Yahtzee vs. the JRPG

[Caiti Voltaire]

If she is 519, when did she stop aging? 15?

I'd say 15 or 14.

Scroll up to read the rest of her post.

It's really, really hard not to come off as an elitist snob here, because it really is the difference between night and day here. We have shallow, poorly written set pieces which like some sort of manifestation of the Twilight series somehow capture the imagination of the mindless mainstream, and then we have actual thoughtfully-designed and -written games which have well-designed gameplay and compelling stories.

It's the same story throughout history. A minority believes one thing and the masses believe another. Who's right? It all comes down to the definition of greatness. What makes something great? Does it stand up on its own, against time, despite not being appreciated? Or is it great because the majority of the world believe it to be?

The problem here is human nature. No one can work fast enough to produce games on the level they're expected (Graphically, of course) in time to pay the bills. A game company that takes too long to make a game finds itself not making the game anymore, no matter how much was completed. -See DUKE NUKEM FOREVER- We know the 'Why' to producing a good game, and it's not just a simple because. The 'How' 'Who' 'What' and even the 'Where' are all unanswered. It's mathematical.

How* much can I* (Any Game Company) get away with in order to make a profit in X*(Where) country? = The Why, shortened to fit those variables.
You notice I left out the what, which is because the What ends up being anything an all.

Then, let us not forget being familiar with something for so long you ignore the flaws. I'd like to see more demos as a means of beta testing, not simply as a tool to sell a final product.

I'm not sure it's worth arguing dear, they're pretty convinced they're right and not going to listen, and that the games they like are decent games that have no flaws and shit rainbows. While there is a certain degree of lateral interpretation for taste it doesn't really change the fact that expecting reasonable argument over a Yahtzee thread which fanboys are filling with drool and spunk is kind of like trying to bash down an iron door with your bare hands, you might actually accomplish it, but when you have to bandage up your bloodied stumps and take a good look at what you're doing, you come to realise that whilst you may have accomplished something, you really aren't much better for it in fact you're worse off.

With that in mind I think I'm bowing out of this thread before I lose my marbles.

 

[Blanks]

It amuses me when yahtzee pretends to know what he's talking about ^^

In Close i don't really care if I'm not 'playing' it, it's mysteriousness and it's "what the funk is really going on" storytelling has left me confused and determined to finish it and I'm liking it; even i admit a cutscene every 5 steps is a bit much but i don't care
Cutscenes these days are a lot like Random Battles there's many of them and eventually they end >.>

Now excuse me while i go catch that funkin Groudon in SoulSilver >.<

 

[Abriael]

If you have a difficult time telling the difference, attempt thinking with the brain in your head at some time instead of the one in you pants, there are marked physical differences which really aren't that difficult to discern. Wikipedia it sometime, you may find it educational.

And of course it takes less than three posts to see someone around this kind of discussion starting to move to personal attacks

I'm sorry if I don't make a complete physical exam to all the girls I come across, and if that mean "thinking with the brain in my pants" (not really, and I'm not sorry, but yanno...). But I'm sorry to say, despite your "market physical differences" ladies that look younger than they age exist, and aren't even that uncommon, expecially in the early twenties.

Next time I come across one, I'll be sure to ask her to let me examine her growth in detail. Maybe it'll work as a pickup line Scratch that, since we're at it, care to volunteer?

 

[Abriael]

And yet you have a japanese art style character as your avatar, which makes you way, way more biased. Same way a bias I and many others share with Yahtzee (inb4 another post about yahtzee bandwagon) makes us notice those dumb, dumb things characters do, among other things, your bias towards the japanese culture makes you overlook all that.

LOL!

Of course having an anime styled character in my avatar makes me biased uh? I wonder what having crackers in yours makes you.
For your information, my friendly neighborhood smartie, I play both Japanese and Western games, RPG or not, i move with uncanny agility between Bioware's RPGs, Bethesda's RPGs (I've been a very active Oblivion modder), The Witcher, Drakensang and various JRPGs both new and old, love Silent Hunter 5 and Dawn of War 2 just as much as Yakuza 3, appreciate Assassin's Creed as much as Ninja Gaiden and have fun on Il-2 Sturmovik as much as on Ace Combat.
Ultimately, I was probably already playing Hillsfar, Pool of Radiance and the other AD&D based RPGs by SSI while quite a few people around here (Yathzee included) were busy crawling out of their mother's womb.

