Well, guess we must continue the convo here. I am interested to hear the arguments between these two titles. I will argue for Secret of Mana though as it is one of my favs. I think that it's storyline is what separates it from Rejoice. I enjoy Rejoice for it's battle system but storyline wise SoM was my fav.

Well storyline wise Rejoice is a lot like Alice in Wonderland, with the main characters (the rejoice crew) getting seperated from their hometown then what follows is a series of small, self contained chapters that have independant characters and stuff, that all eventualy leads up to *SPOILER* the characters finally getting back to their hometown (although it isnt quite what it was like before) *END SPOILER*

When taken by itself Rejoice has a rather simple story, but put into the context of the previous games in the series (Aretha 1, 2 and 3) that games main purpose storyline wise is to continue the adventures of Doll from the previous Aretha's (even though he isnt the main character) and to show the player the 'far side of the Aretha Kingdom' (as mentioned by the games subtitle)

And of course the far side of the Aretha kingdom is completely absurd and ridiculous, anyone who's played through the game will understand this. So rather than having an epic sweeping storyline the game is constantly putting you in absurd situations with ridiculous characters (the Ice Cube, The Turtles, The Ants, Santa Claus, etc...

So yeah, The story is a completely different style. I'm not saying its better than secret of mana's, or that its worse than secret of Mana's, but it doesnt require much thought and is incredibly spontanious and therefore suits the multiplayer oriented nature of the game. This is possibly the only rpg that you could call a 'party action rpg' due to this focus on multiplayer.

The battle system is also much, much more fast than SOM's. At times its almost like a shooting game with some of the weapons you get. The Battle system is also much more fun with a 2nd player, considering the max party size in 1 player mode is 2 characters, while its 4 in 2 player mode.

If there was one thing that annoyed me about SOM its the magic system. To kill most bosses you just open menu's and select the spells and thats it, and considering time stopped when a spell was cast it never gave any real chance for there to be a long active battle with the bosses. Rejoice on the other hand just has an absurd amount of weapons and special weapons. For example Mikey's weapons include swords, boomerangs, throwing daggers, magic swords that shoot crazy stuff and so on, and thats only for 1 character. Also take into account the 'items' that any of the characters can use in a battle, like bombs and stuff, and you can see that the developers were really just trying too put as much crazyness into the combat as possible to make it more of this 'party action rpg'. In fact its possible to finish the game without even buying new weapons, but where is the fun in that.

Damn this is a big post.

I as well will be interested to see what comes out in the debate between these two classical titles. I though like Macaw will be taking the side of Rejoice.

quote

I think that it's storyline is what separates it from Rejoice.

It's not so much a kiddie storyline IMO. When compared to RPGs of today then yeah it is weaker but back in the day it was very good. It offered actual plot twists (Example: The Mana Beast at the end who was actually *Spoiler* the dragon) which aside from Final Fantasy there were not many. The depth in SoM was way better then Rejoice, I don't speak nor understand fluent Japanese (some yes) but my cousin does and he was with me when we played it. Maybe I didn't understand the full concept considering I only played through it once.

Battle system was the only feature I enjoyed but I still prefer a game like Star Ocean 2 which had a 2 player system but wasn't as chaotic and still offered much depth. I was young at the time so I guess Rejoice seemed a bit too much for me heh, I am sure if I had a chance to play today I might enjoy it more.

I went back to play SOM after you said this for a little while. I didn't have to play too far to remind me of why I think the storyline of SOM is childish.

Remember right at the beginning of the game when your main character is with two other characters on the log. The conversation on that log and the way the characters look here is very childish indeed.

For example, Quote extract: "Shh! Be Quiet! The elder will find us here and he will be mad."

I'm pretty sure there are sentences of that kiddy nature like that throughout the game.

Dispite this I think I may have ignored much of the storyline for that reason. Hearing from your point of view, there may have been some quality aspects in which the game had to offer (Which I may have simply ignored).

And yes, I think you may have to play through Rejoice again now that you much older. I don't know if you have appreciated the quality that Rejoice has to offer. Much of which is stated by Macaw above. I would elaborate further on what hes saying about Rejoice (There is even more reasons to play Rejoice then is stated above) but I atleast need another play through to remember everything fully. (It's been three years now atleast since my last play through)

Heh, Macaws post has convinced me to play it again. He hasn't even started on the music yet which was also classical in itself.

quote

Battle system was the only feature I enjoyed but I still prefer a game like Star Ocean 2 which had a 2 player system but wasn't as chaotic and still offered much depth.

I would play Rejoice again but my cousin owns it and I wouldn't be able to play until I visit him (In Japan). Though there are "other" ways I could play it lol.

And I do suggest playing Star Ocean 2 for the PSX. It is one of my top RPGs that I have ever played and offers very good depth in terms of gameplay, story, battle system, side quests ect...

