RPG Progress Report

[marurun]

I guess I'm just a little baffled about the decision to have a battlefield space where positioning affects what attacks you can use more or less effectively, but then deprive the player of any ability to move in those spaces. It just confuses me. I cannot imagine deciding the former was interesting without also concluding the latter was a necessary part of the picture.

Didn't Lunar have some positioning-based combat?

And I really would be surprised if Grandia's combat system wasn't influenced by Chrono Trigger, either directly or indirectly.

I'm thinking there was some PC Engine RPG that had some positioning-based combat system, but I can't recall. I'll need to investigate a little deeper.

[MrPopo]

I suspect the thinking was first that "hey, let's have the battles be in the environment" as an aesthetic choice, then various monster positionings were next, again for aesthetics. Then someone thought "hey, wouldn't it be cool, now that the monsters are in different places, for players to take advantage of that or have to account for that?" So that part of things probably came last, and were more of a bonus, rather than a primary thing. Especially since about midway through the game you stop caring about them because everything is either single target or hit all anyway.

[noiseredux]

THE HORN OF JURGEN WINDCALLER

This quest is cool because it basically feels like a dungeon crawl. You go into some underground caverns and just explore. It's good stuff. I actually played MOST of this quest with the Switch in portable mode while my wife was watching TV. I have two thoughts about Skyrim in handheld mode: first of all, it looks amazing. Even having had played Breath Of The Wild handheld, it's really stunning to see Skyrim running on such a small device and looking so fantastic. I'm truly in awe of this port.

Having said all that, for some reason I'm total trash at playing first person games in handheld mode. I don't know if it's the change in how my hands are holding the Switch versus holding a smaller controller, or if it's that I can't seem to comfortably hold the weight of the system while keeping my hands on the thumbsticks and triggers at the same time or what - but it really throws me off. It's fine for exploration but bad for battling. This isn't a problem with the game, thought - it's a problem with my brain. I had the same issue while attempting Paladins in handheld mode as well.

I hate that you finish this quest by failing this quest, also. Instead of the Horn you were looking for you find a note saying that someone beat you to it and you need to meet them back in Riverwood.

A BLADE IN THE DARK

I got back to Riverwood and everyone wants me dead. WTF? This is definitely NOT part of the quest. Apparently I'm wanted in Whiterun? I try to flee figuing maybe if I lay low the guards would go away, but they catch up to me and then I remind them of who I am and everything's fine. Weird. I don't know what that was about. I must have killed someone important by accident? Oh, maybe it's because Lydia died? Would that piss them off maybe? Hmm.

Anyway, I meet up with Delphine and then we go and take a long journey to kill a big dragon. It's pretty great. This is the last quest in Act I and apparently on my last playthrough I must have gotten through a lot more of the story quests than I realized because I remember all of this stuff. On to Act II!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Didn't Lunar have some positioning-based combat?

In the most rudimentary inconsequential way possible. It's still mostly an attack-masher until you reach a boss.

[noiseredux]

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

Ah, the token stealth quest. Well, I don't play it so smooth. And I know this. So just fuck it. Instead of sneaking in a tiny dagger to do some sneaky throat-slitting, I just bring a huge ax that causes people to run away in terror. It works out just fine.

Though I'm not a big fan of sneaking around, I do think that this quest is a pretty cool idea. You have to pose as a party guest and cause a diversion and sneak around a castle looking for clues. It's pretty neat. At least the setup is.

A CORNERED RAT

More dungeon crawling. And again, I guess I really was a lot further than I realized back when I last played Skyrim. Hmm. This particular series of caves and so on can be a little maze-like. But whatevs.

ALDUIN'S WALL

And more dungeon crawling! This time with Delphine and uh, that other Blade guy as companions. It's a long journey to get to the dungeon and the three of us killed a few dragons along the way. Y'know, for funsies.

