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Have you ever played, or heard of a game, where the title just doesn't quite fit, or has more or less nothing to do with the game? Sometimes game franchises will even give a game a title for the sake of tradition, and then give the title a weak, passing mention in the game (I'm looking at you Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones.)

Anyhow, so have you noticed any Titles that just don't fit? If so, share! I'll start off by mentioning Tales Of Symphonia. I loved this game like it was my own grandmother, but where, oh were is Symphonia, and what are it's tales?

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TURKEY! - (The only way not to get blocked for using Fowl Language)

Well, every single game in the Tales series doesn't exactly make much sense. Phantasia? Eternia? No idea where they come from. For that matter, neither does any game in the Final Fantasy series (there's nothing final about a series that has dozens of titles with no sign of stopping).

And the entire Fire Emblem series really doesn't have much mention of a Fire Emblem other than passing. In FE8 it's Grado's sacred stone, in 6 and 7 it's the crown jewel of Bern that only gets passing mention in each game, and I don't know if a Fire Emblem even exists in FE 4 or 5.

The only games I can think of that have always bothered me with their nonsensical names are the recent Castlevania games. With the possible exception of Circle of the Moon, practically every single one since Symphony of the Night has a subtitle that doesn't have any bearing on the game. Aria of Sorrow has neither an Aria nor Sorrow. Discuss.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Quote (Ultros: Octopus Royalty @ 24th November 2005 19:09)

Anyhow, so have you noticed any Titles that just don't fit? If so, share! I'll start off by mentioning Tales Of Symphonia. I loved this game like it was my own grandmother, but where, oh were is Symphonia, and what are it's tales?

lol on Tales of Symphonia, loved it too death, but still wonjder what a symphonia is, oh well i might figure it out someday.

laszlow beat me to it, but darn, it's NOT the final fantasy. It hasn't been for the last 20 games or so either.

Other than those that have been mentioned so far, like the Tales and Castlevania series's using strange (sometimes musical) names that don't have too much to do with their content, I can't think of any right now. I might add to this post later.

Edit

laszlow: the soundtrack of Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance actually does have a surprisingly high amount of dissonance and non-tonality to it, so that one actually counts.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 25th November 2005 05:58

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Actually, I thought "Lament of Innocence" was a great, and appropriate, title. Being that it's meant to be the very beginning and essentially when the Belmont's existence turned to crap (Did Konami forget about part 3? A prequel to a prequel. ) we are witnessing just that, a loss of innocence. Hence the lamenting. I shan't comment on the new one yet as I haven't played it yet.

More on topic though, what about Dark Cloud 2? Loved the game quite a bit, but where is this so-called "Dark Cloud?"

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Do you think we're forever?

Earthbound? Maybe I haven't gotten to the part where it's explained. Or its Japanese title of "Mother!", for that matter.

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

I always figured the title of EarthBound/Mother alluded to the act of saving Earth/"Mother Earth." But since that explanation's much too easy to conclude, I sorta doubt that's really it.

How about "The Legend of Zelda"? Sure Zelda and her numerous incarnations are important, and the whole deal with the Triforce of Wisdom being passed down the Hyrule family line is a major part of the Triforce story itself, but that's just it: The only real legend there seems to be in the series - besides any tales of events in a previous game that have become legends, like in The Wind Waker - is the one involving the Triforce, it's creation, and consequences following a good or evil person obtaining it.

There's also the so-called "legend" that, to my knowledge, isn't mentioned directly in any of the games, and it speaks of a hero by the name of Link appearing to defeat evil whenever it arises, generation after generation. Clearly that li'l story involves the endless string of Links, not the endless string of Zeldas. So, um... what the hell?

'Nother one is the NES game, "Monster Party." True, the game features plenty of monters, but not a single party. Where's this "party" the title speaks of?

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Quote (L. Cully @ 25th November 2005 02:53)

Earthbound? Maybe I haven't gotten to the part where it's explained. Or its Japanese title of "Mother!", for that matter.

Unlike most RPGs Earthbound or Mother takes place on a much more familiar planet. It's Earthbound or Mother [Earth] cause that was the unique feature of the game.

Quote

How about "The Legend of Zelda"? Sure Zelda and her numerous incarnations are important, and the whole deal with the Triforce of Wisdom being passed down the Hyrule family line is a major part of the Triforce story itself, but that's just it: The only real legend there seems to be in the series - besides any tales of events in a previous game that have become legends, like in The Wind Waker - is the one involving the Triforce, it's creation, and consequences following a good or evil person obtaining it.

