RPG Classics Mailbag

Previous Mailbags

Welcome to yet another mailbag. DG is missing in action, and 984 ran off crying after the last mailbag leaving ME with SG. Again.

Yay! We're gonna have a great time!

No.

But...Time...good...caik?

Alright, since you mentioned caik we can have a good time. Oh, and we don't hate our readers anymore. You guys managed to send in 33 responses. Very nice.

God lord no, we had just over thirty replies. We LOOOOOOOOVE YOU. *Swoons*

ANYWAYS. SG, want to grab the first reply?

Uh, I do I do. Here, lemme see... All right, the lucky winner is...Slavoc! Let's read.

"Old school" RPGs vs "New Aged" RPGs, well, just to say, this might be a
very long and ranty response...

Here is why Old school owns New aged *expletive*.

1.Old school doesn't sell just because of its graphics or danged commercials
on TV.
2.STORYLINE
3.Old school has CT, FFs, ToP, and any other RPG that can be embodied in 3
or less letters.

What about CC and XG! Haw!

4.Old school can be emulated so easily, anyone can download hundreds of
games, and not destroy their hard drive space (yes, i know you can get PSX
emus, and burn the games, but some people don't have the system resources to
even run the darn things).
5.STORYLINE
6.Old school RPGs can be beaten in a week or less, or they can last for
months, it just depends on how much you put into them, any new (and I mean
NEW NEW) RPGs take far too long, and the storyline is draged around in the
dirt, streached out along far too many mindless dungeons, hung from a tree
and run over by a Chevvy.
7.Did I fail to mention STORYLINE?

Anywhoo, Old school can whip around anything PS2, X-Box, and Gamecube can
come up with, why do you think they're re-creating all the old SNES RPGs for
GBA?

Slavoc

Yeah, Old school had better story by far. Let's look at the most hardcore Old school RPG, DW1. Here's the story. Defeat the Dragon Lord. Yep, that's it. What an epic storyline.

Don't forget rescue the Princess.

Rescue the princess while you're at it, rather.

True true. And we all know that XG's story was horribly simple.

The point is, NEW SCHOOL has a lot more storyline focus, and I'd say that's the one thing is has OVER new school. I admit, I'm no big fan of Final Fantasy 7, but it had a nice story.

It did, except for Cloud falling over constantly grabbing his head. I found that rather amusing.

Yeah yeah, that's true.

Anyways, our next response is from Xeloph- er Limeray, Liemray, Lelos, whatever his name is now.

OLD SK000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000L.
There, kthxbye.

... *facepalms*

Wow, He made a good point, right there.

Yeah, no need for a list of reasons or anything.

Very concise.

Yeah well, this deserves something special.

Our next response is from Rountree.

It is I... ROUNTREE- the one formerly known as Cybercompost.

*Rountree gives everyone samitches- YAY!*

The truth of the matter is, neither Old School nor New School (which will be
referred to as OS and NS) games are better. Both Old School and New School
games have inherent weaknesses and strengths between them.

OS games tended to have almost no plot. Example: Final Fantasy: you are the
LIGHT WARRIORS and your job is to restore the four ORBS. And there are lots
of things in CAPITAL LETTERS :P. And in OS games, the average RPG player
has to level up- a lot. It is not that these games are actually HARD, but
they require patience. And patience is a rare trait (especially for us
Americans, I don't know about everywhere else). But despite these problems,
you could see that the developer actually wanted to focus on gameplay, and
strategy, rather than gimmicks. This is why there are almost no sidequests
in these games (which can be seen as either a bad or a good thing).

NS games tend to think that you are a baby. They hold your hand throughout
the game. Didn't read the manual? Oh- go through this in-game tutorial you
lazy person (which was actually started by a new-school game, FFII/FFIV with
their training school thingiddy)! In games nowadays, not just RPGs, people
seem to EXPECT to beat the games. And because the gaming market caters to
EVERYBODY nowadays, and not only to smart individuals like me, they have
been dumbed down significantly. And speaking of dumb- who's bright idea was
it to make more hours worth of minigames than THE ACTUAL GAME ITSELF. And
with some NS games, like FFIX, this is barely an exagguration (even though I
like FFIX). But with all of the bad points, there are still good things
about NS games. Mainly- the plot. Although there are some exceptions,
*cough FFVIII* most of the NS games have wonderful plots. This seem to have
been started by my all-time favorite console RPG FFVI, which coincedentally
was the RPG that made RPGs mainstream in the US. Of course, some games go
to far with the plot, and ultimately confuse us, but it is expected that not
everybody will do well even in a wonderful industry like this.

So in conclusion, I find neither OS or NS games to be superior. In fact, I
find both absolutes quite flawed, and I beleive that if some ingenious
company blended the positives of both and hurtled the negatives we would
have a wonderful RPG on our hands. And more importantly, in MY hands. I
want to play that nonexistant game.

Oh- Mailbag Person- what do you associate with these words:

1. Stupidity

SG.

Algebra

2. Tifa

You know those aren't real.

...Mama... *drools up a flood*

3. Salad

Foilage.

Yyyyuck.

