JRPG general discussion

It will just be a reskinned Dynasty Warriors

Yeah Atelier games really aren't about the battle system at all. It's perfunctory at best. It's really all about the time management and synthesis. Your success in combat is based on how good the items you synthesised are rather than skill or level, well the game is easy enough but the optional super bosses are usually impossible for me.

As for the plot, it is slow paced but I kind of like that. The gameplay moves it along at a great pace due to the monthly system. The plots aren't some high drama ridiculousness about saving the world, they're about a girl working in an alchemy shop and stepping out into the world for the first time and growing from an awkward naive teenager into an independent woman and I think it handles that well. Some of the characters can be tropey (Rorona herself is really bad in this regard) but they are usually well realised and some back stories can be particularly dark. I just find it a bit more realistic than the melodrama found in other JRPGs but then again it's a lot more down to earth.

As for Ayesha, I really loved how they handled the relationship between her and her missing sister. It just felt very genuine and I found the world dying being a great setting that didn't become the focus of the characters, they're mostly getting on with their own lives as best they can and not trying to save the world.

So I played a good bit more of FF7 with the fan translation.

So right after Disc 1 is the Great Glacier area. The town was decent enough. Good to get some backstory of Iflana, Aeris's mother even if it wasn't anything special. The fan translation adds nothing new here as far as I can tell. Then there's the snowboarding minigame which is very jarring considering that someone just died. It looks a bit crappy and isn't a lot of fun at all like most of the FF7 minigames. After that is the Great Glacier dungeon. The map is confusing but you know, I quite liked this area. The battle system is annoying but it was good fun exploring it and finding the secrets like the Alexander summon. The two headed dragon boss comes out of no where but it's a decent fight and one of the few that requires a bit of strategy.

I have to say from the start of disc 2 to the point that I'm at the game has really picked up the pace. I found disc 1 annoying mostly due to the frequent uninteresting side events and crappy battle system. In comparison there's not been a dull moment so far, even if some of the quests you do don't make a lick of sense and are only there to pad out the game's length.

Next up is North Crater. Dungeon isn't anything special but it's not too annoying. So far this is the one part where the fan translation is a significant improvement over the base translation. The fact that you've been following Jenova disguised as Sephiroth is made a little more clearer (still some ambiguity). The weapons are explained in much the same way and their reasoning for being there is still really lame and just an excuse for the developers to add some evangelion to the proceedings.

There's also one big thing that I noticed in this translation which makes the games story so much lamer in my opinion. Not sure who it was that I was arguing this with but I had the theory that Jenova was the one pulling the strings with Sephiroth all along. Also the reasons why Tifa doesn't questio nthe whole Zack/Cloud thing and how Jenova has control over people with Jenova cells is a lot better explained. It fits in with the story of when Jenova first revealed itself to the Cetra. The other theory (and far more likely one) is that Sephiroth is in control and the 'strength of his will' is so strong that he has control over Jenova unlike the others with Jenova cells in them. Well Hojo mentions this in this part, something along the lines of with Jenova's power and the strength of Sephiroth's will and it's heavily implied by him. This strength of will thing is one of the worst japanese tropes when it comes to their story telling and it just doesn't fly with me. It's a deus ex machina and they pulled the same bull**** with the end of FF13 where Perhaps there's something later on that shows Hojo is wrong but I doubt it and it's probably another case of fan treories being better than the actually creators writing and me giving the writers far too much credit.

Next is the capture and escape from Junon while the Weapon attacks. This was a bit silly with a lot of convenience in the Weapon attacking at that moment but screw it, it was a lot of fun. The CGI of the Weapon attack has dated badly but is still pretty cool, I loved the minigame where you have to get the key off the ground while Tifa was tied up and then it all culminating with a slap fight with Scarlet was hilarious. Nobody tell Anita Sarkesian.

At this stage I decided to do the Wutai sidequest. I had to use a trainer to teleport to Wutai since the game breaking glitch is still in effect with this version of the translation (since been fixed I believe). Anyway Wutai sticks out like a sore thumb in the FF7 world and just doesn't seem to belong, it seems like it's just there because they have the art assets. However I can't complain too much the side quest here with Yuffie is a good laugh and it's good to see how the dialogue still fits even without Cloud as the main protagonist. I also did the five pagoda side quest. Love the setting, it's a straight up rip off of Game of Death The bosses were remarkably easy though when you just use the haste/slow combo and keep your health up which works for every fight in the game from now on.So Wutai as an area and it's visuals are kind of dumb but overall it's a great quest so you can't complain too much.

Next up is the stupidest part of the story so far. Shinra is collecting Huge Materia to create a bomb to destroy meteor and we have to stop them because.... reasons? I think Barret wanting to show cloud some huge materia when he gets back is the most compelling case. I mean if Shinra want to destory meteor then let them have a go? Why try to stop them, they might actually manage it? To me this just seems like padding because looking at a faq to see where I am I could be at the last boss in about 4 hours and I'm 22 into the game. I did not realise how short this game is, at that time I'd be well finished an Atelier game but FF7 seems to have dragged one way longer. Also 'huge materia'?? What the hell is that, it just sounds like a mac guffin.

Anyway despite my moaning going after the Huge Materia is some of the most fun so far in the game. First I went to the pheonix place to get that stupid side quest out of the way. I just let the enemy reach the top while I went to the toilet and make a hot chocolate, it's far and away the worst minigame in the game. Next was getting the Huge Materia from North Corel, which again was a fun little diversion.

After that it's a return to Cloud who falls into the lifestrem with Tifa after Weapon attacks. The game goes very evangelion here.

You know what, this scene was done very well. Even in the base translation I always thought it was well directed and the use of visuals to help tell it was excellent. I still think it's a little silly that Tifa never questioned Cloud about it but in the new translation it's a little less of a plot hole even if it's not wholly satisfying. And that's as far as I've gotten so far.

While I do enjoy the Tales games since Symphonia if you have played one you have played them all. They are the tropiest of RPGs but they kind of fill that niche of a dependable if not groundbreaking RPG.

Battle Square in FF7 and RNJesus can go get ****ed right now. Was at it for hours last night trying to get Omnislash. Got 50 GP to give me 5 goes in the battle square which I figured was enough because I usually can get it in 3 goes. At the end I was 60 BP short for it. So I went all out on that crappy basketball game and got myself 250 GP, way more than enough to get BP. 2am I finished up, after 25 goes I only finished the run through battle square twice and ended up with 19000 BP. I just had endless runs of my accessory breaking and meeting a confusion causing enemy, getting one shotted by the Dragon or else that stupid ghost ship that can just throw you out of the arena to instantly end it for you and coming up against that evil tonberry so many fecking times. I've never had this much trouble before. I probably should just level up a bit and just do the chocobo breeding... god I hate chocobo breeding.