So the original game was the epic tale, the legend if you will, of a young hero who rescued a Princess named Zelda. Convention names him Link, but they couldn't very well call it the Legend of [insert player name]. Zelda is in most of the sequels, but mainly the Legend of Zelda name alludes to the fact that it is made in the same fashion or takes place in the same fantasy setting as the original.

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

Quote (The Ancient @ 25th November 2005 08:45)

So the original game was the epic tale, the legend if you will, of a young hero who rescued a Princess named Zelda.  Convention names him Link, but they couldn't very well call it the Legend of [insert player name]. 

Well yes, they could've. Much like all the subsequent Zelda titles, the instruction manual to the original game refers to him as "Link" within its prologue. Hence the name-drops later in Zelda II: Adventure of Link, A Link to the Past, and Link's Awakening.

Then again, Ocarina of Time was, according to Miyamoto, intended to be a prequel to all the existing Zelda games, apparently illustrating the first near-destruction of Hyrule. Therefore, the original Legend of Zelda wouldn't be the premise of any actual legend in the series. Or ever since '98, that is.

But legends and myths are abundant in each game; you'd think the main title would reflect that more accurately, or at least be named after the guy who's responsible for most of the epic highlights in Hyrule.

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Actually, [geek] I read that the Legend of Zelda refers to the very first Princess Zelda, the one mentioned in, believe it or not, the Adventure of Link. When the king died, he told his daughter where the Triforce was located, but didn't tell his son. The prince was hurt by this, and a wizard advisor told him the princess was trying to usurp power. When the two men confronted her, the wizard suddenly demanded she tell, or he'd kill her. She still refused, the wizard cast a spell, it hit her and rebounded; at the end the wizard was dead and Zelda was in an unbreakable sleep. Yadda yadda yadda, she was placed in the deepest room in the castle, the grief-stricken prince declared that all the firstborn princesses would be named Zelda, and there's the legend.

And the original Zelda (even before OoT's Zelda) slept until Link woke her up in AoL.

Still doesn't explain why all of them should be called that, but okay.[/geek]

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

Quote (L. Cully @ 25th November 2005 12:59)

I read that the Legend of Zelda refers to the very first Princess Zelda, the one mentioned in, believe it or not, the Adventure of Link. When the king died, he told his daughter where the Triforce was located, but didn't tell his son. The prince was hurt by this, and a wizard advisor told him the princess was trying to usurp power. When the two men confronted her, the wizard suddenly demanded she tell, or he'd kill her. She still refused, the wizard cast a spell, it hit her and rebounded; at the end the wizard was dead and Zelda was in an unbreakable sleep. Yadda yadda yadda, she was placed in the deepest room in the castle, the grief-stricken prince declared that all the firstborn princesses would be named Zelda, and there's the legend.
Still doesn't explain why all of them should be called that, but okay.

Thats an Interesting Theory there L. Cully. I thought they just really like the name Zelda so they could continue with the name Zelda like they did with Henry in England....

And the one your talking about is the Second one that was released on the NES. It was called Legend of Link. I know because the game (in all its golden cartrige coloring) is sitting in my room doing nothing until i buy a new serge protector...

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Neneko is Neneko because Neneko couldn't be Neneko if Neneko wasn't Neneko!
--as quoted from Neneko, Mahoraba {Heartful Days}

I can stab a man with a thick paperback book thru the ribcage.

Erm... the second one is called Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, strikerbolt. I have it too. You might wanna double-check your cartridge and/or box.

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Yeah, Adventures of Link is the one that I have as well.

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Elena Indurain

Currently Playing: Suikoden II

Quote (SilverFork @ 25th November 2005 05:25)

'Nother one is the NES game, "Monster Party." True, the game features plenty of monters, but not a single party. Where's this "party" the title speaks of?

It's a party with you, the monsters, and your bat. (Also, dancing fried shrimp? I think I remember that.)

I never got the title of Evergrace (PS2). I don't think it's ever mentioned in the story, but there was so little story that that's irrelevant, anyway.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

Quote (karasuman @ 26th November 2005 23:45)

Quote (SilverFork @ 25th November 2005 05:25)

'Nother one is the NES game, "Monster Party."  True, the game features plenty of monters, but not a single party.  Where's this "party" the title speaks of?

It's a party with you, the monsters, and your bat. (Also, dancing fried shrimp? I think I remember that.)

Indeed, one of the bosses is a piece of fried shrimp. A bouncing piece of fried shrimp, to be precise. It then morphs into an onion ring and then into some other fried concoction I can't quite think of. There is a pair of dancing zombies at one point, however, but no "party" I can recognize.