LOL so you cant talk about that source of aquiring games on the internet at neoseeker. Well I suggest never even thinking about clicking on links like these below,

http://www.romnation.net/srv/roms/42214/snes/Rejoice-Aretha-Oukoku-no-Kanata-J.html

It's much better if you buy the game but unfortunately it's extrememly hard to find. (Even in Japan I think)

I don't own A playstation hence the reason why I havn't played that game. I've been too much into Nintendo consoles. Mistake though because there is no way to render games free on the GC console. Damn I hate it when I see Macaw with his 200+++ playstation 1 and 2 games LOL.

I know I've missed out on a great deal of RPGs from sony systems but in this day and age there may be "other" ways to get PSX games as well.

OMG You do not have a Playstation? So you missed out on games like FF7, FFT, Star Ocean 2, Suikoden 1 and 2, Lunar 1 and 2, Xenogears and so on? Man I love PSX RPGs and have been the only real RPGs to match the early Nintendo and Super Nintendo RPGs I grew up playing.

Don't worry I was late getting to all the SNES RPGs as well. Mainly because I was too poor too (I was young then as well) buy them and it took me a while to discover the "other" way of playing SNES games. I'll probably get to the PS RPGs eventually like the ones you listed. Especially when I've got over three months of holidays left.

Off the subject here but was Final Fantasy 7 better than FF6? (Since you look like a FF expert) To me FF6 was legendary. Better than FF Mistic Quest and FF2. If it is I can get FF7 for PC right now. Although my opinion nowadays is that time-based RPGs are less fun then their action-based equivalents so I may get bored of FF7 quickly even if it is a classic. (LOL that last sentence could generate an excellent debate as well)

Haha if it's a debate on RPGs I have done almost all of them in my time here lol.

Call me old school but I still enjoy the boring turn based style of RPGs and the ATB style of most FF titles. FF7 compared to FF6 is a tough one, FF6 is my 3rd favorite right behind FFT and my fav FF7. I had a discussion on this last month, ah yes here it is: Check all the pages for a long intense discussion lol. Final Fantasy games I believe peaked with 7 and Tactics, slowly building in greatness while then slowly getting worse and worse in quality. Abandoning great gameplay, unique stories and lot's of depth for graphically superior, convoluted love stories, weak cross overs and sex appealing garbage that we have now. Hopefully FFXII will bring the series back to it's prime.

I believe in the next 2 years there will be hardly any true old school RPGs, but all action and MMORPGs. Especially a RPG on a system like the X-Box 360 would be mainly action based with RPG elements. Too many Diablos and not enough Lufias I say. But that is another topic heh.

Considering they are still making turned based RPGs like FF12 and lots of people still play them I would say that you are too old school for that fact alone. LOL me being a big fan of S.H.M.U.P.S is pretty old school though(I've played most pre 2001 arcade old school SHMUPS worth mentioning)

To me turned-based RPGs Like many of the FF series (Like FF6) basically require little or no skills at all in combat. That fact can make me get bored of those types of RPGs very easily nowadays. Games which add a bit of variance to the old school turn-based RPG formula is an excellent changeup since they involve player skill or they are innovative and thus interesting.

I think FFT advance is a good example of this. (Probably because I'm a fan of chess though LOL)

I read bits and pieces of the discussion on FF3 and I probably should give FF7 a go one day. Most people seem to rate it atleast near FF6 except for EL Bastarde (I think thats his name). LOL he likes FFX-2 though which many people think is a pile of garbage. I think you mirrored pretty well what many think of FF10-2 in one of your sentences there.

quote

I believe in the next 2 years there will be hardly any true old school RPGs, but all action and MMORPGs.

LOL substitute WOULDN'T instead of WOULD into that first sentence of my previous post so it at least makes sence.

I am a big fan of Blizzard games like Startcraft and Warcraft but not Diablo and World of Warcraft. Really I don't tough MMORPGs anymore for many reasons.

BTW: I suggest to you and your friend if you guys were to register here on Neoseeker.com. It's free and easy and offers a lot in the friends you make and experiences.

I liked Warcraft 2 3 and I didn't mind diablo type RPGs when I was younger but I get bored of any diablo clones of today like dungeon siege 2 (that game is Soooo boring!!!).

I'll join when I can be bothered . Macaws the person you'd want to talk to though as his knowledge of RPGs is vastly superior to anyone else I know.

BTW I'm going to start playing gunz again when the final version comes out so me (and maybe macaw) can meet you there a couple of times for some duels or whatever. You being a lvl 48 and a leader of the best clan in server 4 (I once heard from people in that server atleast a month ago that Hokutens the best clan) tells me you should be a pro so it will have to be me and Macaw vs you LOL. I wouldn't attempt to join your clan though for a good reason.

Heh we have had lot's of RPG experts here on Neoseeker.com. None more knowlegable or who have stood the test of time like myself lol (I am so modest lol).

Me, I am not that good at Gunz though many say I am I guess. When it comes to RPGs I know my stuff but in Gunz there are so many better it keeps you humble lol.