🐋 Final Fantasy 4 - Week 10

[Daisoujou]

Gotcha, that’s fair! My biggest answer would be arcade style games where you might only get a few sentences of context, like shmups or beat em ups, but those don’t get a lot of mainstream respect these days (they’re great though trust ). Most modern AAAs include a significant story focus, I feel like the exception is probably Dark Souls and the like? Souls games aren’t lacking an overarching plot and some people get really into the lore but in the end reading item descriptions and getting an NPC’s 10 lines of dialog is still a tiny minority of time compared to the adventuring and fighting. But there’s so much in the indie space that might be more about the gameplay, the survival and simulation type games, a lot of roguelike type stuff that’s gotten big (notably excluding Hades and probably some others), etc.

I feel like what I’m doing might not quite be the same as you but I fall into this position where to feel really good about the story I need the gameplay to be kind of augmenting the story, or at least I don’t pull them apart as much as people seem to. Like a lot of people find SaGa games to be very light on story but I feel like because they are open-ended and allow for unique playthroughs there’s an emergent story of what happened to my particular group, and high stakes from difficulty usually helps because even in simpler stories I can buy in more emotionally. Me playing in the Xenogears club was a whole big thing with my issues with that game lol, but I feel like no matter how well written people find it to be, it’s harder for me to enjoy that when I’m finding the combat really tedious. Especially when scenes of cool mech fights and the like are being sabotaged by the fact that I’ve played as the cool mech and it’s really boring, with a constantly draining fuel mechanic that makes it feel like I’m frantically looking for the next gas station. Anyway, in that way I am kind of creating an aspect of the story out of what I’m playing.

I feel like some people would just say I care more about the gameplay, then, but I at least think of it as how the two interplay into the experience of each other. And importantly, if it’s that kind of experience, I don’t need the gameplay to be “fun” per se. I also love a lot of pure gameplay stuff too, though.

[coraldragonstar]

Given my general lack of experience with non-RPG games, I’m taking most of your comment in as ‘recommendations’! (Oh to reach retirement so I have the time to start experimenting again! )

I know I’m not very fond of arcade type games, but I can’t really say I’ve tried any Dark Souls games. As I mentioned with Pokemon, I do sometimes create my own story in my head as I play, so if a game is reasonably customizable (like you say SaGa games are), I could probably enjoy them well enough. It’s harder work to have to make the story up myself, though, which limits the accessibility for me a bit…

[simias]

Dark Matter

I just encountered the Dark Matter item in FFV and I thought it was the first appearance of this item in the series but according to the wiki it isn’t:

The Dark Matter can be stolen from Zeromus in the final battle, using Edge’s Steal command. In the original version of the game, it serves no real purpose. In the Pixel Remaster, after saving clear data, upon reloading said clear save, the Dark Matter does not remain in the inventory.

In the 3D versions, the Dark Matter actually serves a purpose: after stealing it from Zeromus and completing the game, the player can land the Lunar Whale near the face on the Red Moon and walk up to it. The party will be prompted to use an item. Using the Dark Matter initiates a boss battle with a new superboss, Proto-Babil. In the mobile/Steam versions, the Dark Matter is only stolen from Zeromus’s true form after using the Crystal.

Early theories speculated it lowered the power of Big Bang, but this has been proven false. Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive, Volume 1, states that there is a very low chance of stealing it and thus doing so successfully is a “cause for celebration despite its questionable utility”, making it something of a trophy item. The Dark Matter is dummied out of the North American SNES version and the Easy Type version.

I just spent 20 minutes attempting to steal it, without success. If I understand how the steal mechanics function, it has a 5% chance of success.

[Akashelia]

Oh, cool. So even the face actually has a purpose.

[simias]

「ダークマター」ＧＥＴ

[GrimoireLux]

I think I got one in the GBA version but it also does nothing there, despite there being postgame content. Would have been cool if it actually did lower the strength of Big Bang. Even with a 5% chance to steal, it would make a huge difference.

[frequent4832]

I saw the “steal it to make the fight easier” thing when I was looking for help online and instantly clocked it as an urban legend. But honestly, it’s not any more far-fetched than the very real strategy of using black magic after he shakes to deliberately provoke a counterattack. Games back then were just weird.