/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.5689053]

Why is this game so....well, you know.

[Anonymous No.5689059]

>>5689053
Badly paced?
Poorly written?
Pretentious?

[Anonymous No.5689060]

You already know. It's been discussed to death. It is what it is and nothing will ever change it.

[Anonymous No.5689102]

>>5689059
yeah, pretty much this. 'so far up its own ass' also works. it's actually pretty decent despite the garbage fire that is disc 2 but the plot really shouldn't get as much praise as I see it getting

[Anonymous No.5689581]

>>5689059
>Badly paced?
yes
>Poorly written?
Some of the game is very well-written, far better than average for a JRPG. But overall it is a mess and some sections are pretty bad.
>Pretentious?
Yes to some extent but this almost always a knee-jerk critique from a sub-literate retard so take anyone saying this with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous No.5689593]

>>5689059
>>5689102
As a fan, I find the game a bit florid, but pretentious/"up its own ass" isn't entirely fair. It doesn't really try to force a particular agenda or dishonestly portray anything. Sure there's some Marxist stuff and whatnot in there, but the political aspect is downplayed and it (and other morals like it) are generally told more from a human perspective.

[Anonymous No.5689609]

>when you blow the entire game's budget on the opening cutscene

[Anonymous No.5690414]

>>5689593
It has its fair share of interesting takes at the start around the section of the game with Ethos up until Solaris but disc 2 just needlessly expands the plot much further than it needs to be. A lot of the nihilism isn't really well-placed and the story occasionally relies on some absolute bullshit leaps of faith like reincarnation and miang posessing people. A lot of the jungian psychology is very tacked on and becomes little more than a reference. I'd say it does do some things well but by disc 2 the plot is no longer compelling but tiresome. The whole arc with hammer (a character that served a useful purpose along with chu-chu and other minor characters to lighten the tone of an otherwise dark story) is just cringeworthy and hollow; there was no need in any universe to make him a tragic character.

[Anonymous No.5691102]

>>5689053

the best rpg ever made? I think it's obvious.

[Anonymous No.5691193]

>>5691102
I fapped so much to her way back when

[Anonymous No.5691196]

>>5691193
How dare you, sir

how dare you

[Anonymous No.5691206]

>>5691102
This is not phantasy star iv tho.

[Anonymous No.5691223]

>>5691206
I'm replaying PSIV right now (haven't played it since the 90s) and it's underwhelming me. While I like the character art and monster art the map arts are bleh and the music isn't good either. The towns are full of lots of empty and repetitive space. I can see why Final Fantasy won the RPG wars.

[Anonymous No.5691246]

>>5691102

Ah, here is someone who wipes their face after they shit.

[Anonymous No.5693469]

>>5689593
Being anti-Christian doesn't make it Marxist.

[Anonymous No.5694042]

>>5693469
I'd say it's more Gnostic and anti-church.

[Anonymous No.5694297]

>>5693469
Don't really know how you inferred that from my statement unless you just view everything in the game as having a religious/spiritual slant. I mean, that is there for sure, but there's other things going on there, like the entirety of the Solaris bit. Anything related to Solaris, their conflict with Shevat, Ramsus, the Elements, Citan, etc. is steeped in class struggle.

>>5690414
Well, they needed a catalyst for Elly and Fei to develop a bit, but I think the underlying motive behind Hammer's betrayal seems to come out of nowhere.

>"I promised to a man named K... Krelian. He won't 'change it' if Miss Elly is returned..."

This line always kind of bothered me. In Japanese it's カ、カレルレンさんという人と約束したっす。エリィさんを連れ戻したら、“変えないで”くれるって……

A man named K... Krelian made an arrangement. If Elly is brought back, he'll make sure I "don't turn..."

"変える" is more like "change" usually, but what Krelian essentially did there is strongarm him under the threat of turning into a Wels upon their imminent use of the Gaetia Key — the Wels being the zombies of Xenogears, "turn" conveys the proper foreshadowing.

From here we can infer that Hammer was vulnerable to this sort of blackmail by virtue of being in-the-know and probably already knowing about or having figured out the purpose of the M Plan. So, yeah, maybe they could have dropped a couple more breadcrumbs and translated a couple lines better, but it's a fine plot point.

[Anonymous No.5694305]

You already know why, and it's been discussed a zillion times, so why even make the thread if not to start shit

[Anonymous No.5694695]

>>5693469
Sure, but Marxism is anti-Christian. So it's possible to reach to such conclusion.

[Anonymous No.5694707]

>>5694305
You assume OP has been here to witness those threads or even at least a portion of them

[Anonymous No.5695517]

>>5689053
Because they ran out of time and money and didn't finish it.