As long as this video was, are we going to ignore the drastic changes to vivosaur designs, or the filler vivosaurs that are the same species with a different color? You can't tell me there's no problem with two T-Rex with a different skin type and name, or Spinax not even changing its name, but even it's design. Don't even get me started on V-raptor with Breme design!
Trust me, I wanted to go into it, but it felt like a more subjective thing that I haven't got the visual language to go into and the script was in a really good pace and getting into it just wasn't worth sacrificing the flow. The most I could safely get was a few cracks at the fact that they're gross now. The first two games had a ton of reused animation skeletons which I do go over in more depth.
I love how much love (and hate I suppose) went into this video, and it deserves a lot of love for it. Something I’d like to point out is the diversity among even vivosaurs with the same skeletons. For example the way spinax threateningly shifts from one leg to another while idle is different to how carno aggressively heaves and shows off his horns, and the way allo’s dropkick launches it into a backflip is different to how S-Raptor simply leaps back Truly, no two vivosaurs are identical- its the little things like that which make them all feel so special and unique
Fossil fighters 1 and 2 were funny because they never took themselves seriously in even the most dire of situations. This game did the opposite: it took itself way too seriously in even the most stupid moments.
ME! I'VE HEARD OF FOSSIL FIGHTERS AND MORE PEOPLE NEED TO SEE IT! Genuinely I really appreciate the influx of Fossil Fighters videos out of no where. Its a shame what Frontier did to the series
I love that you mention the flawed battle UI but I want to take it even further. The original games were great with visual communication. >The EZ and rotation system both relied on a vivosaur’s positioning in space; effectively displayed with the orientation of their UI sprites. The stance system doesn't do anything remotely close... >The information, attack, and rotation icons were brightly colored and distinct. >Vivosaur health bars had a different color and shape to them based on element. >Skills were distinguished by color, differentiating standard attacks from team skills and special skills. Most of these decisions made battles more intuitive and easy to pick up on. Some are just for visual flavor. All were presented clearly on just the bottom screen of the DS, freeing up valuable real estate on the top screen for combat animations and announcer commentary. Frontier cramps too much onto the top screen and leaves behind a bare-bones bottom screen. What little info there is to glean from it is hard to pick up on thanks to the monotone UI you pointed out. And thanks for going in-depth on the cleaning. It always felt off to me, but I didn't know that there was a 3D element to the minigame that muddled things up even more! Great video!
Funny story, for a majority of my first, blind playthrough of Fossil Fighters Frontier, I did not use the starter vivosaur. Why? Because I called that they'd take him away and use him as an enemy later on in the game, *calling the Dreadsaurus plot twist at the beginning of the game*, so I went with something else.
Obviously, it's way too soon. But, it would be a great project imo, as I'm one of the few who played all 3 games WAY before jaiden launched it nuclear. I remember plowing through (most) of the first game with Spinax, Shanshan and V-Raptor.
I absolutely loved fossil fighters champions as a kid. I never played a Pokémon game but I fondly remember fossil fighters. I even lent my fried my copy of champions for him to try out and he really liked it too. I hope they can make a better installment of this franchise in the future… although it’s sadly very unlikely
If there's any other games you'd like to see me break down in similar fashion, comment away! Even if I'm not as likely to make something of this length again for the foreseeable future.
Your choice of any similarly underrated gems like ffc. There was this one cars racing game I played on for a bit, its just the only one that i could remember off hand in 10 seconds or less.
My entire life is spent waiting to return to the nostalgia fossil fighters gave me in my childhood. I remember one night in second grade I stayed up till 5am earning enough money to buy a trex skull fossil from the shop. Truly and under appreciated game, one that I will love and cherish forever.
i remember as a kid i played champions and i went "hell yeah i wanna play another one", so i played frontier and barely lasted 5 hours. if my 10 year old dumbass found it that deplorable you know it's a disaster
Honestly, a breakdown for Frontier is something that I've always had on my backburner, but I don't think I could do it any better than you did. Great video!
These games need more exposure than they get. It's a classic and there's only been two videos of any real size discussing it. I'd love to see what you could come up with on your end.
@@NateOfTheFossils Thanks for asking but I think I'll do that myself. I honestly just wondered about the etiquette of using that as a place to sort of advertise it.
I absolutely loved the video, i’m going over my biyearly fossil fighters binge of interest and you pushed me over the edge to make me wanna dig up the game chips again. It’s a shame where the series croaked and my disappointment is measurable to frontiers shortcomings. I’d absolutely love a more in-depth review of the previous games as well as any other smaller games that struck out like ffc and ff. I’m glad that I found this channel. I really loved champions, I ended up getting stuck in the first one for two years at the Gawd damnd temple and ended up grinding some of the dinos to level 12 before i gave up. I’ve had many memories of the games ranging from my 6 month grind to get the egg timing completed to getting disappointed at the dlc dino I couldn’t get. I’m also in need of sleep so im off to bed. Thanks again for letting me indulge in my hatred for frontier via confirmation. Woops i wrote this here instead of on the video, lmao. Imma leave thjs here cus im lazy
FFC was one of my all time favorite games as a kid and something I remember super fondly, and if anything this video convinced me that I should play the first game sometime, because dinosaur shapeshifting aliens trying to colonize the earth is such a cool idea!! I didn't touch Fossil Fighters Frontier because of the whole deal with the cars, it looked so lame like you play the game for the reptiles not the trucks The story sounded like a trainwreck. I can break down pretty much most of the FFC story in my head and it's been well over 10 years. The fact that trying to unravel frontier's story ate up the longest segment of your script says enough about it dude holy shit. There is not one interesting thing about that storyline or setting that sticks. Fossil fighters was already vying against pokemon for originality and arguably one of the things that helped it stick out was that fossil fighting was along the lines of baseball or something and didn't define the entire world. the ds games were a very competitive view of it concentrated on little resort islands that made it funnier and more engrossing down the line. like not everyone was obsessed or living with the vinosaurs like in pokemon. also TRAGIC they cut out the announcers wtf. so sad what happened to these games. i bet the devs were trying to make up for their slights in the other games and it just didn't work out Anyways I got nothing else to add you didn't already touch on. this is a REALLY good, informative, and entertaining video. There are few videos that can hold my attention for over an hour and this was a gem. great editing and sense of humor. I was really surprised to look down and see only 1,000 views, but then again fossil fighters is totally obsolete. Congrats on the views it got :) will be checking out ur other stuff & looking forward to anything u put out there in the future!
It really makes me smile to hear that! I’m living for the response this video has gotten so far. And hey, Ive got two more in the works. One’s a narrative review of CrossCode, after that, I tackle Pokémon. So that’ll be f u n ?
Absolute unit of a video! We can always hope that, maybe, one day, we can have a FF return. The effort in this video very much shows your love for the series.
If only if only. Maybe one of those technically-not-sequels like Bloodstained or Might No 9... Something tells me it would be close to Number 9 if Frontier is to be believed.
@@TheLudomancer Considering how niche this community is (I don't think most of the people who watched Jaiden's video would care THAT much) if a spiritual successor were made I think it'd at least be decent
Theirs one thing to note that completely breaks game balance, some may find this unfair but considering it's ease of access it's at least worth mentioning. That being the AR card Vivosuar zinodious, it is one of if not the best Vivosuar in the damn game, and if you want to know how to get it, turn on AR at the main menu, bring up a jpeg of the AR card on Google images and just scan it, go into the game and the moment you first step into the American park it will be gifted to you. Here's what's broken about it. 1. You can obtain at lv 12, easily 6-8 lvs higher than your starting ones 2. Can be obtained extremely early 3. It contains both fossil, normal and rare full body at 100pt meaning all it's moves use the minimum fp 4. It has a great optimal stance of up with only one weakness being the rear 5. It has a cheap move for every stance Claw down: keeps you forward, forces enemy down, effective against down ward enemies, +1 boost(70FP) Face ripper: keeps you forward, allows for crit chance on forward opponents(same effect applies to claw strike except it's optimal for front and rear stance)[face ripper is 35FP] Head smasher: high damage which forces you and your enemy down, can also hit flying enemies, effective against downward stance, +1 boost(140FP) Butterfly slash: keeps you forward, doesn't alter enemy stance, no effective stance, slightly more powerful than head smasher so no reason to use it(175FP) Toxic rush: puts you in optimal stance, forces enemy upward, poisons enemy, effective against up stance, 2 hit attack(105FP) Slashing upper: same thing as toxic rush except it's one hit instead of two and less power, also doesn't poison(70FP) Dual claws: puts you in a weak stance, forces enemy in a rear stance, effective against rear stance, +1 boost(105FP) 6. The Vivosuar has solo power arguably the best ability in the game 7. Has higher attack and health than zino at 92 attack and 174 lp, also high defense though not for sure 8. Has a speed of 56 guaranteeing a slot 1 or 2 attack 9. Can inflict poison which is entirely overpowered for boss fights dealing 150 damage per turn on the dreadsaurus and dread raven. 10. Neutral type meaning no elemental weakness 11. Will reach rank 30 faster than the rest of your Vivosuar as you obtain it high level 12. Fuck your buddy this one does it all but better with added extras most importantly high accuracy 13. Last one, allows you to avoid all fossil hunting due to it being free and over powered as hell. Sorry for the long list, thought I could add another reason why the games unbalanced.
It is a great vivosaur but I wouldn't say its the BEST. Pachy, Ptera EU, and Lythro all compete for that spot, although you can't get them as easily as Zinodius to be fair. But your point still stands.
It is a great vivosaur but I wouldn't say its the BEST. Pachy, Ptera EU, and Lythro all compete for that spot, although you can't get them as easily as Zinodius to be fair. But your point still stands.
@@randommacguffin1948lythro absolutely slaps, solo or not. At max rank with high point rares you can cover most positions with high crit and without sacrificing your own stance, with max rank you can use all but slice and dice turn one. Not familiar with pachy or the ptera. One of my favorites to use is thalaso for flying vivosaurs. Status, cheap, decent power, just great all around. The tricera family is annoying though, especially to dig for.
@@dragonmaster3030 Ptera EU has Fear Typhoon, a spread move that inflicts fear and also that puts in the upwards stance which boosts evasion. This move can solo an entire 4 star tournament if you use Stance+ support shots. Super high evasion plus half of the time, the enemy doesn't even get to move. Ptera EU has an attack stat equal to Big Allo and Fear Typhoon can be used every turn of you cleaned the fossil well and are at the max Warden rank. Pachy has Skull Charge, which is a high power move that is most effective on forward facing enemies. Pachy is pretty fast and strong as well, so it's a great source of damage. The move also costs 105 FP at the lowest, so it can be used every turn of you're at the max Warden rank. I've gotten every vivosaur to rank 30 and cleaned every fossil, and even then I'd say those two stand out the most besides Lythro. Although Lythro has even more insane stats and movepool.
@@randommacguffin1948 Im in the process of getting all vivosaurs to rank 30. Not looking forward to ones like diplo and the multi weak vivosaurs. Carchar is also a really good vivosaur, confusion with smack down, fp plus with sand storm allowing resets of flying vivosaurs. Also poison against bosses is god damn broken if you use it. On the topic of fossil cleaning I am fucked when it comes to getting good tricera or anklyo fossils especially rare full bodies
One more thing to add against Frontier. When I played it I decided to use the free website AR dlc vivosaurs which broke all sorts of progression and spoiled the time travel element. Because if this choice I didn’t use nibbles/bunger as much as the game thought I would, so when the time came to fight the final boss, I was stuck with a pitifully low level vivo. That is to say I never finished this game and unlike the original two I will likely never replay this one.
I absolutely loved the video, i’m going over my biyearly fossil fighters binge of interest and you pushed me over the edge to make me wanna dig up the game chips again. It’s a shame where the series croaked and my disappointment is measurable to frontiers shortcomings. I’d absolutely love a more in-depth review of the previous games as well as any other smaller games that struck out like ffc and ff. I’m glad that I found this channel. I really loved champions, I ended up getting stuck in the first one for two years at the Gawd damnd temple and ended up grinding some of the dinos to level 12 before i gave up. I’ve had many memories of the games ranging from my 6 month grind to get the egg timing completed to getting disappointed at the dlc dino I couldn’t get. I’m also in need of sleep so im off to bed. Thanks again for letting me indulge in my hatred for frontier via confirmation.
I'd like to mention that FF and FFC ALSO allowed for skipping the attack animations. So not only were the attacks in the first two games usually much quicker, but they were also skippable.
I loved the first two games and I remember just not being being interested by Frontiers for some reason even though I was like 12 when the game came out. Great video by the way!
I am so glad I looked back before getting the last fossil game. I am even more glad I stumbled on this review because of how detailed, researched, practiced, and effort driven it’s insane! Fantastic job guy, especially on that spectrobes reference
I think the best part about the goofy enemy vivosaur arguments from Champions is that they actually *DO* more serious evil vivosaur designs with the Zombiesaurs, and they work pretty great!
“To the point” 1 hour and 32 minutes… Uhhhh…. I mean if that’s the impression you got it not gonna complain! Thanks a ton. I’ve got a bunch of scripts in the work!
Great video, real shame it didnt perform very well… The research was superb, the presentation nice, your personality fun. Really think the problem was primarily the length for a first video. To be honest, I remember Champions fondly and that I never finished Frontier. This video fully showed me exactly WHY I never finished that game. (Previously all I could remember was the confusing maps and terrible vehicle controls).
I've been replaying the first two Fossil Fighters to satiate a wild craving for childhood nostalgia recently, and had to buy Champions to make it happen (with prices ranging from $80 to $100+ on online stores, frickin' ridiculous). Those games reminded me of how much fun I had playing something unique and new without it being confused or undermined with Pokemon. So it brings me absolute sheer delight to discover a video about how all of that love for an underappreciated series was trampled and grotesquely violated when I played Frontiers for the first time. You've adequately put into words everything that makes Fossil Fighters Frontiers... Fossil Fighters Frontiers, and with all the awful stank that goes with it. I consider it to be the worst game I've ever slogged through, and I'm happy I'm not alone in sharing that feeling. This video was great and the edits were hilarious. Thanks for venting out your frustrations into a genuine cry for something that could've been better and that wouldn't kill off a beloved series for the small amount of fans that treasure it so.
