minato are also both outsiders to the setting of their games, but each are implied to simply have transferred from 1 urban environment to a new one. Yu is likewise implied to be a city boy, though, which makes him more than just the newcomer that Minato and Ren are--it makes him an actual outsider to the setting.<br /><br /><br />** And even the limo Velvet Room feels like a place you want to leave as soon as possible. It’s so uncomfortably claustrophobic and secluded! How is it possible that an elevator and a <i>prison cell</i> have felt more spacious and inviting as Velvet Rooms than the interior of what’s supposed to be a luxury vehicle?<br /><br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-22942168605881276762024-01-18T08:08:00.000-08:002024-01-18T08:08:00.268-08:00Fire Emblem 15's Downloadable Content<p>Ugh. Is it even worth it to write an intro? Let’s just make it quick, because we all know how this is gonna go down. We’re looking at the add-ons for Fire Emblem Heroes: Shadows of Valentia today, DLC packages are bad wastes of money like 70% of the time in general, and if the Fire Emblems immediately preceding and proceding this one are anything to go by, this series’s add-ons are especially terrible. And given that FE15 is <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/10/fire-emblem-15-stray-thoughts.html">kinda</a> <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/11/fire-emblem-15s-imbalanced-storytelling.html">bad</a> to begin with, I’m not exactly expecting great things, here.<br /><br />Well, let’s get this over with. I can’t wait to see what halfhearted, careless money-grabs that Nintendo’s got on the roster.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Cipher Legends 1</b>: Alright, so we’re gonna start here, because the 4 packages that come before Cipher Legends 1 are a linked set of stories that we’ll get into below, and the first crowd of add-ons that came before those are just a bunch of straightforward, trite little battle/dungeon things that have effectively no story components. Either you have or <i>somehow</i> have not tired of this game’s repetitive Fire Emblem battles and cookie-cutter dungeons, and you can figure out for yourself whether you want to bother engaging further with them.<br /><br />Anyway, Cipher Legends 1. This DLC, which adds 2 characters from a small off-shoot installment of Fire Emblem, is an odd one to judge. The inclusion of Emma and Randall feels extremely random, and I’m generally not big on introducing new characters for no reason beyond marketing--it’s bad enough that undeserving Fire Emblem schmucks like Byleth and Ike invade Smash like an ever growing number raccoons finding a way into your attic, but not EVERY Fire Emblem needs other Fire Emblem characters shoved into it! You’re not Nippon Ichi, Nintendo, people don’t give a crap about hamfistedly cramming your titles into a shared multiverse for shits and giggles!<br /><br />On the other hand...Emma and Randall <i>are</i> reasonably amusing, and let’s be honest, there’s not all that many particularly fun characters to be found in Fire Emblem 15. So...I can’t really say they’re unwelcome.<br /><br />Anyway, the plot of this one is just that Emma and Randall get in a bind, the heroes show up to bail them out, and in gratitude the 2 join up with the army, because in Fire Emblem, there’s just no such thing as thank-you notes. The add-on’s not much altogether, and Emma and Randall only have a single Support, with each other. I really don’t know why a couple couldn’t have been made with the regular cast members--why in the world does Emma not at least have supports with the Whitewing sisters? She’s all about the Triangle Attack, and it’s almost their signature move in the franchise! Sadly, although I think these 2 add some far too uncommon likability to the cast, there’s just not enough content here to justify the price of $4 by a long shot, nor the price of $3 when considering the package deal of both Ciphers for $6.<br /><br /><br /><b>Cipher Legends 2</b>: Unsurprisingly, this one’s very similar to the first Cipher Legends package. Shade and Yuzu’s inclusion feels forced, but conversely, they’re pretty likable as characters, once again more so than most of FE15’s main cast. The plot of this one does actually relate to the main quest’s evil cultists, rather than just being the bread-and-butter bandit-beating that Fire Emblem is so incredibly fond of, and to its credit, there’s a good bit of extra dialogue available if you’ve already got Emma and Randall from the first DLC. Still, while I do like Shade and Yuzu better than the FE15 average, one has to consider how much content there actually is in this DLC (which is very little), and once again, this add-on all boils down to a single battle, some dialogue before, during, and after it, a few more bits of character text in town, and only a single support chain for the new characters (Yuzu and Shade don’t even have supports with their own friends Emma and Randall! How stupid is that?). As with the first, there just isn’t enough content here to justify even a measly $4.<br /><br /><br /><b>Battle of Zofia Harbor</b>: Oh holy crap, ACTUAL story in a DLC? I’d almost forgotten what it looked like. This package provides a little bit of backstory as you take Fernand and Clive through a mission before the game’s events in which they have to reluctantly save that worm Slayde from the “finding out” phase of his fucking around. Having to do an escort mission for fucking Slayde of all people is not exactly the most enticing prospect in the world, and he certainly goes to no great lengths during this DLC to make the matter any easier to swallow, but I suppose that 9S <i>did</i> warn me that existence was nothing but suffering.<br /><br />Opening this DLC by having the entire lead-up to its events summarized unnaturally as Fernand goes into a grumpy tirade is fairly clumsy, but as a whole, this little side story does a halfway decent job humanizing Fernand, which is good, because the game proper wanted him to die a much more sympathetic villain than he did. Although I’d prefer competent writing from the start, I can always appreciate it when a developer uses its DLC as a chance to correct its narrative mistakes. I also appreciate that the DLC is used to establish the general unrest of the citizens, and the poor leadership of the Zofian king--it’s a pretty direct and simple affair, mind you, but at least it actually relates to the damn game and attempts to embellish a prior tell-don’t-show error of the game proper. Otherwise, it’s a pretty cut-and-dry mini-plot, but the purpose of this DLC is obviously less about the events than the insight into its cast and lore, so that’s fine.<br /><br />The Memory Prisms you get from completing the mission are also decent for developing Fernand, through depicting his relationship with Clair. Although the conversation is mostly about how everyone in-game wants to de-legitimize Clair as a warrior by throwing her at the first eligible bachelor they can find just as much as the writers themselves want to. Oh, and also, Clair describes her ideal man, who is the exact opposite of the dingbat she winds up stuck with by the game's end, because someone important on the staff for this game just really, really <i>does not like women</i>. And as if the reassurance that Clair’s romantic future is shitty isn’t already frustrating enough, Fernand has to go and point out that the ideal mate that she’s describing is essentially her brother. Jesus <i>Christ</i> Fire Emblem could you JUST stop toying and teasing at sibling incest for ONE FUCKING GAME? And then it turns around and Clair talks about how Fernand likes his ladies the way he likes his oranges, full and ripe, and it’s like, could we PLEASE MOVE ON. <br /><br />...Where was I? Well, whatever. The DLC’s got ups and downs, but it does actually attempt to accomplish something of worth to the game as a whole by filling in a few of its narrative deficits. It’s still overpriced at $4, as you’re gonna get maybe close to an hour of content out of it, max, so I can’t recommend it, but Battle of Zofia Harbor is at least of pretty decent quality.<br /><br /><br /><b>Outpost Rescue</b>: This little piece of backstory is about Lukas, Forsythe, and Python rescuing some comrades before Alm joined the Deliverance. It’s...pretty bland, just like its stars. I mean, I like the moment in which Lukas has some self-reflection and acknowledges that if the Deliverance fails because of Desaix’s ire at losing a match to him, then it is Lukas himself who will have doomed them all for indulging in his pride and not throwing the fight. But honestly, that’s really about the only moment that stands out here for the DLC’s main story, and the extra Support conversations that come from its completion don’t stand out, either. I mean, Forsythe and Lukas’s talk about each wanting what the other had as a child leading each to better value what he DID have is a decent set of interactions, but not amazing, and Lukas and Python’s Supports are kinda boring.<br /><br />Is this a bad DLC? Not really. But it’s not an interesting one. You could justify playing it if it came free with the game, but it’s certainly not worth paying for.<br /><br /><br /><b>Flight From the Ruins</b>: This DLC involves Clair and Mathilda trying to find an anti-magic ring and getting mixed up in fighting zombies or whatever. There’s nothing wrong with it, but after Battle of Zofia Harbor, which gave some appreciated and much-needed development to Clive and especially Fernand, this is disappointing. The fact that Outpost Rescue didn’t really do much with Lukas was less disappointing than it was simply expected, because Lukas is freakin’ boring and both Forsythe and Python are basically just in the game to pad out the cast a bit...but Mathilda and especially Clair actually have personalities and a little depth, so it’s too bad their DLC mini-adventure just doesn’t really do much of anything with them. Aside, of course, from having Clair start getting uncomfortably territorial over her brother with Mathilda, Clive’s actual girlfriend, because apparently Nintendo felt that 1 of the biggest priorities of FE15’s DLCs was to make up for lost time with Fire Emblem’s traditional, cowardly noncommittal but undeniably ever-present fetish for incest.<br /><br />The Supports that come with the DLC are far better, at least. We get a bit of character history between Mathilda and Fernand, which is welcome, and a conversation chain between Mathilda and Clair about growing up--what good is gained from it, but also what good is lost in the process, too. This actually feels like real, genuine interpersonal growth and character writing with a purpose, and is easily the best part of the FE15 DLCs thus far. Sadly, though, even if this package’s Memory Prism Support Conversations are far better, there still just isn’t enough good stuff to justify the $4 price tag it released for. You’re simply not gonna get more than about an hour from it, and only a bit of that hour is going to be earnestly good.<br /><br /><br /><b>Siege of Zofia Castle</b>: ...Huh. Okay. So...this add-on, which shows us how Zofia Castle was lost to the Deliverance before Alm’s arrival during the game proper’s events, is actually good. <i>Really</i> good, even. And I don’t mean that it’s got a couple really good moments that stand out while the rest of it is passable at best. I mean Siege of Zofia Castle is actually, genuinely good in essentially its entirety!<br /><br />This add-on, which is a culmination of the previous 3, actually does a very nice job of further characterizing Fernand, utilizing what we’ve seen of him in the previous packages as a foundation for continuing to flesh him out, and gives some backstory and reason as to why he’s such a douchebag in the main game. Honestly, these DLCs, this one in particular, have managed to turn Fernand around from being an easily-dismissed, dime-a-dozen disingenuous antagonist into an actually sympathetic character. That’s not an easy thing to believably, naturally pull off, <i>especially</i> after the fact, so I give full kudos to the writers on this one. Seriously, whoever it was in the writer’s room that buckled the fuck down and hammered Fernand into an asset to the game instead of 1 of its flaws, my hat’s off to you, and considering how bad my haircut is as of the time of writing this, that means something.*<br /><br />This DLC’s not just the Fernand show, either. I like Python and Forsythe’s exchange about whether what they’re doing is even worth it, as the murdered king was ruling Zofia poorly, and the common citizens care more about living decent and peaceful lives than about which noble jackass has the “right” to be on the throne. It’s an unexpectedly thoughtful self-assessment of the heroes’ cause, particularly for a Fire Emblem game; this series is generally very fixated on the perspective of the nobles and knights and rights of succession and such. The extra Support Conversation between Clive and Python that you get at the add-on’s end is really good, too.<br /><br />And this time, it’s not JUST the character bits that shine in the DLC. The actual plot, small though it is, is quite engaging and interesting. The tension as the Deliverance fights its losing battle and especially the way that the Deliverance secures its safe retreat once there’s no other option is genuinely interesting and fun to witness. The aftermath is just plain great--the demoralized and angry discussions between the members of the Deliverance after their defeat and retreat, the fact that you can see Fernand deciding that this dishonorable tactic of Lukas’s must be a result of his non-noble origins, Clive’s despair over the loss, the great development this ordeal provides for Lukas...<br /><br />I am earnestly shocked at how good this DLC is. The story is good, the character development is solid for every member of its cast as it shows us a rare perspective of these characters at their lowest moment, it gives us a far better understanding of how they got to where they are by the time we encounter them in the game, and it fully turns Fernand into a narrative strength rather than a weakness. Siege of Zofia Castle is easily the best Fire Emblem add-on I’ve encountered, and for that matter, the best JRPG add-on I’ve played. When I someday expand my <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2019/03/general-rpg-lists-best-add-ons.html">Greatest Add-Ons list</a>, you can almost surely expect to see this one upon it. $4? It won’t give you 4 hours of content, but fuck it, this one’s worth 4 bucks and more. Solidly recommended.**<br /><br /><br /><br />Well...that was a pleasant surprise. I went into this game’s DLC sour, but I came out happy. Granted, most of Fire Emblem 15’s add-ons are only passable with a few highlights, and not worth their cost, but they’re certainly still an improvement as a whole over the DLC situations of Fire Emblems 14 and 16. And the fact that Siege of Zofia Castle is an unequivocally and fully high quality piece of writing is a terrific surprise! This is the kind of offering that restores a bit of my enthusiasm for the add-on scene. Thanks to Siege of Zofia Castle, I’m gonna go into the DLCs of the next game I play with some actual optimism!<br /><br />We’ll see how long it lasts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* It's a pineapple, if you're wondering. My coworker shaved and dyed my head into a pineapple. It's a very impressive piece of work, actually.<br /><br /><br />** I don’t really have anywhere else to put this observation, so I’m just throwing it here. I can’t help but notice that all the major story DLCs are focused around a very specific handful of characters from Alm’s side of the story, and not Celica’s. Just 1 more example of the imbalance between these 2 protagonists that I’ve spoken of before.<br /><br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-10095671447582415272024-01-08T08:08:00.000-08:002024-01-11T23:05:47.458-08:00General RPGs' Preferable Non-Realism 3<p>That’s right, it’s back, by popular demand!* Yes, today we’re going to look at another handful of common RPG tropes in which it’s far better to just grit your teeth and suspend that disbelief, because making them more realistic is only gonna get in the way of a positive experience with the game.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Interior Lighting</b>: They may get a bit dim in places, there might be a few shadows in the corners here and there, and of course there’ll be just enough shade in the final room that some self-important wanker will be able to hide his identity as he delivers sinister foreshadowing at the protagonist, but on the whole? Caves, dungeons, whale stomachs, extra-dimensional crystal fortresses, they’re all <i>remarkably</i> well-lit in RPGs. Like, you wouldn’t expect to be able to go spelunking in a cavern and still have better visibility a full mile deep into the planet than some people keep in their own homes, but apparently whoever explored these caverns last was a trigger-happy electrician who set the entire cave network’s ceilings up with a <i>thorough</i> suite of halogens. When it comes to RPGs, the very heart of a labyrinthine ruin that hasn’t entertained visitors in over a millennium has a better-than-average chance of somehow being better illuminated than a path along the outskirts of a forest in broad noon daylight, with nary a torch, light bulb, or sparkling personality anywhere.<br /><br />But that is absolutely 100% okay, because--better sit down for this one--<i>audiences like to see things</i>. Yeah, I know, shocking revelation that flies in the face of everything that House of the Dragon has taught us, but it’s true, and every time an RPG decides to get cute and try to impose realistic dungeon darkness on us, it just winds up being an inconvenience that wastes time and nothing more. Early Pokemon games deciding to make 1 random dungeon** pitch black does nothing more than inconvenience the player into hauling a Pokemon who knows the otherwise useless Flash around with them, while a small handful** of dark rooms in Startropics 1 and The Legend of Zelda 1 just boil down to forcing you to go into the menu and use a candle. All that the dark means in Dragon Quest 1, or a Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder game, is that you have to take a moment to equip a torch or cast a spell, and then just continue along as you were. Boy howdy, a momentary setback that’s immediately dispelled by 3 seconds of menu navigation! I’m blown away; it’s like I’m really <i>there</i>!<br /><br />Yes, okay, there are a couple examples where this idea is <i>kind</i> of okay. Very dim lighting does help set a lot of the mood for settings in the Fallout series, and atmosphere is very important to Fallout, so I guess there are some occasions where a tiny bit of lighting realism can be warranted. But overall, I’m just content to accept that RPG sunbeams can penetrate solid rock and walls of steel, and call it a day. Look, I don’t deny that in real life, I, like anyone else, occasionally enjoy pretending I’m God by rapidly flipping the light switch in my room on and off to confuse and impress my pet gecko.*** But I don’t want to make that hobby into a damn chore as I’m forced to use a lantern item every time the protagonist enters a new room lest I risk bringing Grues back into the popular consciousness.<br /><br /><br /><b>Weapon Vendors’ Technological Prowess</b>: Is it particularly realistic that there is, in Chrono Trigger, a caveman vendor in the prehistoric age who not only has a real, actual <i>handgun</i> available for trade, but the firearm that this literal neanderthal has put together prior to his society having discovered gunpowder, trigger mechanisms, iron-working, or basic physics, is actually of <i>better quality</i> than the one that Lucca picked up in 2300 AD that was created with incomprehensibly advanced future-tech? And let’s not even get started on the fact that this same ooga-booga artisan just happens to have an inventory of detachable robot limbs lying around for Robo to trade for and equip, which are, again, better than the parts he was <i>manufactured with</i>. My Nintendo Switch can’t even function if it’s not hooked up to the exact right charge cord, but somehow this hut-dwelling missing-link MacGyver has hand-crafted perfectly-fitted attachments for a specific model of automaton that won’t exist for another 65 million years.<br /><br />Still, if we had to do all our RPG shopping based on who believably has the means to create what weapon, it’d get tedious pretty fast. Does it make sense that the weapon vendor in a village of talking cats sells bows and arrows that his entire thumb-less species lacks the capacity to both craft and operate? Is it rational that the weapon shop in an underwater city of merpeople sells swords with metal blades made from alloys <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoSs9-NDP3E">they can’t forge</a> and wooden handles made from trees they can’t access? Maybe not, but there’s no way I’m gonna have my protagonist go without an upgrade for 4 new towns in a row while that smug jackass mage in the party gets a shiny new toy every time just because he decided his armament of choice was going to be a literal fucking stick that any fool could make/find.<br /><br />Also look if there was no unrealistic trope of weapon vendors’ means of manufacturing then there would be no reason to lampshade it in Shin Megami Tensei Persona Q2, and Theo using his popcorn maker to create all manner of instruments of war is eternally amusing to me. We’re keeping this one.<br /><br /><br /><b>Warrior Needs Food Badly</b>: Last time, I mentioned just how nutritionally poor the adventurer’s fare generally is in RPGs, whether it be the Secret of Mana kids eating literally nothing but items you can find in a candy store over the course of months or Fallout 4’s Nora regularly chowing down on raw steaks made from postapocalyptic dogs or indulging in a hunk of giant radioactive mutant housefly meat on her cheat day. But to add to that, have you ever thought about just how <i>little</i> of that nutritionally-stunted diet heroes are consuming?<br /><br />I mean, how often do you see these people actually eat what anyone could call a meal? Fayt in Star Ocean 3 may spend his entire day fighting from 1 end of an enemy’s medieval fortress to the other, permanently crossing an entire battalion’s worth of knights and guard dogs off the duty roster, and the most snacking he’ll do the entire time is to munch half a dozen healing blueberries, maybe a single blackberry if he’s really feeling decadent. I don’t care how great antioxidants are for you, there’s no damn way that the man’s replacing the energy and strength he spent on Operation: Level 18 Or Bust from a single muffin’s worth of fruit. And that’s still more than a lot of other RPG characters eat in a day; at least Star Ocean healing items are actual food. Most adventuring parties walk from 1 end of a continent to the other on a single leaf of a healing herb. Even <b>Popeye</b> needs an entire CAN of spinach to bust some heads; we’ve got RPG heroes out here doing cross-country marathons while throwing fists with ogres and entire wolf packs, all powered by a single frond of fennel that they resorted to chewing on to do something about those broken ribs.<br /><br />Even RPG heroes who DO regularly and demonstrably have actual meals still aren’t getting enough to be realistically adequate. It’s almost always solely a dinner-before-bed deal in an inn or around a campfire or whatever. I adore Grandia’s dinner conversations, but if Justin and Ryudo actually want to keep their strength up and be at their best for their world-saving tasks, their parties really ought to consider also chatting it up as they hit a breakfast bar or break out some sandwiches for an impromptu picnic amongst all the corpses they’ve made of the local wildlife. If a single bar pizza late at night isn’t enough for even just a retail worker who does a third of his job sitting down (as my doctor keeps insisting), you can bet it’s not realistic that a few pork chops and a conversation about local architecture are enough to keep a guy who fights world-ending calamities for his 9-to-5 healthy.<br /><br />But the alternative is to have a game that keeps nagging you every 20 minutes that your protagonist’s tummy is hurting and he wants to go to McDonalds and do you at least have any mints in your purse he can have? And look, that’s all fine and great as an <u>optional</u> mode to bring Fallout’s survival element to life, and I’ll accept it in a rare case like The Banner Saga trilogy, which expertly incorporates resource management as a function of its story of a group of refugees fleeing the end of the world. But overall, I already have a pet whose meal schedule I have to keep track of in real life. I don’t need another entire party of them. Get out of here with that nonsense, Lords of Xuilma.<br /><br /><br /><b>Decaying Weapons</b>: Is this the third time I’ve talked about the detestable realism of RPG weapons that need constant maintenance? Yes. Am I bringing this up again for any real, reasonable cause? No. Am I revisiting this subject solely because of just how <i>blindingly, totally, furiously, incalculably much I <b>fucking HATE equipment degradation</b></i>? Look, you already know the answer, why are you bothering to ask? I want the person who first came up with the idea of inflicting constant, necessary weapon repair on players to wake up every morning to fire ants nibbling their toes. I wish for that person to have to be Elon Musk’s Valentine every year. I hope that whenever they go out to a restaurant, the place is out of every beverage but Diet Mello Yello.<br /><br />Alright, anyway, look, I’ve thought of a new angle of preferable non-realism to this stupid idea, so don’t get all bent out of shape, I can justify a third round of it. Let’s say you’re a game developer who’s taken a few blows to the head, and you do, in fact, decide to insert a recurring equipment maintenance mechanic into your game. Is it particularly realistic for the same whetstone and rag setup that fully repairs the thief’s daggers to also completely restore the hero’s longbow to working order? Maybe not. Does it make sense that the same parts in a single toolkit are somehow able to fully service 4 different melee weapons, 2 musical instruments being abusively treated as melee weapons, a crossbow, and a hardcover book (because Dohter the Charitable forbid a mage ever put any serious effort into defending themselves with an actual weapon)? Er, no. Should the same repair powder in Dark Cloud 1 that refurbishes a big wooden hammer also work just as well in fixing a goddamn laser gun? I thought I just told you to stop asking questions you know the answer to.<br /><br />But the alternative is Fallout forcing you to scrounge weapons and clothing of the same type as the one you’re trying to restore. Having to constantly keep an eye on your battle axe’s physical and emotional state is already tedious enough; the last thing that needs to be added is ANOTHER layer of inconvenience to the stupid process. As far as I’m concerned, if I’m gonna be saddled with the responsibility of treating my helmet like a goddamn Tamagotchi for the sake of oppressive realism, the least the developer can do is include a Fix-It-Felix hammer in every toolbox.<br /><br /><br /><b>Treasure Chest Benefit-Cost Ratio</b>: Consider the resources that go into the creation of an average RPG treasure chest. Assuming a wooden version, you’ve got the boards and slats necessary to form a reasonably large box (to say nothing of those absolute monsters in Star Ocean 3), the bands of metal to keep them in place and reinforce its security, the metal fasteners to hold it together, the metal hinges to allow the chest to open and shut, the oil to keep those hinges in working order...and these raw materials are not gonna be the cheap ones, either. This is not a cheap pine-and-tin affair. RPG treasure chests have to be in it for the <i>long</i> haul, left out on their lonesome in abandoned temples and forgotten forest paths and forbidden crypts and so on for decades, centuries, sometimes even millennia. These things have to make use of some sturdy-ass wood that’s been weatherproofed to Hell and back, and quality alloy that doesn’t just resist rust, it actively <i>terrifies</i> it. The materials and preparation for them alone makes a treasure chest worth its weight in the very gold that gets put in it.<br /><br />And the craftsmanship’s gotta cost a pretty penny, too! Not a lot of RPG worlds have access to industrial manufacturing (and of those that do, they probably didn’t when the damn chest was made and stuck in the corner of a dungeon 400 years ago), so you’re gonna be hitting up a carpenter and a smith to commission this thing’s construction, and considering how perfectly, identically symmetrical and polished all these chests are in these games, it ain’t amateur artisans making'em. A locksmith, too, sometimes, although admittedly most treasure chests seem to just be left unsecured, so maybe not.**** A cursory glance at Amazon indicates that in our current, modern age, a basic but reliable storage trunk goes for upwards of $150 - 250, and that’s with modern age technology being used to harvest the resources, modern age technology and workmanship techniques being used to craft it, and modern age vehicles and supply lines to haul the thing to your porch where the chest itself can ironically be the treasure that gets stolen by porch thieves. So if with all that time- and effort-saving modern convenience a treasure chest is still at least over a hundred bucks, you can imagine the cost of just 1 of these things in most RPG worlds. To say nothing of the time involved in having it made; the local smithy ain’t gonna 2-day-guarantee that shit no matter how many tips you grease Jeff Bezos’s palms with.<br /><br />Okay, so now that we’ve established the substantial investment of money, effort, and time that goes into a single treasure chest...exactly how realistic is it, really, that some mook in Hyrule went to the trouble of getting one specifically for the purpose of storing <b>5 fucking rupees</b> in it? Did that dude seriously just drop more money than can fit into the average Hylian wallet on acquiring a treasure chest just so his kid could stash her <i>allowance</i> in a box bigger than she is?***** Imagine spending weeks seeking out and working with skilled tradesmen just to create a storage device for a single vial of healing potion. One apple. A chunk of charcoal. A lone potato. A solitary <i>fruit gummy</i>. If half of these adventurers had any brains, whenever they found a treasure chest holding nothing more than a loaf of bread, they’d just grab the whole box and haul it back to a pawn shop to get some real value out of their find.<br /><br />But screw it! So what if the contents of probably more than half of all RPG treasure chests represent almost as bad a payoff for your investment as an NFT? It’s still fun to find a shiny new treasure chest, open it up, hear that opening sound effect, and see what shiny new toy you just got. I mean, okay, look, my excitement in Fallout 4 at seeing a promising safe is relatively equal to my excitement at seeing an equally vulnerable desk, locker, tool chest, lunchbox, or putrid body bag of rotten meat. I will admit that I am perhaps not the pickiest post-apocalyptic pillager; my priority is the plunder more than the package presenting the prize. Still, it’s undeniably more satisfying to pop open a prominently placed, polished, promising treasure chest to acquire the next step in your journey to 99 healing herbs in your inventory than to just happen across a zip-lock bag with a leaf in it, so by all means, ancient dungeon architects, keep artificially propping up that storage device economy!<br /><br /><br /><b>Boring Planets</b>: It's a real, actual fact that most of the planets in our universe, from all observable data, are barren and lifeless. There's not a lot of stuff to see and do on most of the worlds floating in space. Unfortunately, however, "seeing and doing stuff" is, in fact, something that players of a sci-fi game--hell, <i>any</i> game--want out of their narrative- and exploration-based adventure, so it's generally good to put aside astronomy for a moment if it's going to be a deal-breaker for making a good game. This might seem obvious, and to most RPGs like The Outer Worlds or Phantasy Star, it is, but there's always at least 1 idiot who would rather something be realistic than worthwhile, and unfortunately, he was the guy calling the shots at Bethesda when they created Starfield. Thanks for the empty, boring game about empty, boring planets, Todd Howard; your vision of procedurally generated planets in a game about the thrill and wonder of space exploration is exactly the kind of genius I'd expect from the mastermind behind the idea to have a Fallout game without a story or characters. I feel like Howard is the kind of guy who would love the realism of Penn and Teller's Desert Bus game and see it as an ideal to aspire to.<br /><br /><br /><b>What’s Mine is Yours and What’s Yours is Mine; Damn Time and Space If It Says Otherwise</b>: RPG inventory bags are already not exactly the most realistic things in terms of how much they can hold, as previously noted, but a less remarked-upon unrealistic quality of theirs is that once this gang of world-saving adolescents has adopted you into their midst, you have access to the communal backpack <i>forever</i>. You’re on the other side of town doing your own character quest? The group gets separated into 3 different pairs inside a large dungeon? You’ve been stranded on a different continent thanks to an incident involving a raft, a talking freshwater octopus, and a really dumb decision to apply martial arts to an underwater environment? You’ve fallen into another time period altogether? Did the protagonist get completely and thoroughly disintegrated, including all items on his person, one of which was the inventory bag itself? <i>Doesn’t fucking matter</i>, the potion sack is still there and you and the rest of the party all still have simultaneous full access to it.<br /><br />Realistic? Not in the slightest. But frankly, not having access to the cheeseburger backpack during Greg, Amethyst, and Pearl’s section of the temple in the second Steven Universe RPG was inconvenient, and truly, what purpose is served by injecting this bit of accessibility realism in? Let every party member’s purse contain a portal to a shared storage warehouse, it ain’t bothering anyone.<br /><br /><br /><b>I Need Corrective Lenses Because I’m Bird’s-Eye-View-Sighted</b>:
Let’s face it, Hide and Seek as a minigame wouldn’t exist in RPGs if
protagonists could actually see the world in front of their faces. Half
the kids that play these games aren’t hiding so much as they are
standing out in the open, but because our own perspective as the
audience is that of a very nosy pigeon, the fact that some brat is
standing 2 paces away directly in the protagonist’s path but behind a
tree from our own perspective means that the hero’s gonna be frantically
searching the whole town for 20 minutes and considering filing a
missing persons report before he finally happens by chance to bump into
the tile of space the kid’s occupying. Man, the amount of stuff
“hidden” in Dark Half <i>alone</i> just because it’s out of an aerial
drone’s sight but should be clear and visible to the dude who’s
supposedly leading the adventure is crazy.<br /><br />Well, so be it! I
happen to LIKE the overhead view of an adventure. First-person
perspective’s fine and good, too, and certainly far more realistic, but
seeing an adventure unfold from a bird’s-eye view is far tidier, and
allows the audience to get a full understanding of all that’s happening
onstage. Frankly, I’m not so enamored with the north side of houses,
bushes, and statues that I want to give up my seat in the theater in
exchange for the realism of a boots-on-the-ground perspective.<br /><br /><br /><b>This Is What Happens When You Don’t Provide A Good Vision Plan For Your Employees</b>:
Well, the heroes may have their ocular quirks, but they’re nothing
compared to the guards and goons of these games, good guys and bad
alike. Whether it be a monster’s aggro range, a patrolling sentry who
is being paid exactly enough per hour to repeatedly tread a specific
25-foot rectangle of space and <i>no more</i>, or an enemy lookout in a
watchtower who somehow will come into your own view from the ground
before you’ll come into his, everyone you might want to avoid in an RPG
handily only seems to be able to see a fraction as far as you might
expect.<br /><br />Hylia help you if you happen to be inside the 5-foot
radius of a monster’s perfect circle of vision, but until you violate
social distancing etiquette, you may as well not exist to the average
wolf, giant scorpion, or eldritch abomination, the latter of which may
ironically be actually made out of eyes. You may be shit out of luck if
you happen to stumble into a guard’s line of sight, but even the
conical field of vision on the fancier RPG sentries sure as hell ain’t
the standard 120 degrees, so there’s no such thing as
seeing-something-out-of-the-corner-of-their-eye. They've got
seeing-something-out-of-the-<u>quadrant</u>-of-their-eye at <i>best</i>.
