The Video Game Revue

R-Type Command, Penny Arcade RPG

R-Type Command is pretty much exactly what it claims to be: an R-Type themed hex-based tactics game. I'm not a huge R-Type fan, although I do own a copy of R-Type Final. My allegiance lies more along the lines of Gradius, frankly. But there is a pretty big tactics and war-gaming junkie in me, so R-Type Command really didn't have to be that great in order for me to like it, and I do. It would have been cooler if they'd kept the Japanese name of R-Type Tactics and the Japanese cover art, though.

Earlier today I read an import review of Final Fantasy IV DS over on RPGFan.com. I was utterly horrified to read remarks such as the following:

Is FFIV really just that amazing? I don't think so [...] the game was hardly revolutionary in its time.

What... the... fuck! James Quentin Clark obviously has a different opinion on Squaresoft RPGs than I do.

For one thing, Final Fantasy IV had the strongest narrative of any console RPG at the time of its release. I suppose one could make an argument for a few others like Dragon Quest IV or Phantasy Star, but in my experience FF IV was clearly the king of its day as far as story and character are concerned.

But perhaps even more significantly than that is the fact that FF IV introduced Active Time Battle. Prior to that, there was no real-time element to the Final Fantasy combat system--or, for that matter, to any earlier RPG combat system that I know of. Even in widening the field to include PC RPGs I can't think up any RPGs that were around in 1992 with a real-time combat system. The RTS genre wasn't even in its infancy yet; the first WarCraft game didn't come out until 1994, for instance. (source: Wikipedia)

Final Fantasy IV played unlike any other RPG known at the time. It's combat system was fluid and engaging, and still holds up relatively well today. The narrative is crude overall, but there are parts of it that are among the best story-telling in the entire Final Fantasy series. To hear James Quentin Clark tell it, Final Fantasy IV just happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch the attention of fans. In my opinion, Final Fantasy IV fought hard to earn its place in RPG history.

That having been said, I do see the logic in that somebody with a lot of modern RPG experience under their belt who is looking for sophisticated RPG experiences could easily be let-down by a remake of FF IV. I just don't think it's fair to say that FF IV is over-rated. The fact that it's one of the most important games in history doesn't necessarily make it fun for everyone, but FF IV is nothing if not amazing.

Speaking of RPGs, I've played some of Penny Arcade's "On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One." It's pretty good. Sunny is completely hooked on it too, which is a good sign.

The good news is that PA:OtR-SPoD (mercy!), hereby referred to as the PA RPG, stacks up well against my recent rant on RPG design. The writing is good (particularly if you're a fan of Penny Arcade), the combat system is lively and engaging, the game moves along at a satisfying pace, and it's fun to explore new areas. Overall I'd say this is one of the better RPGs that I've played in the last few years, although I should qualify that with the disclaimer that I haven't played a whole lot of RPGs recently.

On the bad side, the PA RPG really shows its indie gaming roots by lacking polish. It's a budget game, which makes it easy to forgive the small interface glitches and the not-so-next-gen graphics, especially since the game is bursting with so much creativity. One problem that rears its head repeatedly is how difficult it can be to target a specific NPC to talk to, but these sorts of things haven't done much to deter me from enjoying the game.

The worst thing that I've found about the PA RPG is that the combat system is frantic. I would have preferred a game with slower-paced combat that focused a bit more on tactics than on timing one's button presses. In a battle involving five or so enemies, things get crazy enough that it's difficult to keep track of everything all at once. This style of gameplay does make the combat challenging and interesting, even if it is a bit much, so once again I find myself enjoying the game and accepting it for what it is.

I should also mention that I'm playing the PA RPG on Xbox Live, rather than the PC version. I'm curious as to whether the PC user interface is better or worse.

Have a good weekend, at any rate.

posted by Parappa @ 10:54 PM