Man I love this video so much every now and then I come back to try and finish it but to be honest I always started over to give it credit. Really hoping you can make more Fossil Fighter content always good to know that the Fossil Fighter blood is still flowing.
Dayum you just destroyed a good chunk of my middleschool life, i still really like that game, possibly because i havent been able to play the old games
I appreciate this review, I must've played this game for about an hour before quitting and losing my cartridge. I'm glad to know that that loss was a net positive in my life
Used to play fossil fighters on the school bus, had this one friend who knew what was what and walked me through the game without spoiling it for me. Remember getting the game on the last Christmas I had with my father, wish I kept my original copy too. Honestly hands down probably my favorite game. It has everything I like. Dinosaurs and lore, mixed with in depth turn based fighting, creature collecting, and great art style. Hope Nintendo doesn't let it go to waste.
I had to choose between two ds games to take with me on holiday, and I chose Frontier (forgot what the other one was). I fucking loved that game, and I have a habit of replaying games whenever I beat them until I got burntout. My burnout for Frontier was months afterward the holiday, I did challenge runs, all sorts of stuff. I did eventually get to try the other game that I almost got instead, and I dropped it after 2 hours and never touched it again. I am so glad that I chose Frontier. The game is hella nostalgic to me now. Sure, some fans of the previous games didn't like how much was changed (and clearly that was the popular opinion), but I loved every second of it. That game is my only impression of fossil fighters and it's damn good. In the unlikely scenario that the series gets another game, I'll be sure to grab it.
Honestly, mate, just discovered your channel and I love your personality throughout the video; it's very professional and entertaining! One thing I will say is that I do actually prefer the type chart in Frontier as opposed to OG or Champions due to it making more logical sense; Fire burns Air, Air corrodes Earth and Earth absorbs Water. I imagine this change was made to be more realistic as opposed to being "more like Pokemon". While I agree the change probably shouldn't have been made in the first place, I'm not upset about it. Other than that, I agree with everything else you've said here. Excellent video!
If only. Those dual-screens were a godsend for cute and quirky gimmicks that you just can’t replicate with motion controls. Spectrobes Origins tried but it just wasn’t the same.
8:45 That mirrors the problem with modern Pokémon games. The first two and maybe third gen were largely your own adventure but the later games have all become the same "You're the special one who will use the power of the legendary Pokémon to save the world".
Bro I’ve been playing and stanning frontier since it came out and even *I* didn’t know the cleaning game utilized 3D, what the actual heck were they thinking Really enjoyed this review! Your criticisms were definitely legit and I enjoyed how you laid everything out. I agree with you completely on most of this, frontier is a trash fire but it’s my trash fire ha ha. I will say, the support shots are more effective as an introduced tool for the longer seven scramble tournaments because you can deplete them and get wiped in the last round if you’re not careful. However, this literally does not work anywhere else in the game, they’re just extra and op. I think if they’d separated them from the main story it def would’ve been more interesting! Also, I do think it’s worth it to mention that you CAN do a little bit of team building with paleo pals, it’s just hard and WAY more of a grind than it should be. Again, I’m a frontier stan, I’ve always been willing to go and do all the challenge routes and dig everything up and do all the long, boring battles, but if you do those multiple times you can get a variety of skills on your paleo pals and pick which ones are equipped. This is how I shut down Penny’s bs lol One thing I would like to say is stances DO matter quite a bit in the game, imo. For instance, I wanted to goof around with Sean and Becky as my pals for a few tournaments but bc nychus has so many bad stances I literally could not use Sean and win. He’d die, like, within the first turn of every fight. However, the ceratopsians are CRAZY op bc they start in their correct stance and have a massive defense boost. And like you mentioned, the pterasaurs get a huge evasion boost while in their upwards stance which you can use to solo battles with like a champ. ALSO also WHY did they put ALL the character development in the post game???? Who thought that was a good idea??? Oh you want character motivations? CRINGE, beat the game first. Pretty sure you only learn Becky’s got some sort of anxiety disorder once you’ve COMPLETED the post game, so like that’s EVEN MORE HOOPS to learn something kind of major about a character. You get more insight into Mei Lian’s anger issues and insecurities, some motivations for Penny and Nate becoming Wardens, some characters that actually set some world building in place, but you have to BEAT THE MAIN GAME before you can learn any of this. Who made this call???? Still, great review! Loved all the effort you put into this, it was super fun and made a ton of great points. I am equally mad about Sean losing his 90s lingo post becoming a wrestler again, I just don’t consider that canon, it’s stupid lol. Sean’s a himbo cowboy-wrestler that talks in exclusively outdated slang and would definitely swear casually in a higher rating game who I love with all my heart 😔👊
Hey. Awesome to have contention in the comments. I mentioned in the description, I’m happy for you that you can like this game. A mite bit envious in fact. I can’t vouch for this postgame stuff, I only did Roland and Elric because I skimmed the wiki article about Super Paleo pals. If there’s actual character development there Then that’s better than what the game left me with. But jeez. Closure needs to come before the credits roll. Yikes. The flier’s evasion boost is interesting on paper. Perhaps I’m just really mad because a rogue vivosaur stalled out a max-rank team to round 7 with it. The idea that that’s possible still makes me mad as I write this. You make a valid point about the postgame being more interesting. Spike Chunsoft does tend toward big post games with Etrian Odyssey and PMD. Thanks for commenting and enjoying! You taught me a thing or two about the game!
@@TheLudomancer Totally agree! You can’t expect people to play the post game if you don’t give them a reason to! They should’ve put the work into the main game, and actually some of the postgame stuff would’ve worked well as main story stuff with a bit of tweaking! Part of the issue they had as well was I believe they had a gacha game developer help with frontier. They essentially made it into a really crappy gacha game maybe as a cash grab or something? But I would say that fossil fighters was def the wrong property to try out a 3DS gacha game for ha ha
@@Andy-rk4iu a Gacha made with dinosaurs huh? Feels like Iike your cast is pretty limited out the gate for that. But what is cleaning but an overly elaborate pull animation?
@@TheLudomancer for sure ha ha. I feel like they must’ve made an oopsie in development somewhere where they forgot that gacha games let you control the characters you collect. So they made a ton of collectible characters and were just like dope, they just vibe. I think frontier would’ve been LEAGUES better if you had to use paleo pals for your two other vivos but you could at least control them. Anything to make the game more engaging bc it’s replayability is SUPER low if you don’t adore the characters like I do lol
Because it’s literally the first thing I did, I named it terribly and the algorithm is weird. Thanks though! It means a lot to get comments like this :D
I like the fossil fighters and champion so much ,I replay them so many times and still get excited playing them. I only finish playing Frontier once and never bother to replay again.
I remember this was my first game that I had bought with money that I got from my parents for doing work around the house, I had went to spend the weekend and my biological father's house, the Friday that he picked me up we went and watched a movie I don't remember what one it was, but we stopped at GameStop before they close so I could buy the game and I played it on the way home and some of my most distinct memories were, "Oh they changed the types around", "Why is the island so small?" Wait what's different with this Lophus?" "AHHHHH get away! Why did you stop me I almost had it cleaned!" "ARE YOU TELLING ME I COULD'VE HAD TWO OF THE STRONGEST DINOSAUR AT ONCE IF ONLY THEY DID THEIR JOB AND CLEANED THAT DISC AT THE BEGINNING?!" *Referring to Kowloon:* "This fuckin guy" "O I can get the realistic skins with the AR" "BRO WHYD YOU WASTE ALL THE MOVE POINTS"
This is such an amazing video. I'm so happy you made it! I always tried to stick with this franchise even if I got the first one a little late and wasn't that good at it. Thank you for bringing more light to it! This franchise (excepting frontier) deserves so much love!
I use to always want this game as a kid, but I never got to own a DS. Only Ds I got to own was a 3ds. I’m getting the originals just to experience parts of my childhood that I missed out on. However I never even knew there was a 3ds version
I was feeling a bit stressed but your video just so happened to pop up on my recommended again so I came here for a good laugh and man your edits never fail me. So chaotic but so well timed I love it!🤣😂
I know it’s late, but about the cleaning. I was one of those who tried using the top screen to excavate because it showed more information. Had to turn on the 3D to see anything correctly, but that in turn left me with severe eyestrain, to the point that, after getting to Europe for the first time, I never picked it up again because it hurt too much. Very much just a me problem, but still!
Never too late to boost this thing in the algorithm! Yeahhh... It's bad. It's a bizzare view angle at the top too. It stays at weird angles and just doesn't act naturally.
I grew up playing Fossil Fighter Frontiers, and I didn't know it was part of a series named "Fossil Fighters" I thought it just was one single game not a part of a series. Actually Fossile Fighters Frontier is one of my favourite games from the childhood and I have very good memories about playing it. I didn't know that much people hated this game because for me it was an instant classic. Now that I grew up I think that the game wasn't not as amazing as I remember it. This summer I will start playing it again and watching if it still being good or if it sucks, maybe I will have a very good time because of tbe nostalgia. I have to agree with practically everything you said in this video, but the game will still having an important place in my head. The combat system were very boring sometimes because you practically couldn't do anything. The history has a lot of incongruous things, the main villain should have had a backstory or something not just "I'm bad because I'm bad, I want to dominate the world" When I was child I used to love the characters (specially by their designs) but now I realize that most of them were just stereotypes (specially the teenagers ones) and the rest just didn't have the necessary time on screen. I still liking some characters that I think they're cool, Striker of course, Elric, Becky, Drake, Dahlia, Krollow... Actually Krollow was my favourite villain of the game, his design looked very cool, but he also needed to have a backstory or something, because he is just bad because he is bad. Olga is bad because she was brainwashed, Dr Blackraven was bad because he was bad and wanted world domination. They could invest more time in exploring the backstory of some characters that really needed it. Also the paleo pal should have more than only one vivosaur, there are a lot,a lot and a lot of vivosaurs, why don't add an option to select 3-5 vivosaurs from a paleopal? Why just one? I don't understand. Other thing that I didn't like was the dinosaur that was your pet, at first he looked like a generic T-Rex, but at least he was cute, then with their phases I didn't know what the hell happened. A better idea should have been that you could select what specie of vivosaur would be your partner (a lot of vivosaurs look cool and cute) Another bad thing was the fact that in the middle of the game they stole your partner vivosaur (lol) literally the vivosaur that I spend levelling up all the fucking game and they just don't let me use it??? Why??? Literally in ALL THE GAME I only used about 3-4 vivosaurs, what the hell, with all the vivosaurs that I could select I only needed 3-4? Another bad thing was about the scenarios, I mean, you literally could have all the world to travel, but you can only travel to 3 places in 3 continents, why? Why they couldn't add Oceania and Africa? Actually it would be interesting to add Oceania as we see an Australian guy in the early game (Sidney) so it could be interesting, also Africa exploring a Savannah full of vivosaurs. Now I know that this game has a lot of mistakes and probably it's a very bad game, but for me, I still loving it as the childhood classic that it was for me (sorry original FF fans) Nice video! Very funny and interesting.
No need to apologize. Nostalgia's a powerful thing and I certainly don't have the power to take it away from you. Dreadraven wasn't even bad because "bad guy world domination". There's ways to make that fun. It just takes actual setup and interesting back-and-forth that Dreadraven doesn't present. He's got a scheme, you foil it. He's got another scheme with a prerequesite, you try to foil the prerequisite, fail, and then foil it. etc, etc, etc. Previous game's villain plans either succeed in some small way, reveal pre-existing success that directly affects the player and their focal character, or their plan is foiled at the last second at significant cost. Setup and giving the player weird questions to reveal a dramatic answer is a powerful thing.
@@TheLudomancer also is like Blackraven tries to look more evil and badass than he is actually is, idk, he just look like a very generic villain. I started playing the game again and when I finish it I will add more answers to my first comment, explaining my opinion now that I played it when I grew up 😃
@@musicfolk8442 correct. Black raven goes so hard and does so little that he’s hard to take seriously. A villains visual design is secondary to actual narrative threats they present, and Blackraven fails entirely at that.
Not gonna lie as a Pre Jaiden Fossil fighters fan I enjoyed it amazingly well. I had gotten stuck in the OG pyramid and never got past that as a kid. This has gotten me to want to play the second game now :) But as a newcomer to Disgaea it would be cool if you did something on that lol
… I am also a Disgaea newcomer, I’ve only played 5 and a bit of 4, it is SO hard to find time to get through them. I’d probably talk more about the ludicrously indulgent funky parody-hell setting than any actual gameplay. It’s definitely on my list.
I've first seen the 3DS and some DS versions from a trailer GameStop store and from my local Walmart, and I was interested in them, even asked my parents to buy me one, they said they would consider it but we never bought it because I forgot all about it up until it was too late after I heard about it from several other RUclipsrs like that shiny-hunting Evee lady who has a stick VR-Tuber thing long before Jaiden made her video on it. A cool game, I have to say, but I'll listen to your tirade that I already heard a thousand times over because yeah, they butchered that 3DS game's combat system. The previous game: "You sly dog, you had me monologuing" This game: *monologs.*
You know, rewatching it again and coming to realization about a specific term that company uses when artists work for a company either for hire or as an employee (aka, "the company will take every last drop of copyright you would have otherwise have for any work or creation you make for us")... I kinda realized that Fossil Fighters Frontier is another good example as to why the original creators (humans, or if it comes to it, actual living beings, not corporations) should deserve to keep the copyright to these IPs instead of corporations. Cause corporations exist to make money and oftentimes have no idea about what made their IPs great. So, I wouldn't be surprised that when the original devs made FF and allowed it to be published through their third party, Nintendo essentially took all rights to the IP and left their devs with nothing but their salaries. But Nintendo didn't *make* Fossil Fighters, so they don't deserve the IP. Just a thought I had.
