I Hate That I Hate This Game

greetings Travelers welcome to the year 2023 where everyone's favorite son of the IMAX creators Jeff Keeley let us watch some awards with our game announcement showcase nobody else has pointed this out but the awards are a bit of an afterthought if you want to watch a game award show where the game developers talk as much as they want you can check out the dice Awards there's nothing more enjoyable for me than listening to a team of passionate developers talk I enjoy it so much that it's better than actually playing the games themselves that's a joke the game awards like it or not is popular because of its big announcements that draw in the big audience you can even track the live viewers going up for ads and down for awards because the promise of a good game makes more money than making a good game I made that quote by stealing from H bomber guy quoting The Bachelor from pathologic who was quoting French philosopher fris maybe it's ironic for an award show but it's a good microcosm of the entire entertainment industry as a whole during this ceremony some developers don't even get to accept their trophy on stage and instead get a PowerPoint slide that doesn't even take up the whole screen while the host reads it off and gives a thumbs up one of these Awards was for best indie game given to sabotage studi sea of stars which got me quite heated I don't even like that game but that lead designer is certainly not lacking in passion I believe he has every right to get up on that stage and wave his prize around in my pretentious critic face and tell me my opinion sucks because he has a certificate to back it up wait chair you didn't like that game slow down traveler first I will tell you everything that I liked in short form the pixel art and animations are absolutely delightful sea of stars is acting like Sprite work is still the highly competitive AAA standard all the artists and animators were probably working 25 hours a day for it to be this pristine it shows for how many unique areas and unique enemies exist it only gets more impressive don't be fooled by my statement there are reskinned enemies later in the game but to a completely understandable degree in a similar vein the music never stopped giving me Goosebumps all of the tracks made primarily by Eric W brown are Godlike I know Vincent Jones is also list as a contributing artist and yasunori mea's guest tracks seamlessly integrate those two take a backseat though it's Brown's work that shines throughout the entire [Music] experience it's fantastic to listen to by itself but in tandem with the art direction of each area and each major encounter the presentation is unpar [Music] paralleled it's that kind of game where I can hear any song later on in my mind just starts playing the visuals all over again when I'm trying to get a good night's sleep so I can better focus on my projects without digressing the turn-based combat with active timings is tight and responsive which is important because blocking is not automatic and requires admiring all of the detailed animation work to time it correctly the abilities by themselves are just plain fun I could mumang all day and I would still be happy it's all complimented by some extremely refined dungeon design if all of that sounds like a good time to you I'd recommend playing it don't let me ruin your fun run along you'll probably have a blast in spite of all that praise I didn't enjoy myself to examine why it's the writing of course it's the writing make an RPG without half decent writing why am I even here I've played games with infinitely shittier gameplay infinite itely shittier presentation that were infinitely more engaging this marks the second game that gave me an existential crisis the last one that did so was bug fables uh-oh there I was not having a good time at this heavily Paper Mario inspired game as a self-proclaimed fan of the first three Paper Mario games yes I'm one of those people I know we'll all get past this eventually I couldn't tell you exactly why I had a bad time though there wasn't anything specific that I could easily list off I started to think to myself damn maybe I just don't like Paper Mario no more maybe I've outgrown it maybe it's now relegated to a game that I like from my childhood so in my childhood ruined depression I pulled out my Wii because my GameCube is broken and I fired up Paper Mario the Thousand-Year Door just to try it again for a half hour I beat the whole game for the 11th time not even backtracking over the same four screens in chapter 4 could stop Me Maybe it did something something different than bug fables game design is more like a soft science with guidelines rather than an easy list of dos and don'ts I can slog through some [ __ ] if there's a compelling reason to slog through a [ __ ] tunnel my theory is as such I don't think games need super good writing but they certainly need serviceable writing at a bare minimum to not ruin the rest of the experience it's like building a chair and having three fancy legs and the fourth one is rotten to the core yeah the these other supports are amazing but nobody can sit in it it has to at least hold some weight even if it's not comfortable bug fables markets itself as a paper Mario inspired game the reason a Nostalgia Seeker like myself would buy it sea of stars markets itself as inspired by many RPGs but primarily one small indie game known as Chrono Trigger after being thoroughly disappointed in Sea of stars I had to play Chrono Trigger again just like I did with Paper Mario to be clear this is not a bad thing using great works that you personally enjoy to make your own Creations is the bread and butter of creation itself I can speak to that on a personal level my whole video making career is inspired by many people some of which probably too much the downside is that this can also start to welcome comparisons that you might not want to be made my stuff is just this but worse derivative it's not a great feeling and it's easy to get down on yourself as a Creator because something is never good enough accepting that it is the way it is and trying to push forward on the next project is all you can really do it's not cope the problem I have with something like sea of stars is taking a bunch of Concepts from work that you like doesn't automatically make it good you have to understand what makes it work in the first place the kind of stuff that isn't necessary to enjoy something but necessary if you want to create something of a similar quality before before going any further there will be spoilers for both sea of stars and Chrono Trigger if you care about that stuff this is your time to Clay and or experience one or both of those games before I show you all of the twists in Chrono Trigger because sea of stars has none Chrono Trigger is a game about actions having consequences you could say it's the entire Central premise using time travel as a means to explore that premise is genius perhaps even a bit too obvious in retrospect this isn't explicitly told to the player though it's demonstrated in its opening krono trigger has one of my favorite openings of any video game krono has to wake up and go to the Millennium fair to see a device that his best friend Luca made but he bumps into an anime girl in the most stereotypical way possible minus the panty shot she drops a pendant that you have to give back to her but because it's a video game it gives you a useless yes or no prompt where you have to say yes eventually but she gets really excited when you finally say yes the fair has several mini games to dick around in you can fight a singing robot or play some wacko Simon Says with a floating disembodied head and hands while the sound of water drips in the background or at least I think that's what it's supposed to be when the device is ready to be shown off Marl makes you wait for her to pick out a piece of candy and if you try to walk away she forces you to come back and stand still think about what know about this girl and the setting of The Story just off of these pieces alone it's such a great no Stakes environment for the player to get comfortable without any consequences whatsoever after the teleporter device is ready ml's necklace glows and rips a portal open that she gets sucked into krono rushes in after her without hesitation I wonder what kind of guy this silent protagonist krono is going back in time marrow looks identical to the queen from this era because they might be related whoo that gossip about the King's Daughter being on the run at our time was true the queen was kidnapped but they found her so now the real queen is not being saved and uh-oh Marl is disappearing because she's no longer going to be born I think these actions might have some consequences blah blah we saved the queen Marl isn't unborn anymore and we go back to our time period and celebrate by being arrested krono is accused of kidnapping the princess but we're a good news surely we can convince the jury of the quality of our character this is when the game puts you on blast for everything that you did at the fair see I didn't check on Marl before grabbing the pendant because I'm greedy and I wanted to steal it my case is made even worse because I didn't give it back right away for that yes or no question that didn't matter hey wait a minute you can lose this trial if you're enough of a scumbag at the beginning of the game the verdict doesn't matter in the end though because the trial is is rigged and krono is condemned to death by the chancellor who set it all up behind the scenes in this exact highly condensed summary of This Moment Chrono Trigger is magical the whole game is built around actions having consequences even the stuff that seems insignificant goofing around in the carnival because it's a video game and nothing matters has the game calling you out for thinking that's the case and I love it it also sets up the hook to the story it shows that changing the past has consequences simultaneously we are showing that these actions can be undone however not everything is possible to change no matter how much you try even if you check on Marl in the correct order there are tons of little things to miss that will be used to make you look bad in court because the