The Legendary Zoltan

Here's my work-in-progress. This can be classified as a substantial WIP. It's nearing completion. EDIT: Link removed because I was supposed to PM it.

My Brave Fencer Musashi Rap song is coming along nicely. Just giving you a status update.

I don't remember any hand in FFVII pointing the way. The warping is way less fun than I expected it to be because I thought you could do it to anywhere. Specific points makes it way less fun. I suppose there will be trial and error warping puzzles to climb a building. That would be fun for me. If they would just fix the camera, lock on, and frame rate, it would be a MASSIVE improvement. They need to pull the camera way further back and up and let it follow your locked on enemy from that position, battles would feel so much better. One thing this demo does really well but I fear is only designed this way for the demo is the exploration. Nobody cares about finding random items to sell, but the fact that you could see a sword stuck in a random rock, pull it out and suddenly have a brand new insane attack is wonderful. I'm a big proponent of less treasure chests with way better treasure. If they want to put potions in treasure chests, they should just put one chest with five potions instead of five chests with one potion each. Nobody was ever happy that they got a potion from a chest. Getting five is another story though. Also, I FOUND A RARE ENEMY! I found a Mesmenir, killed it and got a Mesmenir Blade. That was nice.

Hmm. I can't say that you've convinced me. A seamless or open world is not a common find in Final Fantasy games. I don't see how good music and fun battles are markedly Final Fantasy either. A simple story and enjoyable mechanics may be more important depending on what you're looking for in a game, but those things don't make it inherently a Final Fantasy game. I don't know what others have said, but here is why I don't think it's a Final Fantasy game. The battle system feels overwhelmingly like an non-JRPG action game. Kingdom Hearts and Star Ocean have actions battle systems but they still feel like JRPGs. The open world aspect has resulted in very MMO-ish side quests. I fear that there will also be a bunch of collect-a-thon fetch quests in the final game. Thirdly, there is no magic. Where's my Fire-Fira-Firaga action? The combination of all these little things culminates in a game that seems far removed from Final Fantasy.

Of course, saying that old school FF fans aren't going to like it is just my speculation but I would very much like to hear what aspects of FFXV do feel like a Final Fantasy game to you. Because I can think of a whole lot of reasons to the contrary.

Here are my thoughts on the demo. I love exploring the world and finding monsters to fight, signs that become quests, and the occasional item. What I feel is a missed opportunity that I hope they take advantage of in the full game is that you can't open doors and enter buildings. I was not disappointed when entering the mini mart, though. That looked great. I want challenge and this game delivers it in a very unusual way. The enemies take a lot of hits to bring down and are roaming in pretty large groups. Especially the gremlin looking dudes in the cave. This makes the battles take some time and makes them feel epic. However, you can use a potion even after you've reached 0 HP and instantly be back at full health, so it's really hard to die. So, it is challenging to get through battles efficiently perhaps, but not challenging to live through them. Which means that you can get into battles that are beyond your level and if you slog through it for ten minutes, you'll eventually win. But the rewards for doing that are far less than if you would have fought two battles that take a minute each. I fought an insane amount of gremlins in that cave and got overwhelmed. Two people eventually died permanently, but with the wealth of potions and the one Phoenix Down that I had, I somehow managed to get through it and my reward was 1,000 or so experience. On a much easier fight outside, I killed two animals in twenty seconds and received the same amount of experience because of the experience bonus from being quick and not taking damage. I would prefer that they go ahead and bar my progress with a game over by just letting people die at 0 HP instead of letting me take 10 minutes to get the same reward I could have gotten in twenty seconds. I like the five swords. I like the seemingly endless combo. I wish I could warp onto anything at any time instead of just certain points, but I like the warping otherwise. The enemies flashing before big attacks seems pointless since the flashing attacks are so slow that you have plenty of time to react to them. I like the camping but I wish I could stand up and walk around the campfire and talk to my bros. It would be nice to be able to choose the dish Prompto makes. (Was it Prompto that does the cooking?) I don't think you can use the ability to take cover to actually surprise your enemies or do any stealth moves, and attacking seems like a much better way of regaining MP than hiding behind a rock. Taking cover seems completely pointless in this demo. The scripted stealth segments were pretty fun and looked really cool, although perhaps too easy. I never once felt like I was in danger of getting caught. Overall, I really like the game. The characters, graphics, music, and battles all appeal to me. It's hardly a Final Fantasy game and doesn't really even feel like a JRPG. I think it will be a great game for most, an amazing game for people who started Final Fantasy from FFXIII, and utter nonsense to most long time fans. But that's just what I think. We still don't know how good the story is going to be, after all.

