[QUOTE="hakanakumono"][QUOTE="texasgoldrush"] agreed, FFVII and FFVIII were wacky, Xenogears and Chrono Chross were "what the hell?" stories, even FFIX and FFT had wild stories although less so. The problem was that the metaphysics overpowered the human element, which wasn't the case in Suikoden II (or my fave FFVI). The only metaphysics Suikoden II had were the runes, which have a human element to them. The characters really make that game, Riou, Nanami, Jowy, Jilla, and little Pilikia were all chararcters you can connect to, much better than say the spiky haired kid and his effeminate white haired rival from that overrated game. And Luca Blight is a villain you can really hate.....that guy kills children..... Too bad Suikoden II now sells for over $100.....wowtexasgoldrush
Final Fantasy VIII and Xenogears make perfect sense. They're different, but that's a good thing. They step away fromt he norm and the stories are actually great. Of course, Xenogears is far better than Final Fantasy VIII, which does have a great deal of human element.
From what I've played so far, Suikoden 2 isn't that great.
Edit: Oh, texasgoldrush. LOL.
Xenogears is stuffed, its pretty pretentious and convoluted...its not bad, it is just not an all time RPG great. FFVIII plot doesn't work in the end. It is a confusing mess. For a while though the story does work and it is one of the better FF stories, its beaten by VI, IX, and Tactics though...all of them which Ito directed. Suikoden II is about substance more than style and it is a throwback to the 16 bit era of RPGs. It has enough depth to make it a great story, but simple enough to understand what it is going on, the same formula that made FFVI the widely praised narrative that it was. The overarching theme of friendship through conflict is brilliantly executed. The flaw lies with the translation.....it is sloppy in some places as well as some aspects are taken directly from the first game, such as many characters. But the game is really about Riou, Jowy, Nanami, and Pilika.....and Luca and the conflict he starts. The mataphysical elements such as the runes only represent their characters. No grand scheme of world domination, no great evil from the dark beyond, it is just a human story.There's a lot to Xenogears, but none of it is "stuffed" or "pretentious." It sets up itself to be an amazing game and the delivery turned out better than any other JRPG. There's just so much put in Xenogears and that's part of what makes it great. I'm sick and tired of the word "convoluted" being thrown around to pretend as if games that make a serious effort to develop and expand upon their plotlines are somehow flawed for trying to go above and beyond.
Final Fantasy VIII works out perfectly in the end. It's hardly a "mess." Just because you find a plot confusing doesn't mean it's bad, it means you need to pay more attention. Final Fantasy VIII requires a 2nd play through to appreciate it imo (or at least the Japanese ver, where Edea's CONTEXTUAL speech makes sense).
Blah blah blah Final Fantasy VI superior storytelling blah blah themes execution. Cool. I don't buy anything you say when it comes to what makes a story better or worse. Sorry.
Lol, ironically the advertising campaign for Final Fantasy VIII (in Japan) was "The story of humanity" or "A human story." While I think Xenogears ultimately takes the cake when it comes to "The story of humanity," Final Fantasy VIII did accomplish far more realistic characters than any other Final Fantasy. The only other Final Fantasy I'd describe as a "human story" would be VI, believe it or not. Metaphysical elements are present in Final Fantasy VI just as well as VIII, but both have a strong human element. And Xenogears has the strongest human element of them all. The game just screams "humanity."
I haven't played the rest of Suikoden 2 yet, but so far it seems a bit shallow. But I have a lot more gameplay to go, so we'll see if SPOILERS Joey's reason for betrayal is well developed in the end. END SPOILERS.
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