These assholes would have to swivel their heads and crane their necks
just to take in a single lane of traffic. Hell, even main villains and
final bosses can clearly only see as far as 1 screen’s length, because
last-minute reinforcements are ALWAYS showing up to bail the heroes out
of a jam from off-screen, and as often as not they’re coming from the
very direction that the villain is currently facing. <b>I</b> can see farther than all these schmucks without even wearing my glasses, and I’m relatively sure I’m legally blind.<br /><br />But
obviously, the devastating combination of tunnel-vision and
nearsightedness in all RPG denizens is purely positive, and giving
monsters and villains and guards real, actual eyesight would be a
terrible move. No one would ever be able to ride to the hero’s rescue
again if the bad guy could see them coming up the Dramatic Final Boss
Stairs and opted to move his timetable of finishing the protagonist off
up a few seconds in response. If someone had specifically written “with
your eyes open” into the employee handbook for Hyrule’s guards, then
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time wouldn’t have <i>needed</i> a
7-year time skip, because Link would still be trying to sneak into the
castle courtyard well into his 40s. And do you have any earthly idea
just how far some animals can see in real life? The aggro range of a
realistically-sighted falcon enemy would be so wide that the thing would
be attacking you while you were still out on the world map. I think
it’s best we forego the realism on this and stick with the “Don’t aggro
until you see the whites of his eyes” approach.<br /><br /><br /><br />Alright, that’s it for today. See you again for the next installment of this series in another 4 years or so!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* Protip: If you restrict your polling audience solely to yourself, then popular demand is actually super easy to achieve for just about everything you do.<br /><br /><br />** What really gets me about this is that this stab at realism is so often selective and arbitrary. Why is every OTHER cavern in the Pokemon games fully lit despite being exactly as submerged and lacking light sources? Why THIS room at the heart of a labyrinth in Startropics 1, and not the one next to it? How come some levels of SMT Persona 5’s Mementos are just pitch dark at random, while the ones above and below them were illuminated? What, did that level just happen to be the one formed out of the cognition of everyone in Tokyo who’d forgotten to pay their electric bill this month?<br /><br /><br />*** I accomplish neither of these things, if you’re wondering. She’s a tough audience.<br /><br /><br />**** Which you’d think would defeat the point, but I’ve seen how the Secret of Mana kids open their treasure chests. Clearly RPG heroes are fully capable and ready to just smash a treasure chest against the ground until it relinquishes its goodies 1 way or another, so if you value your investment into the chest itself, I guess it might just be better to make the thing as accessible as possible to whatever greedy yutz happens across it.<br /><br /><br />***** Full credit to Danny Sexbang for pointing out the ridiculous cost logistics of this particular scenario. I mean, <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2006/08/star-ocean-3s-treasure-chests.html">I’ve already talked about this matter of treasure chest contents to some degree before</a>, so I’ll still count this as mostly my idea, but I can’t deny that his quipping brought the subject back to my mind.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-45647684184085713002023-12-18T08:08:00.000-08:002023-12-18T08:08:00.139-08:00Annual Summary 2023<p>Another year, another bunch of RPGs under my belt. Although calling them a “bunch” might be overselling it a bit, because after last year’s showing of 13 completed RPGs, which I called, at the time, “<i>pathetic</i>”, with full-on italics, I’ve somehow managed to drop the number even further to an outright disgraceful 10. Look at this embarrassing display:<br /><br /><br /><br />Fire Emblem 15<br />Gamedec<br />Hades 1<br />Hololive CouncilRyS RPG<br />Omori<br />Octopath Traveler 1<br />Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous<br />Septerra Core<br />Shin Megami Tensei 5<br />Steven Universe: Save the Light<br /><br /><br /><br />Ouch. Can I even call myself The RPGenius at this point? That’s fewer than 1 RPG a <i>month</i>.<br /><br />In fairness, there’s at least some cause for this. First of all, whereas last year my job was severely understaffed for half the year, this year it was severely understaffed for <b>5/6ths</b> of the year, which just cuts into my ability to do pretty much anything enjoyable, both from the extra time involved in being at work, and the fact that I’m so drained afterwards that I can’t bring myself to even play a damned game half the time. Also, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is freakin’ <i>huge</i>; time-wise it should count as like 2 and a half RPGs, really. Also, I’ve spent a lot of the last few months playing SMT Persona 5, which is also very long, and I just haven’t quite gotten to the end of it yet, so while it’s not counted here, it’s taken up a lot of my RPG focus. Finally, I did also play a full-sized RPG called A Dragon’s ReQuest that I haven’t included in this year’s list because it’s not officially released yet--it’s essentially complete, but its creator hasn’t actually put it up on a major platform for regular audience consumption, so that’ll be another RPG that’s gonna be on next year’s list rather than this one. So you could view those paltry 10 RPGs as, like, 14 or 15, really.<br /><br />Which is still too damn few anyway. Oh, well. At least it was a high-quality bunch of RPGs I played this year that were a lot of fun; very few flops in the mix to be found. Hell, it’s probably better that A Dragon’s ReQuest and Persona 5 will be heading up next year’s list, because with them AND Pathfinder, Omori, Hades, and Octopath, it’d almost be too much high-quality stuff from which to choose winners for this year’s categories.<br /><br />But before that, let’s indulge my need to show off all the other stuff I’ve done this year like <a href="https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/06/23">an attention-starved 6-year-old demanding constant, unbroken focus and applause from a parent as he performs some menial act</a>. Or alternately, like your average Tiktok creator. Here’s what I’ve been up to this year besides RPGs:<br /><br /><br /><u>Anime</u>: I recently watched the Megumin spin-off to Konosuba, which was pretty fun and amusing. As expected, I suppose, given that Konosuba is already a funny anime, and this is basically just more Konosuba but with only the best 2 characters. I also saw the second season of Pui Pui Molcar, which is a return to the absurdly, endearingly cute and silly form of the first season, if perhaps not quite as fun. Lastly, I rewatched Steins;Gate as I showed it to my sister, because Steins;Gate is <i>awesome</i>.<br /><br /><u>Books</u>: Less free time at work means less time to sneak in a few pages on the sly, sadly, so my readership lessened this year, too. Still, the important thing is, I read (and quite enjoyed) <a href="https://www.brianwork.com/into-the-black/">Into the Black</a>, by Brian Work. Even if you haven’t read so much as a recipe or game developer apology all the rest of the year, so long as you’ve read Into the Black, you can call it a successful literary year.<br /><br />Although, I mean, I DID actually read some other stuff, too. While Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 was a big pile of Meh, William Pene du Bois’s Squirrel Hotel was a cute and enjoyable little story (even if I was dissatisfied with its conclusion). Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was pretty good, too. I guess. Mostly. It’s honestly not really my kind of story, but that’s more just personal taste. Lastly, I read the Gold collection of Isaac Asimov’s writings, and really enjoyed it as a true finale to the works of the greatest science fiction writer yet to put ink to paper.<br /><br />...But for real, <a href="https://www.brianwork.com/into-the-black/">Into the Black</a> is cool and you should read it. That the author is an old friend of mine is only somewhat relevant to this recommendation, I swear!<br /><br /><u>Non-RPG Video Games</u>: I played A Street Cat’s Tale this year because I’d been misled into believing it was an RPG, but I don’t regret the gaff--it’s cute, and sweet, and incredibly depressing, which of course is right up my alley (cat). Also, at a friend’s recommendation, I experienced the visual novel Slay the Princess, and it is a marvelously thoughtful, compelling work of interactive art that I can’t recommend enough. Unless you are averse to Psychological Horror, and also some goddamn disturbing violent imagery. But, uh, if you find Psychological Horror repellent, then you’re probably not gonna be thrilled with my favorite RPG of this year, either...<br /><br /><u>Streaming and the Like</u>: I watched quite a lot of stuff this year, actually. I found Amphibia to be alright, although, much like its distant cousin predecessor Gravity Falls, quite overrated (also, Amphibia’s ending flopped <i>hard</i>). In fact, of the modern Disney cartoon semi-same-universe trifecta, only The Owl House really lived up to its hype. Speaking of which, I also watched TOH’s final season, and in spite of being noticeably and tragically rushed due to the fucktards making decisions at Disney, Season 3 was great. Really, that they managed to close out the series as well as they did in such an unreasonably brief period of episodes is a testament to the talent of the show’s creators.<br /><br />Other cartoons I watched this year included Hilda’s first 2 seasons and movie, which are a nice, creative, endearing, and wholesome experience that I’m looking forward to continuing when Season 3 releases, and Cuphead, which is a marvelously fun and authentic homage to the old-timey classic cartoons of a century ago that significantly stands out as more than just an adaptation riding on the coattails of the game’s success, as I wrongly assumed it would be. Speaking of old-timey cartoons, I also watched the full run of the 2013 Mickey Mouse shorts, and by God are they <i>hilarious</i>! The series is a perfect translation of the best qualities of the classic Disney shorts of yesteryear to a modern perspective, with great visual and written gags, incredible energy, perfect pacing, an art style that is almost uncomfortably perfect for depicting the bizarre and occasionally amusingly gross ideas, catchy songs, and even a dedication to displaying and enjoying different cultures across the world, much as the original shorts did. 2013 Mickey Mouse is honestly a triumph and sits shoulder-to-shoulder with its classic Disney short and Looney Tune peers.<br /><br />It’s still not as fantastic as Netflix’s Carmen Sandiego adaptation, of course, which I watched for a <b>fourth</b> time this year as I showed it to my sister. But really, what <i>can</i> compete with the modern Carmen Sandiego?<br /><br />Oh, yes, I also watched some live action shows, too. This year finally marked the end of The Flash, and let’s be honest: it’s an end that was overdue, because at this point, I’d have to be at least a prolific arsonist for The Flash not to be the guiltiest pleasure in my life. Still, it was a fun ride, and I had fun watching it.<br /><br />But as you all know from the fact that I chose to play Project X-Zone 2 in spite of having inflicted the first game on myself, I never learn my goddamn lesson, ever. So immediately after The Flash ended, I replaced it with DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, of which I’ve already finished the first season, and damn it all, I’m enjoying that one, too. It’s like the dumber version of both Doctor Who and DC Comics, and considering that both DC Comics and Doctor Who are <i>already</i> the dumb versions of themselves, I’m gonna be guilting up my watching pleasure for seasons to come.<br /><br />Less guilty a pleasure? Galavant. Hilarious and fun through and through. It’s like The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and the songwriters for Animaniacs all got mushed together into 1 amazing show. Seriously, I hate musicals, but Galavant had me grinning like an idiot from start to finish.<br /><br />Lastly, I watched The G Word, which is as great and interesting as I’ve come to expect from television made by my second favorite member of Olde English, and the entirety of the show Superstore, which was really funny and a good time overall. I’ll grant you, some of my enjoyment of Superstore may have some basis in working retail myself, but I’m pretty sure it’s still objectively a fun show.<br /><br />Except for Mateo. Mateo is the fucking worst.<br /><br /><u>Other Crap</u>: As mentioned, I work a full time job. I also have gotten a little more social in recent years? Not much, but sometimes I go to people’s places for dinner now, and I’ve continued catching my friend Angel Adonis up on various bits and pieces of culture from before his time and/or outside his country of origin, like The Twilight Zone, A Quiet Place, Electric Dreams, The Animatrix, and other stuff. Also took him through Chrono Trigger, and now we’re doing Grandia 2, because Go Best or Go Home.<br /><br />Oh, and I’ve been doing a lot of cooking in the last few years? Like, learning how to do it decently and trying different recipes out. That’s fairly time-consuming. But I’m not bad at it, sometimes!<br /><br /><br />Alright, enough of that crap. Let’s get to the stuff you’re here for, if you’re here at all, which according my viewership metrics you mostly aren’t. It’s RPG time!<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>RPG Moments of Interest in 2023</b><br /><br />1. Y’know, Omori, of all the potential things for a surreal psychological drama about repression, loss, and guilt with significant horror elements and themes of suicide to reference, <i>Kenan and Kel</i> was probably one of the ones I’d have least expected.<br /><br />2. Every RPG protagonist has more than their share of lucky vehicular near-misses and <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2010/08/general-rpgs-curative-falls.html">Curative Falls</a>, but Septerra Core’s Maya finds and walks away from crash landings like she’s trying to beat some world record held by Launchpad McQuack.<br /><br />3. So a major component of Amphibia’s finale is the introduction of a completely spontaneous, unnecessary cosmic entity, voiced by a child, who is an absolute worthless shithead and whose gross incompetence at his job is responsible for untold death and destruction. This self-satisfied stupid lazy fuck then decides to shove an untold and utterly bizarre, ill-matched responsibility onto the protagonist in a scene which in no way meshes with the feel, style, or world of the entire rest of the series, and frankly cheapens the lore substantially. And I’m watching this travesty, and all I can think is,<br /><br />“Well, I guess now I know what the writers behind Mass Effect 3’s ending have been up to.”<br /><br />4. Question for the Disco Elysium and Omori fans out there. Which is the greater sin: refusing to high-five Kim, or Kel?<br /><br />5. Dude the true final boss of Octopath Traveler 1 is fucking <i>bullshit</i>. I know an unreasonably powerful final boss is the cherry on your SaGa sundae, but Jesus Christ.<br /><br />6. Alright, so, I gotta go steal a giant bug monster’s egg, drill a hole in it, and stuff it full of knock-out drops. Next, I need to walk a few counties over, find some giant leeches hanging out in a swamp, and throw a piece of meat at them. That way, they’ll be distracted so that I can grab these three leeches the size and thickness of a child’s arm with my bare hands, and bring them a little ways over to the pond inhabited by a monster that appears to have a sun-roof built into its skull. I toss the drugged egg at the monster, let it eat, and when it conks out, I drop my collective dozen pounds of leeches directly onto the monster’s exposed brain and hope they’ve got a taste for French cuisine. Once the maggots have devoured so much of the monster’s brain that their item description literally changes to “Bloated”, I gather them up, and the monster awakens, 4 pounds of gray matter lighter and suddenly eager to follow Elon Musk on Twitter. Now that I have a bundle of bugs bloated on brain blood, I can bring them to the local tattoo parlor, because I want the lady there to squeeze that guck out of the leeches, so she can inject this partially-digested swamp monster cranial blood goo directly into my body. These sicknasty tats, you see, will allow me to get close to the local pirate warlord, because his idea of economic exchange has less to do with currency than it does slave girls, but his fetish is historical figures, specifically a tattooed angel from like a thousand years ago.<br /><br />Is it just me, or are the things that happen in RPGs a bit odd, sometimes?<br /><br />7. So it would seem that, if the legal resolution of the matter is accurate, the allegations made against Chris Avellone a couple years ago had all the authenticity of an official statement from Bethesda. That is to say, it seems that the accusations of his being a sexual predator were a lie.<br /><br />Which is good! I mean, it’s really extremely shitty that Mr. Avellone had to go through it, costing him respect, credibility, and work, not to mention money with legal fees; it’s absolutely rotten that this was done to him. But I suppose that if the choice is between Chris Avellone going through a lousy situation while being innocent, and Chris Avellone actually honestly being the creep he was accused to be, I’d much rather the former scenario.<br /><br />At the same time, though, my feelings are complicated. I feel guilty that I didn’t have better loyalty to a creator who I so respected. Consequently, I almost feel like I’m not really worthy of speaking positively about the guy’s works any more, as though it’s pretending that the back I’m clapping isn’t also the one I sank a knife into. Which in turn makes me feel absurdly pretentious; as if Chris Avellone has any idea of who I am or what my stance was on the issue! Besides which, what am I torturing myself over? I said 1 negative thing about him based on the only information known at the time, on a blog so obscure that most of my own <i>family</i> don’t pay it the slightest mind. But when it’s a man’s reputation that’s at stake, doesn’t that mean that the belief and perspective of all others, whether prominent or unknown, is at the very heart of the matter? My reaction was part of the collective whole; I don’t get to just dismiss having a share in having done him wrong. Yet I don’t want to let that negative feeling change my instincts <i>too</i> much, because being willing to listen to and believe the claims of a victim without immediately and aggressively demanding receipts is also important--it’s an unfortunate reality that 1 of the biggest obstacles for victims, particularly abused/mistreated women, is that they are, even now, so frequently dismissed out of hand or even vilified for coming forward because the one who preyed on them can leverage far more resources and/or reputation. Evidence is quite obviously vitally important, but the instinct to take a supposed victim’s claims seriously, especially when they’re against someone you personally view positively, is also very important.<br /><br />So basically I’m extremely frustrated by the whole thing (and feeling annoyed with myself that I have the gall to feel this frustration because obviously this <i>isn’t about me, RPGenius, you pretentious twat</i>) and I think it would just be so super great if people could maybe stop undermining the process of real victims seeking justice by throwing around false accusations.<br /><br />8. Speaking of complete and total lies, Pete Hines retired this year! I guess that after all these years of hard work fabricating untruths on Bethesda’s behalf, Mr. Hines wants to kick back, relax, and spend some quality time lying to the people he loves. I’m surprised Bethesda let him go, really; dishonesty is about the only part of the business that Bethesda remains competitive in these days, so losing their top liar is gonna be quite a blow to them. Then again, knowing Ol’ Petey, Bethesda may not have known until he was out the door--guy probably told Todd Howard that he was just going out for cigarettes.<br /><br />9. The sound effects used for doors opening and closing in Septerra Core are the exact same ones that AOL Instant Messenger used in the early 2000s for people coming online and going offline, and this fact is <b><i>incredibly</i></b> distracting to me.<br /><br /><br /><b>Quote of the Year</b><br /><u>Runners-Up</u><i><br /></i>"<i>Mrgrgr</i>!"<br /> --Tressa, Octopath Traveler 1<br /><br />"<i>Thank you for the dung, my friend</i>!"<br /> --Kindly Farmer NPC, Octopath Traveler 1<br /><br /><u>Winner</u><br />"<i>Damn it, she’s right! I’m a shitty excuse for a cultist</i>!"<br /> --Random Henchman NPC, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Best Prequel/Sequel of 2023</b><br /><i>Winner</i>: Hololive CouncilRyS RPG<br />Okay. So it’s an indulgent, silly fan creation full of in-jokes and references to a specific group of VTubers and their rabidly dedicated fanbase. Be that as it may, the Hololive CouncilRyS RPG was clearly made with a lot of love for its subject matter and dedicated understanding of the idols’ lore, personalities, and followers. It’s using the pre-existing material in a thoroughly knowledgeable manner, building a fun new story from that material which satisfies and entertains those who have enjoyed that which preceded it. And really, isn’t that just what a great sequel’s supposed to do? Extremely niche it may be, but Hololive CouncilRyS RPG has the heart and care in its making that I so wish more sequels and prequels could display.<br /><br /><i>Runners-Up</i>: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous; Steven Universe: Save the Light<br />PWotR is really more its own adventure than anything, but it does have some light but pleasing ties to Pathfinder: Kingmaker that arise now and then. It is, of course, also a game based around a major tabletop Pathfinder campaign’s material and premise, and in that regard, the game strikes a pleasing and elegant balance between the existing content, and the ideas and interpretations that Owlcat Games has for it. It’s definitely a great adaptation and extension of the tabletop campaign, and really, it’s only the fact that an adaptation is slightly less like a “sequel” than whatever you’d call Hololive CouncilRyS RPG that keeps PWotR from top spot here.<br /><br />Steven Universe: Save the Light is an adequate sequel to the first SU RPG. Expands a bit on the nemesis from the first game, introduces new elements, utilizes the characters and events of the show itself well. There’s nothing about it as a continuation that strongly stands out, but at the same time, it does a good job as such.<br /><br /><br /><b>Biggest Disappointment of 2023</b><br /><i>Loser</i>: Shin Megami Tensei 5<br />I understand that not every SMT is a marvelous gem. Sometimes an If or a Devil Survivor 2 happens. Hell, I wasn’t even especially impressed with SMT4-1, and that’s one of the mainline titles of the series! But all the same, Shin Megami Tensei’s long history has been one dominated by solid, thoughtful titles, interspersed with some of the <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2017/10/general-rpg-lists-greatest-rpgs.html">best RPGs</a> I’ve had the pleasure to experience...so the utter, amateur, slipshod disinterest with which Atlus conducted SMT5’s story and cast was outright shocking to me. This is a title whose only priorities were gameplay and visuals, and that doesn’t cut it for an RPG, and it <i>especially</i> doesn’t cut it for a Shin Megami Tensei. Conception 2 is unquestionably the far worse title objectively, but I daresay that Shin Megami Tensei 5 is nonetheless the darkest stain on Atlus’s record to me for the shame it brings to a respectable name.<br /><br /><i>Almost as Bad</i>: Fire Emblem 15; Septerra Core; Steven Universe: Save the Light<br />Look, there’s nothing wrong with Steven Universe’s second RPG. There’s just nothing that especially stands out. I mean, SU is 1 of the most thoughtful, emotionally charged, well-constructed, poignant cartoons ever created, and it didn’t take a very long grace period for it to start getting <b>real</b>. I guess I just thought that after the pretty basic and serviceable Steven Universe: Attack the Light had laid out the groundwork, the next game in the trilogy would have the space to start getting into the heavy stuff that the show was known and celebrated for, so another reasonably straightforward adventure that only <i>very</i> slightly touches on ideas of self-autonomy and unhealthy relationships is just less than I’d hoped for. Well, with any luck, the third title will go harder.<br /><br />While I do like Fire Emblem okay as a whole, I never do find myself holding high expectations for it. All the same, people generally harbor positive sentiments for FE15, and it made a decent splash in the FE fanbase when it came out a few years ago, so I did kind of expect it to be...I dunno...good? At least a little? Better than Just Barely Okay By The Slimmest Margin, at least. Also, it’s a bit disappointing in that it promotes itself as some joined story of dual protagonists, but really, <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/11/fire-emblem-15s-imbalanced-storytelling.html">all it turns out to be</a> is the story of a single protagonist which also simply happens to point the camera at his supporting love interest a lot of the time.<br /><br />Lastly, Septerra Core was the second game I ever bought on GOG, and its premise and style interested me. Turns out, though, that it’s less a classic of its day, and more just a sample of why gaming moved on from that day to begin with.<br /><br /><br /><b>Best Finale of 2023</b><br /><i>Winner</i>: Omori (but only the Good Ending)<br />It’s hope, it’s acceptance, it’s the courageous first step to finally living again and mending the terrible hurt that tore so many lives apart. There’s no guarantee that all will be well...but at its worst it will still be better than what it’s been. What a game and what a way to end it.<br /><br /><i>Runners-Up</i>: Gamedec; Hades 1; Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous<br />Gamedec starts to get really compelling in the last leg of its journey, and the existential, philosophical weight of its final moments is easily what I respect most about the game. Hades 1’s ending (the final one, with the big get-together) is satisfying and feels like the perfect way to complete the game’s tale of the confusing nature of family. And as for PWotR, as with the first game, the creators know exactly how to craft a hyped-up, epic finale to a long, grand campaign, and while it’s easily the most tricky and precise ending in RPG history to achieve, the true, secret Ascension ending to the game is extremely cool and rewarding, as well as a perfect realization of the game’s theme of overcoming your boundaries and becoming more than the sum of your parts. To be frank, while I understand objectively why Omori has to be the winner for the beautiful artistry of its conclusion, I definitely best enjoyed and felt the most personal satisfaction from the conclusion to the tale of the Commander, her comrades, and Areelu Vorlesh.<br /><br /><br /><b>Worst RPG of 2023</b><br /><i>Loser</i>: Shin Megami Tensei 5<br />Oh gee what do you know the game for which I’ve spent the whole year loudly expressing my passionate disdain turns out to be the worst game I played, what a fucking twist. Moving on.<br /><br /><i>Almost as Bad</i>: Fire Emblem 15; Septerra Core<br />Honestly, the category title of “almost as bad” really isn’t accurate, because neither FE15 nor SC are even in the same league of lazy awfulness as SMT5. Septerra Core is barely even bad, really. Clunky as hell and a perfect representation of the Awkward Age of PC RPGs, sure, but if they’d just done a better job pacing out the characters’ interactions and the events that occur therein, and developed half their cast a little better, and made Maya seem more competent, and stopped relying on crash landings as the only means of moving the plot forward...actually, I’m reading all this as I write it, and yeah, maybe I’m right and Septerra Core really isn’t so hot. Still nowhere near as poor a product as SMT5, though, of course.<br /><br />As for Fire Emblem 15, it’s got some glaring fundamental flaws with the way it approaches telling its story, and all things considered, even fixing those major problems would still only leave you with a kinda forgettable plot overall, driven by a cast that doesn’t have a lot to them, for the purpose of a cliched and underdeveloped moral about unity and self-reliance. Also--and I’m not joking here, this is an <i>earnest</i> speculation--I suspect some person(s) on the writing staff of FE15 has/have some serious and unhealthy issues with women. It’s just not a good RPG. While still being leaps and bounds better than SMT5, of course.<br /><br />Okay look I <i>promise</i> that SMT5 will stop being the red flag being waved in my eyes come 2024. Just bear with me as I finish working it out of my system here.<br /><br /><br /><b>Most Creative of 2023</b><br /><i>Winner</i>: Omori<br />The subject matter, the purpose, the method and pace, the nature of the big revelations as they come...there’s few titles that can boast any strong resemblance to Omori; while it has peers in games like Undertale, Grimm’s Hollow, Mother 3, and, <i>weirdly</i>, <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/11/omoris-and-whisper-of-roses-similarities.html">Whisper of a Rose</a>, Omori primarily stands out as a unique work. And hell, even the simple matter of the dreamworld’s events and details represent an interesting example of thoughtful innovation--to pin such significant story beats to the idea that Sunny is a very creative individual, the game’s developers have to themselves be equal to the creativity they want to impress on the audience.<br /><br /><i>Runners-Up</i>: Gamedec; Hades 1; Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous<br />Admittedly, a lot of the creative qualities of PWotR were already set in place for the developers by the original campaign materials, but the ways in which they worked with the existing characters, the interesting qualities and stories of the ones they created, and the thematic purpose they weaved into this Pathfinder story are all more than enough to earn it recognition. Hades is a wonderfully inventive use of Ancient Greece’s pantheon and canon of heroes and villains to tell a story about family that possesses as much fundamental relevance to the nature and condition of humanity as those classic myths do. Supergiant Games’s scope of knowledge of these myths and legends is matched only by their innovative ways of adapting them to this tale of mending a feuding and dysfunctional family. As for Gamedec, it’s an RPG that uses the nature and mechanics of video games as an example of layered reality to propose and explore existential questions. And while that’s been done before in varying ways and to varying degrees with games like Undertale, Slay the Princess, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, Doki Doki Literature Club, Star Ocean 3, and especially Nier: Automata, there’s still plenty of room in the field for new and interesting takes on the idea and directions to bring it, and Gamedec does a good job in serving us the eternal existential plight of the self-aware--and the solutions we’ve found to it--in a fresh and interesting form.