Reviving the Journal Post 1...
Feb. 12th, 2008 08:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seawaspI realize I haven't been posting much to my main journal, which is not good as it's my main link to the wider universe of the Net. Most of my posting activity has been on my beta-reading community, as I've been writing Grand Central Arena.
Things have not been entirely static other than that, of course.
In the area of entertainment, in this post I'll talk about video games. Late last year I picked up some new games, one of which has become my #2 favorite RPG console game of all time: Persona 3.
Persona 3 is unique in a number of ways; one rather odd one is that it, essentially alone of all videogames I've ever played, hasn't got a single track of music I want to have in my playlist; I can't STAND the music for the most part ... except that it fits the GAME fine. What's truly ironic is that it's one of the very few games that actually came WITH its soundtrack. So for once I get the entire soundtrack for free, and it's USELESS!
What's GOOD about it is ... well, just about everything else. The game focuses on a dual world: there's the regular world, in which your character is an ordinary Japanese high-school student, making friends, going to classes, maybe going on dates (I understand the American version is slightly censored from the Japanese, alas) if you can manage to catch the eye of the right person, and so on. Then there is the secret world that only you and other Persona-users can see, the world of the Dark Hour -- an extra hour in which time stands still for most people, and in which monsters emerge to prowl the streets. There, too, is a monstrous construct, a gigantic tower of Escherian impossibility called Tartarus, from which this incomprehensibility seems to radiate.
The simple version of your mission is to explore Tartarus, figure out why the Dark Hour really exists, and put a stop to it. This is necessary because, while ordinary people are not directly aware of the Dark Hour (they exist as coffinlike, inert crystals during the Dark Hour), the Shadows (monsters) that exist within it apparently have an indirect effect, draining energy, focus, and life from them and creating people who are basically inert zombies (a mysterious malady that is called "Apathy Syndrome" in the game).
I won't spoiler more of the plot, because it's a wonderfully complex plot and well-executed overall. There's a pretty wide cast of characters, and you can interact with them in many ways depending on your own actions; some characters are impressed by academic achievement, others by your courage or charm, and you can choose how you do in these by expending more or less effort to do so in the right places and under the right circumstances. You also can gain more special abilities by making the right connections.
This is one of the games where you're sorry you've finished it... and yet the finish was very satisfying indeed.
Following Persona, I decided to revisit another game that I had finished, but not finished "properly" -- that is, there was more than one ending, and the ending I'd gotten was a minimalist and not satisfying one. The game in question is the sequel to Chrono Trigger (my enduring #1 overall CRPG), Chrono Cross.
On second play-through, I like Chrono Cross better than I did the first time, and the "real" ending is MUCH more enjoyable than the first one I got. It's a good game, and I appreciate the effort people went to in making it more now that I've mastered more of the secrets of gameplay. It still falls far short of its predecessor, and I don't like it as a sequel -- it does too much to undo or render pointless the efforts of the original crew of Chrono Trigger -- but it's a good game, and I'm glad I've finally finished it properly.
And all that has finally prompted me to once more fire up Chrono Trigger itself.
I'm going to try to keep posting relatively frequently from now on -- maybe not every day, but once every few days, anyway.
Things have not been entirely static other than that, of course.
In the area of entertainment, in this post I'll talk about video games. Late last year I picked up some new games, one of which has become my #2 favorite RPG console game of all time: Persona 3.
Persona 3 is unique in a number of ways; one rather odd one is that it, essentially alone of all videogames I've ever played, hasn't got a single track of music I want to have in my playlist; I can't STAND the music for the most part ... except that it fits the GAME fine. What's truly ironic is that it's one of the very few games that actually came WITH its soundtrack. So for once I get the entire soundtrack for free, and it's USELESS!
What's GOOD about it is ... well, just about everything else. The game focuses on a dual world: there's the regular world, in which your character is an ordinary Japanese high-school student, making friends, going to classes, maybe going on dates (I understand the American version is slightly censored from the Japanese, alas) if you can manage to catch the eye of the right person, and so on. Then there is the secret world that only you and other Persona-users can see, the world of the Dark Hour -- an extra hour in which time stands still for most people, and in which monsters emerge to prowl the streets. There, too, is a monstrous construct, a gigantic tower of Escherian impossibility called Tartarus, from which this incomprehensibility seems to radiate.
The simple version of your mission is to explore Tartarus, figure out why the Dark Hour really exists, and put a stop to it. This is necessary because, while ordinary people are not directly aware of the Dark Hour (they exist as coffinlike, inert crystals during the Dark Hour), the Shadows (monsters) that exist within it apparently have an indirect effect, draining energy, focus, and life from them and creating people who are basically inert zombies (a mysterious malady that is called "Apathy Syndrome" in the game).
I won't spoiler more of the plot, because it's a wonderfully complex plot and well-executed overall. There's a pretty wide cast of characters, and you can interact with them in many ways depending on your own actions; some characters are impressed by academic achievement, others by your courage or charm, and you can choose how you do in these by expending more or less effort to do so in the right places and under the right circumstances. You also can gain more special abilities by making the right connections.
This is one of the games where you're sorry you've finished it... and yet the finish was very satisfying indeed.
Following Persona, I decided to revisit another game that I had finished, but not finished "properly" -- that is, there was more than one ending, and the ending I'd gotten was a minimalist and not satisfying one. The game in question is the sequel to Chrono Trigger (my enduring #1 overall CRPG), Chrono Cross.
