I think in practice as crazy as the systems sound they don't actually impact the game thaaaaat much from what I remember playing when I was a kid (which is probably only like 1/2 of the game or so admittedly).
But it is interesting too me too if only because I usually think of overly-abstract complicated mechanical silliness in JRPGs being more of a post-FFX thing, but maybe FFVIII was already headed in that direction.
If I'm judging the series correctly, the motivation behind mechanics is pretty clear and sensible ("get good at what you do frequently!") it's just that the systems themselves are impenetrable
True, but SaGa games tend to have some systems that they tell you absolutely nothing about and just kind of expect you to know, such as
Magic does more damage the less MP you currently have
In a game where they act like every technique can be learned by anybody, only certain characters can spark certain spells, and that can leave you up shit creek if you realize you want, say, regeneration at the end of the game
Hybrid Arts exist, but unlike both magical and physical they can only be learned by selecting the right moves in a duel (which is a lot of trial and error in itself)
You can break your weapons and armor into chips to make new equipment; this in itself makes sense and is explained, but every time you make chips or turn chips into money you increase a stat called "circulation", and certain equipment can only be made when your circulation is high enough. Circulation also decreases when you craft equipment, so if you're actually using the crafting system regularly you won't actually see this stuff
This is all fron SaGa Frontier 2, but I'm sure other SaGa games have more crazy mechanics that they never tell you about
The FFVI guide I'm reading goes into a lot of detail about minmaxing and go-here-get-this type stuff, but this game ends up being rather easy anyway, right? I don't need to do that stuff? Anyone here have input?
It's one of the easiert Final Fantasies, yeah. You'll definitelly want pointers on some stuff, tho. Off the top of my head, at the Floating Continent when given a choice to wait or not, choose wait and wait for the timer to run out, and when given the chance to choose between the Ragnarok magicite or sword, you'll most likely want the sword.
If you're still worried I suggest using a less min-maxy guide.
It was easy in terms of not really having to grind if you're smart about the mechanics. It can spring some nasty bits on you if you're not careful, but nothing insurmountable as long as you recognize bonus bosses.
I wouldn't play the first time with a walkthrough unless you're having trouble finding plot.
The least obtuse SaGa game is probably the PC version of The Last Remnant, although even that has some really weird systems in it.
The most obtuse is Unlimited SaGa, where you navigate via a board game and everything is decided by a slot machine. Also there are entire Youtube videos dedicated to explaining the basic systems of the game.
In all but name, yes. The director was Hiroshi Takai, the director of all 3 Romancing SaGa games and SaGa Frontier, and the main writer, Akitoshi Kawazu, is the SaGa series's head writer.
Why do old school shooter fans get so weird about having a button to crouch behind cover?
Like they act like it's some humongous insult, but in like, Gears of War style games you use that do other contextual behaviors like peeking over to fire/blind firing.
now I'm imagining a quasi FPS where in order to get behind cover you have to manually control each joint, a la QUOP or toribash, to contort yourself to fit behind conveniently (or rather inconveniently) shaped cover
Probably for the same reason that I feel a little awkward to have a button to do a flashy finishing move.
The rest of the buttons all map to basic movement and action functions -- if I press the duck button, I duck, no matter where I am or what I'm doing. if I press the shoot button, I shoot, no matter where I am or what I'm doing. And so on. So these controls feel like I'm sorta controlling my own body, directing my own movements from the fundamentals up.
"Crouch behind cover", or "fancy finishing move", or whatever, is something that's a "higher-level" action that could, at least theoretically, be done using some combination of those more fundamental movements. I can just simply run over to be behind cover, then crouch if I need to, and then move slightly left in order to peek out from behind it, and I can always jump on top of an enemy and shoot downward, and if the game doesn't do simple contact damage for the enemy I could even land on top of them and then shoot downward. (Some games may be lacking "tilt one's head over to the left/right" buttons, you can always duck and move more finely. And similarly, sometimes you can't shoot downward without jumping, but that's a limitation that could be easily rectified. The could even add a separate button for grappling so that you can hook yourself to the top of the enemy. And so forth.)