prosecution isn't playing fair but on repeat playthroughs if you are enough of a good boy someone will vouch for you in court it's clever it's Dynamic it sets up the themes of the game and it gives you an inkling into the character's personalities after gushing about a game that I like sea of stars opens with a nice music que a Storyteller tries to convince me that this game has a story to tell I'll be the judge of that it's fine we get dropped right into the action with some gameplay this is the core combat and not irrelevant mini game so I will give points for that we can tell that Zale and valer here are not super experienced adventurers because they say as much that's why they're able to easily slay mon ERS and have a bunch of to-go meals prepped after setting up camp Zale asks valer if she regrets that they don't get to goof around as kids anymore now that they're trained Solstice Warriors she says it was fun to have freedom but that freedom also let them make mistakes we flash back to kidil and valer hanging out with their friend garl garl wants to Adventure with them too in the future and mentions that he really wants to see the sleeper a flying serpent that is permanently Sedated by the nearby tunnels producing in a constant lullaby as the wind blows through them zil and valer meet up with the current Solstice Warriors and are excited to show them their progress in Magic they are so excited that they proceed to go into the Forbidden cave in adventure before getting any proper training as expected they find monsters but they didn't expect to get surrounded so easily Zale tries to summon magic to protect them but fails when the moment calls for it right before he's about to get hit goo leaps in and takes it instead holy [ __ ] he even loses an eye in the process all right Storyteller maybe I underestimated you I'm engaged I'm all leers where does the story Go From Here straight to [ __ ] nowhere Ville Marine the Headmaster shows up to save them says be glad you only lost an night kid and garl just shrugs it off because he couldn't care any less zil and valer kind of feel bad in the moment but immediately start training and feel absolutely nothing because they are shells of characters all right that's a little too mean they do say they feel bad but it doesn't change anything they don't do anything different there is never a single consequence for this either in the plot or in the characters but chair they started training earlier than they would have because they went out too early okay you are right morraine says as much but does that mean anything does training earlier than normal change who they are compared to the other Solstice Warriors were they not going to do that anyway why am I asking so many questions this should be a huge moment in the story this could be the Catalyst of the entire Adventure if you want to go down that path there are about a billion different angles to go from here garl could hold a grudge and no longer be the overly nice kid that we knew him as that obviously isn't the character they want him to be but even as he continues helping Zale and valer losing an eye can be something that hinders the party later on something that constantly reminds the heroes of their prior shortcomings that's interesting to explore another path is that zil and valer get depressed about how they let their friend get hurt this can turn into them getting discouraged in their training or their ability to be heroes needing something else to happen later down the line that shows them that they still have potential and restore their confidence that could come from garl himself saying something to the now dejected Zale to the effect of but you'd never let that happen again reasonably the opposite of that direction could be fun to explore the heroes double down and train extra hard turning from happy go-lucky kids into Harden Warriors they burn the Carefree attitude out of themselves thinking that that was the source of the problem this can then be encouraged by merraine in training instead of just saying you're going to give up when valer starts to fall behind in laps it's instead you want to fail to save someone else see how this can integrate into the story I'm spitballing here this never comes up again it's a non-issue there are no consequences for this action other than the characters saying that they're sad for a little bit how does this opening conflict actually resolve garl was waiting in a bush the whole time while they were telling this story to then burst out when the time was right okay I'll admit that's pretty funny so I don't care that it doesn't make sense they hug it out and garl wants to Adventure with the crew that's a little bit of a leap though the last time they adventured together 10 years ago was a bit rough perhaps shortsighted do our heroes protest this request kind of they do say garl shouldn't join them at first but provide zero push back when he insists it's not the end point of this conflict that bothers me it's the lack of conflict no one brings up the obvious elephant in the room for why either party might have issues adventuring together have some backbone for God's sakes don't just take him at face value demonstrate why he's no longer a liability I don't want a lot Zale could obviously be faster now a tiny acknowledgment of not just growing in strength but growing as a character for anybody anywhere something that happened as a result it's as if the author thinks that just because tragic thing happened and it's written in red I'm automatically going to care that's not how this works you have to show me there's a reason to care you can just make up any old scenario in fiction here's a character I just made it's Stick Dude 420 blaz it blam he just lost an eye sucks to be him I guess but that's not super depressing I don't know anything about him I could make it depressing when you find out that Stick Dude 420 blaz it wanted to be an ace fighter pilot like his idealistic older brother used to Muse about before tragically dying in a car accident and now that dream is almost certainly impossible but in a moment of desperation a scientist appears with with a risky Innovative prosthetic eye that might make his dream come true sure backstories like that with some sad music over it or a bit contrived and perhaps overdone but there's a reason for why it's done over and over again it's what gives the plot points weight losing an eye is sad showing us the consequences of losing an eye is tragic that's what I want I want something tangible to happen as a result like someone being unborn in front of us I could combine all of this together right now how about in the scene where a monster attacks zil he accidentally channels too much magic the spell explodes stopping the monsters but also injuring garl in the process zil is less hurt because he resists his own magic garl could still forgive him immediately but now the Headmaster shows up and says something like it appears it was a mistake to let you run around freely magic must be controlled and disciplined not used in flailing desperation we start training tonight I hope this lesson sticks with you now they are ripped apart from each other immediately in spite of gol's kindness Our Heroes become afraid of their own power that's a good angle this could even tie directly into the gameplay where if your timing is off on channeling magic it explodes in your face and hurts everybody in the whole party damn that's a good idea that's that Ludo narrative synchronicity all video essayists like to bring up throw me in that pile as well now it even makes sense because one Fireball obliterates these enemies once you actually get to play the game also known as after the training Arc where he learns to control his magic then garl can have a nice Scar and use it to say if I could take a hit like that when I was a kid imagine what I can do now the idea is there failure training Arc success that's the formula for Shonen manga going back to Chrono Trigger after being sentenced to death krono breaks out of prison with the help of Luca and Marl this has the consequ quence of being chased by the guards into the forest near the castle where plot conveniently there's another time portal to jump into to avoid capture it goes to the distant future where the world is burned to the ground but if you try to go back the guards chase you again and you are forced to progress to hopefully find a portal back home that won't put you right in front of the guards see how these actions build off of each other stumble into girl into Portal into Back to the Future disappearing Arc into getting a arrested into prison break into Chase into the apocalypse true combo I feel like I'm taking crazy pills saying all of this I'm not an English teacher I did horrible in those classes in school this is just how you make a story things happen that cause other things to happen building off of each other to build up the characters the world and the plot if this was a simple one-off issue I had with sea of stars it would not be a big deal instead this is one of the better parts of the story a smartass might say it's because sea of stars is not about actions having consequences and even smarter ass would say that you're right it's about actions not having consequences in the same way that Chrono Trigger opening perfectly sets up the tone of the rest of the game sea of stars does that too nothing will ever be satisfying for a whole slew of different reasons it's important to talk about how these decisions are being made the characters act a certain way in the face of problems for a video game it's hard to accommodate for player actions trying to come up with every possibility would take years of intense QA testing instead Chrono Trigger is mostly character driven but the player still has points of interaction the trial after the fair demonstrates that the player should be careful with their decisions it's a good way to condition them into making the good choices because they don't know which ones are inconsequential outside of the player themselves the other characters should act independently in a way that makes sense for who they are Luca after seeing a time portal open up in front of her creates a device to stabilize it so they can travel back and