On second play-through, I like Chrono Cross better than I did the first time, and the "real" ending is MUCH more enjoyable than the first one I got. It's a good game, and I appreciate the effort people went to in making it more now that I've mastered more of the secrets of gameplay. It still falls far short of its predecessor, and I don't like it as a sequel -- it does too much to undo or render pointless the efforts of the original crew of Chrono Trigger -- but it's a good game, and I'm glad I've finally finished it properly.
And all that has finally prompted me to once more fire up Chrono Trigger itself.
I'm going to try to keep posting relatively frequently from now on -- maybe not every day, but once every few days, anyway.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-12 06:31 pm (UTC)Oddly enough, there's rather little game music that I like outside of the context of the game- I certainly can't see the appeal of the Final Fantasy soundrtracks. I'm obviously not the right target audience, which is why I think the only soundtracks I have are for Jet Grind Radio and Katamari Damashi.
Persona 3 looks interesting, I'll have to check it out, censored or no. Likewise Chrono Trigger- I think I'll give Chrono Cross a pass.
One interesting thing that occured to me as I was doing my annual attempt to get through Final Fantasy X-2, is just how constrained those RPGs feel, compared to the MMORPGs I've played. I find myself wanting more and more to be able to just wander around a city or forest or temple complex without having to follow a distinct path. How are Persona 3 aqnd Chrono Trigger for character freedom?
no subject
Date: 2008-02-12 11:02 pm (UTC)Well...
Date: 2008-02-12 11:03 pm (UTC)I couldn't get through FF X-2; it was too wierd a shift from FFX. It was nice they were trying for a female set of protagonists, but it was too obvious that was what they were trying for, and the justifications weren't there.
Chrono Trigger, while available for the Playstation, is -- aside from a few added animated cutscenes -- actually from 1995 and the Super Nintendo. When playing it, one has to remember that.
It has a very large number of endings, several of them quite significantly different, based on choices you make in the game. It was utterly unique for its time and many people, including myself, still consider it the greatest console RPG ever made.
All console RPGs are constrained significantly. Chrono Trigger, for its era, was amazingly open. Persona is constrained in some ways -- limited number of locations to travel to -- but pretty open in the interactions you can have, especially if you go looking for opportunities.
Even...
Date: 2008-02-12 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-12 11:41 pm (UTC)Sounds like you want a traditional PC-style RPG; I wish I knew of some recent ones to recommend. Or you may want a rouge-like (I don't play them because it takes forever to figure out what kind of character[s] I want, and then I always die the moment I leave the starting town).
[digression]
For a while I hung out on comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg, and at the time I found it odd how much of the group was devoted to PC vs console flamewars; not just because consoles had their own groups, but because I saw more than enough things to hate about modern PC RPGs (and I haven't used a console since the Atari 2600). After a while, I realized it had been 20 years since anyone made a commercial RPG I liked,so I stopped bothering with that group.
Recently (thanks to JayIsGames), I've discovered some free games that (presumably) are done in the style of console RPGs (Wilfred, the Hero, DragonFable, and a few things here). Wow. In addition to all the things I hated about modern PC games (isometric POVs, railroad plots, plot and programming bugs), I've discovered a whole ton of new things to hate: unavoidable random encounters, complete lack of character creation, input restricted to six keys on the keyboard, zero-dimensional combat (Wizardry and M&M were sorta 1d IIRC, Bard's Tale was true 1d, most Ultimas were 2d), attempts to make combat turn-based and reflex-based at the same time, skills learned by wearing items, and the maturity level of a preteen.
A few modest requests for any game designers that may see this:
1. If it isn't 1st person POV, I should be able to see my character at all times.
2. I should be able to see through windows and open doors; I should not be able to see through walls.
3. Ranged weapons (and spells) should have, you know, ranges.
4. No dialog is better than insulting the intelligence of a preteen.
5. Custom fonts are never a good idea.
[/rant]
Actually, DragonFable wasn't that bad; it wasn't entirely linear, and the interface was clearly designed for a mouse rather than a game controller.
Addendum
Date: 2008-02-13 12:12 am (UTC)Add Ethereal Dreams to the list of console-style RPGs (I just finished the demo), and "blindly walking off the edge of the map fragment" to the list of things I hate about RPGs.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-13 12:17 am (UTC)These are = SMT Nocturne, SMT Digital Devil 1 & 2, & SMT Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Souless Army'.
Same sort of fighting style, similar monsters and use of elements, but the story lines are all very dissimilar - and quite enjoyable.
Re: Well...
Date: 2008-02-13 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-13 12:57 pm (UTC)Good stuff and I look forward to buying a copy. (Even if it doesn't end up selling. There's always PayPal.)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-13 12:57 pm (UTC)Well...
Date: 2008-02-13 06:51 pm (UTC)Re: Well...
Date: 2008-02-17 11:46 pm (UTC)Re: Well...
Date: 2008-02-17 11:56 pm (UTC)You might find "Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga" parts 1 and 2 more to your liking. This time around we got both parts of the story (yay!).
Re: Well...
Date: 2008-02-18 06:03 pm (UTC)I didn't know that, if so. I always thought the witching hour was 12am to 1am.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 11:17 pm (UTC)