I was one of the kids that bought FF on release day. The memories I have with it... the Dinaurians, Guhnash, the characters, and Duna Nichs was my childhood crush. FFC was an improvement in every way except story, but at least the Dinaurians were brought back in a DLC. Frontier. I don't know enough profanities to say how much I hate it.
Oh, I heard of it. It was a sleeper hit, kids loved it. The only thing Fossil Fighters really had going against was being a Nintendo game, since already had Pokemon, but if it wasn't for Black And White renewing my interest in it I might have just abandoned Pokemon for it. Any company aside from EA, Activision or Nintendo would have almost certainly milked a hit like Fossil Fighters for all it was worth.
Surprised there were no mention about the vivosaur designs besides like the one quick remark early on and a couple jabs at the generic MCsaur. The first two games did such a good job of still showing variety despite all the reused skeletons and animations. Carchar to T-Rex to Megalo they were all distinct from each other despite all using the theropod framework with different head shapes. In Frontier theropods have those ridiculous heads that not only clash with the more realistic style they were trying but also makes them look more same-y. Igua went from a stylized but still moderately tame and recognizable Igua to the bumblefuck Barney-looking motherfucker that it is in Frontier. But yeah, just a shame the series had to die like this.
Trust me I tried to go into it when I went off about the changing FP costs for no reason but it just did not fit no matter how hard I tried. Thank you for bringing it up :D
The Vivosaurs actually look more realistic in frontier and at least in frontier it shows the dinosaurs actually attacking each other instead of cutting to a black screen like the previous 2 games did
Yes. Because everybody wants realism in every game at any cost of playability or design appeal. There's not a single person who was unhappy or at least briefly uncomfortable with any design changes in detective pikachu. Every single stylized animation and artstyle is just failing to emulate perfect reality.
I found this game through such a weird way, in 4th grade my friend told me about a dinosaur game where you customize dinosaurs (battle of giants), I convinced my mom to get me it but I was taking too long at gamestop to find it, so she told me if i dont pick a game in 5 seconds I wont get one. So out of panic I grabbed fossil fighters and left, fast forward to after highschool, its still my all time favorite ds game aside from pokemon, and was more enjoyable than the original game I wanted 😂
Oh Lord, I remember battle of giants. I recently played it again and while the battles are NOT as good as I remembered them being (No, I don't want to draw in order to attack), it's good brainless fun for dino fans when you need a time killer. All the fun is in the customization. Once you've beat the game you've kinda seen it all, though. The levels don't change in either enemies or order so it's a real slog to start with a new dinosaur. Or maybe that's because I've beat the thing so many times as a child.
I came back to this game over Christmas break after not being able to beat the final boss in 2014 and man it was really really hard to finish this one. This game let me down twice, but I loved the first two games and am currently playing champions again. I would love to see some Pokémon content from you dawg!
"One of his better color palettes" Someone didn't pick tarbo and it shows. All joking aside, subbed. I don't care much for pokemon content (not bad games, just not my cup of tea as much anymore), but the effort that went into this video is worth more than 535 subs.
Champions is one of my favorite games ever. Still remember my team. Trike and dimetrodon on the sides with the allo evolution up front. POWER HOUSE oneshotting every single time
I really like this video from the perspective of someone who only played the first two games and not frontiers it not only makes me glad I didn’t play the third game because of how bad it was it did not spoil the wonder of the first two games. Again very good video!!!
I like that fossil fighter frontier let you team up with the characters in the game and form bonds with them, but because the battle system revolves so heavily around, you only having one of your dinosaurs, while the rest of the party is made up of your teammates and nibbles is so important because plot you’re not incentivized to use any of your other dinosaurs so when nibbles is kidnapped near the end of the game, it’s more than likely that you haven’t leveled up any of the other dinosaurs high enough to be useful so I think the game needs to let you use your own party of three dinosaurs sometimes so you’re not just using a single character when that character is taken away from you your crippled
Fossil fighters was my first game on the ds and nothing on that format ever compared to it😂 I don’t remember how old I was when champions came out, but it was old enough to buy it myself. Then frontiers made me forget what happiness was
Honestly I think the most damning criticism of this creature collector RPG is that the gameplay structure actively disincentives from collecting creatures. Between Nibbles and Paleo Pals, you really don't have much of a reason to get more vivosaurs. If you're playing the game as it was presumably intended, you probably aren't gonna use them anyway. If feels like an rpg made by someone who has never played an rpg.
1:01:23 only one game I've played that has an element system that had "earth beats water" in it. It was The Denpa Men 1. Which, in the sequel, added electricity which was the new weakness for water (electricity was weak to earth).
Well I just watched an hour and a half worth of "FFF bad" and it does a really good job of explaining exactly what it set out to explain. Editing was good, though the same blue Windows Vista/7 esc background got a bit boring after a while, even if it was broken up by gameplay footage and screenshots. Real amount of effort put into this, some good potential here, you edited and acted like a guy with more than half a million subscribers. Got my sub.
@@TheLudomancer Nah, I mean I disagree pokemon is great, but I won't unsub over it. I will agree that gamefreak has been mistreating the franchise for a while now though. Guess I'll just have to watch and see
I LOVE fossil fighters so much. I was so excited when I found out there was a sequel with champions. I didnt think the first game could get any better but to me it did Campions is my favorite. I was excited for frontiers as well but oh boy not long into playing the game I was disappointed and so sad they ruined the series
@@TheLudomancer i also agree with Grimsly, your comedic cadence is top notch and suited for this man. I get the impression that depending on the source material your humor and editing would definitely adapt. I’d love to see more of your style. I didn’t realize an hour had passed till it was already over, you’ve definitely allowed yourself to cover your grievances with the failed abortion. Gave yourself enough room to breath and let info sink in. I had to double take and pause at parts to read the text you added, funny shit. I hope you read this because I want to thank you again for making such a quality video. If only the series got a second shot at life….
@@bananawithproblems9517 It's really great to hear that out of somebody. I do think I'm improving greatly in my later scripts in all facets, but hearing this about the starting point is dope as hell.
Fossil Fighters Champions was probably my most played game. Whenever it got too easy after beating the game I would restart it (I probably did this about 30 times). The game never got to boring for me and the fighting style was made it so that I could not be half focused on it like with Pokémon. While this game was absolutely terrible and feels like the developers just saw a parody of the previous games and comply relied on past nostalgia, I would like another one that goes back to the champions format with a few new changes that make sense and enhance the game. Like what they did with the Dragon Quest Joker games and the Dark Prince.
Another really gross combat mechanic that annoys the hell out of me is the fact that not only does the XP concentrate in AI, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to level any vivosaur other than Bunger. I tried for so ungodly long to level a U-raptor, and Bunger (WHO I HAD COMPLETELY AVOIDED USING) was STILL more powerful
I was thinking about finally beating this game (I first played it in 2015) to solidify my opinion that this is an absolutely terrible game but after watching this I know I don't have to. Thanks!
I don’t like that everytime people have mentioned this game to a new audience it’s immediately told it’s just like Pokémon but with dinosaurs it’s misleading because all the way from the battle system to the obtaining system they are completely different
Fantastic video! You did a great job, and I love the fact that Fossil Fighters still gets some people's attention sometimes. We need King Dynal for smash :)
@@TheLudomancer He already has moves they can use music, all of that. It's not going to happen simply because Fossil Fighters isn't quite big enough for any of that.
It's also stupid cause they changed the Type of Coatlus by making from a Air Type into a Fire Type for no reason and the amount Repeat Vivosaurs instead of having one we got the same by different Colors cause Ptera is great Exsample cause it gotten 3 Variats that are just different Colors plus they removed so many Vivosaurs like Sea Reptiles, Birds, Mammals and Acient Sea Creatures for just having Dinosaurs and Flying Reptiles only with the Repeats filling in which is just dumb and stupid but when I first the Trailer back in 2014 I had a bad Feeling about it and I was right that Opinion cause when I played it I didn't have a great time at all especially with the Final Boss cause that was so Bullshit to beat cause the other Bosses were strong but they were at your level of strength using very complex tactics to make sure it wasn't easy like Saurhead making you go though intense Challenges to even get his Mask and later in Post game the Legendary Vivosaur Ignosaurus
What kills me about Frontiers type advantage system is that there's an npc who literally tries to explain the reasonings behind it. And they literally couldn't really explain why earth beat water. They practically fully admit that they didn't know why they changed it or why it's supposed to make sense. That being said, I do see reason why Fire -> Air since fire uses oxygen for fuel. As for Air -> Earth, it sounds strange at first but air erosion is a real thing. I still think the original system made more consistent sense however.
I have literally no memory of it, it was sketch as hell and I don't feel comfortable directing you anywhere in particular. The first sites you find when you search GameName ROMS tend to have what you're looking for, just buried under a dozen fake download buttons and weird UX. So just... be careful. Or better yet, don't play it. That's always an option.
Straight up, I played this WAY before jaiden even put the idea for a video on a draw pad. Shame artdink and red entertainment have fallen...they deserve a new shot at this. With modern day production value, and a revitalization of the gameplay, maybe a sort of proper brawler spinoff, that would cause madness
I think a lot of what makes this game work is the limited DS restrictions. It'd be pretty weird to make it work out on any other console right now with the fossil digging... and I do understand the urge to get anything as a Brawler. It's such a perfect and easy to imagine gameplay style. It's a kind of ideal. Personally though, I'm content to let this one sit.
@@TheLudomancer I said the next system. The switch is far out of the question. Honestly I just wnat to see this very small and passionate community grow. Been having these weird dreams of making a character that blends Nychus with Fallout's Deathclaw. I feel that if we got badass characters based on the vivosaurs, and get them as OC's in the wild, then the community would grow very fast.
I saw it the 3 dollar bin a few years later and repurchased it. I played it and sold it the first time. 1st 2 games are amazing. Still hold up really well. I replay the games every couple years
Okay I went back to play Frontier again and surprisingly there more after game stuff. I decided to transfer me save to the digital version and continue my save. Right now im on a side quest called rising star rumpus. For some reason every time i beat the tournament it crashes so I decide to go back on my physical and beat the Tournament again and....it also crashed.... Holy shit this game is so bad that a side quest crashes the game.
How are you under 100 subs??? This video is amazing you say a lot of great things while also keeping me laughing a lot! You should try editing this video down into smaller chunks and reuploading them I feel like more people would watch it if it was a 2-3 part series cause I almost didn't click because of the time but I'm so glad i did!!!
@@TheLudomancer really excited to see your future uploads and I hope they manage to reach more people you have a ton of potential and definitely deserve to have your content seen by more people
I’ve played Frontier. I am glad I wasn’t the only one with the game’s big problem. If y’all want to play Fossil Fights, play the first or Champions. I personally recommend Champions, because it feels more fun to me.