The quest itself is kind of funny, because you go deeper and deeper into this dungeon to find this ancient all and it's like you finally get to the room and find the wall and it's supposed to be this big OMG moment, and then right behind that is a door leading back out to Skyrim. It's like... why didn't we just use the backdoor to get in there and skip all those enemies to begin with? Y'know?

THE THROAT OF THE WORLD

Not so much a quest as a pilgrimage. But it is a very cool and memorable part of the story. You go up to the mountain above the Greybeards and you meet Paarthurnax, the ancient dragon. He's kind of awesome, and he teaches you the fire shout which is the one I use the most.

[MrPopo]

Ah, the token stealth quest. Well, I don't play it so smooth. And I know this. So just fuck it. Instead of sneaking in a tiny dagger to do some sneaky throat-slitting, I just bring a huge ax that causes people to run away in terror. It works out just fine.

Are you secretly the orc member of the Dark Brotherhood from Oblivion?

[pierrot]

I'm thinking there was some PC Engine RPG that had some positioning-based combat system, but I can't recall.

Xanadu, Mouryou Senki Madara 1 and 2, and Emerald Dragon all have similar combat, with lots o' positioning, but aren't the same level of turn-based as Chrono Trigger. I'm sure there are other examples that predate Chrono Trigger, anyway.

I've beaten Chrono Trigger a number of times, in its SNES form, and on PS1 (although not in last 15+ years), and I wouldn't say I ever disliked it, but I also wouldn't say that its a spectacular game, either, for a lot of the reasons you mentioned (characters, and story). I feel the time periods don't even remotely seem like the same world most of the time, so even with the small ties between time periods, there's still this really pervading sense of disjointedness through all of it. Each character (minus Chrono, because he's functionally dead-weight) has about one scene that might make you almost care about them, and nothing else. I do really like Schala, but she's a fairly minor character within the whole of the game. I know I played the SNES version enough to see all of the endings, and I'm sure I finished a number of them on the PS1 version, too, but I could not tell you what happened in any of them--

other than Marle and Chrono getting married in one of them? I think that happened, but I'm pretty sure the only reason I remember that is one of the stills of the animation added to the PS1 version for it being somewhere in the packaging for FF Chronicles.

Suffice it to say that I liked it Chrono Trigger a fair amount when it was one of the only JRPGs that I'd ever played, but after becoming more versed in the genre, I seemed to see it more and more as a game that's just not really all that special. It's technically solid, but kind of like a mannequin: Looks the part, but doesn't have a pulse.

Have you played Chrono Cross before, maru? I was considering replaying it for the TR this month, because I was reminded of how great a character Kid is. Then I was reminded of Harle, who is possibly the greatest video game character ever. If you haven't played Chrono Cross, it would likely be everything you're looking for in Chrono Trigger. It has a bounty of great characters, with ample room to breath within the story. There are a lot of recruitable characters who don't really amount to anything, story wise, but I don't really see that as a problem when any one of the main players is 1000% more worth investing in than the entire cast of Chrono Trigger combined. The combat is also impeccable; It's both simple, and extremely deep. Also, I had not truly seen, smelled, breathed colors, in a video game, until I played Chrono Cross. What I'm saying is that it's an immaculate JRPG, and I don't even know what a lot of Chrono Trigger fans expected with Chrono Cross, but in every conceivable way it is light years ahead of its predecessor. The only thing is, it's been quite a while since I last really played through it, and I kind of wanted to replay it to see if the (gargantuan) twist near the end of the game is actually as amazing as I remember it. I don't really remember any of the specific details, I just remember my entire existence shifting after that moment. It might even have a lot to do with who I am today. (Also, Serge is not dead weight, and is actually very meaningful within the story, despite being a mute.)

[noiseredux]

ELDER KNOWLEDGE

This is officially where I left off of the main quest on my last playthrough. I had spent so much time doing other side quests and general exploring that I never finished this quest. And I know right where I left off... the Blackreach. I feel like that section has a huge spike in difficulty if you're not doing a whole lot of other side quests and random grinding via exploration. Now, I could have backtracked and found some potions to make things easier but instead I decided just to take it slow and steady. And eventually I was victorious.

