Super Mario RPG

I Still Don't Like Turn Based RPGs

After all these years, I finally played Super Mario RPG. To tell you the truth, I never really had a strong desire to play the game. I am just simply not into turn based RPGs besides Pokemon. But I feel like Pokemon doesn't count simply because Pokemania took over our lives in the late 90s like nothing ever has before and probably even since. It was nuts.

But we're talking about Super Mario RPG. It arrived late in the Super Nintendo life span, 1996, so there was no mania about it. The problem I've had with rpgs, and even to a certain extent, Pokemon, it was very easy to just spam the strongest attack and win every battle. I only ever had to strategize at the very end with the final boss and, even then, all I did was have Peach spam healing while Mario and Geno spammed their strongest attacks. So, the battling is not particularly challenging or engaging.

The story is cute, but also pretty typical. Princess Peach gets kidnapped by Bowser yet again. In a surprise twist early on, big sword Smithy comes down and beats up Bowser and takes his castle. Then Mario has to go out and collect seven star pieces and defeat Smithy before things get worse. I massively simplified it, but that's the skeletal outline. I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary and the only character I thought was memorable was Booster. That chapter had a certain humorous charm.

The graphics and, more specifically, the art style is quite pleasing to the eye and still holds up nearly thirty ears later. That's probably the best part of this game. It's definitely a, at the time, new take on the Mushroom Kingdom. It's quite unique even to this day.

I can't say this tipped my scale towards a greater appreciation of turn-based RPGs. I must say, though, that there's definitely a certain charm to this game that made me want to complete it all the way through. I can see how someone will adore this game, especially if it was a childhood game. I can't say I will be returning to this game. Perhaps I'll try the Final Fantasy games on the SNES. Maybe those will tip my scale.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

World's End

World's End In a clash of melancholy, The world will end. All the flowers of the Earth shall burn into a crisp. The fish of the sea, the birds, and the trees all die as one with humanity. Tossed into oblivion eternity of nothing thrown into emptiness. Will we be born again? The world set ablaze a fire in the sky. Inferno consumes the land All perish; die. Weep not for the critters or your loved ones. Today is the day we all meet the same fate Tossed into oblivion, eternity of nothing, thrown into emptiness, Will we be born again? In a clash of melancholy, The world will end. All the flowers of the Earth shall burn into a crisp. The fish of the sea, the birds, and the trees All die as one with humanity.
Read more

Muh Aztec Ancestors

Image
Actually, as much as Mexicans love to believe that they where Aztecs, they where most likely the slaves to the Aztecs. Hell, they probably helped Cortez destroy Tenochtitlan. Come to think of it, the Aztecs weren't even native to Mexico. They came from somewhere up north. Utah, perhaps. They arrived, colonized, conquered,and enslaved dozens of other tribes. It was these subjugated tribes that joined ranks with the Conquistadors. So there you go. The Aztecs where evil colonizers and oppressors and the Conquistadors where liberators. Stop larping as an Aztec and start larping as a Conquistador.
Read more

A Celebration of Guilt

Image
Day Seven. The term melodic death metal actual kind of displays how dumb metal heads are. A melody is really just a sequence of single notes played in succession. Even a discordant mish mash of random notes is a melody. What they mean is a sequence of single notes that actually stick to musical scales so that they can be ear-pleasing. It's hard to draw the line as what constitutes as melodic death metal, but I never quite felt that In Flames classifies as death metal. It's just melodic (in the ear pleasing sense). Enter Arsis. They actually carries the fury and brutality typically associated with death metal but they stick to ear pleasing musical scales. Make no mistake, this is still intense. The drummer puts on a hell of a show as he blasts, thrashes, and double-bass tramples his way through each and every song. The riffs do contain melodies you can easily hum to, but they are really there just to decorate the savage, palm muted chugging ...
Read more