Just here cuz I wanted to see what the deal with Frontier was. I liked the first two, but never picked up Frontier. It'd be nice if the series returned, but that isn't likely :/ 34:55 Damn it, can't ever get away from that game. Just wanted to check out Frontier and *bam* reminded of that shit. Don't know how bad Frontier is, personally, but I'll take it over P5 any day 39:20 Really well put explanation on the gameplay loop for all the games. This was sort of the explanation I was hoping to find out there (I looked around the internet for different viewpoints on Frontier) for the differences between the first two games and Frontier. I wanted more of a detailed explanation of the problems put up against what exactly made the first two good, and I finally found it here. Nice. 58:00 NGL, kinda disappointed you decided to try and quickly go through this... mostly cuz the "sped up" audio of stuff I'd actually want to hear (as opposed to the plot/story/characters section going on a bit long) was a bit discombobulating at first (partially cuz the music seemed as loud as what you were saying) and video is already long enough that it wouldn't matter if you let this part drag just a bit. 1:00:45 Fire needs air/oxygen to keep itself lit, Earth could absorb the water, like with soil/nutrients. Its real dumb to just mess with this when they had two games with an established weakness order, but there's at least a bit more possible sense behind this decision. 1:28:25 and "devolved"/regressed in a lot of other areas Overall, nice video! Some of the other comments said it, but it surprisingly great from someone with such few subs, hopefully you wind up making more videos in general (subbed, just in case). Glad someone actually covered the gameplay mechanics in more detail (saw some lackluster posts else where that didn't really cover what I wanted to hear)
I apologize for being a few months late with this reply, but things happened, won't bore you with the details on that front. I'll say up front, I'm typing this out on phone (first time), so it might be messy. I certainly don't mind explaining my problems with P5, but there is a lot to unpack, even if I am just summarizing. Hopefully this comment gets to you, and if there is anything that needs further elaboration, just ask. First Summary, IIRC (been awhile cince thinking about it). Without spoiling anything, the ("true") ending of (base, havent played royal) P5 is essentially a "Neutral" Alignment ending in Shin Megami Tensei terms. The inherent flaws of the Neutral Alignment in SMT contradict the "point/message/etc" of P5's ending. Thus making it an inherent thematic failure. This isn't *necessarily* an issue, as long as the point of that is to make light of the latent hypocrisy/irony of that fact... but that isn't the case. This means that P5 as a whole both reflects and perpetuates the mentality it is supposedly fighting against. This sort of extends into both the general writing/story structure, as well as problems with the gameplay. To make matters worse, if someone were to like P5 and DENY this, it would only act as proof of the problem. Such is the cyclical nature of the 3 Main Alignments in SMT. This is a real big aspect that fuels the revulsion towards the game and why it is frequently seen as a problematic entry from a SMT standpoint. To make matters worse again, if one were to look at that view from an outside perspective, it might come across as a bit overblown and people might feel inclined to dismiss whatever is being said. This is just one summary trying to pinpoint the hatred it provokes. Second Summary. This one isn't from me, but instead is from a comment on a post on the Megaten subreddit (I know how bad reddit can be, but just here me out. If you want to know the post it is "Persona 5 isn't as stupid as it comes off"). It goes something like this I don't hate P5 because of the themes it touches on, but because of how misguided it is at doing so. The portrayal of the Phantom Thieves as super cool heroes clashes hard against the nature of what they are doing. "Stealing hears", i.e. Brainwashing. It would be fine if the clash were intentional, but Atlus wants the audience to admire and idolize the main cast by making them (to a general audience) "likeable" and have them stand out over the masses. A common criticism of the story is how cartoonish the villains are, but the problem runs deeper than just them being uninteresting. By making them so black and white, the writers are effectively waving off (at best) or SHOOTING DOWN (at worst) whatever criticism the audience might have regarding the morality of the PT's actions. You don't have to agree with a story for it to be good, but it shouldn't diminish the audience's critical thinking while getting its message across. Ironic, for a game about questioning impositions. This leads to the 3rd summary about its plot... or it's lack thereof (this will be the messiest part, as writing all this on phone is draining and i kind of want to get this done with). The Phantom Thieves have no direction or any agency *of their own*. The First Arc, Kamoshida threatens them, so they don't really have any choice... which is fine for an inciting event. Afterwards, they decide to continue, but we don't really have much of a reason or a cause past, well, just doing it... which is too vague to care about. With every subsequent arc, they are put into a similar situation, as to prevent either them or the audience from stopping to think about the general lack of direction/drive for events. 2nd arc, Yusuke and Madarame threaten the PT, so they don't have a choice. 3rd, Makoto and Kaneshiro threaten them, so no choice. 4th, Futaba threatens to reveal them and self harm (more on that in a bit), no choice. 5th, Haru's fiancee is the threat, no choice. 6th, Akechi threatens/blackmails them, no choice. 7th and 8th, only way to get out of the mess they got themselves into with Shido and everything, so no choice. Back to Futaba. Futaba clearly showed a desire to change, a desire for help of some kind. What she needed was Therapy, not brainwashing. As for why this is such an issue, if we are to assume the human self is determined by our memories and experiences, then brainwashing them and overwriting what caused them to be what they are is, in essence, killing that part of them. Futaba is where this issue becomes such a contentious point, as she could and should work through her problems and is generally meant to be seen as an "innocent/good" person, making the act of brainwashing an immoral one. In order to side step this, the arc is written the way it is to try and sideline the issue. However, if you realized this problem with P5 as early as the first arc, then this means you had to endure the entire game with this problem permeating throughout the story only for an unsatisfying end to each arc as the game doesn't want to deal with it. This goes back to the PT not having any clear direction or moral goals. Realizing this moral discrepancy while being given nothing concrete or meaningful past "crime bad" gives one more reason to hate the PT than anything else. (Reminder of the end of the previous summary) I have a lot more to say about Futaba's arc, some structural, some personal. As someone who has had similar enough issues/problems in their life, the fact that I am left hating this arc and everyone/everything in it because of how it was handled is also one of the big sources of *my* revulsion towards P5. As for the lack of direction and agency, the game wants to adhere to the structure of previous games, so it uses the threats to give "gameplay" agency with how it is framed. This is why this might go under the radars of some. Another reason has to do with the past tense story telling device/narration and the whole "we knew all along" twist, which doesn't even function as a twist (though that's another discussion). The past tense framing is to give you the idea of some sort of direction upfront to hide the lack of direction and cohesion of the story during the game. Doesn't help that the whole twist doesn't really work, but again, that's its own discussion. Finally, gameplay. Some of the most barebones turn based game play I've played. Party management is irrelevant as Baton Pass bypasses it and the new elements serve to homogenize the party members too much. Game play is more focused on easily exploiting weaknesses, and not much more past that. It is meant to have good gameplay, but meant to have good game feel. Baton Pass gives you more control, exploiting obvious weaknesses makes you think you are using strategy, but if there aren't any meaningful options outside that, then it is actually devoid of strategy, (dominant strategy argument blah blah blah, talked about in plenty of game videos) It isn't all bad, as I've played bad turn based games. The way you approach enemies has changed a bit, though that settles into a repetitive routine a few arcs in. BUT the fact that people actually think this could ever be classified as "some of the best turn based gameplay" is where the issue becomes bad. It doesn't have nearly enough of the defining aspects of the genre to even come close. There are games with really good and ocassionally even unique approaches to turn based gameplay that go under the radar. The general public doesn't care about turn based enough to even think twice about whether or not something even makes for good turn based. So the fact that this is generally considered good is a terrible reflection on the "genre". That might sound petty, but I like turn based and this did more to make me think that it will do more to regress. There is a lot more to talk about turn based than people will ever recognize and it feels more stifling to see so little in depth coverage for Turn Based games. I went on too much, and it got messy towards the end, so I'll just leave this as is and if you want to say/ask anything, go ahead
@@thecintokrator1203 I cannot perceive of a single reason you would prefer Frontier over sleeping in a dumpster. Let alone Persona 5. First paragraph: "Persona 5's themes don't work because they line up to something contradictory in a different, thematically unrelated franchise". Yeah SMT Spinoff what the hell ever. Also you've failed to state what about it's similarities to an SMT Neutral ending, so pardon me, but I haven't got a single goddamn clue what you're talking about. What P5's themes are, what the themes of an SMT Neutral ending are (Which, most games take very different stances on I might add) or what about them conflicts. Basically, Persona, especially Persona 5, is very much not Megaten, so comparing the two thematically to say that one is worse, is dumb because they're different stories about different things. Now your "Stealing Hearts" = Brainwashing thing. You say that it's just hand-waved... but IT IS FREQUENTLY ADDRESSED. In the goddamn opening act. And yes, the villains are largely cartoonish, because 90% of their screentime is in palaces. And it's addressing an unprecedented brazenness of corruption that some people see, and giving people with that opinion a way to feel powerful over it. They explain it and the thieves' explicit stance is: "Nobody else can do anything about this, so we should." even though their means are questionable. Yeah black-and-white-moralityhubuhbuh Mate it's a Story and the focus is on the characters, their reactions to the bad situations they are put in, and cool set pieces. This isn't Breaking Bad and it's not trying to be some gripping oscar bait. The Phantom Thief archetype is a cool aesthetic that a lot of people like and Persona-Flavoured Cognitive Realm nonsense enables interesting set pieces with it. The ability for players to disagree with their methods doesn't block them out of the whole story unless they let it. Like you seem to be. The ability to disagree adds an element of depth and the fact that you disagree at all is proof that it's not disabling your critical faculties. You're just whining that "Game Didn't Do Arcs that Agree to My Morals". This game isn't real psychology, it's 100% got supernatural elements to it that enable people to go a bit farther in villainy than baseline reality. So yeah. It's stylized and not representative of reality, you think we could gather as much when the cats are talking and you rip your own face off to summon dragons in a Flying Bank Vault in a city of ATM People. I'm sorry we're not showcasing the gripping trauma of therapy here. It'd be like me saying that Support Shots are bad because they idealize drug use instead of the fact that they're just shit. Also, where's your critique of Blackraven if cartoonish black-and-white villains are so bad? Can't get much worse in that department than "World Domination". You discuss Futaba's Arc? A) Largely subjective, B) Objectively, She has one. Shut up and don't defend Frontier. C) The arc didn't end with her heart stolen. Do her confidant. Nothing you have to say about the gameplay can be met with anything but laughter. The runaway feedback loops of knockdowns and consecutive turns, the depth of persona crafting, the sheer juiciness of the visuals and sound effects. That's what people love about it. If you weren't a fan? I'd get it. But you're the one comparing it to Frontier here. And the bar to clear to be better than Frontier, is for your party members to not cuck you out of your own options. "Baton Pass bypasses party management" Okay. Wrong. Just because each party member's dominant element is the main priority doesn't mean there are no other differences. Ann's a Mage with Status Effects, Ryuji's a tank with high physical, Morgana's a healer and speed demon, Yusuke's more evasive with a glass cannon physical setup, Makoto's an all-rounder with a little bit of everything and Haru does Barrier shenanigans. And if we compare it to Frontier, a game you say you'd pick any day, What's the differentiation between party members there? What type of steroids they throw at you to be like an inconsistent equipment slot? What numbers show up when they steal your boost skills? It's a satisfying core loop to go through with bonus juice and flashy effects. If you don't like the All-Out-Attacks that's just your judgement of it. It's an additional system with room to optimize over traditional weaksauce elemental weakness systems. It's the main selling point of the combat, of course they're going to make it powerful. There's several other ways to go about that combat and your access to it is often complicated by enemies you can't conveniently knock down with your current party. And I would LOVE To hear you try and say what parts of Turn-Based-RPGs are lacking in P5. It's literally the Dragon Quest, Party of 4, HP and SP ORIGINAL FORMULA. And whatever you think it's lacking, couldn't just be one of the "ocassionally even unique approaches" That you seem to like? Give me an example of whatever mechanic Persona 5 is missing, if you'd be so kind. If you were just criticizing P5, I'd get it and be a lot more respectful. But if you're actually going to come into my goddamn house, piss on my floor and say you prefer Fossil Fighters Frontier? A game that's 70% watching AI steal your FP? I'm gonna go off.
43:18 if you clean off enough fossils, the robot actually gets pretty good, able to clean fossils to 90-99 points. at that point, it can actually do some fossils better than me, such as the fossils with all the holes in them
Holy fucking shit I loved this. I felt the same way about frontier. Although the song that plays on the start screen is a bop. Also really good editing and just all around entertaining
I absolutely love Fossil Fighters, always have since I was a kid. I still regularly boot up FF and FFC to play every now and then, and enjoy it fully. Frontier, on the other hand, is the one game I've never beaten. I could never fully understand the cleaning, the redesigns suck all the fun and life out of the vivosaurs, and I've always despised the cars. Combat also was a major turnoff, since it just didn't feel right. FFC felt like a natural upgrade to FF, polishing and improving the aspects that needed it while not trying to fix what wasn't broken. Frontier feels like it was just changing things for the sake of changing things. Such a shame the franchise that I feel genuinely has better entries than some Pokemon games will die with this abomination.
I remember a friend told me about this, i got the first two version and wasnt able to get the last one until recently, only like after a 2-3 months i traded the game bc i just couldnt anymore n was just bored
Heyyyy! 200 views! We did it Reddit!
Bit more then 200 now, but you deserve it
As long as this video was, are we going to ignore the drastic changes to vivosaur designs, or the filler vivosaurs that are the same species with a different color? You can't tell me there's no problem with two T-Rex with a different skin type and name, or Spinax not even changing its name, but even it's design. Don't even get me started on V-raptor with Breme design!
Trust me, I wanted to go into it, but it felt like a more subjective thing that I haven't got the visual language to go into and the script was in a really good pace and getting into it just wasn't worth sacrificing the flow. The most I could safely get was a few cracks at the fact that they're gross now.
The first two games had a ton of reused animation skeletons which I do go over in more depth.
How the hell did you have champions running with such smooth graphics?
To Quote a Failing Boat: I hit my DS with a Wrench three times and it upgraded into DS3. AKA Desmume with Texture Uprezzing.
I love how much love (and hate I suppose) went into this video, and it deserves a lot of love for it.
Something I’d like to point out is the diversity among even vivosaurs with the same skeletons. For example the way spinax threateningly shifts from one leg to another while idle is different to how carno aggressively heaves and shows off his horns, and the way allo’s dropkick launches it into a backflip is different to how S-Raptor simply leaps back
Truly, no two vivosaurs are identical- its the little things like that which make them all feel so special and unique
Fossil fighters 1 and 2 were funny because they never took themselves seriously in even the most dire of situations. This game did the opposite: it took itself way too seriously in even the most stupid moments.
ME! I'VE HEARD OF FOSSIL FIGHTERS AND MORE PEOPLE NEED TO SEE IT!
Genuinely I really appreciate the influx of Fossil Fighters videos out of no where.
Its a shame what Frontier did to the series
I love that you mention the flawed battle UI but I want to take it even further.
The original games were great with visual communication.
>The EZ and rotation system both relied on a vivosaur’s positioning in space; effectively displayed with the orientation of their UI sprites. The stance system doesn't do anything remotely close...
>The information, attack, and rotation icons were brightly colored and distinct.
>Vivosaur health bars had a different color and shape to them based on element.
>Skills were distinguished by color, differentiating standard attacks from team skills and special skills.
Most of these decisions made battles more intuitive and easy to pick up on. Some are just for visual flavor. All were presented clearly on just the bottom screen of the DS, freeing up valuable real estate on the top screen for combat animations and announcer commentary. Frontier cramps too much onto the top screen and leaves behind a bare-bones bottom screen. What little info there is to glean from it is hard to pick up on thanks to the monotone UI you pointed out.
And thanks for going in-depth on the cleaning. It always felt off to me, but I didn't know that there was a 3D element to the minigame that muddled things up even more!
Great video!
Excellent points. Makes me wish I mentioned screen real estate as I brushed over the UI.
Dude we can literally reduce all the problems to the cars. All because of how much is wrong with them.
Funny story, for a majority of my first, blind playthrough of Fossil Fighters Frontier, I did not use the starter vivosaur. Why? Because I called that they'd take him away and use him as an enemy later on in the game, *calling the Dreadsaurus plot twist at the beginning of the game*, so I went with something else.
I used it until I get a Trex and then I found a purple Trex
This feels like a video made by someone with thousands of subs. Good job dude, you deserve more recognition!
Thank you so much! I figured it’d pay off to put my best foot forward.
@@TheLudomancer now then, how about an analysis on the first and second games and why they are such wonderful cult classics?