OK. Thanks a lot everyone. After reading what has been said so far, I've decided a few things. 1. There must be a certain degree of a storyline. 2. You must become more powerful through battling in some way other than just getting items or money. 3. Progress should be made through events rather than through obtaining items. 4. Must have locations as opposed to levels or stages. Do all of these seem like good criteria to you? I haven't tested them against the RPG list I made but right off the bat, Alundra and Symphony of the night will be eliminated but Brave Fencer Musashi will be allowed to stay. For all I know Call of Duty could be satisfying these requirements, hahaha.

Mind Wanderer made a point to me in another thread about what is considered an RPG and that is really on my mind now. What exactly classifies a game as an RPG? I know it's an age-old question but let's talk about it here. Here are some games that everyone agrees are RPGs. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, The Elder Scrolls, strategy RPGs such as FF Tactics and Disgaea, Tales of Anything, Anything of Mana, Breath of Fire, etc. Zelda games are highly debated as to whether or not they are RPGs, though people seem to agree that Zelda 2 is in fact an RPG. If Zelda games aren't RPGs, then Alundra isn't either. Any game with experience points and leveling up is often considered an RPG. Should we count Borderlands as an RPG? I'm not sure where I stand on Symphony of the Night anymore. There is plenty to think about. I look forward to answering the question of what defines an RPG.

I'm writing down every RPG for PS1 that has an English localization in order of release date. God, I love doing otaku things like this! I have questions for the community. 1. Can you think of any that I've missed? 2. Have you ever seen a list ordered by release date like this anywhere else? 3. What sites do you trust for accurate release dates? Notice that a suspicious number of dates are on the very last day of the month. I guess that's a convention for games that the release month is known and not the exact day. I'd love to be able to get the exact dates for all of those. By the way, I'm doing this for a rap song. Here's the list so far. 1995-12-31 King's Field II 1996-08-31 Beyond the Beyond 1996-11-01 Legacy of Kain, Blood Omen 1996-11-01 Suikoden 1996-11-?? Persona 1997-03-27 Vandal Hearts 1997-04-30 Wild Arms 1997-07-31 Ogre Battle 1997-09-07 Final Fantasy VII 1997-10-02 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 1997-12-31 Alundra 1998-01-28 Final Fantasy Tactics 1998-03-?? Diablo 1998-03-31 Saga Frontier 1998-04-30 Breath of Fire III 1998-06-01 Blaze & Blade: Eternal Quest (PAL) 1998-06-30 Azure Dreams 1998-06-30 Granstream Saga 1998-08-07 Kartia: Word of Fate 1998-09-09 Parasite Eve 1998-09-30 Dragon Seeds 1998-09-30 Tales of Destiny 1998-10-20 Xenogears 1998-10-31 Brave Fencer Musashi 1998-10-31 Brigandine 1998-11-30 Jade Cocoon 1998-??-?? Tactics Ogre 1999-01-31 Guardian's Crusade 1999-03-17 Legend of Legaia 1999-03-31 Monster Seed 1999-04-30 Shadow Madness 1999-05-28 Lunar Silver Star Story Complete 1999-05-31 Star Ocean: Second Story 1999-09-09 Final Fantasy VIII 1999-09-29 Suikoden II 1999-09-30 Final Fantasy Anthology 1999-09-30 Grandia 1999-09-30 Thousand Arms 1999-10-31 Shadow Tower 1999-11-30 Chocobo's Dungeon 2 1999-11-30 Koudelka 1999-11-30 Vandal Hearts II 2000-01-31 Saga Frontier 2 2000-02-29 Alundra 2 2000-02-29 Front Mission 3 2000-03-30 Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure 2000-04-29 Vanguard Bandits 2000-04-30 Wild Arms 2 2000-05-15 Vagrant Story 2000-05-23 Digimon World 2000-06-06 Legend of Mana 2000-06-11 Legend of Dragoon 2000-07-18 Threads of Fate 2000-08-15 Chrono Cross 2000-08-29 Valkyrie Profile 2000-09-02 Parasite Eve 2 2000-10-02 RPG Maker 2000-10-16 Dragon Valor 2000-10-31 Eternal Eyes 2000-11-13 Final Fantasy IX 2000-11-15 Torneko: The Last Hope 2000-11-22 Harvest Moon: Back to Nature 2000-11-28 Breath of Fire IV 2000-12-15 Lunar II: Eternal Blue Complete 2000-12-22 Persona II: Eternal Punishment 2001-01-28 Darkstone 2001-05-19 Digimon World 2 2001-06-01 Battle Hunter 2001-06-29 Final Fantasy Chronicles 2001-06-29 Technomage (PAL) 2001-08-13 Saiyuki: Journey West 2001-09-10 Tales of Destiny II (Eternia) 2001-10-31 Dragon Warrior VII 2001-12-20 Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth 2002-04-18 Arc the Lad Collection 2002-06-05 Digimon World 3 2003-04-08 Final Fantasy Origins

