Chat Why Seeing FMM As A RPG Changed My Gaming Life

[Ashez]

Why Seeing FMM As A RPG Changed My Gaming Life

Before I jump into this topic I think it's best to give some context into my gaming habits, you see I've always been a "gamer" from a young age as I grew up playing Lemmings on my mother's original Gameboy and Super Mario World among others on her Super Nintendo, gaming has just always been there for me. Nintendo wise I've had every console but the NES, Sony wise everything apart from the Vita and PS4 while I've also had all three Xbox's, however across all those platforms there was one genre I hated and that was RPGs. Granted there was and always has been one exception to the rule with Pokemon being a game that just sucked in my generation and it's a series I basically stuck with but for whatever reason I never saw that as a RPG, it was just Pokemon. Before you read any further I just want to say this thread is one of personal journey and not your typical Vibe article, if you read it and take something away from it that's cool, if not I completely understand. 

I suppose you could say Pokemon was the starting point to this realisation as I got heavily into Platinum's Battle Tower which was basically a gauntlet of battles where you had to build a team and climb as high as you could. Platinum released in Europe during 2009 which means I'd also have been into FMH on the PSP at the time while I joined Vibe in 2010. Joining Vibe and getting more into FMH basically meant I had to decide which game to devote myself to and I think it's pretty obvious which way I went, I still kept up with Pokemon but I never got into the battling side as much again as FMH and Vibe became my primary hobby. 

One comparison between the two games stuck with me though and that was team building, both games gave me almost endless amounts of teams to build and mess around with, I even remember going about team building in similar ways for both games which sounds daft but there is some logic in my madness. In basic terms both teams would have members who's purpose was to fit a specific role, for example a bulky Pokemon might be referred to as a tank or a wall and I'd use the same logic with FMH team building, for example my tank would be my DMC/BWM. In Pokemon you have special and normal attackers, similar to mages and warriors or creative roles and offensive roles. I'll admit this thought process is pretty odd but I found my knowledge of both games helped with the other as I learnt alot about team building during this phase of my life, I guess knowing how to build successful teams is a transferable skill. 

This goes so much deeper than just roles however as like FMM players every Pokemon has unique viewable and hidden stats which determine how the character will develop, sure FMM has more stats but once they're grouped together it's a pretty easy comparison. I'd spend hours browsing Pokemon sites trying to find the ideal Pocket Monster for my team just like I'd spend ages stat searching on FMM trying to find that player to make my tactic purr like a Meowth on payday. 

This shows I had the seeds of FMM as a RPG planted but the tree took another few years to grow, I enjoyed similar things across Pokemon and FMM though which was surprising, yet eye opening. Around 2012/13 another big development took place in my gaming life as I decided to invest in a 3DS XL, I liked the original DS and I'd dabbled with my little brothers original 3DS but for whatever reason I was a little late in picking up a system of my own. This system was a life changer as it's the console that really brought me back into gaming, it's easily one of my favourite systems and it's library of games is fantastic, especially if you count the original DS library. Between the GameCube/PS2 era and the 3DS I'd basically lost interest in gaming as the Wii didn't float my boat and I never had many PS3 games, the 3DS was the restart my gaming life really needed. 

I'm not sure how my expanded horizons impacted what happened next but when FMM 2014 released I was hesitant, it was the first year without the PSP version and while I loved 2013 on mobile 2014 took some time to settle with me, eventually I liked it but it was very much a love hate relationship. Not playing FMM as much meant I had more free time on my hands and it was around this time I started purchasing riskier (for my tastes) 3DS titles. 

The game Fantasy Life by Level 5 was one I kept my eyes on for months during it's build up, it was a role playing life simulator which was a genre I had no history with but it just looked so much fun! Eventually I placed my pre-order for the title which in itself was embarrassing as when I asked if it was available for pre-order the worker responded with "oh that girls 3DS game".....I remember being taken back by this response but I've never been impressed by my local stores Nintendo appreciation. Anyway the game released September 2014 so a little before FMM during the horrible waiting period, I actually remember going to Fifa's midnight launch with my brother, he picked up Fifa and I picked up Fantasy Life which released the same day. That night consisted of Fifa but once I plugged Fantasy Life into my system I was hooked, it was such a peaceful and fun Zelda like action/exploring game but with elements of job sims as you could become masters in various jobs to increase your stats and abilities, this turned out to be another gateway game for me as while it wasn't a typical RPG something about it hit a cord with me. Seriously if you have a 3DS look into this hidden gem, I'm so gutted it never got a proper sequel! 

