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Thread: What do you consider to be the Five Worst Written RPGs?

  1. #46
    'Just Friends' Formalhaut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fynn View Post
    Exactly. XIII hurts so much because the ideas behind it actually have a lot of potential, but the end result is a cheap rush job that is just shallow.
    I do agree on this point. The story has plenty of potential, but it doesn't live up fully to it. I suppose the plot does rush at a rather breakneck speed, so subtlety is lost. It has flaws, but it can never be described as 'complex'. The linearity is such that there's little in the way of diversion, and I've always found the plot easy enough to follow.


  2. #47
    Untalented Game Designer FFNut's Avatar
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    With me it wasn't just the writing. It was the lack of exploration, it was the lack of not being able to find things out on their own. It was all spoon fed to us. Go here fight flashback. Go here fight flashback. I guess I come from the JRPG era where you finished a quest then talked to everyone to find out what to do next. Not just go this way. Nope don't bother going back there we won't let you. Plus. What totally turned me off this game was the scene near the beginning where I think it was Hope's mother and Snow fighting. They both fall the same height and Snow is unscratched while she dies. Then you see them fall numourus times after unscratched too. What was it that made her die and no one else. If you say for Hope's story I say she would have to fall on her own and not with Snow then. This is just one small example from this games awful writing. It's a broken game and to me not an RPG despite having RPG formulas installed into it.

  3. #48
    Pinkasaurus Rex Pumpkin's Avatar
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    See this is what I mean about being too easy to please. VIII and XIII had plot elements that bugged me a bunch. But I like both games a lot. Heck, VIII is my third favourite game ever.

    I think like others have said XIII has a ton of potential. I think the base story is incredibly interesting. It just feel short. I love VIII's story but there were some things like "WE WERE ALL ORPHANS TOGETHER OMGOMGOMG" that really bugged me, but the game had many things I just love about it so I more just chuckle or groan at those moments and then continue to enjoy the game!

    Doesn't mean everyone is like that or should be, just how I work I guess

  4. #49
    Untalented Game Designer FFNut's Avatar
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    Agree XIII's story felt very rushed like they had a game but only a weekend to fill in the blanks. I'd probably enjoyed it more if it wasn't given the name Final Fantasy. That name brings with it certain expectations and this game fell short of those.

  5. #50
    Master of Kittens Galuf's Avatar
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    i think Nora was killed by the explosion as she dies before Snows grasp slips.


    as for how he survived? well.... uh... um.... Gadots hair

  6. #51
    'Just Friends' Formalhaut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pumpkin View Post
    See this is what I mean about being too easy to please. VIII and XIII had plot elements that bugged me a bunch. But I like both games a lot. Heck, VIII is my third favourite game ever.

    I think like others have said XIII has a ton of potential. I think the base story is incredibly interesting. It just feel short. I love VIII's story but there were some things like "WE WERE ALL ORPHANS TOGETHER OMGOMGOMG" that really bugged me, but the game had many things I just love about it so I more just chuckle or groan at those moments and then continue to enjoy the game!

    Doesn't mean everyone is like that or should be, just how I work I guess
    I think this thread has told me that I'm rather easy to please as well. I can see big flaws in some of my favourite video games, yet still rank them rather high.


  7. #52

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    For me it's like... if a story is going to stuck, then it better be backed up by good gameplay. If the gameplay sucks, then it better be backed up by an interesting world with interesting lore and characters. If all of that is completely unpolished with make-believe words, shallow characters, plot-holes out the wazoo, and completely linear gameplay, then what? Graphics? At least they kinda had that I suppose. It was flashy...

    Just some things writers and creators need to be wary of. Mary Sues, Chekhov's Gun, Show-Don't-Tell, Plot Convenience, Consistency, etc. One or two can be over-looked, and sometimes can be done in a charmingly ignorant, or tongue-in-cheek manner. But if you continually rely on this stuff, then it's like playing a game with a 4-year-old who just made up his own game, and keeps changing the rules as he goes along. It gets ... ridiculous

    Like even if I enjoyed any of those examples, I'd have a hard time respecting them creatively. Like you can tell those writers were once directors or lead programmers or something and then were given a crack at making their own plot without ever having been taught the nuances and rules of writing coherent and believable plots and characters and it bugs the hell out of me lol



  8. #53

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rin Heartilly View Post
    In defense of VIII, yes the plot twist was cliche as hell but I feel like most people judge it too harshly
    Same here as it was hinted in the game by Headmaster Cid that the summons cause danger to the brain; though everybody seems to ignore that part and treat the plot-twist as it just occurred out of sudden thin air. There is other hints like Irvine acting like everybody expect Rinoa are familiar friends and Irvine refusing to shoot Edea at the parade. But lol nope- keep on ignoring. Could the subtle hints be explained better ? Yes ! Though it wasn't some random cheesy plot-twist out of the blue like people say.

    There's also the main song played at the start - translated into English from Latin- children of fate.

    /willdefendFF8tilldeath

  9. #54
    Slothstronaut Recognized Member Slothy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fynn View Post
    Exactly. XIII hurts so much because the ideas behind it actually have a lot of potential, but the end result is a cheap rush job that is just shallow.
    Speaking of rush job, they didn't really buckle down and make the game until they had to put out a playable demo. That was about a year and a half before release. Prior to that they were spinning their wheels if I'm not mistaken.

