[DS] My Nintendo DS Fear

You have a terrible opinion, so it's natural that we assume you're not serious. Also your sig is terrible. I don't think there could be anything more incidental than your selection of quotes.

In any case, comparing Dragon Quest VIII to a T1 line isn't too far off, I suppose, assuming that the Dragon Quest combat system is the transfer of data through packets as opposed to some other heathen method of data transmission.

"If it ain't broke don't fix it" is a very fitting adage, because fanbases don't want their favorite franchises to make drastic changes. They become accustomed to how certain things are done, and any deviation from that is viewed with criticism. While this may seem petty, I can't think of any example of an RPG franchise drastically changing its combat system in a way that was superior to its predecessor.

Games like Dragon Quest don't change, and really shouldn't change, because the target audience of an established franchise should always be the established fanbase. Any deviation from that school of thought invites disaster.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm sorry, it is imperically impossible for Chrono Trigger to be the worst RPG ever. Even assuming you didn't like the gameplay, there are other aspects of game design like story, art, and production values that add to the overall atmosphere of a game.

Quote:

The turn based battle system was invented because they couldn't simulate any kind of meaningful battle with a crosspad and two buttons.

Actually, the turn-based battle system was invented because people didn't feel pathetic enough to LARP. It's the only way you can allow complete roleplaying control without actually making a fool of yourself in public, and to a certain extent, provides even greater control than LARPing, since all aspects of a character's abilities are determined by the player, spreadsheet, and the die.

Turn-based combat isn't the problem with RPGs, far from it. The problem is that most people don't view RPGs as anything more than spreadsheets with linear storytelling. An innovative console RPG would be something that actually allows a player to choose his role in a gameworld beyond what is chosen for him. That is the one thing that hasn't been taken advantage of when it comes to new hardware, is the ability to create open-ended gameworlds where a player is given choice.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

As an addendum, when I was talking about Turn-Based combat, I was referring more to combat taking place on a tactical grid. The whole I-attack You-attack thing is something RPGs can do without.

How ya doing, buddy?