Ah, Memories...

[Wolf Kanno]

Remember that awesome game that came along with the FFVIII demo we all bought... what was it called? Oh yeah, Brave Fencer Musashi! I also remember the cool game where you had the two character, one was a kid who turned into monsters and the other was a bratty ex-princess or don't forget the one that involved a tree and you used sprites or sometimes instruments to use magic. There was also that cool mecha game where you travel around Asia as a test pilot looking for a weapon that could start a new global conflict, or even that game where you're the secret agent in the castle battling monsters, a cult, and religious zealots, hell there was even that one with the Goku looking kid watching a brief history of the world...

We here at EoFF are brought together for our love of the Final Fantasy series but sometimes I feel we forget that Square once made other great games that didn't have FF in the title. While we discuss Cloud's mental issues we forget about Fei Fong Wong, when we talk about the colorful cast of FFVI we forget about Saga Frontier, even as we prepare for Dissidia to arrive we never mention the hours spent playing Bushido Blade.

This thread is created for the sole purpose of shining a light on the under dogs of the Square family. Namely, the horde of titles that don't have FF in their titles and were still revolutionary for the jrpgs and we all still love them. From Chrono Trigger to The World Ends With You this thread is about discussing our favorite non-FF games.

What was your favorite game? What was your favorite battle system?
Favorite moment? Favorite Villain? Favorite Soundtrack? Just a few questions to get the ball rolling but feel free to discuss whatever you want...

[eestlinc]

I love the fact that in the original Dragon Warrior (quest, whatever) the Dragonlord asks you if you want to join him before the last battle. The first time I got to him OF COURSE I said yes because how could you not?

Sorry if this isn't a Squenix game, but the used copy of Xenogears I bought years ago kept crashing after the opening FMV.

[Wolf Kanno]

I would say you were definetly denied.

Secret of Mana was the first "RPG" I ever really played to completion. I was a fighting game fan back in the day and could not get into FFVI despite my friends encouragement. I told him I need action, so he lent me this game. I loved it despite not quite understanding the importance of "levels" and support magic. I really loved the story and the music. I loved the game so much I saved up my allowance and bought it from my friend. I still kept his brothers save file that gave each member an inappropriate name. It was the game that got me to finally try playing through FFIII (VI) again and it became my favorite RPG. I still have a warm spot for the series.

I adored Legend of Mana which was just a completely different experience but still remarkably fun. All the quests and story arc you could do. The art direction was fantastic. I could not believe how many people dissed the game's art style, it was so amazing with its bright colors and atmosphere. I still need to go back and try out the ill-received World of Mana collection. Not to mention, I need to get my SNES ROM to work and finally play Seiken Denetsu 3.

[eestlinc]

I always wanted to play Secret of Mana but for some reason I never did. I suppose I could play it on an emulator if I find myself with extra free time.

[Wolf Kanno]

You should. Its a fine game with great music. If you can get multi-player working on the ROM. Definetly play it with a group of friends. It was Crystal Chronicles before CC existed.

The music is gorgeous.

[,,,]

let's see.

I don't think some of these titles are really overlooked. Who doesn't love at least half of the Chrono series? Trigger is definitely my favorite non FF square title. Now that's a game.

Love the mana series. Part 3 is great on so many levels, I'd have to say, objectively speaking, 3 is the best hands down. but nostalgia prompts me to say 2 is best. My memories of 3 are from the age of 22, playing on an emulator. My memories of 2 are from early preteen years, playing on my SNES, when games meant a little more. Even if it was frickin excruciating to grind dryad from level 0 to 8 so I could beat the game =/ Not to mention the bugginess.

Xenogears has the distinction of being the first rpg I hated so much I couldn't bring myself to finish it. Couldn't even make it past the first disc. Hey, video game companies? Games are for playing. If I wanted to watch a movie I'd watch a movie, and it'd be a lot better than what you can pull off. What a miserable excuse for a game, and I hear the second disc is even worse =/

Ogre Battle isn't the best in the Ogre series, but the Ogre series overall is better than anything FF ever did, so that deserves mentioning. I'd have to say as a series, Ogre is my favorite because of Ogre Battle 64 alone.

