The greatest games - A Personal list of Neocracker~

[NeoCracker]

You know, the moment I actually get to BoF2 on this list, I will explain to you why it did the better job with the different character stories, but I don't want to pre-emptively go on about a game that I haven't gotten to on my list yet.

I will still counter both Maria and Esmeralda because their stories are pretty much finished the moment they are introduced into the party. Esmaralda didn't even need to join the party for her story to be fulfilled. Fei's recalling memories happens in the game without her, so she's not even necessary for the flashback scene to the other time period.

And I'll just give you FF 2, because I'll be honest I can't remember trout about it's dungeon design. And Xenosaga can have some pretty bad design choices, but never in that game did a dungeon frustrate me, and I never really felt like I was just re-treading the same ground for the entire stretch of the dungeon.

And let's not bring Xeno 2 into this, I already admit to forgiving that entire game way more then I probably should.

Oddly though, I don't really have an issue with the Xeno battle system other then the fact when you have Citan in your group there is no reason to try anymore, and after a certain point the battles just become rinse and repeat the remainder of the game. (I've forgiven plenty of other games for that though. )

Most of my distaste for this game is the lack of any real pay off to what was otherwise some really well done build up.

ANd yes, there is some pretty nutty cases in real life of generals and what not making some really smurfing stupid tactical choices. However, your examples still aren't as stupid as Vanderkaum, and here is why.

1) Any reference to tactics is nonsense, because the army is trained and equipped to handle situations Vanderkaum was in. It's not like they were dealing with some new breed of enemy that required tactics they'd never used before, this was trout they've dealt with in the past.

2) The Redcoats had the misfortune of not being trained to handle that kind of fighting. They were also at the disadvantage of not being willing to just level everything because it was still considered British property, and to do so would destroy it's own infrastructure. These are two things that in no way, shape, or form factor into Vanderkaum's arrogance and failure.

3) Solaris's, on a whole, is smart. They have been doing their thing for generations, run and operated by people who have been able to adapt with the generations of different kinds of opposition. Yet somehow on this run they see it as a good Idea to trust a guy who they have seen already is a raging imbecile?

4) Even if I drop point three, there is one more thing wrong with that scene. When a guy is an idiot, but has way more power and resources then you, you win the fight by outsmarting him. Fei's plan? Charge in guns blazing and just trust the idiocy of a man you have never met, and have only heard a small bit about, is so great he shall forgoe using the entire armada of anti-gear weaponry at his disposal in favor of the least efficient weapon in his arsenal for handling the situation. I mean yes, it did work, but it doesn't change the fact the plan was smurfing stupid.

5) I'll even drop point four for this, grant you Vanderkaum is believable, and grant you that Fei's plan wasn't smurfing stupid (Even though it was), and ask you this. Just because something is believable, does it make for a good story? What kind of threat is an enemy so stupid that with the vastly superior resources at Vanderkaum's disposal, he can go down to such an minimalistic plan? It was like at the end of Burst Angel when the Brain in a Jar was raving about how he could not be defeated, and it was to late to stop him, and the main character just shoots him through his non-bullet proof glass and the show ends.


Edit: Also, I think I'm done talking on Xenogears. I've bitched enough of the topic.