Half-Glass Gaming [Episode 17] : Kaizeru-Hige
This week, a flashback to Ren Fest triggers a conversation about facial hair. Does Josh’s beard resemble Geralt of Rivia’s or Joel’s from The Last of Us? How do The Witcher 3‘s facial hair mechanics work? What is the history of facial hair in Japan? How do you say “handlebar mustache” in Japanese? You’ve got questions; Mandi has answers.
Of course, all this beards ‘n’ stashes talk is merely a prelude, and the real fun begins when we dive into the history of JRPGs. Where did the term JRPG come from (and is it even an accurate term)? Were most Japanese RPG studios originally making pornographic video games? Why does Mandi hate Mass Effect so much (which isn’t even a JRPG)? Why does the Reverend prefer Wild Arms Alter Code: F to the original Wild Arms game? (Well, there’s actually more on that Wild Arms thing in this Retrovolve article.)
Tickle your little weeaboo ears with the sound of Half-Glass Gaming.
Here’s a full list of games mentioned in this episode:
- The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
- The Last of Us
- Deadly Premonition
- Don’t Starve
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
- Persona 4 Golden
- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
- Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
- The Dragon & Princess (1982)
- Dragon Quest (originally Dragon Warrior)
- The Portopia Serial Murder Case
- Metal Gear (series)
- Silent Hills
- Final Fantasy (series)
- Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981)
- Lode Runner
- Wild Arms
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
- Mass Effect (series)
- Diablo
- Baldur’s Gate
- Chrono Trigger
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1984)
- Zork
- Donkey Kong
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario 64
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Nobunaga’s Ambition (series)
- Final Fantasy XII
- Final Fantasy X
- Final Fantasy XIII
- Final Fantasy XIII-2
- Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
- Final Fantasy VII
- Final Fantasy VI
- Final Fantasy VIII
- Final Fantasy IX
- Tales of Graces f
- Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
- Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
- Lost Dimensions
- Child of Light
- Dark Souls
- Dragon’s Dogma
- Bravely Default
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
- Wild Arms: Alter Code F
- Mother 3
- Persona 5
- Gwent
Retrovolve Staff
At Retrovolve, we love discussing, studying, and playing retro games, though not necessarily in that order.
Very informative episode! Like Mandi, I don’t care much for the word JRPG. They’re all RPGs to me and turn based ones are what I really enjoy. I’d never heard the term weeaboo, but it might become my new favourite word.
http://pbfcomics.com/71 This is the comic Mandi was talking about.
– The Reverend
I’d meant to say thank you to Julian but it slipped my mind when I made my comment. Thank you for being such a welcoming group.
Lightning sucks because Toriyama made her his waifu
How do you say sideburns in japanese?
Sideburns are hoo-hige!
Some good games you didn’t say are Chrono Cross and Bahamut Lagoon. I have Ni No Kuni but I didn’t get far in it yet.
It was not by accident that I did not mention Chrono Cross, I assure you.
– The Reverend
I’ve not played either of those. I have friends who love Chrono Cross, and other friends who hate it. I think I actually borrowed a copy from someone ages ago and forgot to give it back. I’ll have to dig through my stuff and see.
You should try Chrono Cross if you find it. The music is awesome and it’s got tons of characters.Serge is the shit, lol.
Great episode. I’d like to try some of the old games you talked about at the start of the episode, but I’m guessing they were never released in English.
If you’re talking about The Portopia Serial Murders Case, you can play it in English via a translation patch:
http://dvdtranslations.eludevisibility.org/portopia.html
Thanks. I’m not good with names but that might have been one that sounded interesting. I wanted to play the Kojima game. I really like his work.
I stopped playing JRPGs about 5 years ago. Grinding is repetitive as fuck and everyone is a whiny teenager.
The episode was good though.
There are some that you don’t have to deal with that with. Chrono Trigger has a really good pace. You *can* grind, but if you keep in mind the AP/XP values of certain enemies, you generally don’t have to. In general, though, I agree that the grinding is always my least favorite part of a JRPG.
– The Reverend
You should play Nier! No grinding, grumpy old man protagonist, and a genuinely fantastic story.
I like the old style jRPGs with airships and world maps. Do they still make games like that?
They do! The Trails in the Sky series is exactly what you’re looking for. You can play the first one on PSP, Vita, and PC, and the second one just came out for Vita and PC. I’d also suggest looking into the Tales games. They don’t all have airships, but they do have solid combat, world maps, and a classic feel. Symphonia, Vesperia, and Graces f are my favorites.
Did any of you ever use RPG maker? I tried to make jrpg style games with it but I never finished.
I had a game half-made for the very original RPG Maker on the PSOne, but then the memory card I had the info on was stolen. Sort of knocked the wind out of my sales.
I own RPG Maker 3, but it seemed somewhat arcane to me when I was trying to figure out how to use it.
– The Reverend