One of the difficulties with Dragon Quarter that makes it hard for some to get into is that it isn't really transparent about how it works from the start. It sort of forces you to find out for yourself, and actually encourages you to start over at least once. It's easy to give up at that point, but when you stick with it you see that battles you previously struggled with have actually become easier, not necessarily because you became stronger, but because you've become a more skilled player. In that regard it's really different from most recent RPGs, which use battles mostly as filler to guide you from one cutscene to the next. In Dragon Quarter battles are meant to be enjoyed as is, not just as stat boosters, and the whole game is practically designed around them.

It was kind of surprising there were so few nods in Dragon Quarter to the previous games of the series. There was the fairy colony bit, but aside from that it was pretty much a game on its own. The characters of Ryu and Nina too felt really different from previous games. I'm really glad they got Sakimoto to compose though, out of all his work his music for Dragon Quarter is by far my favorite.

Another accessibility problem has to do with the saving system.  I've known of people who avoid the game just for that reason along with the false notion that you have to restart the game to complete a playthrough.

And I did find it a bit strange as well that there were so few references to past games.  I was happy that Ryu and Nina remained themselves in terms of Ryu turning into a dragon and Nina having wings though.  Except that Nina was more like the girl from Ico, which you mentioned earlier.  I hadn't thought about it before, but there are definitely similarities in Ryu guiding Nina towards the surface so that she might live longer than she would as a receptacle for underground pollutants.

Well, Draqon Quarter weren't suppose to be a Breath of Fire game at the start, but then Capcom big honchos dediced that it should be a Breath of Fire game. And for my opinions about the game, just read .59's. Expect I would like to notify about the ending, which is probably one of the best I've seen. Emotionally and graphics-wise.

Dragon Quarter is one of the hardest and most frustrating games I have ever had to sit through in my entire life.
It's a great testament to the game's outstanding atmosphere, story, music and presentation that I actually DID.

I had to use that glitch/cheat thingy though.

What was the cheat/glitchy thing?

I moved through most of the game without a FAQ - up till the final boss. I didn't build up a proper repertoire of equipment so the final boss was retardedly hard to beat and I used a FAQ to help strategize the battle.

It's a fantastic little game though. About 20 hours only as well.

It was a cheat that made use of the bizarre structure of the game, showing that it was just not very well worked out (I'm sorry, I love many things about Dragon Quarter, but gameplay is not one of them)

Here's the trick where I got it from at Gamefaqs, by some guy named Elkayhm:

Cheap, maybe, but I simply couldn't enjoy the game otherwise, and I loved the concept so much.
I mean, come on, bosses with a shield you need to bash off EVERY SINGLE TIME, limited saves, a damn time limit on the ENTIRE GAME. Call me a whuss, but, No sir, don't like it.

Dude. Did you just quote Mr. Horse?

Hell yeah.
Still a very common quote amongst me and my friends actually

And what are you feelings about that Mr. Horse?

Actually, sometimes at night I watch the old reruns of Ren and Stimpy... beats the hell out what some of the kids watch now...

I loved Ren and Stimpy when I was younger, and I still do. Haven't seen the show in a while, but I just found out they're releasing a complete DVD collection of all the eps, including the Adult Party Cartoons. It's listed on Wiki as TBA 2007... but, man, that's gonna be schaaweeeet!

The Ultimate Collection, unfortunately, has stalled. I really hope we see it as the recent dvd releases were cut (in spite of having a dirty great big UNCUT sign on the cover).

I gotta second that. I just picked up a copy of Klonoa 2 this past weekend, and it's awesome. I liked the first one when I played it several years ago, but the sequel just hits home with me. Has anyone tried the GBA games? I heard they were more puzzle-oriented than the PSX/PS2 offerings.

They're "meh" overall...Very little action and the puzzles -hit switch, collect items, etc etc - are for babies (No exageration...My four year old cousin got pretty far in the first one). A real letdown. The bosses in Sonic Rush reminded me more of a "proper" Klonoa update.

And yeah, K2 was the very reason I got a PS2 as early as I did.

Edit: And yeah, I'll spring for a PS3 for Klonoa 3.

Dammit! I'm sorry to hear that.

Never played Dream Champ Tournament, but I thought Empire of Dreams was really quite good.  Perhaps a bit more of a "Klonoa-lite," Dreams captured the core of its console brethren surprisingly well.  There is more emphasis on puzzles this time, true, but the controls are so simple yet tight that, taken as such, it's still a lot of fun to play.  Item-collecting pads out the game in a good way, and the snowboarding/sidescrolling levels are nice changes of pace.

It felt a little strange at first to not have the 3D element come to play - and foreground/background interaction is sorely missed - but yeah, it's a solid Klonoa for the medium that it's on.

those two were such awesome games, Amiga classics.
as a side note - "out of this world" was known in Europe as "Another World".
team that made this game counted two people.

A game I love that probably no one has ever played is Capcom's Soccer Shootout for the SNES. It's purely arcade style footie action, but it controls well and is just a blast to play. Has some good music (especially Germany's theme), unfortunately I don't think the .spc of it has been as much as dumped.