4. Faery

You will not take a trip in MY head! (end of obscure SD3 reference)

I conquered the universe for DarkFaerie_Nulani! And she gave me a fake kiss! *swoons*

Yeah. You took my frickin universe.

Yeah well, she gave me some nice incentive. :D

And in closing, MOTORCYCLE HAT! MARSHMALLOW DAEMON!

Anyways, Rountree does bring up a good point that neither is better than the other. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.

Indeed. However I saw this topic more as a which one do you like more and why thread. I guess I'm just weird like that.

Well, as long as points are brought up, and you don't just say one thing... Liemray. SG, grab the next letter.

So uh, yeah. By the power of Althena, I summon this letter from MegamanX2K! ...And I knock my kitty off the table for tyring to eat my food! uh anywho...

*blinks*

Yes, I know, sorry, I haven't posted for a mailbag in
a long time, so to make up for it, I'm about to do
something I've never done before...

*drops a nuke onto the mailbag directly on himself*

*smoke clears revealing that X didn't suffer so much
as 1 HP of damage because he used a Command and
Conquer Nuke ©*

Ha! Ahh, the old CnC Nuke switcheroo. Gets 'em every
time. But onto the mailbag.

X. You're fired.

Can we fire him if he isn't part of the staff?

Sure. He'll just be fired after we initially make him part of the staff. Mwaaha.

Everyone knows how I feel about SNES RPGs (most of 'em
anyway). Everyone also knows how I feel about most PSX
games, with RPGs being no exception. If you don't,
then where the hell have you been? Anyway, some
innovation is good, but much of the newer RPGs have
either been CTTALS (Crap Thrown Together At the Last
Second) or innovative but still keeping enough
elements of old games that they really are more old
school (e.g. OB64). Frankly, it's no secret I prefer
Old School. Games don't have to have fancy shit such
as FMVs and massive polygons that look like shit but
are suddenly cool because someone says so to actually
be a good game. Look at Golden Sun. it combined a lot
of Old School + New School elements; e.g. an age old
Choosefirst TB battle system (though much better here
than in any DW game except maybe DWM), but with
animated gigantic summons and camera angles galore
that made the shit look cool. The game was 2D view but
with tremendous 3D graphics. I know what all of you
who've been here long enough are saying. "But X, you
used to dislike Golden Sun!" I know, I know, that's
before I really played enough of it to see what it
really was.

Yes, Golden Sun does a very good job combining both New and Old School RPG elements to make a spectacular game. The GBA once again proves to be a very good system.

I dunno, I've not played more than 15 minutes of Golden Sun. But uh, what I'm more or less wondering about, is what games X is reffering to with his little CTTALS deal.

Legend of Dragoon. So... bad.... *twitches*

No, that's just the american version. It probly wouldn't have been that bad if they hadn't just translated it with Babelfish. :P I mean, hell, Dart says toast when he hits people, that's badass.

But saying Arf when you're hit?

I do that when the bully punches me though...

So to make up for it...*drops a StarCraft
nuke on himself*

*smoke clears, revealing X unharmed because he quickly
built a bunker just before detonation*

HA! Oh, you kids...I got a million of 'em. Bye for
now, and remember to watch the skies, cuz you never
know when *random nuke falls in Energon, burning the
paper-based being to a crisp*

...You're FIRED. AGAIN!!!!! And uh, wherever Energon is, that musta sucked for him. :P

Yeah well, it's kinda hard to nuke someone that's in 984's head.

Tell that to X. No wait don't. I want to see him get FIRED AGAIN!! UH anyways.

Just grab another letter before YOU are fired!

I'll grab you! I mean! No! AHHHHHH

No. No you won't.

You're...quite right...I uh...This next reply comes from!... STEVETHENORMALGUY!!!

Who I now hate.

Hello SG, 984, and Kagon....... It's SteveTheNormalGuy

3 things bubba would do in prison with kagon... first he would force him to "Drop the soap" in the shower then he would *blurred out for content* and finally make him give him a foot massage.

You are going to die a horrible, horrible death.

...And after that, Kagon would say "That was a lovely tea party..." Er wha huh yeah? Death. Mmkay.

You!

You?

Yes. You. Death!

You death?

Why do I even bother...

But onto the real topic. I prefer the older RPGs because 1) you can get them for free via ROMs and Emulators 2) because they focused on the storyline more than graphics and 3) because i just love the way battles look on the older games. Sure, the graphics of FFX have, as of yet, been unmatched by another RPG, but they could have made a version of the game with japanese voices and american subtitles, so the lips would move with what was being said. the reason i have not been writing in lately is because i recently acquired a social life!!! w00t!

~SteveTheNormalGuy

Eh, congrats with the social life... I guess. There's more to the Old School vs New School than graphics though.

Yeah, like. Uh, The inn! The inns are so much cooler in new school RPGs!

Why can't 984 be here!? Why must I suffer alone?!

Suffer? Do you have the chicken pox or something?

*cries*

Hey it's ok, I had em when I was 6, just scratch em dude.

