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roadrunnertwiceI started thinking of Kartia (PSX; SRPG) tonight when I ran into an old review I wrote, sitting around on my HD. And damn, that game is still revolutionary. Sure, it was tediously linear, had a somewhat simplistic battle system compared to other contemporary SRPGs, sported unimpressive graphics and sound, and mostly only sold on the strength of Yoshitaka Amano's artwork. But observe:
Unconventional cast. Well, yes, you've got your young knight out to prove himself and your young noblewoman determined to do something useful and justify her existence beyond her title. But the rest of the cast? They're basically volunteer EMTs/firefighters with crappy swords. That was new. Plus, they were flawed (Posha cracks under pressure; Troy is an asshole; Kun is prime, grade-A naïve virgin), interesting,* and by-and-large likable. And Kartia had plenty of non-plot-centric character interaction, which I've gone off about before w/r/t the Tales Of games.
Villains attempting something more interesting than either ruling or destroying the world. I won't spoil it for you.
Consistent and tightly integrated game system and story world. Every RPG reuses the main battle system mechanic as the central plot macguffin, but it's NEVER thought through very well. Except here. The card-writing system that fuels all of your equipment creation and magic use actually has a purpose BESIDES kicking ass. People use it to brew coffee, start campfires, put out structure fires, do landscaping and demolition work, fabricate tools, and perform both major and minor medical procedures.** There's a licensing bureaucracy in place, and your characters' capabilities in battle are limited to what endorsements they have on their ID. (As opposed to your above-the-law enemies, who can and will summon huge amounts of a dangerous and nearly uncontrollable caliber of Phantom, and bollocks to the DOL.) And there's none of this no-Phoneix-Down-for-Aeris bidness: Any main character goes down in battle, the game's over and you start the fight over again.
Basically, the cast has to live in the game world, instead of just visiting it whenever there's some ass to kick.
Kartia is one of the only video games I've played that could hold its own as a novel, and I don't say that lightly. I think it had some tricks up its sleeves that any fantasy storyteller could learn from.
_____
* You know the stereotypical haircutting scene, whereby a female character makes some sort of vow of fortitude by giving herself an A-line cut with the nearest sword? Posha's was probably the only one of those I've ever believed in and cheered for. And she didn't magically get her act together afterwards, either; it was like pulling teeth the whole way. I think I consider her the bravest character in the whole game.
** There's this absolutely FABULOUS scene where a semi-major character is dying of massive contusions and hemorrhaging, and Posha is trying to save him. She orders the bystanders to start using Water and Iron Kartia to generate enough blood for a major transfusion, and starts using Stone cards to rebuild his crushed ribcage and probably a cracked femur. Totally fucking intense.
EDIT: Update on the Caffetto café: They DO have a bathroom, their coffee is decent, there's a new photography exhibit in here, they play awesome music, they've got baked goods from the Hard Times bakery instead of some random yahoos who use too much oil in their muffins, and they've got something like 30 different sodas. Plus their packaged sandwiches are things like hummus and gouda/veggie. I think we have a winner here, folks.
Unconventional cast. Well, yes, you've got your young knight out to prove himself and your young noblewoman determined to do something useful and justify her existence beyond her title. But the rest of the cast? They're basically volunteer EMTs/firefighters with crappy swords. That was new. Plus, they were flawed (Posha cracks under pressure; Troy is an asshole; Kun is prime, grade-A naïve virgin), interesting,* and by-and-large likable. And Kartia had plenty of non-plot-centric character interaction, which I've gone off about before w/r/t the Tales Of games.
Villains attempting something more interesting than either ruling or destroying the world. I won't spoil it for you.
Consistent and tightly integrated game system and story world. Every RPG reuses the main battle system mechanic as the central plot macguffin, but it's NEVER thought through very well. Except here. The card-writing system that fuels all of your equipment creation and magic use actually has a purpose BESIDES kicking ass. People use it to brew coffee, start campfires, put out structure fires, do landscaping and demolition work, fabricate tools, and perform both major and minor medical procedures.** There's a licensing bureaucracy in place, and your characters' capabilities in battle are limited to what endorsements they have on their ID. (As opposed to your above-the-law enemies, who can and will summon huge amounts of a dangerous and nearly uncontrollable caliber of Phantom, and bollocks to the DOL.) And there's none of this no-Phoneix-Down-for-Aeris bidness: Any main character goes down in battle, the game's over and you start the fight over again.
Basically, the cast has to live in the game world, instead of just visiting it whenever there's some ass to kick.
Kartia is one of the only video games I've played that could hold its own as a novel, and I don't say that lightly. I think it had some tricks up its sleeves that any fantasy storyteller could learn from.
_____
* You know the stereotypical haircutting scene, whereby a female character makes some sort of vow of fortitude by giving herself an A-line cut with the nearest sword? Posha's was probably the only one of those I've ever believed in and cheered for. And she didn't magically get her act together afterwards, either; it was like pulling teeth the whole way. I think I consider her the bravest character in the whole game.
** There's this absolutely FABULOUS scene where a semi-major character is dying of massive contusions and hemorrhaging, and Posha is trying to save him. She orders the bystanders to start using Water and Iron Kartia to generate enough blood for a major transfusion, and starts using Stone cards to rebuild his crushed ribcage and probably a cracked femur. Totally fucking intense.
EDIT: Update on the Caffetto café: They DO have a bathroom, their coffee is decent, there's a new photography exhibit in here, they play awesome music, they've got baked goods from the Hard Times bakery instead of some random yahoos who use too much oil in their muffins, and they've got something like 30 different sodas. Plus their packaged sandwiches are things like hummus and gouda/veggie. I think we have a winner here, folks.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 04:44 pm (UTC)avioi: FFV's characters are clearly the smartest.
froborr: Oh?
avioi: They tried to Phoenix Down Galuf!
I still have conniption fits over Tinctures in FFVI. Why the HELL are they selling magic restoratives at the convenience store when there haven't been magic users in a thousand years!?
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 05:05 pm (UTC)And there totally have been magic users! Strago and Relm, remember?
I always figured the Tinctures were some kind of popular herbal snake-oil patent-medicine that just HAPPENED to restore magic points. Used to only sell well in S&R's hometown, but it's now sold more widely than it used to be, because it gained a sudden and mysterious boost in popularity in the Empire's key cities, and the manufacturers are trying to use the extra capital to expand their turf. ETHERS, on the other hand, were specifically made and marketed as magic-restoratives, so they haven't been properly manufactured for a good millenium, which is why they're so rare. Likewise Elixers.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 05:15 pm (UTC)Tonics taste like Reed's Extra.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 06:29 pm (UTC)"Um, why're there cherubs above the oven?"
"Crap, that turkey must have had Life 3 cast on it!"
"And now the oven's glowing..?"
"Ultima!? Where'd you buy this turkey?"
Vwooooooooooooom-SNAP!*
*Crappiest attempt to write the Ultima sound effect EVAR.