Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Not even Xenoblade is safe from dumb fans.

Of course you-know-who just got done introducing it to hundreds of thousands of people who'd never heard of it, so it kinda goes with the territory, but here I doubt the two are related, despite the stupidity of some arguments being thrown around as to why XCX is so much better than the first game (not that I think XCX is bad, I mean I haven't played it yet). My personal favorite:

"Xenoblade Chronicles sucks because Sharla is useless."

Yep, that just happened. Having a party member made redundant by an unfortunate combination of game mechanics has a significant impact on the quality of a game now. Holy shit where are my IQ points because I may have lost them all. What does that make, say, FF6 then? Think Sharla sucks? What does that make Umaro then? What about Cyan, whose damage output is shit AND sabotages the rest of your party in the process? If we're going to consider redundant characters that don't suck on their own merits, the category Sharla belongs to, what about Strago and his obsolete blue magic? Relm and her terrible secondary command and lack of esper time? If you want to stretch it, Celes being an effective Terra clone with a worse secondary (for all that she's still good enough to have both Terra and her in your party at all times when both are available)?

If anything, Xenoblade did a really fine job in terms of character balance by managing to make six playable characters out of seven worthwhile in such a way that all of them have a place on your team! Heck, Sharla herself is a pretty good "break glass in case of emergency" measure for those few times where you seem hopelessly outmatched. Getting healed for free after every battle and Riki having all the healing you'll ever need on top of all those other goodies he has are the reasons why she's not worth using, not her sucking at the healing part.

Internet fandoms, man. The ride never ends.

23 comments:

  1. I love the Touhou fanbase, but it does have its issues. The vocal bit of the fanbase makes fun of you if you can't dodge rain as it's falling down (people I've met are much nicer). Many others are the type that whine and yell if your interpretation of, say, Flandre, is not the same as the majority of fans think...

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  2. And an insanely annoying vocal minority of Monster Hunter fans who want the series back on "real consoles" because apparently, the series was better back when weapons were completely unbalanced and all the hitboxes glitchy as all hell.
    "Yeah, but at least it was harder than this. The fact that it was the first game of the series I played, thus making that past me inexperienced with the game's mechanics is completely irrelevant."
    Yes, they're that dumb. The newest entry is still confirmed to have a very harsh difficulty curve for beginners and having extremely unfair and infuriating bosses at the end-game. But because they are more experienced with the series, they complain that switching to Nintendo consoles somehow made them easier and worse.

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  3. Half of Grand Strategy fans are "Muh GrossGermany" or some disgusting choices on supporting the DLC paradox pushes out

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  4. I'm really starting to feel like an outlier because I like playing as Sharla...

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  5. Thank god my favorite game doesn't have people who claim that it sucks because particular weapons aren't as good as others.

    Would this mean that FF7 sucks because Cait Sith and Vincent Valentine fall behind?

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    1. I wanna say those people never played another JRPG in their lives.

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  6. "Relm and her terrible secondary command and lack of esper time?"

    The latter part (lack of esper time) confuses me a bit. I know Relm can use espers, but she can't morph into an esper form (Terra can morph into her Esper form, though), so....I don't exactly know what you're implying with Relm lacking esper time.

    On that note, I have been playing FF6 lately (my first time, actually, what the heck?) and have to say that it's really amazing. From the story to the core gameplay while going through music and graphics, pretty much everything is really well made. Right now, I'm kind of at the late game (post-Falcon rise, pre-Kefka's Tower) and have the possibility to rescue Gau, Cyan, Locke and Shadow (and can recruit Mog and Umaro, I believe). What are some good party recommendations (so far, I have Terra, Sabin, Edgar and Celes in my party, with Relm, Strago and Setzer chilling in the Falcon)?

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    1. By the way, I'm playing on the original SNES version (I didn't really want to play the GBA version, despite the additional content, since many people say the music is worse there (at least from what I've read).

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    2. "Esper time" in FF6 is how long a character can gain bonuses via level by having Magicite equipped.