Blackreach is gorgeous by the way. I love the look of that world. It's like spending all these hours in a rather earthy realm and then suddenly being cast into Pandora. And it's the first time in this playthrough where I really felt my pulse starting to increase the deeper I went into the underworld and dealt with each new threat while clinging on to little bits of life. That Heal spell is a literal lifesaver.

And so, some time before bed last night I finally had the Elder Scrolls in my hands.

ALDUIN'S BANE

A short but slightly epic battle with Paarthurnax by your side. Of course it's no the end game yet, so Alduin's not dead. But he's shook!

SEASON UNENDING

So this is my first time experiencing the Act III stuff then. This quest is about trying to negotiate a peace treaty between the various factions of Skyrim so that we might work together long enough to take down Alduin. It's not the most exciting quest in the game, but it's a nice change of pace after the longgg battle through Blackreach. I don't really think you can fail this quest, though. I mean your responses probably make changes to the Civil War stuff that I don't really care about so whatever.

As an aside, an optional quest started here in which the Blades want me to kill Paarrthurnax and fuck that. I'd sooner kill the Blades. Paarthurnax rules.

THE FALLEN

This was a cool one. So you have to learn a new spell from... someone. I of course went and chilled with Paarth on top of the mountain to learn it. And then me and some guards caught ourselves a dragon who ends up being really cool and offering to help me take down Alduin. So I hopped on his back and got ready for the next quest.

[marurun]

I love the way you're so succinctly summarizing the different quest steps of the main game. Keep it up!

[noiseredux]

THE WORLD-EATER'S EYRIE

I had fun in this one. It's a temple full of stuff to kill and I actually went through the whole damn thing via sneaking around and sniping things in the head. It was glorious. And satisfying as hell. Once you get out of there you get to a really pretty area of fog and make your way to a dude who judges you - via battle. I beat his ass pretty good and he let me cross the whalebones bridge.

SOVNGARDE

The whalebones bring you to this hall of fallen heroes. It's actually kind of heavy stuff really. You're doing battle in the afterlife I guess? Anyway, this isn't really a quest but more of a little intermission thing. You meet up with three heroes (OF LIGHT!) who you had seen in a memory vignette earlier and they ask you to help them bring down Alduin. And guess what? I came here for two reasons - to chew bubblegum and kill Alduin. And I'm all out of bubble gum. And getting too old for this shit.

DRAGONSLAYER

I know that the quest title is sort of ambiguous, but this is the quest where you slay the dragon... Alduin. And... it was way easier than expected. I didn't even get a chance to try out my new shout that rains down lightning. Drag. Anyway, he explodes into a beautiful mess of ash and fire. It was pretty awesome. And again, I want to mention that yeah, this is a game that's been out for some years now but I still can't believe it looks so friggin' good running on the Switch.

PROLOGUE

Another ambiguous title, but this is the prologue. The dragons are free to exist in Skyrim peacefully now as Alduin is dead. It's sort of bittersweet, though. Paarthurnax explains that Alduin is sort of a fallen great. And that I just did what was my destiny. I'm glad I refused to kill Paarthurnax. He's awesome.

Oh, and that other dragon that I trapped earlier and made a deal with? Now he's around to do my bidding. You hear me? He's going to let me call on him and he'll come fuck shit up for me.

That, my friends is what's amazing about Skyrim. The main quest is over and yet it only feels like an intro. I've got all these new spells and cool gear. And now I've got a fucking dragon that wants to hang out with me. And I've got a mile-long list of side quests I could do. I mean, I own the strategy guide which is like 650 pages and less than fifty of them are the main quest - just to put in perspective how big this game actually is. Yup. Skyrim is a game you can just keep playing 'forever,' and if the past few years are any indication, I'll probably just keep on doing that. I love Skyrim. It's possibly my favorite RPG of all time. For realsies.