Obviously, it's way too soon. But, it would be a great project imo, as I'm one of the few who played all 3 games WAY before jaiden launched it nuclear. I remember plowing through (most) of the first game with Spinax, Shanshan and V-Raptor.
@@Zynet_Eseled I actually beat the first game with almost the same loadout. Just Spinax, Shanshan and Goyle.
@@TheLudomancer Nice! Why not try running a nuzlocke of the second game as a side project, to fill in time between new videos?
I absolutely loved fossil fighters champions as a kid. I never played a Pokémon game but I fondly remember fossil fighters. I even lent my fried my copy of champions for him to try out and he really liked it too. I hope they can make a better installment of this franchise in the future… although it’s sadly very unlikely
If there's any other games you'd like to see me break down in similar fashion, comment away! Even if I'm not as likely to make something of this length again for the foreseeable future.
I got one for you: Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series.
Marvel ultimate alliance!!
Fossil fighters, it's such a strange little thing. I noticed you seemed to favor 2 so your thoughts on the first game would be interesting
Big rigs over the road racing
Your choice of any similarly underrated gems like ffc. There was this one cars racing game I played on for a bit, its just the only one that i could remember off hand in 10 seconds or less.
My entire life is spent waiting to return to the nostalgia fossil fighters gave me in my childhood. I remember one night in second grade I stayed up till 5am earning enough money to buy a trex skull fossil from the shop. Truly and under appreciated game, one that I will love and cherish forever.
i remember as a kid i played champions and i went "hell yeah i wanna play another one", so i played frontier and barely lasted 5 hours. if my 10 year old dumbass found it that deplorable you know it's a disaster
Honestly, a breakdown for Frontier is something that I've always had on my backburner, but I don't think I could do it any better than you did. Great video!
These games need more exposure than they get. It's a classic and there's only been two videos of any real size discussing it.
I'd love to see what you could come up with on your end.
@@TheLudomancer Would it be okay with you if I shared this onto the Fossil Fighters subreddit? Or would you like to share it yourself or not at all?
@@NateOfTheFossils Thanks for asking but I think I'll do that myself. I honestly just wondered about the etiquette of using that as a place to sort of advertise it.
I absolutely loved the video, i’m going over my biyearly fossil fighters binge of interest and you pushed me over the edge to make me wanna dig up the game chips again.
It’s a shame where the series croaked and my disappointment is measurable to frontiers shortcomings. I’d absolutely love a more in-depth review of the previous games as well as any other smaller games that struck out like ffc and ff. I’m glad that I found this channel.
I really loved champions, I ended up getting stuck in the first one for two years at the Gawd damnd temple and ended up grinding some of the dinos to level 12 before i gave up. I’ve had many memories of the games ranging from my 6 month grind to get the egg timing completed to getting disappointed at the dlc dino I couldn’t get.
I’m also in need of sleep so im off to bed. Thanks again for letting me indulge in my hatred for frontier via confirmation.
Woops i wrote this here instead of on the video, lmao. Imma leave thjs here cus im lazy
I heard about Fossil Fighter long before I heard of Jaiden Animations.
FFC was one of my all time favorite games as a kid and something I remember super fondly, and if anything this video convinced me that I should play the first game sometime, because dinosaur shapeshifting aliens trying to colonize the earth is such a cool idea!! I didn't touch Fossil Fighters Frontier because of the whole deal with the cars, it looked so lame like you play the game for the reptiles not the trucks
The story sounded like a trainwreck. I can break down pretty much most of the FFC story in my head and it's been well over 10 years. The fact that trying to unravel frontier's story ate up the longest segment of your script says enough about it dude holy shit. There is not one interesting thing about that storyline or setting that sticks.
Fossil fighters was already vying against pokemon for originality and arguably one of the things that helped it stick out was that fossil fighting was along the lines of baseball or something and didn't define the entire world. the ds games were a very competitive view of it concentrated on little resort islands that made it funnier and more engrossing down the line. like not everyone was obsessed or living with the vinosaurs like in pokemon. also TRAGIC they cut out the announcers wtf. so sad what happened to these games. i bet the devs were trying to make up for their slights in the other games and it just didn't work out
Anyways I got nothing else to add you didn't already touch on. this is a REALLY good, informative, and entertaining video. There are few videos that can hold my attention for over an hour and this was a gem. great editing and sense of humor. I was really surprised to look down and see only 1,000 views, but then again fossil fighters is totally obsolete. Congrats on the views it got :) will be checking out ur other stuff & looking forward to anything u put out there in the future!
It really makes me smile to hear that! I’m living for the response this video has gotten so far. And hey, Ive got two more in the works. One’s a narrative review of CrossCode, after that, I tackle Pokémon. So that’ll be f u n ?
Absolute unit of a video! We can always hope that, maybe, one day, we can have a FF return. The effort in this video very much shows your love for the series.
If only if only. Maybe one of those technically-not-sequels like Bloodstained or Might No 9... Something tells me it would be close to Number 9 if Frontier is to be believed.
@@TheLudomancer Considering how niche this community is (I don't think most of the people who watched Jaiden's video would care THAT much) if a spiritual successor were made I think it'd at least be decent
Theirs one thing to note that completely breaks game balance, some may find this unfair but considering it's ease of access it's at least worth mentioning. That being the AR card Vivosuar zinodious, it is one of if not the best Vivosuar in the damn game, and if you want to know how to get it, turn on AR at the main menu, bring up a jpeg of the AR card on Google images and just scan it, go into the game and the moment you first step into the American park it will be gifted to you. Here's what's broken about it.
1. You can obtain at lv 12, easily 6-8 lvs higher than your starting ones
2. Can be obtained extremely early
3. It contains both fossil, normal and rare full body at 100pt meaning all it's moves use the minimum fp
4. It has a great optimal stance of up with only one weakness being the rear
5. It has a cheap move for every stance
Claw down: keeps you forward, forces enemy down, effective against down ward enemies, +1 boost(70FP)
Face ripper: keeps you forward, allows for crit chance on forward opponents(same effect applies to claw strike except it's optimal for front and rear stance)[face ripper is 35FP]
Head smasher: high damage which forces you and your enemy down, can also hit flying enemies, effective against downward stance, +1 boost(140FP)
Butterfly slash: keeps you forward, doesn't alter enemy stance, no effective stance, slightly more powerful than head smasher so no reason to use it(175FP)
Toxic rush: puts you in optimal stance, forces enemy upward, poisons enemy, effective against up stance, 2 hit attack(105FP)
Slashing upper: same thing as toxic rush except it's one hit instead of two and less power, also doesn't poison(70FP)
Dual claws: puts you in a weak stance, forces enemy in a rear stance, effective against rear stance, +1 boost(105FP)
6. The Vivosuar has solo power arguably the best ability in the game
7. Has higher attack and health than zino at 92 attack and 174 lp, also high defense though not for sure
8. Has a speed of 56 guaranteeing a slot 1 or 2 attack
9. Can inflict poison which is entirely overpowered for boss fights dealing 150 damage per turn on the dreadsaurus and dread raven.
10. Neutral type meaning no elemental weakness
11. Will reach rank 30 faster than the rest of your Vivosuar as you obtain it high level
12. Fuck your buddy this one does it all but better with added extras most importantly high accuracy
13. Last one, allows you to avoid all fossil hunting due to it being free and over powered as hell.
Sorry for the long list, thought I could add another reason why the games unbalanced.
It is a great vivosaur but I wouldn't say its the BEST. Pachy, Ptera EU, and Lythro all compete for that spot, although you can't get them as easily as Zinodius to be fair. But your point still stands.
It is a great vivosaur but I wouldn't say its the BEST. Pachy, Ptera EU, and Lythro all compete for that spot, although you can't get them as easily as Zinodius to be fair. But your point still stands.
@@randommacguffin1948lythro absolutely slaps, solo or not. At max rank with high point rares you can cover most positions with high crit and without sacrificing your own stance, with max rank you can use all but slice and dice turn one. Not familiar with pachy or the ptera. One of my favorites to use is thalaso for flying vivosaurs. Status, cheap, decent power, just great all around. The tricera family is annoying though, especially to dig for.
@@dragonmaster3030 Ptera EU has Fear Typhoon, a spread move that inflicts fear and also that puts in the upwards stance which boosts evasion. This move can solo an entire 4 star tournament if you use Stance+ support shots. Super high evasion plus half of the time, the enemy doesn't even get to move. Ptera EU has an attack stat equal to Big Allo and Fear Typhoon can be used every turn of you cleaned the fossil well and are at the max Warden rank.
Pachy has Skull Charge, which is a high power move that is most effective on forward facing enemies. Pachy is pretty fast and strong as well, so it's a great source of damage. The move also costs 105 FP at the lowest, so it can be used every turn of you're at the max Warden rank.
I've gotten every vivosaur to rank 30 and cleaned every fossil, and even then I'd say those two stand out the most besides Lythro. Although Lythro has even more insane stats and movepool.
@@randommacguffin1948 Im in the process of getting all vivosaurs to rank 30. Not looking forward to ones like diplo and the multi weak vivosaurs. Carchar is also a really good vivosaur, confusion with smack down, fp plus with sand storm allowing resets of flying vivosaurs. Also poison against bosses is god damn broken if you use it. On the topic of fossil cleaning I am fucked when it comes to getting good tricera or anklyo fossils especially rare full bodies
The only thing of quality related to FFF is this video. RIP Fossil Fighters, loved the original.
One more thing to add against Frontier. When I played it I decided to use the free website AR dlc vivosaurs which broke all sorts of progression and spoiled the time travel element. Because if this choice I didn’t use nibbles/bunger as much as the game thought I would, so when the time came to fight the final boss, I was stuck with a pitifully low level vivo. That is to say I never finished this game and unlike the original two I will likely never replay this one.
I absolutely loved the video, i’m going over my biyearly fossil fighters binge of interest and you pushed me over the edge to make me wanna dig up the game chips again.
It’s a shame where the series croaked and my disappointment is measurable to frontiers shortcomings. I’d absolutely love a more in-depth review of the previous games as well as any other smaller games that struck out like ffc and ff. I’m glad that I found this channel.
I really loved champions, I ended up getting stuck in the first one for two years at the Gawd damnd temple and ended up grinding some of the dinos to level 12 before i gave up. I’ve had many memories of the games ranging from my 6 month grind to get the egg timing completed to getting disappointed at the dlc dino I couldn’t get.
I’m also in need of sleep so im off to bed. Thanks again for letting me indulge in my hatred for frontier via confirmation.
I'd like to mention that FF and FFC ALSO allowed for skipping the attack animations. So not only were the attacks in the first two games usually much quicker, but they were also skippable.
And hour and a half of someone talking about fossil fighters in 2022/2023??? Finally something awesome on the internet. Respect, dude.
I loved the first two games and I remember just not being being interested by Frontiers for some reason even though I was like 12 when the game came out. Great video by the way!
I am so glad I looked back before getting the last fossil game. I am even more glad I stumbled on this review because of how detailed, researched, practiced, and effort driven it’s insane! Fantastic job guy, especially on that spectrobes reference
I think the best part about the goofy enemy vivosaur arguments from Champions is that they actually *DO* more serious evil vivosaur designs with the Zombiesaurs, and they work pretty great!
It's camp as hell and I'm about it.
As a person who's only played the first game, seeing you go unga bunga with the hammer on Frontier's fossils gives me anxiety
That is the correct response and in a world with gods worth sympathy, I wouldn't need to do this to you.
@@TheLudomancer I can't believe you played through the entirety of this game twice, great content!
This was great! I hope we see more reviews like this from you. Entertaining and to the point.
“To the point”
1 hour and 32 minutes…
Uhhhh…. I mean if that’s the impression you got it not gonna complain! Thanks a ton. I’ve got a bunch of scripts in the work!
Great video, real shame it didnt perform very well…
The research was superb, the presentation nice, your personality fun. Really think the problem was primarily the length for a first video.
To be honest, I remember Champions fondly and that I never finished Frontier. This video fully showed me exactly WHY I never finished that game. (Previously all I could remember was the confusing maps and terrible vehicle controls).
Fossil fighters was my freaking childhood we need a remaster!!
I've been replaying the first two Fossil Fighters to satiate a wild craving for childhood nostalgia recently, and had to buy Champions to make it happen (with prices ranging from $80 to $100+ on online stores, frickin' ridiculous). Those games reminded me of how much fun I had playing something unique and new without it being confused or undermined with Pokemon. So it brings me absolute sheer delight to discover a video about how all of that love for an underappreciated series was trampled and grotesquely violated when I played Frontiers for the first time.
You've adequately put into words everything that makes Fossil Fighters Frontiers... Fossil Fighters Frontiers, and with all the awful stank that goes with it. I consider it to be the worst game I've ever slogged through, and I'm happy I'm not alone in sharing that feeling. This video was great and the edits were hilarious. Thanks for venting out your frustrations into a genuine cry for something that could've been better and that wouldn't kill off a beloved series for the small amount of fans that treasure it so.
I don’t know if ur still looking but Nintendo sells some copies on Amazon directly, for cheaper. I’ve seen it going for $52 currently
Man I love this video so much every now and then I come back to try and finish it but to be honest I always started over to give it credit. Really hoping you can make more Fossil Fighter content always good to know that the Fossil Fighter blood is still flowing.
Dayum you just destroyed a good chunk of my middleschool life, i still really like that game, possibly because i havent been able to play the old games
I appreciate this review, I must've played this game for about an hour before quitting and losing my cartridge. I'm glad to know that that loss was a net positive in my life
Now I kinda feel ashamed. When I was a kid, I loved playing Frontier and I remember those times fondly.
That's dumb. I can't take away the fact that you enjoyed it. I like Spectrobes Origins unironically despite it's faults. Live your truth dude.
