A paperless column -
February 8, 2001 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot.
Penny Arcade is back! Yeah, I know I'm a day late, but still...
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Guess I should have held off a bit on Paper Mario - only got two
letters on it, only one of which was from someone who'd actually played the
game.
Eh, it happens.
Onward.
| Where were you when
Sierra died? |
| "Frankly, I'd start by eliminating battles...And if you think the battle
engine is what makes a RPG what it is, maybe you're in the wrong
genre."
I'd say that you are actually in the wrong genre if you want to eliminate
battles. A linear RPG with no battles is essentially...a PC Adventure game
(remember those?) Monkey Island! King's Quest! Space Quest! Day of the
Tentacle! Sam and Max! Grim Fandango! Before the genre essentially died,
Adventure games were the absolute height of gaming for me. RPG's basically
were a substitute to hold me over for the next Adventure game. I'm not
saying there weren't problems with them (they could definitely get TOO
linear,) but if all you wanted was story, they were the way to go. Which
reminds me, if you guys love a linear story without battles so much, how
come these games never made NEARLY as much money as RPG's (leading to the
death of the medium?)
Washington Irving (who really needs to stop mourning something that died
years ago) |
Adventure games never made nearly as much money as console RPGs because
A) there are way more consoles out there than PCs, and B) adventure games
play horribly over a control pad. (Rare exceptions like Out of this World
need not apply). There's something to the argument that an adventure game is
a modern console RPG without fighting, but at the same time, RPGs do have a
different flow than most adventure games. Adventure games are largely just
a string of intricate puzzles, one after the other, whereas most RPGs are
about exploration and interacting with the environment. In any Final
Fantasy or Lunar game getting to the next town is what keeps me going as
much as anything else. I agree that it'd
be a mistake to get rid of all RPG combat, but I still say toning down the
amount of random battles isn't a bad idea, as long as we're stuck with the
same-old same-old battle system.
| '99 was an off year
for all of us |
| Yo Chris,
From yesterday's column:
"Frankly, I'd start by eliminating battles. Or just limiting them to
story-battles if needed. And if you think the battle engine is what makes a
RPG what it is, maybe you're in the wrong genre."
You say "I agree completely, totally, 100%."
Then, "I hated Xenogears disc 2 too"
I don't see the difference. I loved Xenogears disc 2, since it actually
wrapped up the story and it made sense. I hate battles, I hate getting lost
in 3D environments. I like stories a whole lot. By mixing a few key boss
battles with lots of story, it made a great game in my opinion. Xenogears
would've been a 100+ hour game if all of the story parts in disc 2 were
actually converted into gameplay. I would've liked that except for the fact
that I wouldn't have had time to complete it.
On the plus side, I'm excited about Paper Mario, which looks like a neat
little RPG to just play for fun and not worry about Christ figures and Hindu
religious symbols for once...
--The Steve, voted Sexiest Man Alive in '97, '98, and '00
|
It's pretty much the same as above - and heck, I might not even have
minded Xenogears' second disc if the presentation was better, but it
frankly wasn't interesting enough to make up for the complete lack of
freedom. Not the story, not the spotlight, not the chair, none of it.
I'll even admit that 99% of the time I was playing disc 1 I was
rushing towards the next plot point just as fast as I could, but I
wasn't pushed towards them like in disc 2. It's a small distinction,
but a real one.
| It's like 1984 all over
again |
| Dear Agent,
It's paper but is it art? Await Clay Mario--gritty, realistic adventures of
tiny Clay Mario as he escapes from Yamauchi's avante-garde dungeonoffice of
INFINITE TERROR. Clay Mario fights evil rats and windup BurgerKing toys from
the 80s with only the giant Magic Mushroom that he finds on Yamauchi's desk.
In the end Clay Mario eats the Magic Mushroom and turns into a real boy.
It's happy.
sincerely,
buuhuu |
Sounds good, but it reminds me of those dumbass Clay Fighter games.