<br /><br /><br /><b>Best Romance of 2023</b><br /><i>Winner</i>: Arueshalae x Commander (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous)<br />Arueshalae’s journey to change her nature for the better, and to finally determine what she dreams of, is a wonderful and natural companion to the sweet, authentic deepening of her feelings for the protagonist into tender love. It’s a genuinely lovely romance that makes you feel warm and content to witness that’s so <i>right</i> for who Arueshalae is and wants to be that her character arc actually feels incomplete without it; Arueshale and the Commander are simply <i>meant</i> to be together.<br /><br /><i>Runners-Up</i>: Anevia x Irabeth (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous); Commander x Daeran (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous); Thanatos x Zagreus (Hades 1)<br />Thanatos and Zagreus are such moody precious loverboys and they absolutely fit one another like gloves. I mean, I like the dynamic that Zagreus and Megaera have, too, and I <i>really</i> like the fact that Hades proudly embraces the potential for Zagreus, Thanatos, and Megaera to form a polyamorous relationship--you remember how <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2013/02/general-rpg-lists-greatest-romances.html">pleased I was</a> by Pathfinder: Kingmaker’s taking such a romantic situation seriously. And they definitely do work as a thruple! But all the same, I definitely feel that the connection between Thanatos and Zagreus stands out significantly more strongly. Again, I like what Megaera and Zagreus have got, but it’s not equal to Than and Zag’s romance to me, and the latter is great whether or not you choose to also involve Megaera. The boys’ve got the best love in Hades.<br /><br />Now, if Dusa were legitimately interested, it’d be a whole other story.<br /><br />PWotR is no slouch when it comes to romances, and even if Arueshalae stands head and shoulders over her competition, there’s no denying that the story of selfish party animal Daeran falling in love with the Commander and letting down some of his walls is a sweet and touching tale. The game even does a really nice job with the love story of side characters, too. The trust, devotion, understanding, and deep and abiding affection between Irabeth and Anevia as a couple is far more convincing and emotive than most RPGs’ plot-centric love stories; they’re definitely a case of wholesome relationship goals if ever an RPG had one.<br /><br /><br /><b>Best Voice Acting of 2023</b><br /><i>Winner</i>: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous<br />All the vocal work in Wrath of the Righteous is good or better, and a lot of these characters are portrayed with a skill and flare that’s exemplary. Hell, even actors for relatively small roles often provide shockingly great performances in this game--Minagho, for example, is a villainess that seems like a big deal at first but quickly becomes small potatoes as she’s outpaced by both the protagonist and the scope of the story, and yet she delivers her lines in what I <i>have</i> to assume is the greatest performance of Lindsay Sheppard’s career. From Daeran to Regill to Arueshalae to Areelu to Nocticula to Nenio and so many more, the talents in PWotR bring their characters to life with impeccable flair.<br /><br /><i>Runners-Up</i>: Hades 1; Octopath Traveler 1; Steven Universe: Save the Light<br />Whether it’s Cyrus’s scholarly affectations, the dramatically distant pain in Primrose’s tone, or H’aanit’s taciturn calm, OT1 is not too terribly far behind Pathfinder in its wealth of appealing performances that quickly become a signature element of their characters. Likewise, Hades showcases Supergiant Games’s commitment to the high quality voice acting that’s become 1 of the company’s many defining features. Lastly, SUStL...well, the amount of spoken lines are limited, but they’re done well by the actors that so strongly defined the personalities of these characters, and enjoyable to hear. I mean, honestly, objectivity be damned, I’m a sucker for Peridot’s vocal antics; she’d score the game a place here even if all the rest weren’t up to par.<br /><br /><br /><b>Funniest of 2023</b><br /><i>Winner</i>: Hololive CouncilRyS RPG<br />I mean, okay, a lot of the humor is of the inside-joke variety, but if you’re playing this game, it’s a pretty good bet that you’re part of the VTuber fanbase and more than familiar with the friendly, clever, tongue-in-cheek comical leanings of CouncilRyS and their audiences.<br /><br /><i>Runners-Up</i>: NA<br />I really did want to get to Shadows of Loathing this year. Ah, well, expect to see it absolutely dominate this category come 2024!<br /><br /><br /><b>Best Villain of 2023</b><br /><i>Winner</i>: Sweetheart (Omori)<br />Sweetheart’s a great nemesis on multiple levels, and the true sinister nature of her role is very interesting. But even if her true purpose as an obstacle is on a meta-level, she is also, in and of herself, a rather interesting and well-conceived villain, as I <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/10/omoris-sweetheart.html">recently observed</a>. Detestable on her surface, layered and complex beneath, and thematically fascinating at her core, Sweetheart’s the best of the worst this year, for sure.<br /><br /><i>Runners-Up</i>: Areelu Vorlesh (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous); Simeon (Octopath Traveler 1); Staunton Vayne (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous)<br />He may be over-the-top and a bit simplistic, but damn it all, you have to respect the dramatic wickedness of Simeon; the guy’s basically what you’d get if the Joker was an overachieving theater kid. PWotR offers a whole bunch of appealing and interesting villains, but its primary antagonist Areelu is 1 of the best, a complicated, tragic, unrepentant yet somehow not irredeemable figure whose grandiose villainous actions are interestingly caught somewhere between sincere and selfless love for her child, and existential self-serving ambition. She’s very much akin to a far craftier, less pathetic version of the Changing God from Torment: Tides of Numenera.* Lastly, although his significance to the story is short (at least, in the relative sense; even a single chapter of PWotR takes a while to get through), Staunton makes for a solid tragic figure, guilty and accountable for his mistakes and choices, yet sympathetic for the circumstances in which he makes them. Reminds me in some ways of MacBeth, too--weak and easy to tempt, yet once he’s committed to his selfish path, his determination to see that journey to its end far surpasses that of even she who manipulated him onto it. Good stuff!<br /><br /><br /><b>Best Character of 2023</b><br /><i>Winner</i>: Aivu (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous)<br />I love this candy-obsessed adorable little dragon with all my heart and you can’t make me give this award to anyone else. YOU CAN’T MAKE M--<br /><br /><i><u>Actual</u> Winner</i>: Dusa (Hades 1)<br />Nice try, assholes, but objectivity can go suck it this year! You won’t let me pick the cutest sweetest most fun dragon buddy of all time as the best? Then I’m going with an <i>equally</i> precious cinnamon roll instead! Dusa is the most charming, lovable little maid girl you’ll ever meet and <a href="https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/4246801">this</a> could not possibly be more accurate. So there, I’m not backing dow--<br /><br /><b><i><u>Real, Actual Winner</u></i></b>: Sunny (Omori)<br />...Oh fine whatever. Have it your way. Sunny is a masterfully crafted character whose psychological depths fabricate 1 of the most intelligent and emotional RPGs in history. I basically can’t say a word more without the risk of spoiling stuff, but yeah, Sunny is a character written at the absolute highest level.<br /><br />He’s still not a mischievous dragon with an out-of-control sweet tooth, though, so booooo, boring! AIVU FOREVER!<br /><br /><i>Runners-Up</i>: Arueshalae (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous; Daeran (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous); Primrose (Octopath Traveler 1)<br />While I have a great fondness for both Cyrus and H’aanit, and certainly they, Albert, Therion, and especially Olberic are all good characters, there’s really no question which of Octopath Traveler 1’s protagonists is the best written and most interesting. Primrose’s tale of revenge and managing to avoid losing herself to her hatred is the defining story of OT1 to me. As mentioned earlier, Arueshalae is a great character whose journey from evil to good is lovely to watch and aid, and she has interesting perspectives to share on the process that aren’t just your average bad-guy-being-redeemed material. And while Arueshalae is definitely the best-written character in the game, Daeran’s not too far behind her, with his chaotic wit and candor that covers up but doesn’t exactly try to hide the depths of his mind and heart. Hell, most of the PWotR cast are notably great, really, but if I have to narrow them down, the ones that shine most are Daeran and Arueshalae.<br /><br />Still, none of them are a cute, easily-flustered floating gorgon head with a feather duster with boundless affection and enthusiasm, though, so bah, humbug, who cares about the lot of’em! DUSA FOREVER!<br /><br /><br /><b>Best RPG of 2023</b><br /><i>Winner</i>: Omori<br />Omori is an immensely moving, psychologically fascinating, lovingly-forged RPG that everyone should play. And that is all I want to say about the damn thing because I don’t want even the barest of chances at spoiling anything, and hoo boy, is it easy to spoil. All that really needs to be said, though, is that it’s truly awesome.<br /><br /><i>Runners-Up</i>: Hades 1; Octopath Traveler 1; Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous<br />Hades is 1 of the best RPGs I’ve encountered to tackle the nature of family and the complexity therein, and the decision to do so through the lens of Greek mythology--and it does magnificently--is just inspired. I mean, Pyre is still way better, and I might even argue that Transistor edges ahead, but Hades is definitely well worthy and then some of its honorable pedigree as a Supergiant Games creation. Octopath Traveler 1, meanwhile, is a classy, artful game that takes a lighter but no less worthy stab at the SaGa formula (sort of like how Persona is a lighter but no less excellent iteration of Shin Megami Tensei). I definitely understand why it made a stir in the RPG community--particularly considering what a rare accident it is when SquareEnix actually does something right.<br /><br />As for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, it’s an awesome translation of an epic tabletop campaign that manages to refine the <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2019/10/pathfinder-kingmaker.html">already excellent methods of its predecessor</a> into something even better, with a cool and pervasive theme, a strong cast that’s well-developed through character arcs and then perfectly fine-tuned through hundreds of little comments and interactions, and an entertaining plot that flows well and takes on new dimensions with its every passing chapter. Omori is Omori and it’s meaningful, high-level art, but on a personal level, I absolutely loved playing Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous the most of all the games I experienced this year.<br /><br /><br /><b>List Changes</b><br /><a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2014/05/general-rpg-lists-greatest-deaths.html">Greatest Deaths</a>: I’ve updated this one with [REDACTED] from Omori, because I can’t possibly avoid doing so, but I’m planning to do a minor overhaul of this list in the coming year, anyway, because there’s definitely a need to rethink its order and expand its number. I mean, I never put anyone from Rakuen on there because I’d intended to do this a few years ago and forgot! Definitely needs to be rectified soon.<br /><a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2017/07/general-rpg-lists-greatest-examples-of.html">Greatest Examples of Battle Systems</a>: Hades 1 has been added as Greatest Action RPG; Kingdom Hearts 2 has been removed. Sorry, you combat containing creatively choreographed cutscene commands.<br /><a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2017/10/general-rpg-lists-greatest-rpgs.html">Greatest RPGs</a>: Omori has been added; Grandia 1 has been removed. Sorry, you excellent experience about explorer’s enthusiasm.<br /><a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2012/09/general-rpg-lists-worst-endings.html">Worst Endings</a>: Fire Emblem 15 and Shin Megami Tensei 5 have been added; Fallout 3 and Final Fantasy 7 have been removed. Congrats, you games whose endings were previously puzzlingly, poor, and adversely, anticlimactically ambiguous, respectively.<br /><a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2021/08/general-rpg-lists-worst-romances.html">Worst Romances</a>: Berkut x Rinea (Fire Emblem 15) have been added; Arnaud x Racquel (Wild Arms 4) have been removed. Congrats, you duo who didn’t deliver the dame from death despite the dipshit dude’s determined declarations to do so.<br /><br /><br /><b>Music Additions</b><br /><br /><a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2020/09/general-rpg-music-lists-1-thems-fightin.html">Them’s Fightin’ Chords</a><br />Ara Fell Final Boss Battle<br />Hololive CouncilRyS RPG Cursed BaeRyS Battle<br />Hololive CouncilRyS RPG Cursed Mumei Battle<br />Hololive CouncilRyS RPG Cursed Fauna Battle<br />Omori Pluto Battle<br />Omori Pyrefly Forest Battle<br />Omori Space Ex-Boyfriend Battle<br />Shin Megami Tensei 5 Fionn Battle<br />Steven Universe: Save the Light Final Boss Battle<br /><br /><a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2021/06/general-rpg-music-lists-2-hither.html">Hither, Thither, and Song</a><br />Ara Fell Cave<br />Ara Fell Hidden Ruins<br />Hololive CouncilRyS RPG Time and Space<br />Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Enigma<br /><br /><a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2021/09/general-rpg-music-lists-3-chime-really.html">Chime Really Feeling It!</a><br />Ara Fell Determination<br />Ara Fell Sad<br />Fire Emblem 15 Mila<br />Hololive CouncilRyS RPG Mystic<br /><br /><a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2021/12/general-rpg-music-lists-4-see-you-bass.html">See You Bass Cowboy</a><br />Omori Mari<br />Shin Megami Tensei 5 Tao<br /><br /><a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2022/03/general-rpg-music-lists-5-all-that-and.html">All That and a Bag of Chiptunes</a><br />Hololive CouncilRyS RPG Battle Against Cursed Fauna Remix<br />Omori By Your Side Orchestral Remix<br /><br /><br /><br />And that’s it for 2023. Hoping for a more productive RPG year come 2024, but by this point, I’m resigned to the likelihood that it won’t happen. We’ll see, though. At least there was a lot of great quality with what I played this year, and given that I’m almost finished with SMT Persona 5, I’ll be starting next year off considerably better than I did this past one (as it began with SMT Just Normal 5).<br /><br />As ever, I’d like to close us out with a heartfelt round of gratitude both to my sister, and to my friend Ecclesiastes, each of whom are vital for these rants’ existence as they patiently allow me to bounce ideas off them, proofread my rants (particularly my sister, who listens to every single one and helps make sure it’s to the highest standards possible of my low quality), and provide helpful suggestions. They’re the only human beings on Earth whose time I waste more than my own, and I deeply thank them each for indulging me.<br /><br />Additionally, thank you to my Patrons Ecclesiastes and Toasterdog. As ever, your generosity is abundantly encouraging and it’s a pleasant shock that anyone likes my idiotic ravings enough to trade a portion of their hard-earned livelihood for them.<br /><br />And of course, as ever, a thank you to all my readers. I like to joke that no one reads my blog, and to be sure, I hold no delusions about the small scope of my audience, but I also know that I do have readers, even dedicated ones, and all joking aside, I am enormously thankful for you. Whether 1 person or 1 billion, it’s a remarkable thing to know that there are those who hear and even care about my thoughts and opinions. Thank you all, and happy holidays!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* Which may make it seem very odd that the Changing God is still on my <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2019/08/general-rpg-lists-greatest-villains.html">Greatest Villains list</a> while Areelu is not. Well, while she’s definitely a great villain, her essentially being a personally better, smarter, and truer version may make Areelu more awesome, but it does make her a little less of a villainous figure than him, because a lot of what is so intriguing and evil about the Changing God isn’t his grand acts, but rather the petty and pitiful failings within him, his carelessness of what his legacy has done to the world and his having lost the nobility of his original goal to his Ra’s al Ghul fear of mortality. Even as she pursues a way to cheat the boundaries of existence and ascend beyond death, Areelu doggedly remains dedicated to trying to resurrect her daughter, and in the end, when push comes to shove, her devotion to that cause is still her greatest priority. And that makes Areelu a terrific character and a very cool villain! Yet it nonetheless makes the scope and nature of her villainy a little less than that of the Changing God’s delusional hypocrisy, at least to me.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-21378716075382151292023-12-08T08:08:00.000-08:002023-12-08T08:08:00.144-08:00Shin Megami Tensei 5 Stray Thoughts<p>Even after picking apart this game off and on throughout 2023, somehow, I <i>still</i> have opinions to share on Shin Megami Tensei 5, and spoiler alert, they’re still not complimentary ones. But I’ve made enough meals of my hate-boner for SMT5--more than enough, I’m sure you’ll agree. At this point, it’s time for some hate-boner after-dinner mints.<br /><br /><br /><br />- You gotta love how Atsuta’s dying words to the protagonist (on the Chaos route, where he’s your ally) are just that the responsibility of protecting Tokyo is yours now. Nothing to the tune of, oh, I dunno, “Please protect my sister Miyazu.” No “Tell Miyazu I love her,” or “Pass on my apologies for leaving my sister.” Not even a “Remind Miyazu that the trash goes out on Wednesdays, a-and make sure she...hurrgh, cough cough...separates any fluorescent light bulbs from the rest of it, they count as hazardous waste and the town--oh shit my kidneys, oh fuck it hurts--the town won’t accept them, those have to be, HACKAKC COUGH HURRRKKKK, turned in separately during specific community recycling events that she’ll...oh fuck is that my blood how did I have so much blood everything’s going dark...that she’ll need to call ahead to secure an...appoint...ment...forrrrr......”<br /><br /><u>Nothing about Miyazu at all</u>. Just...this all-encompassing and undefined drive to protect Tokyo that is Atsuta’s 1 and only character trait is supposed to have originated from a desire to protect his sister, and yet 90% of the time it’s like the writers didn’t even remember the 2 were related to begin with.<br /><br /><br />- So, on the matter of Tao...what was the point in taking her goddess form away and resetting any levels, stat raises, etc., every time the game is restarted? I mean, okay, she’s a story-central character whose resurrection as the goddess of Tokyo only happens in the last quarter of the game, but...Amanozako is a similarly important and unique story figure who you travel with, and the game never has any problem with you hauling the Amanozako you’ve developed in previous games along for the next run, even though the new one’s also hovering around as your guide. And even with the insistence on having only 1 Tao at a time, it still wouldn’t have been that hard for the game to just store her party member data and give you the option to resume that Tao when she joins you on later runs of this game that expects at least 4 playthroughs. But resetting her completely every time means that after the first playthrough, Tao falls completely behind all other demons in your stable, and you won’t even <i>want</i> to try to develop her as a fighter, because all your work will be undone the moment you choose to continue the game for the next run. It’s a baffling decision on the part of the developers; they’ve basically guaranteed that the ONLY one of literal dozens of potential party members that you’ll never, ever want to seriously use is the one who’s the most plot-important, a potential love interest if you squint real hard, portrayed as very powerful, and literally the goddess that the franchise is <i>named for</i>!<br /><br /><br />- Look, I know this may not be rational, but I hate the fact that I’m supposed to believe that the ultimate, final, true god that takes the celestial throne and dictates what the philosophy of existence shall be, is someone who gets from 1 place to another by Naruto-running.<br /><br /><br />- Unexpected though it may be, I do want to take a moment and get in a rare word of praise for the game. The scene during Chapter 2 in the classroom, where Sahori is confronting her bullies, is one that I genuinely think is well-done, at least for the brief period when it’s just Sahori and them, before Lahmu shows up. The quiet, disgusted disbelief of Sahori as they beg for mercy from her is both well-written and well-acted here:<br /><br />“Are you serious? You’re really trying that with me, after it never worked when I said it to you? While you were punching me, kicking me, destroying my stuff? NOW you understand, “please don’t hurt me?””<br /><br />That is a fucking great set of lines, and the quietly growing fury in her voice is surely the best moment of acting in the game.<br /><br /><br />- Look, I know this may not be rational, but I hate the fact that I’m supposed to believe that the ultimate, final, true god that takes the celestial throne and dictates what the philosophy of existence shall be, is someone who walks around in his civilian identity with what amounts to a sloppy version of the Moe Howard bowl-cut.<br /><br /><br />- Oh goody. A sidequest wherein you look for creatures scattered throughout the landscape of the game. <b>200</b> of them. Usually hidden, frequently annoying to reach. My <i>favorite</i>.<br /><br />I’m a pretty simple guy and I don’t ask for too many unreasonable things in my life, but I really, really hope that when the person(s) responsible for Gold Skulltulas die, I’m there to witness it. And possibly instigate it.<br /><br /><br />- Is it just me, or are the set designs of this game really generic? I’ve already talked about how little of Tokyo you see and how at odds that is with it being the citymon roll that everyone and their grandmother wants to protect at all costs, and that’s an out-of-character problem for the SMT series, which usually seems to delight in the streets, underground walkways, and general urban decor of Japan. But just in a general sense, very little of this game’s scenery feels like it comes from a Shin Megami Tensei title. The boring postapocalyptic expanses of the first 3 major chapters all feel generic, like they could have served in just about any given game of appropriate setting. The demon castle and Empyrean only barely feel more authentic, still seeming like they’d have served equally well in just about any other RPG, and and the Temple of Eternity is so indistinct that it wouldn’t surprise me to be told that Atlus sourced its design out to Kemco. The only major area in the game that really feels like it has any SMT flavor is Chapter 4’s Taito setting, and even then, something about it feels more like someone imitating the character of the franchise than a legitimate representation of it.<br /><br /><br />- <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/08/shin-megami-tensei-5s-ending-sucks.html">I complained previously</a> about how negative the endings of Shin Megami Tensei 5 are across the board and how they make the player feel dissatisfied because of it. But y’know, I just recently played another RPG called <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/917720/Gamedec__Definitive_Edition/">Gamedec</a>, and it’s remarkable how much of a difference presentation and thematic expectation can make in whether an idea works or doesn’t. Because Gamedec, too, is an RPG that concludes with several ending choices, all of which are flawed, all of which are less about a happy, fulfilling ending than they are about coming to terms with the philosophical difficulties (and even horrors) of existence, and whatever choice you make will result in a higher being chiding you for it...and yet I respect Gamedec’s ending. Gamedec actually does some set-up to frame the imperfection of the options and situation it presents, and is essentially grasping with the heavier issues of existence, mortality, and self-awareness that our species has always struggled and likely always will struggle with--questions which ultimately have no perfect resolutions, at least none that we’ve yet reasoned out. If there perhaps isn’t satisfaction to be found in any of Gamedec’s endings, there is at least <i>peace</i> to be made with them, and the game did the legwork through its course to establish the mood and expectations within the player for the way it concludes. <br /><br />SMT5, on the other hand, won’t tell its own story, doesn’t want to actually tackle the complex issues it presents, pins itself to a hand-waving magic plot device that sets an expectation for a more satisfying conclusion than it can deliver, and can’t even be bothered, in 3 out of its 4 endings, to take the less-than-5 minutes Gamedec does to SHOW the player the limitations of his/her decision, instead only having the narrator TELL you why what you’ve decided is wrong and stupid and everyone hates you. Oh, and on that note, Gamedec also has the courtesy not to let the nay-saying narrator have the last word--the protagonist of Gamedec is given the opportunity to respond to the sneering criticism levied at her/his final choice, and that retort is usually decisive, biting, and the stronger argument. Being able to tell off the jerk who undercuts your decision goes a long way to making Gamedec’s ending far more palatable and worthwhile than Shin Megami Tensei 5’s, and highlighting what makes the latter's so shitty.<br /><br /><br /><br />Christ this game sucks so much. You know this is the <i>tenth</i> rant I’ve made about it? Considering that I take June off, that’s almost 1 rant for every damn month of the year. That’s basically a third of a year that I spent hating this turd. 10 is the number of rants I made which featured <i>Xenosaga 3</i>, easily 1 of the biggest out-of-control trashfires I’ve come across in my decades of RPG experience. But even that meandering shitshow possessed far more laudable qualities than this lazy farce!<br /><br />Seriously, just...shame on Atlus for Shin Megami Tensei 5. Shame on it. Real, actual shame. Everyone involved in the decision-making process for this game, and the writers, should sincerely feel bad about what a flopping pile of nothing they created here.<br /><br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-85051623126812023492023-11-28T08:08:00.000-08:002023-11-30T20:45:10.338-08:00Fire Emblem 15's Imbalanced Storytelling<p>Why was Fire Emblem 15 split in half between Alm and Celica? They are <i>clearly</i> not equals from the narrative’s standpoint. FE15 treats Alm as the protagonist it was designed to have, but Celica feels more like a secondary cast member who was promoted to a narrative position she wasn’t qualified for. In terms of being the heroes of the story, Alm and Celica are grossly imbalanced.<br /><br />First of all, look at the level of relevance Alm and Celica’s respective journeys have to the plot as a whole. Once the prologue is over and done with, and the game has started properly, Alm is caught up in and spearheading the major, action-driven part of the plot in which a resistance-turned-invasion army turns back an enemy army, then marches straight into the heart of enemy territory. The momentum of the plot carries Alm along from answering the call to serve as defender of his nation, to recapturing the capitol, to striking out into the hostile northern empire with the intent of ending the war once and for all, which takes him directly to the game’s finale. While there are plenty of steps along the way that are minor ventures of liberating and/or capturing territory, it’s all clearly, logically part of a plot in motion that connects to and accomplishes the narrative of Alm’s attempt to achieve peace through force.<br /><br />And then look at Celica. Where Alm is marching from 1 story goalpost to the next from Day 1, Celica spends a truly indefensible amount of time dicking around with pirates that are functionally irrelevant. Seriously, it’s basically all she does in her whole half of the game’s first dual-act chapter. Fire Emblem 15 clearly just doesn’t need Celica to really be <i>doing</i> anything for the majority of the first third of its tale. Whereas the story of how Alm rose to military prominence, established himself a capable leader, defied the social system by (supposedly) being a peasant whose virtues outclass those of a noble, and took back his country’s freedom from the invaders is one which easily fills the span of the first chapter, all FE15 actually NEEDS from Celica is to display her kind nature and connect it to a determination to better the lives of all people, for her to be established as a competent crusader herself,* and for her to arrive at the capitol at roughly the same time as Alm so they can meet.<br /><br />The problem is that that list doesn’t need a full chapter to accomplish. A mere 2 detours against marauding pirates are ALL that you need to cement Celica’s nature inasmuch as has relevance to her position in the plot, and her fighting prowess (as well as establish the setting lore that conditions are bad all over the country by this point, which is a valuable secondary priority). The pirates themselves don’t have any relevance to the game’s story, not the way squads of soldiers from Rigel do--the latter are a necessary gear in the machine of a story of Alm’s military conquests, but there’s no overarching part of the plot that the pirates actually relate to. They’re just there to be tools of Celica’s character development, and once that’s done with, they’re no more than filler. As such, Celica spends the majority of her first act wasting time.<br /><br />Now, once the first chapter is done, both Alm and Celica each have a more competitive pace of moving toward their respective journeys’ goals, at least. Although it does still feel like Alm is more steadily progressing forward in a sequence of story events, while Celica has spurts of starts and stops with it. Still, her futzing around with pirates just for the hell of it is finally over. But even once the pacing problem is fixed, Alm and Celica are still drastically mismatched as protagonists.