Episode 89: Metal Dragon Max Quest – Q&A Quest
This week in Q&A Quest, we delve into a variety of topics, including our fond memories of the Dreamcast. Dragon Quest is also discussed in some detail.
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A bit of gaming knowledge I actually know! Gust now uses the same engine as the Dynasty Warriors games for the Atelier games since they got bought out by Koei Tecmo. I believe they swapped around the time of the Mysterious series which is why those games perform worse on Vita than the Dusk games where Gust had finally gotten whatever engine they were using before tuned to the Vita. FYI, never play Atelier Firis on Vita; it has to be up there for worst Vita port of all time.
Sorry, you do questions, right? Let me tack on a few of those then.
Do you have a favorite bad game? A game that’s demonstrably terrible but you enjoy it anyway?
Have you ever reviewed a bad game where the catharsis of writing the review made up for the pain inflicted by playing the game?
In the early and mid 2000’s there was an usual trend particularly with Nintendo platforms that featured card based battle mechanics. Lost Kingdoms, Baten Kaitos and a KH come prevalent to memory babks. Was there a specific trend at time that led to that rpg design trend? And do you believe it was abandoned too early or could be revusited in modern rpgs? Baten Kaitos Origins was really an amazingly fun and underappreciated gem lost to most gamers memories and lacking in any virtual console release sadly too.
And I cannot help but ask for your reaction..or horror at the recently announced Romancing SaGa free to play Android installment that is a continuation to world and story to 3? It feels like a terrible missed opportunity to not develop this on Switch. The series began on Nintendo and Nintendo has never been healthier and the success of Octopath Traveler I thought might encourage Kawazu to invest in a console release 🙁
Which rpg story line do you consider the darkest thematically?
The discussion on games that changed greatly when localized for the west got me thinking about character name changes. Although it’s not as common nowadays, there are still companies that will change at least a few characters’ names in a game (especially Nintendo, I’ve noticed). Can you think of some instances in which you liked a name change, or thought it made sense? How about cases where you have no idea why they changed a character or preferred the original name.
I’d like to point at the Fire Emblem for changing characters names when localizing. Many times, they make sense. Keiran from the Radiance games’s original name was Kevin. Keiran is far more fitting for an over-the-top knight than Kevin. Or Panne from Awakening, who was called Velvet in the Japanese. Presumably, the reference to the Velveteen rabbit was too on-the-nose, so they changed her name to make it more subtle (panne is a type of crushed velvet).
Other times, changes seem arbitrary, like Titania’s name from it’s original Tiamat. Did someone at Nintendo think people would mistaken her for the dragon? What I find funnier is when a character’s name has to change because a later game in the series comes out with a character by the same name as a localized version. This happened to Tobin in Shadows of Valentia – his original name was Robin. XD
Favorite western rpp?
Or your favorite rpg, either works. (Typo)
Okay let try this one more time, what is your favorite western rpg? There I did it.
Which rpg can you think of that have broken or useless stats?
Is it odd that fire emblem seems to be gaining in popularity and final fantasy tactics has been missing in action?