RPG quotes quiz! Round 9 (Snowfire time!)

[SnowFire]

I'll add that vocaloid culture took a darn turn when NotMiki guessed Hatsune Miku for #11.  That's right, what NotMiki thought was Miku was actually a succubus instead, demanding human sacrifice.  No wonder that Domino's guy looked so stressed.

[DragonKnight Zero]

My subconscious tried (and failed) to get me to guess "Smash TV" for B5.  Oh well, nothing lost there.

  Several of my correct guesses are from games I've never played but got based on reputation.  (There was only one game I could associate "eat a tree frog" with.)  A handful were wild lucky guesses.  I have played Symphony of the Night but didn't recognize that line at all.

[Hunter Sopko]

Was bored, so I threw together a haphazard Sarcastic RPG Summary Quiz. Not up to the standards I set for the Anime ones, but eh. Still should be fun. Some are obvious, some are ambiguous on purpose, but I think represent the MOST correct answer for the possibilities, and some are just more obscure games.

1. Intellectual Property is dangerous.
2. Jack Thompson was right, apparently.
3. Sports star gets Inception therapy for his daddy issues.
4. Man plagued by dreams of classical music.
5. Estonia wins World War I.
6. Happy endings are for pussies. Let's fight!
7. Your favorite characters! Now in -THREE- dimensions!
8. Save the world through the power of song! - EZ Mode
9. Save the world through the power of song! - Weird Mode
10. Your entire life hinges on blowing off your best friend.
11. I'm a god! He's a god! She's a god! And we're all gods! HEY! (Bonus point for what this also references)
12. Voice actors plucked off the streets lend genuine gravitas to otherwise average game.
13. Sometimes you just end up SOL.
14. Shonen rival tries to destroy planet of clones using Metal Wolf Richard.
15. If your real god is dead, you might as well kill their impersonator.

PM me entries, I'll give it a week or so.

[Hunter Sopko]

Reminder that this ends tomorrow. Send yo answers in

[Hunter Sopko]

Answer time!

1. Intellectual Property is dangerous. - Kingdom Hearts 0/10

Literally different IPs fighting each other. I like where peoples' heads were at with SO3 and Alex's Ar Tonelico considering the Cosmosphere "Intellectual Property". I wish I was that clever...

2. Jack Thompson was right, apparently. - .hack 1/10

The World (the game in .hack) is a pretty dangerous game. People fall into comas, inspires violence in the real world. Totally proves him right in-universe.

3. Sports star gets Inception therapy for his daddy issues. - Final Fantasy X 9/10

Totally my gimmie of the quiz.

4. Man plagued by dreams of classical music. - Catherine 1/10

Almost all of Catherine's music is classical, though it pulls from several eras. Nearly everyone put Eternal Sonata. Figured it would trip people up, but didn't think this badly.

5. Estonia wins World War I. - Valkyria Chronicles 8/10

The outline for the map of Europe is the same, but the borders are fudged. Gallia roughly ends up where Estonia is, repelling that Russian horde.

6. Happy endings are for pussies. Let's fight! - Shadow Hearts 2 1/10

Two men who've failed their loved ones battle it out at the end. Though Phantasy Star 2 wasn't in my head when I thought of this... damn.

7. Your favorite characters! Now in -THREE- dimensions! - Star Ocean 3 2/10

Poking fun at the TWEEST. 

8. Save the world through the power of song! - EZ Mode - Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure 8/10

Yep.

9. Save the world through the power of song! - Weird Mode - Drakengard 3 1/10

At least someone got this! Was going to have an Ar Tonelico one, but "Rape Mode" seemed in bad taste. And too obvious.

10. Your entire life hinges on blowing off your best friend. - Front Mission 3 1/10

Exactly as advertised. Going on Alisa path or Emma path depends on going with or blowing off Ryogo. Figured this would be one of the tougher ones, but it's damn on the nose.

11. I'm a god! He's a god! She's a god! And we're all gods! HEY! (Bonus point for what this also references) - Breath of Fire IV. 1/10 Bonus: Good Burger 1/10

Mostly because I wanted to use the Good Burger quote.

