[General Discussion] What is so special about...? HEY ASSHOLES, POST MORE IN HERE.

This idea came to me while I was reading some journal comments. I just read a comment in which someone praised the SNES RPG Earthbound. I must have read comments or posts like that about a thousand times or more. The thing is, I haven't played Earthbound, and I don't really know what all the fuss is about. It might be a great game, but just reading reviews can't really tell me what is special about the game. A review can tell me what it is about, what to expect in general terms, but it often will not tell me what really made the game feel special. I could just go ahead and play it blind, but I prefer to hear a little about games from other gamers before I play them.

That is the purpose of this thread. Not specifically to talk about Earthbound, although you are free to do so. What I would like for you to do is to pick one or more RPG which you have completed and explain what made it so special. What made it stand out from other games. Be either as brief or as verbose as you would like. I'm basically suggesting that you write a mini-review which touches on the points that you feel are the most special about this game.

I would like to suggest that this be about games which are not already popular beyond belief. I won't place any explicit limitations on which titles should be mentioned, because I am not a moderator and do not make rules. Instead I will suggest that it would be better to talk about a lesser-known RPG than to a Final Fantasy or Suikoden title. I'd prefer it if we could keep criticism to a minimum. I know that not everyone likes the same games, but this isn't about discussing whether a game is good. It's about explaining what you liked about it, regardless of what others may think. On the other hand, if you have something to say about a mini-review in which you think the author missed something equally special about the game, please do take the time to post your own write-up of the title.

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What is so special about Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana?

My first selection is a relatively recent game. I don't think it has received the degree of attention it deserved though. In the first place, it's a solid RPG in the traditional style. It really feels more like a minor graphical upgrade of a SNES title than a PS2 title. That's a good thing in my view, because I sometimes get tired of the super-shiny new RPGs which are all presentation and no substance. Not all new RPGs are like that, but we all know I could name a few.

The story is a little bit cliché, or possibly more than a little. It gets the job done, it had some genuinely touching moments for me... and last but not least it has a cute catgirl. That's cute like "awwww..." not cute like "damn!", by the way. I personally find the characters to be quite compelling, even though they offered little which we have not seen before. The combat system could only be described as servicable, it certainly isn't anything to write home about. The characters each have a decent range of skills and abilities at their disposal, and are suitably varied in their style. What makes it really special though is the Store Synthesis system.

Store Synthesis is the process by which certain store owners throughout the game will offer items which are only available if you gather the right ingredients to make them. These range from consumables to equipment. Some items are of negligable use though, since they were included as comic relief. You could play through Atelier Iris from start to finish having only done minimal Store Synthesis. It is not something which is forced upon the player much, after the initial introduction of the concept. For each recipe, some ingredients are fixed, and some are variable. You can substitute different ingredients that you have found in order to produce products of different quality, or sometimes even entirely different products that may not be created in any other way. Sometimes the ingredients are the products of your previous experiments in synthesis, and the final quality will be based on the quality of the ingredients you used for that item. You can spend hours looking for a way to make a slightly better item, if you care to.

If you find the characters and the world at all compelling, you will probably want to pursue Store Synthesis. As you assist the store owner to complete more and more of the synthesis formulae he or she has devised, a whole subplot based around that character will unfold. If you pursue all of these subplots to their natural conclusion, you will add a great deal of value to your playing experience. Not only will the pursuit of better ingredients become a minor quest in its own right, but the subplots are at least as entertaining as the main game... if not more so. Last but not least, you will gain access to some useful items.

If you play Atelier Iris without completing the Store Synthesis quests, you have played half a game. The store synthesis quests are interlinked to a great extent. If you're going to pursue one series of quests, you will end up by pursuing them all. In the end, it felt to me like these stories were just as important as any other part of the game.

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I may write another one later, if this thread catches on. If someone wants to do me the courtesy of writing one for Earthbound, that would be great. I don't know whether this idea is as good as it sounded in my head, but here goes.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Nice overview of the game. I'd say you captured what was so good about it quite nicely.

I can't think of anything to write about at this moment, but... I do like the thread idea.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I just want to say Soulzar this is a great idea for a forum topic, and you deserve a prop for it.

What is so special about Xenogears?

Before I say anything about what I think this game is so special. I respect the fact that this is one of those games that you either love or hate. I know for a fact that Megavolt is not a big fan of this game and I respect him for it.

I'm happy to say that when I first experienced this game I experienced it before the hype/fan base of this game even existed. In terms of my impressions of the game. I just found that I got sucked into the world so easily. I was so impressed by the opening movie and the music in this game remains to me some of the most beautiful video game music I've ever heard.

