Tempt Not The Fates
I can feel the forces of destiny pulling me away from FF III and into Dragon Warrior I, which is a painful and dangerous transition. The games are almost a perfect contrast within the genre (which, after reading Oblivion reviews, is apparently referred to as the “Japanese RPG” as opposed to the “Western RPG”).
DW I uses uninflated numbers, 100 HP is quite a bit, 200 HP is probably more than you need to beat the game. The spell system is what I would call suffix-based, which manages to sound fancier than the reality of “Heal,” “Healmore,” and “Healmost.” The fact that one of the only combat spells is “Hurt” says something about the simplicity (read this generously as elegance) of the game.
FF III seems more operatic at times than hack-’n’-slash, with plot cinema taking up a fairly large share of meaningful gametime. This isn’t really my bag (though I really wouldn’t say I’m all for hacking, either). DW I is about level-gaining. There is no character development. I am a descendant of Erdrick. That is all I need to know.
My project right now is to earn 1000 gold for what I recall as the second-best purchased armor in the game (obviously, you aren’t supposed to do this at level 8). It’s a grunt game, but it’s a nice cathartic when played against a daily schedule that cannot be measured generally with respect to value per time, time per project.
Gold and experience are the names of the game. I do need to finish the very non-numerical FF III, though. My $200,000-something wallet makes the whole thing feel absurd, but now that Cyan is back I think I can make a run for it. We’ll see what happens.