Confessions of a Non-RPG player. /Your first RPG experience

[Ratty Randnums]

Or rather I should say, a new RPG player.
As a kid turn based combat, whenever I encountered it, always made my head spin. It seemed overly complicated (I never had the instructions to look at for one thing) and, at a young age, really boring.
So I was never drawn to the RPG genera.
Recently however I was able to play through Symphony of the Night for the first time** and really enjoyed it's RPG elements.
I was curious over this (new to me) kind of challenge, finding and trying new equipment, engrossing storyline etc, So I started playing FF9 (because it was the first old school-flavor RPG I could borrow) and I really really like it so far.

I look forward to exploring the genera to it's fullest but my question to you is, what was your first RPG experience? What got you hooked? And aside from the trilogy, what games do you still love to play through today?

PS- I know there are many RPGs that do not use turn based combat. The "Tales of" series for example.


**Except for 15 hours in "Circle of the Moon" before losing my game, I had only ever played the old school CV games, which after playing a little of the other various SOTN clones I still prefer on the whole.

[Freedan]

My first RPG was Dragon Warrior. I still remember that as a kid (around 3 at the time, when I first started playing games), I didn't like the game because the sharp spike in the music when you hit a random encounter scared me. When I got to be about 5, I played it again, and was over that.

I still remember the most infuriating thing in the game, too:

"Excellent move!
It is dodging!"

Assholes evading my critical attacks.

[tay120n64]

I love RPG elements, but mostly when used in conjunction with the Action/Adventure genre (i.e. SotN, Zelda II, Kingdom Hearts, SB Trilogy, tec.) My first RPG that I ever played was, of course, Super Mario RPG. Granted, that was back when I didn't know what an RPG was. Needless to say, I avoided battles as much as possible, making the game harder on myself in the long-run.

When Pokemon came out in '98 I played it, but it wasn't until around '03 when I played Final Fantasy VII and Golden Sun that I really took notice of the genre. Since then, I've gone back and played Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, and Earthbound for SNES. Honestly, I love the RPG genre. The only thing I don't care for is random battles, but it's very rare to see those in RPGs nowadays.

[psychokind]

I have to admit I hated round-based RPGs too, when I was small. terranigma, zelda, secret of mana was a good choice then my first round-based RPG was chrono trigger, probably.

[inferiare]

When I was younger I played a lot of platformers (which is probably why I still love them to death now, god I'm a nerd), but I didn't really have the patience for an RPG. I remember a friend of mine asked if I knew how to play them, and tried to see if I could figure out Secret of Evermore for him. That failed so epically.

However, I was intrigued when Super Mario RPG came out, so I said "Sure, I'll try it." I rented it and in the three days I had the game (Major Video sucked balls with their rental policies and how many days we could have things argh), I got up to the volcano. I was HOOKED. One of the times I rented it, I brought it to a friend's house, and his cousin beat the game that night, start to finish. We were both going :O at it. It was pretty awesome.

Next up was Final Fantasy 7, but having someone tell you exactly what to do while hovering over your shoulder and announcing the minute you meet Aeris OH SHE'S GONNA DIE made the game not so enjoyable until I could play it for myself (which explains why I like Final Fantasy 8 more.) After Mario RPG though, I didn't look back and emulated as many rpg's as I could.

[Ratty Randnums]

Hehe sweet.

Also oh yeah I enjoyed Pokemon when it came out, but it was so simple (and I got to play it so little really, since I would always either never have the batteries or it would be lost) and pick-up-and-play that I never even made the connection that it was an RPG at the time XD.
Very rudimentary but fun stuff.

Also Rainichan have you seen TheSpoonyOne's vids on FF8? He completely tears it apart x3 but you might enjoy more his troll** reviews of FF7 and FF1 though.

FF7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0zHbNzEGWA

FF1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVJhoitEGuc (which also turns out to be the origin of one of his sketch characters)


**Remember guys these vids are an epic (and often hilarious) troll, so if you take them too seriously and get offended, don't.

[inferiare]

Ah, I've heard of him, yes. I never understood why FF8 got so much hate.

[Blade]

We didn't have anything round-based on the SNES, if I recall correctly.

We got Quest 64 (Holy Magic Century) for christmas when it came out, along with Ocarina of Time. Needless to say, Quest 64 didn't draw our attention AT ALL when OoT was the other choice. I never actually played it back then, since the first boss kicked my ass all the time -.-

So the first "rpg" I enjoyed was probably Pokémon Red and Yellow. I played Lufia 2 for quite some time but didn't finish it, same with Lufia 1.

I went back to Quest 64 sometime ago, almost finished it, but then ZACK! dataloss! Damn

So apparently, the only round-based games I ever finished were the Pokemon games!

[chicken]

i like RPGs ^^

first RPG was TN, of course

if round-based or not, i dont care, i aint got problems with round-based RPGs

[psychokind]

chicken wrote:

i like RPGs ^^ first RPG was TN, of course if round-based or not, i dont care, i aint got problems with round-based RPGs

sure thing, but we're talking about our beginnings here playing round-based RPG at the age of 6 or sth is kinda difficult

[Manibrandr System]

My first RPG experiences were Pokemon Red and BoF 1, back then, I didn't know what it was. I just knew that I enjoyed them and that their stories were fun to get into.

[lucas_kelly11]

Can't quite remember but I believe it was Terranigma.
Although Terranigma is more of and action/adventure game, so the first turn based RPG I played was Final Fantasy 8, I think.

[Blade]

lucas_kelly11 wrote:

Can't quite remember but I believe it was Terranigma. Although Terranigma is more of and action/adventure game, so the first turn based RPG I played was Final Fantasy 8, I think.

Of course, I thought we were talking about round-based RPGs.
Then A Link to the Past was the first, or Terranigma if you consider ALttP too adventurish. Terranigma blew me away, and still does. I said it before and I'll say it again: I envy everyone who hasn't played it yet, and who's going o play it for the first time.

[chicken]

cant remember what my first round based RPG was... but if you count MIGHT AND MAGIC VI - MANDATE OF HEAVEN then its that

[psychokind]

lucas_kelly11 wrote:

Can't quite remember but I believe it was Terranigma. Although Terranigma is more of and action/adventure game, so the first turn based RPG I played was Final Fantasy 8, I think.

naah, terranigma is a full-blooded RPG. your char even talks(!), you level up and do not play a party or other chars