[:plant:] What's your favorite game and character of all time? Still weird, but no longer going

Originally Posted by Omnislash124

Favorite game of all time for me probably goes to Final Fantasy VI, regardless. I loved the story and all the characters (well, a few of them weren't exactly well developed, like Gogo or Umaro, but they're secret.) It's one of the more exciting and heart-gripping stories out there in the RPG world and Kefka was one sick bastard. I also like how they developed the characters, both in battle and out of battle. Each one has their own special ability that only they can use (outside of Gogo, but that's an exception). And as far as character development goes, each one has their backstory, and in the second half of the game, that really begins to take off and you find each character's motivation in their fight against Kefka. Some people say the second half of the game lacks direction, but I disagree. I think character development is an integral part of any cast of characters, and while devoting a large part of the game to it might seem excessive, it rounds out the characters well and helps you tie in with the characters. From the other technical aspects, the graphics were very detailed for its time, and it also holds one of the best soundtracks of any Final Fantasy game.

I agree with all of this as reasoning for Final Fantasy VI, especially the widely held belief that the 2nd half of the game lacks direction. It doesn't, what it lacks is drive. And that's the point. Yes, on the one hand, you want to go take down Kefka, but you've still, in many ways, already lost. He's destroyed much of what you love, completely rearranged the planet and done irreparable harm to, well, everything. Life itself. Plus, if you win, one of your nearest friends might die. So it's a sort of half-hearted march to the finish line. "Yay! We won... sort of." It's not bright and happy, that much is for sure.

But even with all of that, I can't put it on the top of my list. Though it's damned close. I consider Final Fantasy Tactics, for much the same reason. Just sheer brilliance of story telling in a game world. Ivalice is rich, the characters well fleshed out--specifically if you keep up with the changing biographies--and the gameplay exquisite. It suffers from some translation problems, but other than that, damn near perfect. But it also can't be my top game. There are others like this, probably deserving of the title (Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Dragon Force, Suikoden I, II, V, Uncharted Waters: New Horizons, Mega Man II, Mega Man X, Shining Force II... the list is near endless) but despite their probably being deeper games than my final choice, it still wins for me.

The Monkey Island Series is, to me, the ultimate creation. Why? One simple reason: No game has ever gotten such a basic emotional reaction from me. Some games have made me sad with their maudlin bits, some games have gotten a chuckle from me, some have made me enraged with the villain, or sympathetic to them... but nothing, NOTHING has ever come close to my repeated reaction to this series. Raucous laughter. I've had friends sit and watch this game get played like it was stand-up comedy, and I can -still- go back to it and laugh myself almost to tears. The game play is so infinitely well done that you don't notice it. The SCUMM interface just fades into the background, and you feel like you're playing through a movie, rather than a video game. The puzzles are interesting, the dialogue hilarous, and the premises? Classic. Great job of peopling the world with interesting characters, varying the experience from place to place, and never losing pace. The game just has excellent pacing, like a well cut film. It moves so effortlessly. It is a niche little genre, not exactly like anything else out there, and for what it is, it is perfect. That it only has 4 incarnations is a bloody travesty.

The concept of a favourite character is more difficult. There are a lot to choose from, and so many reasons to vary one's approach to choosing. Do you go on depth? Take someone like Ashley Riot? Or maybe you go based on being perfectly suited to the role they're meant to play (I challenge you to find a better piece of pure comic relief than Murray the Talking Skull)? There are the sentimental favourites, like Ramza Beoluve, Celes Chere, Cyan Garamond, or Asellus. I'm also tempted towards the villains, always have been. People like LeChuck or Algus. They deserve a mention because of how well they worked as foils to our heroes. Even when they were just a grey area villain, like Sydney in Vagrant Story, or Luc in Suikoden III. Maybe even moreso because they are so grey area.

In the end, though, I have to make my choice with my gut and go with Yuri circa Shadow Hearts II. In the first game Yuri is brash, young and confident. After the events at the end of the first game (they used the bad ending. Love it.) he's a less intrepid hero. In the first game, he's an anti-hero, only involved because his hand is forced. In the second game, he's lost the only thing that ever mattered to him, and there is a certain emptiness to him that comes across. He's become something of a true hero, but more because he thinks it's what she would have wanted. I'm not saying the series deserves more recognition than, say, Final Fantasy Tactics, bit Yuri as an individual shows the ramifications of an event better than anything I've seen in a game. Usually it's "oh man, my girlfriend died. What up, Tifa?" But Yuri has truly changed from one game to the next. And that character study, of a man driven by what is essentially a memory, is very well portrayed. He's grown up, he's more aware of the world around it, and he's become a lesser man because of it. I thought it was a lovely transition.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Deano

She is so beautiful and sexy I could watch her all day... I would say to her "Hey lets have a game of cards" and take her back to my place and pull out a game of stip poker intead...yes those where the days...

I see this is your first post ever.

Please see that it is your last.

Your brother in Christ,

Denicalis

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Deano

I dont get that? why was I told off? It was a serious quote? I love Rinoa and the Final Fantasy games I played them all they are the heart and soul of my life I didnt mean anything wrong by it. I feel a little insulted... I think you took it the wrong way that all.

Quote:

they are the heart and soul of my life

Quote:

they are the heart and soul of my life

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they are the heart and soul of my life

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they are the heart and soul of my life

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

Originally Posted by Pangalin

UR STUPID

GET LOST FGT

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by a lucca

Ignore these assholes, Deano. They've become tools of the man long ago, and don't remember what it's like to be touched in ways no one has ever been touched before.

Inappropriately?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Deano

I know, If Rinoa was a non fictional character I would of said the same anyway Its my opinion, if I met her in real life she would be a dream person to meet wouldnt you agree?

I get that everyone has a right to an opinion, but you need to realise something: You have shitty opinions and should stop, you know, breathing air.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?