Ideas and Thoughts: RPG Idears

5-Dec-97

Before I get into new things, I'd like to have a few (probably not the final) words on my Final Fantasy VII: The Fittage I&T...;

When my good friend Chad Heck had a chance to read it to me, he said something about how it wouldn't be worth it if so much was cut out. I think he misunderstood what I meant or vice-versa, but let me just say this here: all I cut out was FMV and textures! That's it! Everything else left intact. If having a game on N64 isn't worth the loss of FMV (and the advantages of real-time animation) and the loss of excessive textures, well...

Also, about... FF VII's rating. I've heard people say "Nintendo would censor FF VII so much!!!". While that would probably be Nintendo's wish, they wouldn't. Trust me. If you were Nintendo, and Square gave you an ultimatum "Let us cuss in FF VII or we'll make it for PlayStation.", what would you do?

Finally, onto some new stuff! Ahhhh... I'll begin by telling what I really liked about some of my favorite past RPGs. In other words, things that should be done in the future...

Final Fantasy Tactics. And I don't mean the strategy game released by Square. :) What I mean is like in FFIII. You know, those 2 battles where you keep Terra and Bannon (respectively) safe? You have control of 3 different parties, which you can switch between, with enemy groups advancing. You can move around your groups to various places, try to kill all the enemies, or just try to go straight to the boss at the other end. I found this quite fun. Another semi-related thing is the splitting up into different parties in general, in the same game. Remember the point where there were 3 branches you had to play through, in whichever order you liked? Well, I really thought that was cool, too. But perhaps it could use some refinement. What I mean is this: if you went on A branch, you could buy weapons and armor that B branch could use once you swithced to it, even though they hadn't been in contact or anything. It's nice if you want to buy good weapons/armor for everyone all at once, but it just wouldn't work that way. I suggest it be this way: First of all, whichever you'd start off with would have all the items. Whatever they don't use, you'd have for the next group, and so on. This is like the way it is in FFIII, but it makes sense. For it's conceivable that they split it up beforehand, it just doesn't show it, and you just used all of your rations at that point... but transporting weapons/armor through space (and in fact backwards in time) is another thing. Whatever you'd buy in those separate things wouldn't be transferred to the next group, until you ended up meeting up with them.

Now something which no RPG I've played has had is a difficulty selection! This could be very useful. Many of you probably know that the FF II we have in the US isn't actually the normal FF IV of Japan. Another FF IV, with the subtitle "Easy Type", was released there, and is basically what FF II over here is. Basically, there are less items and the monsters aren't as difficult. But why have separate games, when it would be so easy to put it in one? For example, the default would be normal mode, but when you'd start a game, you could choose easy or difficult. The basic changes would be numerical things. The higher difficulty you have it set on, the higher your prices are, the monster's HP is, the monster's attack is, the exp. required to gain a level is, etc. Then there are non-numerical things. For example, perhaps in the lower difficulties, monsters would have more weaknesses and less spells. But there could be changes in the actual areas, too. Let's say there's a place that's generally a pain to go through, such as a cave maze or something. The easier you had it set on, there would be less dead-end passageways, perhaps some shortcuts, etc. But not everything should be in the easiest mode, either. What I mean is that perhaps the highest difficulty level is the only place where you can find a certain secret character, or some extra weapons. Perhaps even a longer/different ending. A big reason this should be done is that so more people could enjoy it. I mean, when Miyamoto said things about Super Mario RPG 2 being an easier quest for younger kids, you could almost hear a collective groan. If there was some way to make it more difficult, add more challenge to the separate sections, etc. it mightn't be so bad. Yet in an RPG not aimed towards the more unexperienced people, they could choose that and not have such a difficult time. Later when they get better they could try the higher level. Definitely more replay... but that gives me another thought. What about all those people who will just start out on hard difficulty. :) You know who you are... after you beat hard difficulty, another one opens up (similar to some current games), just so you can't automatically start out on the hardest one.

Well, this is all I have to say for this time. But I've got a new policy on updates! For the most part, I won't do them! :) If I feel I have something to add to this section, I'll just wait until I have more to say on this subject, and write a new one. Sorta like I put some more comments on my FF VII I&T; at the top of this.

Joshua Slone, inspired by his math teacher, asks for questions, comments, and would even take a complaint..