Saga-- the gameboy games, especially II, are great. Romancing saga III as well. I absolutely love the level-up system of randomly learning new tactics and improving stats. I wish all RPGs were like this. Definitely my favorite leveling system ever. But until I and II can get frickin fan-translated already, that's all I'll play. Anyone with condescending remarks about how I should stop being an ignorant American and learn to read Japanese just so I can play a video game: go to hell. Seriously, just go right to hell. As for the "frontier" games, I was tolerable, but incredibly repetitive. II I didn't even bother finishing, probably because I was already worn out from having just finished I.

I'm just getting into Valkyrie Profile. The first game was good. I'm currently playing the DS game which has issues, but is fun. Doubt I'd have fun with it if I couldn't use savestates, and either way it has its issues, but it managed to hold my attention while I have several never-before-played RPGs on my computer waiting their turn, so that says something.

[Jessweeee♪]

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The soundtrack is so pretty *-*

[,,,]

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[/URL]

Hmm? what's that?

*wikis*

*downloads*

And yet another rpg sitting on my comp waiting its turn.

[Wolf Kanno]

let's see.

I don't think some of these titles are really overlooked. Who doesn't love at least half of the Chrono series? Trigger is definitely my favorite non FF square title. Now that's a game.

They took away my Chrono forum...

Chrono isn't completely overlooked except perhaps for its part game development history. I kinda get annoyed when I mention CT in
discussions about evolution in game design and it gets either ignored or some bizarre "what the hell is CT" comment. It doesn't happen often but I do feel people from the 3D generation have a tendency to "talk down" the games achievements. Chrono Cross is a bit of a mix bag though...

Love the mana series. Part 3 is great on so many levels, I'd have to say, objectively speaking, 3 is the best hands down. but nostalgia prompts me to say 2 is best. My memories of 3 are from the age of 22, playing on an emulator. My memories of 2 are from early preteen years, playing on my SNES, when games meant a little more. Even if it was frickin excruciating to grind dryad from level 0 to 8 so I could beat the game =/ Not to mention the bugginess.

I still need to play the third game. I absolutely LOVE Secret of Mana and though I do have the ROM for its sequel I can't get my ROM to work... I still have nightmares about fetch quests thanks to smurfing Sage Jock

Xenogears has the distinction of being the first rpg I hated so much I couldn't bring myself to finish it. Couldn't even make it past the first disc. Hey, video game companies? Games are for playing. If I wanted to watch a movie I'd watch a movie, and it'd be a lot better than what you can pull off. What a miserable excuse for a game, and I hear the second disc is even worse =/

I have the same problem with FFX. The main problem with story based RPGs is if you can't get into the plot then the game it pure torture. In this case, I absolutely LOVE Xenogears and its quite possibly my favorite Square RPG and it easily trounced VII for me in everything back in the day. Its still the game I tend to compare all other RPGs to.

Ogre Battle isn't the best in the Ogre series, but the Ogre series overall is better than anything FF ever did, so that deserves mentioning. I'd have to say as a series, Ogre is my favorite because of Ogre Battle 64 alone.

I need to get into Ogre Battle, as a fan of Matsuno, it would be a pleasure to see the evolution of his genius.

Saga-- the gameboy games, especially II, are great. Romancing saga III as well. I absolutely love the level-up system of randomly learning new tactics and improving stats. I wish all RPGs were like this. Definitely my favorite leveling system ever. But until I and II can get frickin fan-translated already, that's all I'll play. Anyone with condescending remarks about how I should stop being an ignorant American and learn to read Japanese just so I can play a video game: go to hell. Seriously, just go right to hell. As for the "frontier" games, I was tolerable, but incredibly repetitive. II I didn't even bother finishing, probably because I was already worn out from having just finished I.