This video feels like it straight up described all my frustration I had with this game oml. Amazing work man
Used to play fossil fighters on the school bus, had this one friend who knew what was what and walked me through the game without spoiling it for me. Remember getting the game on the last Christmas I had with my father, wish I kept my original copy too. Honestly hands down probably my favorite game. It has everything I like. Dinosaurs and lore, mixed with in depth turn based fighting, creature collecting, and great art style. Hope Nintendo doesn't let it go to waste.
I had to choose between two ds games to take with me on holiday, and I chose Frontier (forgot what the other one was). I fucking loved that game, and I have a habit of replaying games whenever I beat them until I got burntout. My burnout for Frontier was months afterward the holiday, I did challenge runs, all sorts of stuff.
I did eventually get to try the other game that I almost got instead, and I dropped it after 2 hours and never touched it again. I am so glad that I chose Frontier. The game is hella nostalgic to me now. Sure, some fans of the previous games didn't like how much was changed (and clearly that was the popular opinion), but I loved every second of it.
That game is my only impression of fossil fighters and it's damn good. In the unlikely scenario that the series gets another game, I'll be sure to grab it.
Honestly, mate, just discovered your channel and I love your personality throughout the video; it's very professional and entertaining!
One thing I will say is that I do actually prefer the type chart in Frontier as opposed to OG or Champions due to it making more logical sense; Fire burns Air, Air corrodes Earth and Earth absorbs Water. I imagine this change was made to be more realistic as opposed to being "more like Pokemon". While I agree the change probably shouldn't have been made in the first place, I'm not upset about it.
Other than that, I agree with everything else you've said here. Excellent video!
My first DS game EVER!! Got it for Christmas alongside a DS ofc. I pray they make a new one or even just a remake for the Switch!!!
If only. Those dual-screens were a godsend for cute and quirky gimmicks that you just can’t replicate with motion controls.
Spectrobes Origins tried but it just wasn’t the same.
8:45 That mirrors the problem with modern Pokémon games. The first two and maybe third gen were largely your own adventure but the later games have all become the same "You're the special one who will use the power of the legendary Pokémon to save the world".
I think pokemon was fine until gen 6 or 7 in the earlier games you began to be recognized by skill and prowess
I saw the length of this video and was hesitant. This is fantastic
Bro I’ve been playing and stanning frontier since it came out and even *I* didn’t know the cleaning game utilized 3D, what the actual heck were they thinking
Really enjoyed this review! Your criticisms were definitely legit and I enjoyed how you laid everything out. I agree with you completely on most of this, frontier is a trash fire but it’s my trash fire ha ha.
I will say, the support shots are more effective as an introduced tool for the longer seven scramble tournaments because you can deplete them and get wiped in the last round if you’re not careful. However, this literally does not work anywhere else in the game, they’re just extra and op. I think if they’d separated them from the main story it def would’ve been more interesting!
Also, I do think it’s worth it to mention that you CAN do a little bit of team building with paleo pals, it’s just hard and WAY more of a grind than it should be. Again, I’m a frontier stan, I’ve always been willing to go and do all the challenge routes and dig everything up and do all the long, boring battles, but if you do those multiple times you can get a variety of skills on your paleo pals and pick which ones are equipped. This is how I shut down Penny’s bs lol
One thing I would like to say is stances DO matter quite a bit in the game, imo. For instance, I wanted to goof around with Sean and Becky as my pals for a few tournaments but bc nychus has so many bad stances I literally could not use Sean and win. He’d die, like, within the first turn of every fight. However, the ceratopsians are CRAZY op bc they start in their correct stance and have a massive defense boost. And like you mentioned, the pterasaurs get a huge evasion boost while in their upwards stance which you can use to solo battles with like a champ.
ALSO also WHY did they put ALL the character development in the post game???? Who thought that was a good idea??? Oh you want character motivations? CRINGE, beat the game first. Pretty sure you only learn Becky’s got some sort of anxiety disorder once you’ve COMPLETED the post game, so like that’s EVEN MORE HOOPS to learn something kind of major about a character. You get more insight into Mei Lian’s anger issues and insecurities, some motivations for Penny and Nate becoming Wardens, some characters that actually set some world building in place, but you have to BEAT THE MAIN GAME before you can learn any of this. Who made this call????
Still, great review! Loved all the effort you put into this, it was super fun and made a ton of great points. I am equally mad about Sean losing his 90s lingo post becoming a wrestler again, I just don’t consider that canon, it’s stupid lol. Sean’s a himbo cowboy-wrestler that talks in exclusively outdated slang and would definitely swear casually in a higher rating game who I love with all my heart 😔👊
Hey. Awesome to have contention in the comments. I mentioned in the description, I’m happy for you that you can like this game. A mite bit envious in fact.
I can’t vouch for this postgame stuff, I only did Roland and Elric because I skimmed the wiki article about Super Paleo pals.
If there’s actual character development there Then that’s better than what the game left me with. But jeez. Closure needs to come before the credits roll. Yikes.
The flier’s evasion boost is interesting on paper. Perhaps I’m just really mad because a rogue vivosaur stalled out a max-rank team to round 7 with it. The idea that that’s possible still makes me mad as I write this.
You make a valid point about the postgame being more interesting. Spike Chunsoft does tend toward big post games with Etrian Odyssey and PMD.
Thanks for commenting and enjoying! You taught me a thing or two about the game!
@@TheLudomancer Totally agree! You can’t expect people to play the post game if you don’t give them a reason to! They should’ve put the work into the main game, and actually some of the postgame stuff would’ve worked well as main story stuff with a bit of tweaking!
Part of the issue they had as well was I believe they had a gacha game developer help with frontier. They essentially made it into a really crappy gacha game maybe as a cash grab or something? But I would say that fossil fighters was def the wrong property to try out a 3DS gacha game for ha ha
@@Andy-rk4iu a Gacha made with dinosaurs huh? Feels like Iike your cast is pretty limited out the gate for that.
But what is cleaning but an overly elaborate pull animation?
@@TheLudomancer for sure ha ha. I feel like they must’ve made an oopsie in development somewhere where they forgot that gacha games let you control the characters you collect. So they made a ton of collectible characters and were just like dope, they just vibe. I think frontier would’ve been LEAGUES better if you had to use paleo pals for your two other vivos but you could at least control them. Anything to make the game more engaging bc it’s replayability is SUPER low if you don’t adore the characters like I do lol
wait... why does this have so few views? Fossil Fighters is monumental, and this video seems like the best one on the series I've seen
Because it’s literally the first thing I did, I named it terribly and the algorithm is weird. Thanks though! It means a lot to get comments like this :D
@@TheLudomancer you could edit the video title a bit and see if it does anything. Wait until there’s an uptick in dinosaur or fossil related trends xd
I like the fossil fighters and champion so much ,I replay them so many times and still get excited playing them. I only finish playing Frontier once and never bother to replay again.
I remember this was my first game that I had bought with money that I got from my parents for doing work around the house, I had went to spend the weekend and my biological father's house, the Friday that he picked me up we went and watched a movie I don't remember what one it was, but we stopped at GameStop before they close so I could buy the game and I played it on the way home and some of my most distinct memories were, "Oh they changed the types around", "Why is the island so small?" Wait what's different with this Lophus?" "AHHHHH get away! Why did you stop me I almost had it cleaned!" "ARE YOU TELLING ME I COULD'VE HAD TWO OF THE STRONGEST DINOSAUR AT ONCE IF ONLY THEY DID THEIR JOB AND CLEANED THAT DISC AT THE BEGINNING?!" *Referring to Kowloon:* "This fuckin guy" "O I can get the realistic skins with the AR" "BRO WHYD YOU WASTE ALL THE MOVE POINTS"
This is such an amazing video. I'm so happy you made it! I always tried to stick with this franchise even if I got the first one a little late and wasn't that good at it. Thank you for bringing more light to it! This franchise (excepting frontier) deserves so much love!
Just curious: Did you see this after my Pokemon video? I'm wondering if that's bringing any people in.
@@TheLudomancer No sorry! Although it's my next watch, RUclips has just started recommending me Fossil Fighters stuff more often
@@jolly8527 Don't apologize. Just something for my own information.
I use to always want this game as a kid, but I never got to own a DS. Only Ds I got to own was a 3ds. I’m getting the originals just to experience parts of my childhood that I missed out on. However I never even knew there was a 3ds version
@@Eli-akad you missed out on less than nothing
I was feeling a bit stressed but your video just so happened to pop up on my recommended again so I came here for a good laugh and man your edits never fail me. So chaotic but so well timed I love it!🤣😂
I genuinely believe that this video does not live up to my current capabilities. Glad you're enjoying! Also happy to be validated.
My opinion: i love frontier, yes a few vivos changed but thats the way of things i love the new grafics and honestly we need more
I also love the only RPG with a lower APM than Pokémon.
@@TheLudomancer yes
I know it’s late, but about the cleaning. I was one of those who tried using the top screen to excavate because it showed more information. Had to turn on the 3D to see anything correctly, but that in turn left me with severe eyestrain, to the point that, after getting to Europe for the first time, I never picked it up again because it hurt too much.
Very much just a me problem, but still!
Never too late to boost this thing in the algorithm!
Yeahhh... It's bad. It's a bizzare view angle at the top too. It stays at weird angles and just doesn't act naturally.
I grew up playing Fossil Fighter Frontiers, and I didn't know it was part of a series named "Fossil Fighters" I thought it just was one single game not a part of a series.
Actually Fossile Fighters Frontier is one of my favourite games from the childhood and I have very good memories about playing it. I didn't know that much people hated this game because for me it was an instant classic.
Now that I grew up I think that the game wasn't not as amazing as I remember it. This summer I will start playing it again and watching if it still being good or if it sucks, maybe I will have a very good time because of tbe nostalgia.
I have to agree with practically everything you said in this video, but the game will still having an important place in my head.
The combat system were very boring sometimes because you practically couldn't do anything.
The history has a lot of incongruous things, the main villain should have had a backstory or something not just "I'm bad because I'm bad, I want to dominate the world"
When I was child I used to love the characters (specially by their designs) but now I realize that most of them were just stereotypes (specially the teenagers ones) and the rest just didn't have the necessary time on screen. I still liking some characters that I think they're cool, Striker of course, Elric, Becky, Drake, Dahlia, Krollow...
Actually Krollow was my favourite villain of the game, his design looked very cool, but he also needed to have a backstory or something, because he is just bad because he is bad. Olga is bad because she was brainwashed, Dr Blackraven was bad because he was bad and wanted world domination.
They could invest more time in exploring the backstory of some characters that really needed it.
Also the paleo pal should have more than only one vivosaur, there are a lot,a lot and a lot of vivosaurs, why don't add an option to select 3-5 vivosaurs from a paleopal? Why just one? I don't understand.
Other thing that I didn't like was the dinosaur that was your pet, at first he looked like a generic T-Rex, but at least he was cute, then with their phases I didn't know what the hell happened. A better idea should have been that you could select what specie of vivosaur would be your partner (a lot of vivosaurs look cool and cute)
Another bad thing was the fact that in the middle of the game they stole your partner vivosaur (lol) literally the vivosaur that I spend levelling up all the fucking game and they just don't let me use it??? Why??? Literally in ALL THE GAME I only used about 3-4 vivosaurs, what the hell, with all the vivosaurs that I could select I only needed 3-4?
Another bad thing was about the scenarios, I mean, you literally could have all the world to travel, but you can only travel to 3 places in 3 continents, why? Why they couldn't add Oceania and Africa? Actually it would be interesting to add Oceania as we see an Australian guy in the early game (Sidney) so it could be interesting, also Africa exploring a Savannah full of vivosaurs.
Now I know that this game has a lot of mistakes and probably it's a very bad game, but for me, I still loving it as the childhood classic that it was for me (sorry original FF fans)
Nice video! Very funny and interesting.
No need to apologize. Nostalgia's a powerful thing and I certainly don't have the power to take it away from you.
Dreadraven wasn't even bad because "bad guy world domination". There's ways to make that fun. It just takes actual setup and interesting back-and-forth that Dreadraven doesn't present. He's got a scheme, you foil it. He's got another scheme with a prerequesite, you try to foil the prerequisite, fail, and then foil it. etc, etc, etc.
Previous game's villain plans either succeed in some small way, reveal pre-existing success that directly affects the player and their focal character, or their plan is foiled at the last second at significant cost. Setup and giving the player weird questions to reveal a dramatic answer is a powerful thing.
@@TheLudomancer also is like Blackraven tries to look more evil and badass than he is actually is, idk, he just look like a very generic villain.
I started playing the game again and when I finish it I will add more answers to my first comment, explaining my opinion now that I played it when I grew up 😃
@@musicfolk8442 correct. Black raven goes so hard and does so little that he’s hard to take seriously. A villains visual design is secondary to actual narrative threats they present, and Blackraven fails entirely at that.
I'm currently doing a Let's Play on Fossil Fighters original! I'm having fun replaying the game for the millionth time xD
Not gonna lie as a Pre Jaiden Fossil fighters fan I enjoyed it amazingly well. I had gotten stuck in the OG pyramid and never got past that as a kid. This has gotten me to want to play the second game now :) But as a newcomer to Disgaea it would be cool if you did something on that lol
… I am also a Disgaea newcomer, I’ve only played 5 and a bit of 4, it is SO hard to find time to get through them. I’d probably talk more about the ludicrously indulgent funky parody-hell setting than any actual gameplay. It’s definitely on my list.
I've first seen the 3DS and some DS versions from a trailer GameStop store and from my local Walmart, and I was interested in them, even asked my parents to buy me one, they said they would consider it but we never bought it because I forgot all about it up until it was too late after I heard about it from several other RUclipsrs like that shiny-hunting Evee lady who has a stick VR-Tuber thing long before Jaiden made her video on it. A cool game, I have to say, but I'll listen to your tirade that I already heard a thousand times over because yeah, they butchered that 3DS game's combat system.
