Well put my friend. Transtrekkie, I'm glad you have discovered the joy of console RPGs. Dragon Warrior was the very first (before Final Fantasy IIRC) so it's kind of primitive now, but it was revolutionary at the time. If you want a similar battle system in a more contemporary game, try Dragon Quest VIII. That's one of my favorites. Same "discovery" happened to me with open-world RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series and Fallout. I found them boring until I finally played Fallout 3 beyond the first hour, and I was hooked. Got Skyrim and have 120 hrs into it. Found some great decor for my gaming area at the con I went to last weekend... The guy took photos of his own NES game boxes and made them into posters. Works great for what I wanted to do. Also wanted to be sure to have a more obscure game included, so that's why I got the Shadow of the Ninja one.
That may technically be true as far as actually being on a console (I don't know), but the genre itself goes back to Ultima and Wizardry, both from 1981. Dragon Quest and the other early JRPGs are directly based on these
I was curious, so I checked on the console releases. Ultima Exodus was released for the NES in '88. (Though one source says as late as Feb '89.) Nintendo brought out Dragon Warrior in North America in Summer '89. I can't find anything that collaborates a release date for Wizardry on the NES, but the one source I found says 1990.
Have you played it? Shadow of the Ninja is amazing. Still trying to hunt a copy for a reasonable price.
I'm sure you're correct. What I meant was that the 1981 computer versions of Ultima I and the original Wizardry started the genre from a design/gameplay perspective. Dragon Quest, Fantasy Star, etc. got their start as an attempt to recreate the Ultima/Wizardry experience on consoles.
Yeah, I meant first on any console. I just checked, and Dragon Quest was released for the Famicom in May '86. Ultima Exodus came out October '87, and FF in December '87. Yep, it's one of the Natsume-developed NES games I'm glad I own, along with S.C.A.T. and Shatterhand. If the guy had a Shatterhand poster I would have gotten that instead, but this one was fine. I appreciated that he had some more obscure games available in poster form, like Thundercade.
Why thank you! Although I'm still a hypocrite. Several pages ago, I was ranting about not liking the turn based combat, reasoning that since video games are an interactive medium that the gameplay should reflect that. I still kind of feel that way. I had rented DW back in the day and even owned and finished the first Final Fantasy, but I just remember wishing the combat was real time like the original Legend of Zelda. I still kind of feel that way, but again I am enjoying DW and I like the graphics better than FF. The other thing that annoys me is that "random encounter" mechanic. Like, I can see my character walking around, but I can't see the enemies until they attack? It's one of those video game logics that make no sense. The grinding I don't really mind so much. I always meant to try Star Tropics at some point, it was really well reviewed back in the day, but I just never got around to trying it. And since I found for less than $10, I figured why not? It's not that I hadn't discovered them before, as I said, I actually owned and finished FF, but I went into it expecting LoZ and got D&D, it just wasn't what I was expecting. A little bit like expecting Mexican food and the finding out you're getting Italian. Still good, just not what you were expecting.
Reality is an interactive medium, but we still play turn-based board games. I don't think it's necessarily less interactive that way. Speaking as a former "I don't like RPGs much" guy myself (and one who's still very picky about them) maybe you'd be less conflicted if you approached it from another angle, along with this bit... The way I look at it now is this. Showing you the enemies on the map and allowing you to avoid them, or making the combat action-based is a test of your eyesight, reasoning, and physical reflexes as a player, and that's what conventional video games are about. But in an RPG, that's considered "metagaming". These games are about the experience and aptitude of your characters. If you want their reflexes to get better, then gain experience and spend it appropriately. It should be better or worse than your own reflexes depending on their attributes though, and the only way to guarantee that is to take your reflexes out of the equation. Likewise, none of your characters can see a goblin coming at them from halfway across the continent. Gotta make that mofo invisible to you until they're right on you. Presumably your party is successfully sneaking around kobolds and slimes you don't even know about all day long until they fail a spot check and up pops the battle screen.
Kudos for finishing the first FF, I was never able to get a third of the way through the game without losing interest. Funny thing is I did finish Dragon Warrior (thanks to the Nintendo Power strategy guide). When it came to games like Fallout 3, and almost had to "teach" myself how to play it and enjoy it. Once I figured out what it was all about, it clicked and I couldn't get enough. I actually just bought Oblivion for my 360 for $4 based on my love for Skyrim.
weeeel, i may have crossed the threshold to madness, I found copy of Spiritual warfare for a decent price online. I also got Super Nova and turtles 4 locally, so it might balance out.
