Famitsu's Pikmin 2 review

[A Black Falcon]

Anyway, I see your point, but you really seem to actually be getting upset at me here. I never meant to upset you, just make my opinion clear. I'm not trying to say your opinion is wrong here, so try not to get so defensive.

No, I'm not any more upset with you than I was with the first post... then I was somewhat, because I really love D&D...

Actually, yes, in console RPGs, your stats ARE set in stone on level up. The exception is FFIV. Nothing is hidden from you actually, and no I'm not trying to say they should be. Everything about how the stats work is right there once you figure it out.

So every time you play a console RPG all of your characters will be the same at each level (for games where you can't customize your character's progression, which is the vast majority of them)?

I wouldn't know for sure, but that seems improbable... but either way, I'd still definitely say that console RPGs hide stuff from you more.

About the multiplayer thing, actually no, I didn't know that's what you meant. I really did think you were trying to say that in effect you only ever have one real party member, from the way you were talking about a lack of strategy anyway. Sorry if I offended you.

AI hirelings also don't count. They are not characters you control to a meaningful degree. I've said both of those things so many times before I didn't think I had to again...

Anyway, about the ways enemies behave in Japanese RPGs, yes I noticed that too. There really is no explanation for why the enemies work on a totally different system than the characters, but it works out well and I just tend to ignore the fact that the enemies tend to have MUCH higher HP yet MUCH lower defense.

But it's far more accurate to have it so sometimes you succeed and other times you fail! Sure, low level characters shouldn't consistently be above their level, but they aren't. And it's far more unrealistic (as in by rules that would make sense for the universe the game creates) for a low-level character to ALWAYS do badly than it is for some of the time for them to succeed.

And as I described, there is no other way to have numerous spells be at all workable... 'Web' is just one of many, many examples that if they had to follow hard rules (instead of 'chance of success', 'web will hit if your magic resistance is below a X') would be stupid. Console RPGs seem to deal with this by not having spells like D&D has (the most common response, I'd have to say...) or other such things... I have never played a console RPG with anywhere close to as good a magic selection as D&D. Nowhere near.

Look, as I said, we obviously have different tastes. I know that in your opinion, having a better chance of success on level ups is the perfect reward, but I don't like playing the odds. For me, when low level, and half the time I'm dying and the other half completely succeeding, it's like I'm actually floating around levels and not really set in place. I know you enjoy playing with odds and statistics. I just don't. Let's just leave it at that. PLEASE do NOT take this the wrong way.

As you can tell your complaints about 'odds' just don't make any sense at all to me. Do you hate boardgames too, or something?