I don't have the CHICKEN POX! AHHH! Next reply will make things better... I hope. It's from Eden99... ^.^

Meow everyone! ^.^ Tiss me, Eden. Upon request to write in, I have. And just look at you people makes me sick! Look what you have done to the mailbag! You all should be ASHAMED of yourselfs! Firstly, not sending in. I know they aren't as good as Cid. But Cid is dead! So get used to you. AND you three need to have more attention drawing flashy things.... like in pokemon. Killing your readers is always a good thing ^.~ Err... wait no. Thats not true. Well, it dipends really.... Just like your topic for this mailbag! It depends :P

ya I gess it jest dipends on stuff liek that. and you guys SHUD be ahsamed of yourselfsz! lordoo. CID IS DED!

Cid isn't dead. I saw him just yesterday.

NO YOU DIDN'T! YOU'RE FIRED! I mean.

Fine! You handle the MAILBAG! *walks out*

BABAY PLEASE!~!!!! If you just come back to me I swear I'll make everything right again! *Breaks out into a Boyz-2-Men song*

...I guess he ain't coming back...Well, I uh. Man, DG's gonna FIRE me. Like, litterally breath fire ON ME. Better do a good job...

Personaly though, I like the "old" school RPGs. New ones like FFX are just.......... crap :P Sorry to anyone who likes it. But then again, there are always exceptions. I mean, FF8 was okay, it was sitcomie, but Okay. Still though, nothing can compare with SoM, EB, and CT ^.^; 'Course, if you are talking about games in gernal, I like alot of the newer first-person/third-person shoots. The older ones where just.. crap. Crappidy Crap Crappola. But ya, thats just my PoV. And you have three chances to keep my attention span. Good luck ^.~

No, I think it's just me. I guess is jest dipends.

(Is it just me, or do my smiles really kick ass in Arial font? ^.~(Love how that eye is pulled over! ^.^))

*Runs away cackling with utter glee, waving around a sharp pointy stick so as to blind anyone that might get in his mad runnings. Cause lets face it people, do you really wanna run into the smelly old Kagon when you are losing your grip on reality?*

But Kagon isn't here anymore! COME BACK TO ME EVERYONE!!!! Or Kagon! ORRRRGGG This next reply is from, the titan of terror, the colussus of clout, the great bambi... DARKKNIGHT42291!

Hmm....Old School or New Age? Hmm.....choices...I will have to go with a mixture, like Xenogears, FF6(FF3 is on NES damnit!), Battle Realms(ok ok, its an RTS.), Live a Live(hey, it had all of those chapters..), and FFT. The reason is, Old School can be cliched too easily (kill the dragon, save my daughter/the world/the 4/6/8/12 crystals) and New Age can be boring(Plot of FF8:Guy with no personality appears. Finds hot dog eater, a hyper active girl, a cowboy who tries to steal all the women, a princess(i think), and his Teacher. Tries to kill sorceress. Sorceress comes to senses. Finds out that using monsters to kill enemies erases memory. Remembers that sorceress is their foster parent and all of them but the princess grew up together. Kills other sorceress. Worry. Hug. End.). And most of the best RPGs are like that. Wow, a new record in length for my mailbag entries.
Please note:All of the above was completely opinionated.
---
DarkKnight42291

Wow, it's funny how you tried to boil down the story of FF8 and it still took up a big piece of your reply. Good job. :P The next one is a nice reply from Sorc.

I just prefer rpgs.

-Sorcerer

That was exactly what I wanted to hear from someone. Oh wait, I'm lying. This one's for you!

Here's one from Doc Shinryuu. Maybe he can fix my broken heart, it just hasn't been the same since Kagon left me...Oh, no...*Cries*

*Upon glancing at the door, you notice that there is a Tao Symbol stuck
to it. The Symbol suddenly catches fire, which, in turn, sets the door
ablaze. After the fire dies down, Doc Shinryuu enters through the burnt
doorway.* Hey everyone, I'm back. *Eminem's "Without Me" begins to play,
gunshots are fired, and a fanfare ensues* Whoever fired the shots, thank you.
Anyway, on to my response.

*from the background* Ahh! I almost shot him too! So close!

Sorry, but I'm not allowing you to play the music of a rapper who subtly starts shit to get attention and money. So yeah, on with the reply.

I'd say I prefer more New Age RPG's. With the graphics that gaming is
capable of these days, games keep getting better and better. All we need to
do is make a VR RPG(though that's probably WAY in the future). However, I'm
beginning to side a bit more toward Really Old School(as in D&D).

Hey, what's a VR? Is that like ER only like, cooler? Or is it Virtua Racer?

Well, I guess that's it. Sorry for not responding to the last couple of
Mailbags. I couldn't think of any good entrances. Well, I'd better be going.
*As Doc walks back toward the door, a Plot Hole opens up on the floor in
front of him. As he walks over it, he is launched high into the air.*

Too bad he didn't know I put plot holes on the ceiling. Mwaaha. Sucker. Matador! CHUPITO!!!!! AHHHHAHAHAHAHAhAHAHAHaA n'stuff like that.

See, I leave you alone for a minute and look what happens. I shouldn't have just shot at Doc Shinryuu...