So I'm afraid not, the fact that I lived in Japan and know their culture enough to appreciate it as much as my native Italian culture (as opposed to some people here, again Yathzee included, that go into a cultural shock as soon as they see a pair of almond-shaped eyes), and that I happened to chose a drawing I liked more than others, doesn't make me biased.

The only bias here is that against Japanese games, that some western gamers (and wannabe journalists that turn into stereotype-mongers) seem to have. It's always sad that diversity tends to cause that much fear and hatred.

 

[Brain_Cleanser]

Well, before I do anything else, I have to say that I hope Mr. Croshaw has a nice miniskirt on hand.
Vanille is 519 years old.
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Vanille
So, yeah. The next video should be highly entertaining.
(Vanille's character's actually one of the best in the game. There's tons of character development. The whole damn game is based on the motivations of the characters.)

If she is 519, when did she stop aging? 15?

19, when she was basically dropped into Cryostasis.
Long story.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

You have simplified RPGs with "un convoluted" game mechanics and even questionable story coherency, of which most JRPGs and actiony western RPGs like mass effect and dragon age fall into ,then there are the ultra RPG game thats really a film and not a game RPG game like FF13,and then you have an RPG that have something more in their level designs,something more in their character classes, something more in their play mechanics, something more in their writing and are just well made flaws and all like Fallout 1-2,Arcanume,Golden Sun 1-2,FF4,FF6 and FF9 even FFmystic quest,CHrono trigger,Breath of fire 1,2,and 4,Grandia 1-2, Wild arms 1 and 2,Dragon Warroir 2,3,4 and even 8,ect,ect,ect,ect we don't get many games like these made these days..........

 

[NickCooley]

Ahh Yahtzee. Half the fun of anything he does is watching the reaction of the fanboys. You can argue your point all you like the fact your putting in all this effort to defend a gods damn video game makes you a fanboy, or girl, gotta stay PC and such.

FFXIII has been particularly delicious in collecting the whiners. In this thread alone there's been some over the top melodrama from a fair few individuals (you know who you are) and one has to wonder why they get so worked up over what is essentially just software. Surely if you enjoyed it that much what Yahtzee says wouldn't bother you.

He's bagged out plenty of games I've liked and I still haven't shoe horned in a wall of text complaining how he's a "hack" or how he should "stop defending his review". Makes you think they don't like the game as much as they say they do. Are you trying to drown out that niggling voice in the back of your head by whining at the reviewer? I'm not sure, thats the only reason I can think of to explain why these people are so pissy.

But of course I'm trying to talk reason to the slavering fanboy hordes, which is like trying to drink the ocean through a straw. Oh well.

 

[Abriael]

Ahh Yahtzee. Half the fun of anything he does is watching the reaction of the fanboys. You can argue your point all you like the fact your putting in all this effort to defend a gods damn video game makes you a fanboy, or girl, gotta stay PC and such.

Actually the other half of the fun is seeing the reaction of HIS fanboys to the ones that dare criticize his rants. You know, you can argue your point all you like, but the fact that you're putting all this effort to defend a pseudo-journalist makes you a fanboy, or girl. Gotta stay PC and such

PS: Don't follow too closely the example of your Idol. Punctuation is important

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Ahh Yahtzee. Half the fun of anything he does is watching the reaction of the fanboys. You can argue your point all you like the fact your putting in all this effort to defend a gods damn video game makes you a fanboy, or girl, gotta stay PC and such.

FFXIII has been particularly delicious in collecting the whiners. In this thread alone there's been some over the top melodrama from a fair few individuals (you know who you are) and one has to wonder why they get so worked up over what is essentially just software. Surely if you enjoyed it that much what Yahtzee says wouldn't bother you.

He's bagged out plenty of games I've liked and I still haven't shoe horned in a wall of text complaining how he's a "hack" or how he should "stop defending his review". Makes you think they don't like the game as much as they say they do. Are you trying to drown out that niggling voice in the back of your head by whining at the reviewer? I'm not sure, thats the only reason I can think of to explain why these people are so pissy.

But of course I'm trying to talk reason to the slavering fanboy hordes, which is like trying to drink the ocean through a straw. Oh well.

I gave up trying to reason with fan boys 10 years ago...and their insanity has only gotten worse....

 

[guyy]

I'm still waiting for some reviewer/humorist to point out how silly it is that a game with "Final" in the title is now on (at least) its twelfth sequel with no sign of stopping.

