But I think of the act of exploring more of a ‘I wanna go there, and the trip is part of the fun’ than ‘I wanna go there, and I have to do A, B, C, in order to unlock it. So I hope A, B, and C are fun.’

If by ‘secrets’ you mean ‘puzzle items’ then yeah, it was a grind...but there were tons to find in the game outside the shop. Plus, the items were designed in a way that, for the first time in a long time, offered functionality that felt useful to adventuring & combat, not just as a ‘key’ to a puzzle ‘door.’

I mean the fights you do get into feel like a grind. They’re far slower paced, not very interesting affairs compared to other JRPGs of the time.

I sure hope that's what we get. I miss that feeling of wonder, discovery, and facing insurmountable odds that the NES games had.

Can I camp in this camp? I like this camp - I’ll even bring stuff for s’mores!

It’s not just nostalgia talking. Even today, Super Mario RPG holds up as a stellar example of what role-playing games can do.

It’s as if this article complete ignores the other Mario RPG series that Nintendo’s been releasing this whole time, too...

You know, I wrote a pretty good dig on this, but it’s still just a dumb dig.

I’ll install Jojo Mart.

Piracy:

Most “pirates” just want the media. They don’t give a fuck how people see them because they don’t expect people to even know they’re doing it.

Capcom addressed (vaguely) their criteria for this, before they did this. It was a combination of disconnect rates, win streaks, video evidence provided by fans and, they later revealed, building an algorithm that could flag rage-quitters so accurately, that videos wouldn’t be needed from now on.

One can err on the side of understanding, rather than the side of accusation.

I never did give it a fair shake - I had much less free time when it was out, and reviews had been pretty poor. Maybe it’s time to give a visit.

What part of ‘buying it for people who wanted to play’ was so obfuscated, that the assumed proper response would be, “giving it to people who didn’t buy it can be a bit more of a toss-up on how much they’ll actually play the game?”

yeah, the portrait and intro art are pretty rough - but guy’s got design chops for days! And the in-game sprites are pretty good.

yeah, playing this just reminds me that I should replay Rune Factory 4 :p

I want you to have all the stars. Every last one.

Sounds like someone thought they could do just enough work to get some money for what was already done, then took his toys to go home when he discovered Actual Work was needed (and scrutiny would always follow) if he was gonna continue relying on the patronage of an audience to make money on games.

They should’ve been buying it for people who wanted to play and wouldn’t, because they couldn’t afford it.