Final Fantasy IV (FFII on SNES) introduces the "Active Time Battle" system in which you still take turns, but do so in real time with your enemies and they will attack while the game awaits your input. (You can set it to suspend when you're scrolling through menus.) But they still feature the random encounter system. You may enjoy Chrono Cross. For the most part you can see the enemies as you travel around and can avoid many of them while there are also ambush points where the enemies will still surprise you. In the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XII does away from random encounters and it's pretty cool the first time you see a T-Rex out on the field. (Less so when you realize that you should have initially avoided said creature instead of running right up to it.) But that game has a rather different play mechanic than the others. (You only control one character at a time instead of the whole party.)
I know what you meant, and there were probably even earlier examples than those on PC as I recall a couple of ASCII RPGs. As I said, I was just curious as to the history of console RPGs in North America and figured I'd share in case anyone else was curious as well. (There were also a couple for the Master System in '88 as well so it looks like '88 in the console starting point for NA.)
bought some cr2032 coin holders off amazon. seen some snes cart mods done that permanently replace the solder coin to coin holders so you basically do the job once and then have a cart that is super easy to replace the batteries for. along with the retron 5's save swapping, should potentially be able to mod all my carts and reload all the saves to them. good stuff I did like the idea of simply removing all the batteries to prevent leakage, but I think modding all the carts to coin holders instead of directly soldering the coin is the way to go. one mod and done, fun for years to come. also may be snagging up a new gaming tv, 32in sony wega. I just have a simple 20" right now so that will be a nice upgrade.
Since we're on the subject of RPGs, the game that got me into the genre was Chrono Trigger. What an introduction.
Man, for sure! I've had fun with plenty of RPGs for a little while, but Chrono Trigger is one of the handful that I've actually finished: -Chrono Trigger (twice) -Super Mario RPG -Panzer Dragoon Saga -Legend of Mana (a few times) I fully intend to finish several others that I've previously started... one of these days. But the fact of the matter is that only the games above have held my interest long enough that I didn't put it down, play something else, and forget to go back.
Went to a flea market today. Someone was selling Megaman 5 for $115 and the cartridge was in bad condition. I could understand the price if the condition was great.
I got that one for free from my brother in law... Along with 3 & 6 Perfect condition too, just cart though no box or anything. I think I shared this story before but it's fun so whatever. Babbages (part of the wonderful gamestop family now ) was the only place taking preorders for chrono trigger back in the day. I could wait til TRU got them in stock but everyone was always a few weeks behind babbages, so I preordered there. At $89.99 Granted this came out in August 95 and I knew this meant I had to start saving early as a 14 y/o kid so all my lawn mowing money that summer went to CT fund instead of other fun things. Oddly enough had to mow the lawn on the day it came out so I gave my mom the funds to go pick it up for me and she came home with the best gift ever. Think I played through the whole game at least 3 times over the rest of the summer, got all the endings and branching paths, loved every second of it. I don't remember mowing the lawn again after I got that though
I had similar issues with games like FFVIII, FFIX, and Legend of Dragoon. I had to push myself to finish them after periods of not playing due to loss of interest. Not saying they're bad games, just that they weren't as interesting as others I've played. I'm actually currently experiencing this phenomenon, with the aforementioned FFIX. I started another playthrough a few months ago, but when the game got to the point where you just keep chasing Kuja to different points around the map, it just really started dragging. And I had no idea MM5 was worth that much. Geez.
I bought MM5 at Best Buy for $20. It had just come out, and the sticker price was $50, but the computer had it at $20 so... much money was saved that day! Same. I've liked loads of other RPGs. Some notables would be FF V, FF Tactics, Bravely Default (loved it, actually!), Chrono Cross, Pier Solar, the Lufia games, Parasite Eve, and every game in the Soul Blazer trilogy. I love the Seiken games too, but I keep making the mistake of trying to play 2 and 3 with a dedicated party of extra players (who of course always drop out), and the others... something just always comes up and I forget where I was.
Super Mario RPG was my first traditional RPG game i ever played in summer 1996. my favorite RPG game of all is Final Fantasy VIII (8).