I'd just as soon see Mario's spirit channeled into some hapless office
clerk, so that he spends the rest of the game jumping on security guard
heads and ricocheting turtle shells off the walls. Now that's entertainment!
| One title, IN CAPS |
| "wants to have a real time kung fu survival horror
rhythm RPG "
One Title, BRAVE FENCER MUSASHI
Dan e
|
I see where you get real time, RPG, rhythm and even kung fu from
(kinda) but survival horror? Nope, not even with the werewolves and zombies, not quite there yet. Keep tryin'.
| Paper-thin, but
colorful enough |
| Chris,
When you suggested the Paper Mario topic, you reminded me of something that
ticked me off the other day. Namely, Daily Radar calling Paper Mario "one of
the best RPGs available on any system."
Now, I can think of three reasons they might say something so
ridiculous:
1)Kissing Nintendo's patootie to make up for that hissy fit they threw a
couple weeks back
2) Some practical joker switched copy of Paper Mario with Panzer Dragoon
Saga
3) The only RPGs the reviewer has ever played are Paper Mario and a copy of
Ghost Lion for the NES that just flashed a green screen when inserted into
the Control Deck.
Don't get me wrong; I did enjoy the game. As a Mario adventure, it had
enough to keep me happy - likeable characters, funny situations, and a
faithfulness to previous games. But as an RPG it offers nowhere near the
level of depth, complexity, or length that the words role playing game would
suggest. PM is even less complex than Super Mario RPG, which itself was
dumbed-down from Square's other games. To Paper Mario's credit, though, it
did take the best part of Mario RPG - the timed battle system - and vastly
improved upon it.
Oh, and it also got rid of the STUPID STUPID STUPID plot and characters of
Mario RPG and replaced them with something more appropriate, which is
probably why I like Paper Mario as much as I do. I mean, really...
Mallow?
Chris Kohler
|
Huh... a colorful, fun, purely enjoyable RPG. What a weird freakin'
idea. Still, unless Bowser turns into an angel at the end, I just can't
see getting it any time soon. Might be worth a rental tho, just as a
throwback to the pre-FF7 days, where not ever game had to have
psychologically distressed heroes and blatant religious commentary.
| Word from on high |
| Dear readers of DA,
Why did the GIA join the Amazon.com Honor System? Gamers.com,
Gamefan.com, CNET's GameCenter, Game-Informer.com - all dead,
and the shakeout isn't about to end. The revenue from banner
advertising has gone through the floor, and IGN has all but
dropped their entire affiliate network while being on life
support themselves.
We are an independent site and depend on ourselves and our
readers for support. Not a single staffer wants to ask for
money, but the hard business truth is that it may come down to
things like the Honor System to keep web sites without major
corporate parents afloat. The web is an incredibly fragile
place right now and sites of all sizes and niches are dropping
like flies. Thanks to the Herculean dedication of folks like
Andrew Vestal, we're still here.
Amazon.com approached us last year as being the only gaming site
and one of only 20 sites period to participate in the launch of
the Honor System. You can actually block off content areas of
your site exclusively for people who have donated money, but we
aren't interested in doing that, just letting people know that
there is a convenient way to help us out should they so choose.
If anybody has any concerns or questions, I encourage them to
e-mail staff@thegia.com and promise we'll address every single
one.
There, I finished the letter without a single "Stayin' Alive"
joke.
-Ed M.
|
Not much to say, except that in a weird way, this is probably a good
step towards what the 'net should be. Not to defame our sponsors or
anything (quick, everybody go click on a banner to make up for my gaffe!)
but chances are you're not here for what they're selling, you're here to
get some news, or reviews, or media. (Or even to hear me babble like
this, but there's no accounting for taste.) And life would be a hell of a
lot simpler if we could pay our server bills directly from that... which
this offers us a chance to do. I'm not gonna talk much more about it lest
I turn into a PBS pledge marathon, but it's not a bad deal, when all's said
and done.
Closing Comments:
That's all I got for now. Short column, I know, sorry, but if it
helps you can go reread some of the letters from the past week - those
columns should have been easily big enough to have some leftovers. Just stick them in the microwave. No
topic for tomorrow, and I am out of here. See you Friday.
-Chris Jones, listening to
the cold winter rain outside
|