forth easily she can do this because we've seen how good she is with Machinery earlier in the story but unlike krono she doesn't jump in right away she thinks ahead and make sure that she has a way back we could say that she's much more calculated in how she handles urgency it gets even better because it's shown how both rushing in quick and being calculated are good things Marl even comments on how smart Luca is and what does Luca say in response ain't that the truth who that's personality right there I was going to call her a nerd but she's a nerd with confidence that's dangerous that's characterization a litus test of a good character is that you can describe them without describing their look a totally random example from a series that I've never talked about is Dante from Devil May Cry he is confident a bit lazy never takes any threat seriously and can never stop talking smack but also has the raw strength to back all of that up he never truly loses as far as the cannon is concerned he also looks like a scene kid from 2005 damn it I'm using Dante specifically because Devil May Cry isn't a narrative driven game in the way that Chrono Trigger is or sea of stars is trying to be but that doesn't mean the characters don't have personality or to be more specific in this case style because Dante's traits are so well defined when someone posts a meme edit of him riding around with an invisible motorcycle pretending to be crazy frog everyone looks at that and goes that is exactly what Dante would do I played SE stars for 45 hours I can't tell you a damn thing about either protagonist there are two two of them and they don't even have half a personality to share between them to be quite Frank I don't even know why they're here they have no reason to be it's like life is happening around them and they just go with the flow except that would actually be something and they have nothing sure they want to save the world from the flesh mancer who you can tell is evil because his name is written in red but that's just the premise of the game our heroes are going to beat the bad guy I gave a litmus test earlier for a good character well here's a Hallmark of a well-written hero ask yourself what will they do after they beat the big bad if you can give an answer to that question then the hero is probably decently characterized it doesn't have to be a logical reason or a serious one I could tell you right now without any doubt after the world is saved Dante would go back to putting his feet up on his desk and eating pizza what will zil and valer do well the game tells me continue beating up other bad guys because they have nothing else they have zero other Ambitions in life to be unfair those are just the protagonists of the story who I have to spend most of my gameplay time with but there are other characters I can tell you that garl is nice so nice to the point where nobody has the heart to tell him no after the journey is over he'd go back to perfecting his culinary skills because making tasty food to make people happy is his thing all right that's something garl is an actual character a bit one note and shallow but holding any water at this point is better than nothing Sarai is desperate to see zil and valer succeed in their mission for a reason that she is clearly hiding after the journey is over she will going back to Chrono Trigger what about Marl from the beginning of the game she insists that she and krono hang out at the fair together and does not take no for an answer boom we know she's forceful when you go around the fair she gets excited at everything that there is to do boom we know she's excitable when Crono is on trial Marl breaks into court to try to stop it boom we know she doesn't respect authority especially if it's to help people that she cares about I have an idea of what's important to her as you play you realize that she certainly doesn't like being trapped in the castle and wants to explore the world what will she do in the future after the big bad is gone explore the world easy that's why she doesn't want the world to blow up then there would be no world left to explore FL this is the bare minimum for making a character after showing you all these traits from Marl a late game Quest you can do for her involves her father being put on trial in a similar way to krono I wonder what she would do if she couldn't get past the guards to interrupt the trial well that makes sense she would do that I'm not just being told who she is she's shown to do these things what would zil and valer do if garl was put on trial in a a similar way sit there dumbfounded and wait for somebody else to solve the problem for them at the very least the party is united in wanting to defeat the evil flesh mancer although to be honest I don't even know why they hate this guy I've never seen him do a single thing have him blow up a town in front of us or something earlier in the game than when it actually happened to be fair to Sea of stars the flesh mancer has done [ __ ] up things to the world that would serve as a great reason to hate him it's just not demonstrated to the player until half the game is over why are they training to fight show me a reason the game does provide a reason it's because it's what zil and valer are raised to do but if that's the case shouldn't this be their reason to keep going the thing they constantly call back to whenever they face hardship got to keep going and got to get stronger so that we can save the world it's their reason their motivation where's your motiv a character having a motive to behave a certain way is also a good thing in the case of a story driven video game those motives hopefully turn into player motives so they keep playing defeating the big bad is a classic but it helps to show that the big bad is a threat that he's hatable even better if it's urgent it needs to be taken care of so there's some Stakes say it with me now going back to Chrono Trigger after being forced into the future it becomes painfully clear that humanity is not not in the best situation there's no food any food that might exist is rotten and the only reason people are still alive is because of machines called anons that Revitalize them but do not alleviate the unending feeling of starvation the player can use these to heal but after you get all your HP and MP back there's a nice little message saying but you're still hungry and you hear a stomach growling sound effect it's a bit on the nose but it reinforces the bleakness of this future what happened here eventually Our Heroes stumble into an archive that shows them what caused the world to burn a creature exploding out of the earth called Lavos after seeing the world in which Lavos is allowed to exist they affirm to prevent this future at all costs that's a good motive we know what will happen if we fail in our mission we got the live leak footage and a whole load of depression to back it up all the sadness is then broken up by street racing a sentient motor bike who has a robot gang yeah Chrono Trigger is still a goofy game at heart in spite of its serious moments at the beginning of the game we are told that the flesh mancer is responsible for creating creatures called dwellers that torment local people in a variety of vile ways so that they can grow given enough time they will eventually become so powerful they are considered World eaters who no Solstice Warrior could ever hope to stop awesome this is a great idea when we finally get to a dweller and see the damage that they cause up until that point it's kind of just a bunch of fairy tales that make it hard to understand why we should care I love to hate your villains setting up someone as a real piece of [ __ ] early on gets me pumped up that's what makes taking them down so fun surely a game that understands this wouldn't deny me that ass-kicking satisfaction at its very end foreshadowing is a literary device without a formal definition foreshadowing is giving a warning that something will happen later on oh there's a rain cloud in the sky maybe it'll rain later maral's pendant caused the teleporter to open a Time Rift so maybe that item has some significance to it it doesn't always have to work out the expected way the expectations are being set and the writer could subvert those expectations and do something completely different my example is bad in that case because the necklace is important but if it was just a random object that had no plot significance that would be unexpected when you find out the magic sword in Chrono Trigger is made of a fancy Red Rock that a knife is also made of forged by that same character in a different time period hm I start to wonder where this is going foreshadowing is good for many reasons it builds anticipation for what happens next when it works the way I expect I feel like a good little nugget who put it all together himself I'm so smart then the author gives me a head Pat for being such an intelligent chair when stuff comes completely out of nowhere it's not as satisfying there's no buildup so there's no payoff of course it's not an exact science not every single detail needs to be foreshadowed to be engaging and not every bit of foreshadowing automatically makes the plot stronger but it does help reinforce those points over the course of the journey a lot of times foreshadowing is done to make repeat playthroughs more interesting after having having all the knowledge of what happens later realizing how much was set up in advance that you didn't immediately notice first time around it's a key part of having a good twist having the pieces there so that some of the audience might be able to predict it before it's revealed that's why there's a prophecy given to each protagonist at the end of their first trial something about facing the darkness inside for Zale and needing to learn to walk on water for valer that's not really foreshadowing though that's just telling me exactly what's going to happen later in instead of a raincloud you're just telling me it's going to rain later this prophecy is where I got my idea of making Z Channel too much Magic by the way as a better way to foreshadow this rather than just saying it in a prophecy a prophecy can be a good way to foreshadow for a bunch of different reasons like being extremely