Now that I remember, the absolute most irrelevant title I've ever run across has to be the Atari 2600 undersea adventure game entitled Name This Game. The "title" was given as such due to some sorta contest that allowed gamers to submit their ideas of what to name it. If I'm not mistaken, it was eventually given the official name of Going Under in the US, but was called Octopus in Europe. I believe the latter makes a bit more sense, seeing as you do have to fight an octopus almost constantly.

If ya ask me, they shoulda ran the contest before releasing the game. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wondered just what the hell a video game with the title "Name This Game" was about, then confused after discovering it involved scuba divers and underwater treasure.

This post has been edited by SilverFork on 27th November 2005 07:40

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Seems to me any game with the word "Legend" in it doesn't make much sense. Unless you are forging the Legend, and the only game appropriate for the word is FFT.
Also, FFT doesn't fit a Strategy game. Tactics and Strategy are two different things.
The old SNES game "Lagoon." The premise is that the hero is investigating why the waters of the Lagoon of the castle is becoming polluted. Though that is something in the background of the story, and was a side effect of what the villain was doing. Actually, what he was doing was imprisoning the royal family and putting the castle on a geyser, not doing anything to the ecosystem. Actually, I think the most prominent castle was called "Laggon Castle/Kingdom," but you spent almost no time there and it was the second-to-last dungeon. I gotta go back and play that.
Phantasy Star makes no sense. I've only played one game, and the only fantasy element was magic, which was actually a technological thing. It took place on another planet, but not really space.
Chrono Trigger is supposed to be a pun on the main character's name and time travel, but what gets triggered?
Were there any ogres in the Ogre (Battle, Tactics, etc) series?

Quote (The Ancient @ 25th November 2005 09:45)

they couldn't very well call it the Legend of [insert player name].

The game is LoZ because if it was Legend of Link, we would abbreviate it LoL.

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Quote (Dark Paladin @ 28th November 2005 00:43)

Chrono Trigger is supposed to be a pun on the main character's name and time travel, but what gets triggered?

The Chrono Trigger is

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

the item the party uses to revive Crono after he has been killed.

It's specifically given that name in game, and, given its purpose, I think the item name fits. Since it's a significant story item and an important part of the plot in addition to being a good pun, I think it's a good name.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

Right. By shattering, the CT "triggers" a brief opportunity to adjust a moment in time. The same team did Xenogears, also named after an item you get late in the game, and Chrono Cross. I like it -- it's very evocative.

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

Quote (L. Cully @ 28th November 2005 02:31)

... The same team did Xenogears...

Not quite. XG and CT had the same parent company (Square), the same scenario writer (Masato Kato), and the same composer (Yasunori Mitsuda), but no Sakaguchi, no Horii, no Toriyama, and only a portion of the other staffers. The XG team and CT teams have a lot of connections (and it can definitely be said that there would be no XG without CT's success), but they are definitely two different groups. Chrono Cross and XG, however, had almost all the same people behind them.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Quote (SilverFork @ 25th November 2005 22:37)

Erm... the second one is called Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, strikerbolt. I have it too. You might wanna double-check your cartridge and/or box.

Oops, Sorry!

Hate it when I misread something. Hate being blind.

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Neneko is Neneko because Neneko couldn't be Neneko if Neneko wasn't Neneko!
--as quoted from Neneko, Mahoraba {Heartful Days}

I can stab a man with a thick paperback book thru the ribcage.

Puzzle Bobble, a.k.a. Bust-a-Move.

If you haven't played that game, but have played Snood, it's about the same thing, except it's timed rather than limited by number of snoods (more accurately, bubbles or orbs) and there's nice background music. And it's a lot harder.

While the series that spawned the game, Bubble Bobble, made sense with the name "Bobble", since it involved pushing bubbles around, Puzzle Bobble doesn't. And I have yet to find a satisfactory explanation for "Bust-a-Move".

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

the only one i cant figure out would have to be juggernaut for the ps1 there is noone in the entire game that is that dang powerful.l

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Why is it that rpg's are now a dying breed?

About Chrono Trigger, it's not really about the protagonist's name, but the start of something. Chrono=Time and Trigger=start. The second Chrono game was Chrono Cross, it's where the elements from the first game and complexify. The seemingly defunct third game was Chrono Break, where all hell breaks loose.

Gives the impression it's a trilogy. Cause the events of Chrono Cross were a result of Chrono Trigger, the begining of it all. So I guess that Chrono Break would have been the end of the afteraffects of the first two games, hence 'Break.'

Ahem, I have to agree though with Bust-a-move...rather addicting game when it first came out, but the tittle doesn't make a lick of sense.

(I apologize if this doesn't make much sense.)

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