Video Game Tuesday: JRPGs and Turn-Based Combat

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m covering a topic I hear thrown about way too much. It’s all about JRPGs and Turn-Based Combat!

What do you mean too much?: I mean that I hear people critique many JRPGs or call them not pure JRPGs because they don’t use Turn-Based Combat like Final Fantasy or Pokemon. First off that’s a load of crap, what seperates a JRPG from a Western RPG is the way the story is handled.  The lack of a coherent story without having to dig through hours worth of lore and tool tips is something that JRPGs lack and are a huge point in their favor for me. WRPGs tend to be much more open about how you can proceed with the story, or not proceed with it at all and just adventure. Morrowind is the perfect example of a WRPG. Secondly the Final Fantasy series has used the Active Time Battle System since the fourth entry in the series. so you FFVII fans out there calm yourselves before raising up in arms against me.

But JRPGs aren’t JRPGs without Turn Based Combat!: I call bull on that, there are plenty of JRPGs that don’t use Turn Based Combat and they are excellent games, my favorite JRPG of all time Tales of Zestiria doesn’t use it all and that was a strength for it. In fact it’s the entire reason that Zestiria won it’s place over Chrono Trigger for me. I hate Chrono Trigger’s combat system because of it’s sometimes clunky nature. Zestiria had amazing combat in comparison. Final Fantasy XV, the one that just got released a couple weeks ago, has no turn based action at all as well. It just might be my favorite battle system outside of a Tales of game I’ve played.

So just because a JRPG doesn’t use turn based combat doesn’t mean it’s not a pure JRPG, and it doesn’t mean it’s bad.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday!

Retro Game Friday: Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering an obscure title in the Mario series. It’s Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga!

Plot Synopsis: The setting of the game begins in the Mushroom Kingdom, but progresses to the Beanbean Kingdom for the majority of the game. In the game, Mario and Luigi combat Cackletta, the primary antagonist. The quest begins when Cackletta, with the aid of her assistant Fawful, steals Princess Peach’s voice after adopting the guise of an ambassador from the Beanbean Kingdom.

Plot: It’s so cliche that it hurts. So the plot wasn’t amazing. The gameplay was the real draw of this particular entry in the Mario series.

Gameplay:It’s a turn based RPG with some time based button press inputs to increase damage. It’s not amazing, and it’s not the best RPG battle system I’ve played. That said it wasn’t the worst either.

Art: Pixel based so it still stands up today, although it has aged.

Music: Pretty standard Mario music.

Overall: Skippable unless you are really bored and need and RPG to play.

For those who like: Mario Games, RPGs, Slapstick Humor.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.