So the implementation of these "one button to do a complex thing" moves makes the game feel less directly immersive (by offering fundamental-level controls that I'm used to) but more about pressing buttons to create a higher-level, cinematically-showy representation of what my character is doing. Like, my character is doing it and it doesn't "feel" like _i'm_ doing it.
(NOTE: I have never been an old school shooter fan, and I think I've only ever played one game with a button to crouch behind cover. Take what I say with a grain of salt.)
Also you move really fast, but a whole lot of enemies have hitscan weapons you can't avoid no matter how fast you're moving and leaving line of site only works sometimes
Because that's really fun, according to people who won't shut up about old-school shooters
Also you move really fast, but a whole lot of enemies have hitscan weapons you can't avoid no matter how fast you're moving and leaving line of site only works sometimes
Because that's really fun, according to people who won't shut up about old-school shooters
Doom 2016's greatest innovation was just not doing this
Comments
realtalk: SR2 looks super cool to play.
i played it like twice
never learned it despite learning AoE2
i think i later realized that i liked AoE for the city building aspect rather than the military strategy aspects
Someone call for an exorcist?
I still haven't played it, but it deeply fascinates me.
But it is interesting too me too if only because I usually think of overly-abstract complicated mechanical silliness in JRPGs being more of a post-FFX thing, but maybe FFVIII was already headed in that direction.
also the chat will be confusing and full of pitfalls
I love it and hate it. At least conceptually. I need to dive into the SaGa series.
I do recommend SaGa Frontier 2 though. Gorgeous game, pretty good story for a PSX game, and is just a ton of fun.
If you're still worried I suggest using a less min-maxy guide.
The most obtuse is Unlimited SaGa, where you navigate via a board game and everything is decided by a slot machine. Also there are entire Youtube videos dedicated to explaining the basic systems of the game.
The rest of the buttons all map to basic movement and action functions -- if I press the duck button, I duck, no matter where I am or what I'm doing. if I press the shoot button, I shoot, no matter where I am or what I'm doing. And so on. So these controls feel like I'm sorta controlling my own body, directing my own movements from the fundamentals up.
"Crouch behind cover", or "fancy finishing move", or whatever, is something that's a "higher-level" action that could, at least theoretically, be done using some combination of those more fundamental movements. I can just simply run over to be behind cover, then crouch if I need to, and then move slightly left in order to peek out from behind it, and I can always jump on top of an enemy and shoot downward, and if the game doesn't do simple contact damage for the enemy I could even land on top of them and then shoot downward. (Some games may be lacking "tilt one's head over to the left/right" buttons, you can always duck and move more finely. And similarly, sometimes you can't shoot downward without jumping, but that's a limitation that could be easily rectified. The could even add a separate button for grappling so that you can hook yourself to the top of the enemy. And so forth.)
So the implementation of these "one button to do a complex thing" moves makes the game feel less directly immersive (by offering fundamental-level controls that I'm used to) but more about pressing buttons to create a higher-level, cinematically-showy representation of what my character is doing. Like, my character is doing it and it doesn't "feel" like _i'm_ doing it.
(NOTE: I have never been an old school shooter fan, and I think I've only ever played one game with a button to crouch behind cover. Take what I say with a grain of salt.)
It also had ridiculously hard stealth sections.
But to some extent this is also about tastes in the controls, like, what one wants to manage manually and what one wants to abstract away.
For example, it's generally expected that reloading is abstracted away, because that's generally considered boring.
I'm not sure I have much fondness for other aspects of shooters that some people like.
In particular I kind of dislike aiming in general and think autoaim/aim assist is Good and always preferable to not having it.
But I don't play a lot of FPSes so idk.