I found it amazing that unexpected tragedy took place so early in the game. When I had first played this game for the first time. I had a hard time trying to figure out what was going to happen next, because I felt that the game had a lot of unexpected twists.

I enjoyed a lot of the characters in the story. Sure there were a few characters I didn't really like but I guess it comes with any rpg that you play. I felt each character was portrayed equally except when it came to the main character.

I did not find the game very easy to go through. I thought that some of the battles were indeed challenging and required a significant amount of strategy. I know there were at least 6 boss fights that I really had to think about and put some serious strategy in terms of fighting them.

I didn't really hate the second disc as much as everybody else. Even though the majority of the second was mostly story and there were periods of time as long as 30 minutes in which you didn't have control of your character. It didn't really bother me since I have a lot of patience when it comes to things like that.

I only real gripe I had with the game was the dubbing for the final animation scenes in the game. It was so horrible, that it literally was really painful to listen and not even see the words sync up with the mouths of the characters. It was minor and didn't really influence my overall impressions of the game.

Even the ending song Small Two Of Pieces - Restored Pieces is still my favorite ending song of any video game.

To me the incredible music and a deep storyline is what made this game truly great in my eyes. The fact that you could use mechs and it had a very solid battle system was just the icing on the cake in terms of playing this game.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

This is quite a nice idea. (And after reading your say about Atelier Iris, I feel happy to have picked up this game.)

So let's try this...

What is so special about Fire Emblem?

Obviously, this isn't a game for everyone, but if you're a fan of Strategy RPGs and good stories involving political strife and war-torn countries, you can't possibly pass this series up.

For starters, Fire Emblem is a very traditional Strategy RPG, in that it is a series that has withstood the test of time and has changed very little from game to game. Some games introduce some differences, but more or less, it's the same gameplay slapped on different plots and characters, which ultimately makes it feel very familiar, and yet, simultaneously, different. For this reason, instead of writing about a single game, the entire series can be clumped together.

I will not lie, this game is not for everybody, especially considering the difficulty level of most of these games. These are challenging games (depending on which you play, some are harder than others.) and depending on how much of a perfectionist you are, you will be pressing reset a lot. The main difference that sets Fire Emblem apart from other Strategy RPGs is a) The lack of a time-sensitive battle system, and b) The finality of death.

People will inevitably compare Fire Emblem to other Strategy RPGs, most of which have some kind of time system where enemy turns and player turns intertwine (whether it's known to the player (Final Fantasy Tactics, for example) or not (Shining Force, for example)). Fire Emblem doesn't have any of that. Instead, you move all of your characters at once, and then end your turn and the enemy moves all of his characters. It's simplistic in nature, but it works well in a game like Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem is VERY mathematical. Very little is left to chance. In fact, the only chance there is in the game is relegated to hit/critical percentages. Outside of that, you can plan every aspect of your army's advance and set up formations without fear of objection from your enemy. Instead of worrying about any input from enemies during your turn, however, you must make sure that your ending formation after your attack is rock solid as any surviving enemies after your turn are guaranteed to attack your weakest link. And this is where the second point comes in.

Lots of people complain about death being permanent, but it does put a lot more emphasis on your strategy. If you go in with a wishy-washy strategy, things will not end well for at least one of your characters, and to prevent you from doing that, you will eventually run out of characters if you continue to do so. In this case, you absolutely must think through your plan before you act.

As I mentioned before, in all Fire Emblem games, the story is a big draw for many players as it generally features a serious story involving some political tension and war-torn nations. The story is told in sections after each battle. Possibly the weakest point of Fire Emblem is its stubbornness to adapt to a better form of story telling. Even recent games keep the static bodies and dialogue boxes to tell the story. The story has always been top notch, however, so this somewhat compensates for it.

All in all, it is a damn good game, but not one for everybody. Again, if you fall into the crowd who loves Strategy RPGs and coming up with complicated strategies on the battlefield, as well as great game plots involving some kind of political tension, you're really missing out if you pass up this game.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

What is so special about EARTHBOUND?

What is special about Earthbound? It's like the video game equivalent of an amuse bouche or a palate cleanser. At the time when it first came out, most of us had been spoiled on games like BoF II, Final Fantasy VI, and Chrono Trigger. Great games. Epic games. Legendary games. Also, fairly serious games. These are games, well, mostly the latter two, that played with some conventions and really went artistic with what they did. They were heavy, and melodramatic and wonderful. And then along comes Mother 2.

