Oldschool (8- or 16-Bit era) RPG Discussion

[V_Translanka]

I went through about 10 pages of the forum, noted that there are actually about a good dozen or so topics about MK vs DC >_< but very few RPG threads, so I thought I'd throw this one out there as these (more specifically SNES) are the biggest eras for RPGs (or at least most people have easiest access to them, thank you emulation!)...

So what are your favorites? We can also make this a kind of "What are you currently playing" thread too, but I don't want to see just lists (because that's incredibly dull)...!

I recently went through RHDN after not really doing so for a few years and was astounded by how many new and/or updated translations are available.

First and foremost, there's the beloved Chrono Trigger, which easily tops the list (hell, it easily tops best RPG of all time lists...or, scratch that, best GAME of all time lists!). Everything from the great characters, interesting story, unique ability combo system and amazing soundtrack (Yasunori Mitsuda) were absolutely awesome. It spawned two sequels of lesser, but not less deserving, fame and constant buzz from fans (myself included) wanting MORE! There's currently a couple really well done fan translations available (the more literal one by the Chrono Compendium and the other a more updated localization) which really add some stuff that Woosley was forced to leave out for various reasons (time constraints, censorship, and memory issues). I highly recommend checking one of those out even if (if not especially if) you've already enjoyed the game to its fullest (its a good excuse to play through it again if you're not doing so with CTDS).

Final Fantasy VI is arguably home of the best villain in the series (debates constantly wage about how much more ass Kefka kicked than Ol' Sephy-head)...To me, this was the real tipping point of the series where things really started to come together in terms of character development and story progression. It took some cues from Dragon Quest IV by having it be pretty linear for the first half and then exploding into a free-for-all where the player took up the reigns of exploration. It also started the ever-popular series trend with Desperation Attacks (though most remember it from the FFVII iteration Limit Breaks). This was also by far my favorite soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu. This is also the one where I ended up liking more than just one of the characters that Tetsuya Nomura designed, Shadow and Setzer (Yoshitaka Amano is still my fav of all the FF character artists though).

Alright, lets go a bit off the beaten path and outside of Square...

One of the most bizarrely handled series (other than Chrono) would have to be the Mother series by Nintendo...In Japan there are 3 (& a GBA port of I&II)...In NA and otherwise we only got number 2 (known as Earthbound) and a couple of the characters made it into the SSB series...Thankfully fans have translated I & III for us and they are great games each one. They focus around a kind of modern setting where the focus is less magic and potions and more psychic powers (PSI) and actual food items (low on HPs? eat a hamburger!). One of my favorite aspects of the latter two is the instant-win-easy-battle feature, which I think should be incorporated in ALL RPGs (who wants to keep fighting Slimes over and over in the Dragon Quests, right?)...Mother II/Earthbound also has one of the neatest and surprising final boss fights I've ever gone through. Don't be turned off by the simplistic graphical style of this series, it's a great experience!

Shadowrun is like the oldschool cousin of the Fallout series. I bring it up mostly in remembrance for those of us who actually played the Fallout series before 3. There were two versions that differed from one another (one on SNES and the other on Genesis), but I've only played the SNES one. It wasn't incredibly fancy, but had a nice, dark, futuristic setting and was just a good example of a western RPG in a sea absolutely dominated by the east.

I've also got to mention the Dragon Quest I & II and Dragon Quest III remakes for SNES. If you've played any previous version (NES or GBC) of these, I still highly suggest checking out the 16-Bit versions (again translated by fans!) as they are simply amazing. I would suggest DQIV (NES) and DQV (SNES, fan translation available) as well, but the DS remakes are so outstanding, you're probably better off just getting those.

I could seriously drag this on and on, but here's one I'm currently playing...!

Seiken Densetsu III - Seiken Densetsu is the name of the series that brought people in the US and abroad the games Final Fantasy Adventure (the original which was fantastically remade into the GBA title Sword of Mana) and the legendary Secret of Mana (the 2nd in the series). To me, 3 is the best of the lot, mostly because I enjoy the characters so much more. The game didn't originally make it outside of Japan, so fans once again stepped up to the plate and gave us the opportunity to play this great Square RPG. One annoying thing is that you have to rely on horribly random drop rates for the ability to perform the final class change as well as getting the final equip. Otherwise its completely enjoyable and easily my favorite action/adventure RPG (a sub-genre that usually leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth).