      Since each Esper's Magicite gives a different level-up bonus, and characters join the party at a level based on the levels of everyone else in the roster, it means that Relm can't get very many bonuses unless you deliberately go through the game at low level.

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    3. Ah, I see. Thanks for the explanation.

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    4. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that pretty much everyone I have so far is in the low thirties.

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    5. @fsvgm: It depends what you mean by party, Kefka's Tower has you use 3 parties if you were referring to the end. Also; don't listen to GameFAQs kids have to say, the World of Ruin is brilliant.

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    6. Yeah, I know about that part (3 parties in Kefka's Tower), which is why I'm wondering about the recommended level. I went there once for fun and Edgar (since I only had 4 members in the party back then) got wrecked pretty hard by a Vectaur (4 attacks in a row dealing over 400 damage each, ow). My very wild guess is that I should be at least at level 45, which would require a certain amount of grinding, I'm aware.

      (as an aside, I'm going for the Paladin Shield, since I know of the very cheap way of getting it)

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    7. Note that I know the level isn't the only thing to consider, but also equipment, relics, and so on.

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    8. I was in my mid-50s by Kefka's Tower myself. I would show you MeepleLard's character spotlight but it's mainly for the GBA version, meaning it won't have much use for you.

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    9. The GBA's music isn't THAT bad, they did what they could with the limited hardware they had. On the other hand, the translation is far superior, there are a lot less bugs (though it introduced one that wasn't there in the SNES version, oddly enough), and of course there are the post-game dungeons which make the critters in Kefka's Tower look like the suicidal mooks on Solitary Island.

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    10. People tend to prefer a translation by Ted Woolsey because of the memorable lines and nostalgia. More content is always a plus (I actually like a lot of Legendaries being available, so I'm probably in the minority). Then again, some moron I know thinks the glitches and even more blatant lack of balance make Gen 1 Pokemon better. No matter your opinion, at least you can't get as bad as Sonic Genesis in terms of ports...

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    11. I've listened to ome of the GBA music and it really isn't that bad. They actually improved Celes part in the opera for one thing.

      @Ness Prower: Get this, there are people who believe Sonic Genesis is good now.

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    12. It's weird, though, since I'm aware there's a patch for VI Advance that restores most of the songs from the SNES original.

      Or it could be that those people I saw are SNES purists who'll yell at anyone who dares not play the original.

      Guess I'll give the GBA version a try sometime, especially considering it fixes some bugs with stats (notably MBlock being used for both physical and magical attacks). The other "bonus" (depending on how you look at things) is that I could play it in French (though I hope Fira and Firaga aren't translated as "Fa" and "Fga" respectively (feu is a single-syllable word in French). What would make sense, though, is "Feura" and "Feuga" respectively).

      On another note, I find it weird that using Phoenix Down on undead enemies still gives you experience points, since you're effectively "killing" them with a resurrection item. It's probably just me, though.

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    13. Wait...There are people that think Sonic Genesis is GOOD?! The one on GBA?! The one with inconsistent frame rate, wacked-out physics thanks to being Sonic 1 on the Advance engine, craptastic music, and the uncanny ability to literally give you a headache just by watching it?! THAT Sonic Genesis?!...

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  7. I find Sharla useful for some of the later higher leveled unique monsters, even if she was made obsolete by Riki as soon as he was available.

    What were the stupid arguments as to why XCX was better, by the way? I'm hearing a lot more about design complaints in XCX than I'm hearing reasons why it's better (y'know, despite the combat being expanded upon in typical successor fashion).

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    1. It's the notion that XCX fixes some greatly exaggerated flaws the first game had, really. Such as a party slot not being wasted on a dedicated healer because healing works very differently. Or gem crafting. It took me a while to figure out the optimal way to craft gems, but once I did I had no real problems with it (especially with save scumming being such an easy option).

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  8. I apologize for being off-topic but I found an article about someone even dumber than the "fans" you mentioned in this post. Here it is: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/07/woman-sues-ebay-claims-to-own-sun/28644069/

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