Visually, it's not stunning. But what it does, it does well. Bright, vibrant colours. Cartoony graphics and brightly painted faces. The music is light and interesting, and the characters amusingly stereotypical. The empathic girl, the plucky hero, the nerdy sidekick and the enigmatic ninja. But lots of games can claim this sort of crap, so what makes this game different? What makes it special? Two things.

First, it's FUN. My god, this game is a blast. It's plug and play, you can excel having never touched the manual. Though, even THAT was great. Packaged in a huge box with scratch and sniff stickers in a complete (fairly thorough) guidebook? Forget about it. Everything about the game was tactile and entertaining. And that extends to the in game experience as well. You have an immense sense of the world you're in, you have no trouble identifying with the cities, with the concept of where you're in. You feel immersed. Which you don't notice at first, because it's such a lighthearted little romp. But somewhere around Threed, it hits you. "I've never felt disengaged from this place." Onett feels safe, familiar. Twoson is different, but still home. Threed feels alienating, Fourside overwhelming, Winters and Dalaam are foreign and make you feel distant from where you've been. It has an incredible sense of scale, much moreso than even CT or FF VI, where the world map is much, much larger. But traveling in Earthbound really makes you feel there's something substantial to it. This is part of the fun, no matter how ridiculous (and I won't get into the comedy and the light hearted stuff much, as every review out there covers how much whimsy is all over this bitch) the concepts get, you always feel comfortable in them. I said the world was tactile, and it is. You feel very connected to all the stuff you take part in. Yes, you're saving the world from aliens as a band of little kids while ordering pizza and fighting dirty, stinking of pachouli retro hippies with no real clear idea of what the real enemy is, but you know what? You care about it.

Which leads to the second thing this game does that makes it special. Oh my god, well paced. You know how editing can save a movie just by you never feeling like they were hitting you with filler? That's what this game is. It is cut brilliantly, as it were. You never feel it's now time to go do one of the millions of game-extending sidequests, and you don't feel like you've got to rush through any given area. It all feels like you're moving just quick enough. A nice, constant pace that will keep you interested. Now, I could go into how well stocked it is for side characters, and how it never takes itself all that seriously, but you know that. You've read the reviews, and what you want to know is the less tangible aspects of things.

I said earlier that it was like an amuse bouche, a nice middle course. Something light and easy to manage. And it is, very much. But that doesn't mean it's simplistic. It's a well made game that isn't lighthearted because it couldn't pull off melodrama. It's lighthearted because it fucking wanted to be. It was a decision made, and one that works well. The script isn't stupid, it isn't dumbed down, it's just whimsical. Like a Miyazaki creation, clear thought went into the mythology of the world. It isn't just cute for the sake of it, it's zany in ways that function within the plot, not just for the sake of being CA-RAZY. Everything flows. It's like a well written novel. It's over, and you don't fully appreciate how well constructed it was until the second run-through. It may be a palate cleanser, but man, there are some complex flavours involved, and they all compliment each other perfectly. This is a game that could be damned pretentious about how well put together it is, but it just refuses to. Sure it could tell you it's influenced by Japanese storytelling techniques and classic Joseph Campbell-esque hero myth, but you know what? It'll just chuckle and tell you to have a beer and watch some cartoons. Because that's the kind of guy Earthbound is. And he's totally cool with you dating his sister.

I was speaking idiomatically.

This could benefit from the addition of other genres and the increased exposure from sticking it in the root forum. Keep it up, guys. Best thread in a LONG time.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Even though this got put into the main forum, I'm still going to put an RPG up.

What is so great about Threads of Fate?

This is a nice little game that most Square fags don't know about (too busy jerking off to Riku porn, I assume).

Let's start with the basics. The main catch of the game is that you can play one of two characters: a boy (named Rue) or a girl (named Mint). They are both looking for an ancient relic that rumored to have to power to grant any wish (or something like that). Thing is, they have different story arcs (the game case says they are both completely different, which is only partly true; the games mostly the same until near the end, and you go to the same locales), and it actually is worthwhile to play the game through twice, to get each character's backstory.

Onto the gameplay. It's not really a deep battle system, to say the least. Mint can use magic, but Rue can use monster coins to turn into them, which is mainly to solve puzzles. Again, it's not very deep, but, it keeps the game simple and fun.

Now... this game is short. REALLY short. Even if you grab everything, it only takes about 20 hours to beat both storylines. But, that's more of a good thing than a bad thing. It makes the second playthrough still relatively fun, even though you've done (most of) it before.