vague or more likely not turning out exactly as expected twisting the words in a way that wasn't obvious at first glance but sea of stars prophecies don't do any of that there is real foreshadowing in Sea of stars I just needed to vent about those prophecies for a moment we are entering real spoiler territory so you have been warned sea of stars starts to get good the goal given to Our Heroes by morraine is to slay the dweller on an island cursed with Perpetual Darkness the residents are physically unable to leave because their bodies will not let them they are fully conscious to the fact that they can't leave even though they desperately want to while stuck on this island for the rest of their lives they are slowly possessed one by one to walk to their Doom to feed the dweller of Woe it can happen at any moment to anyone many of the residents were warriors who tried to stop the dweller but failed and are now stuck in the same loop as everyone else this tidbit is made obvious by the local inkeeper responding to our request for a room for a few days with a sarcastic I'm sure it will be rather than than accepting the gravity of the situation or actively trying to stop it the Local Tavern is a place where people live in denial indulging themselves in the vice of their choice drinking gambling stress eating our heroes have to wait a few days for the eclipse the only time a dweller is vulnerable so they relax for an evening at the pub when suddenly one man begins to walk towards the dweller's layer zil and valer immediately know what's happening and rushan to help and it backfires they can't stop him they don't have enough strength they have a realization they can't prevent any further victims before the eclipse anyone who becomes possessed before then will be dead garl starts to but he's scared what if he can't control it garl continues marching towards his demise when out of nowhere a ninja shows up and paralyzes garl to stop him from walking desperate for help zil and valer agreed to trust this person who definitely isn't the pirate Captain named cliche that got them to the island in the first place and they go get the McGuffin to save their friend I don't care that it's a Trope and that it's cliche I care because there's setup there's a reason for why I want garl to live there's something at stake here the heroes trusting a random person out of desperation is believable Zale realizes there's more power inside of him than he thought at first and trying to harness that unlimited potential is terrifying he confides in valer after the fact that he's scared of what he could do but also angry that he couldn't Channel it when he needed it valer Comforts him by saying that he still saved garl in the end even if it wasn't the right way this is exactly what I'm talking about foreshadowing a close friend being possessed foreshadowing that Zale has more potential at first glance but isn't ready to use it foreshadowing that Zale and valer can solve problems in unconventional ways there's a moment of reflection with the characters being angry at themselves a bit depressed even though it worked out I don't need a lot this little segment proves to me that this game follow through on everything that I'm discussing it's not perfect but it's perfectly serviceable then it goes right back to being stupid garl asserts that he will help in the cleansing of the dweller now that the eclipse is here where he's not allowed to assist per Solstice Warrior regulations and Headmaster marraine who I've been told is too stubborn in upholding tradition might as well immediately agree on the spot these characters are so weak a piece of dust could land on their shoulders and they' crumple under the weight it gets worse during the cleansing they can't expose enough Eclipse light to the dweller in order to reveal its true form so it's G's time to shine baby he can't stop the dweller directly but he can blow up the roof of the building to save the day wait why can he blow [ __ ] up all of a sudden he's a cook one of the Pirates taught him how to make bombs offscreen well why was it on screen foreshadow that by having the pirate pull him aside and tell him that cooking up explosives is no different than cooking up bacon he could be practicing off screen but it puts the kernel in our minds then this moment where he uses this skill to solve a problem when the time calls for it is stronger when it all finally comes together as it stands it sounds like Calvin making up the rules to Calvin ball on the spot whenever he's about to lose except that's funny this Scene goes even further though erina and bgav are the current Solstice Warriors Zale and valer are shown to like them in all previous interactions especially when they were kids probably because they think they are big and strong and they see themselves growing strong like them in the future that's kind of it erina and brigades Mentor for a tiny bit but are forced to take care of business by merraine constantly not getting to spend time with their supposed Idols doesn't bother Zale and valer in the slightest as we all saw coming Arina and brigades constantly whisper to each other about something that morine shouldn't hear but they do want to tell zil and valer all right there's something else being foreshadowed here zil overhears them arguing with morraine that the kids have a right to know about what happened and he angrily tells them to leave so zil asks morine about this argument that he EES dropped on and morraine just ignores the question the more hot-headed and rash Zale doesn't put up a fight and the more cool-headed valer doesn't try to to stop him because there wasn't an opportunity to demonstrate either of those character traits we have some setup though something happened in the past that erina and brigades are not happy about they even say they are openly annoyed with their position as Solstice Warriors being forced upon them which they demonstrate by following all of Marin's orders to a this all comes to a head to the fight with the dweller of Woe once you defeat it erina and baves betray every everybody they weren't here to defeat the dweller they were here to take the core and give it to the bad guys who they made a deal with all right zail and valer what do you got for me a little anger not bad just a tiny gripe herina mentions that they were tired of fighting and that's why they made a deal with the bad guys who were on the winning side at this point in the story this is the last dweller beating this thing ends the conflict the player believes this did I say the player zil and valer believe this zil and valer should be screaming at the top of their lungs that the conflict is over then erina can put on an evil smug smile and say you didn't tell them about the other dweller that couldn't be defeated did you morine then our protagonists can do their stupid audible gasp and surpris Pikachu face they do for every other [ __ ] thing in this game I'm SPO oiling the plot ahead of time here but you foreshadowed this and it's erina's argument trump card she can slam her metaphorical [ __ ] on the table her nihilism would have a justification she made a deal with the evil people who I've seen go yes I'm going to do evil things because we are the bad guys why would she trust them over her own supposed people oh because they betrayed her trust that's a great angle this is the time to reveal the full truth to destroy her protagonist idealistic worldview instead it just makes no sense zil and valer don't even care that it doesn't make sense they don't even try to get an answer from morraine after the fact either they don't care this is followed by the mentor and trainer of morraine just giving up that's it I don't have a problem with him wanting out however he should be expressing some emotion to the situation regret perhaps regret that he pushed brigades and erina too far and this is partially his own fault in a way anger maybe that he refuses to believe he did anything wrong more anger that he threw his life away to save the world too and that many people made sacrifices not just erina and brigades anything really this can bounce off of your other characters zil and valer were able to stomach the harsh training so they can comfort him and say that it isn't Marine's fault clearly there's a difference between them and the other Solstice Warriors morraine distraught can say something like even though I hid the full truth from you you still wish to fight and they can nod then he throws the key on the ground and tells them to do it themselves see what I did there I'm exploring the emotions that the characters would feel in the moment using their supposed character traits that I've been told about to push the plot forward oh my God you could even tie this into the prophecy that he would have had from mist Bo because all sorce Warriors get them and he realized he interpreted it the wrong way something like the fruits of your training will determine the future oh no that was actually a bad thing I trained Arina and Brig poorly it could also have a double meaning because he trained the protagonist correctly so he both doomed the world and saved it at the same time this is the end result of all of the bad character writing the lack of setup up the lack of reflective scenes and the complete misuse of foreshadowing on paper these are cool characters living in a cool world fighting cool monsters with cool villains at least when the game tells me who they are but they never act like it they never show it yeah we all saw this [Music] coming remember the beginning of the game garl wants to see the sleeper that Dragon that's kept asleep by wind making a lullaby as it blows through the nearby tunnels that's a cool bit of World building and a nice little character trait when we get to this town where the sleeper is an evil wizard is plugging up the holes and the sleeper is going to wake up we're never showing the sleeper twitching its eyes like it's going to wake up soon because that would give us a sense of urgency and might be good but garl should be [ __ ] his pants the whole time going through this dungeon constantly bringing up that they're finally going to see the sleeper to the point of almost annoying all the the other characters this is one of the things I'm