CRPG

I may be committing some light copyright infringement…

I was looking for a game to keep me occupied during the long holiday weekend, and my partner handed me an old RPG from the original PlayStation days – Dark Stone. It didn’t run super well on my usual PSX emulator, so I was forced to try something different – RetroArch, now on Steam. Dark Stone questing Dark Stone is an action RPG. A necromancer, Draak, has resurrected himself as a dragon and is terrorizing the world. Seven crystals scattered across seven dungeons in seven lands are required to reform the Time Stone and allow you to put a final end to him. You take on the role of one of eight different classes (male and female versions of warrior, mage, thief and priest), go out, explore, hunt, get levels and gear, and then take on a dungeon. ...

Ludomotion’s sequel to 2017’s “Unexplored” roguelike dungeon crawler brings 3D procedural generation to the overworld in a clever little legacy roguelike with some interesting quirks. After Townscaper blew me away with its quaint procedural town-building meditative piece, I followed its author on Twitter. Stålberg’s standing with the procedural generation community leads to all sorts of different niches, including that belonging to Ludomotion’s “Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy”. The demo was briefly available on Steam a little while back, and I immediately fell in love. The demo expired, but I went looking and found that the game is currently in early access on the Epic store. I don’t really need another gaming portal in my life or on my hard drive, but I wanted to play the game, and so I did what I had to do and spent some time with it. ...

I only had time for a short session last night. Time to grasp Real Power in the dungeon of Eureka, and then, just for fun, see what’s at the top of the Crystal Tower… Time to step back and see what I’m going to need to do before I can finish the game. Like most Final Fantasy games – most RPGs of all types, really – there’s a point where you can just forge on to the end of the game, or just dally around working on other goals so much so that the end game isn’t really a challenge. I’m there with Final Fantasy III now. ...

What brought the four Warriors of Light together? From where did they get the crystals of the four primal forces? Who were their families? Where’d they go to school? What foods did they like? Hell if I know. All I know is that they’re pretty good at killing fiends and running away. Mostly the running away. But we managed to finish the game and save the world, somehow. It’s been so many days since I blogged about my Final Fantasy 1 playthrough that I’ve lost track of where I was last time. ...

Having made our way to the town of Melmond, we were shocked to find a ruin. A vampire was draining all of their Earthpower? The High Lord’s Council is nowhere to be seen? Even Thomas Covenant has gone missing? Well, I guess maybe a few Warriors of Light could get the job done… As is often the case, even with the hints the townscritters give, I’m never quite sure where to go. I spent awhile sailing around the area, looking for a sage at a southern tip or anywhere to dock before I eventually had the bright idea to just walk down to the area, from Melmond. ...

I was just going to play Final Fantasy XIV long enough to get a picture with a dwarf to illustrate how Final Fantasy themes crop up again and again… and I did that… but then I started working on the main story quest again… and… well, maybe later. Right now, we have to deal with a certain evil critter named Astos. A witch walks into a bar. One of her eyes is shut tight, and a trickle of blood leaks from it. The other is red with rage. A broomstick follows her closely, trying to help, but she snarls at it until it puts itself into a corner. “What happened???” asks the barmaid. “Astos happened,” spits the witch. “He took my crystal eye, and now I cannot see!” The barmaid quickly mixes up a strong drink; fumes pour from the mug. The witch drinks it in one gulp and falls silent. ...

We defeated Garland and rescued Princess Sarah! Yay! A grateful king embarked on an impromptu “Infrastructure Week”, and built us a bridge because that was exactly the reward we were looking for. Sure, he could have given us gold or weapons, but instead the Cupertino Corps of Engineers lali-ho’d their way north and built a bridge. Not like he didn’t have loot to give. There were some vaults sealed with mystic keys below. We saved the king’s daughter, but we weren’t important enough for the good stuff. Garland, undefeated, now defeated by us, sure. The King of Constantine couldn’t get rid of us fast enough. ...

Welcome to Blaugust 2nd and the first day of our Final Fantasy 1 playthrough! Garland is the first boss the Warriors of Light meet in Final Fantasy 1. Once a hero, he has kidnapped Princess Sarah and taken her to the Chaos Shrine, there to do evil things. What happened to make him this way? Our Final Fantasy playthrough starts with our party meeting this fallen angel… (The featured image is Garland as he appears in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, a mobile game with its own story that nonetheless pulls in visions of heroes and villains from other Final Fantasy games.) ...

In a more consistent world, I’d have played Persona 4 before I played Persona 5. Not because the plots or characters of the two games are at all connected; they are not. It’s because I am continually seeing the P4 characters and plot through a P5 lens. And, I think this is maybe spoiling some plot twists for me, twists that P5 players were supposed to have been expecting. All Persona games share a similar theme. A series of supernatural events ensnares a high school student, who finds he can travel to a parallel world where people’s subconscious desires – their Shadows – are causing havoc in the real world. He finds he can summon a manifestation of his own inner self – a Persona – to battle these Shadows and free people caught in this parallel world. Other high school students join him and discover their own Personas. ...