It's not really a classic, but, worth checking out if you find it. It's unfortunate it never really got a sequel.
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I don't think I did that right... oh well.

FELIPE NO

What is so special about Castlevania?

You can actually break the games into 3 different genres: action platforming, action RPG, and repetitive corridor action.

The greatest things about the classic Castlevanias were the gothic themes, the abundance of grotesque enemies, fun boss fights, tricky jumps, and the awesome music.

The greatest things about the recent Metroidvanias are the various RPG elements leading to a real feeling of power, the somewhat free-roam environments, the fun boss fights, and the awesome music.

The only good thing about the corridor action Castlevanias was the awesome music.

Bottom-line: AWESOME MUSIC!!!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

What's so special about The Guardian Legend?



The Guardian Legend is a little known game that ranks as one of my all-time favorites. It is an incredible blend of top-down vertical shooters and top-down adventures wrapped very neatly into one.





You play as "The Guardian." You start out in ship form, flying at incredibly speeds towards a planet-sized spaceship called Naju. One you beat this first level, you would anticipate another top-down vertical shooter level, but you'd be wrong!

Instead, you start the main beef of the adventure, deep within Naju itself in a Zelda-esque adventure mode! You commence your long journey through a labyrinth of different areas, fighting mini bosses and getting upgrades to your weaponry. You fire the same basic gun in ship and person form, which upgrades every time you get the proper power up. The upgrades make your gun shoot faster and with a wider radius. On top of that, you also earn a ton of different sub weapons, all of which can also be upgraded!

To beat the game, you must not only traverse the enormous adventure area, but also beat all 21 (22 including the opening level) shooter levels, accessed via corridors strewn about the map, each one with a hard-as-tits boss waiting for you at the end.

Unlike most top down shooters that kill you for allowing but one bullet to graze your ship, you have energy in this game, which is replenished via powerups in both the adventure and shooter mode. Doesn't make the game any less challenging, I assure you that.

On top of all this, it looks and sounds great for an NES game, with plenty of memorable tunes to accompany you for your long, challenging journey through Naju.

So what's so great about this game? Pretty much fucking EVERYTHING. What are you waiting for? Download the ROM here!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

What is so great about Wild ARMs?

Wild ARMs is truely classic, retaining many familiar rpg conventions in various guises. At the same time, it's somewhat innovative, bringing many fresh new perspectives together that both, at the time and now, still are hard to replicate effectively and enjoyably. While the general concepts carry across from game to game, the original is the best one to look at as the benchmark.

The gimmick for this game and the rest of the series is the whole motif of "The Wild West", although I'd honestly have to say that this is given a backseat throughout. Most people are reluctant and get turned off when they hear that concept, so really it's an rpg with tinges of that motif. The standard rpg fare includes the hp, mp, magic, skills, and all that. The unique factor battle-wise in Wild ARMs is the force gauge, which is basically a free set of extra character-dependent skills that turn out to be quite versatile, proportional to the duration of each battle.

The real beauty lies in all the small factors which, although they may now be more commonplace in games, they are intertwined so well in Wild ARMs that you really get a mix of the old and the new at the same time. Immediately from the start, it takes a good 30 minutes to an hour to unite all the would-be members of your world-saving team together. In this time, you get a solid preliminary backstory of each character's personalities, battle tendencies, etc. Each member can use a tool unique to them for puzzle-solving purposes in dungeons. Cecilia is able to craft her own spells right from the start (about half), and you are able to name all of your spells to your liking, a feature that's not exactly overused nowadays. Rudy's ARMs are upgradable so you can focus on the ones you like. Of course, some are clearly more effective than others over the long run, but that's discovered through a bit of risk and reward and personal gella exploration. Jack is fast, powerful, and has decent stats elsewhere, definitely not confined to be a pure power/speed type.

You meet several memorable characters in your quest such as the haphazard, but likeable Calamity Jane, and the bumbling evil minion, Zed. Your characters genuinely grow emotionally and over come their own personal obstacles, realizing the greater goal. It may sound cheesy or contrived but it's definitely there and waiting to be explored. You can have fun by dashing into walls, breaking crates, or bumping into people just for kicks. Your transportation methods are phased throughout the story and you eventually start to explore the vast world beyond the sheltered continent you start off on. You encounter various golems throughout the quest and learn the secrets behind their legendary status and importance. There are a couple of major plot twists and some nasty surprises throughout. Best of all, you just plain save the world, with good reason.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

What's so special about Dark Cloud?