It's KAGON!!!!!!!

Indeed it is.

OH, Hold me! *Jumps in Kagon's Arms*

*drops SG*

Oh how I missed you so...what the Ooooof~~~

You're taller than me, and you weigh more- you expect me to HOLD you now?

It's not like I could really jump into your arms either, but I guess if I could get that far, we could do ANYTHING if we put our minds to it!

Except, well... not. Anyhow, before you get more sentimental, here's a response from d Galloway

First off, I didn't respond to the mailbag last time because:
1. I couldn't really think of a good idea (RPG's aren't made to be movies)
2. You all hate me
3. I wanted to make a list

We don't hate you anymore.

And now, on to the topic.

Old School and New Age both have their advantages and disadvantages:

Old School: These little buggers started the whole "RPG" craze in the video game world. FF1 and DW began it all, with the 16-bit era to perfect it. Some games, like Lufia 2 (*sigh*), Tales of Phantasia (*looks up to the sky*), and SD3 (*nearly has a loving heart attack*) stay in my heart. However, crap like Lufia 1 (*shudders*), Shadowrunner (*groans in extreme pain*), or Monstania (*falls to the floor heaving*) emerged.

Rar! Lufia 1 WAS good for its time!

Lufia 1 was better than two to me.

I wouldn't go that far, but meh.

Not to mention it got my best friend hooked on RPGs, so.

New School: This gave us good games like FF7 (it's good, you fools!), Quest for Glory 5 (good), and Final Fantasy X (really love!). However, Chrono Cross (not so good), Parasite Eve (waste of time), and Zelda:MOM (oh God) emerged as well.

So, by this REALLY bad analysis, Old School wins. Now for a celebration. *eats some pizza*

GRAR! Chrono Cross and Parasite Eve were both damn good games. Parasite Eve 2 though... *shudders*

Never played Parasite Eve 2. I think i'd like it, just cos I seem to like things that everyone doens't like. I liked Quest 64. Wasn't that a nice game, Kagon?

No. Well, maybe I proved your point, but you can get the next reply.

Ok, here's one from a new face, under the alias of Clockwood.

My name is Clockwood and this is my first visit to the mailbag. I hope you guys don't mind but I brought along a few friends.

::Clockwood opens a bag and several hueballs roll out::

Hey Kagon! Catch this BALLLLLLL!!!! *Throws the red one at Kagon*

*shoots the ball in mid-air*

Aw.

Lun's plasma rifle training paid off.

You're gonna have to replace those. They were really cool soul sucky balls and you just shot em! Sorry Clockwood! I'll make sure he doesn't do that again

Yeah well, I like my soul. Almost as much as I like caik.

Caik is good. hey, send balls that make CAIK next time Clockwood!

While these little buggers attempt to eat your souls I will give you my opinion. I vastly prefer classic rpgs. Terranigma had the best sprites I have ever seen, Final Fantasy 6 had the best plotline in existence, and Seiken Densetsu 3 had the best background art there is. What do these newfangled games have? Highly visible polygons, half asped (that's right, half snaked) plotlines, and an insane control system. The golden age has come and gone.

Eh, I don't think it's gone just yet. Some of the newer games are still very good. Take Golden Sun for example.

I think a lot of the newer games are really good. Most of my favorites, like Chrono Cross and the SaGa Frontier games are new school. Then there's Grandia 2...oh, lordo...

Yeah, without the new school, there wouldn't be SaGa Frontier 1 or 2.

Yeah, and who would want that? I hope no one answers that.

No one will. *glares around*

We should bring a scarecrow here that looks like Lunaris. That would do the trick.

*puts up a Lunaris scarecrow*

Mwaahahaha, perfect-o.Anywho, that oughtta do the trick. Next one is from Bjorkman.

Hey!

I love Old school RPGs. I especially love the early Final Fantasy games and I also like Chrono Trigger ( If you could call that old school). In conclusion: old school, all the way!!!!

UltraMatt

Your points are well summed up. Jeez, can't argue with that.

Heh. Very true.

Anywho, next one is from Archone...

I would have responded to the previous post, but I don't know that many actors/actresses. People living in Hollywood and pretending to be someone special just aren't that important to me...

Sadly, I'm going to have to go with Old School RPGs. Mainly because there aren't that many New Age RPGs worthy of the name RPG. They tend to emphasize flashy graphics at the expense of quality gameplay or worthy story. Some old school RPGs that I remember fondly: Ultima IV, Exile III, Crystalis, Zelda, Dragon Warrior, Betrayal at Krondor, Battletech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception; and the older games now available to me through Emulation: Seiken Densutsu III, Chrono Trigger, Terranigma...

Gosh, what New School RPGs have bad story? And which of the ones with bad story have bad gameplay?? New School RPGs always have one or the other as a strong point. I just don't see this lack of gameplay or story in any New School RPG.

Yeah, even some of the BAD New School RPGs still have some good elements in them.

Yeah, There's always one or the other to new school RPGs, that's just the way it is nowadays.

So next time, please be a wee bit more specific. Our next reply is from Epicgamer.

