Comments on: Melting Visual Novels into JRPGs

By: Screw Grinding, Powerlevel with Friendship: Sakura Wars | zanaikin | Major Arcana

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:04:28 +0000

[…] visual novel storytelling is packed with character interaction. But like I’ve said before, these game makers could really use some better script writers and character […]

By: Aorii

Aorii — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:32:49 +0000

Well yeah, character skits are mostly bonus materials just there for fun. Although, a good number of them are involved in the sidequests that helps you gain weapons, skill, artes, etc, so there are some bonuses. But yes, P4’s specialty, and one of the things I’m suggesting, is to replace much of that grinding with plot/character/world development driven side-arcs, which since they’re replacing dungeon-grinding they better also help the mechanics; otherwise the gameplay is going to suffer.

By: vendredi

vendredi — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:54:06 +0000

I think there is a significant difference between the use of “character skits” — a la the Tales series or Star Ocean series and the way Social Links work in the Persona series. They’re both “visnov” elements as you term them: both function as a form of character development, but you note a significant difference in the Persona series — there is an actual gameplay bonus that is derived from pursuing Social Links. If anything, it strikes me that the real charm of Persona 4 is not just the character interaction — as you have noted, the strength is more in the presentation rather than the originality of the characters — but rather the fact that Persona 4 allows shortcuts through the traditional JRPG grind — you can level up your Personae through Social Links, smart fusions, and good tactics.

By: Record of Agarest War Naughty Edition Is Really… Naughty @ NotCliche

Record of Agarest War Naughty Edition Is Really… Naughty @ NotCliche — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:31:29 +0000

[…] need some good reading on how Record of Agarest War is… you might just want to pop by this particular post. Pretty insightful, before anyone starts making comments about the direction the game is heading […]