CLEST'S PROFILE

-I hate leveling, not just is it annoying that in most cases even with the best strategy you still need level to have CHANCE against some enemy, but also if you go and fight to your heart´s content you may end up overlevel and own enemies too easily. It also gives a chance for dumb ppl to claim "I finished X ultra hard RPG, I am very good gamer!" when all they did was sit pressing attack button while their mind was somewhere else.

Only excetion is when you use exp to customize your character in irreversible ways to the point where a bad build/skill choice might fuck you up for good, as long as there is a "good build" for each kind of player.

-I HATE equipment upgrading (maybe even more than leveling) because most of the time you just get to a new town and you get to check shops and you barely has a choice: you just buy the next most powerful thing of each equipmnent for each character, which is just a mindless chore, then you have to sell the old stuff back. On top of that, whenever there is an equip with a special property (inflict/resist status/element) said item will soon be outdated in favour of something which is overal better. So where is the strategy in chosing equipment? Also no, a steel sword won´t cut meat 200x more than Iron one, it may just take longer to break clashing against bones/armor.

I want to go to an equip store and just find different brands of balanced itens to buy according the different needs. Maybe an armor which gives +10 Defense then an armor which gives +7 defense but +3 agility or other which gives +2 defense but makes me VERY resistant to ice.

-I hate the classic predictable and very artificial RPG flow where you go to town, buy stuff, talk to NPCs, then walk on map, reach dungeon, fight ramdom monsters, kill boss then town again... It is sick :P Every hell hole shitty cavern has a damn boss, every town sells every equip your party needs and NPCs only give you the info you want or ramdom one line stuff about their lame artificial lives. Also dungeons follow an incredibly predictable architeture to the point I always know which way to go for loot and to find the boss.

I think we need more vilages being raid, more safe camp spots and meeting other adventurers/soldiers in dungeons, bosses which appear in unexpected places and dungeons which... oh no boss there :O

-I usually hate last dungeons: If the game is bad I know the ending already and I will be too lazy to level up for the most dificult and probably boring dungeon.

If game is good I may just get depressed that my wonderful adventure is going to end...

Best ways to solve this: Don´t let me know it is the last dungeon, make previous dungeons seem like they would be the last to the point I stop believing when characters say "this will be our last battle" and of course, store a lot of unsolved things for the end and let them all hanging for the whole game, the ending is the time for answers, not before the last dungeons as Square loves to do. If I have all the answers I can basically predict the ending.

-I hate looong walks though empty spaces, ramdom encounters just make it worse

-I hate ramdom encounters, I can play games with that, but I´d rather have everything touch based.

-I hate pure healers/pacifist characters, if you can´t at least kill something, stay in your church/hospital and let the brave ppl do the dirty job you sissy cowards. Death to White Mages.

-I hate when everything depends on kids/teenagers. I don´t mind some young heroes here and there, but decisions should be made by adults, the older and more experienced the better.

--I hate the platonic relationships involving the dumb/shy/cold hero and the shy/avoidant/religious girl which stay just indirect until the end and stays like that. No kisses, hugs, marriage, sex, no concrete relationship, nothing, just shitty anime cliched insituations of interest. Better make everyone just friends than that.

-I hate when the villain feels more right to my ideals than the hero, or more developed, this makes me think I am playing the wrong side. It almost made me quit playing Tales of Phantasia and when I beat it I was still hating Cless for his stupidity.

-I hate having a specific main hero in a party who I can´t relate to (most of the time I relate to the older experienced character/mentor ) but is there and I can´t dismiss to put on a better/more interesting character. And even when I can, the hero is the best playable character which is still not fair. FF6 was the only game that handled this issue perfectly. I wonder why in hell it was not done again (it should become a fucking LAW :P). I don´t mind any of that with single heroes (Link, Alundra, Slade (IGV), neither with small parties (Wild Arms).

-I hate having battles in puxzle areas, I want to either fight or solve a puzzle.

-I HATE HATE HATE when story and game mechanics clash, it is not hard at all to at least deceive the player into thinking things work the same in and out of battles and Phantasy Star IV is there to show proof. If something kills a character outside battle the rest of the party should try to use regular means to revive/heal the fallen friend and if it doesn´t work I want an explation of how come someone can endure NUKES but dies by a regular sword hit. Was the blade poisoned? did it has any magic to it? Even if the characters are not sure, they should be surprised and concerned because it was something different than what happens REGULARLY in battle :P

-As Suzu, I hate repeition, staying in the same area, fight the same enemies with the same skills... boring

-I hate the anti ecologic monster devastation in RPGs, no matter how furry and defenseless a monster is it will attack you or you are able to attack it, even if your characters claim to be fighting for nature, life and good. Pitting monsters to fighting arenas is just as cruel. I could see an amoral hero doing those things, but not your typical jRPG hero.

I think humans are far better "monsters" since most of the time, we have more conscience of what we do, so when we fight someone, it is instinct and if villain human goes against me I do have A LOT of pleasure giving then some bloody pain and tormenting death :P

Well there is probably more... :P

Thanks McGee, having a lot of energy can only be a good thing, for it you don´t get where you want to get to, you will at least get a very good place (or die trying and be somewhere in history books/CD-roms) :D

tsk, suicide is for loosers, real man die trying :D

Seriously, everything can be done as long as you are a pest about it.

Funny enough I can use photoshop, but most of my spriting is done in paint for how fast it is (I only Photoshop for things like color editing and messing with layers).

And as you said, companies go for what works, as in any carrer you can "skip" the ladder with a lot of tallent forany areas, sure that for a programmer, RM won´t cut it, but for a game designer it sure does, in fact even pen and paper RPG designers have chances as long as their work is well spread and accepted by a general fan base.

And yeah, you keep tied to the company or being employed idea. With a shareware concept you can just promote your own game with minimum investment and Aveyond again did that, not by luck, but by talent (more on business than on game design I must saybut talent nonetheless :)

Also again: with low investment, takes nothing to try, and a lot to gain, if you don´t believe, your loss really =^.^=

Point taken about not getting a job on industry, not my interest really. But there is a huge and solid market for indie games which relates to the players ignored by the big industry. It is not a market that will generate huge companies, it is a market for a lot of small companies/groups to live from with a short but decent income. The key is to aim at the right target public and not to be too greedy.