told he's hyped up about instead he says nothing the whole time you're in the dungeon when we finally solve the wind Problem by telling the wizard that you have to respect magic for no relatable reason because my version of that one scene doesn't exist and ride the lift down where they finally get a great view of the sleeper garl doesn't even notice it first it's Zale who has to point it out to him and he goes no no way yes way G every now and again zel and valer talk to each other when nobody else is around they mention all the embarrassing things they did while they were training being goofy overly ambitious kids that's cool it almost makes me wish we had a flashback to their upbringing why wasn't any of this part of the training montage show the player these character moments not just have them reminisce about it this is even made into an entire game mechanic teeks is a traveling historian who owns a magic book that can take any artifact and tell its entire history she's not a real party member just someone who follows you around the entire Adventure in camps specifically in camps and nowhere else until she starts journeying with you for real these optional stories are just straight Exposition about many things in the world like who the three magical sisters are that you meet along the way or the Ghost Ship that's trapped in an endless battle that you command deer or the rose of eternal life that adds years to your existence in exchange for growing thorns on your bones that the main villains who barely make an appearance use why is this side content relegating all this to a Campfire story is already weird but the fact that it's not even required makes it even stranger this isn't irrelevant plot information this is critical plot information it'd be like stumbling into a major boss encounter and then tell telling you why it was significant after the fact because that's exactly what it is these kinds of data logs should be for extras that enhance the world not the entire reason the Pirates Who you strike a deal with are hunting an extremely specific Ghost Ship of course if you did that this wouldn't be the Dark Souls approach to storytelling but this might be a slightly different genre a game that is narrative driven needs the stuff that drives the plot the engine can't be left on the side for people to occasionally look at even if that part was done better the game can tell me whatever it wants about these characters when push comes to shove it's how they act in the moment that dictates who a character is it's not any different than reality 99% of the time they don't say anything or just let everything play out in front of them never protesting never arguing with each other on how to handle a situation despite them supposedly being different from each other that's the reason why I say they have no characterization they never do anything every opportunity they have to show me who they are they fumble even garl has a moment where he mentions spending 8 hours focusing sunlight on a rune to get to the solstice School in the sky just to try and see them again shouldn't we see how invested this man is in his friends isn't it a great idea to explore why he cares so much towards the end of the totally real flesh mancer dungeon they need to distract the enemy while someone sneaks another McGuffin into the next boss the Bad Dudes clearly see them walk by and valer screams at them to get their attention better but why doesn't she throw a punch don't just stand there do something make it so they can't chase after them show how the trait of being quick to the punch can be a a good thing build up the characters through their actions so the players invested in who they become otherwise there's no payoff I've used this word a lot already but everything I'm talking about is done to give players a dopamine Rush when the big moments in the story happen at the end of the conflict with the now revived dweller of strife the fleshman finally appears for plot Reasons I'm not going to elaborate on other than it's because Sarai the desperate character character Breaks the Rules of the primordial gods of the universe by taking action into her own hands points to her she takes action in her desperation unlike some other characters I know the fleshman is explaining that it's all some wacko deal about an ey for an ey since they broke the rules to kill a dweller he has to kill someone back he takes another shot and our boy garl takes the hit yet again just like the beginning of the game nothing different zil is still too weak garl is still too selfless nobody has grown in any way the only difference is that he dies garl is doomed zil channels his superpower far too late which allows him to fly garl back to mist boy in an instant this will be undermined because this superpower that zil has is something that both him and valer can do so it's not even unique garl in his dying moments chugs a vial of borrowed time which gives him the ability to stay alive until he fulfills his purpose if he Strays from that path he will drop dead in his tracks this is not a terrible concept this is cool for World building and characterization honestly the execution is kind of here too the problem is that none of the characters have been built up this Montage where everyone teams up to help garl fulfill his final purpose which is to wake up the sleeper with a delicious meal should be an emotional high point of the plot each of the characters using their unique strengths to fulfill their friend's final wishes but they don't have any strengths it's just empty fer makes a bridge like the prophecy said she could for no explicable reason she can do this because Mist boy said she could even though we just saw Zale fly a second ago oh he can't maintain it because he's still not ready yet yeeha did I mention that there is a necromancer in this game one who they beat up to get what they wanted out of her why the [ __ ] are they not immediately knocking on her door and begging to bring garl back or threatening her to bring him back romaya can drop a lead that bringing people back perfectly could be possible if they acquire another McGuffin hell while garl is dying have Zen valer triple down that they will do the impossible and save an already dead man also sea of stars I know you don't have the coones to kill off a character for real I spent enough time with you let me guess there is a way to save him where did you get that idea from is it from krono trigger plot spoiler krono [ __ ] dies he gets disintegrated in front of his friends by Lavos after they messed up and summoned Lavos early my man got atomized by a death ray trying to protect everybody else after the party reluctantly runs away to try to fight again another day they wonder if they can bring him back through time travel it's not a completely unreasonable idea because of all the foreshadowing Mara was brought back earlier in the plot it's not the exact same situation but it doesn't sound completely improbable earlier on in the story we also know there is a man called the time Guru who understands time travel better than anybody else on the planet he's also a guy that you've talked to several times but didn't understand his true identity until right now if you talk to the time man he doesn't help at first but after seeing how sad everyone is he gives you the Chrono Trigger which might be able to bring somebody back if they're deemed important to the timeline given how much the characters clearly care about krono he thinks this could be once such case no guarantees though going back to the fair you can get a doll of krono that looks exactly like him putting all the pieces together the time EG lets the party go back right to the moment before krono gets obliterated and replace him with the doll it makes sense the timeline remains intact the party members at that moment still think krono died because of how krono dies the swap would be completely convincing even even though he's been replaced with a non-human body all the pieces were structured this way intentionally so that in the moments after kronos's death it turns from sadness that he's gone into determination to bring him back but you also don't have to you can beat the final 37 bosses without him it's not even necessary to get a good ending obviously it's necessary for the better endings and it's the expected thing that players will do they even show the con consequences of kono's death to get his doll you have to go to his house where he lives with his mom and she sees everyone and asks where's krono and they lie to her and tell her that he's okay it's the little scenes like this that go a long way to making the emotions hit plot spoiler for sea of stars you can bring garl back to life in the same way unlike a good game it's not foreshadowed there's nothing that would indicate that something like this is possible time travel isn't used earlier in the story we didn't bring a character back previously Chrono Trigger gives you the pieces to figure it out how does sea of stars handle this by making you 100% the game doing a bunch of completely random garbage that holds no relevance whatsoever getting all the Collectibles yes every single one of them and finishing every major side quest that sucks because unlike Chrono Trigger they don't develop the characters out any further just so you can go to a random machine that this party member can operate because he was told how to off screen couldn't possibly make that another breadcrumb to follow up to get the true ending then we go back in time and swap garl out before he takes a lethal hit which makes no sense because of the whole borrowed time segment he was still kind of alive and swapping him out leaves a massive gaping plot hole that's what happens when there's no setup there's no payoff the only thing I feel in this scene after back tracking to find all the Collectibles I missed and do all the lengthy rematches against the major bosses to bring back a supposed dear friend is apathy as the icing on the cake all this culminates in a true final boss that you need garl to even fight you know the flesh mancer that's been t Fed Up the whole game if you want to fight him you need to save garl why because garl is the only one who actually tells the flesh mancer to fight