<br /><br />Once they’ve had their extremely forced parting of ways, Alm’s plan is to continue to fight for the safety of his homeland and end the war through force, while Celica's plan is to save everyone by getting the goddess to step in. Now obviously, trying to end things without extra bloodshed is the preferable option! But in practice...Celica's plan turns out to be total bupkis, because Mila's not only unavailable via kidnap, but starting to go malevolently nuts anyway. So even if she'd been around for Celica to petition, Mila wouldn't have been able to actually do anything useful.<br /><br />So, Alm's approach succeeds, and continues to succeed fully as he marches straight into the enemy capitol and defeats the emperor...while Celica's approach achieves nothing beyond putting her in a necessary position for mucking about with self-sacrifice.** And let me tell you, getting a magical plot girl into position for a weepy self-sacrifice is not exactly a difficult thing to accomplish in an RPG. Fucking <i>Kemco</i> can do it without much effort.<br /><br />And Celica’s penchant for being wrong is only further underscored with her decision to accept Jedah’s terms and be his sacrificial soul. I mean, it’s an absurdly stupid, shortsighted decision to begin with, and it only gets worse as the game pads the closing to Celica’s story out by making it more and more clear how untrustworthy Jedah is by having him throw up obstacles to <i>his own plan</i> as he attempts to kill Celica’s allies in front of her. While Alm is closing in on the emperor’s throne and forcefully uniting the 2 countries, Celica is hemming and hawing about selling her soul to an insane dark god, and moronically swallowing every lie an obvious villain is feeding her like she’s a prototype for Edelgard.<br /><br />I mean, just, like, contrast the final climax of Alm and Celica’s respective journeys. Alm defeats the emperor in battle, discovers the truth of his own origins, takes the Rigellian throne through both victory and birthright, and puts an end to the war between his nations. Celica...willingly offers her soul to an insane god at the urging of a cult leader, mistakenly believing that it will get the dark god to calm his fucking tits for 2 seconds. Alm is successful in his aim and achieves a demonstrable, significant positive result, while Celica’s entire journey has all been leading up to her voluntarily falling into the clutches of the game’s villain. That’s what <i>half of the game</i> has been about! Futzing around with pirates, doing a Twitter drama with Alm, fruitlessly trying to petition and then rescue Mila, following Jedah and trying to get him to concentrate on something other than random murder for long enough to make his sales pitch...ALL of it, to the end goal of having this “protagonist” get duped by the main bad guy.<br /><br />I’m really supposed to buy that Celica is an equal partner in this game’s story? Her major role in the course of Fire Emblem 15’s events is to be the <b>idiot</b> who donates her body to <strike>science</strike> a dark god, an action designed specifically for the purpose of allowing Alm to get the magic hero sword, do the magic hero things, and stab some basic fucking sense into her. How exactly does FE15 expect me to look at Celica as a protagonist, when the entirety of her role as such is to be a mirror and vehicle for someone <i>else’s</i> heroics?<br /><br />She doesn’t even work as a protagonist on a meta level. Fire Emblem 15’s story is, in largest part, a message about the importance of we human beings relying upon ourselves to resolve our conflicts and govern our affairs, and that we can’t trust higher powers like gods to lead our species. Alm’s story of a (supposed) peasant leading a resistance to forcibly unite warring nations, a human settling human matters without divine interference, is in perfect thematic alignment with this moral. Celica’s entire story, on the other hand, is nothing but a series of follies that serve to underscore the idea that trusting in the gods rather than humanity is hopeless. She is the goddamn Goofus to Alm’s Gallant.<br /><br />Now, sure, it’s quite possible to have a very effective protagonist and successful story when the work’s message is made through a protagonist’s repeated failures rather than success--but that’s only gonna work when there’s <b>1</b> protagonist to work with. When you’ve got 2 main characters, and 1 of them is always right as he proves the overall theme by successfully implementing its ideals, and 1 of them is always wrong as she proves the overall theme by acting against its ideals and consistently failing, then obviously the guy who actually embodies the story’s message is going to seem far more genuinely the protagonist of the game!<br /><br />Hell, Celica’s side of the story isn’t even fun to <i>play</i>. I mean, sure, it’s an RPG, so it’s not fun anyway, but there’s no denying that having to deal with poison terrain and mob spawns over and over in Celica’s story makes it far more of a slog than Alm’s.<br /><br />Fire Emblem 15 presents itself as a joint story of multiple protagonists each journeying to save the world in their own way, but Treasure of the Rudras this ain’t. Alm and Celica’s individual worth as protagonists is just completely lopsided. The fact of the matter is that FE15 is just a regular RPG story of a hero and a supporting magical plot girl that he’s ultimately responsible for babysitting.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* And honestly, even this is kind of just unnecessary. Since her goal is to find a non-violent means to end the war, first by appealing to a mother goddess and then by agreeing to a really, really stupid deal, Celica’s being a capable fighter and military leader isn’t actually important the way it is for Alm to be.<br /><br /><br />** Which, by the way, annoys me greatly from an ethical standpoint. While I accept that there are times when a peaceful solution to international conflict is simply not possible, Fire Emblem 15 seems eager to make the case that attempting a diplomatic solution is invariably so ineffectual that it’s pointless to even try. This is a game where crushing your enemies and annexing their territory is how peace is achieved, while attempting to involve greater powers as mediators and treating with your enemies only worsens the situation. Yeah, very healthy perspective to have, Nintendo, thanks a bunch for the great insight.</p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-70040873722022108102023-11-18T08:08:00.010-08:002023-11-18T08:08:00.132-08:00Omori's and Whisper of a Rose's SimilaritiesYeah, so, major spoilers for both Omori and Whisper of a Rose. Like...don’t read this if you’re not fully familiar with whichever game(s) you have <i>any</i> intention to play in the future.<br /><br /><br /><br />So, like...has anyone else noticed that Omori is uncannily similar to Whisper of a Rose?<br /><br />The answer to that question seems to be no. Which is surprising, considering that Omori has gotten an Undertale-esque level of attention, adulation, and intellectual interest since its debut 2 years ago (an earned response, I should note). You wouldn’t think some random ass internet yutz like me would be able to notice something interesting that no one else has recognized about such a widely beloved and scrutinized title, so long after its release. But it’s also not surprising at the same time, because Whisper of a Rose is a pretty damned obscure indie RPG whose lasting impact on its player base could be considered tepid at best, when it’s not simply outright forgotten (and frankly, that’s not exactly an unearned response, either). For me, however, all RPGs entrap themselves within my mind in cages of relevance, so, as long as my memory still functions in any capacity, even obscure and frankly unremarkable titles stay fresh enough in my consciousness that they’re on hand and ready for purposes of comparison.<br /><br />And that’s why I’m in, as far as I’ve discovered in my searches online, the unique position of realizing that Omori is not the first RPG I’ve played which does all of the following:<br /><br /><br />- Showcases an adventure that takes place within a colorful and varied dream world.<br />- Intimately connects the characters and purpose of said dream world with the protagonist’s past emotional trauma.<br />- Incorporates significant counterparts of a number of the signature elements, items, and individuals of real-world childhood into the dream realm.<br />- Creates a plot-essential dichotomy between this dream world and the real world.<br />- Thematically features phobias as enemies or obstacles to be overcome.<br />- Involves a final battle against an unemotional entity of the dream world who aims to manifest himself in the real world.<br />- Tells a story about the necessity of confronting the source(s) of one’s trauma and pain.<br />- Contains an ending in which the protagonist has jumped off a skyscraper, and the credits roll as we watch them falling to their death.<br /><br /><br />I mean how does that last one happen <i>twice</i>? Granted it’s at least not the 1 and only ending for Omori, but still.<br /><br />So now, having established this bizarre level of similarity between Whisper of a Rose and Omori, I have reached the part of the rant where I usually would reveal that I had some sort of point for bringing this up. Except...I’m kinda at a loss as to what to do with this information.<br /><br />I mean, I’m not drawing these comparisons because I think Omori plagiarized Whisper of a Rose. I genuinely think these parallels are coincidence--nothing about Omori’s actual approach to these similarities feels like that of Whisper of a Rose, I haven’t seen any indication that Omocat has ever mentioned the game as an influence or even ever played it before, and as I noted above, WoaR is so exceptionally obscure even by indie title standards that it doesn’t seem like anyone before me has noticed the resemblance. Omori’s definitely a work quite proud to have been influenced by others that came before it,* but I would honestly be surprised to discover that Whisper of a Rose was 1 of them.<br /><br />I guess I could go into a whole big, extensive rant about why it is that Omori succeeds so effectively while Whisper of a Rose never seems to bring it home on any of its points, but...I don’t wanna? I mean, most of what that rant’s gonna come down to is just Omori having better writing, more varied and layered storytelling methods (which is really just “better writing” again), a more genuine and varied set of personalities and means for speaking in those personalities’ voices (which again really just falls under the “better writing” category), and a stronger purpose in communicating with its audience (“better writing” yet again). If you ARE familiar with both games, nothing I’d say would be news to you; I’d only be noting the obvious. And if you’re only familiar with 1 of them, odds are that such a rant would only be shitting on some game you don’t know anyway, so who cares?<br /><br />Besides, while I <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2017/03/whisper-of-rose.html">don’t shy away from criticizing it</a>, and while I don’t like it, I still do respect Whisper of a Rose for trying to do something meaningful and cerebral. It doesn’t deserve to be dragged out into the spotlight to have its every failing re-examined just so I can hype up another game that’s already received its critical due anyway. Hell, WoaR probably didn’t fully deserve it the last time I got my licks in on it.<br /><br />So yeah, I guess that means that we’re kinda at the end of today’s rant. I just thought it was interesting that I’ve played 2 unrelated Indie RPGs that shared so many significant and signature elements and directives, and wanted to say so. Make of it what you will! Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll be back to form with another 6+ page analytical treatise on something tiny that doesn’t matter in the slightest all too soon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* Is it just me, or are all the best Mother-styled games not actually part of the Mother series?<br />The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-733022690452832102023-11-08T08:08:00.001-08:002023-11-08T08:08:00.152-08:00Shin Megami Tensei 5's Protagonist's Inaction Against Lahmu<p>God<i>damn</i> is there ever a lot of <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2013/03/general-rpgs-voyeuristic-paralysis.html">Voyeuristic Paralysis Syndrome</a> going on in Shin Megami Tensei 5’s second chapter. I mean, standing around gawking uselessly while bad things go on around them that so easily could be prevented is an epidemic among RPG heroes all over, to be sure, but I haven’t seen levels of slack-jawed motionlessness this bad since Xenosaga 3!<br /><br />Let’s count’em off, shall we?<br /><br /><br /><u>Lahmu’s Initial Attack</u>: Alright, so right off the bat with this namby-pamby demon dipshit who looks like something that’s been left in the back of the fridge for a few periods of “too long” stacked on top of each other, we get him arriving and stirring some shit. Then, once his bad intentions have been made clear, Lahmu turns to gaze at the rest of the city, monologues (with no particular haste) about feeling the source of his true power out there, and then moseys off to pursue this power. And what does our hero, the Nahobino, do while Lahmu waxes villainous about what he’s gonna be getting up to, and makes his exit? Why, our boy stands and watches the whole time, of course! Yeah, by all means, buddy, don’t prevent a new enemy from leaving after hearing him outright state he’s out to acquire greater power. I’m sure that’s not gonna come back to bite us all in the ass. I know it’s not exactly the easiest thing to take Lahmu seriously when he looks like a drain clog badly cosplaying as calamari, but come on.<br /><br />Maybe our hero’s hoping for those little things in the credits that give special thanks to YOU, the viewer, and figures he’s gotta earn the title if he wants to feel special from it. Anyway, that’s 1.<br /><br /><br /><u>School Lobby</u>: So upon arriving, the Nahobino discovers that Lahmu has grabbed Sahori, claiming that she’s his fated other half and the one that gives him his greatest strength and whatever other drivel he’s read on his favorite simp channels on Discord. The Nahobino is given the choice of whether he wants his priority to be to save Sahori, or kill Lahmu...but apparently he must have thought the question was just a thought exercise, because whatever his answer may be, his next action is to just stand there and watch events unfold before him. The lazy dumbass doesn’t even make a move when Lahmu actually drops Sahori! She’s RIGHT THERE, like 10 feet in front of him, 2 steps and a slightly stooped back away from being fully and completely rescued...and the Nahobino does NOTHING but watch as she slowly, clumsily climbs back into what I <b>really</b> hope is Lahmu’s mouth. Lahmu is then once more allowed to just wander off unimpeded, and Aogami actually has the <i>shamelessness</i> to remark that Lahmu needs to be put down quickly.<br /><br />Maybe the protagonist has a deal with Atlus in which he gets to pocket whatever part of the game’s animation budget doesn’t get used. At any rate, that’s 2.<br /><br /><br /><u>Classroom</u>: Upon arriving at the classroom at the end of the school mini-dungeon, the Nahobino witnesses a scene in which Sahori threatens her bullies, and delivers a short speech to them which makes it clear that she’s not going to grant them the mercy that they’re begging for. And boy does he witness it. He witnesses the <i>hell</i> out of this scene. Keep your Schrodingerian cats far away if you value their ambiguity, because our hero is going on an observational <i>rampage</i> over here!<br /><br />Now granted, the Nahobino actually does make an attempt to do something about this situation a minute later...but that’s only AFTER Lahmu has shown up and can thus adequately take steps to stop him. For the full time that Sahori was talking, making it clear that she intended to kill the hostages before her, our protagonist had a clear, unimpeded shot at getting to and restraining her without any interference whatsoever. There was every opportunity through Sahori’s entire speech to remove her and thus completely resolve this situation and save the lives of all involved. The protagonist specifically waited to act until Lahmu was back on the scene and able to foil his efforts.<br /><br />Maybe our guy just believes in fair play to an absolute fault. Whatever the case, that’s 3.<br /><br /><br /><u>Final Confrontation</u>: After a prolonged, exceptionally boring slog through Chapter 2’s map involving constantly moving goalposts, hide-and-seek distractions, and fetch-quest delays, the protagonist finally comes upon Lahmu, whose attention is fixed entirely upon Sahori. Aogami observes that, with Lahmu distracted, they may be able to take him off-guard, once again adding insult to injury as we all know goddamn well by this point that this chucklehead isn’t gonna do anything of the sort. Once again, the main character is given a choice to either concentrate on saving Sahori, or on killing Lahmu, and once again, neither choice does anything to prevent him from standing there and doing absolutely nothing, as Sahori gets eaten by Lahmu, and Lahmu gets a huge power-up from it.<br /><br />Maybe the Nahobino’s just got a vore fetish. Regardless, that’s 4.<br /><br />...Except, no, hold on. This shouldn’t just count as only 1 point on our scale. Because this dumbass isn’t JUST passively watching an anguished teenager get murdered before his eyes. No, when Tao tries to intervene, our great hero actually reaches out and holds her back. Yes, the Nahobino is so aggressively committed to inaction that he <i>deliberately prevents others</i> from being proactive and heroic. Surely that’s worth a bonus half point there, yes?<br /><br /><br />So that’s 4.5. An entire 4 separate instances of conflict with the <i>same villain</i>, all during the span of a <i>single chapter</i>, in which the hero of this game conspicuously just stands around and lets bad things happen in front of him, and an extra half point for the fact that he even forces his inertness upon others who might otherwise have made some kind of effort to save lives. Even considering the puzzling inclination that RPG characters naturally have for listlessly watching the world go to shit around them, that’s the kind of poor writing that really stands out.<br /><br />And remember: this idle, mindless watcher is the same guy that a resurrected Tao later decides to support for godhood, endorsing him on the grounds that he was "<b>the only one who tried to help Sahori</b>." What an absolute goddamn joke. Fuck you, Atlus, don’t piss on my franchise and tell me it’s raining.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-66334104883310105282023-10-28T08:08:00.039-07:002023-10-28T08:08:00.137-07:00Omori's Sweetheart<p>Omori’s 1 of those games where reading practically anything about it will likely result in huge spoilers. Honestly, I’m kinda relieved that it’s done well enough that I don’t feel it really needs a rant recommending it, because I don’t even know how the hell someone CAN speak positively about its virtues without giving way too much away. I mean, I guess “If Mother 3, Undertale, and Large Battleship Studios were a Venn diagram, Omori would be the spot where they all intersect” does the job, but it’s kinda hard to stretch that out into a whole damn rant, at least not without some elaborate details that would give plot twists away. But anyways, if you’re not already, like, 75%-through-the-game-familiar with Omori, then it’s best you pass today’s rant up.<br /><br /><br /><br />Omori is a pretty damned awesome RPG, if you’re a fan of surrealism, the psychology of imagination and trauma and guilt, childhood innocence and its loss, the joy and need for friendship...or just games that are designed to rip your heart out of your ass.* And I certainly am, so I love it. It’s artistic, emotionally gripping--even <i>overpowering</i>--and highly intelligent.<br /><br />In that last regard, there’s a lot going on below the surface in its events and cast, particularly those of the Headspace half of the game, that’s fascinating to figure out and understand in terms of how it relates to the core conflict in Sunny’s heart and the truth of the worst day of his and everyone else’s life. Omocat does a terrific job of creating the parallels between the features of Headspace and that which inspired them in real life, and allowing you to recognize them as such--at times the revelation feels almost like a physical sensation; I almost felt like I’d been <i>struck</i> when I recognized the familiarity of the tree-house. More intriguing than that, though, is penetrating the meaning of the more important entities and happenings of Omori’s dream adventures. And as expected of the one who functions as the closest thing the game has to a villain, Sweetheart is no different. Behind her obnoxious hostility, below the wake of her selfishness which draws the heroes into the majority of their adventures in the Headspace’s main plotline, lies the intriguing truth: that the entity of Sweetheart was created specifically to be a misleading antagonist whose shenanigans would keep Sunny’s mind distracted, preventing him from pursuing the truths represented by Basil.<br /><br />So yeah, that’s cool. Understanding the deeper role and purpose of Sweetheart’s existence is very interesting, an elegant piece of Omori’s elaborate layered puzzle of the psyche. Whenever an analytical discussion about Sweetheart occurs, it’s invariably about this facet, her relevance on the higher level. As well should be the case; that’s the most important and interesting layer to examine in Omori.<br /><br />But you know what? I think something that’s overlooked is that Sweetheart is, taken only in her own right, a pretty thoughtfully-crafted character. I mean, by all means, what’s most significant and interesting about her is the fact that she’s a mental tool in Omori’s arsenal to keep Sunny too distracted for self-realization. No debate there. But it’s nonetheless worth acknowledging that Sweetheart’s character was crafted with some interesting depth and symbolism in and of herself, independent of her higher-level purpose. If Omori was a game that <i>only</i> consisted of its Headspace adventures, full-stop, no higher purpose and no real world components, Sweetheart would still be a pretty well-written villain.<br /><br />Obviously meant to take on a similar role to Porky from the Mother series that Omori takes pride in styling itself after,** Sweetheart is an obnoxious narcissist whose complete disregard of the needs or worth of everyone around her is the cause, directly and indirectly, of most of the major problems that the Headspace’s adventures revolve around. But while a quick dismissal of “he’s just a rotten, spoiled kid” suffices to explain away Porky’s incentive to be 1 of the most universally loathsome little bastards in fiction, Omocat put some thought and care into the background and motivation for Sweetheart. Everything Sweetheart does, every lousy, self-serving impulse she has, every Elon Musk moment of groundless self-congratulating mirror-worship, comes back to her donut hole.<br /><br />No, that’s not a euphemism of some kind, and if you thought it was, then HA! I GOT YOU! <i>You’re</i> reading this rant without having played Omori, even though I specifically told you not to! You stop that <i>immediately</i> and go to your room, young man/woman/etc to think about what you did! For everyone who SHOULD be here, however, you know that Sweetheart literally has a round and empty space in her abdomen which speaks to her donut heritage in spite of her otherwise human appearance, and that I’m not just speaking in some crude sexual slang.***<br /><br />And that donut hole isn’t just a way to make Sweetheart fit in with the rest of the residents of this dream world, who are a whole circus of cutesy living animals and foods and toys and whatnot. I mean, okay, it IS, but that’s not what’s important about it. What’s important is that it represents the fact that Sweetheart is <u>incomplete</u>. She’s <i>missing</i> something, something important, from the core of her being. Like any donut, Sweetheart’s existence is defined by absence, the absence of its center, the very most foundational part of anything and anyone. <br /><br />Now, what Sweetheart is missing is not just the mundane physical matter (or whatever passes for physical matter in a dream world) absent in her donut hole. That’s merely a symbol that alerts us to the fact of her incompleteness. No, that which is missing from Sweetheart is her capacity to care, to love, to form and enjoy meaningful emotional connections with others. And how do we know this? Well, I mean, it’s not exactly hard to deduce. She can’t sincerely return Captain Spaceboy’s affections as a girlfriend or a wife, she gives no indication of caring a lick about her fans and adorers and in fact will harshly punish them for even the slightest infraction without any consideration of their suffering, she lets children take the fall for her misdeeds rather than be inconvenienced by consequences, and she can’t find it in herself to accept any of the duplicates of herself that she had specially commissioned specifically as her perfect suitors. <br /><br />And besides the fact that it’s just generally not hard to deduce that this chick is a bit of a psychopath, Perfectheart makes this quite clear. If you look at her battle portrait, Perfectheart--created to be the superior, perfect version of Sweetheart, remember, which we can assume means that she is “complete” in any way that Sweetheart is not--is displaying that which she possesses and Sweetheart does not. She’s using her fingers to cutely form a heart, cleverly and proudly making prominent that which defines her as the greater, perfect version of herself.**** Sweetheart lacks a heart, lacks what the heart represents, the capacity to love and care and connect and empathize.<br /><br />And I mean she lacks that capacity <i>entirely</i>. She doesn’t just lack the heart needed to be able to care for others--Sweetheart is equally incapable of loving even <i>herself</i>. And on at least some level, she knows it. Somewhere buried in her psyche, Sweetheart is fully aware that there is something fundamentally missing from who she is, and recognizes that it’s the ability to feel love.<br /><br />Why do you think it is that Sweetheart makes the entirety of her existence revolve around the search for love? She’s trying to fill that gaping donut hole in her being with what she instinctively knows is missing. She charms Captain Spaceboy into being her boyfriend and, later, husband, hoping that the love of a handsome and desirable significant other will complete her, but each time she callously calls it off, unable to make it work because the poor guy just means nothing to her. She lives as an idol worshiped by incalculable fans and en entire culture of sprout moles, hoping that the love of a giant collective social hole will fix her, but the adoration that she receives and demands from her followers softens her not a bit, and if anything, she seems more annoyed and frustrated by her legions of adorers’ efforts to please her. She combines both her efforts to fill her void with romantic and with wide social love through a dating game show in an effort to find a proper suitor, but the result is likewise a combination of her other failures, an inability to care about the prospective suitor-contestants and an irritation with them for their facile veneration.<br /><br />But that search for love is also clearly as much internal as external. When Sweetheart despairs of finding the love that will complete her in others, she then tries to find it in herself, attempting at first to marry herself, and then commissioning mad scientists to artificially create a copy of herself to be her perfect suitor. Again, failures all around, because Sweetheart is as unable to feel love for herself as she is to feel it for anyone else.<br /><br />And don’t let the narcissism fool you. It’s only yet another symptom of her emptiness. It’s because Sweetheart knows she is incomplete, on some level knows what she’s missing, that she so loudly, obnoxiously preens and chortles and proclaims her own perfection. Narcissists like Sweetheart often don’t shout their greatness to the heavens because it’s something they actually believe. They do it because they <i>know</i> something’s missing from them, something essential, and they’re desperate to cover that up. The repugnant volume is because they’re trying so damn hard to convince themselves of the worth they’re espousing. You don’t shout your worth out into a crowd, into the void, and at your own mirror, when you actually believe in it.<br /><br />No wonder the existence of Perfectheart is so repellent to Sweetheart--not only is she incapable of loving herself to begin with, but the potential of being seen side-by-side with a superior, whole version of herself, and having what she is lacking thus exposed and highlighted for all to see, would surely be terrifying for her.<br /><br />So yeah, altogether, Sweetheart is a pretty well-written character in her own right.***** Granted, as I said before, this is all ultimately not what’s actually important about the character--Sweetheart’s true, significant contribution to Omori is that she’s a mental defense mechanism, employed as a distraction to try to keep Sunny’s subconscious from remembering the truth of Mari’s death. Still, while that matter is well-established and communicated amongst players of Omori, the fact that Sweetheart is still a thoughtfully crafted villain even on the surface level of Headspace is, I think, also worth some attention and appreciation. Sweetheart would have functioned perfectly fine as a one-dimensional obnoxious tool like her inspiration Porky, but Omocat went the extra mile in creating a psychological and symbolic cause for her villainy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* I don’t care if it comes from a goddamn Adam Sandler film. It’s a great line. Bite me.<br /><br /><br />** Maybe a little too much, for that matter. Look, Omori, it’s really cool and great and rad that you beat Mother at its own game, and <i>soundly</i> for that matter, but did you really HAVE to emulate Mother's pace of battle flow and input and text? Just like with Earthbound and Mother 3, everything goes just a teeny tiny frustrating bit slower than feels right.<br /><br /><br />*** Although let’s not kid ourselves: that pin-up you can find in the game of Sweetheart in a bikini which prominently shows said tummy hole? It has <b>absolutely</b> awakened something in <i>someone</i>.<br /><br /><br />**** And man, it sure seems like Perfectheart doesn’t mind rubbing Sweetheart’s face in it. I mean, not only is she just outright showing off what makes her better, she’s doing so by making a heart with her fingers--or, if you look at it another way, a heart-shaped <i>hole</i> with them.