Fantasy Life was where everything started to click into place, I loved the game so much I decided to look up the developer and see what else they made, with one title in particular really standing out to me being Dragon Quest IX on the original DS. The game had a similar stunning art style and various other similarities but it was a turn based RPG which made me instantly hesitate and lose interest. It always stayed in the back of my mind and I did pick it up but it was a game I was scared to try as I just didn't think I'd like it. 

We basically jump forward a year at this point until July 2015, I was planning a two week vaccination and I needed a game for the travel and hotel room downtime. It was at this moment my life would change as a few days before leaving I decided to finally test the waters with Dragon Quest IX, so I popped it into my system to see if it was something i could chill with while away. I had every intention of playing the opening and seeing how I got on with it which soon materialised into me playing the first 10 hours before leaving the country! I was caught! I was addicted! I couldn't put it down! I ended up sinking 60-100 odd hours into this game and I loved every second. 

The world building is excellent but to my surprise on IX you have to build your own party so without realising it I was back in familiar territory which I'd learnt years before from Pokemon and FMM and once again my knowledge was transferable. I'd spent years building balanced teams and I put this knowledge into practice once again as my party carried me through the game, building your own team has so many pitfalls from being too defensive or attacking or not having key components. I easily could have screwed this pivotal moment of my life up but due to my history with team building I had an advantage, I had an idea which I wouldn't have had without Pokemon and especially FMM. 

The story, the enemies, the villages, the art style and the world did pull me into the game but it was the stats that I found comfort in, it's odd that I love stats in FMM but I never connected the dots that I can be a numbers guy, I can enjoy grinding to get that level up as I'm someone who enjoys numbers raising and working out how to improve my chances. With FMM I've always played commentary only glued to the stats page trying to understand what's going on, trying to gain an advantage from the numbers or to see something that I could miss not viewing them, that appears an unique play style but it works for me even today. In FMM I'd look for the ideal player I needed or look at a players stat spread and give him a role which is exactly the same in some RPGs, you have to look or build your character and make sure they're suited to the required role, it's all about understanding the needed stats for the job. 

It was now that I had fully realised FMM could be seen as a RPG as all the elements are there, you have your party of characters that are all unique, that level up with experience to improve which is now shown much clearer in game, you have a world to explore, encounters to battle, bosses to be beaten and a party to build. Sure a massive part of any RPG is the story which FMM does lack but you have the freedom to write your own tale like Dungeons and Dragons as Vibe has shown, having no story line means we have endless quests and adventures to undertake.  

Once this concept was in mind it was one I struggled to shake so by the mid point of 2015 I'd roped in two friends to help me bring a RPG experience to FMM and Vibe. The concept was simple as we created a squad of Vibe members who got to select their role/class with the catch being they'd all start with 1 stat in each area, to earn stats they had to earn experience in matches which could be used to level up and improve the characters stats, thus making them more suited to the role. For many reasons with the time commitment being the main one this interactive experience failed yet it proved my theory that FMM as a true RPG actually worked really well. The feedback and comments from the community really brought the thread to life, considering the save only lasted half a season we hit 16 pages of comments which is good bloody going, even to this day I'm still surprised at how awesome FMM as a straight RPG was to see and experience. 

 

With this knowledge my mind was blown wide open as I went on to spend the following years exploring RPGs more and more with me playing titles like Radiant Historia, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest 7/8 and I continued my love in of the Pokemon series but in a new light. I'll admit I'm still hesitant on alot of RPGs and not all of them are for me, but I'm at least now open to the idea which really does shock me. 

I then discovered a sub genre of RPGs which are often called strategy or tactical RPGs and after years of playing FMM and loving the tactical side of the game I decided to dip my toe into the water. I remembered this game releasing to humongous hype earlier in the 3DS's life span called Fire Emblem Awakening and it looked absolutely fascinating under my new eyes. I'll openly admit I was extremely hesitant as while I fancied my chances as a tactician on FMM how would I fair on the battle field? Was I up to the challenge? It turns out I found the perfect genre I'd been missing my entire life! I fell head over heels in love with Awakening and I've actually played through it multiple times and others in the series, admittedly I'm not sure how much help being a FMM fan played in this new love but if it wasn't for the tactical element and name I know I wouldn't have even tried it. I knew how to counter on FMM and how to implement changes to my tactics to gain the upper hand so I guess it must have contributed on some level, but again my FMM knowledge was essential when it came down to assessing stats, team members and squad building. 