The previous game: "You sly dog, you had me monologuing"
This game: *monologs.*
You know, rewatching it again and coming to realization about a specific term that company uses when artists work for a company either for hire or as an employee (aka, "the company will take every last drop of copyright you would have otherwise have for any work or creation you make for us")...
I kinda realized that Fossil Fighters Frontier is another good example as to why the original creators (humans, or if it comes to it, actual living beings, not corporations) should deserve to keep the copyright to these IPs instead of corporations.
Cause corporations exist to make money and oftentimes have no idea about what made their IPs great.
So, I wouldn't be surprised that when the original devs made FF and allowed it to be published through their third party, Nintendo essentially took all rights to the IP and left their devs with nothing but their salaries.
But Nintendo didn't *make* Fossil Fighters, so they don't deserve the IP. Just a thought I had.
I was one of the kids that bought FF on release day. The memories I have with it... the Dinaurians, Guhnash, the characters, and Duna Nichs was my childhood crush. FFC was an improvement in every way except story, but at least the Dinaurians were brought back in a DLC.
Frontier.
I don't know enough profanities to say how much I hate it.
what do you mean DLC for champions? how do I get said DLC?
Oh, I heard of it. It was a sleeper hit, kids loved it. The only thing Fossil Fighters really had going against was being a Nintendo game, since already had Pokemon, but if it wasn't for Black And White renewing my interest in it I might have just abandoned Pokemon for it. Any company aside from EA, Activision or Nintendo would have almost certainly milked a hit like Fossil Fighters for all it was worth.
Surprised there were no mention about the vivosaur designs besides like the one quick remark early on and a couple jabs at the generic MCsaur.
The first two games did such a good job of still showing variety despite all the reused skeletons and animations. Carchar to T-Rex to Megalo they were all distinct from each other despite all using the theropod framework with different head shapes. In Frontier theropods have those ridiculous heads that not only clash with the more realistic style they were trying but also makes them look more same-y. Igua went from a stylized but still moderately tame and recognizable Igua to the bumblefuck Barney-looking motherfucker that it is in Frontier.
But yeah, just a shame the series had to die like this.
Trust me I tried to go into it when I went off about the changing FP costs for no reason but it just did not fit no matter how hard I tried. Thank you for bringing it up :D
i can not get over what they did to spino its such a mess
The Vivosaurs actually look more realistic in frontier and at least in frontier it shows the dinosaurs actually attacking each other instead of cutting to a black screen like the previous 2 games did
Yes. Because everybody wants realism in every game at any cost of playability or design appeal. There's not a single person who was unhappy or at least briefly uncomfortable with any design changes in detective pikachu. Every single stylized animation and artstyle is just failing to emulate perfect reality.
@@bigt3782 I don't thinbk that the walking squash that is carchar is realistic
I found this game through such a weird way, in 4th grade my friend told me about a dinosaur game where you customize dinosaurs (battle of giants), I convinced my mom to get me it but I was taking too long at gamestop to find it, so she told me if i dont pick a game in 5 seconds I wont get one. So out of panic I grabbed fossil fighters and left, fast forward to after highschool, its still my all time favorite ds game aside from pokemon, and was more enjoyable than the original game I wanted 😂
Pokemon is among your fav games?... Subscribing miiight be... an idea.
Oh Lord, I remember battle of giants. I recently played it again and while the battles are NOT as good as I remembered them being (No, I don't want to draw in order to attack), it's good brainless fun for dino fans when you need a time killer. All the fun is in the customization. Once you've beat the game you've kinda seen it all, though. The levels don't change in either enemies or order so it's a real slog to start with a new dinosaur. Or maybe that's because I've beat the thing so many times as a child.
I came back to this game over Christmas break after not being able to beat the final boss in 2014 and man it was really really hard to finish this one. This game let me down twice, but I loved the first two games and am currently playing champions again. I would love to see some Pokémon content from you dawg!
We got pokemon content on the way. It's a preeetty intense script and I can't wait to get it out to you!
"One of his better color palettes" Someone didn't pick tarbo and it shows. All joking aside, subbed. I don't care much for pokemon content (not bad games, just not my cup of tea as much anymore), but the effort that went into this video is worth more than 535 subs.
Oh buddy boy if Pokemon’s not your cup of tea then that is exactly content you would care about.
I miss the BB Bad guys and the battle narrators like Ty Ranno and Trip Cera. Also I made it to the end using two vivosaurs. Bunger and Lophus.
Champions is one of my favorite games ever. Still remember my team. Trike and dimetrodon on the sides with the allo evolution up front. POWER HOUSE oneshotting every single time
These games have such a unique plot, I was so confused when frontier came out
How am I only finding this now such an amazing video!
Because it's a niche game with an intimidating video length and a title written by a man with nothing left to lost.
I really like this video from the perspective of someone who only played the first two games and not frontiers it not only makes me glad I didn’t play the third game because of how bad it was it did not spoil the wonder of the first two games. Again very good video!!!
I like that fossil fighter frontier let you team up with the characters in the game and form bonds with them, but because the battle system revolves so heavily around, you only having one of your dinosaurs, while the rest of the party is made up of your teammates and nibbles is so important because plot you’re not incentivized to use any of your other dinosaurs so when nibbles is kidnapped near the end of the game, it’s more than likely that you haven’t leveled up any of the other dinosaurs high enough to be useful so I think the game needs to let you use your own party of three dinosaurs sometimes so you’re not just using a single character when that character is taken away from you your crippled
Fossil fighters was my first game on the ds and nothing on that format ever compared to it😂 I don’t remember how old I was when champions came out, but it was old enough to buy it myself. Then frontiers made me forget what happiness was
And before anyone says it, yes it took me 4 years after release to get a ds. We were broke😂
Fossil fighters champions is literally my favorite game of all time
Deadass, I would not be the man I am today without the way the plot moves around Joe Wildwest.
Honestly I think the most damning criticism of this creature collector RPG is that the gameplay structure actively disincentives from collecting creatures. Between Nibbles and Paleo Pals, you really don't have much of a reason to get more vivosaurs. If you're playing the game as it was presumably intended, you probably aren't gonna use them anyway. If feels like an rpg made by someone who has never played an rpg.
1:01:23 only one game I've played that has an element system that had "earth beats water" in it. It was The Denpa Men 1. Which, in the sequel, added electricity which was the new weakness for water (electricity was weak to earth).
Well I just watched an hour and a half worth of "FFF bad" and it does a really good job of explaining exactly what it set out to explain. Editing was good, though the same blue Windows Vista/7 esc background got a bit boring after a while, even if it was broken up by gameplay footage and screenshots. Real amount of effort put into this, some good potential here, you edited and acted like a guy with more than half a million subscribers. Got my sub.
I Might lose it tomorrow depending on the quality of my takes.
@@TheLudomancer Nah, I mean I disagree pokemon is great, but I won't unsub over it.
I will agree that gamefreak has been mistreating the franchise for a while now though.
Guess I'll just have to watch and see
I LOVE fossil fighters so much. I was so excited when I found out there was a sequel with champions. I didnt think the first game could get any better but to me it did Campions is my favorite. I was excited for frontiers as well but oh boy not long into playing the game I was disappointed and so sad they ruined the series
30:10 the jumpscare actually got me, well done, sir.
Glad you liked Todd's Slapstick. Also, excellent taste in profile pic.
@@TheLudomancer thank youuuuu xion's best girl
Hey! This video was really cool, you seem to already got such a good style going with your editing and video style c:
Thank you so much! It's always great to hear things like this. :3
@@TheLudomancer i also agree with Grimsly, your comedic cadence is top notch and suited for this man. I get the impression that depending on the source material your humor and editing would definitely adapt. I’d love to see more of your style. I didn’t realize an hour had passed till it was already over, you’ve definitely allowed yourself to cover your grievances with the failed abortion. Gave yourself enough room to breath and let info sink in. I had to double take and pause at parts to read the text you added, funny shit. I hope you read this because I want to thank you again for making such a quality video.
If only the series got a second shot at life….
@@bananawithproblems9517 It's really great to hear that out of somebody. I do think I'm improving greatly in my later scripts in all facets, but hearing this about the starting point is dope as hell.
This is my favorite Fossil Fighters video
I mostly just blame the fact spike chunsoft made frontier for all the issues
Fossil Fighters Champions was probably my most played game. Whenever it got too easy after beating the game I would restart it (I probably did this about 30 times). The game never got to boring for me and the fighting style was made it so that I could not be half focused on it like with Pokémon. While this game was absolutely terrible and feels like the developers just saw a parody of the previous games and comply relied on past nostalgia, I would like another one that goes back to the champions format with a few new changes that make sense and enhance the game. Like what they did with the Dragon Quest Joker games and the Dark Prince.
Another really gross combat mechanic that annoys the hell out of me is the fact that not only does the XP concentrate in AI, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to level any vivosaur other than Bunger. I tried for so ungodly long to level a U-raptor, and Bunger (WHO I HAD COMPLETELY AVOIDED USING) was STILL more powerful
Best part is that I was playing champions while watching
I was thinking about finally beating this game (I first played it in 2015) to solidify my opinion that this is an absolutely terrible game but after watching this I know I don't have to. Thanks!
It is some hoooot trash. Fun to yell about though!
I don’t like that everytime people have mentioned this game to a new audience it’s immediately told it’s just like Pokémon but with dinosaurs it’s misleading because all the way from the battle system to the obtaining system they are completely different
Fantastic video! You did a great job, and I love the fact that Fossil Fighters still gets some people's attention sometimes.
We need King Dynal for smash :)
Now there's a Smash suggestion I've never heard before! I'd be mad down him as a Ridley Echo fighter.
@@TheLudomancer He already has moves they can use music, all of that. It's not going to happen simply because Fossil Fighters isn't quite big enough for any of that.
Though if he were to be a clone that would still be exceptional
It's also stupid cause they changed the Type of Coatlus by making from a Air Type into a Fire Type for no reason and the amount Repeat Vivosaurs instead of having one we got the same by different Colors cause Ptera is great Exsample cause it gotten 3 Variats that are just different Colors plus they removed so many Vivosaurs like Sea Reptiles, Birds, Mammals and Acient Sea Creatures for just having Dinosaurs and Flying Reptiles only with the Repeats filling in which is just dumb and stupid but when I first the Trailer back in 2014 I had a bad Feeling about it and I was right that Opinion cause when I played it I didn't have a great time at all especially with the Final Boss cause that was so Bullshit to beat cause the other Bosses were strong but they were at your level of strength using very complex tactics to make sure it wasn't easy like Saurhead making you go though intense Challenges to even get his Mask and later in Post game the Legendary Vivosaur Ignosaurus
What kills me about Frontiers type advantage system is that there's an npc who literally tries to explain the reasonings behind it. And they literally couldn't really explain why earth beat water. They practically fully admit that they didn't know why they changed it or why it's supposed to make sense. That being said, I do see reason why Fire -> Air since fire uses oxygen for fuel. As for Air -> Earth, it sounds strange at first but air erosion is a real thing. I still think the original system made more consistent sense however.
Little late to be asking, but where did you download FFF to run it on the emulator? I found the first two on Vimm's Lair, but this one has eluded me.
I have literally no memory of it, it was sketch as hell and I don't feel comfortable directing you anywhere in particular.
The first sites you find when you search GameName ROMS tend to have what you're looking for, just buried under a dozen fake download buttons and weird UX. So just... be careful.
Or better yet, don't play it. That's always an option.
Straight up, I played this WAY before jaiden even put the idea for a video on a draw pad. Shame artdink and red entertainment have fallen...they deserve a new shot at this. With modern day production value, and a revitalization of the gameplay, maybe a sort of proper brawler spinoff, that would cause madness
I think a lot of what makes this game work is the limited DS restrictions. It'd be pretty weird to make it work out on any other console right now with the fossil digging... and I do understand the urge to get anything as a Brawler. It's such a perfect and easy to imagine gameplay style. It's a kind of ideal. Personally though, I'm content to let this one sit.
@@TheLudomancer why not the next nintendo handheld, and it reintroduces the stylus?
@@Zynet_Eseled have you seen how the switch is doing? It’s pulling double-duty for them.
@@TheLudomancer I said the next system. The switch is far out of the question.
Honestly I just wnat to see this very small and passionate community grow. Been having these weird dreams of making a character that blends Nychus with Fallout's Deathclaw. I feel that if we got badass characters based on the vivosaurs, and get them as OC's in the wild, then the community would grow very fast.
I remember those rocks at 40:50. Those were pain
I saw it the 3 dollar bin a few years later and repurchased it. I played it and sold it the first time. 1st 2 games are amazing. Still hold up really well. I replay the games every couple years
Okay I went back to play Frontier again and surprisingly there more after game stuff. I decided to transfer me save to the digital version and continue my save. Right now im on a side quest called rising star rumpus.
For some reason every time i beat the tournament it crashes so I decide to go back on my physical and beat the Tournament again and....it also crashed....
Holy shit this game is so bad that a side quest crashes the game.
How are you under 100 subs??? This video is amazing you say a lot of great things while also keeping me laughing a lot! You should try editing this video down into smaller chunks and reuploading them I feel like more people would watch it if it was a 2-3 part series cause I almost didn't click because of the time but I'm so glad i did!!!
Wow, thank you! Breaking it down was something I considered and am working through in my newer projects. But I always love seeing comments like this!
@@TheLudomancer really excited to see your future uploads and I hope they manage to reach more people you have a ton of potential and definitely deserve to have your content seen by more people
@@slowazzd2165 Well hey. After my next video, the script after it is for Pokemon, which... y'know. Is actually present in the public consciousness.
I’ve played Frontier. I am glad I wasn’t the only one with the game’s big problem. If y’all want to play Fossil Fights, play the first or Champions. I personally recommend Champions, because it feels more fun to me.