<br /><br /><br />***** So much so, in fact, that it’s actually a bit immersion-breaking. I mean, she IS, like all other aspects of Headspace, a creation of Sunny’s imagination, memories, impressions, and knowledge. So...it’s a bit puzzling that she could be such a good, symbolic, and insightful example of a person whose narcissism is a facade to hide their personal and emotional incompleteness from the world. Sunny is understanding human psychology at a suspiciously high level for a teen whose mental development has largely been stalled since the age of 12 and who hasn’t been in a school setting since that time, and while Sweetheart’s existence is taken from real-world points of inspiration (a fictional character and a vexing candy vendor), it’s unlikely that these can account for the depth of Sweetheart’s psychology in Sunny’s headspace.<br /><br />Then again, that’s easier to shrug off than the fact that Roboheart’s existence means that Sunny must apparently know Base64 encoding language so inhumanly thoroughly that he can mentally translate English sentences into it on the fly. Ah, well, a little suspension of disbelief never hurt anyone.<br /><br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-67611601442378912962023-10-18T08:08:00.000-07:002023-10-18T11:47:57.467-07:00Shin Megami Tensei 5's Cover Art<p>You know, the cover art for Shin Megami Tensei 5 is baffling. Here, look at this thing:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtngdLKdZyuDCN5hq7zGCvuuefBlZM4uWppYH2MsWdXL5PZvH6WizTFVDHw94exMQ5nwUl51a_WP0IDk8SBWiWs8Am8nJF5EyW-quS2TSvCX40zk-M5T_UW-nNU0oPgTiomDcHomB4U7DqsvBPz77pl1s1kEHh0aJY2iiT9ACPXTjkF6uCDx4uL3m_fma/s16000/SMT5%20Cover%20Art.png">OOPS! All Asshats</a><br /><br />I mean, first of all, it just looks kinda messy in general. It’s as if some kid dropped a bunch of his stickers all in a pile, and just left them there, facing whatever directions they happened to land in. I’m fairly sure that if I were to open up 1 of the boxes in which I keep my action figures I played with as a kid, the assorted jumble of superheroes and monsters and mutants that would greet me would be indistinguishable from this mess. Heaven help you if you actually want to try to sort out whose limbs are where here; my sister and I spent a good 10 minutes on a Where’s Waldo hunt to nail down the positioning of Nuwa’s (the chick at the top) legs, and figure out that what appears to be a single leg shaped like an S on Khonsu (the green guy) is actually 2 separate legs positioned perfectly to be confusing. If there is any possible way that transposing 1 character image on top of another will obscure the latter in a disorderly and misleading way, this cover finds it.<br /><br />At a guess, I’d say that the artist was shooting for a quadrant setup, wherein the space behind the protagonist is split into 4 parts and each spot is occupied by a character symbolic to a game faction or 1 of the game’s 4 endings or something. But with everyone asymmetrically facing different directions and stretching themselves out in an unruly clutter, whatever symbolic intent there may have been is totally ruined. How the hell do you fuck up a straightforward, neat, orderly quadrant setup? It’s not like this is a foreign idea to Atlus; they did the behind-protagonist-faction-split thing for SMT4-1’s cover art just fine. But for some reason, this time around they’ve just made the whole thing look like the outcome of a failed game of Twister.<br /><br />And let’s not mince words here: the art itself is pretty damned bad. Like, it all looks okay at a glance, albeit a senseless jumble, but give this cover a bit of scrutiny, and you realize that this thing’s a damned disaster of bad proportions. The Nahobino’s twisting himself around the way female bodies do in stereotypically bad 80s comic books, and there is nothing about the angling of his right leg and ankle that looks right to me. And what the hell is going on with Khonsu’s legs? The man’s left calf, which is <u>closer</u> to the viewer, is somehow <i>smaller</i> than the calf of the leg that is <u>further</u> from the viewer. And Jesus Christ, look at Nuwa’s arm! The woman’s got a branch like Sten from Breath of Fire 2, a monkey-man whose utility was having arms so long they were basically grappling hooks! And you don’t even see the end of the thing in this picture; for all we know, that absurd little wrist the width of a ballpoint pen might extend another 4 feet before finally ending in her hand. These characters look like they were drawn by a damned AI--and not one of the ones who draw my porn, either, those things understand proportions and perspective way better.<br /><br />Still, cover art whose sin is merely bad quality isn’t something I’d usually rant on. I mean, since I’ve already brought Sten to mind, it’s worth remembering that not once in the last 15 years have I said a single thing about the fact that Breath of Fire 1 and 2’s SNES box art in the USA looks like someone at Squaresoft/Capcom was going through a Rob Liefeld phase. As amateurish and unappealing as Shin Megami Tensei 5’s cover art may be, surely it’s not significantly more deserving of scorn than Gobi, Ox, and Rand’s soulless Youngblood eyes, nor Bow’s pose and grin ripped straight out of a try-hard 90s drug PSA. But SMT5’s cover art is more than just merely a tangled, poorly-designed mess. What’s really perplexing about it is the <i>content</i> of that mess.<br /><br />So, Nuwa and Abdiel (the angel), sure, you expect them to be in there. They’re the major patrons of 2 of the game’s 3 factions, after all, and some of the most important characters in the game. Hell, Abdiel’s 1 of exactly 2 individuals in the entirety of Shin Megami Tensei 5 that I could really qualify as actually having a story arc. And it makes sense for Amanozako (the fairy) to be right there with the protagonist, since she’s the closest thing to a proper, real party member that the game can offer.<br /><br />But what the heck are Khonsu and Hayataro (the canine) doing there? Khonsu is the central figure of a goddamn <i>sidequest</i> in the game. Sure, you have to have finished that sidequest in order to access the final, “true” Neutral ending, but that doesn’t actually tie him to the ending or story in any meaningful way. If we’re going to count just any old entity whose event flag has to have been activated for you to reach the ending as someone important, we might as well throw the shopkeeper, some tutorial enemies, and Faceless NPC 14 in there with Khonsu, too; can’t beat the game without interacting in some way with all of them!<br /><br />And Hayataro? For real? Hayataro is so inconsequential that I have to look up his name every single time I need to refer to him. And I can say that with complete confidence in its accuracy, because this rant is to date the first time I’ve ever had to do so, and I highly doubt there’ll be a second instance. He’s THAT insignificant. I may have literally forgotten that Noel in Star Ocean 2 wasn’t just a random NPC, <i>multiple times</i>, as I played it, but at the very least I can still remember his damned name! Atlus could not have selected a less material character to represent this game, short of just slapping a random-encounter enemy on there! And frankly, even that’s debatable, because you’ll have spent more time in the presence of every random encounter enemy in this game than you will have in Hayataro’s.<br /><br />And the space Khonsu and Hayataro occupy...with Abdiel on the lower right and Nuwa on the upper right, it seems obvious that Hayatero’s and Khonsu’s being in the opposite quadrants is meant to imply that they’re representing factions just as Abdiel and Nuwa do. So that just makes this all the more puzzling. Why in the world would Chaos be signified by Hayatero, the mere combat partner to Atsuta, and not by Koshimizu, the actual damn patron of the faction? Koshimizu’s the obvious counterpart to Abdiel and Nuwa in the game. Hayataro’s like the henchman of a henchman.<br /><br />And what is Khonsu doing there at all? I mean, yes, okay, Neutral has 2 separate endings it can get and, as mentioned, 1 of them requires you to have finished a series of sidequests in which Khonsu figures heavily, but even if we were to pretend that he’s got any actual thematic significance to the faction of Neutrality, he still is certainly not so important in his sidequest capacity that you could rationally consider him a patron of the faction like Nuwa, Abdiel, and Koshimizu are. And why <i>should</i> we even pretend that far? The fact is still that Khonsu has no actual thematic or philosophical ties to Neutral, especially not the version of Neutral that this game’s ending champions--why is the guy who proves that demons can be benevolent to humans being touted as the symbol of an ending which bans all demons from existence?<br /><br />I’m not even going to bother questioning why the fuck 1 of Lahmu’s tentacle mouths happens to just be sitting disembodied in the background. There’s just not gonna be a good answer to that.<br /><br />Lastly, in addition to talking about who’s on this cover when they shouldn’t be, let’s also talk about who’s not on this cover when they absolutely should be. Namely: Tao. Where’s Tao? Shouldn’t she be here, too? Tao is maybe the most important figure in her own right within this miserable excuse for a story, the nearest approximation you can get to the traditional SMT Heroine like Hiroko and Isabeau. As I said earlier, I can only assume that Amanozako’s on the cover because she’s the closest thing to a consistent companion that SMT5 has to offer, so why wouldn’t Tao, the other substantial companion-ish ally in the game, also be here? She’d be a good counterpart to Amanozako, in that regard, providing another case of the 2-sides-opposed thing that the quadrant setup allows for. Not like there’d be much problem with adding her there, either; Tao would basically just be covering up Abdiel’s ballerina-posing leg ineptly overlapping with Hayatero’s limb, and Lahmu’s completely inexplicable tentacle-maw. No great loss on any of those counts. Then again, given the level of skill with symmetry that’s been evident thus far with this art, no doubt Tao’s presence there would translate into having her stretched into an unholy pretzel like some glitching asset in a Bethesda title.<br /><br />As far as Shin Megami Tensei 5’s sins go, having a bad piece of cover art is about as light and harmless as they come. This is absolutely 1 of <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/08/fire-emblem-15s-royal-treasury.html">those</a> <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-tales-of-seriess-naming-oddity.html">rants</a>--<a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-final-fantasy-seriess-limit-break.html">those</a> <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/05/breath-of-fire-1s-second-wind.html">many</a>, <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-shadowrun-seriess-pc-titles-running.html">many</a> <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2006/08/star-ocean-3s-treasure-chests.html">rants</a>--about a subject that I myself fully admit doesn’t really matter. Still, egregious incompetence when it comes to the little things is so often the first warning sign that the same poor quality permeates a product to its core, and that’s certainly the case here. With Shin Megami Tensei 5, you really can judge a book by its cover.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-87426784122334942562023-10-08T08:08:00.002-07:002023-10-08T08:08:00.146-07:00Fire Emblem 15 Stray Thoughts<p>You know, I actually am finding that I really like these mini-rant collections quite a lot. Most of my thoughts and criticisms about an RPG don’t necessarily amount to a full essay’s worth, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to say my piece about a game nonetheless. This is turning out to be a really handy way to get this junk off my mind without having to pad it out. And it’s handy for a game like Fire Emblem 15, a game which is fine, but not remarkable enough that most of my impressions about it have been particularly strong, but also juuuuuust dumb enough at times that I do want to poke fun at it a bit.<br /><br /><br /><br />- Toward the end of the game’s prologue, Celica asks Mycen if he thinks she’ll ever meet Alm again, to which he responds, “I do. So long as destiny wills it.”<br /><br />Uhhh...so if I’m working with an adequate understanding of the definition of the word “destiny,” then what you’re saying, Mycen, is, “Yeah, I think it’ll happen, as long as it’s something that’s gonna happen.” Yeah, uh, just as a heads-up: literally <i>anything</i> and <i>everything</i> that happens does so because destiny wills it. That’s how destiny <i>works</i>.<br /><br /><br />- Nintendo made an interesting attempt in this game to add a more traditional battle encounter system with the incorporation of some (very mild) third-person POV dungeon-crawling. It...doesn’t really work, honestly. Generally speaking, Tactical RPG combat systems just make encounters take too long to get through for mundane run-into-enemy fights to feel like anything more than a chore. Random encounters when you weren’t specifically hoping to grind some levels was easily the most annoying part of Final Fantasy Tactics for me, and FFT, at least, allowed for some proper leveling to come from them, whereas the capacity for unit growth in Fire Emblem games is pretty strictly controlled and thus these little battles generally don’t offer much reward for the time you put into them. Additionally the actual process of navigating these dungeons is so rudimentary, and the dungeons themselves designed so half-heartedly, that the whole experience is bland and tasteless, even by RPG standards.<br /><br />Still, it is kind of interesting that it happened at all. Fire Emblem isn’t given to mixing up its formulaic gameplay elements with anything more than some benign window-dressing here and there, at least from what I’ve seen of it, so this approach did catch my eye.<br /><br /><br />- Hey, it turned out Mycen was right, the thing happened because it was fated to happen so it did! What he didn’t realize, however, was that destiny also willed Celica and Alm’s reunion to be written by a goddamn pod-person whose only training at being human was reading tweets between feuding Youtubers.<br /><br />Seriously, Alm and Celica’s reunion quarrel feels like 2 tabletop players were intentionally competing to see who could fail the most persuasion checks in a row. I’ve seen incompetent writers artificially heap on the melodramatic short-tempered misunderstandings, but <i>jeez</i>. We go from Celica tackle-hugging Alm so joyfully that she nearly sends them both tumbling over the balcony to their deaths, to stacking enough spontaneous accusations and truly absurd overreactions within a <u>less than 3 minute conversation</u> that Celica’s storms out in a huff at what a stubborn jerk Alm is, with him basically muttering “Nuh-uh, YOU ARE!” to her back. If you programmed an AI to write scripts for 1 Life to Live and fed it nothing but dialogue written by George Lucas, this is the scene you’d get.<br /><br /><br />- Since we’re on the subject, the beginning part of that reunion isn’t handled much better. Celica ecstatically exclaims that she’s finally found Alm after all this time, and it’s like...what do you mean, found him, and what do you mean, after all this time? You’re only even on this continent for your own unrelated quest, Celica, you weren’t looking for Alm. And if you had been, it wouldn’t have been all that hard; up until 2 weeks ago, the kid had been sitting in the same village you left him at for the past 7 years straight! No “finding” was involved in this matter.<br /><br /><br />- Clair: “You think you can walk up to a woman and ply her with a few compliments?”<br />Me: “Clair honey are you aware of which franchise you’re in?”<br /><br />Seriously, though, it’s a trite, cheap business that even after Clair properly and justifiably rejects Gray’s shallow wish to get into her pants, FE15’s ending tosses her to him like a piece of meat anyway. Even if the writers want to completely disregard it, I completely agree with Clair’s proudly stated belief that the person she falls for should actually know her as a person before loving her.<br /><br />In fact, I think I may agree with her sentiments a little more than SHE does, because her immediate, obvious, and skin-deep infatuation with Alm at the moment they met is <i>exactly</i> the behavior that she’s criticizing Gray for...<br /><br /><br />- They really oversold the whole conflict between Alm and Celica, to a degree so exaggerated that it ought to legally qualify as false advertising. I mean, the title cinematic opens with Alm and Celica reading a book about how Mila and Duma fought each other, and, in just <i>so natural</i> a fashion, tell each other, “Oh well let’s promise to NEVER fight each other like that, how silly would that be, amirite?” which has never, ever been said by any children who weren’t 100% guaranteed to someday try to kill each other. And then the game opens with a spoiler of the scene near the end of the game where Alm’s stabbed Celica with the Falchion. The game’s selling you HARD on the tragedy of war pitting 2 people in love against each other fatally.<br /><br />And it’s all just leading to this wet fart of a narrative payoff. Yeah, Alm and Celica have a battle to the death--because Celica is under a villain’s mind control. Yeah, Alm’s forced to kill Celica during the battle--a death she is <i>immediately</i> resurrected from; I’m talking from corpse to opening her eyes and striking up a conversation in <b>1.5 minutes</b>. Nintendo, you tremendous nincompoops, there is not the slightest element of epic tragedy nor irony in Celica and Alm taking up arms against each other if 1 doing it out of mind control instead of choice! And there is likewise not a shred of weight or pathos to the idea of this fight leading to Alm unwillingly killing Celica if she’s gonna pop back right as rain in less time than it takes Hulu to run a commercial break! Alm and Celica never willingly clash, Celica recovers from <b>death </b>at a rate of literally, <i>mathematically</i> more than 10,000 times the rate at which I recover from the mere inconvenience of a <i>poison ivy rash</i>, their armies are not marching in conflict with one another, and the one and only time they don’t get along, EVER, is, as mentioned above, so absurdly unnatural that I have to assume that it was actually penned by a bowl of yogurt. The grand, dramatic tragedy of fate and circumstance turning cherished loves against one another that was implied and as good as promised is <i>nowhere</i> in Fire Emblem 15.<br /><br /><br />- So Alm and Celica were, at least for a little while, raised by the same grandfather figure. And when they were reading that story about Mila and Duma’s conflict, their promise not to fight as did Mila and Duma draws a clear symbolic parallel between the pairs. Similarly, in a few other ways late in the game and in the ending, this idea that Alm and Celica symbolically represent Mila and Duma is reinforced. Alm and Celica, the main couple who get married in the end. And Mila and Duma, the dragons, who are brother and sister.<br /><br />Oh Fire Emblem, you are just incorrigible. Even when you don’t actually have incest, I can tell you’re thinking about it, you rascal.<br /><br /><br />- I know that, by this point in the story, Berkut is certifiable for a stay in the looney bin or a stint as the CEO of Gearbox Entertainment, but I nonetheless cannot help but wonder about the logistics of his proposal to hold his and Rinea’s wedding atop Alm’s funeral. How do you see this happening, exactly, Berky? You gonna get down in the grave and balance on Alm’s casket, exchanging vows as the pallbearers start shoveling clumps of dirt down onto your tux? Is there gonna be 1 preacher guy saying “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” while another preacher guy sits on the first one’s shoulders and starts up with, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today,” each of them passing a Bible back and forth between them and hastily flipping between relevant passages?<br /><br />Or maybe you see yourself climbing up on top of Alm’s funeral pyre--finally got to be king of that hill, buddy, congrats!--and exchange rings with Rinea as the mourners hose you and the pile down with kerosene and toss a match? I mean you’ve already made Rinea into some eternally-burning witch, so I guess roasting yourself is in the spirit of the whole “what’s yours is mine” marital thing.<br /><br /><br />- I guess reasoning out how one conducts one’s wedding atop a funeral is a moot point when the intended deceased soundly whups your ass, though. But at least Alm’s final victory over Berkut gives us this equally stupid gem to mull over, as Alm despairs over having been forced to kill his last blood relative: “Don’t you get it? I’ve spent enough of my life alone!”<br /><br />Oh, yeah, buddy, for sure. Yeah, you were really spending your life alone, alright, what with the grandfather who raised you, and the 4 steadfast friends who were always there for you and even marched off to fucking WAR solely for the sake of supporting you. Yeah, no, you’re right, I guess none of them fucking count because they don’t happen by dumb chance to share your genetics. How fucking tragic, Alm, that you only had people who loved you and stood by you in your life, when you could have had <b>Berkut</b> instead.<br /><br /><br />- Duma’s final words are to advise Alm and Celica to let his and Mila’s “grave mistakes be warnings of where not to tread” as Alm and Celica lead the world into the future. Um, weren't your "mistakes" just the fact that after enough time had passed, each of you lost your minds? So...your advice boils down to "don't go violently insane." Uh, yeah, thank heavens you mentioned it, Duma, doubtless that was at the top of their to-do list.<br /><br /><br />- Arguably the biggest point of Alm’s character development in the first half of the game is the fact that he’s proving that all men are equal and that social status does not dictate ability, as a peasant who achieves martial and leadership prowess that surpasses the nobles he’s surrounded by. The game seems very intent on setting him up to be an icon of the idea that greatness is within anyone’s reach, and assuming importance based on circumstances of birth is foolish.<br /><br />And then the writers go and reveal that he’s actually the son of the Rigellian emperor. They throw 70% of the development they’ve given Alm over the course of the game, along with every single argument he’s ever made on the matter of merit through ability rather than birth, out the window. They just rip up their own script, drop it in the toilet, take a big steamy dump on it, and slam their fist down on the flush lever like it owes them money. There is now absolutely nothing whatsoever to say that all the villains’ sentiments in the game’s first half about nobles being the only individuals qualified to lead were in any way wrong. Great fucking work, Nintendo, you really brought your goddamn A Game to this installment.<br /><br /><br />- So Faye is a woman who’s in love with Alm, but she never even stands a ghost of a chance of being with him because when filling out his Generic RPG Hero Application, he checked the “Path of Least Resistance” box under the Love Interest section. And so this is the ending Faye gets:<br /><br />“Unable to get Alm out of her mind, Faye returned to her old life in Ram Village. Eventually, she met and married a suitor who claimed he did not mind her pining for the king, though her habit of vanishing without notice for days at a time continued to worry her new family.”<br /><br />Wow, awesome. So Faye never gets over her love of Alm, lives a life so joyless that she frequently has to call in sick to her own <i>marriage</i>, and as a bonus, the innocent sod who married her gets to live the rest of his life knowing that he’s what his wife settled for--and it’s a transaction she regrets.<br /><br />Faye wasn’t even in the original Fire Emblem 2, you know. She was made exclusively for this remake. Nintendo made the conscious, specific choice to invent Faye <i>just</i> so she could be <i>miserable forever</i>.<br /><br /><br />- You know, on that note...a lot of people criticize the direction that Fire Emblem has gone with its character interrelationships, making the games a veritable fleet of possible ships where each cast member has multiple potential romantic mates for the player to choose among. And to be sure, it’s crassly indulgent pandering, it’s usually <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2016/05/fire-emblem-14s-inclusion-of-homosexual.html">skewed unrealistically</a> heavily and often even <i>unfairly</i> in favor of heterosexual pairings, it in large part caused <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2016/12/fire-emblem-14s-children.html">the catastrophically idiotic Deeprealms Babysitters Club of FE14</a>, and it frequently becomes a very troubling Eugenics 101 course for its audience. Critiques of turning the series into the equivalent of a preteen giggling and mashing her dolls and action figures into each other in pairs according to whatever mad whimsy enters her head are quite fair.<br /><br />But I’d like to point something out here: giving the player no agency over the romantic destinies of the cast of Fire Emblem 15 sure hasn’t done Clair, Faye, or Rinea any favors. <i>Especially</i> Rinea, Jesus <i>Christ</i>. I mean, not for nothing, but a more pandering Fire Emblem title would have meant that the player potentially could have saved Clair from a guy, one whom she’s outright and fervently said she has no romantic interest in, managing to brute-force his way into an off-screen marriage to her. There might, after all, have been some options for Clair with someone whose romantic history with her could be summed up by more than just “Durr priddee gurrl hurr” and “Durr priddee gurrl yell at me and say she no like me? <i>Even better</i>!” And excessive fanservice might at least have meant that Faye would get some love interest options written by an intern or a janitor or a guy who accidentally wandered into the wrong room or something, just <i>anyone</i> in the building who wasn’t a writer whose ex-girlfriend by suspicious coincidence also happened to be named Faye.<br /><br />Rinea, not being an actual party member, would of course still be completely screwed and stuck in 1 of the <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2021/08/general-rpg-lists-worst-romances.html">Worst Romances in RPG history</a>. Look, it’s not a perfect solution. But still, multiple romance options, even if motivated solely for juvenile and pandering reasons, at least means less chance of a decent character having her romantic fate railroaded without recourse by a writer whose subconscious resentment toward women seems to underscore a lot of the game.<br /><br /><br />- Let me see if I’ve got this right, Nintendo. So in addition to everything else that makes Edelgard just <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2022/03/fire-emblem-16s-edelgard-is-worst.html">truly, sincerely awful</a>...you’re telling me that she’s not even a character in her own right, but rather a more gullible knock-off of Emperor Rudolf, from the Fire Emblem that <i>directly</i> preceded hers?<br /><br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-25969505805934092012023-09-28T08:08:00.043-07:002023-09-28T14:01:24.752-07:00Shin Megami Tensei 5's Neutral Figurehead<p>Maybe I should be more fucking careful what I wish for.<br /><br />You may remember that after playing Shin Megami Tensei 4-1 and SMT Devil Survivor 2, back when each was still at least a relatively recent release, I wrote a rant in which I <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-shin-megami-tensei-seriess-recent.html">expressed dissatisfaction and concern</a> with the fact that Shin Megami Tensei seemed to be headed in a direction of mistaking Neutrality for Indecision. Isabeau and Daichi, the representatives of the Neutral faction in each title, were both irresolute hand-sitters completely paralyzed by an inability to make a decision or formulate a plan of action to further their cause. In a series which takes pains to make its Neutral story path a distinct option unto itself rather than a middle-ground, this kind of figurehead for the faction is even less appropriate or satisfactory for Shin Megami Tensei than it would be for any other given game with plot routes based on diametrically opposed philosophies.<br /><br />Well, the good news is that Shin Megami Tensei 5 has put that fear to rest! <i>Guess I got what I wanted</i>. Its Neutral Hero is by no means a sufferer of indecision! This guy knows exactly what he wants to accomplish, and doesn’t hesitate for a moment to pursue that goal. No wishy-washy whining like with Isabeau, no helpless navel-gazing like with Daichi. THIS Neutral figurehead knows from the start what he’s about. Because this time around, Shin Megami Tensei has chosen its Neutral representative to be...<br /><br />Yakumo.<br /><br />Yakumo is the one that Shin Megami Tensei 5 puts in humanity’s corner.<br /><br /><i>Yakumo</i>.<br /><br />Jesus Fucking Christ.<br /><br />Okay, Atlus. Let’s just...let’s just review something here. The Neutral path in Shin Megami Tensei? It’s the one whose motivations are <i>necessarily</i> founded on the concept of doing what is best for humanity as a whole. It’s the side that recognizes that human free will should not be trampled by the forces of an overbearing God, and also recognizes that a human’s life has value even if he/she isn’t powerful and ambitious enough to compete against demons. That’s why Neutral is generally all about finding a way to successfully spurn the forces of both Heaven and Hell, so that humanity is able to both govern itself with its own laws, and also possess the freedom to pursue its joys and desires without paranormal competition. You can argue the potential virtues of Law and Chaos to the interests of humanity in the long term as much as you like, and that’s fine and good and interesting--but at the end of the day, Neutral is the only Shin Megami Tensei faction that by definition has to prioritize the welfare of human beings first and foremost.<br /><br />So do you see, Atlus, why making fucking YAKUMO of all goddamn people your Neutral Hero is a really boneheaded move? <i>Tell</i> me you get this. Please. Please tell me, Atlus, that you can, at least in <i>retrospect</i>, understand why it was stupid to make the hero of humanity a guy who has said, and I quote, “Listen, without the will to fight, the will to live is meaningless. If someone can’t fend for themselves, they’re better off dead anyway.” <br /><br />Sure, <i>that’s</i> the guy I want leading Team Humanity. Yup, yup. I want a guy who thinks the life of a therapist or a retail worker or a plumber or a farmer or an artist is worthless because this average untrained, peaceful human being doesn’t want to be forced into a battle for his life against a 7-foot-tall bipedal leopard dual-wielding broadswords. Yeah, I think that the best person to put in humanity’s corner is the man who thinks that cerebral palsy is no excuse not to be out on the battlefield, personally exchanging blows with a chimera the size of a tour bus. Stop lazing about, Nana, you think that just because you’re a 94-year-old retired social worker, you’ve earned the privilege not to be locked in brutal combat with Chernobog, Slavic god of evil and death? No special treatment, you doddering layabout, trade that walker in for a battleaxe and be useful!