his own fight and throws an Apple at him unlike every other stupid [ __ ] character in this godforsaken game no indication that this would even be required and the reason for needing him as shown by the game is almost too perfectly fitting for how little agency everybody else has only to have the privilege to slog through a boss fight that ends with us not even getting to kill him a dude who [ __ ] off earlier in the plot shows up they have a firm handshake and they leave haha wow that's so cool to make it even better there is some more pseudo foreshadowing Sarai the pirate Captain is keeping her identity hidden from her crew why is this important it's never explained why does the primordial God leave our party for the rest of the adventure no particular reason it's not foreshadowing it's just a bunch of plot edging I don't want to goon to your plot I want to [ __ ] before a clever person uses my own words against me not everything in a story needs an explanation some stuff is better left unsaid it strikes me as odd in this case though because there is foreshadowing to the reveal of who Sarai really is unlike everything else in the game and it just doesn't happen she tells the party but never her crew mates that seem to be the source of this internal conflict it gets bad enough to the point where towards the very end of the game there is a portal that is sending all the evil monsters into the World created and operated by the guy who turned Sarai into a freaky cyborg it can't be stopped by solar or lunar magic for plot reasons and needs someone who is fast and precise to stop it I got it this random bird dude that we freed 20 minutes ago that seemingly had no purpose shows up and breaks the portal for her it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be she does land the killing blow against the person she has a vendetta against it's just not as poetic it is consistent with itself though random Side characters constantly cuck the main party members from any Glory making me constantly wonder why why they weren't our party members instead the game has a massive story point about how they can only fight dwellers during an eclipse after their defeat at the hands of erina there is not enough time before the next eclipse to prevent another world eater the heroes solve this problem by being given an item that lets them control the movements of the Moon and Sun at will so they can make an eclipse whenever they want it just makes you wonder why no other Solstice Warriors could have used this item I know it's because the Alchemist says they are worthy but for what reason I'm not asking for a smart one at this point it could be because everyone else didn't eat enough Wheat Thins anything we know the heroes are going to be the only ones able to save the world but the reason has to be something other than they're just the protagonist of the story after getting this far what even is the Sea of stars it's a part of the game where it goes full 3d as you Traverse through the incomprehensible otherworldly ethereal soup it's an awesome effect but it's just how to travel between Dimensions which you do because the main villain's base is in another dimensional timeline where the world is in post-apocalypse I wonder where they got that idea from it's literally just a means to an end like every prophecy like every character like everything that happens in this game sure the Chrono Trigger is also a thing that comes out of nowhere at the end of the game but as I said it is what it has been building towards the entire time nothing builds towards dimensional travel being the way to save the world in Sea of stars after all this I'll pull back the curtain I'm having a hard time organizing this script I just played through the game and started writing down rants as I went along and tried to find a way to structure it all later I know some of my weaknesses as a writer I can come up with stuff to say but then I have no idea where to put it then I get so sucked into having an actual structure that I don't even include the more interesting parts that I remembered to write down earlier in my trans-like state of seething at a game that I very much would have stopped playing if I didn't want to make a video about it like I said I didn't score well on essays in high school doing this type of bit in a video can be annoying for some it's that casual humor that all YouTubers do where we make meta jokes meta humor is hard to execute it's a very fine line to walk where if leaned into too heavily causes the work to lack confidence in itself when I say something like haha did I seriously write that in the script I imagine you traveler sitting there going yeah you did it's not witty it's just admitting shame I don't always think it's a bad thing sometimes to get through the first draft of a script I have to write the world's most redundant redundant statement so I don't get stuck on word choice when I need to be jotting down my ideas I think it helps to humanize the work a little bit and maybe help give people the impression that I don't just flick my wrists and the video makes itself I even leave in some of my stutters and slurred speech in the video because I like the think that someone somewhere out there understands that you don't have to be perfect on the first take in order to make something like this in the first place and also because redubbing line seamlessly is super hard when I do it well you don't even notice when I do it well you don't even notice I think it's one of the big upsides of making YouTube content in the first place is being allowed to be casual in tone without worry Indie Games also have that casual benefit where there's not an expectation for it to be serious and gritty all the time so it's not super out of pocket for sea of stars to dip into some meta dialogue it's just bad at it metah humor can also be a form of subversion hey look at this Trope that's about to happen wouldn't it be funny if we pointed it out expectations subverted please clap that's what this segment is actually about subversion oh ho it's not about meta jokes it's about meta jokes being the lowest form of subversion isn't this video structure So Meta of the many big strengths of Chrono Trigger subversion is one of them it's a turn-based RPG that originates from Japan but I don't think we're allowed to use the term that you're thinking of anymore because some jerks insist on saying that they aren't real RPGs so to be clear as day Chrono Trigger presents itself as a stereotypical RPG similar to Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest this is not a surprise three of the main designers involved in making this game are hironobu sakaguchi of Final Fantasy Acclaim Yuji hardi of Dragon Quest Fame and Akira Toriyama artist for Dragon Quest and creator of a small do jinci series called Dragonball these were industry veterans even at that point in gaming history there were five Dragon quests and six final fantasies before this game came out ignoring all the big names on the project you bet you're ass that this development team was stacked full of veterans who worked on previous squaresoft RPGs this is before Square Enix remember that yes or no question that you had to say yes to to progress the story this is a recurring gag in the Dragon Quest games one that I keep chuckling at in Dragon Quest 11 one of my favorites is when this girl asks you if you will tell her your name and if you say no the wind blows really loudly and she can't hear you so she asks again it's funny we're playing up the joke here it doesn't just say oh haha you can't actually say no subversion is the core of humor but Chrono Trigger doesn't always play it up as a joke there's only a few yes or no questions that are asked throughout the game a woman asks you if she should keep a seed that she was told to burn that could potentially turn a desert into a luscious Forest if you tell her to burn it you lock yourself out from an entire late game side quest where you do exactly that which leads to our robot party member working on a desert for 400 years to make a forest oh yeah he has the ability to do that unlike everyone else in the party it's like he has a unique strength or something after effectively meditating for 400 years he mentions how the time periods that they have access to are way too convenient almost as if we're journeying through the regrets of someone who wanted to change the future he considers it some kind of entity a meta entity the game doesn't provide an answer for this it just lets the player consider it in pondering this question Marl asks Luca if she has any regrets that she wishes she can change and it's one of the few times the otherwise confident Luca clams up and says she doesn't want to talk about it in the middle of the night another time portal opens up at the exact moment she's hiding Luca hated science growing up because her dad is always tinkering with machines instead of spending time with her while he's out one day her mother's skirt gets stuck in a machine and Luca needs to type in a password to turn it off because scissors weren't invented yet only to be unable to rescue her now Luca's mom didn't die she's only permanently disabled because her legs got chopped off but now that Luca traveled back in time she can type in the password to save her mother the password is also her mother's name which shows that her father does care about them Luca's reason for studying Machinery is not because she likes it it's because she wants to prevent someone like her mother from being harmed again it recontextualizes all previous plot points with her character it's not just an arbitrary trait there's a reason for why she is the way she is her actions of constantly helping Robo and trying to save Marl make way more sense if you have her in your party when you go to save krono and it doesn't appear to work at first she says it was silly to think that we could bring him back she's not just talking about krono this little optional Quest makes Luca a much stronger character and it ties into the overall themes of the game and you can completely miss all of this if you don't make the right choice when talking to a random lady if you played Dragon Quest this is a little different from what you typically expect not to