Crpg @ MindSay

I've been playing and enjoying Disgaea 2 on the PS2.  It's a turn-based, grid-based, number-crunching blast.  And it takes a neat game design mechanic to extremes.

We're all familiar with CRPG conventions, where characters have 6 stats (hlth,str,dex,int, etc.)  and then we get a +6 sword, which usually means +6 points to your character's damage while the sword is wielded.  The Disgaea system simply makes characters, monsters, and EVERY item in the game have the same set of stats.  Your character might be defined as (12, 9, 17, 11, 11, 11).  You wield a sword that is defined as (0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0).  So your adjusted stats, while wielding the sword, are simple the sum of the stats (you plus the sword), or (12, 9, 20, 11, 11, 11).

Not only is this system simple to understand, but it opens up lots of complexity (just what the player wants).  It's trivial to "fuse" items together.  Combat calculations are written once; no special cases for hitting a wall instead of a  monster.  On top of that, Disgaea goes crazy.  Do you want to upgrade your sword?  Level it, just like you would level yourself.  Do you have a magical stick of gum?  Wield it, for extra magic.  Or fuse it with a trash can and a bone wand. Or sacrifice it to your god.  Or sell it back to the shop.

So, if you don't want to traverse 50 random dungeons just to level up your helm, stay away from Disgaea 2.  But if number-crunching turn-based CRPGs are your thing, play it.

"After the fight is over, watch the next handful of scenes, until you get dumped inside your bedroom. You'll also get a TRAINEE'S WEAR armor and a ROYAL KNIGHTS CHARTER (key item). With the talking over, kick your bed to get an ANALYSIS BALL. Kick the lone desk in the room for a CURE DROP, Exit outside.Also, try going around Leonard on his chair to kick the back bed for 10 Dagols.  If you want, kick the guard outside your door up to 400 times to get a single Dagol(the currency of the game) each time. Head right, and enter the first door you see. In here, kick the second chair on the right desk for a CURE DROP, then exit. Back in the hallway, go left down into the next hallway."  - Radiata Stories walkthru from www.gamefaqs.com

Does this excite you?  I know this collection sub-game is designed for achievers, and I'm more of an explorer.  But still.  If I make a game with 1000 chairs for you to kick, is it a fun game for anyone?  A lot of Japanese CRPG traditions come from seminal American games, so I'm not going to pin this on the Japanese, but why, in every CPRG, are we expected to ransack every house we come to?  With no consequences!

Oblivion, Jade Empire, Fable, and other recent games try to buck this trend, but they still leave you with 1000 dungeon chests to ransack.  Is this collection game just a relic, or am I alone in being sick of it?

I'm playing Radiata Stories for the PS2.  I'm not sure why I added it to my wish list, though.  It's exposed a raw nerve with me.

Many of the traditional, big, deep RPGs have gone with a twitch combat mode, instead of the more traditional turn-based combat.  They obviously made the calculation that the mythical "mass market" demands more instant gratification, more action.  BUT, they left in a bad Japanese CRPG tradition.  It takes HOURS of cutscenes to even start the game, and hours more before you're past the tutorials and into the real meat of the gameplay!

Throw out turn-based combat, but leave in the impenetrable boring storyline??  What are they smoking?  Even young people can enjoy games like Civ and Heroes of Might and Magic; I've seen 'em.  But you have to REALLY like Squeenix games to put up with the labored beginning hours of their games.