Why are old school RPGs held in such high esteem?

I loved FF VIII's battle system. it was refreshing to see Square really go for something new in it. I liked the materia system in VII as well, but the junctioning system of VIII added just a bit more strategy to the mix, so I'll give it the nod.

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Originally Posted by OmniGear

Obviously. You should have said that 8 pages ago. :rolleyes:

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Wow, you just don't let go.

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

The main problem with FFVIII was that people never understood its battle system. So many people tried to play it like FFVII and got pissed off because it didn't work like that in slightest. Summoning was useless, leveling up was useless, finding new weapons was next to impossible, and you didn't get access to your best attacks until you got weak. With FFVII its possible to KotR your way through most of the game if you so choose, but if you to Summon in FFVIII you'll just get insanely long animations that do less damage then the characters can (granted, they went on so long because of the chance to manually powerup, something else I think a lot people missed).

FFVIII had some cool moments and the coolest airship of the series, but it also had some dumbass characters and nonsensical science later on. Time Compression is a cool idea in theory, but that's all it has. Late in the game a lot of the challenge is also removed once you get the ability No Encounter and find the Islands of Heaven and Hell, so you can just run around and absorb the most powerful spells in the game to your hearts content.

Kinda makes me want to play it again. I wish my copy hadn't been stolen. :(

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That's kind of cool. I still have my copy. Speaking of which, have you ever played Final Fantasy Tactics? I own the game, and it doesn't work on my PS2. I need to pick up a PSone, badly (before they go out of production). I wonder if there's some problem I'm overlooking.

I watched my friend play FFT so much he had his characters dripping with skill, yet still ripped his hair out in some battles. I wanted to get in to it (plus I think the religion story is done well), but I don't think I'll be able to for awhile because of this technology hiccup I'm having.

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Originally Posted by Jeremy

... so I'll give it the nod.

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I'm sure that'll make its day.

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Originally Posted by Andrew

I watched my friend Evan play FFT so much he had his characters dripping with skill, yet still ripped his hair out in some battles. I wanted to get in to it (plus I think the religion story is done well), but I don't think I'll be able to for awhile because of this technology hiccup I'm having.

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FFT is crazy because in story battles the enemies levels are based on your main character. So let's say you take out a team and fight a crapload of major battles, rotating everyone but the main guy so you end up with him at level 30 and everyone else at 25. The next story battle you fight will have all your enemies at level 30, meaning the entire rest of your team is at a disadvantage. Absolutely aggravating. Combine that with it taking so long to level up later on, and that can be one helluva challenging game.

Although I've never actually played all that far into it, as for whatever reason everything about strategy RPGs appeals to me (the battle, the concepts, the designs, the large-scale, etc.) but the execution. I'm not sure why, but they always end up not being very fun to play for me, although I'm still a sucker for getting them. One day I'll finish FFT.

You don't like the gridded map? I think that's one of the more appealing parts of it for me.

Any idea about why it's conflicting with my PS2?

I have no problem with the gridded map. I'm not sure what it is, I just don't really like strat-RPGs.

As for your PS2, are there any other games it doesn't read (PS or PS2)?

Not that I've found. Oh wait, it doesn't read Tekken (the original) and Twisted Metal (the original). But FFT came out much later then those games.

The one thing that I love about FFT is the altitude difference in battle for a long range attacker. It also stinks when you're downslope, but oh well.

Might just be dirty and those games read a certain way or something slong those lines. If you're confident in your ability to do so you should pop open your PS2 and use some canned air to blow the dust out, or at least blow through the vents on both sides.

It's just the lid, so I don't think it will be a problem. The only reason I don't think it's dust would be because it runs other games just fine. Maybe the boot up sequence is not the same.

I'll try that out.

BTW, I'm currently writing a development document for an RPG (probably 2D) based on gang land wars for territory (think Gangs of New York). Would you be interested in consulting us when we get a running demo up?
It probably won't be for a long time, but it's good to get some help with someone who knows a lot about J-RPGs. Clearly, I don't pay much attention to detail when it comes to these games.

Greatest. Thread. Ever.

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Originally Posted by Andrew

BTW, I'm currently writing a development document for an RPG (probably 2D) based on gang land wars for territory (think Gangs of New York). Would you be interested in consulting us when we get a running demo up?

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Possibly. Contact me when something's actually up and running.

"Greatest. Thread. Ever."

True indeed.

Pa