<br /><br />As incredibly boring and stupid as Isabeau was, as much of a disgrace as she was to the Neutral faction that she supposedly represented, at least I believed the game’s claim that she actually cared about her fellow human beings and wanted what was best for them. <i>All</i> of them, not just the ones who would be personally useful to her cause. Isabeau, at least, is not a person who I could see brow-beating an orphanage about the fact that its residents weren’t all out on the front lines of a war, being horrifically incinerated by a towering fire giant. Atlus, you made the narrative guardian angel of humanity a man whose philosophy resents infants because they aren’t coming out of the womb clutching an AK-47 and demanding to know where that son-of-a-bitch Lucifer is. What the actual fuck.<br /><br />Hey, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we have an entire long, meandering chapter in this game that was founded on what a terrible thing it was that a girl had been bullied so much that she’d been easy prey to the temptation of the demon Lahmu? I seem to remember that when this weak girl, Sahori, had been harassed to the point that she finally did something to fight back, it ended in violent tragedy for absolutely every single person who got involved--Sahori, her friend Tao, the bullies, probably several students who just happened to be in the building at the time, and Lahmu himself all died at the end of this venture, and even the protagonist only survived because the chick he was standing near just happened to be the goddess of Tokyo. I’m sorry, was the overall agreed-upon takeaway of that entire situation somehow <i>not</i> the fact that it was terrible and tragic that Sahori was bullied? Were we not intended to feel sorrow for the weak and innocent girl who was cruelly driven into a corner where she finally lashed out, to the destruction of everyone? And yet, after taking a clear stance of sympathy with the downtrodden and passive, Shin Megami Tensei 5 then offers us a hero of humanity who would have done no more than sneer at Sahori for not being strong enough to fight off her bullies by herself.<br /><br />Oh, and it only gets worse if what his page on the Megaten Wikipedia says is true. See, it’s like this. This callous, shitty perspective on the value of human life that makes Yakumo a considerably worse person than a substantial number of the demons and angels he scorns? It’s only relevant because his Neutral faction plan is to destroy God’s throne, so no one can ever control the laws of existence again. This means that no one can abuse the power of the position and impose their will upon all of existence, but it also means that no greater Law- or Chaos-allied power is gonna be able to come riding in to save humanity from the existence of living in a postapocalyptic world inhabited by innumerable powerful and frequently hostile demons who usually view humans as no more than resources or collateral. So of course, in this scenario of Yakumo’s success, humanity will no longer be subjugated by the will and whimsy of an all-powerful higher being, but it will also have to scrape and claw for survival in a violent, inhospitable world. A fact that doesn’t bother Yakumo morally, though, because as we’ve established, he’s the kind of guy who’d look at the corpse of a 6-year-old who got caught in a crossfire, and sneer that it’s the kid’s own fault for not being strong enough to fight back. What an asshole.<br /><br />BUT, this incredibly stupid and obscenely immoral philosophy might not even be <i>genuine</i>. Now, full disclaimer: I do not recall seeing the following information in the game itself, and given that I moronically played that pile of crap enough times to have seen all of its endings, I doubt it’s something I missed. I am <i>assuming</i> that the Wikipedia page is drawing on other canon sources like developer notes, or manga tie-ins, or the like. It’s not something I can verify myself, at any rate. We’re going to proceed with the belief that the page is accurate, until given indication otherwise.<br /><br />So like I was saying, Yakumo’s shitty ideology may not even be honest. Because, according to the Wikipedia page for Yakumo, he and Nuwa’s original plan was not to destroy God’s throne, but to use it themselves, and decree a world for humanity alone, with no gods or demons in it whatsoever (as seen in the “true” ending of the game). In this scenario, humanity as a whole would be protected from these external paranormal threats to its freedom and welfare. There wouldn’t be a long, bloody war for humanity’s survival and freedom; the weak and the peaceful would be safe and content inasmuch as humanity itself would allow them. But Yakumo later changed his plan to the throne-breaking one with the every-man-for-himself rationale, because he and Nuwa fell in love, and since she’s a creation goddess from Chinese lore, wishing for a world without any demons and gods and whatnot would mean a world without her, too.<br /><br />Yes, that’s right. Yakumo didn’t decide to plunge humanity into a brutal, prolonged battle for survival against horrible odds because of an <i>earnest</i> belief in fending for oneself; that was only a convenient stupid doctrine he adopted after the fact. He didn’t pursue a path which would result in the loss of countless innocent lives, and ultimately cost our species its capacity for gentleness and civility as only the strongest and most vicious emerge from the constant battles, because he actually believed it was the best course of action for humanity. No. It was decided to condemn countless people to violent ends and countless others to a harsh life of constant toil and struggle because <i>Yakumo didn’t want to stop getting his peepee waxed</i>.<br /><br />Now again, I need to point out that this information on Yakumo having changed his life goals based on whether or not a snake woman was gonna be around to suck him off is based on what I read on the Wikipedia, not on what I have witnessed myself in the game. It’s possible that this isn’t canon, but rather some wiki-user’s educated and highly believable theory. On the other hand, the users of the Megami Tensei Wiki also have a purview of many more official sources than I do, and it’s not exactly unbelievable that this pretentious absolute turd of a human being would sell out his entire species for a handy. I see no reason to doubt this is part of Yakumo’s canon.<br /><br />But it’s still worth remembering that even if that Wikipedia page is full of crap, even if Yakumo didn’t decide that human lives would have to end in pain and terror so that he could get laid, he’s still a man to whom human lives have no inherent value. Sociopathic simp or not, Yakumo is still an apathetic, pompous dick who proudly boasts a belief that a human being’s worth begins and ends with his or her willingness and ability to leap into lethal combat with monsters and demons. And rather than making him 1 of the less sympathetic spokespeople of a Chaos route, or the face of some shitty Meritocracy faction like SMT Devil Survivor 2’s, or a natural selection Reason like Chiaki in SMT3...Atlus had this loser be the representative of the Neutral faction. The faction that’s supposed to first and foremost be about doing right by humanity, ALL of humanity. Brilliant work, Atlus, you’ve actually made me miss fucking Isabeau. Just truly amazing stuff, <b>you absolute fucking <i>wads</i></b>.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-23429440155909549412023-09-18T08:08:00.001-07:002023-09-18T08:08:00.153-07:00Final Fantasy 6's Separate Group Control Feature<p>Final Fantasy 6 introduced an interesting gameplay feature in the form of occasional sequences during the game’s course in which the player would separate the cast into multiple parties, and control these parties semi-simultaneously to accomplish a task through cooperation. In some instances, there would be an invading group of enemies on a map, and the player would direct multiple teams of the heroes to intercept the attackers, while other uses of the mechanic involved multiple teams exploring a larger dungeon whose puzzles required cooperation as each team opened up new paths for the other(s). It was a neat idea, and surprisingly well-executed considering its newness.<br /><br />But the way the game implemented this feature is really <i>weird</i>, too. Cuz, like...we can all agree it’s a fairly memorable aspect of Final Fantasy 6, right? The last dungeon is a cooperative venture between 3 parties, and the battle for Narshe is 1 of the most signature elements of the game as a whole. This multi-group control feature is definitely 1 of the things you strongly remember as a part of the experience of playing it. And yet, this distinctive feature of Final Fantasy 6 occurs a mere 4 times in the game’s entire course! That’s the initial Narshe fight with Locke and his team of deus ex machina moogles defending the sanctity of Terra’s naptime, then the climactic Narshe battle between the reunited heroes and Kefka’s invasion force, then later the cooperative exploration of the Phoenix’s cave, and finally the triple-team tower takedown at the end of the game. The developers went to all the trouble of inventing, coding, and nearly flawlessly implementing this feature, just to only ever actually use it <b>4 times</b>. That’s like once every <i>10 hours</i>, give or take.<br /><br />And it’s even more a weird waste than it initially appears from those numbers. Because that initial Narshe battle is basically just a tutorial for the system, not a sincere iteration of it. It occurs extremely early in the game, and with the moogles doing all the heavy lifting, it’s hard to screw up so badly you lose. And story-wise, the scenario would have been accomplished just as well by having Locke, Mog, and a couple backup moogles face down a couple pursuing enemies as a single fighting unit the way the rest of the game is handled. So this really is just a tutorial session for the multi-group control dynamic. A tutorial...for the <i>single, solitary instance</i> to follow in the game where you’ll be participating in a multi-group battle.<br /><br />Which is another oddity of integration of this feature: the climactic multi-team combat aspect of it is only ever used half of the time it comes into play, even though it was this particular focus which the tutorial specifically trains the player for. And it’s over and done with so early in the game! The battle for Narshe is, what...30% of the way into Final Fantasy 6? A third of the way through the game, you get your first real test of cooperative fighting as a group of teams against an enemy force, and it’s also the very last time. Everything involving this feature past that point is just cooperative dungeon exploration.<br /><br />And that’s pretty peculiar, too. Because first of all, the first time it happens is a good, what, 80% of the way through the game? Potentially more; getting Locke back on the team could very well be the final sidequest the player engages in before heading to Kefka’s tower for the finale. So that’s a weird time to be dropping the fact that there’s a whole other application of this multi-group control feature which by this point the player has possibly forgotten about altogether. And while the game would certainly be incomplete without having Locke around to finish the journey, it IS technically completely optional to even go through this cave to begin with, so there’s also every possibility that the joint venture through the final dungeon will actually be the first time the player deals with this avenue of the feature. Not that the player needs a trial run or anything, the feature’s very simple to figure out, but still, it seems odd.<br /><br />I mean, it’s not like there couldn’t have been more instances in FF6’s story where this feature was implemented. The Magitek lab is a large enough dungeon that a little tweaking could’ve made it a good initial foray into the joint dungeon exploration.* And the Floating Continent’s size, layout, and position in the story (coming into play just as the full team reunites and gains new members, at the most pivotal moment in the plot) is <i>begging</i> for a test-drive of the 3-group dungeon exploration that’s featured at the game’s end.<br /><br />Meanwhile, a multi-group battle scene in which the team defends a town from an attacking band of monsters would have been a great opportunity to use the mechanic to further underscore the harsh realities of the new world in the game’s latter half. It could be really cool: Celes arrives in town, the monsters attack, and the player has to direct 2 teams of fighters, populated by only Celes, Sabin (if he’s been recruited), and some woefully underpowered NPCs, to fight off half a dozen or so monster units. It’d further hammer home the desperation of existence in this world, show how outclassed the survivors are against the beasts running amok, and even give an opportunity for Celes to develop her character; it could’ve reaffirmed her hope and her devotion to the cause of good by showing her that there’s still real, tangible good she could accomplish in this world, and people who needed her to do just that. Phunbaba’s second attack on Kohlingen would’ve been another good opportunity for this feature; have the jerk bring some buddies, have the player use a couple teams to engage the attacking demons, make a proper epic battle out of it. He still could’ve blown away the majority of the combatants after the rest of his allies had been beaten, given Terra her chance to shine, but the whole scenario would’ve been kicked up a notch.<br /><br />The way that FF6 handles its multi-group scenarios just seems odd to me. There’s so few of them for such a notable feature, and the way they’re paced is truly puzzling. There were definitely other opportunities over the course of the game for additional instances of multi-group battles and dungeon exploration which would have made sense and been fairly easy to incorporate. It’s certainly not a negative for the game, of course, but it seems like there was a lot more opportunity for the feature to be a positive than was realized. In spite of its placement in some key scenarios, this feature winds up only being a fun and interesting novelty in Final Fantasy 6, when it could have been an iconic signature like, say, the army battles of Suikoden, or the ship combat of Skies of Arcadia.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* It would’ve made more sense from a plot perspective, too. I mean, if you’re gonna invade the Empire’s own home turf, you’d think you’d want your full team on that. Yeah, protecting the Esper in Narshe is important and all, but with Figaro as a buffer to the southwest and with the Empire’s initial attack force having been demolished with a long and complicated process to build up a new one in South Figaro, if it can manage to at all, Narshe is pretty well protected. Hell, it’s basically now the <i>heart</i> of Returner territory. Keeping 2 of the Returners’ best agents behind to protect the Esper at this time doesn’t make sense; it’s like benching 2 of your all-stars during a championship game so they can protect the gatorade cooler.<br /><br />Also would’ve been more sensible from a gameplay standpoint. Taking 2 (or more) party members out of the player’s hands for the entire sequence of raiding the Magitek factory is a bad decision to begin with, particularly when they’ve likely already been absent for a while given how inconvenient it is at that point in the game to backtrack and change party members. And it even would’ve numerically added up basically perfectly - 2 groups with a maximum of 4 characters means a total of 8 spots that can be filled by 6 regular characters to choose from (Celes, Sabin, Edgar, Cyan, Gau, and Locke) and a seventh part timer in Shadow (if you’ve hired him), with the last slot being open for upcoming addition of Setzer.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-25765920229488199392023-09-08T08:08:00.001-07:002023-09-08T08:08:00.164-07:00Shin Megami Tensei 5's Nahobino Fusion Scene<p>As <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/08/shin-megami-tensei-5s-ending-sucks.html">awful</a> as the ending of Shin Megami Tensei 5 is, it’s worth noting that the preceding events of its finale are disappointing garbage, too. Case in point? The Nahobino fusion scene.<br /><br />So, in the Empyrean, the final dungeon (if a linear path with no real detours containing a total of 5 fights altogether can be called such), you reach a point, towards its end, at which you catch up with your faction’s allies (Atsuta and Koshimizu if you’re Chaos, Dazai and Abdiel if you’re Law, Yakumo and Nuwa if you’re Neutral), and your faction’s enemies. When you get there, you find that your comrades have managed to get their asses kicked by your foes. And I mean that your buddies got <i>thoroughly</i> wrecked; they’re down on their knees, barely keeping it together, while their foes don’t look to have suffered a scratch.<br /><br />So I’m justifiably annoyed from the start as I roll up on this debacle, cuz like...really? You assholes couldn’t have at least <i>softened them up a little</i> for me? I’m already clearly gonna have to clean up your mess here anyway, but you couldn’t have at least landed a goddamn punch beforehand for my benefit? There isn’t even a speck of <i>dirt</i> on our mutual foes, guys, these fuckers look <i>immaculate</i> and I <i>know</i> that that’s not from any association with the Virgin Mary. I know because she’s in my party and I <i>checked</i> with her. She says she had nothing to do with it, y’all just weak as shit.<br /><br />How the hell did my allies lose this fast, for that matter? I entered the portal to this place, like, <b>30 seconds</b> after everyone else. These fuckers must have been speedrunning defeat! Forget being brought down by their foes--there shouldn’t have been enough time for them to kill <i>themselves</i>, for Nocticula’s sake!<br /><br />But at any rate, the horses you’ve backed are getting turned into glue when you find them in the Empyrean. So you show up, and you find that you’re just in time to watch the victors of this off-screen skirmish decide that now’s the time to finally fuse together and become the Nahobino they were meant to be. And watch you most certainly do, because Zon Kuthon forbid the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei 5 ever, <i>ever</i> not indulge in <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2013/03/general-rpgs-voyeuristic-paralysis.html">Voyeuristic Paralysis Syndrome</a> whenever he’s given the opportunity. Make even the slightest attempt to stop his enemies from merging together to form a real, actual fucking god? Nah, not when there’s more important stuff for the protagonist to do, like standing motionlessly and staring <b>e</b>motionlessly. More on THIS little bad habit in a forthcoming rant, believe you me.<br /><br />So yeah, with nothing stopping them, your faction enemies do their little fusion thing, and...fuckin’ hell, just thinking about this is giving me an aneurysm because it’s so goddamn stupid. They fuse together, and your allies are killed by the <b><u>Dragon Ball Z power-up winds</u></b> that result from it. I mean for <i>fuck’s sake</i>, guys. It’s not enough for you assholes to make record time at getting the shit beaten out of you off-screen, you have to make the cherry on top dying to a <b>breeze</b>? Jesus Christ, your faction allies in this game make Shin Megami Tensei 3’s ISAMU look less pathetic by comparison. At least when HE decided to up and die even when his faction was the winning team, he did so from the wounds he received from his off-screen battle. He wasn’t murdered by lethal <i><b>hype</b></i>.<br /><br />Hey, here’s a question: where the hell was YOUR wave of destructive power-up wind, huh? I’m talking about way back at the beginning of the game, when the protagonist first joined with Aogami to become the Nahobino. Didn’t see any radiating burst of power then! And it would’ve been handy, because the circumstances for that joining was that our hero had run afoul of a handful of minor tutorial monsters and Aogami was trying to protect him from them. Why do a couple of secondary characters becoming a Nahobino release such a shockwave of raw power that it kills off experienced demons and demon hunters, but when the blasted <i>protagonist</i> does it, it doesn’t even lightly nudge a single level 3 experience-fodder enemy?<br /><br />The whole thing really devalues and cheapens the characters you’ve allied with, too. Let’s say that you’ve chosen the Chaos route, for example. Doing so means that the very first and <u>only</u> time you see Koshimizu in any kind of combat situation, it’s specifically to watch him get trashed. Isn’t this the same joker who’s been talking up how much better it’ll be if Tokyo is protected by a posse of local gods like him? Not instilling a lot of confidence in that future with your career win-loss record of 0-1 there, Champ.<br /><br />And it’s even worse if you’ve sided with Law. Because the last time you saw Dazai and Abdiel, Dazai was showing off the fact that his baseball cap was apparently weighted training clothing and taking it off quadrupled his power level. More importantly, Abdiel achieved the climax of her character arc and went through a cool, intimidating transformation, becoming a fallen angel as she embraced the need to defy God in order to achieve His goals. So we go from the culmination of Abdiel’s story, the impressive and perhaps even chilling fall she undergoes to become a terrifying dark avatar of blasphemy, to...colorful wind disintegrating her after an enemy effortlessly beat her off-screen. <br /><br />Yeah, I sure do love it when a character goes through a whole personal arc to achieve a higher state of being for absolutely no goddamn reason whatsoever. “My gods, the power! The POWER! I’ve never felt anything like it! By my estimate, I am now strong enough...to bruise my enemy’s knuckles a little as he beats my ass into the pavement!”<br /><br />Objectively, I also recognize that this sequence is bullshit if you picked the Neutral path. I have to admit, however, I find it more difficult to be affronted by this scenario, because getting to see that sneering, arrogant fuckwit Yakumo get his self-important ass handed to him like the sad weak little shit he wants to pretend he isn’t...well, it's better for my mental state than professional therapy.<br /><br />Even just the fact that any of this is happening at all at this point in the game is dumb and makes no sense. Why the fuck were these 4 idiots all battling normally before you show up, anyway? Everyone’s in the Empyrean with the intention of taking God’s throne because each pair can become a Nahobino, and only a Nahobino can actually use said throne to dictate the nature of the world. So <b>why the ACTUAL FUCK</b> did NONE of them choose to power up BEFORE this moment!? If you find yourself battling against enemies who are of comparable strength to you, and <i>everything</i> is on the line, wouldn’t your first move be to transform into your ultra-powerful god form to gain the advantage? Actually, rewind. If you find yourself in a race to get to God’s throne and use it before your competitors, wouldn’t your first move be to transform into the Nahobino form that can actually make use of said throne, so that you don’t have to waste time doing so once you’ve actually made it there?<br /><br />No, actually, rewind even further--why not just transform into one’s god form before even entering the damn Empyrean realm to begin with? What benefit was there in not just doing it from the get-go? If we go by the example of the protagonist, there’s no time limit on the Nahobino fusion, , no stated plot restriction preventing them from doing so. It’s not even like it’s an irreversible process; we’ve seen Aogami and the protagonist separate multiple times at will. Atlus, if someone gains the ability to become an honest-to-themself <u>god</u>, with no downsides whatsoever, there’s no one alive who isn’t gonna DO that immediately! Especially if they have something very important to accomplish which such a transformation could help facilitate!<br /><br />It gets even more idiotic when you realize that the losing pair in this scene are also just as capable of transforming into a Nahobino. It’s dumb enough that the victors wait until AFTER their success is guaranteed to unleash their secret weapon, but your faction allies basically have just <i>chosen</i> to die, because they’ve refused to play their trump card even as they get absolutely demolished. It’s like people who refuse to use up their best healing items during a game’s final battle, only somehow even more moronic.<br /><br />Jesus Christ this game is garbage. On the rare occasions it actually deigns to DO something with its story, this is the kind of stilted, irrational, careless schlock that results. And I’m still not even done with taking Shin Megami Tensei 5 to task for its failures yet! There is more, <i>significantly</i> more, to come! You wouldn’t think you could write more sentences about how bad a game is than there are in the game’s own script, but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get there, if I haven’t already!<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-74107944071019085542023-08-28T08:08:00.078-07:002023-08-28T18:43:58.603-07:00Shin Megami Tensei 5's Ending Sucks<p>You may have intuited from certain <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/01/shin-megami-tensei-5s-lack-of.html">subtle clues</a> I’ve dropped <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/03/shin-megami-tensei-5s-chaos-routes.html">here</a> and <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/07/shin-megami-tensei-5s-incompetent.html">there</a> over the course of this year that I’m not a huge fan of Shin Megami Tensei 5. But just in case I was being too coy about the myriad ways in which the latest installment of the mainline SMT series is disappointing, let’s talk about the ending.<br /><br />First of all, it’s dull and empty. You beat the final boss, the Nahobino briefly exchanges nods (because dialogue would have required someone at Atlus actually doing their job that day) with the dead Hero and patron of the path he chose in a white void, he finds himself in this empty space-y expanse with planets and frozen celestial beings and a really, really ostentatious New Years ball in the center, and he starts walking nonchalantly through the extra-dimensional emptiness as the narrator tells, not shows, what the results will be of the protagonist taking or breaking God’s throne for a whole whopping <b>2</b> minutes (and the narrator isn’t exactly rushing through his lines, either), and then it goes to the credits, which play over a scene of the Nahobino continuing to just walk in a straight line with someone’s very pretty Deviantart landscape in the background. Finally, once the credits are done, the stroll concludes with the Nahobino walking up to God’s super special disco ball and the screen fading to white.<br /><br />And that’s it. That’s all! That’s the ending.* That’s your reward for forcing yourself to play Shin Megami Tensei 5 for 40+ hours: a lack of dialogue from the characters who matter, a minimal narration-dump, and trudging through an atmospheric but thoroughly empty void. Well, it may be garbage, but I suppose you gotta give SMT5 credit for being consistent to the bitter end.<br /><br />I suppose there’s an argument to be made that the endings of most of the previous mainline SMTs are also a bit, shall we say, sparse. I certainly can’t deny that point, any more than I can deny the fact that character development in the same games has likewise been on the low and understated side. But as with the depth of the cast, prior SMT games have maintained an approach throughout their course that makes it clear to the audience that their endings’ stoic minimalist-leanings have been a matter of storytelling design, something chosen and planned for, rather than just a consequence of not having spent enough time and effort on the game. In previous games, the span and scope of the plot (whether good or subpar) has possessed enough substance and artistry that a somewhat austere and spare conclusion feels acceptable (and aesthetically appropriate), while with Shin Megami Tensei 5, the scanty approach to its finish just feels like more of the same inadequacy that’s plagued the game’s entire narrative to this point. Even if the result is superficially similar, there’s a big and discernible difference between a landscape artist who paints a desert out of a wish to capture the sensation of sprawling starkness it invokes within him, and a landscape artist who paints a desert because it has fewer features and he’s lazy.<br /><br />So yeah, Shin Megami Tensei 5’s ending is empty and half-assed. And yeah, it’s hardly surprising; watching SMT5’s story unfold is like reading a book printed with only a single sentence on each page, with an epilogue scribbled on a sticky note taped to its back cover. But--and this is also, sadly, not surprising for SMT5--what little material IS there in the ending also manages to disappoint in its own right. Because every ending of this game seems kinda determined to leave you dissatisfied, or at the very least tell you that you’re a stupid jerk.<br /><br />Seriously, there’s really just no pleasing ending to this game. So let's say you choose Chaos. What happens? Why, what happens is that a mere 3 sentences into his monologue, the narrator makes it a point to let you know that the new world you’ve chosen of multiple gods and an ever-changing society has been difficult for some people to adapt to and find happiness within. That’s the <i>first</i> reaction he speaks of; the fact that there are plenty of people who thrive in the new world of Chaos is only something he mentions AFTER he shows you your 1-star reviews. And then a mere 2 sentences later, this pessimistic prick’s back on the complain train as he informs you that, shocker of shockers, a bunch of competing divine narcissists (and 1 actual Narcissus) is naturally a recipe for, and I quote, “immeasurable conflict.” The ending narration then talks about how sad the Nahobino is to witness his reality completely plagued with war, but that he holds firm to his belief because of some sloppy, shaky philosophy about how people should be able to choose for themselves rather than have things chosen for them.<br /><br />First of all, this is a fucking stupid statement and correlation all on its own. The Choose For Yourself ship has already sailed for the people of Chaos’s world because the fact that the world is this way was a choice the Nahobino made without consulting every other person in existence, or <i>any</i> of them, for that matter. All they’re getting in exchange for never-ending violence is the ability to choose which powerful being to obey because they’re powerless themselves. And also, even if this idea that people are self-determined in this world was legitimate, you’re saying that the trade-off for having any choice in your actions and the direction of your life is <i>constant war</i>. Free will may be inseparable from the potential for, and eventuality of, conflict, but there’s no rational way you can argue that the reasonable price of it is or should be a never-ending turf war between insanely powerful deities that makes the entire human species a reluctant participant and casualty.