Hiya all you mailbagging type people! It's Epicgamer here with a semi-coherent
mailbag reply! (Gimme a break it's really early here... *Looks at clock* Maybe
not...)

Anyways, Oldschool vs New? You do relise this topic will undoubtably create a
mass of flame wars, but that goes on all the time here anyways so...

First off lemme explain my stand on the subject. I believe that an oldschool
game is one that was released on the SNES or before, I'm not going of graphics,
I just think that as soon a they releases RPGs on the playstation most (not all)
of the devolpers started doing things different becasue of the more freedom they
had with the graphics and such. Personaly I don't even care about the graphics
(to an extent), all I really care about is the quality of the game play, the
story, and the characters, but becasue of this I enjoy older games more and thus
love those graphics. Still horrible graphics can really ruin a game, but i have
yet to find a RPG that the graphics made me not want to play.

I like oldschool better. The biggest reason being that those are the games I
grew up playing. Not to say I don't like newer RPGs, I'm just saying my
favorites are games like the first 3 Zelda games, Chrono Trigger, Secert of
Mana, Earthbound, and Final Fantasy 2(4) & 3 (6). I just love the way those
games look, and expessialy love the way they play. Actually, I don't like
awsome life like graphics in a game, I don't mind polygons or pixels, if I
wanted to see a movie I'd rent a movie.

Now if I found a game with a great story, gameplay AND graphics that's another
thing, but for now, I love my pixelated games.

~Epicgamer

Sorry Epicgamer...I don't mean to be rude, but it seems like you're more fixated on graphics than you might think. There are a lot of PSX/N64/DC RPGs that don't even TRY to hit this amazing movie, smashing graphics deal that you speak of. In fact, I don't think a lot of them do at all, really. To use newer examples, look at the breath of fire games, Evolution, Quest 64, Even Xenogears.

Our next reply comes from Shock Ra.

I am beginning to feel like a broken record answering this question, because every discussion I get into about video games these days seems to return to this point. Maybe I'm getting old. But old-school games are the way to go, for me at least.
Why? Gameplay. Not to take anything away from the host of innovations that have come on the RPG scene in recent years, but old games had better gameplay.

Take Dragon warrior-It doesn't get much simpler than this. At least half of the game is spent levelling up, and there are only a handful of towns and dungeons. There are no multiple party members. Storyline? Rescue princess, defeat dragonlord. That's it. But levelling up seems that much more important, because it is at the center of gameplay.

Yeah, well old school RPGs aren't always known for their in-depth plot.

Exactly what he's getting at though. Old-school RPGs were a lot more gameplay focused, which is a strongpoint of them to me. I do think that a lot of New school RPGs have nice battle systems, but they're not usually that challenging. I think that's what he's getting at, more or less.

Yeah, I agree with what he's getting at, but some New School RPGs are rather challenging like... euh... well maybe not.

Yeah, like. 3 of them. I think.

Xenogears had difficult Gear battles, but that was pretty much it.

I thought the non-gear battles were the hard ones...

Nope. You had to worry about fuel in your gear, and repairs don't come easily.

Then again you died a lot faster out of your gear. Recall the fight against Id. Mwaaahahaha this would make a good mailbag topic! :P

Yes, but Id wasn't nice to begin with. And near the end, the Gear battles started getting rather nasty.

Yeah, I agree.

In games with minigames, sidequests, complex character development systems and visually stunning cut-scenes, the quest at hand is less relevant. There is a whole bunch of eye candy and fun games to keep us busy. Combat and treasure can seem like annoying obstacles on the way to the next beautiful CGI sequence.

I'm not quite sure whatr you mean...if you're trying to see both sides of the picture, I must say that not all games do that... The S a G a series is a focused a lot off of the story and doesn't concern graphics all too much. Of course, I'm not too smart, and you might be talking about something else.

Yeah, SaGa solves all problems... er.

I hold that truth to be self evident!

Putting that rhetoric aside for a moment, another reason that I argue for old-school games is simply that I am getting older, and 10 years ago video games did seem a little cooler than they do now. Try as I might, I can't change that. Yet, there is a difference between a game of 2002 and one made in 1990. Games in 1990 were generally harder, less player friendly, less pretty, and much simpler. Now, I am going to eat my prunes and complain about the weather, just as a cranky old geezer like myself should.

Hm...This is true though. Cos I started in the old school era, and while I personally think that both are equal, and I don't even like to separate from old and new school...I do have a bias, and I like older games more for some reason.

Enjoy those prunes!

This one from Green Mage's a real doozy!

Hey, hey, hey Mailbag team. I heard your cry for replies, and was like, "Oh damn, I could write in something," So here it is, enjoy ;-P.

Aww...how sweet...Kagon hold me...again...

Er no thanks.