I know it's a really obvious joke, but...it's so obvious that it seems unfair to ignore it.

 

[Jaebird]

That's usually the case with these games, for me. I tend to do a lot of things different than other people because I don't read into something or ignore it all together.

Do you use libra on the bosses (or librascope with those that have multiple targets)?

I do, but it doesn't really matter half the time when the enemy takes magical damage normally and physical damage is halved, plus the fact that they'll have stupid-high HP.

 

[SavingPrincess]

19, when she was basically dropped into Cryostasis.
Long story.

Haha yes! I love this. Best use of subtle (possibly unintentional) humor in the thread.

It is a LONG story. I find that people who refuse to play through a game (or really anything in life) and judge it on it's own merits tend to label the fans of said game as "fanboys" without actually thinking... "wow... some people actually enjoy this. This is fun to some people," and leave it at that. You can draw analogies that Final Fantasy XIII is like a hand on a stove, or a needle in the leg... but to the people who say "It gets better," they didn't hate it at first and then not hate it as much later. They probably liked it at first and then it got better later. I liked it fine at first... it grabbed me far more than Final Fantasy VIII & X ever did... and yes, it's getting better. There are quite a number of flaws and while I don't advocate postmortem developer chats as justifications for bad game design, the dev's at Squeenix thought the game would have been too hard and inaccessible to open up a lot of the battle mechanics that I feel are too tied down (being able to position your character, etc.). So... sad, but whatever... it's still fun.

 

[Sakurazaki1023]

Well, before I do anything else, I have to say that I hope Mr. Croshaw has a nice miniskirt on hand.
Vanille is 519 years old.
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Vanille
So, yeah. The next video should be highly entertaining.
(Vanille's character's actually one of the best in the game. There's tons of character development. The whole damn game is based on the motivations of the characters.)

If she is 519, when did she stop aging? 15?

19, when she was basically dropped into Cryostasis.
Long story.

Well, I'll get the mini-skirt...

 

[NickCooley]

Ahh Yahtzee. Half the fun of anything he does is watching the reaction of the fanboys. You can argue your point all you like the fact your putting in all this effort to defend a gods damn video game makes you a fanboy, or girl, gotta stay PC and such.

Actually the other half of the fun is seeing the reaction of HIS fanboys to the ones that dare criticize his rants. You know, you can argue your point all you like, but the fact that you're putting all this effort to defend a pseudo-journalist makes you a fanboy, or girl. Gotta stay PC and such

PS: Don't follow too closely the example of your Idol. Punctuation is important

Ahh. Touche. I could go on to say I've posted only once whereas others are refuting all over the site constantly but to be honest I lost interest just after hitting quote. So yeah... Not sure where to go from here. Want a pineapple?

PS: Idol? Please I have some style. If the stuff that came out of his mouth wasn't funny I'd probably hate the arrogant burke. But that's neither here or there.

 

[UnusualStranger]

I'd like to see more games have the balls to have an apocalypse half-way through.

I have always advocated this statement about 6 (3?). If you got the balls to end the world and show some failure on YOUR team, you got some steel running in your veins.

That, and I no longer watch for JRPGs, because all too often I can't tell if I should give a damn or not. Are the evil guys really evil, or just running an empire and not pleasing everyone?

Am I really getting stronger or more experienced, or are they just giving me moves that just kill stuff faster?

Perhaps I'm looking at these games the wrong way. However, sometimes it just seems that the characters are far too weak and stupid to stand up and figure things out on their own.

That, and it seems JRPGs are turning into 50 hr. slug throughs. I understand leveling up and all, and getting cooler stuff, but I really don't have a good month or so to play a video game, damnit.

 

[SavingPrincess]

Urgg... threads like this always bring out the Japanophile fantards. I've even had people tell me with a stright face the "The bouncer" was a REALLY good game. When JRPGs statred being more a about spectacle, CGI, nonsenseical characters and insane plots (i balme you FF8!!) i ducked out of the genre almost entirely.

I balme Final Fantasy VIII as well... but that being said, while Final Fantasy XIII has its share of spectacle, it's definitely a step above Final Fantasy VIII & X in many respects. I just have a problem with people that enjoy this game being labeled as "Japanophile Fantards." It's not a "great" game, but it is good... better than most of the drivel out there today. It's kind of like the Halo of Final Fantasy's, good, even enjoyable, but nothing revolutionary or truly great.

 

[Velocity Eleven]

I guess I'll never understand the complaints about JRPGs