Archive for the 'fanfests' Category

[12 days] Day 3: Revisitng Super Mario RPG

This is a crossover that needs to happen. Source unknown.

Super Mario RPG was a game that defined my childhood. It was my first RPG, and I remember playing through it when I was in elementary school. Many, many years later, during the Super Mario RPG fanfest this past summer, I got a chance to revisit the game.

To this day, Super Mario RPG stands the test of time as a solid, traditional-style RPG. Everything from its humor, to its action-based battle system, to its lively cast of characters, to its diverse, upbeat, selection of music continues to make this a classic game that I’ll be revisiting years from now. Mario RPG followed in the footsteps of EarthBound by not taking itself too seriously, an atmosphere which was aided by its cartoony graphics that still hold up to this day. It’s not a particularly difficult game. When I was a kid, I dumped all my points into health points instead of raising my attack or magic powers and struggled with it, but I noticed that knowing what I was doing, the game was much less challenging these many years later. But it’s still enjoyable, especially the battle system. The timed-hits system remains one of the finest game mechanics introduced into RPGs that many games have since emulated. It provides the player an additional level of interaction that helped make the battles more exciting. Playing through it again and discussing with our friends was one of the highlights of my summer.

Oh yeah. The Mario RPG fanfest also spawned @DatValentina.

Final Fantasy Tactics and the search for balance in SRPGs.

This is another post-Fangamer Game Club analysis post. Final Fantasy Tactics is a strategy RPG applauded for its broad and deep range of customization and Pokemon-like gameplay as you build your party to take on the game’s challenges. It’s also criticized for the convoluted story and the sporadic difficulty curve. I’d like to focus this post on the game’s balance, and how FFT struggles to find a way to achieve a balance that is satisfying to the player. This is more of a gameplay analysis so spoilers here are light.

We’ll break up the major problems with the game’s balance into a couple sections.

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[12 Days][#ebff] Day 12 – A Wonderful Journey through EarthBound

I’m been asked a variation of this question: “Why do you really love a game that’s over 10 years old and few people have ever heard of?” The obvious topic to choose for my last 12 Days post is EarthBound.

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[#ebff] EB Fanfest Day 16 – Smiles and Tears

Today’s GPP: The final battle and the ending to EarthBound. This post has a lot of spoilers, so be warned.

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[#ebff] EB Fanfest Day 15 – Returning Home

Today’s GPP: We finish Magicant and search for a fragment of a meteorite in Onett.

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[#ebff] EB Fanfest Day 14 – Towards the Last Sanctuary

Today’s GPP: Getting the last two Your Sanctuary locations.

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[#ebff] Building a Sound Stone

In this post, I’ll be talking about building a Sound Stone as a project for the EarthBound Fanfest. In EarthBound, the Sound Stone is a device that Ness is given at the beginning of the game. He uses it to collect the melodies of the eight Your Sanctuary locations that give him the power to defeat the cosmic evil Giygas.

This is primarily a documentation for those who would be interested in building one of these. The source code for the project is available here for anyone to use and modify.

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[#ebff] EB Fanfest Day 13 – The Sword of Kings

Today: Rescuing Tony, Apple Kid, and Dr. Andonuts from the nefarious Starmen.

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[#ebff] EB Fanfest Day 12 – Yellow Submarine

Today’s GPP: Dungeon Man and taking the Yellow Submarine to Deep Darkness.

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[#ebff] EB Fanfest Day 11 – Secrets of the Pyramid


Today’s GPP: We’re going to a lot of exotic places! Dalaam, a boat ride from Summers to Scaraba, and the Pyramid.

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