I perfer New school to old school. Why you ask? Well, I simply perfer the better everything in newer RPGs. You'd have to agree that years of experience from making RPGs can only help make newer, better ones. Battle Systems have improved by leaps and bounds over the original Dragon Warrior System, or the Button Pushing From Ultima I (Ok, so maybe Diablo hasn't, but still...). Story Lines haven't improved much, but with the addition of DM modes becoming popular in Mainstream Computer RPGs, this is quickly, and rapidly changing. Character Developement has improved, from the nameless fighter in FFI, we have evolved Characters with full histories, conflicts, and relationships. Do I even need to get into how much Graphics have improved? I think not...
Newer RPGs are much more diverse, colorful, and interesting than older RPGs, and I'm proud to hold my head up high, and Cry the New School War cry, but this does not mean Old School RPGs should be pushed aside and forgotten for newer ones. Oh no my friends, some of my favorite RPGs are ones that the developers just got 'right'. They're classics, and I love them more than I could any new school RPG.

-Green_Mage

Sure the games are more developed...But uh. Challenge. Where's the CHALLENGE in new school RPGs? sure it's there, but seldom. Also, old school RPGs have character development too. Sure, the OOLLDD school RPGs might not have any focus on it, but old school RPGs definitely do.

The original Dragon Warrior system is still good though. It's always a nice kickback to play an older game and have a system like that. Plus there aren't any 5 minute long summons.

For reals, If you cast Knights of the Round in FF7, you should just go to the store or something while you wait. It's not worth it to watch it every time, and endure such pain and suffering.

Yes. Also, it's nice that you can summon a meteor, but frankly, I don't feel like waiting the actual amount of time it'd take to get here.

Yeah, PLUS the loading time, sheesh.

Our next response is from our own Cless Alvein. kthxbye

Hi guys. (If SG's out there, I'll have to say: BREEEEEAAAADDDDD!!!!!!!!)

New RPGs are better, in my opinoin, because they can fit in a storline that makes sense, and lasts longer. Four-heroes-saving-the-world-from-evil-bad-guy-who-wants-to-knock-every-body-down-and-time-combustion-compression-compatability-computer is not a terribly intriguing storyline. Chrono Trigger, on the other hand, has over (on average) 40 hours of gameplay and plot twists, forked events (Not FORKED forked, but forked) and a pretty much detailed and generally plot-hole proof storyline. Also, new RPGs tend to have good graphics and 3-D environments, as well as a possibility for a larger variety and quantity of items, armor, weapons and enemies (palette switching for 4x stronger enemies gets kinda old). A longer story and extended game hours, as well as multiple endings are all made possible by new RPGs, which use CDs instead of bulky cartridges. Old RPGs may have been fun back in ninteen-diggety-two, but new RPGs are for the young whipper-snappers of today! B! uy your new RPG(TM) now at a local Sears near you! Batteries not included.

-Cless Alvein

Well uh. You kinda negated each point you made in your little spiel. Uh, good job dude. But don't take MY word for it!

Er. You mentioned the greatness of Chrono Trigger then went on to made it seem like it wasn't great after all. I'm a bit confused but alright.

Our next letter comes from the lovely miss Faetan.

Awwwww, I love you guys, so even if I don't have too
strong an opinion, I'll write you anyways! Wheeeee!

We love you too!

Did you SEE that? She LOVES me! She loves ME! SHE loves me! Wow...

Not you. Us.

Yeah yeah sure sure.

Just going by what it says pal.

Personally, I like the older ones. Maybe it's because
it left more to the imagination, or maybe because they
just had better content (i.e. no swearing, not as many
dirty joke references). I wasn't overly thrilled with
the brothel scene in FF7, could've done without THAT!
The old ones were also less complicated. Junctioning
has got to be one of the stupidest ideas ever. :)
And besides...Celes' song in FF3/6? Wouldn't have
been the same with a voiceover. It would have been
REALLY great if they'd included more computer graphics
scenes, I do love that about the new age stuff, but
they focused more on characters and stories in the
older ones. I actually cared about what happened to
the little sprites. You could play a game straight
through and be satisfied that, some day, you would
have been able to play it with all the secrets
uncovered and all the sidequests completed. Too many
of those extras is just overkill. So there, my two
cents on the subject. Enjoy!

--Faetan

Well uh...The thing is most New school RPGS DO indeed have a big story focus. That's a big thing nowadays.

Well, it depends on the RPG. If the story isn't that great and there's little character development, I won't care too much about the characters. New Age RPGs do tend to have some very good character development as do Old School ones.

Yeah, it depends really. Though I believe that generally newer ones concentrate on it more. Could be wrong.

Let's see who's next... er... Sewerscum23. Nice name.

old school of course i hate like all the new rpgs coming out especially the
ones coming out for the ps2 they all suck. (well i havent yet played ff10 yet
sothat dosent include that) the new rpgs just dont have the same look and
feel as the older ones plus the story lines are way better in the clasics.
some of my favorites are chrono trigger the secret of mana series and my fav
is probably tales of phantasia and ff3.well anyway i dont think the new age
will ever be better than the classics.

I understand completely. Just kidding.

Liek ogm toly.

OK kids, here's a gould one from Aude Odeh.

Which do you prefer in general, Old School or New Age RPGs?

The battle system of the New Age RPG's has to be what i prefer. The turn table system was to plain and simple. My favorite would have to be Tales of Phantasia side-scroller fight screen.

Er. ToP IS Old School.