say that that series doesn't also play around with some subversion it's not just this one Quest though another late game Quest requires you to put a rock in a cave for 65 million years but it disappears in that time and there's a suspiciously shiny house in the time period that it went missing the mayor there won't give it back to you because he's too greedy even one of his kids says that he hates him so you can buy beef jerky go back in time to that same house where the homeowner wants the jerky and will pay a ton of money for it but you you can give it to them for free they are so amazed by your generosity that they say everyone in their family will be raised right going back to the present the homeowner is now super generous and that same kid mentions how much he loves his dad instead all right problem solved how is this subversive well Marl and her dad don't get along and you have the option to give him his favorite beef jerky to try and cheer him up this is part of the quest but when you give it to him he gets mad and accuses Marl of of trying to kill him by giving him a heart attack and she gets banished from the castle two stupid fetch quests with the same item with completely different outcomes depending on the order that you do these quests in you might have very different expectations for how it'll turn out it also plays round player expectations of the type of game it is it's a turn-based game so combat is only done through battle well this guy throwing rocks does minimal damage to your characters that same dude even kicks me down a lad the monsters are also not implicitly evil they're showing to play around or eat food when they're on break they even sleep on the job they're characterized and it builds up to the fact that there's a true evil force manipulating the masses of monsters behind the scenes you can find nice monsters in the world too that's kind of a wholesome subversion of tropes so of course sea of stars also takes a crack at subversion it all gets funneled into one character yoland her whole stick is that she's a seasoned Adventurer and has gone on similar quests before this manifests in her making meta jokes about other RPGs whenever given an opportunity when you first meet her and try to make a deal by talking to your party members silently she goes oh we can hear you talking over there bet you're going to go to more towns after this that sell increasingly better equipment along your linear Journey then wonder why you can't afford a house when you make so much money by selling low-level equipment it just goes on and on yeah we all know why else are we here does your game do something different no see of stars you don't it's not Charming you have no right to be making these kinds of jokes you are not a subversive RPG you are a stereotypical RPG own it after that betrayal Arc where the game feels like it's trying to have an emotional moment when you ask yolan to sail back to town she goes hey kid why the long face you look like you just got betrayed by a mentor or something every time this character opens her mouth I just want her to stop I didn't want to harp on this one point for too long because it's just one character in a SE of other ones hardy har har the conspiracy part of me though thinks that it's a little bit more telling sea of stars hates that it's stereotypical it doesn't want tragic backstories because that's cliche it doesn't want real foreshadowing because being predictable is automatically bad it doesn't want Stakes because we know that it's fiction and the stakes aren't real in the first place it doesn't want you invested because look at you getting upset as a fictional character betrays you what are you stupid as someone who's Infamous for not caring about the most talked about fictional character death in a certain 14th Mainline entry in a final fantasy series this pisses me off if you're going to go down the path of making a stereotypical RPG like this just do it be Cy be cheesy be Trophey be cliche having a character pointed out to you the whole time while doing exactly that unlock the whole new level of disdain I didn't even know I had all of her dialogue completely knocks any wind the plot had out of its saes wasn't that a funny play on words and doesn't acknowledging that directly make it so much more funny in this video to avoid complete negativity there are jokes I like in Sea of stars the Pirates challenge you to an arm wrestling contest with the scrawniest crew member only for him to rip off his shirt and he shredded then he smashes Carl into the table that's a great bit I also like that the Pirates Bluff that they have a real boat the whole time instead it's just a cheap raft it's not only entertaining but it's consistent with their personality of being cheeky little albeit helpful bastards later on a character wakes up a sleeping statue and tells it that you are friends that need help getting to the evil castle and he says that's no place to send friends so they put him back to sleep wake him back up and say these are adventurers that need help getting to the evil castle and he goes okay then that's great see you can make subversive jokes without falling back on stupid meta humor or cheap puns you can have much better dialogue for characters who talk as much as they do they certainly have nothing to say most of the dialogue is just haha that's great or wow that's so awesome a bunch of positive affirmations characters can express excitement or amazement I had no problems when Marl got excited about Luca being smart but it's used to show Luca's confidence and Mar's affection for her friends it has a purpose sea of stars uses its dialogue for fluff I I can't even list all the examples but you can put everything into three primary categories that's cool ha haa and dot dot dot that's all they got it's never used to show personality that they didn't have in the first place some characters fuse their minds into a robot body as a means to get out of a castle they otherwise can't leave what does Zale say in his amazement wait so you're all in there haha when our heroes finally Ascend the godhood in terms of strength they just go I can feel my power surging dialogue can be great by itself the reason I love Resident Evil 4 is practically just for the cheesy on liners alone I've sent my right hand to dispose of you your right hand comes off I love that line so much I'm going to put my own version of it later in a video sea of stars can also be so out of touch with its own story it's jarring the Elder Miss says you will have the light in darkest places good thing one of our protagonists isn't based on anything nighttime related I guess Moonlight counts but the moon isn't always full now I'm just being petty but I can't look past it anymore so here's some petty complaints on occasion the character's expression doesn't match what's being conveyed in the dialogue is bgav supposed to be sarcastic here it doesn't really seem like it and the part that I do like with the Spooky Island garl makes a comment about how the people are coping too hard personal preference but I don't like it when dialogue tries to be topical with its slang unless it's used to make a character sound annoying or trying too hard to fit in it's just one outof pocket comment so it is an incredibly Petty complaint but when a person gets possessed the inkeeper has to say something like wow isn't it so cool that nothing just happened like come on wouldn't it make more sense for him to just distract everyone with free drinks or something instead of directly stating that at the the very least the core combat is good it doesn't have stupid names for things like magic without using magic I only say that because it's technically called live Mana not that they ever refer to it as that isn't this naming convention funny oh ho ho ho it's so quirky it's channeling Mana from the environment instead of yourself okay cool why not just say as much you cannot draw power from inside yourself or from the world around you there you go I made it campy for you like the Spirit Bomb from Dragon Ball transition sound effect bet you thought you were safe core combat well you know what the core combat is phenomenal it's got lots of little systems that build off each other and synergize quite nicely characters have low MP totals so basic attacks are required to regenerate MP in combat you might want to blow your MP early to keep damage rolling but then enemies will require certain Elemental attacks to break their guard conserving MP to try and beat defensive versus trying to Nuke everything before they get a chance to charge up is a legitimate bit of strategy on top of this hitting enemies with basic attacks makes them drop orbs that can be spent to power up moves and gives them Elemental properties with the corresponding character see how this dude needs a blunt hit and a moon damage I can charge with valer and hit both elements neat at a surface level a big part of the game or at least I'm led to believe it's a big part of the game because finding combo moves is a very common reward is that timing attacks and blocks correctly and breaking locks builds up the combo meter allowing you to use skills that cost no MP are extremely flashy and do okay damage depending on the move just a tiny thing 99% of encounters are so short you never get to use any combo move it takes a bit to have the chance to use one even if you're good at all of the timings which I am not so why does the combo meter empty after every combat I never even had a chance to experiment with the abilities or practice the timing so that I can get better at them in the encounters where I can use a bunch of them this should be a core element used in basic battles all the time I'm completely baffled by this decision maybe it was for balance reasons where having a full combo meter going into a tough encounter would give you a massive Advantage but that's a player choice you can use it when you have it or hoard it until you start a b battle or go back and waste a bunch of time charging it up if you want to prepare this is part of the turn-based RPG system battles are not isolated from each other especially in a game where encounters are not random using what resources you have and conserving them is a big part of the fun it's a