<br /><br />Secondly, and more importantly, what kind of shitty way is that to end your game? There’s <u>only 7 fucking sentences of narration</u> in this ending to reward the dozens of hours you put into this garbage, and of them, <b>3</b> are devoted to admonishing you for your choice. And sure, Chaos IS a dumb choice to make in Shin Megami Tensei 5 and anyone who couldn’t see bickering godly gang wars being its result is probably as facile an unquestioning a moron as Atsuta himself, but that’s still excessively negative to a degree that feels mean-spirited. The writers seem to actively want you to feel bad about having played their game.<br /><br />And lastly, let’s not forget that the whole reason that Atsuta becomes the game’s Chaos Hero is because he’s told by Koshimizu (and because he unquestioningly, blindly believes this statement) that Chaos’s world of multiple gods will be the best way to protect Tokyo and its people. And by siding with him, you’ve wound up bringing about a world where the people are caught in constant, inconceivably devastating warfare from which they can never be safe. I’m getting flashbacks to Wild Arms 4’s ending with Jude, Mr. Codependent Everyone Let’s Be Friends Forever And Work Together And Never Ever Let Each Other Out Of Our Sight becoming a goddamn forest ranger hermit who lives completely separated from his friends and the entire human species. Just as it was with Jude, for Atsuta, this conclusion is the opposite, the <i><b>exact polar fucking opposite</b></i> you understand, of the single solitary overplayed trait of his 1-dimensional character.<br /><br />You might think that maybe this poor showing of Chaos, the latest in a <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/03/shin-megami-tensei-5s-chaos-routes.html">whole game’s worth</a> of <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/07/shin-megami-tensei-5s-incompetent.html">instances</a> of this route’s lesser quality, might just be a case of SMT’s preference for the Neutral path being taken a little too far. But the fact is that both Neutral endings, though not quite as poorly reasoned and inconsistent to their figurehead’s stated purpose, are equally unsatisfying.<br /><br />The ending in which you destroy the throne involves what’s-his-name, the monk guy who decided out of nowhere right at the last second that he was gonna be some important lofty observer entity, outright talking about what a foolish decision you’ve made, so right off the bat you have a tidy little bit of narrative disapproval for your actions even before the other endings get their chastisement. Then when you get to the regular ending narration, the game makes sure you know that plenty of people will perish in the efforts to resist and stand free of the influence and control of demon-kind.<br /><br />Granted, Neutral Hero Yakumo, who is basically what happens when you decide to base your entire personality around your Resting Bitch Face, has made it clear that any human being who can’t personally stand up to malevolent godlike beings and beat them in hand-to-hand combat doesn’t, in his opinion, deserve to live. So this ending gloating about how many people will be casualties in the world you’ve created isn’t as thematically opposed to its representative as Chaos was. And at least this time around the game doesn’t tell you that even the protagonist himself is disappointed with the results of his choice. But it still is an example of SMT5 going out of its way to use its extremely limited ending summary to make damn sure you know that the ending you got was really bad for a hell of a lot of people. The very people, in fact, that you presumably chose this path with the intention of doing right by--the deities and demons certainly don’t benefit from breaking the throne, and the Nahobino doesn’t gain God’s power with it gone, thus presumably you could only be choosing this path because you genuinely believe that it will be in the best interests of humanity as a whole.** So thanks for making sure to hammer home the fact that the players who have made this decision for the good of the people have, in fact, fucked those very people over, SMT5.<br /><br />It’s not even like it’s a sure thing that those sacrifices are even toward a greater good. The narrator ends his stunted little spiel by expressing certainty that humanity will, in the future, come out on top against the demons and gods that would control them, but he doesn’t actually state it as fact. Even the underwhelming, disappointing ending for the Black Eagles route in Fire Emblem 16 at least made it pretty unambiguous that the long, bloody war with Those Who Slither in the Dark, a costly and prolonged conflict that would have been quickly and relatively painlessly settled had the player possessed the brains and/or human decency not to back Edelgard,*** would end in an eventual victory. In SMT5’s first Neutral ending, the best we get is a “surely” that humanity will eventually be able to stand on its own and win its right to freedom from the machinations of higher (and lower) mythological beings.<br /><br />But okay, sure, that’s the lesser Neutral ending. If any conclusion in the game is gonna be crappy, it’d be that one. <i>Surely</i>**** the True Neutral ending is reasonably satisfying, right?<br /><br />Well I’m talking about it right here and now in this rant about how the game’s endings suck, so I guess you can probably tell from context alone that it isn’t. Hell, we’re talking about a component of Shin Megami Tensei 5--that should be all the information you really need right there.<br /><br />So yeah, the “best” ending of SMT5 is also unsatisfying. Now, this time around the game is at least kind enough not to gleefully make all the myriad people who are going to be miserable and dead because of your decision the most memorable takeaway. And there’s even more content besides, with a more enthusiastically positive reaction from Tao and I Refuse To Bother Learning Monk Guy’s Name Because Holy Shit What A Forgettable Character, and a more involved talk and confrontation with Lucifer. No, rather than the game forcing unnecessary admonishment into the ending text, the dissatisfaction of the True Neutral ending comes from qualities inherent to its nature, thanks to the incompetence of the game’s writers. The disappointment of the True Neutral boils down to 2 points.<br /><br />First of all: <b>it’s an emotional betrayal to everything that the game has shown us</b>. See, in the True Neutral ending, the Nahobino takes God’s throne and uses his power over creation to decree that there will be no more gods or demons, that Earth is for humanity alone, because SMT’s Neutral faction always has such a boner for telling all mythological entities to get the hell off humanity’s lawn, as though we aren’t the ones who created and invited them to start with. And in most Shin Megami Tensei titles, that’s fine, justifiable, and emotionally consistent, as gods and demons and the like are the source of most of humanity’s problems in the game. But while that’s still true in SMT5, what’s also true is that pretty much every noticeably positive character relationship that the Nahobino has over the course of SMT5’s events is with a demon character.<br /><br />I mean, think about it. The most (inexplicably) loyal and supportive character in the game to the protagonist is his partner Aogami, who can’t seem to speak 3 consecutive sentences if at least 1 of them isn’t affirming that he’s gonna protect the protagonist at all costs and make all his dreams come true and wuv him and cuddle him and give him head-pats. Then the runners-up behind Aogami are his companion Amanozako, who helps the Nahobino off and on for most of the game and who is weirdly sort of a half-assed love interest for him or something, and his friend Tao, who may start as a human but is resurrected as a goddess who outright pledges to help him become <i>God</i> because he <i>almost</i> made a mild effort to help someone one time (more on that in a later rant). All 3 of the only people in this game who demonstrably have a positive character connection to the main hero are demons.<br /><br />Additionally, most of the outright moral and decent people you meet in the game are likewise inhuman. Khonsu, for example, is devoted to saving the life of the sickly Miyazu to a self-sacrificial degree. In fact, Khonsu shows way, way more active concern and affection for Miyazu, not to mention expends way more effort in trying to help her, than her own brother Atsuta does! And lest we forget, Atsuta is the clown who’s supposed to be entirely defined by his wish to protect her! Meanwhile, the fairies under Oberon and Titania’s leadership graciously take in the lost, wounded, and helpless kidnapped human students in Chapter 2, treating their injuries and providing a safe haven to them for the entire rest of the game’s course, completely without complaint or expectation of reimbursement. Hell, they didn’t even need to be asked to do it--Fionn mac Cumhaill just started bringing hurt human beings to the fairies to care for, and they set right to it. And speaking of, Fionn, a mythological entity himself, just up and takes it upon himself to go around saving the students from their captors, again for no discernible reason beyond the desire to help the helpless. And then there’s various minor sidequest demons like Idun and Demeter and Hua Po who are friendly and generally decent individuals. Hell, the Neutral faction itself is much more likable for its demonic patron Nuwa than it is for that human jackass Yakumo.<br /><br />I’m not saying that all or even most of the demons in this game are good people, but there’s pretty much no denying that all of the likable and nearly all of the morally decent members of this game’s cast are gods and demons, and definitely all of the Nahobino’s own positive friendships are with these supernatural entities. So the True Neutral ending really sucks and betrays whatever emotional weight the game has managed to create, and makes the Nahobino look like a complete tool, because you’re basically turning on every individual who’s extended meaningful friendship to you and disintegrating them. What was the point of protecting Amanozako, helping her with her search to find her soulmate, if a mere couple hours after she finally achieves what she needs to lead a happy and secure life, you force an abrupt conclusion to that life? Why make a big deal about Tao being reborn if she’s just going to re-die the next day?<br /><br />As with Atsuta’s criticism of Law, the writers of SMT5 clearly just paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to what they themselves had been doing. They’ve made a story wherein the “best” ending involves killing every single character in the game who isn’t a jackass!<br /><br />But even if you don’t give a shit about any of that and just hate them dadgummed durned demons for the hell of it, the True Neutral ending’s still unsatisfying. Because it, in all its special Trueness, gets a special post-credits scene of the new (but basically just the same as the old) world you’ve created, and the narrator, as well as the golden-eyed putz sitting on a bench, strongly imply that this humanity-for-humanity-only world is not gonna last because the Mandala universal will thing cannot be denied or escaped. So yeah, after all that rigamarole, after sacrificing everyone who demonstrably gave a shit about you in the game, it turns out it was probably all for <u>nothing</u>.<br /><br />Honestly, compared to the rest of these, the fact that the Law ending only insults your intelligence probably makes it the least disappointing of all of them. Sure, the narrator’s clearly relishing the opportunity to hammer home the idea that people who follow Law can’t think for themselves (a stupid claim that has been soundly proven wrong by the game’s own cast), but at least humanity is safe and generally happy, the Nahobino himself is pleased with the result, and it’s stated flat-out that the future is prosperous. Frankly, I’ll take a clumsy attempt at an insult over any combination of being told that countless people suffer and die in war, being told that even the protagonist himself hates what he’s done, the assassination of the only people we’ve seen capable of being nice, and being told that my actions didn’t accomplish the 1 thing they were meant to.<br /><br />Honestly, between this and the fact that the Law faction is the only one with anything approaching actual character development, I’d be tempted to think that SMT5 is actually intentionally favoring Law...if not for the fact that Dazai spends 85% of the game wearing a baseball cap that says “SUCKER” on it.<br /><br />Make no mistake, though: even if the Law ending is the least unsatisfactory, the game’s still sneering at you for picking it. The facts of the matter are, that all of the endings are careless, empty after-thoughts in a story that’s as barren and abandoned as the wastelands it takes place within, and that 3 of the 4 endings leave a player feeling unsatisfied, with the other one still goes out of its way to make you feel like you made the wrong choice. SMT5’s endings are the perfect crappy way to cap off a crappy game.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* Well, there’s an extra scene for the “true” Neutral ending tacked onto the end. But it is nothing beneficial, as we’ll see in a moment.<br /><br /><br />** Or you might just be simping for Nuwa, I guess.<br /><br /><br />*** Well, not Dimitri either, since <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2020/01/fire-emblem-16s-azure-moon-route-is.html">the bad guys actually effectively win in his route</a>. But he, tiresome and dumb edgelord though he is for most of his route’s narrative, is at least not a gullible, amoral dingus like Edelgard.<br /><br /><br />**** See, SMT5? See how effortless it is for “Surely” to be linked to an ironic opposite?<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-84153777576799364702023-08-18T08:08:00.001-07:002023-08-18T08:08:00.138-07:00Fire Emblem 15's Royal Treasury<p>So...a treasury that only allows in those of the royal family. How much use is that, exactly?<br /><br />Think about this. The royal treasury of the empire of Rigel in Fire Emblem 15 can only be accessed by those of royal blood. So...doesn’t that mean that any time anyone needs something from the vault, whenever some relic or parchment in there is necessary for the sake of state business, they have to petition the emperor himself to haul his ass down to the basement to fetch it? And it’s a good bit of a walk, too: this vault’s sitting smack dab in the middle of the final dungeon. The emperor’s gotta clear his whole schedule and make a morning of it any time someone needs a particular national treasure for some reason or other.<br /><br />And this uppity storage unit ain’t kidding about only opening to royalty, either. This isn’t some situation where His Royal Highness can just show up, open the door, and get back to his business while some servants head in to procure whatever’s needed. He really is the ONLY one that can go in. No cargo-haulers, no dignitary from a neighboring nation that the emperor talked into helping him move this weekend, not even a goddamn intern with a dolly is following him in there. Meaning that Emperor Amazon Fulfillment Center has to haul out anything he wants from the vault all on his own. Yeah, that’s definitely what I want as ruler of a nation, alright--I want to keep important shit I might need in an emergency within a warehouse I have to drive 30 miles to get to, where I get to be a 1-man warehouse worker union.<br /><br />And is it <i>really</i> such a good idea to keep Falchion in this vault? Falchion, the god-slaying sword given to humanity as a safeguard against the day that the continent’s dragon overlords turn against their people? The one weapon that gives humanity the capacity to defend itself against an otherwise theoretically unstoppable force? You’re keeping Falchion in a treasury that only a tiny handful of very killable human beings can get into. A tiny handful of very killable human beings who traditionally all congregate in the same palace, meeting with the same people, hanging out in the same throne room, eating at the same table! The sword that represents the great and final hope of the human species is 1 really poorly-cooked fish dinner away from being <i>lost forever to an uncooperative doorknob</i>.<br /><br />You know what would be a great way of keeping the stuff in your vault secure, but accessible to a highly reasonable degree? <b>A fucking key</b>. Just get some magical lock made that only recognizes a special royal crest or whatever--don’t pretend that’s gonna be less feasible than a goddamn DNA-scanning teleporter--and use that. That way, the most important human being in the entire nation doesn’t have to lug himself through the catacombs every time Royal Gardener Harry needs the legendary +3 Vorpal Hedge Shears because those damned briars in the back are getting uppity again. He can just give Harry--or a duly appointed designee, never put too much trust in a guy who has a wisteria as his emergency contact--the royal crest key thing, tell him to bring it right back afterwards, and get on with his day.<br /><br />Hm? What’s that? Oh, “What if the Falchion falls into the wrong hands?” Hmm, yeah, you know, I guess you’re right, it WOULD be pretty bad if someone were to kill the emperor, steal the key, and make a withdrawal of $God-Buster. Yes, that’d be a real disaster!<br /><br />But hey, you know what would also be pretty bad? If instead of killing the emperor and getting the key to the vault, someone were to kill the emperor and there was no key and now <i>no one</i> can have the Falchion. I mean, if we’re gonna suppose the possibility of a bad guy offing the emperor, I’d sure as hell rather run the risk of having to foil a villainous plot to abuse the power of the Falchion than to run the risk of the only defense against a malevolent god becoming eternally and irreversibly beyond anyone’s grasp. Frankly, if it means not having to worry that humanity’s fate is 1 loose patch of carpeting on a palace stair away from sealed, I’ll happily run the risk of the royal treasury key being snatched up by any old pickpocket, some 2-bit usurper, or even just an intern who got mixed up and handed the emperor back the bathroom key by mistake. A single detour from the main plot is all that’s required to fetch the damned key from a mortal holder. <br /><br />But as the royal treasury stands now, a round of flu breaking out at the capital--or hell, even just a sole royal heir who doesn’t feel like walking all the way down there--is all it’ll take to make every single thing in that vault inaccessible forever. Deus Ex Machina devices aren’t usually icons of intelligent thinking, but Fire Emblem 15’s royal treasury is a cut below nonetheless.<br /><br />...And yes, I know that this is 1 of the least important things I’ve ever ranted about. I’m not apologizing.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-35737717479140425542023-08-08T08:08:00.022-07:002023-08-08T08:08:00.158-07:00Chrono Trigger's Party Members' Pseudonyms<p>Aliases are not exactly an uncommon phenomenon in RPGs. I mean, they aren’t in all of fiction, really, but they prevail especially often in this genre. And that fact isn’t terribly surprising, either. RPGs have the usual array of story-related reasons for characters to have multiple names and identities to go by which inevitably work their way into a plot twist later on--taking on a new name to go undercover (like a guy named Ryu beating the shit out of some hermit minding his own business named Baba so he can steal Baba’s identity because damn it all he’s <i>gonna</i> get those backstage passes 1 way or another), or making a clean break from the past (like a guy named Clyde taking on the name Shadow <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2021/10/final-fantasy-6s-shadows-fear-of.html">because he wants to avoid the messy business of child support checks</a>), or deceiving the heroes into believing that their new best buddy is not actually a complete shitbag using them for nefarious ends (like a guy named Ghaleon deciding that his name <i>just wasn’t sus enough</i> and to begin moonlighting as the Magic Emperor), among many other examples.<br /><br />But RPGs are also inordinately fond of of both the Plot-Induced Amnesia and the Rebellious Princess tropes, far more than most other narrative ventures, and these story paths are almost always accompanied by pseudonyms, since the schmucks in question either can’t remember their own names or view being known as royalty as a hindrance to adventuring (hell, sometimes it’s a 2-for-1 schmuck like Legrand Legacy’s Finn doing both routines). It doesn’t always make a lot of sense--I really don’t know who Tales of Vesperia’s Princess Estellise thinks she’s fooling by choosing “Estelle” as her codename, that’s like someone named Jonathan going undercover as Jon--but it certainly does happen a lot all the same.<br /><br />Oh, and also, goddesses who have reincarnated as humans and don’t remember that fact. Holy fuck do RPGs ever love playing that card. You can even get bonus pseudonyms out of that one--Erim from the Lufia series and Althena from the Lunar series each have (at least) 3 separate named identities, and can you imagine how many different monickers Hylia would’ve collected by this point if she didn’t just keep getting slapped with “Zelda” every time? Woman would have so many aliases that the FBI would put her on a list just out of reflex.<br /><br />Even considering how prone to pseudonyms the genre is as a whole, however, Chrono Trigger is a peculiar case. Because while other RPGs might be content with 1, maybe 2 major characters who have separate names for substantial plot-related reasons, <i>over half</i> of Chrono Trigger’s main characters are known by pseudonyms! There are, after all, only 3 characters in the party whose names are genuinely their own (Ayla, Lucca, and Crono), while the remaining 4 are known by adopted monickers. Marle is actually Princess Nadia, Magus is actually Janus, Frog is actually Glenn, and Robo...well heck, Robo ought to count double, because he’s actually R66-Y AND Prometheus.*<br /><br />And I can’t help but wonder: thematic, or a coincidence?<br /><br />I mean, it’d be a hell of a chance occurrence to have 4 characters’ arcs all substantially involve adopted names in the same game, without the writers having intended the concurrence for any higher purpose. Particularly since CT’s writers were all quite competent--it’d be out of character for this to just be a case of some oversight.<br /><br />And it’s worth recognizing that each character’s pseudonym has different context and reason for its existence, but all could be seen to share a narrative purpose. Marle chooses to be Marle, for positive and self-affirming reasons. While the choice to hide her identity of Nadia might have briefly, at the start, been a matter of convenience (as she didn’t want Crono to treat her differently due to her status), after that point, being Marle is clearly a decision she makes for her own sake--”Marle” is who she really is, while “Nadia” is a restriction imposed upon her by people and circumstances she despises. And while she does reconcile with her father and (presumably to some degree) her position as a princess, she and her character’s arc have made it clear that she’s not giving up the name she gave herself. “Marle” is an identity, <i>her</i> identity, and “Nadia” a castoff that, at best, she won’t object to being called when her royal life does have to crop up.<br /><br />Like Marle, Frog chooses his pseudonym--but for him, it’s clearly for negative reasons. The name is a way of hiding within his cursed form, avoiding acknowledging his past failure as Glenn and hiding that truth from the world, particularly those he loves and respects, like Queen Leene and King Guardia. While “Marle” is an identity of self-affirmation and freedom of individuality, “Frog” is one of shame and/or fear, an identity created to coincide with the cursed body that serves as a physical representation of Glenn’s failure and loss. In terms of the identity of “Frog,” Glenn’s story is one of coming to terms with his past and an identity built on its consequences, and bringing honor and self-value back into his life as Frog. While “Marle” is a positive identity to start with, “Frog” is one in which a healthy self-attitude must be grown--and even then, it’s almost certain that the identity of “Glenn” is the preferable one and would be who the man seeks someday to be again.<br /><br />Robo, meanwhile, is an interesting variation. Unlike Frog and Marle, Robo doesn’t choose his pseudonym, instead being dubbed such by Crono, who apparently either has no creativity whatsoever or just didn’t give half a shit. “Robo” is the name of the character who develops from essentially nothingness from the moment that Lucca repairs him. Unlike Marle and Frog, there’s not really any conflict of identity for the majority of the game for Robo--he doesn’t remember his previous life the way they do, and he isn’t given a chance, when meeting his assembly line brothers, to decide whether he wants to exist as Robo or as R66-Y, as they turn on him automatically. While being called a defect distresses him and of course he doesn’t particularly like getting the crap kicked out of him, the incident never offers a choice to Robo regarding which identity he wants--by the end of it, the beings who have saved him are the ones who named him Robo and there’s nothing else left for him as R66-Y, so of course he’s going to be Robo going forward. The choice only comes late in the game, and unexpectedly, as Atropos reveals that he had another identity as Prometheus before, and that he’d been meant to be an infiltration unit of sorts. It’s a questionable claim, actually, given that Atropos herself is only being all genocide-y because her programming’s been tampered with by Mother Brain, but at the time said claim is made, Robo has no particular reason to doubt it. Either way, the identity of “Robo” is the one that’s been given the time and opportunity to grow, and given things and people to cherish, while “Prometheus” is still just a theoretical that can’t be remembered, so the choice, while still significant, is nonetheless probably easy for Robo to make. Though it was a name given to him, Robo has grown into his identity as such, and now chooses to be that self just as much as Marle does.<br /><br />Magus, of course, is grumpy and not a team player even when it comes to narrative tools like character development, so we can’t really say for sure what the emotional circumstances are that tie him to his current name. Maybe it was a name given him by Ozzie that he grew into like Robo, or maybe it’s something he wears because he’s ashamed of what he was as Janus like Frog, or maybe he legitimately only ever started feeling like a person in his own right once he was away from everyone who knew him by his former identity like Marle. There’s a good chance it’s none of the above and more an edgy new-name-for-a-new-identity-of-VENGEANCE sort of thing. Could also be something else entirely. Regardless, we can’t say for sure exactly what the story of “Magus” is, only that he willingly keeps it. But the absence of an answer is an answer too, in the sense that the mystery still makes it a different case from the other pseudonyms, from our audience perspective.<br /><br />So the story of each character’s pseudonym is different, but they all clearly work toward similar purposes of showing identity as something consciously chosen. Marle, Magus, and Robo all arrive at a destination of voluntarily embracing these identities, and even though Frog’s story is a bit different, it still revolves around him using a name to undergo an emotional journey to come to terms with and accept himself--it’s just that in his case, he’s arriving at an acceptance of “Frog” and more importantly a willingness to return to “Glenn” someday. So there’s certainly a theme to be read here, one of the human will to choose their own self and to consciously defy or own the identity given to them by others.<br /><br />I just don’t really know if this theme that you can find was actually <i>intended</i>.<br /><br />I mean...yeah, okay, when the majority of your cast run in the same thematic circle, most often it’s for a reason. Look at Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, after all. The theme of ascension, of rising above the restrictions placed upon you by the universe, is all over the place in its cast’s stories, with succubi overcoming the Evil in their natures, and Hell Knights subtly working outside Law’s methods to achieve success, and broken PTSD-suffering fallen paladins being nurtured back to believing that a day might come when they’ll be okay again, and so on and so forth. It’s all over the place; there’s very few major characters that don’t tie to this ascension theme in 1 fashion or another.<br /> <br />But at the same time...well, ascension is a theme that exists within and permeates PWotR far beyond just the main cast. The story as a whole plays with it, the main villain ties to it, and it’s the very purpose itself of the true ending. By contrast, as far as I can see, this concept of self-determined identity represented by pseudonym isn’t a part of Chrono Trigger as a whole. Human will and potential <i>is</i> a major theme of the game, and I suppose that’s at least somewhere in the same ballpark as self-determined identity, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to assume they’re intended to be connected, particularly since the method of the latter (the pseudonyms) doesn’t appear in any other significant part of the game.**<br /><br />So...I’m inclined to say that the peculiar prevalence of pseudonyms in Chrono Trigger’s cast might, indeed, be more coincidence than contrived. Maybe it <i>was</i> intended to tie to the game’s ideas on existential will and potential, but I just don’t see enough evidence of it. Maybe the writers didn’t somehow overlook the fact that the game had so many main characters running around with aliases, but just recognized that what they’d made still works and wisely decided not to mess with it. Anyway, the point is that I have fully wasted my time and yours considering a question no one was asking, and arriving at a conclusion that requires no shifting of one’s perspective on the matter in the slightest. Aren’t you glad you read these things?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* I mean I guess Frog also has a second pseudonym of Mr. Toad thanks to Crono’s mom, but just because all these amphibians look the same to her doesn’t mean that we should humor her blatant and disgusting racism. Why, she was even shocked that one of Frog’s kind could articulate himself! Truly disgraceful. I ask you, where were Nintendo’s censors that day?<br /><br /><br />** Yes, Lavos is given a name by Ayla (like how Robo was named by the party), but it’s no pseudonym, because it’s the only name he ever possesses, nor is it part of any story of identity. And yes, Gasper’s name is only revealed late in the game, but until that point he only has a title (Old Man), not an actual alternate alias. And again, it isn’t used to explore any concept of identity.