Work on my Brave Fencer Musashi mix has begun. Rappish metal it is. It's a bit of a medley. It'll even have Topo's Groove Heaven at the end!

Yes, I made it. Brandon Strader mixed it for me. Thank you, Strades! I wrote this with the intention of increasing my own confidence in my future on YouTube and also to inspire some sick work ethic. I sing it every morning and It seems to be working! I hope others find some inspiration to go for some crazy difficult goal as well. http://youtu.be/4ztNEmNKIyg

Did you cancel because of money? I went ahead and found someone on Amazon that would actually ship to Japan. I paid $70 total. It's like one of 3 times in my life that I have ever pre-ordered a game. I mostly did it because I want to be able to play Duscae. Your track is sweet yo.

That is a nice idea, man. Do you have any particular plans for this game?

1. Shulk 2. Rosalina 3. Reimu Hakurei

I'm an inspiration?! Thank you! I'll tell you something inspiring. To make these videos now that I have a baby, I wake up at 4am everyday. A motivational speaker I heard said that he wakes up at 3 everyday and I decided that I need to do that too. It's a god damn race to finish all the chores and put the baby to bed as early as possible so I can get to bed at a decent time. That's more annoying than the actual waking up. Hahaha.

I'm still doing it. Even with a baby, I'm still doing it. Here's the newest episode of Your RPG Playin' Ass. It's a comedic review of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Don't worry. There aren't any spoilers.

That's a song a day, yo! That's realistic for you? Impressive. I just finished writing all the lyrics for a short rap song. It took about 12 hours spread across two days. Now, I have to write the music. If you can write a song a day, that's a great feat! DO IT! I've been waking up at 4am everyday lately. That's a good start on my resolutions.

Put me down for Alundra and Brave Fencer Musashi! I've got WIPs for both.

Is it OK, if I submit a song I've already finished if I remaster it a bit? It's from Alundra.

I almost lost my BEST FRIEND simply because she couldn't handle disagreeing with me on a certain something. Upon reflection, I realized there is literally nothing someone could say to me to make me want to unbefriend them. So you've at least got me for life yo. I don't think you're personality is as bad as you think it is, but maybe I'm naive. Haha. I had to google Gotye. FINALLY, your sentence makes sense to me. Hopefully the lyrics aren't anything like a Gwar song. Well, technically, the definition of the word resolution says that it's a sure thing. ^_~ But yeah, it's totally good to go for high goals even if they seem beyond our reach.OK. I finally feel like resolving to do some things. I resolve to sleep a lot less and use the time to work on projects that could further my dream of being a YouTuber/musician I resolve to work like working is nothing to me I resolve to quit my day job. Preferably sooner rather than later. I resolve to translate some more stuff for OCR in celebration of quitting my job. (I haven't done that in years.) I resolve to keep searching for opportunities and not fear rejection I resolve to create a program for beginning guitarists that want to play in VGM bands. I resolved, so that means I'm going to look pretty bad if I don't come through.

If you want death metal for gamers, I've got you covered. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/first-fantasy/id711865998 Vocals by Brandon Strader, Mixing/Mastering by Zircon, yo.

Oh, my god! How did I miss this thread? Happy birthday, Esther! I hope your looking forward to playing some Chrono Trigger later on, because I'm sure that's coming.

Why are they putting electronic and rock music against each other. That's like freaking Cursed Bloodlines against Calamitous Judgement. That makes no sense. Black Razgriz, you have such a great signature. I love that song.

I read it. It all sounds great to me. Especially staying at hotels and shopping. Hopefully the fishing will be good. My hopes are soaring so high for the quality of this game.