Quote Originally Posted by Vyk View Post
People give Xenogear's disc 2 trout for being nothing but story and boss fights. Plot development and fighting, when they want to play a game. Well Tactics is nothing, absolutely NOTHING but plot and battle. And people love that game for it?
Not gonna lie (I'm drinking, too (Mirage wins this thread)) I nearly got down on my knees in reverent adulation when Xenogears Disc 2 came around. Finally, I could do away with these terrible dungeons and random encounters and just enjoy the story they wanted to tell. I like to think that the team blew past their budget, and Sakaguchi sat Fei down in his "time out chair" to tell his little BS story and get it over with.

I don't know, I just feel like the artistic elements in FFT are so good, I don't need town wandering and open world traveling to keep me occupied. Something about that Yoshida artwork, Sakimoto music, and Matsuno political intrigue is just intoxicating. I'll admit, as a strategy RPG, Final Fantasy Tactics isn't even that great of a game. But the job system and grid combat are enough to obfuscate its shortcomings.

I think why Shining Force stands out from the genre is because the team actually wasn't trying to emulate the sub-genre. An interviewer once asked if Fire Emblem was an influence because it predates Shining Force and the developer responded that they weren't trying to make an SRPG at the time - they were trying to make a Dragon Quest with more interesting combat.