Alright folks, I didn't even scratch the surface of my favs (SO, BoF, PS, ToP, etc...the list is nigh endless), but I'll let someone else take over...

(this is the biggest post I've made in ANY forum in quite a while, ha)

 

[Legzman]

The first dragon quest was fun! I also liked the FF series.

 

[Lungzyn]

Im halfway through FF VI at the moment
It are funz

 

[D-rock]

I found Chrono Cross to not live up to it's predecessor as long as we are talking about games Chrono Trigger helped to bring about. Like you said Chrono Trigger was one of the best RPGs and maybe even games ever made. It was ahead of it's time in some aspects and despite time traveling the plot came together pretty good. Chrono Cross changed too much stuff with it, it didn't have any of the old characters except for the shortest of cameo holographic type stuff, and the ending and what happens to everything is to ambiguous. The whole dual realities stuff kind of sucked.

Seiken Densetsu III might be great, but it's not as good as Secret of Mana from what I hear. It's different paths with the different character combinations and different character builds is both it's strength and unfortunately it's weakness. It just seems to be missing the epic feel Secret of Mana had. There were just too many things where that weakened the overall story, although it did increase replayability. Then again most good RPGs are pretty long anyhow so replayability isn't that great a concern in them for me, and even when it is it's because it's so good I want play through the game again in the future. It didn't help that there was no strong link other then the Mana tree that links the two games. It's only speculated that it might be a prequel in the far past the Secret of Mana. I'll give it credit however for being the last good Mana game. Every one that came out after that is bad to the point of embarrassment and has almost ruined that fictional world. Also the U.S. should have definitely got Seiken Densetsu III instead of Secret of Evermore which was a big disappointment.

Terranigma is also a game that should have come out over here and didn't.

Lufia and Lufia II are games that don't get the attention of some of the other ones. Lufia II was one of the last great SNES games made at the end of it's run around the time of Chrono Trigger and FF 6 and some people think it equals and even a few think it even exceeds those games. A lot of people also think Lufia II has the best side quest in the history of video games even to this day. Lufia is also kind of famous or maybe infamous for showing the ending of the second game, which was a prequel, at the beginning of the first one where you briefly play through the flashback as the characters in the second game. It was an aspect I liked and gave the second game a heroic yet kind of fatalistic feel to it because you knew what was going to happen.

 

[V_Translanka]

Yeah, I see Chrono Cross more as a slice of the Chrono world (in keeping with Radical Dreamers) that was mostly used to tie up a loose end leftover from Trigger. Its not really about the original cast, so I think that's why they don't really play a part aside from brief pseudo-cameos and a few characters that pay homage to them...Well, besides Lucca, who plays a major part by being the motivation that really drives Kid. There IS a lot about the story that's a bit complex, I admit. I highly suggest checking out the Compendium's Condensed Plot Summary. Aside from that, my only real qualms with the game come from the poor amount of character development, which mostly comes from the massive, 40+ cast, which is almost unheard of in the genre outside of SRPGs.

I just plain disliked the SD2/Secret of Mana cast, so that's the main reason why I prefer 3. 2 was like being forced to have the character Carlie from 3 in your party always along with Marle from Chrono Trigger and some random guy named Randy (I don't trust any dudes with that name!). lol

I've tried Terranigma out a couple times and can't get into it because it takes FOREVER to get going...Illusion of Gaia is much more up my alley, but even then I didn't like it too much...My action/adventure RPG curse I guess...*shrugs* I like having a party to pal around with too, I suppose...These games too often make me feel like I was just dropped in the middle of a mess I have to sort out alone...and with no one to talk to, character devlopment kind of suffers as well...

But yeah, Lufia & the Fortress of Doom and Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals were both great RPG classics well deserving of their praise. I personally can't judge them separately because of how much they flow into one another (and also because it's been a while since I played them lol)...One of the only RPGs where

Spoiler

the main character actually dies

...

It's too bad the GBC sequel Lufia: The Legend Returns was so horrid...At least the GBA sequel, Lufia: The Ruins of Lore made up some of that ground. Wait a minute...Lufia was Taito! That means Square-Enix has the Lufia series now! >_>