Finally while not really a RPG I've also developed a fondness for card games, in particular Yugioh Duel Links on mobile. The entire point of this game is to collect cards and build decks to compete online or against the AI, in truth I liked Yugioh as a kid so that was the appeal but i do once again believe my FMM knowledge helped with the deck building part of the game. The decks you have are 20-30 cards so it's a similar number to a FMM squad and making sure each card has a use is similar to making sure a player is worth his squad number. It's a little different but I thought I'd throw it in anyway considering team building has been a common theme throughout this article. 

This might be one of the strangest articles I've ever written but I felt like it needed to be shared, FMM accidentally introduced me to a massive amount of games I'd previously written off as not for me. I actually struggle to think of my life now without RPGs as some of the experiences FMM has led me to outside of its own universe have been some of the best gaming experiences of my life with Fire Emblem Awakening, Dragon Quest 8 and Darkest Dungeon being some of my most cherished games of all time! I don't know if this article will find an audience or if others have similar tales to share but if I can help one other member who was similar to the old me jump into the world of RPGs it was worth it. 

As he's about I'd like to thank @Marc Vaughan for not only supplying me with endless hours of content through his own series but for opening my mind to a complete different world. I might be a pain in the arse at times but I appreciate the impact your games have had on my life. Thank you. 

With that lets bring this rambling to an end, as always thank you for reading and I look forward to any discussion that come from this. 

[Nucleus]

Love it! 

As you know yourself, I’m a massive RPG fan and some of the titles you listed above are a joy to behold - DQ 8 is hands down my favourite RPG of all time (Until the switch release probably 😛)

I never really thought of the link between FMM and the RPG genre before you mentioned it to me and the more I thought about it the more I realised that I was using similar techniques.

Nice read this   

[Marc Vaughan]

It might interest you to know I've always approached designing the game as it being a 'partial RPG' product - its why I put the player personalities and media into the early versions of Championship Manager ... I loved the Soccer Management game concept but found it hard to have empathy with the players when they were just raw numbers, giving them visible personalities and storylines made me (and hopefully others) see them as more real and thus feel guilty when they cut a player from the team or feel righteous anger when that kid you brought from nothing decides he wants to leave and move to a bigger team

PS - I come from a pen and paper RPG background so the RPG track seemed sensible to me, heck if you want to go further the 'positions' are classes and the roles are sub-classes ... with a players 'current ability' setting being his level ... oh and I absolutely love the Fire Emblem series of games .... 

(I still run D&D games sporadically at my local games store - often with my kids playing in the games, mine are generally ad-lib based rather than run from specific modules as I find it is really good for stimulating my imagination and encouraging me to think on my feet )

Edited March 16, 2019 by Marc Vaughan

[Ashez]

1 hour ago, Nucleus said:

Love it! 

As you know yourself, I’m a massive RPG fan and some of the titles you listed above are a joy to behold - DQ 8 is hands down my favourite RPG of all time (Until the switch release probably 😛)

I never really thought of the link between FMM and the RPG genre before you mentioned it to me and the more I thought about it the more I realised that I was using similar techniques.

Nice read this   

Thanks

I dream of DQ 11 😂

Once you connect the dots the penny really dropped, as Marc has kindly shown below lol

51 minutes ago, Marc Vaughan said:

It might interest you to know I've always approached designing the game as it being a 'partial RPG' product - its why I put the player personalities and media into the early versions of Championship Manager ... I loved the Soccer Management game concept but found it hard to have empathy with the players when they were just raw numbers, giving them visible personalities and storylines made me (and hopefully others) see them as more real and thus feel guilty when they cut a player from the team or feel righteous anger when that kid you brought from nothing decides he wants to leave and move to a bigger team

PS - I come from a pen and paper RPG background so the RPG track seemed sensible to me, heck if you want to go further the 'positions' are classes and the roles are sub-classes ... with a players 'current ability' setting being his level ... oh and I absolutely love the Fire Emblem series of games .... 

(I still run D&D games sporadically at my local games store - often with my kids playing in the games, mine are generally ad-lib based rather than run from specific modules as I find it is really good for stimulating my imagination and encouraging me to think on my feet )

I'm not crazy then lmao! Wow that blows my mind yet it makes so much sense! 

The personality/media stuff is a fantastic insight, many would assume it was due to realism but seeing it in that light is awesome! I guess it's a two birds one stone solution but it really works lol. 

I 100% agree, training could be armour/weapons and you could go on and on lol. Especially now I know it was an influence lol. 

Fire Emblem is a fantastic series, I've actually played the odd FMM save with "permadeath", which was basically intensive training cranked up to the max and any injury equals death!! I'd recommend it if you're up for a challenge haha. Obviously assuming you've not combined the two before. 

Thanks for the reply @Marc Vaughan 

Edited March 16, 2019 by Ashez