OH yeah, Champions all the way, no question.
@@TheLudomancer :D
Just here cuz I wanted to see what the deal with Frontier was. I liked the first two, but never picked up Frontier. It'd be nice if the series returned, but that isn't likely :/
34:55 Damn it, can't ever get away from that game. Just wanted to check out Frontier and *bam* reminded of that shit. Don't know how bad Frontier is, personally, but I'll take it over P5 any day
39:20 Really well put explanation on the gameplay loop for all the games. This was sort of the explanation I was hoping to find out there (I looked around the internet for different viewpoints on Frontier) for the differences between the first two games and Frontier. I wanted more of a detailed explanation of the problems put up against what exactly made the first two good, and I finally found it here. Nice.
58:00 NGL, kinda disappointed you decided to try and quickly go through this... mostly cuz the "sped up" audio of stuff I'd actually want to hear (as opposed to the plot/story/characters section going on a bit long) was a bit discombobulating at first (partially cuz the music seemed as loud as what you were saying) and video is already long enough that it wouldn't matter if you let this part drag just a bit.
1:00:45 Fire needs air/oxygen to keep itself lit, Earth could absorb the water, like with soil/nutrients. Its real dumb to just mess with this when they had two games with an established weakness order, but there's at least a bit more possible sense behind this decision.
1:28:25 and "devolved"/regressed in a lot of other areas
Overall, nice video! Some of the other comments said it, but it surprisingly great from someone with such few subs, hopefully you wind up making more videos in general (subbed, just in case). Glad someone actually covered the gameplay mechanics in more detail (saw some lackluster posts else where that didn't really cover what I wanted to hear)
If I may ask, why the hate for P5? I see a lot of people trashing on it but I don’t really see why
I apologize for being a few months late with this reply, but things happened, won't bore you with the details on that front. I'll say up front, I'm typing this out on phone (first time), so it might be messy. I certainly don't mind explaining my problems with P5, but there is a lot to unpack, even if I am just summarizing. Hopefully this comment gets to you, and if there is anything that needs further elaboration, just ask.
First Summary, IIRC (been awhile cince thinking about it). Without spoiling anything, the ("true") ending of (base, havent played royal) P5 is essentially a "Neutral" Alignment ending in Shin Megami Tensei terms. The inherent flaws of the Neutral Alignment in SMT contradict the "point/message/etc" of P5's ending. Thus making it an inherent thematic failure. This isn't *necessarily* an issue, as long as the point of that is to make light of the latent hypocrisy/irony of that fact... but that isn't the case. This means that P5 as a whole both reflects and perpetuates the mentality it is supposedly fighting against. This sort of extends into both the general writing/story structure, as well as problems with the gameplay. To make matters worse, if someone were to like P5 and DENY this, it would only act as proof of the problem. Such is the cyclical nature of the 3 Main Alignments in SMT. This is a real big aspect that fuels the revulsion towards the game and why it is frequently seen as a problematic entry from a SMT standpoint. To make matters worse again, if one were to look at that view from an outside perspective, it might come across as a bit overblown and people might feel inclined to dismiss whatever is being said. This is just one summary trying to pinpoint the hatred it provokes.
Second Summary. This one isn't from me, but instead is from a comment on a post on the Megaten subreddit (I know how bad reddit can be, but just here me out. If you want to know the post it is "Persona 5 isn't as stupid as it comes off"). It goes something like this
I don't hate P5 because of the themes it touches on, but because of how misguided it is at doing so. The portrayal of the Phantom Thieves as super cool heroes clashes hard against the nature of what they are doing. "Stealing hears", i.e. Brainwashing. It would be fine if the clash were intentional, but Atlus wants the audience to admire and idolize the main cast by making them (to a general audience) "likeable" and have them stand out over the masses. A common criticism of the story is how cartoonish the villains are, but the problem runs deeper than just them being uninteresting. By making them so black and white, the writers are effectively waving off (at best) or SHOOTING DOWN (at worst) whatever criticism the audience might have regarding the morality of the PT's actions. You don't have to agree with a story for it to be good, but it shouldn't diminish the audience's critical thinking while getting its message across. Ironic, for a game about questioning impositions.
This leads to the 3rd summary about its plot... or it's lack thereof (this will be the messiest part, as writing all this on phone is draining and i kind of want to get this done with). The Phantom Thieves have no direction or any agency *of their own*. The First Arc, Kamoshida threatens them, so they don't really have any choice... which is fine for an inciting event. Afterwards, they decide to continue, but we don't really have much of a reason or a cause past, well, just doing it... which is too vague to care about. With every subsequent arc, they are put into a similar situation, as to prevent either them or the audience from stopping to think about the general lack of direction/drive for events. 2nd arc, Yusuke and Madarame threaten the PT, so they don't have a choice. 3rd, Makoto and Kaneshiro threaten them, so no choice. 4th, Futaba threatens to reveal them and self harm (more on that in a bit), no choice. 5th, Haru's fiancee is the threat, no choice. 6th, Akechi threatens/blackmails them, no choice. 7th and 8th, only way to get out of the mess they got themselves into with Shido and everything, so no choice.
Back to Futaba. Futaba clearly showed a desire to change, a desire for help of some kind. What she needed was Therapy, not brainwashing. As for why this is such an issue, if we are to assume the human self is determined by our memories and experiences, then brainwashing them and overwriting what caused them to be what they are is, in essence, killing that part of them. Futaba is where this issue becomes such a contentious point, as she could and should work through her problems and is generally meant to be seen as an "innocent/good" person, making the act of brainwashing an immoral one. In order to side step this, the arc is written the way it is to try and sideline the issue. However, if you realized this problem with P5 as early as the first arc, then this means you had to endure the entire game with this problem permeating throughout the story only for an unsatisfying end to each arc as the game doesn't want to deal with it. This goes back to the PT not having any clear direction or moral goals. Realizing this moral discrepancy while being given nothing concrete or meaningful past "crime bad" gives one more reason to hate the PT than anything else. (Reminder of the end of the previous summary)
I have a lot more to say about Futaba's arc, some structural, some personal. As someone who has had similar enough issues/problems in their life, the fact that I am left hating this arc and everyone/everything in it because of how it was handled is also one of the big sources of *my* revulsion towards P5.
As for the lack of direction and agency, the game wants to adhere to the structure of previous games, so it uses the threats to give "gameplay" agency with how it is framed. This is why this might go under the radars of some. Another reason has to do with the past tense story telling device/narration and the whole "we knew all along" twist, which doesn't even function as a twist (though that's another discussion). The past tense framing is to give you the idea of some sort of direction upfront to hide the lack of direction and cohesion of the story during the game. Doesn't help that the whole twist doesn't really work, but again, that's its own discussion.
Finally, gameplay. Some of the most barebones turn based game play I've played. Party management is irrelevant as Baton Pass bypasses it and the new elements serve to homogenize the party members too much. Game play is more focused on easily exploiting weaknesses, and not much more past that. It is meant to have good gameplay, but meant to have good game feel. Baton Pass gives you more control, exploiting obvious weaknesses makes you think you are using strategy, but if there aren't any meaningful options outside that, then it is actually devoid of strategy, (dominant strategy argument blah blah blah, talked about in plenty of game videos)
It isn't all bad, as I've played bad turn based games. The way you approach enemies has changed a bit, though that settles into a repetitive routine a few arcs in.
BUT the fact that people actually think this could ever be classified as "some of the best turn based gameplay" is where the issue becomes bad. It doesn't have nearly enough of the defining aspects of the genre to even come close. There are games with really good and ocassionally even unique approaches to turn based gameplay that go under the radar. The general public doesn't care about turn based enough to even think twice about whether or not something even makes for good turn based. So the fact that this is generally considered good is a terrible reflection on the "genre". That might sound petty, but I like turn based and this did more to make me think that it will do more to regress. There is a lot more to talk about turn based than people will ever recognize and it feels more stifling to see so little in depth coverage for Turn Based games.
I went on too much, and it got messy towards the end, so I'll just leave this as is and if you want to say/ask anything, go ahead
@@thecintokrator1203
I cannot perceive of a single reason you would prefer Frontier over sleeping in a dumpster. Let alone Persona 5.
First paragraph: "Persona 5's themes don't work because they line up to something contradictory in a different, thematically unrelated franchise". Yeah SMT Spinoff what the hell ever. Also you've failed to state what about it's similarities to an SMT Neutral ending, so pardon me, but I haven't got a single goddamn clue what you're talking about. What P5's themes are, what the themes of an SMT Neutral ending are (Which, most games take very different stances on I might add) or what about them conflicts. Basically, Persona, especially Persona 5, is very much not Megaten, so comparing the two thematically to say that one is worse, is dumb because they're different stories about different things.
Now your "Stealing Hearts" = Brainwashing thing. You say that it's just hand-waved... but IT IS FREQUENTLY ADDRESSED. In the goddamn opening act. And yes, the villains are largely cartoonish, because 90% of their screentime is in palaces. And it's addressing an unprecedented brazenness of corruption that some people see, and giving people with that opinion a way to feel powerful over it. They explain it and the thieves' explicit stance is: "Nobody else can do anything about this, so we should." even though their means are questionable. Yeah black-and-white-moralityhubuhbuh Mate it's a Story and the focus is on the characters, their reactions to the bad situations they are put in, and cool set pieces. This isn't Breaking Bad and it's not trying to be some gripping oscar bait. The Phantom Thief archetype is a cool aesthetic that a lot of people like and Persona-Flavoured Cognitive Realm nonsense enables interesting set pieces with it. The ability for players to disagree with their methods doesn't block them out of the whole story unless they let it. Like you seem to be. The ability to disagree adds an element of depth and the fact that you disagree at all is proof that it's not disabling your critical faculties. You're just whining that "Game Didn't Do Arcs that Agree to My Morals". This game isn't real psychology, it's 100% got supernatural elements to it that enable people to go a bit farther in villainy than baseline reality. So yeah. It's stylized and not representative of reality, you think we could gather as much when the cats are talking and you rip your own face off to summon dragons in a Flying Bank Vault in a city of ATM People. I'm sorry we're not showcasing the gripping trauma of therapy here. It'd be like me saying that Support Shots are bad because they idealize drug use instead of the fact that they're just shit.
Also, where's your critique of Blackraven if cartoonish black-and-white villains are so bad? Can't get much worse in that department than "World Domination".
You discuss Futaba's Arc? A) Largely subjective, B) Objectively, She has one. Shut up and don't defend Frontier. C) The arc didn't end with her heart stolen. Do her confidant.
Nothing you have to say about the gameplay can be met with anything but laughter. The runaway feedback loops of knockdowns and consecutive turns, the depth of persona crafting, the sheer juiciness of the visuals and sound effects. That's what people love about it. If you weren't a fan? I'd get it.
But you're the one comparing it to Frontier here. And the bar to clear to be better than Frontier, is for your party members to not cuck you out of your own options.
"Baton Pass bypasses party management" Okay. Wrong. Just because each party member's dominant element is the main priority doesn't mean there are no other differences.
Ann's a Mage with Status Effects, Ryuji's a tank with high physical, Morgana's a healer and speed demon, Yusuke's more evasive with a glass cannon physical setup, Makoto's an all-rounder with a little bit of everything and Haru does Barrier shenanigans. And if we compare it to Frontier, a game you say you'd pick any day, What's the differentiation between party members there? What type of steroids they throw at you to be like an inconsistent equipment slot? What numbers show up when they steal your boost skills?
It's a satisfying core loop to go through with bonus juice and flashy effects. If you don't like the All-Out-Attacks that's just your judgement of it. It's an additional system with room to optimize over traditional weaksauce elemental weakness systems. It's the main selling point of the combat, of course they're going to make it powerful. There's several other ways to go about that combat and your access to it is often complicated by enemies you can't conveniently knock down with your current party.
And I would LOVE To hear you try and say what parts of Turn-Based-RPGs are lacking in P5. It's literally the Dragon Quest, Party of 4, HP and SP ORIGINAL FORMULA. And whatever you think it's lacking, couldn't just be one of the "ocassionally even unique approaches" That you seem to like? Give me an example of whatever mechanic Persona 5 is missing, if you'd be so kind.
If you were just criticizing P5, I'd get it and be a lot more respectful. But if you're actually going to come into my goddamn house, piss on my floor and say you prefer Fossil Fighters Frontier? A game that's 70% watching AI steal your FP? I'm gonna go off.
Can you do a review on the first 2 games? I'd love to hear your input and critique on my favorite ds games!
43:18 if you clean off enough fossils, the robot actually gets pretty good, able to clean fossils to 90-99 points. at that point, it can actually do some fossils better than me, such as the fossils with all the holes in them
Holy fucking shit I loved this. I felt the same way about frontier. Although the song that plays on the start screen is a bop. Also really good editing and just all around entertaining
Pal I'm only getting better! I've got a Pokemon video in the works rn. Hope you stick around and enjoy!
I absolutely love Fossil Fighters, always have since I was a kid. I still regularly boot up FF and FFC to play every now and then, and enjoy it fully. Frontier, on the other hand, is the one game I've never beaten. I could never fully understand the cleaning, the redesigns suck all the fun and life out of the vivosaurs, and I've always despised the cars. Combat also was a major turnoff, since it just didn't feel right. FFC felt like a natural upgrade to FF, polishing and improving the aspects that needed it while not trying to fix what wasn't broken. Frontier feels like it was just changing things for the sake of changing things. Such a shame the franchise that I feel genuinely has better entries than some Pokemon games will die with this abomination.
Still waiting for any sort of switch version
I loved it as a kid cus i made it my mission to play anything even remotely close to Pokemon. Champions was the best one for sure.
I remember a friend told me about this, i got the first two version and wasnt able to get the last one until recently, only like after a 2-3 months i traded the game bc i just couldnt anymore n was just bored
I saw ads for the first one on tv and that’s how I got into it