Maybe we should have clarified exactly where old school starts and new school begins?

New School begins at PSX. Only PSX game that's still Old School is Dragon Warrior 7.

I meant BEFORE we got all the letters silly. :P EIther way, he makes some good points about the games he talks about. We continue reading.

In music, i prefer the Old School Snes RPG's. Nothing has ever came close to match the music, 'cept for some elite PSX games, ChronoCross, Xenogears etc. But the storyline has to go to the Old School. With the limited space on a cartridge, they had to do as much as they could in as little space as possible, making sure that they put only the best on. And that is exactly what they did.

...Cept for the NES Era. Games like Final Fantasy 2-3, and Mother, showed that the NES was capable of a lot.

Well, some of the best stories DO come from PSX games like Vagrant Story, Xenogears, and Chrono Cross... despite the fact almost everyone HATED Chrono Cross.

For SOME reason.

Yeah! It was a good game people! Give it a chance! Our next reply comes from the lovely Helen Donaldson.

May want to get used to this spountaneous and random responding from me,
because school and Fire Emblem 4 are keeping me occupied while trying to
steal my soul. Or something like that.

That's cool right?

Yeah, well games tend to steal MY soul multiple times. It's kinda painful at first, but you get used to it.

Besides, you have to do it if you wanna be cool.

Yeah, that's what all the cool kids said.

Now, to respond to the mailbag. And I saw this question coming from a
kilometre away! Let's see.... personally, I don't prefer EITHER Old-School
or New-School, because it doesn't matter to me as long as the game is fun!
(Which, if you ask me, is a prospect that F**** F****** has forgotten.)

She understands! It doesn't matter as long as the game is good! AAAAAAHAHHAHA!

Indeed. I tell this to a lot of me RL RPG friends who are totaly story whores. :P

Er... but I'm a story whore.

YOU WHORE!!!!

I still hate you.

Although, if I really HAD to choose, I'd just say New-School to spite all
the people that rabidly worship Old-Schooledness. Besides, I REALLY love
Live-A-Live, and I don't think THAT RPG can be classified as Old-School.
Although, I don't think I can classify it as New-School either, so it's a
moot point. Maybe I'll just shut up in the hopes that this made sense.

- Helen

That made perfectly good sense. And it's always nice to spite people like that.

live-a-live is _________ school! Yeah woo!

Er okay, SG just grab the next letter.

Er...This one is from...LZFFSMOG? I think he mispelled his name.

I'd have to check to confirm that.

This is LZFFSMOG, and unlike last weeks response, I'm responding to this one. Personally, when it comes to the choice between old school and New age RPG's, it depends on my mood. Also, there is IMHO, two different versions of old school style. There is the pen and paper style reflected in games such as Wasteland or A Bard's Tale, and there are the other old school games, such as Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. I don't like the Bard's Tale set up, since the process of creating the characters is really clunky(Unless you count Final Fantasy Legends as a game in this catagory, which I liked, mostly do to the fact that its character creation process was simple, allowing me to actually start the game), and, hence, don't play those type of RPG's. The other type of RPG would be the Final Fantasy/Dragon Warrior game, which requires little thought to play, yet is fun and addicting. Then, there are New Age RPG's, which have better graphics and such, but haven't really changed in many aspects, which might be a good thing. Sure, many people complain that there hasn't been much inovation, but then agian, those same people complain when inovation does occur(They tried inovation in FF8, and that didn't turn out as well as it could have). People also complain about the story line not being as good as Old-school, which I disagree with. People complain that the story lines have been done before, which is correct. The thing people forget is that there aren't many stories to tell, and that applies to everything, not just games. In fact, the ancient greeks devised that there are only 30 stories to be told. Personally, I like New Age for the same reason I like the old Dragon Warrior Games, and that is vegging out(which is the same reason I read books, I don't put anything out, just absorb what is fed to me).

So to sum up this heavy winded argument, unless you are focusing on style(i.e. Pen and paper, menu-based, other), Old School and New Age are not all that different, ecept for graphics, which I don't give a rat's tail about. Which means that I have no preference, unless going on style, then I like menu based.

P.S. Sorry if this is hard to follow, there was a four hour gap in the middle of this in which I went to see fire works, and when I came back, the light of the fireworks had burned out all ability to think, and prevented me from even remembering what was at the beginning of this...sorta...

Yeah, it was a hard follow. THese look like my rough drafts in English class. :O

Eh, I understood it perfectly. SG's just a bit slow. As long as the game's good, it's fine.

Hey! I didn't say I didn't understand it!

Yeah well, just grab another letter.

Fine fine...This one is from ballsiml.

