ERPG

by MellowSoul

To the Limit

Author's Note:

This is just me sharing my thoughts on games among other things. There's no Japan in Equestria, so I just stuck with the general concept of turn-based RPGs being from eastern countries.

Twilight opened the door for her friends. The familiar waves of melodic metalcore pervaded their ears.

"Hey, guys." Twilight greeted tenderly.

"'sup, bitch." Rainbow replied in a cheeky tone.

Twilight's expression shifted to a half-hearted smile. She further opened the door to allow the others inside.

"Come on in."

The girls obliged. Rarity nuzzled Spike when the two were close enough to make contact.

"Looks like it's gonna rain soon." Rainbow noted.

"Guess it's a good thing I called when I did." Twilight acknowledged.

Rainbow raised a brow.

"You okay? You sound kinda...Down."

"Some days are better than others."

"Ah..."

"Anyway, you guys wanna order the food before we get started?"

"Sure."

---

Rainbow dialed the pizza shop where she and the others originally met Twilight. Twilight offered to pay for individual pizzas tailored to everyone's specific preferences. While they waited, Twilight led them to her room. The shelves had recently been set up to organize her games.

"You guys know I have a pretty balanced collection, but I tend to prefer RPGs. With how much time you can sink into 'em, it feels like you're getting your money's worth, and there's always something new to find."

"How many hours have you spent on these?" Rainbow inquired.

"Thousands, especially Final Fantasy X."

"You really are a nerd."

"I was a shut-in during high school and college. Aside from that and exercise, I didn't really do much but listen to music and play games."

"What are your favorites?"

"It's a tie between Final Fantasy 7 and Shadow Hearts."

"Never played those, but they looked fun as hell."

Twilight levitated copies of each game for the girls to see.

"These were the games that made me realize how much I fucking hated the education system. It's broken and outdated beyond belief. I wanted to make stuff like this, but I had to learn coding on my own because no one cared enough to teach me. With how much math is involved, it would've been an extremely effective way to boost my grade."

"Yeah. Common core is bullshit."

"You can say that again."

"What's with the bulky packaging?"

"Funny you should mention that. The packaging was one of the things that made me want to play Final Fantasy in the first place. The game's split into three discs. With that much space available, you can put in a shitload of content. Shadow Hearts was supposed to be put onto four discs, but when the PS2 came out, they improved the graphics a bit and put everything together on one."

"Imagine if they'd made extra post-game content on a second disc."

"Don't tease me like that. It's hard enough to keep sheets clean as it is."

"Hah! Gross."

The pizza arrived just as they finished their conversation.

---

Rainbow and Twilight carried the pizzas back to the room. Twilight closed the door behind them, simultaneously using her magic to turn on the heater.

"Damn, this smells good." Rainbow commented.

"I'll get the game ready."

Twilight opened the tray of her PlayStation. She inserted the first disc of Final Fantasy 7 and booted up the system.

"I don't know whether it was time constraints or if they didn't want to spoil the game, but there's no opening movie. It's just credits for the developers."

"They probably wanted to conserve the budget for the game itself. Pre-rendered cutscenes cost a shit-ton to make."

"Huh. I never thought of it that way. There are a few pre-rendered ones in the game, but they're few and far between. They were pretty much pushing the boundaries of what was possible in terms of graphics at the time."

"How much space does the game file take up, anyway?"

"A little over a gig."

"For real? Damn. If it's that good with that little space, the rest of the industry needs to step their game up: no pun intended."

"This was the most expensive game ever made when it came out in '97. It cost around forty-five million bits to develop."

"Jesus Christ. That'd probably put a decent dent in your net worth."

"Not really."

Rainbow's jaw dropped.

"Money's no obstacle for me. If I had to go through almost two decades of school, I was gonna get rich off it. Fortunately, circumstance was on my side."

"You'll have to teach me your secret."

"Sure. I don't mind."

"Sweet."

Twilight pressed New Game. After a brief cutscene, a name entry screen appeared.

"This is one of the features I wish developers would've kept. You can't name your characters in games like this anymore."

"Why?"

"Voice acting."

"Well, that blows."

"I'd rather read text if that's the trade-off. Removing it as an option takes away from the player's investment in the story."

"I hear ya."

"Hope you guys are ready to stick around for a few days. Once I get sucked in, I'm focused for the long haul."

"Fine by us."

"Excellent. Let's do this!"

---

Twilight played for three days straight without sleep, only pausing for food and restroom breaks. The others rested between grinding sessions. By the time they reached the northern crater, Twilight's party was level ninety-nine with maxed out stats via source farming.

"We're almost at Sephiroth."

"Holy hell. No wonder you're so into this game."

"The gradual shift in tone to something more insidious really hits you by the end. It's not something you see very often."

"I imagine Shadow Hearts is the same way?"

"No, actually. It's dark and gritty right off the bat. There's a strong horror influence I've only seen in one other game."

"Which one?"

"Parasite Eve."

"You must've had a roster lined up for a while."

"I always try to plan ahead."

"That's a pretty useful strategy to have on hoof."

"Agreed."

---

During the final showdown between Cloud and Sephiroth, Rainbow noticed something peculiar about the limit bar.

"It's filling by itself!?"

"This is probably the most unique part of the game, and something I haven't seen in any RPG since. Think about it: if someone betrayed your trust and ruined your life multiple times over, you'd be pretty pissed too, right? That's what Cloud was hinting at in the tutorial. He outright says limit gauges build the angrier you get. Now we get to see the most gratifying part."

When the limit gauge was full, a new technique Twilight had intentionally ignored appeared on-screen: the legendary Omnislash. She selected the attack, and everyone in the room gazed in awe of its sheer destructive might...