    Quote Originally Posted by maybee View Post
    Same here as it was hinted in the game by Headmaster Cid that the summons cause danger to the brain; though everybody seems to ignore that part and treat the plot-twist as it just occurred out of sudden thin air. There is other hints like Irvine acting like everybody expect Rinoa are familiar friends and Irvine refusing to shoot Edea at the parade. But lol nope- keep on ignoring. Could the subtle hints be explained better ? Yes ! Though it wasn't some random cheesy plot-twist out of the blue like people say.

    There's also the main song played at the start - translated into English from Latin- children of fate.

    /willdefendFF8tilldeath
    The problem was that none of that really read as foreshadowing anything major. Mostly it was just weird. Hell, Irvine refusing to shoot Edea played out more like him not being able to actually pull the trigger on a real person to assassinate them when I originally played it if I'm remembering correctly. But for the most part there was really no reason for them all to have grown up at an orphanage together. The reason it seems so ridiculous is that the foreshadowing is bad and it doesn't add anything. I could see one of them having known Edea as a child, but all of them knowing each other served no purpose in the end. The story isn't fundamentally better for that twist.

  10. #55
    Shlup's Retired Pimp Recognized Member Raistlin's Avatar
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    1. FFXIII
    2. FFXIII, because no other game deserves to be that close.

    FFXIII has the most appalling writing of any RPG I've played. The whole overplot was haphazardly stitched together and most of it was introduced by the villain simply explaining his plan Bond-style in chapter 9.

    I would place both FFVIII and FFX on a poor-writing list, albeit maybe not worst ever. FFVIII has already been dissected in this thread, but I thought FFX was just as disappointing, though for different reasons. I liked a lot of the themes in FFX and saw it had a lot of potential, but it was the application and details that just constantly bugged me: the tone, the characters, the dialogue. Good ideas, but poor application and poor writing.

    Speaking of potential, as much as I enjoy playing FFVII, it had terrible, dreadful writing after disc 1. And it had such an interesting early story with pretty strong characters, but then it just fell off with no real segues or explanations. Hojo should have been such a better villain, and the Sephiroth-Jenova dynamic needed a lot more development -- and the writing needed to make actual sense in disc 2 (the best example is the whole quest to save all the Huge Materia from Shinra -- the only people with an actual plan to try to stop Meteor -- just for trouts and giggles). To top it off, SE's after-the-fact explanations in the Compilation somehow was even worse. FFVII didn't have the worst writing ever, but if this was a list of "most disappointing writing," I'd probably put it first.

  11. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rin Heartilly View Post
    1. Star ocean: until the end of time: So many anime tropes, and that little girl "kaaaay" "kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay" *bangs head against wall* At least the battle system was pretty good.
    You're thinking of Star ocean 4, a much worse game than star ocean 3 (till the end of time).

    For worst writing in an RPG, I nominate FF13, FF13-2, star ocean 4, tales of symphonia (it's cute, and the combat is fun, but the story isn't very good). idk what to pick as my 5th. xenogears maybe.
    everything is wrapped in gray
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    can you hear me in the void?

  12. #57
    Yes homo Mr. Carnelian's Avatar
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    Maybe I'm easy to please, but I can't think of a list of five. Don't get me wrong, I could go through some of the writing flaws in the KOTOR, Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, Persona and Mass Effect games I've played, but I wouldn't say they were badly written, just that they had a couple of flaws (e.g pacing in Persona 3 and 4). And although no Pokemon game has had a plot that's really grabbed me, I'm going to give them a free pass, because I've never played them for the plot. So, only one game springs to mind as being "badly written".

    Skyrim. The world was great, and many of the side questlines were suitably absorbing (the assassin questline was one of my faves), but the main story SUCKED. There was no tension, no sense of urgency, very little of interest happened and the villain was exceedingly uninteresting. Poorly written.

  13. #58

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    Skyrim's Dark Brotherhood were amazing. I loved them.

    Which is why I am so sad. One day...one day I will ge a decent PC and use that Save the Dark Brotherhood mod!

  14. #59

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    Quote Originally Posted by Vivi22 View Post

    The problem was that none of that really read as foreshadowing anything major. Mostly it was just weird. Hell, Irvine refusing to shoot Edea played out more like him not being able to actually pull the trigger on a real person to assassinate them when I originally played it if I'm remembering correctly. But for the most part there was really no reason for them all to have grown up at an orphanage together. The reason it seems so ridiculous is that the foreshadowing is bad and it doesn't add anything. I could see one of them having known Edea as a child, but all of them knowing each other served no purpose in the end. The story isn't fundamentally better for that twist.
    Irvine was said to be the best shooter in the Garden though and said that he never misses his target. Galbadia Garden wanted Edea gone and done away with because they were frighted of her and for good reason. They wouldn't take a coward who refuses to shoot real life people. Irvine says that he can't handle the pressure as well; but they wouldn't take somebody who smurfs up under pressure either. They would take a professional and use the SeeDs whom almost took out the President in Timber.

    Do agree with you that the foreshadowing is bad and could've been written better though. Because there's this whole thing of Irvine just taking Rinoa home back to Deling City and planning to just leave his supposed orphanage gang behind, to be tortured. Maybe Irvine didn't want to cause more trouble or thought that the SeeDs could handle it ? But it's dickish on his part.

    Though disagree that's it's the worst Final Fantasy plot-twist ever created and deserves ridicule. Just could've been written better.

  15. #60
    Resident Critic Ayen's Avatar
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    Well, Irvine is kind of a dick. It's the reason I take so much pleasure from leaving Galbadia Garden with Rinoa and Selphie.

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