[General Discussion] Getting Involved With The RPG Video Game Genre For The First Time.

The year: 1990

The setting: Little Deni's friend's living room

The Dramatis Personae: Little Deni, Little Deni's Friend, An NES, an old TV with knobs for channel changing.

Little Deni sits, transfixed, his Gretzky-esque hockey mullet in rapt attention at a group of a fighter, a monk, a white mage and a black mage walking across a bridge. The screen flashes. The story unfolds.

Little Deni is addicted.

Little Deni ran out and made his mom buy him a copy of it as soon as he saw it played. Or he tried. It didn't work. Little Deni was the tender age of 7, and it's the precise reason he got a paper route. He needed a Nintendo and he needed Final Fantasy. And goddamnit, he got it. And such was born a love affair with a genre. At 7, Little Deni was reading Tolkien and McAffrey and all sorts of pulp fantasy. And here were playable versions of that. He was taken.

So I cut my teeth on Final Fantasy and the Light Warriors. This love affair continued through the SNES. Games like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Earthbound, Lufia II, Legend of Zelda: LttP, Breath of Fire, Final Fantasy IV, and of course Final Fantasy VI... there were others, as well... they were bread and water. Sure, I played other video game genres. I loved Super Metroid, I loved Joe and Mac, and Super Adventure Island... but RPGs were my love affair. There were more to come. Dark Wizard on the Sega CD, Shining Force and Phantasy Star on the Genesis, Dragon Force, Shining Force III and an almost countless number on the Saturn... I still collect them, of course. Tons sitting on my shelf, a fine collection. Even OCD Skills would admit to that.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Nall, I was so waiting for you to answer this thread. I'm actually surprised to find you only started out in the SNES era, I had you pegged as a FF I/DQ kid.

Also, I am saddened that for once, I must disagree with you. FF VIII was a classic? Perhaps a classic example of how not to write a story. The music, however? Beautiful.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Nall

The story, not so much - Dawnson's Creek with swords, but I give the game props for having probably the best 3D and cinematics at the time, a decent challenge factor, and, like you said, good music. I know some people are pretty attached to it, even if it exemplifies what we now know as The New Square, which is more like a soap opera and less like a rock opera than the originals. It's the FF people love to hate, but I think it was sorta important for the genre that it existed. On a personal scale it ranks pretty low, but, classic or not, a ton of people played it, so it has name value if nothing else. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to give undue praise to the game that it doesn't deserve, I'm just saying it was there and had presence in a big way. Suikoden II was superior in just about every way, and even if it didn't make nearly as huge of a splash, it was still beloved, and that's what I was trying to reconcile Muzza with.

All right, I can't argue with that logic. FF VIII did have gorgeous FMVs and the music was beautiful. However, I will forever hold that the entire cast being from the same orphanage ranks as one of the single worst plot twists in the history of video games. I literally set down my controller, turned off the game and didn't touch it for years. The bad character development and lame story was bad enough, but that was the last straw. Later, when I finally cowboy'd up and gave it another shot, I closed my eyes and hammered the ok button to get through that pile of crap scene, I soon came to the scene where you go to outer space and have to save Rinoa and I set down my controller, turned it off, and haven't gone back to it since.

I've noticed something. Almost everyone I meet who claims to like FF VIII are people of, at best, suspect intelligence. At worst, borderline retarded. You called it Dawson's Creek with swords, and it's a good analogy. People who like FF VIII are the kinds of people who like that and the Gilmore Girls. Depth replaced by whining. Ugh.

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And I can't tell you why I never played RPGs on the NES; I honestly don't know. DQ was really impressive to me, same with FFI, I remember that, but I didn't know anyone who actually owned them, nor do I remember seeing them in stores or anything and just had to have them. Guess I was more into platformers back then, but boy did that change! So no, I wasn't an FFI kid, but I did hop on the FFII (as we knew it) train, so I guess I wasn't too far off.

I think it was pretty hard not to fall in love with Cecil. That opening scene with the Red Wings theme playing is like crack. I still go back to it from time to time.

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

Originally Posted by Elixir

Assumptions made by people who try categorizing people by their preference of role playing game, for that matter.

Originally Posted by Denicalis

I've noticed something. Almost everyone I meet who claims to like FF VIII are people of, at best, suspect intelligence. At worst, borderline retarded. You called it Dawson's Creek with swords, and it's a good analogy. People who like FF VIII are the kinds of people who like that and the Gilmore Girls. Depth replaced by whining. Ugh.

Yeah, see, I highlighted the important bit there, Orson. I'm not categorizing people based on their preference of role playing game. I'm pointing out a correlation between people I meet who like the game and are, you know, socially awkward retards. But yeah, clearly what I said was that everyone who likes FF VIII is an idiot. "A lot of people I meet who like FF VIII are also idiots" clearly equals "everyone who prefers FF VIII must be dumb."

Please don't try talking to the grown ups until you can learn to read and comprehend.

Good hustle, Orson.

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

Originally Posted by Elixir

I think that might have something to do with their experience with Final Fantasy VIII!

Or it might have something to do with a certain personality type being predisposed to liking the shitty game! OMG! Guyz! People who liek gay teenage melodramas mite lieks FF VIII? Holy fuck, what a stretch.