<br /><br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-80414620297451470302023-07-28T08:08:00.031-07:002023-07-28T08:08:00.151-07:00Shin Megami Tensei 5's Incompetent Critique of the Law Route<p>Boil the art of debate down long enough to get to its rudimentary basics, and you find 2 elementary strategies that are employed when trying to persuade an audience: talking up your own side of the issue, and discrediting the opposing viewpoint. Because we’re a contrary and, let’s face it, oftentimes stupid species, it can often be the case that convincing someone that your side is <u>right</u> is not nearly as effective and reliable as simply convincing them that the other sides are <u>wrong</u>. If you want an example, look no further than the United States’ presidential elections, which have, for the entirety of my lifetime and far before even that, had their outcomes determined less by citizens voting for a candidate whom they believe in than by citizens voting <i>against</i> a candidate whom they despise. If we ever as a collective nation decided to vote solely based on which political asshole we most believe in rather than which one we think has the best chance of beating the political asshole we hate, this 2-party nightmare we’ve been locked into for most of a century would be dispelled lickity-split, and we’d all be better off for it. But because we’re easier to manipulate with enmity than with unity, that’s unlikely to happen.<br /><br />The Shin Megami Tensei series has naturally made use of both basic sides of debate when its advocates for Law, Chaos, and Neutrality make their arguments to a game’s protagonist. Even though Shin Megami Tensei 5 is <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/01/shin-megami-tensei-5s-lack-of.html">reluctant to perform even the most minimal narrative labors</a> expected of it, the game nonetheless does manage to halfheartedly go through a few motions of its philosophical emissaries making their cases for their faction and against the others. And it’s on this point that we see not only that SMT5 is, as I have accused, <i>barely</i> written at all, but also that what stunted scraps of storytelling it does possess are often, as I have also <a href="http://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2023/03/shin-megami-tensei-5s-chaos-routes.html">previously accused</a>, <i>poorly</i> written, too. Because Shin Megami Tensei 5’s Chaos advocates’ criticism of the side of Law is completely and clearly incompetent.<br /><br />Atsuta, the flat, emotionless, shallow, pea-brained dipshit that SMT5 has the audacity to put forth as its Chaos Hero, makes the claim that Dazai, the hapless helpless hopeless goon that SMT5 has the audacity to put forth as its Law Hero, only believes that the world needs God Almighty because Dazai has stopped thinking for himself. And under normal circumstances, this is the easy slam-dunk go-to criticism that the Shin Megami Tensei series is fond of leveling against its Law faction. While I would argue strenuously that it’s a grossly oversimplified misrepresentation of 1 of the major motivations for choosing to side with Law in SMT, it’s at the same time quite impossible to argue in most of the titles that there’s not at least some merit to this accusation. Many of the major Law figures in the series are basically hard-coded to follow God’s will, and the Heroes who partner with them are frequently doing so in large part out of a trust in and reliance on The Big Man to know what’s best for all. Hell, I can’t even deny that my personal favor for Law over Chaos in SMT may be at least in some small part influenced by Christian concepts impacted upon me during formative years in my childhood. There’s a fun and intelligent debate to be had about the line between mindless obedience and healthy and laudable faith as they apply to a character’s and one’s own choice to side with God and His Law, and I myself certainly see it as much closer to an admirable and reasoned display of faith than dull subservience...but it’s still a vulnerable chink in SMT Law’s armor. Atsuta and his patron may completely lack the inclination and the logical capacity to actually explain why their version of Chaos is a good idea (or even makes any sense at all), but they at least can levy the golden standard personal attack against their ideological opponents.<br /><br />Except that this time, it’s not accurate. In fact, the claim that Dazai only advocates for Law because he’s stopped thinking for himself is blatantly incorrect to the point of exposing just how incompetently, stupidly ignorant the game’s writers were of their own damn work. Because Dazai is literally the <i>only character in the game</i> who we actually SEE contemplate, in even the smallest regard, the world’s situation and what path must be taken forward!<br /><br />Oh, sure, there’s a little bit here and there in Dazai’s dialogue over SMT5’s course that tells the audience that he’d rather be a follower to a leader better equipped to make decisions than to have to give input on future actions. There’s even a conversation he has with the protagonist in which he hallucinates that Koshimizu ever asks his subordinates for their opinions on his orders, something which never happens nor is even hinted to be consistent to Koshimizu’s personality and leadership style, and Dazai laments that he’d rather not have to be a part of such a discussion when he doesn’t feel personally qualified to be. The preference for following instead of leading is definitely shown to be there in Dazai.<br /><br />But the fact of the matter is that of Atsuta, Dazai, and that shortsighted laughable clown Yakumo--not to mention the Nahobino himself--Dazai is the ONLY faction representative in Shin Megami Tensei 5 to actually be seen weighing his options, stressing out about what needs to be done for the world, and taking the steps to come to the conclusion that his faction is the best course to follow. Yakumo will haughtily deign to briefly outline why he believes in his cause, and his partner Nuwa will later neatly deliver the brusque, inadequate little sob story of how Yakumo became such a violently sanctimonious prick, but he’s long since determined his stance on the world by the time of the game’s events. Atsuta, meanwhile, doesn’t do the audience even that small service, instead just going along with Koshimizu’s Chaos plan without questioning it or himself even once. But Dazai we see express concern about the future of Tokyo and the world, debate with himself what to do to bring the order he thinks the world needs back now that it’s confirmed that God is dead, and persuade Abdiel to defy the letter of God’s law (which dictated that there would be no more Nahobinos) in order preserve its spirit, talking her into becoming a fallen angel to accomplish God’s will in ways she could not as the champion who outlived Him. It may still be rushed and it may still be laughably over the top and the origin of Dazai’s boner for YHWH may still be a mystery, but at the very least we do SEE Dazai actually think about the cause he’s going to champion before committing to it, he can explain (albeit simplistically) in his own words why he believes in his cause instead of just parroting Daddy Koshimizu’s propaganda, and he can point to his experience with a practical example of the Chaos faction’s goal as evidence of why it won’t work.<br /><br />And not for nothing, but the way Dazai goes about pursuing his goal of restoring God’s order is not something you could call thoughtless. Sure, most of the time, pulling for Law in SMT does just boil down to “Do what the angel says and shut the fuck up,” not exactly a course of action that necessitates an inventive mind. But after thinking about his position, Dazai does enough creative thinking to conclude that God’s function and value can still be restored by replacing Him with an equal rather than getting stuck on the fact that He was killed, and then is innovative enough to conceive and propose a plan to Abdiel to get her to join him in this pursuit, and argue for that plan well enough that the archangel of God’s will embraces the need to betray God’s law as the only way to serve it. The mere idea of a fallen angel being the only one who can do right by God’s memory is by itself a clear case of thinking outside the box, for that matter. Wouldn’t the act of defying God’s expressly stated command for the sake of restoring God’s big picture be the very opposite of what Dazai would do if he weren’t thinking for himself?<br /><br />And it’s <i>Atsuta</i> who has the gall to make this claim. Atsuta, the eternal lapdog of Koshimizu, who never gives the slightest indication that he possesses the basic human capacity to think critically about his actions or the orders he’s given. Atsuta, the guy who’s the exact same character at the end of the game as he is at its beginning, blandly defined by the trait of a dogged determination to protect Tokyo and an equally unrelenting determination not to consider for himself how that goal should manifest. <i>He’s</i> accusing someone <i>else</i> of choosing thoughtless obedience.<br /><br />I’m not even really all that annoyed with Atsuta, honestly. He just isn’t even human enough to warrant it; the guy’s closer to an inanimate object than he is a facsimile of a person. I might as well get upset with a napkin. But I certainly can get frustrated with the creators of the game for this blatant, blindingly-obviously boneheaded criticism of Dazai. The “you don’t think for yourself” criticism is, as I mentioned, the go-to for the Chaos crowd in SMT, and because Atlus simply couldn’t find it in itself to actually do its job, it just grabbed the fall-back and didn’t consider the matter any further than that. A single, passing glance at the script for SMT5 would have been enough to realize, for the writers--if there really were any--that the scenario they had in their gross sloth created was the exact opposite of one in which that criticism would have been applicable, but they just couldn’t be bothered to give even that glance. It’s not like there was all that much there to have to reread! I’ve seen more verbose manifestos on the back of some cereal boxes than certain entire chapters of this game’s script can boast. It’s like Shin Megami Tensei 5 is a parody of itself--its authors threw out a pre-made criticism that used to mean something in the series, they did it reflexively and without a thought, and it turned out to be a condemnation of that very action.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-87142792055788340852023-07-18T08:08:00.010-07:002023-07-18T08:08:00.137-07:00Octopath Traveler 1's Language<p>Well, I may be back to boycotting SquareEnix, and even more enthusiastically than <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2010/11/general-rpg-maker-squareenix-why-im.html">the first time</a> for that matter, but if someone goes and buys 1 of their games and gifts it to me, then the damage is already done and I may as well let myself enjoy the game. If that’s possible, that is--this is SquareEnix we’re talking about, there’s like a 5% chance of anything they publish being even remotely close to passable. But Octopath Traveler seems to be that rare roll of a Natural 20, and I’m thankful that the money spent on this generous gift to me was at least in support of an actually good game.<br /><br />Anyway, enough of my excuses for owning a modern SquareEnix title and my grumpy reticence to give the company its extremely rare due accolades. On with the rant.<br /><br /><br /><br />A few years ago, I made <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2018/08/bravely-defaults-language.html">a rant</a> about how much I enjoyed Bravely Default’s elegant and smooth use of older, uncommon language. Well, I figure it’s only fair that I also point out and applaud Octopath Traveler 1 for doing the same, particularly since it might actually be even better than Bravely Default at it!<br /><br />Octopath Traveler 1 (and probably its sequel, but I’ve only played the first) is a game whose translators clearly delighted in the elaborate and elegant past of the English language. As with Bravely Default before it, OT1 liberally employs a slew of interesting, extravagant language more at home with centuries’ past than with our own modern age of communication, to the end of better selling its medieval-to-Elizabethan-era settings. And it’s quite successful at doing so--the skilled, natural way that Octopath Traveler 1 employs its grasp of the old, ornate side of English merges perfectly with its artistic style to draw the player into the olden-style towns and villages. Additionally, again much the same as Bravely Default, OT1 approaches this linguistic task fully with its modern audience in mind. It’s not like reading Shakespeare, which requires from a present-day reader some development of reading technique that can decipher the bard’s elaborate but daunting prose and poetry into modern meaning. It flows easily for a modern reader/listener and the meaning of characters’ words is always clear enough from context, at least as far as I can tell.<br /><br />Now, the fun thing about Octopath Traveler 1 is that it also goes an extra mile in a couple of ways that I don’t remember Bravely Default doing (although, in fairness, it’s been a few years since I played the only real Final Fantasy game that SquareEnix has allowed to be made in 2 decades). The first is that OT1 uses a wider social net for its older English terms. Yeah, you’ve got plenty of characters using the higher-brow language and phrases, your “augurs” “naifs” and “mollycoddles” and verb versions of “warrant” and the like, as seen in BD...but Octopath Traveler 1 also has no qualms whatever about slumming it a bit when the common man is speaking, either. It’s just as comfortable bandying the cruder vernacular of the peasantry around as it is with the fancy stuff. And I’m a simple man--I see a game that can casually, authentically throw “summat” around, and it gets my approval.<br /><br />It’s even got archaic <i>profanity</i> in it! I let out a squawk of delight when I saw the villain of Olberic’s story exclaim “God’s teeth!” in frustration at Olberic’s unrelenting nobility. There’s also a “‘swounds” or 2 to be found, too. Honestly, it’s a damn shame we didn’t have translators this knowledgeable and talented working at Squaresoft back in the 90s, because there’s no way Nintendo’s famously enthusiastic censors of the era would have been able to keep up.<br /><br />And the other avenue in which Octopath Traveler 1 ups the game from the high standard Bravely Default set is with its regional dialects. Not satisfied just with showing off their well-earned degrees in English Linguistic History with uniform speech patterns, the writers/translators of OT1 also vary the manner in which characters and NPCs speak by region and town. Olberic, Cyrus, H’aanit, and Primrose, for example, all clearly have their own distinctive speech patterns, as do the regions of their origins, which stand out as different iterations of older English just as clearly as modern-day accents distinguish themselves as separate versions of the same contemporary language. I love H’aanit’s heavy Chaucerian olde English especially; the woman is speaking it more thickly and constantly than Frog, Cyan, and Dynaheir all rolled into one.* I mean, okay, granted, her dialect is, when I look it up, apparently not 100% correct/accurate/consistent, but it’s certainly still pretty solid all the same, and more than convincing and consistent enough for most players to enjoy and find interesting and appealing. And these regional accents are even appropriately selected for immersion’s sake in some cases--the most noticeably dense dialect of old English is that of H’aanit’s village, and that tracks, because they’re the 1 community of the bunch that’s the most isolated from the rest of Orsterra’s population, so it makes sense that their speech patterns would remain the most unchanged by contact with other communities.<br /><br />It’s a minor virtue, but Octopath Traveler 1’s skill and creativity in employing earlier terms and conventions of the English language is the kind of characteristic that adds flavor to an RPG, flavor that makes it stand out amongst its peers and develops a distinctive personality for it. Octopath Traveler 1’s writers and/or translators deserve recognition for their work just as Bravely Default 1’s did, more even, because it elegantly takes what BD did even further. Well done, Acquire Corp!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* And unlike those 3, the culture of her origins actually also speaks the way she does. I mean, okay, I think we never actually saw where Baldur’s Gate 1’s Dynaheir came from, and you can <i>maybe</i> pass Chrono Trigger’s Frog off as having intentionally adopted a different manner of speaking to further hide his identity as Glenn (or explain it away as a peculiar side effect of Magus’s curse)...but what the hell was the deal with Final Fantasy 6’s Cyan, at the very least? “Mr. Thou” indeed.</p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268660459652553228.post-77234397977714679902023-07-08T08:08:00.029-07:002023-07-08T08:08:00.143-07:00Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Stray Thoughts<p>I'm back, as promised! Did you miss me?<br /><br />...You know, a little white lie every now and then to make someone feel better doesn't cost you anything. Just saying.<br /><br /><br /><br />My Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous rants have thus far been pretty spoiler-heavy, but I’m happy to say that today’s you can probably read regardless of familiarity with the game. In fact, as a stand-in for a recommendation rant for the game, I wrote it as much for those unfamiliar with the game as those who are.<br /><br /><br /><br />Hey, remember when I did <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2022/11/tales-of-vesperia-stray-thoughts.html">a collection of mini-rants for Tales of Vesperia</a>? I was thinking I might do it again today for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Except that whereas last time my stray thoughts were mostly evincing vices because Tales of Vesperia is vexing and vaguely vile, today’s viewpoints are applauding various virtues I vowed to voice my approval of while playing this very diverting videogame. <br /><br />Normally with a Kickstarter RPG, I’d just make a rant outright recommending and applauding it (if it’s good, of course; I certainly haven’t made such a rant for every Indie title I’ve helped crowdfund). <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2019/10/pathfinder-kingmaker.html">I did so for the first Pathfinder game</a>, after all. But therein lies much of the problem: while very much its own entity, a LOT of the virtues that give Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous its great quality and individual personality are ones I already enthused about in my rant recommending Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Rather than make a whole new major rant for the successor and have to grasp at straws the whole time to re-describe many of the same characteristics that make it so good, we’re just gonna shine a spotlight on a few of the noteworthy bits and pieces of PWotR’s enjoyability, and cover the rest with the following blanket statement: The signature elements that made Pathfinder: Kingmaker great are by and large still present in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.<br /><br />On with the thoughts!<br /><br /><br /><br />- After Pathfinder: Kingmaker’s mistake in making the only romance option for a gay male protagonist one which would end in the death of another party member--a matter <a href="https://wwwthinkinginsidethebox.blogspot.com/2021/03/pathfinder-kingmaker-unfairly-punishes.html">I criticized</a> in what has turned out, for reasons I couldn’t possibly guess at, to be my most-read rant of all time--I greatly appreciate the fact that Owlcat Games were quite careful this time around to make sure that there’s an appropriate number and variety of romantic partners for players who want to play heterosexual, bisexual, or homosexual protagonists of either gender. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous has 2 romanceable dudes for male protagonists, 2 dudes for female protagonists, 3 girls for guys, 3 girls for girls, and even 1 girl for players who are <i>fucking psychopaths</i>. While things are still a little imbalanced in favor of players who want a female romantic partner, the fact is that Owlcat Games put in the work to ensure that each of the major sexualities has multiple viable romantic options to pursue, and I applaud them for recognizing where they went wrong in the previous game and striving to correct that misstep. Good work, guys, and thanks.<br /><br /><br />- I was very pleased throughout the game with the dedication to involving the party members in conversations. It’s not just the generous quality and quantity of the major characters’ dialogue as they pitch in with their own reactions and thoughts, either. What also stood out to me as I played the game was that the writers were dedicated to making sure that even the less prominent companions of the party were included as individuals worthy of having a say. Finnean the living weapon, for example, may only rarely have something to opine on, but it’s a pleasant reminder of him each time it does happen, and the fact that he’s valued enough as a member of the team to take part in conversations is laudable. I mean, not every speaking spear and chatty chakram can is meant to be a Boyfriend Dungeon love interest, but still, minor talking weapon sidekicks are usually a speak-only-when-spoken-to deal. Likewise, even though there’s every chance that he won’t ever be in the party, the writers made sure that Trever has stuff to say in reaction to the events and conversations that unfold before him, and even though it’s substantially less likely that they’ll both be in the party together, there’s a decent chunk of dialogue for Trever and Sosiel both interacting with one another in these circumstances, too.<br /><br />And it’s just plain awesome that a TON of reactionary dialogue was put in for Aivu--considering that she’s a minor companion locked into only 1 route of the game, you wouldn’t think the writers would go to too many lengths for her involvement, but they actually just go all in. Aivu is pretty much the most entertaining character in the game and I love her to pieces, so Owlcat Games making sure to involve her as much as--hell, sometimes <i>more</i> than--the rest of the main characters is an awesome blessing. They even went as far as to create a few extra lines for her here and there that play if, at the end of 1 particular sidequest, you adopted the dragon messiah and she decided on the spot to be his big sister. Just...very cool that no team member ever seems to be forgotten, taken for granted, or have less effort spent on their presence.<br /><br /><br />- Speaking of party conversations, how fun is it that when you set up camp on the date that you’ve set to be the protagonist’s birthday, your companions actually express birthday wishes to the Commander? And they all can do it; even Grandpa Drill Sergeant Regill has genuinely positive sentiments to share on the special day, because Regill is secretly a goddamn bro.<br /><br /><br />- You know, when Baphomet shows up in the game, he has the bearing, the voice work, the profile art, just the general <i>presence</i> of a terrifying, arcane force of malevolence beyond the ken of we mortals, just as a demon lord should. It’s honestly impressive that, after 4 chapters of being a demon-mashing superhero, the game could still manage to put just a bit of the fear of (anti) God in me with him.<br /><br />...and then Nenio completely fucking dismantles this imposing lord of terrors and machinations with a single, innocent, hilariously demeaning scientific inquiry. Just <i>wrecks</i> the man’s intimidation without even trying. It’s glorious. There are a lot of players who don’t like Nenio, and I don’t for the life of me get why. She may mostly be a 1-joke pony, but that joke never seems to get old for me,* especially not when the sheer magnitude of its humor completely reverses the dynamic of personal power to make a godly villain the fool.<br /><br /><br />- It’s not all completely positive with this game, though. They got a new tune for the character creation screen this time around. And I mean, it’s fine enough...but if I’m gonna incarcerate myself for close to <b>2 fucking hours</b> as I meticulously craft, re-craft, crash my computer, then re-re-craft a protagonist in this damn creation system because I’m a perfectionist madman, then I need something I LOVE to be playing the whole time, y’know?<br /><br /><br />- I like how smooth an advancement the Crusade minigame is of the Kingdom Management mechanics of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. I mean...I can’t deny that I think I had a little more fun in PK with it, but the way the developer manages to adapt the originally sedentary system of kingdom-building into a system for advancing and managing a tactical military campaign is pretty impressive. And although I greatly enjoyed running the Fifth Crusade, I nonetheless give kudos, as I did for the previous game, to the developer for the fact that there’s an option to skip the whole thing if you just don’t like this minigame. Good Shelyn in Nirvana, do I EVER wish more RPGs afforded their players this courtesy.<br /><br />...Although I do have to acknowledge that achieving the secret, True Ending of the game DOES require you to engage a little bit with the Crusade system, in order to research a couple of projects over the game’s course and attain certain necessary knowledge. So it’s not quite as optional and hands-free as PK’s Kingdom Management was. Still, it’s a very small amount of necessary involvement, and once you’ve done that research I assume you can just turn the Crusade system off again, so I still give full credit to Owlcat Games for being considerate.<br /><br /><br />- Can I just say that it’s very neat and refreshing, during an exchange within Sosiel’s character quest, to hear Regill actually give the side of Good real, genuine respect? I mean, the man is a Lawful Evil soldier through and through from minute 1 of meeting him, and he makes no secret about disapproving of, even usually scorning, the impulses and instincts of those aligned with Good. Yet instead of arrogantly viewing the side of Good as unworthy opposition, Regill will rebuke Sosiel, when the distraught latter expresses frustration and fear that he perceives Good seems not to be strong enough to overcome Evil without becoming Evil, thusly: “Don’t bring your metaphysics into this. Stop blaming your own incompetence on cosmic forces. The side of good isn’t weak, it’s you.” I mean, yeah, he’s being harsh to poor Sosiel, but I still can’t help but be struck by a hell of a respect for an advocate of Evil who’s rational enough to recognize that the side of Good is, indeed, not weak at all--and who refuses to betray this valuable rationality just for the sake of trying to taunt and falsely confirm the doubts of a servant of Good on the matter.<br /><br /><br />- Thank you, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, for giving players on the Trickster path the option to get intimate with a real, actual poop monster. This was <i>just</i> what my favorite genre was missing.<br /><br /><br />- I appreciate that Wrath of the Righteous generally lets itself be its own epic and only lightly references Pathfinder: Kingmaker.** Nonetheless, I can’t deny that I was grinning pretty hard during the little cameo sidequest wherein PK’s Jubilost shows up to meet the Commander face to face and get a handle on who she/he is. Juby was 1 of my favorite characters in the previous game, and the revelation that he’s secretly the Doctor Who of Pathfinder had me fanboying it up.<br /><br /><br />- While on the subject of homages to previous games, it’s neat how PWotR gives homage to many of the elements from previous isometric Dungeons and Dragons titles. Arushalae was no doubt inspired to some degree by Planescape: Torment’s Fall-from-Grace, and Wenduag’s romance with the protagonist gives some definite Baldur’s Gate 2 Viconia vibes to me. Then you’ve got Crynukh, who brings back fond memories of Neverwinter Nights 1’s Deekin, and of course, it seems fairly obvious that the paladin Irabeth is an homage to NN1’s Aribeth. Irabeth even seems like she’s meant to be a case of PWotR’s theme of ascending beyond one’s natural limitations in this regard--Irabeth manages (in most playthroughs) to avoid losing her beloved and falling to the path of evil, overcoming the destiny that her semi-namesake implies will be her own. That’s probably just me overthinking the matter, though. Again.<br /><br />But at any rate, through these and several more likely homages, we’re shown that just as Pathfinder is the successor to the heart and spirit of Dungeons and Dragons, so too does Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous wish to be the successor to the heart and spirit of the classic D+D games of the past. Cool!<br /><br /><br />- While one’s alignment and choices made a difference very often to the events of Pathfinder: Kingmaker, it’s extremely impressive just how far that can go in Wrath of the Righteous. As you’d expect, quests, endings, and the fates of various characters and communities hinge on how a player goes about progressing through the game, but the story as a whole can often look very different depending on what Mythic path you’ve chosen. There’s enough variation between some of the paths that Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous can almost feel like a different game. As someone who was, many years ago, a bit disappointed at the fact that the variations between Paragon and Renegade in the events of Mass Effect 1 and 2 did not radically change the succeeding sequence of events in ME2 and 3, I appreciate it when an RPG really goes the distance with this idea and constructs substantially different narratives depending on how its player’s choices diverge key points. You don’t come across games that do this very often (and in fairness, it’s not hard to see why not, as it basically involves writing and coding almost multiple whole games), but I think it’s fair to add Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous to the the likes of The Witcher 2 and Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume on this matter.<br /><br /><br />- I fucking love Aivu. If you only play Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous once, play it as an Azata. It’s fun and thematically solid all the way through, but most importantly, <b>Aivu</b>.<br /><br />BE FOREVER, AIVU!<br /><br /><br /><br />These stray thoughts rants are kind of fun, and easier than my typical huge-honkin’-blocks-of-text-type rants. And best of all, they can be critical OR congratulatory! Although I’m fairly certain I know which way they’re going to trend towards if I continue them. I’m already formulating 1 for Shin Megami Tensei 5, so rest assured, we’re gonna be back to Predominantly Grumpy Arpy soon enough. In the meantime, though, Wrath of the Righteous is pretty great, and I recommend it as heartily as I did its predecessor Kingmaker. Peace out, Pathfinders!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />* And really, she DOES have some unexpected depth as a character if you can stick it out through her character quest. It’s actually quite cool.<br /><br /><br />** Granted, the Storyteller is a pretty significant character in both games, but I’d actually argue that his far greater relevance to PWotR retroactively makes him a character of THIS game that Kingmaker just happened to also use.<br /></p>The RPGeniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02752937839502693108noreply@blogger.com0