Not just Dark Cloud, but Dark Cloud 2 as well. The original had its flaws, but what it did it did amazingly well. It was a first-gen title that, graphically, didn't look half-bad. The overall objective was to travel through randomly-generated dungeons, one per locale, and acquire these orbs called Atla. Several floors in each dungeon also had unlockable paths that you had to get a special key for, which would usually lead to some new weapon or what have you. At some point during the dungeon, either halfway in or near the end, you'd encounter a stopping point -- a door that had to be unlocked with a special key acquired through other means. This, to me, is where the games gets awesome.

The storyline begins with a catastrophe that basically wipes out everything as you know it. Houses, people, etc. Only these "guardians" remain, as well as yourself. It's your job to acquire the Atla with your Atlamillia so you can restore each location to its most accurate setting. Your first location is your hometown, which is pretty standard, but then you've got areas that you have to build hills, a desert location, one that's sectioned off into four quarters, and even a giant robot you have to manufacture.

You take your acquired Atla and set basically everything back into place -- houses and the way they face, particular landmarks like trees, lakes, carts, attachments to houses, you name it. It's like Sim City, but you acquire the parts through dungeon crawling. That's not all there is to the game though -- there are seven playable characters and there's a HUGE item/weapon synthesis system that allows you to acquire bigger and badder weapons and much more efficient items.

Now then -- What's so special about Dark Cloud 2?

I've said it before, but if every game's sequel took such a leap in gameplay and graphics, every sequel would be amazing. DC2 switched to cel-shading, which in turn did wonders for how incredible everything looked, lowered the number of floors per dungeon and instead increased each floor's size (which was a great move -- one of the first game's flaws was that some dungeons had 30-40 floors), took out seven playable characters and focused on two main characters, Max and Monica, with the ability to bring an NPC along with you for added benefit, the likes of which included someone who would sell you potions, Remedies, and one who could display the entire floor map and tell you if a treasure chest was a Mimic or not. Great stuff.

DC2 changed a great bit. The first town was still left wholly intact. The setting is that no one goes outside the city because there's nothing beyond the city gates. Due to certain circumstances, Max desires to go outside the city and gets help in order to do so. Monica on the other hand comes from the future, and has to turn to the past in order to correct the mistakes in the future.

In the first game, Doan (the main character) and his Atlamillia were only used for collecting the Atla. In DC2, Max and Monica's Atlamillia were methods used to transport to their respective timelines. In the first game, your objective was to restore each town, period. In the second, by restoring the location in Max's time, you'd affect locations in Monica's time. The coolest thing though was that you could see the changes while you're making them in the present with Max -- if you decide to travel to the future to take a look, it's not just all or nothing. You can see how setting a building in the right spot in Max's time will alter the landscape in Monica's time. Very cool.

There's also a lot more content in the way of Atla. You can put additional features into the locations you have to rebuild, but it's not required. You can just do it for fun to decorate the town. The locations are a little more varied as well -- a standard forest-type area, a beach where you have to build on water, the base of a volcano, and a set of four natural pillars that you have to balance with buildings. The final location is someone's gigantic yard; you have to recreate their landscape, which is kinda cool.

The first game had an item synthesis system, but the second game expands on it. Max is given a camera early on in the game, and you use the camera to take pictures of "ideas" that he uses to get concepts for new items, weapons, and clothes. You also acquire parts for Max's Ridepod, a mech device that you can really change and upgrade through the game with new motors and weapons. Max has Ridepod, and Monica has Monster Transformations that, while cool, as kinda useless since they're nowhere near as powerful as Monica herself. You'll need to use it a couple of times, but that's it.

Dark Cloud 2 has a couple on-going minigames as well. There are two minigames dealing with fish; a standard weighing contest where you catch fish, store them in your fish tank and get them weighed, and a fish racing game. You don't control the fish directly, but by feeding fish different types of food, it'll increase their racing parameters. Both are addictive and incredibly fun to play. The other minigame is called Spheda, a spin-off of golf. Once you find out about it, you can play it at the end of every dungeon floor. The object is to hit the "time sphere" into the "time distortion" aka hit the golf ball in the hole. You're given a certain number of strokes, and everytime you hit the ball it changes from red to blue and vice-versa, indicative of the Atlamillia (Max's is blue, Monica's is red) and their relationship with time. The ball has to be the same color as the portal, which doesn't change during play. Unique twist, and extremely fun.

Edit: Wanted to see how the initial title would look. I'll probably post a few more for games like Zone of the Enders, Legend of Legaia, maybe Legend of Dragoon, etc. Damn this could be a looooong thread.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.