LogFAQs > #946354754

I noticed in quite a few monster-raising games, the narrative makes it sound like your player character is special because they're able to form a bond with their monsters that few other humans are apparently capable of...... this being despite the fact that the game's really not stopping you from being a total dick to your critters. Take Pokemon for instance. Dump it in a PC to never see the light of day? Purposefully faint it and give it bitter medicine so that its happiness can go down (granted, it's usually easier to keep happiness up, though Frustration has seen preference over Return as an anti-Ditto measure)? Endlessly breed them and toss out any offspring that don't have ideal IVs? All things you're capable of doing, and the game never calls you out on it.

Though, I've seen even worse implications in Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. In that game, you don't really "release" your monsters. Rather, you disassemble unwanted Digimon back into data, with an option to load them into other Digimon for cheap EXP (in other words, you can have your monsters cannibalize eachother). There's also the usual RPG staple of being able to beat up on wild monsters for experience, though the jury's out on whether you're killing them or just fainting them (the animations for defeated enemies sure make it look like you're killing them, though some cutscenes suggest that this isn't always the case).

LuciferSage posted...

if there were enough adventurers out there killing end game mobs to cause an economic collapse, that would raise even more questions. why were lesser bosses/midbosses along the way so scary and dangerous, when there's so many people out there that can kill them? why aren't *those* people in my party? where were all those people when *my* village was attacked? you get the idea.

For what it's worth, end-game towns are often in some sealed-away realm or something. Hell, in most Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games, you get an airship or a flying carpet or something little more than halfway through the game, and you're supposedly able to traverse the entire world map with it....... and yet the final areas of the game somehow still manage to be a ways off. Also, you DO occasionally get a party member joining you towards the final stages of the game (or sometimes post-game).

LuciferSage posted...

How is it that the last merchant before the point of no return when everyone in the world knows who the hero is, and that he's the chosen one still charge ludicrous prices for the items and gear when the obvious thing to do is give him or her what ever they need to beat the big baddie?

This reminds me of something that always bugged me in Super Mario RPG. When you first arrive in Seaside Town which is actually controlled by Yaridovich, the inn is absolutely free. After you help the townspeople, however, the inn starts to charge 15 coins (which is actually somewhat steep for an inn at that point in the game). I guess it doesn't matter too much, because the game does have numerous FREE resting spots (including another one coming up soon after in Monstro Town) combined with one of the more easily-traversible world maps out there. Still, talk about gratitude (in contrast, an earlier innkeeper lets you always stay for free just because you played with her son).