First Far East Of Eden game to come to english!

[Mathius]

Manji Maru was the second RPG for the PC Engine right? The guy with the multi colored hair. That one definitely had higher production value and better graphics (it was made in the 90s, Ziria 1989) . Either way Im having a great time playing Oriental Blue and getting 'eased in' to the whole asian style RPG.

After this game I may just beat Legend of Wukong to see how the Chineese play their RPGs.

You may be thinking of Kabuki Den. That is the game I want translated most badly.

Kabuki actually first appeared in TMII and stole the show. He was so popular that he got several games based around him and even when The Apocalypse IV was set in America, they still found a way to make him a main character.

The PCE FEOE RPG menus are actually some of the most straightforward of 16-bit JRPGs, especially compared to most SFC games like TM Zero or anything by Square.

The menus in Kabuki Den nearly made my eyes twist into knots when I first saw them. I don't see the straightfoward-ness though I am not a seasoned non-translated JRPG player. I doubt I could survive the Square games you mentioned LOL

[Black Tiger]

It would be nice to play them in order. Or is Kabuki Den not part 3 but a side story?

which is the one with a FF style side view in the battles

That's Tengai Makyou Fuun Kabuki Den. I recommend playing it first. It is the greatest game that will ever be made. My walkthrough includes maps of every dungeon and translations of every(?) item in the game.

Although the individual games are related, they are very well contained and can be played in any order.

[Arjak]

Has anyone heard anything recently about the Ziria translation? It seems like it's been at least a year since I've seen anything about it. It looked like it was going well, I even saw some screenshots in English, but then it sort of disappeared from the radar...

[SamIAm]

^^^ The guy to ask would be Tom. He's the translator and AFAIK was the one whose court the ball was in.

The PCE FEOE RPG menus are actually some of the most straightforward of 16-bit JRPGs, especially compared to most SFC games like TM Zero or anything by Square.

In Manji Maru (and I'm guessing at least Ziria), the shop menu doesn't let you see what variety of item something is or whether it's better than what you currently have. Unless you've got a strategy guide in your lap, arriving at a town with a new weapon shop is actually stressful because of all the work involved. In other games, it's a joy.

The same is true of equipment you find in the field. In Manji Maru's main menu, the character-specific inventories don't let you see whether an item one character has picked up is useful to another. You have to go to the trade-item prompt, trade it, then go to the equip prompt and try to equip it. Testing one equipment item with every character takes literally a few minutes.

What am I missing here?

I played FEOE Zero after trying Manji Maru, and the improved efficiency of the menu was mind blowing. For any given hour of play, I spent probably a quarter of the time and button presses taking care of menu business. Dealing with shops and new-found equipment takes an even smaller fraction.

The PCE FEOE games' menu system is one of the main reasons I can't enjoy playing them. If you ask me, there's a reason Hudson copied the Squaresoft system in FEOEZ, which of course was made after all the PCE games. With a unified inventory, icons next to items to tell you what they are, and clear information in shops and in the equip screen about what's worth what to who, it is both easier to understand and faster to use.

And that's not even addressing whether the limited inventory in the PCE games was a good idea.

[Xak]

^^^ The guy to ask would be Tom. He's the translator and AFAIK was the one whose court the ball was in.

The PCE FEOE RPG menus are actually some of the most straightforward of 16-bit JRPGs, especially compared to most SFC games like TM Zero or anything by Square.

In Manji Maru (and I'm guessing at least Ziria), the shop menu doesn't let you see what variety of item something is or whether it's better than what you currently have. Unless you've got a strategy guide in your lap, arriving at a town with a new weapon shop is actually stressful because of all the work involved. In other games, it's a joy.
 

Thats a very common thing in many old RPGs. The only way to truly see what it does "safely" is to save before shopping. Also the strategy of just buying the most expensive item cam be just as

[Black Tiger]

^^^ The guy to ask would be Tom. He's the translator and AFAIK was the one whose court the ball was in.

The PCE FEOE RPG menus are actually some of the most straightforward of 16-bit JRPGs, especially compared to most SFC games like TM Zero or anything by Square.