I want to play more of the Saga series. I had a blast with the Gameboy entries but never got around to Frontier and Unlimited. Can't wait for the remake of Legend II. Hopefully it will finally regain its true name.

I'm just getting into Valkyrie Profile. The first game was good. I'm currently playing the DS game which has issues, but is fun. Doubt I'd have fun with it if I couldn't use savestates, and either way it has its issues, but it managed to hold my attention while I have several never-before-played RPGs on my computer waiting their turn, so that says something.

I never could get into VP. I love the concept, and love the battle system but I feel the story and pacing are lacking and I never felt Tri-Ace was exceptionally good with music. I may try the series again someday but its possibly a little too open ended for my taste...

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The soundtrack is so pretty *-*

I've been waiting for you to come in here. Yes, I love Threads of Fate and it was a game I didn't necessarily want but a friend bought it for me for my B-Day so I played it and enjoyed it. Both stories were excellent and I liked the different playstyles. The game really felt like a spiritual sequel to Brave Fencer Musashi which was another beautiful gem of a game that gets overlooked.

[,,,]

I still need to play the third game. I absolutely LOVE Secret of Mana and though I do have the ROM for its sequel I can't get my ROM to work... I still have nightmares about fetch quests thanks to smurfing Sage Jock

Not to oversell it, but if you love the Mana series and you haven't played 3, you need to make that your top video game priority. Before you play another game, play that. If your rom isn't working, find one that is and play the crap out of it. I'm sure you've already read up on it a bit, so I'll just leave it at it's basically Secret of Mana with better characters and infinite replayability.

[Skyblade]

As I recall, the third game wasn't released outside Japan.
And I found Sword of Mana to be an ok game, but definitely inferior to Secret of Mana.

Super Mario RPG has not been mentioned yet...

[,,,]

As I recall, the third game wasn't released outside Japan.

That's why he'll be playing a fan-translated rom.

And speaking of that, Live A Live was a great square game, and as with the 3rd mana game, you'll need to find the fan-translated rom. Anyone into SNES era RPGs, I very, very highly recommend it. Every character gets their own unique chapter. And when I say unique, I mean unique. A wild-west themed chapter where you set traps for the enemy, a ninja chapter where you sneak into the enemy's hideout, an outer-space chapter that is basically a murder-mystery, and several more. The villain is a pretty interesting twist.

[Kyros]

Valkyrie Profile is awesome. I love most of the cast, and the art and music were great too.

I enjoyed SaGa Frontier 1 & 2 though I wish Unlimited SaGa never existed b/c thanks to its complete crap from a combat system I ditched it within minutes and was glad I rented it instead of buying it.

Ogre Battle was extremely fun in snes. My friend and I made a file together and within the first few battles we had found 4+ of the rings that give you a princess, which basically made the game easy mode when we put 2 princesses and a wizard in the same party and had them clean up everything ^^

[asukaevaunit02]

Always have loved Secret of Mana as well as Seiken Densetsu 3. But I always liked Secret of Mana just that bit more, I found Seiken Densetsu 3 hard to get into at the start, but now after beating it with just about every conbination of characters I still enjoy it.

I also love the soundtrack of Secret of Mana, every song is so memorable I can clearly remember a picture of what was happening in the game just by listening to the music, and there are so many outstanding tracks such as Fear of the Heavens and A Wish to name couple right now.

I probably hold Secret of Mana above/equal with my favourite Final Fantasy's IX, X, V in terms of the game itself, but I still think Secret of Mana's soundtrack is better than most Final Fantasy's.

I wish this game was given more recognition... I havn't found many people to be fans of it....

[Depression Moon]

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The soundtrack is so pretty *-*

And Super Mario RPG I almost forgot about it til someone mentioned it because you know when we all look at it we say Nintendo.