It's a pretty old game, since I'm playing the ps1 version via an emulator and not the remake, but this has made me remember some things I liked about this game, as well as some things I really didn't like at all.
I liked the item crafting system, even if it was a bit annoying with the randomization of it all, and the way skills got stronger, and even changed the number of hits/properties with enough uses, and the four person battle party size is more open than 3 person limits, like in some Final Fantasy games.
Plus it's got a lot of nostalgic value, so that's definitely a bonus. :B
And it had voice acting! (even if some of it was kind of bad xD) It was pretty uncommon, in the games I usually played, so I though it was really cool. xD
But then there's the things that I, really, just hated.
First, party size limit and recruitment limits.
*spoilered for length, wow*
[SPOILER="Spoiler"]There are like... 12? characters in total in the ps1 version:
Rena, Claude, Celine, Ashton, Opera, Ernest, Precis, Bowman, Leon, Dias, Chisato, and Noel.
First, there's a limit of 8 for the total party size.
That's restricting enough, but then there are even more restrictions.
Leon and Dias are only recruitable if you chose Claude/Rena as the hero, respectively.
Then there's Ernest who is only recruitable if you recruited Opera, and even then only if you viewed a certain scene you see if you go all the way back to the first town. (nothing points you to this, outside of Opera mentioning that her ship crash landed in the forest near there and isn't functional anymore.)
Then there's Ashton, who, for no reason, is unrecruitable if you got Opera, and vice versa for her if you got HIM.
There's also another one or the other choice with Bowmand and Precis. Again, what reason is there for that... uh, anyways.
The only characters you actually have to get seem to be Rena and Claude, since you seem to be able to TURN DOWN everyone, if you wanted.
Anyways, at most, you can fill up 7/8 party slots before disc two, where Chisato and Noel become available.
And that's if you do Claude, Rena, Celine, Opera, Ernest, Bowman/Precis, and Dias/Leon.
(this was me, this playthrough since I'd never gotten Opera and Ernest :B)
That leaves you with a choice between Chisato and Noel. (Chisato, because of another complaint)
I just really wish I could have gotten them all, because choices are nice to have. (and because it's not like I couldn't handle having so many party members. it's nothing compared to the Suikoden games xD)[/SPOILER]
Another complaint is the way magic is totally outclassed in DPS later (or not so later) in the game, when compared to your physical attackers and their skills.
*derp rant, spoilered*
[SPOILER="Spoiler"](I've just always preferred playing as mages, but it's not as enjoyable when the gap in usefulness is so huge)
This is mostly because of the way almost all of the higher level spells have cutscenes that place, severely lengthening the duration of battles in which mages are a heavy part, and also because of the lack of multi-hit spells (of which I think there's only one, belonging to Leon) meaning that the most any one spell can hit is 9999 (very unlikely in most spells' cases.) while your physical attackers can far outmatch that.
After a while, the only mage you'd really want is a healer to deal with status effects (antidote, which cures poison and has no cutscene, and dispel which cures the other effects and has a short cutscene) and also as a fallback for bad cases where you take heavy damage. And even then, you might want to just rely on items to do that job since 1) There are multiple items that have similar effects such as Spring Water and Wonder Drug which both heal any status effect.
And 2) if you got Opera, she can learn a Skill that heals the whole party for barely any MP. It heals for ~200 when you first get it (healer full party healing spells at this point can heal about 2k+ with a cutscene ~5~7 seconds as well as a castime (2~4 seconds) and ~2~4x mp cost) but the catch is, every time she uses the skill it restores 5 more HP than the last time (the thing I like, skills improving through use.) but since the skill has ~1 second delay and a ~1 second animation before the characters actually get hit by the heal. So +200 HP at 0 uses, with +5 HP with each use, up to 999 (limit of the proficiency counter). So 5195 HP for everyone, for 4 MP (1/2 cost, because mages should have this anyways) in ~2 seconds (a fraction of which no time passes on the field)...
Orrrrrrrr ~7kHP, for 20 MP and ~9 seconds. :I
Plus Opera has good multi hit combat moves for when she isn't being used as a healer.[/SPOILER]
And a third thing, probably one of the most annoying things for me, in any video game.
You could be max level, have defense so high that nothing can hurt you above 0, complete resistance to all elements so that magic can't hurt you, the best accessories so that no status ailments can effect you (poison/stone/paralyze)...
And there's still something that can kill your whole party in a matter of seconds. :|
*derp derp derp*
[SPOILER="Spoiler"]In this game, it's a type of enemy classified as gulpers.
These things creeped me the hell out when I played this game as a kid.
They look like a wriggling, inside out... flesh piles. :[
These things range from slow to incredibly fast, and can show up in groups of 4 or even alone, but they all have one thing in common.
If they're able to connect a hit with you, even if it deals 0 damage, it has a chance of gulping up that character.
A character that's been gulped is basically dead, but worse.
There's no defense against it.
You can't use a resurrection spell or item on them (can't even target them with it actually), because it's as if they've just been removed from the fight.
You can't escape once gulped, without outside help. (Other party members dealing heavy damage to a gulper can cause it to spit the character(s) out, but they usually last until the gulper's been killed, so say goodbye to that fighter until it's dead. outside of the lowest leveled ones, characters that are spit out are petrified, poisoned, or even dead.)
And if that wasn't bad enough some gulpers can fit 2 characters inside, but the ones you can encounter later on can eat the whole party, even if it's alone.
And if every member of the party is inside a monster, then guess what.
Game Over. :|
I mean really. They're just so cheap, and they're just the kind of thing that can ruin an otherwise good run through the final dungeon.
I just wish you could, like, rapidly tap buttons and stuff to escape on your own, but geez.
So the best way to fight these things... Ranged attackers or melee people who happen to have some way to attack from at least a short distance away.
Melee-range Fighters: If you get blocked mid-combo, because of these things have pretty high block: GULP.
Mages: Cast time? Bad enough, but alone it'd probably be fine. It's the other thing I hated about mages (and what makes Opera's healing skill better than a healing spell.), every time a spell is cast there's a cooldown of ~1.5 seconds before you can start casting another spell. Cast time and cooldown keeping the attacks/knockback JUST too far apart from each other... GULP.
Slow Characters: Not wearing the special speed boosting shoes during a fight with fast-moving gulpers? You guess it. GULP.
Healers: Wow, everyone else was gulped? Oh. Well, then.[SPOILER="Spoiler"]...[SPOILER="Spoiler"]......[SPOILER="Spoiler"]GULP.
[SIZE="6"]GAME OVER[/SIZE][/SPOILER][/SPOILER][/SPOILER]
Actually here's a pretty good example of why I hate these enemies. ~0:40
[video=youtube;3FsAyQSa764]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FsAyQSa764[/video]
:[[/SPOILER]
But man, I really liked this game back when I was a kid, but playing it now, I don't know how I beat it like I did. I have all the information of items and recipes and such via a wiki, a list of glitches and how to keep them from triggering and causing problem, and a detailed walkthrough so I can see how to get certain characters and which choices alter character relationship levels in what way, and this game still feels... difficult. xD
But now, I'm at the end of the game and I'm going through the bonus dungeon because, despite my complaints, I still really like this game. xD
And also because as a kid, I never knew it existed. :B
Oh, anyways, I was wondering if, even after all the progress made since then, do any of you all have games, from when you were younger, that you still like just as much as recent games?