In Manji Maru (and I'm guessing at least Ziria), the shop menu doesn't let you see what variety of item something is or whether it's better than what you currently have. Unless you've got a strategy guide in your lap, arriving at a town with a new weapon shop is actually stressful because of all the work involved. In other games, it's a joy.

The same is true of equipment you find in the field. In Manji Maru's main menu, the character-specific inventories don't let you see whether an item one character has picked up is useful to another. You have to go to the trade-item prompt, trade it, then go to the equip prompt and try to equip it. Testing one equipment item with every character takes literally a few minutes.

What am I missing here?

I played FEOE Zero after trying Manji Maru, and the improved efficiency of the menu was mind blowing. For any given hour of play, I spent probably a quarter of the time and button presses taking care of menu business. Dealing with shops and new-found equipment takes an even smaller fraction.

The PCE FEOE games' menu system is one of the main reasons I can't enjoy playing them. If you ask me, there's a reason Hudson copied the Squaresoft system in FEOEZ, which of course was made after all the PCE games. With a unified inventory, icons next to items to tell you what they are, and clear information in shops and in the equip screen about what's worth what to who, it is both easier to understand and faster to use.

And that's not even addressing whether the limited inventory in the PCE games was a good idea.

I guess that is how it might be for everyone if it wasn't in a foreign language. I played through TMII and Kabukiden before I learned much of any Japanese and the menus were not a problem. I played as far as I could in Zero after learning katakana/hiragana and after having played many Japanese RPGs and it was tough keeping track of everything.

You said something like this before and I think that it was about Kabukiden. Again, much of what you're saying isn't true. The menus give you a katakana nickname and a description for every item in the game, both in the shops and your inventory. The descriptions for gear tell you the stat value and the names of who can equip it.

I can't check exactly how the equip menu plays out entirely, but because of the way it's designed (all within a single screen for one thing and you aren't faced with a dozen potentially re-playable characters not currently in your party), even your worst case scenario equals 1 - 3 seconds. Whether or not other games provide more detailed info (I know many "streamlined" SFC/Square RPGs actually end up taking more actions to achieve the same result), all that matters is how straightforward the PCE TM RPGs are for JRPG fans.

I never understand how fans of convoluted management sim style RPGs can complain about the simplest tasks in more adventure/fun/RPG-based RPGs. If they dubbed it the "GEAR CHEK SYSTEM™", would it suddenly become exciting deep gameplay?

[SamIAm]

I could be wrong, but I'm looking at Kabukiden right now. In the shops, all I see is who can equip an item, and the raw stat number. It gives the name in kana, but it doesn't say what the item is (armor/accessory etc.) or whether it's better or worse than what you've got. Not telling you what it is isn't such a big deal because you can often tell by the name, but not telling you if it's better or worse means you've got to memorize everyone's stats.

Basically, like Xak said, you've just got to save before you go shopping, buy what you think you need, then double check everything.

Also, whether the characters come and go from your party depends completely on the game and has little to do with the menu design. FEOEZ keeps the same party through the whole game (except for one character who you play for, like, one dungeon). So does FFV.

One thing I do see I was wrong about, with Kabukiden at least, is that the item-exchange prompt does tell who who can equip what. So that saves some time, definitely. But it still doesn't save you from having to swap and check with the cumbersome split inventory.

FEOEZ has like a million different little disposable attack items, and it can be confusing to keep track of them, but the number of equip-able items is about the same as any other RPG.

[Arjak]

^^^ The guy to ask would be Tom. He's the translator and AFAIK was the one whose court the ball was in.

Are you referring to Tomaitheous? I want to make sure that I don't PM the wrong guy...

[ParanoiaDragon]

^^^ The guy to ask would be Tom. He's the translator and AFAIK was the one whose court the ball was in.

Are you referring to Tomaitheous? I want to make sure that I don't PM the wrong guy...

I'm pretty sure it's a different Tom.  Tomaitheous is a programmer, not a translator, though, I've been surprised before!