BombermanBoard

Mighty · #27 Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 7:10 pm

Well, it isn't exactly what you would call "disappointing", but it's just that with some RPGs I try to get into, they never seem to appeal me as much as Pokemon does. Though everyone says Pokemon can easily be surpassed, I tend to have different views of a game in general than everyone else. For an RPG, provided it uses a turn based combat system, I expect something that is both easy to understand and packs endless hours of content due to the relative ease of programming such games.

For a real time combat RPG on the other hand, I expect things differently. What I expect is a flawless combat system with no real faults with easy controls similar to some Action-Adventure games such as Zelda, and I don't exactly expect much content in these kinds of games as A: I don't own any of the HD consoles yet, so storage space on the systems I do have is limited for such, and B: most of the times that kind of content exists, the game is linear, and I'm not counting the MMOs due to their mostly non-linear nature and due to the online part of them, as I'd rather have a handheld or console based RPG, mostly the former.

Typically I can enjoy a real time combat RPG provided it had all of the above, yet why is it after playing Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Digimon World 4, and even bits of Secret of Evermore I still spend most of my time with Pokemon? Well it's simple really, because both RPGs tend to have some kind of small problem that's real simple yet can ruin the dream of a perfect gameplay experience. Those 4 games play differently enough that I can get a basic understanding of what exactly is wrong with them, but let me atleast start with Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep.

Now for KH, without this one problem, I can probably be spending hours on end with this game with practically no problems at all. It's simply the controls and how they work with the combat system is what I'm disappointed about. This is something I didn't really expect, as even though I heard some bad bits in reviews, I've looked at actual gameplay videos and saw a perfect and fast-paced combat system. I never expected the controls to feel slightly clunky like that, as what I saw in videos was fast paced action with highspeed character movement and a reliable jumping ability.

Yet when I tried actually playing myself, the control scheme felt kind of awkward and not as polished as I originaly believed it to be, mostly the camera system is why this is so. Since Birth By Sleep is on the PSP, which means only a single Analog, the default control scheme requires the Lock-On be activated by both the R AND L buttons.

Why couldn't they simply have just the R Button for locking on? And why is it that you only need to lock on once when I'm used to having to hold the button down to stay locked on? It's so much easier the latter way than the way KH does it since I'm so much used to how it's used in Zelda games by actively holding the Lock on button down than just pressing it once, yet not only that, I constantly had to lock on over and over to rotate the camera in the way I needed it to go, as just locking on once can sometimes screw up the camera angle when moving around to attack.

The default control system is my least favorite because of that, yet even on the other control system, it's no better either. In that control scheme I need only a single button to lock on, making locking on less of a chore. The camera itself is probably what the other problem above is, as when I use this control scheme, I have to press one of the shoulder buttons AND MOVE THE DAMN ANALOG STICK when I wanted to rotate the camera normally, which given how I need to keep moving inorder not to be hit in combat, is why I'm forced to lock on over and over in this control scheme. So why did I not choose the other control scheme for easier camera? Well, I tried, but whenever I did use the default it made me seem as if the L button had some kind of attack/spell command for it which halted all character movement (Can't remember what exactly it was, didn't pay attention too much).

Also, on a minor note, when upgrading Finishing moves, it happens automatically and I don't even notice, and there is this one finishing move in particular which requires me to suddenly press a certain button or get stunned and leave me open for attack. Why such a finishing move even exists amazes me, as it's very difficult to control as I NEED to focus on actual combat, especially with Bosses as I don't always have time for anything "fancy" unless I can do it without getting hit in the process.

Now we go to Monster Hunter which, like KH, has a minor problem which otherwise keeps it from being a perfect experience. Yet, even with this, nothing is really stopping it from being perfect anyways. At 70 hours logged on my main file, it is the ONLY other game EVER that I've ever spent so much time with other than my Pokemon Platinum's 120 hours (At the time my Monster Hunter file had more hours logged than SoulSilver). Well, the reason I'm not playing Mon Hunt more than Pokemon is because IT'S SO ****ING HARD AND THE BOSSES ARE CHEAPSKATES THAT GET FREE HITS ON YOU EASILY. Yet even then, that's actually what makes the games so rewarding to the point the flaw is almost nonexistant, but yes, I cannot get any farther in Unite so far as I'm stuck with dual Diablos, so that is the only reason I do not play it so much nowadays. Other than that, Pokemon would pretty much be extinct if it were a tad bit easier yet still hard enough to keep the challenge it has.

Then we got Digimon World 4, which is probably the worst of the 4 main examples I have so far. This particular game controls differently from KH and Mon Hunt, since it's in an overhead perspective and has 4 player Co-Op (Though Mon Hunt also 4 player Co-Op in a somewhat similar manner). The main reason I don't play it very much is not because of bad control, but it simply lacks major features. Only 4 main worlds exists, all kind of small with only 14-16 playable Digimon (Can't remember how many exactly, but I know it was a small amount). The combat feels barren and difficult, and by difficult I don't mean the good difficult as in Monster Hunter, I mean true difficulty as there's no real rewarding feel to the bosses other than simply completing a level, where in Monster Hunter it made difficulty seem more like character developement in a cinematic movie as you want to get revenge against that Tigrex that keeps beating you the death. Other than the difficulty, the lack of any kind of replay value other than a Hard and Very Hard mode is disappointing, and from what I'm seeing, the game should technically have ALOT more space on the Disc for such content.

Now we go to Secret of Evermore, which is a pretty good game actually, but it's just that the combat system is kinded of limiting to the point it's not really real time, but more like a turn based RPG. Once you attack, you need to wait a few seconds for your strength to recover until you can attack again, and if you attack before you finish recovering, you do almost nonexistant damage. Not only that, but as an old game that I've only recently ever tried, I feel rather limited with since in my opinion, it should atleast be a turn based RPG as I would probably play it more with it does and I'm not really used to real time combat on older systems such as the SNES, as it's usually limited compared to what I see on the 6th Gen era systems and later (Of course I could be wrong, as there might be a game like that on the NES or SNES, but is it an RPG?).

So which of these do I feel the most disappointed about? Well it's a tie between Digimon World 4 and KH, but given what I've seen Square Enix do in the past and the fact that KH tries to be one of the more advanced RPGs, I'm probably having to hate on KH more than Digimon World 4. I've actually enjoyed DW4 in the past when I was younger, and since KH's controls seem to be the confusing mess it is, I don't see any main reason to play KH as much as I do. If I play any non-Pokemon RPG at all nowadays, I look directly at Monster Hunter, as the games have progressively been fixing the difficulty problems at the loss of content, which may lead me to believe Monster Hunter Tri and the upcoming Monster Hunter Freedom 3 is the exact kind of RPG I'm looking for, but I don't really know yet until I've actually played them for myself.

.....

Though I'm kind of late for asking this since Christmas is too close by now, what exactly are the RPGs you guys tend to focus on (And that also have a US release)?