Hey guys,

Definitely old-school. I love the older RPGs. Newer
RPGs don't hold my interest very long. I very quickly
tire of the linear gameplay and lack of exploration
ability. Newer RPGs seem to be more about how
melodramatic they can make the story, and less about
what makes an RPG an RPG: role-playing. It's supposed
to be about playing a character, leading that
character through an adventure and (most importantly)
being able to explore and find new tasks and
adventures. I don't particularly enjoy a game that's
driven by emotion and introverted trauma (a la FFX).
Give me an RPG where I'm supposed to be a hero and an
adventurer. You want to put an award-winning story in
it? Go for it, but don't focus it just on emotion. I
couldn't care less if Tidus hated his dad or Squall
couldn't allow other people into his heart. Tell me
why they're on their quest. That's what I'm
interested in. I don't know, maybe I'm different from
everyone else. After all, both of those games sold
really well, so maybe I'm the one that's wrong. :)

ballsiml

I don't know what games' you've played...but I can think of a million games in the new school era that focus more on exploration.

Well, I believe as long as a good story is told, it can work be it based on emotion or what. And if you don't like linear gameplay, try out the SaGa series.

Or Legend Of Mana for that matter.

Wooo, both work. And Legend of Mana's music is just plain great.

Well, the next reply comes from our TRT friend, Rirse.

Sorry for the lack of replies last time from me, but since I still recovering from a vacation, I couldn't get any good ideas. But since SG was invited (oh the humanity ^^), I have decided to give you a reason to have DG come back. Plus, if I didn't reply, Megaman984 would send me to the "Pit of Al Gore"!

First off, if you can tell from TRT (my subsite), that I prefer old school (hate that term a lot) RPGs to the more modern ones. But doesn't mean I don't play any games on the PS, just they are not nearly as good. For every Brave Fencer Musashi, there a Beyond the Beyond or every Final Fantasy 9, there a Final Fantasy 8. But as long they made some good quality RPGs (ICO, Dark Cloud, Final Fantasy X), I am will be happy with the modern RPG of the next generation games.

Incase you need some filler for the next topic, how about "If you could pick one RPG should never made it off the designer desk, who would it be?" or something like that. Pray this get mail or I will force that dragon from DQ5 to fight Pikawil from my site to the death for most annoying idiot ever.

Er, actually I already have a rather interesting idea for a topic for next time. Mwaha 'n stuff.

I like his topic better. :P I woulda chosen 7TH SAGA! ARRRG

You don't even know my idea. I'd choose Quest 64. Rar.

I already KNOW I like Rirse's better. :P

Yeah well fine, we'll use it. Our next reply comes from a broke Rufus.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1363929780

I know it's my favorite RPG, so can you like buy me this and all will be right with the world. My life simnply won't be complete without an unopened original run FF7 copy!

~A broke Rufus

Sure, I'll buy it for you, but first you have to send me a blank, signed check for me to use.

I think he likes new school better. Alright alright, this next one comes from...The pretty pretty princess! ...The PS2 Princess anyways.

*glares at SG* I KNOW what you were implying!

Hey-ya'll!! wow its been a while since i responded (i was in Florida on
vacation, 2 weeks in disneyworld and sarasota!) so let me get my juices up to
date again ^.-
For the 'sponse, i like Old School RPGs genrally better then New Age 'cuz
the Old School ones focused on their stories and plots more,since they didnt
have that much to do with the graphics. Final Fantasy VI STILL remains my fav
rpg today cuz of the kewl and funny story and the wacky villains ^.^

no ?uestion 'bout it,Old Skool definantly rocks, chow ya'all!
-PS2 Princess

This coming from the PS2 Princess. Maybe she's the Phantasy Star 2 Princess. :P

Yeah, perhaps. And yes, Kefka was a rather wacky guy =P. Our next reply comes from Slyvain Lafontaine.

Hi!

I would definetely say new age RPG's are much more interesting since they offer much more advanced gameplay!

What do you do think?
Sly

Well, personally, I don't prefer one or the other. If the game is good, then I'll like it. Overall, I do think New Age games are generally better because they have far more character develop and usually better plots. However, they do have their faults. Sometimes, they tend to seem rushed at times and only focus on graphics.

That was succinct, yet hard to make fun of cos you're quite right. I personally don't like separating Old school from new school. If I like it I like it, if I don't, then I don't. It's like music. I don't particularly like to say "I like Rock" or "I like Rap" cos it really depends. I don't like or dislike all of any particualr thing. Other than that I just don't see a huge distinction between old and new school.

Very true, the distinction isn't all that great at times. Our last response comes from Jiharn. GR.

Hey there...I was too lazy to read the whole mailbag, but I read enough to see the next question. It took me a while to think of the answer, but I finally solved the problem of:

"If you were a big prisoner named Bubba, what would you do to Kagon?"

I know just what I would do...
I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him and--*gets banned by Kagon*

Ji, I know where you live, and when you get back from Harvard... DEATH!

Wow, at least SOMEONE listens to me.

Why anyone would, I could never know.

Hey Kagon go get me some caik.

Get it yourself.

Well I guess I failed to prove that point.

Yeah, I knew you would. Anyhow, my original idea is being postponed for now- our topic comes in from Rirse. What RPG do you wish was never made? Don't just give me an RPG name- tell me why and what made you hate the game so much. See you next time guys and perhaps with 984 and DG.

Our super secret last reply comes from SG. If I was a prisoner named bubba, I would XXX and after that I would make him XXX and then I would XXX, but after that I would make him XXX And after all that I would make him say "That was a lovely tea party." Theeeee ennnd.