Can't do an open world? I'm not buying it

[Bolivar]

I don't always agree with Bolivar

But when I do, I usually talk about Xenogears

^ Easily the world's most interesting post.

You'll have to forgive me for never noticing since I've never heard you really say anything positive about VI and CT, you usually only speak about how overrated they are, and how so and so game is so much better. So forgive me for never reading between the lines at the tough love you were giving them.

I've NEVER said anything bad about Chrono Trigger on this site. I want to make this my public challenge to Wolf Kanno to provide a single link on this site where I bad mouth Chrono Trigger or assert it's overrated!!!

Concerning VI, we were debating dungeons & puzzles not too long ago and I actually commended VI for having some awesome dungeons!!! I love playing that game!

See, there you go again. You know, I honestly want to love this game, and I'm probably harsh on it cause I'm still waiting for a real next-gen JRPG to come out, that I can enjoy. Is it still a wonderful title that came out this gen, hell yeah, but for me, it's greatness is one that is mostly won by a serious lack of competition this generation.

I'm not trying to go anywhere! I'm just telling you straight up, I felt the same way you did, hell, from your latest comments I would say I felt even worse than you did about the game when I played it. And I had a blast playing VCII this weekend, thank you for asking!

While I can agree many games have done aspects of the game better, I don't agree it makes it a bad game cause I still have fun playing it and in the end, I feel that's what really matters.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Update your bookmarks! From this day forth, if you ever had fun playing a game, Wulf cannot assert it to not be a good game!!! Valkyria Chronicles? Good game! FFXIII? Good game! FINAL FANTASY X!?!?!?!?!? GREATEST GAME EVARRR!!!

J/p man, look, we all had different experiences and that's what makes everything good, because we can have actual conversations and debates on them. Such as a) um, there's an entire series of games that had novel, but delightful dungeon design before Xenogears, it's called Dragon Quest and b) what truthfully makes Xenogears more thought provoking than FFX? Because it throws out a bunch of terms coined by Sigmund Freud without any substantive connection to what those ideas were actually about? Or because of its constant exploitation of religious scenery and dialogue? "God! This is because of God! There was a war between God and humans! Maybe it's due to God? YOU ARE GOING TO KILL GOD!!!" The point at which its cheapness is so evident is where Stone tells you that all the priests solely desire to control, exploit, and kill their oblivious religious followers; the priests who don't? Yeah, they rape little kids. And let's not forget where Citan lets Fei and Elly eat the canned food in Solaris only to reveal the reality of the genetic experiements. "Remember that food I let you eat a little while ago? Yeah, that was humans we performed horrific genetic experiments on and then killed. I know this is completely out of character and unbelievable for me to do, but hey, nice going, cannibal!"

So whereas Xenogears relies on constantly trying to shock you, FFX actually provides a serious look at grief and mortality, not just with the spiral, but with the inevitable result of Yuna's pilgrimage, and with Zidane's existence. And they were able to do this...

without an open world!