Orson, I don't know why you even keep trying. You've been a failure since the first moment you hit this board.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Elixir

How.. mature. That would be categorizing, yes yes, I can see it now. Just because you've met a bunch of so-called "socially awkward" individuals who just happen to like FFVIII, doesn't mean anything. It's a personal experience. I'm sure there's other socially awkward people out there, met or not, that don't like FFVIII.

Saying that someone with a certain personality might like a game is retarded, and I'm sure there's people with all kinds of personalities that do and don't like FFVIII. You just haven't met them (oh my god I need to bold to emphasize on something since I have such a bad comprehension of reading) yet.

I'd say get new friends or something but you're probably just going to meet more socially awkward retards.

They're not my friends. They're people I've met. See, those of us that have a real life meet lots of people, and not all of them are our friends. Especially not when they are, as I've stated, socially awkward retards. Though even they have the advantage of not looking like a cartoon pig.

Also, yes, that's what I said. People I've met are like this. I didn't say all people are like this. I said there was a correlation within the people I've met. So again, reading comprehension, Orson. Learn it. Use it.

You always get so butthurt whenever anyone slags on a game you like. Get over it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Elixir

Yes, that's a personal experience, and it doesn't have something to do with FFVIII.

It doesn't make the game bad, or good, or anything.

For the record, I don't like FFVIII at all. I bought the game, tried to get into it a bunch of times, and I even made it just past the part where you have to save Rinoa in space, but then I gave up. The game looks ugly as hell now, I dunno how I bothered with it or why I used to marvel at the GF summons. I never finished it, and I never cared of it. I won't go back to it.

Anyway, point missed like fuck. Knowing people who are of a certain type has nothing to do with the game, or any game, and isn't related to FFVIII whatsoever. It's all just you throwing off assumptions and it's just a coincidence that the people you know happen to like the game. It doesn't mean anything. But it's obviously intriguing enough of a life experience to post about it on the internet.

I never said it did. I said people I've met who really like the game tend to be idiots. You're the one getting all bent out of shape over it, Orson.

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And just because you don't like the game, doesn't mean everyone else dislikes it too. I don't honestly care for the game, as I've stated previously, but what you iplied wes everyone who happens to like the game is doing something wrong, based on the people you've met having crap personalities and just happen to like the game as well.

No, what I implied was that it had shitty character development and a bad narrative. So they like something with bad character development and a bad narrative. Which has nothing to do with people I've met, you retard. And everything to do with the game being ass. But please, keep arguing. I'm getting a good laugh out of your fat ass being so reformed as to pick fights over something I never even said.

"It's a stupid game. Pretty much everyone I meet who likes it is an idiot."

"NOT EVERYONE WHO LIKES FF VIII IS AN IDIOT."

"No, I never said that."

"NOT EVERYONE WHO LIKES FF VIII IS AN IDIOT."

Etc.

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Furthermore, I don't think anyone cares about little tidbits of Life With Deni that're vaguely related to a game.

You're basing this on the fact that pretty much everyone here hates you and wants nothing to do with any opinion you have. I'd shed a tear for you, but I'm too busy laughing.

Settle down, butthurt. You're embarrassing yourself.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Elixir

Hahaha, you can express as much angry nerd rage for a game I don't like, as much as you like, porky. And you can justify your bashing as much as you want, I don't care. Post #35 pretty much sums it up and could be written again considering I think you skimmed through it too quickly. A mod's told us to stop, so do so.

That was so cute, the way you basically just paraphrased exactly what I'd said to you and thought no one would notice.

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

Originally Posted by Cheezeman3000

In my observation, every thread Deni posts on turns into a flame war between Deni and [insert name of innocent poster who did absolutely nothing except post a viewpoint which just happened to differ from Deni's]. If anyone should be banned...

Anyways, my first RPG was tragically FFVII (tragic because I missed out on the majority of the SNES era, due to me coming to videogames a little late). But not tragic because I was instantly hooked. And get this: it was for the PC. I never owned a Playstation. My SECOND RPG was Super Mario RPG because I realized I loved them. My third was FFVIII (PC), fourth FFIX (after I acquired a PS2), fifth Chrono Trigger, and from there it blossomed into a lovely boquet of RPG sex.

Right, because I'm the one who made the snide, backbiting comment that started that. I'm sure the world waits through the pregnant pause prior to the weighing in on board politics from the cheezeman.

Also, that's the most random movement through RPGs I've ever seen. How did you go from PC FF VII to Super Mario RPG? Where was the connection?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Cheezeman3000

Yeah, it really is a random connection. It must've been because I loved Mario games and owned all of them except the RPG one because I had no idea if I would like it or not. Then, when I found out I liked FFVII, it was time to try it out!

Well, it's a hell of a good second choice. One of the best ever made.

Most amazing jew boots

Oh, VIII has some of the best music of the entire series. No doubt. I loved the beginning of this game. The Garden was great, the military concept was fun, but then they let Squall develop as a character, and it all went down hill from there for me. I actually didn't mind the battle system. I was fine with drawing magic and junctioning it to stats. I dug a lot of stuff about VIII, but I just can't get past those twists. They're absolutely heinous.

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

Colonel Skills, currently of The Dutchman fame, is madly in love with Xenosaga. God knows why. But he'll explain it to you in a way that doesn't make you hate him.

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