common joke that my favorite meta commentator yoland even mentions that the player Hoards the single use items for the final encounter that's not a problem if the player feels like they're being smart with their resources you know what game let you hold on to your combo resources in between encounters omori and in Chrono Trigger you get the combo moves once both party members learn the two skills that you put together the shtick is that it uses both of their turns and both of their MP but it does more damage than using the moves separately it's fun you get to spam the fun button speaking of which the MP system is stupid in practice in most games with spells you spam the good moves and slurp up mp restoring items just as yolan says by most games I mean Chrono Trigger so being incentivized to use basic attacks both for charging and MP generation sounds good but I have a philosophical question to ask you how many basic attacks do you want me to do at what point does this basic attack become my main attack if it's what I'm doing primarily in combat then that's the C core of combat would you rather be doing this or [Music] this this is not the fun part of the game I don't think it's necessary to spam the fun moves the whole time but I do want to use the cool skills more than the game reasonably lets me maybe one attack per skill is just a better system finally the Glorious lock system enem charging up a big move where hitting them with the right elements stuns them indates the move entirely even if you can't break the whole lock you can reduce the effectiveness of the super move making it heal less do less damage or spawn less ads on paper not bad in practice it makes encounter design very hard over the course of the game it slowly devolves into a roulette wheel there are some configurations where there is nothing you can do you'll never be able to break the the lock because you don't have the resources it's okay though because partial braks are still fine so it's a good thing that late game enemies don't reduce the effectiveness for partial breaks at this point you can just tell you have no answer and should give up against this one boss in particular he nailed me with a combo that I wasn't ready for twice in a row so I think to myself oh I need to save a charge so I'm ready when he goes for that move next time and I can break it I save up my resources next time rolls around different configuration that I still can't break I'm not entirely mad about this being a mechanic but two things for sure just color it something different that indicates that partial breaks won't help communicate that to me up front it's not a good feeling from the player perspective to waste a bunch of resources thinking it's going to help like it did for the entire previous 30 hours of gameplay only to get hard punished two a suggestion that might help is make the super locks always the same configuration ation compared to the ones that can partially break which are completely random the monster gets one chump check where you either have the resources or you don't and now the player gets to decide to conserve those resources in case they need it or try to beat the boss fast enough where it doesn't get another chance I managed to get myself into a nice death loop at one point because every combat started with all enemies using one- turn lock moves that couldn't be mitigated how did I beat it by resetting enough times and getting a pattern where they didn't do that that's nice and satisfying finally finally progression is garbage you get three skills per character maybe one more kind of the lack of move variety is dumb not just because you're going through the same motions but because there's no sense of progression characters getting stronger moves to then use against the next boss and kick his ass is like the gameplay dopamine Loop of the genre the player gets to be the Shonen protagonist you don't need a ton there were only like eight moves per character in Chrono Trigger using the same basic attack that I used for the whole game against the true final boss was almost too fitting because combat evolves as much as the characters do this is what I really want to say at the end of this ridiculously long video essay ripping a passion project to shreds to the people who made Co stars and to the people who aspired to make games like it I want to be invested in your characters I want to get caught up in their Antics I want to be happy when they're happy to be sad when they're sad but it's not automatic it takes a lot of work to make a character worth investing into I wanted to like sea of stars I might be extra harsh in my critiques but it's not because I think sea of stars is a completely horrible game it's because it could be great it's all the Polish and appearance of what makes a great turn-based RPG without the core there's a reason why Paper Mario is called Mario story in Japan the role to play is to be a part of that story it does concern me to say that about sea of stars when I really think about it the amazing visuals and the soundtrack that everyone Praises including myself that's what sells the game it's all just part of the marketing that's the reason it was even on my radar in the first place it's a modern Chrono Trigger with better graphics and music on par huge compliments because Chrono Trigger soundtrack is timeless well that great presentation doesn't carry the scraps of a completely worthless Adventure the bar for writing in video games is already so low and sea of stars still disappoints when looking at the near Universal praise and review scores that I don't believe in it speaks volumes of how much people just don't care how many people don't remotely value the ability to tell an engaging narrative in a game of any genre let alone one that I think is defined by it the guardian ends its review of sea of stars by saying sea of stars is no shallow mirror of RPG's past its depth and Sparkle make it a modern classic in its own right I couldn't disagree more sea of stars will be forgotten in a pile of every other mediocre imitation of a good RPG it's no secret that I believe great writing is what pushes games over the edge from good to Timeless I want to believe this is reflected in the games that become Classics the harsh reality is being a classic doesn't make your company money and is only for critics with high standards to jerk each other off over also known as people who believe strongly in games as an art form it's depressing to listen to business business heads smugly say that it doesn't matter if people buy it but I believe that staying power is something that cannot be measured if you manage to make a game that people still talk about and still take inspiration from decades later that's more impressive than being the bestselling game of that year still doesn't pay the bills or put food on the table though I should be careful I'm starting to sound like some kind of socialist if you like sea of stars I don't think it's because of anything it brought to the table it's just because it's an homage to other games that did it better final plot twist Chrono Trigger is not my favorite RPG not that I could easily list my favorite I certainly like it but I don't really love it it's pretty shallow compared to other games that got to elaborate more on their characters while simultaneously being a relatively brisk Adventure is also one of its big strengths chalk it up to Personal Taste and all that I think it's a good thing that I believe better RPGs have been made since if if gaming peaked back in 1995 that would be extremely depressing I never actually owned the game myself I originally played this on a used DS copy that my friend had who lent it to another friend previously and I still have because good friends borrow things from each other permanently all three of our save files still exist on this cartridge this isn't the sad story of friendships dwindling over time I still talk to them regularly all of us have pretty different tastes in what we like it's a weird triangle though where two of us like something and the third one doesn't that's not actually always true but if I told the truth here it would weaken my next Point all three of us had a good time with Chrono Trigger I think that's better praise than anything else I said in this video I don't love everything about Chrono Trigger but there's a lot to love about Chrono Trigger for a 29-year-old game where my recent playthrough was on the original translation that was done by one dude in 3 weeks in his basement that's beyond impressive but it's also not a coincidence the people who made it are extremely experienced and hardworking creators it's practically a magnum opus that was the second best selling game in Japan the year it came out because Dragon Quest 6 was number one guess that means it's actually a cult classic I hate to end the video on the note of don't play sea of stars instead if you want an approachable turn-based RPG with realtime Action commands a mostly goofy story that has some serious moments play Yakuza like a dragon if you want that plus a funny subversive RPG that Teeters on the perfect edge of self-awareness play any of the first three Paper Mario games but Thousand-Year Door in particular specifically that one or undertale if you haven't already want a pure comedy RPG that's very funny in my opinion west of loathing and shadows overlo you want fun characters and comfy Vibes the legend of Heroes trails in the sky terrible title great game you want an RPG with time travel and solving problems with developed characters radiant Historia or Pokemon Mystery Dungeon explorers of Sky or Chrono Trigger you might not love those games either but you might like them now let's get out there and admit that I probably binged watched way too many video essays recently thanks for watching if you made it this far prepare to have all of my other videos recommended to you for the next week against your will as always this video is made possible in large part by my patrons who didn't ask for this and got it [Music] anyway

Channel: Misshapen Chair

Views: 344,390

Keywords: video essay, Chrono Trigger, Sea of Stars, JRPG, RPG

Id: ddlxA7gi-G4

Length: 87min 38sec (5258 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 02 2024