12. Voice actors plucked off the streets lend genuine gravitas to otherwise average game. - Koudelka 2/10

Perhaps I shouldn't have used this is a quiz that claims to be sarcastic, with Chaos Wars existing. But this very accurately describes Koudelka.

13. Sometimes you just end up SOL. - Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter 3/10

The gameplay mechanic for when you have to restart is literally called SOL.

14. Shonen rival tries to destroy planet of clones using Metal Wolf Richard. - Enchanted Arms 0/10

I suppose this question was for an audience of 1 (Grefter). In Enchanted Arms, you can recruit various robots, some of which are cameos from Metal Wolf Chaos.

15. If your real god is dead, you might as well kill their impersonator. - Grandia 2 5/10

I figured more people would slip up guessing Lunar 2 here (False Althena), but all but one who guessed this got it right. I'da gone in a different direction for EBC.

SCORES!
Jim           9       2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15
Snowfire   6       3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 15
El Cid       5       3, 5, 8, 13, 15
super        5      3, 5, 8, Bonus, 15
Twilkitri    5      3, 5, 8, 11, 13
DK Zero    4      3, 4, 8, 15
Alex         3       3, 7, 13
Dhyer       3      3, 5, 8
CK           3       3, 5, 12
Pyro         2      5, 8

[Magic Fanatic]

So I'm hi-jacking this now.

1.  Mechanic and time traveler go on an adventure to stop a waif.
2.  Dragons are power.
3.  All demons should be evil.
4.  No one remembers the ACTUAL twist.
5.  Two heroes: they either hate steel or love it.
6.  Summoner experiences Groundhog Week
7.  Villain tries to destroy a part of Captain Planet
8.  B-Movie Plots, one after another.
9.  Birds have jobs too!
10. After 12600 years, magic exists again!

PM'd entries, go in a week or so like Soppy?

[Dark Holy Elf]

Man, forgot to send in guesses for Soppy's. For the (unverifiable) record, I'd have gotten FFX, VC, and G2. I was also thinking of guessing SO3 for #7 and I knew I had heard about the FM3 one but couldn't place the game.

[Dhyerwolf]

Shoot, I was so close to getting number 2 at least (I guessed .hack for 1 and SO 3 for 2, but even noted that I wouldn't have been surprised if I saw them flipped).

[Magic Fanatic]

So, just as a heads up, I'm turning this over tomorrow, so if you want to guess, do it soon!

[Magic Fanatic]

1.  Mechanic and time traveler go on an adventure to stop a waif. -Dark Cloud 2 - 1/6 - The Mechanic being Max, and the Time Traveler being Monica.  Earlier draft of this clue was "Mechanic and royal", but I thought that was too vague...  And now I got myself wondering if "waif" was the right word to describe the final boss.

2.  Dragons are power. - Bahamut Lagoon - 1/6 - Okay, I'll take the idea that this one WAS too vague, but I put Bahamut Lagoon here because the dragons are pretty literally your characters stats and abilities, it's discussed how important the dragons are to have alongside the party, and more dragons means more teams can be fielded, not to mention that the ability to summon dragons is kinda rare.

3.  All demons should be evil. - Disgaea 3 - 0 (4)/6 - This one was a little vague as well, since I was looking for Disgaea 3 SPECIFICALLY - there's a school that teaches all demons how to be evil if they're screwing up, and there's one group counter-example of a "good" demon that's considered a delinquent - Beryl, Asuka, and Kyoko.  Most people took the prompt to mean the first Disgaea, though.

4.  No one remembers the ACTUAL twist. - Wild Arms 3 - 1/6 - Another vague one, but in-universe?  The plot twist was that the land turned into a wasteland only about 10 years ago, and the memory everyone had of that had literally been drained out of their heads.

5.  Two heroes: they either hate steel or love it. - SaGa Frontier 2 - 2/6 - One hero discovers steel and ushers in an age of steel, giving people that previously had little use than to garder pity meaning in life.  The other hero is a caster through-and-through and is severly hampered by steel, with a main part of his starting questline being gathering magical quells instead.

6.  Summoner experiences Groundhog Week - Grim Grimoire - 3/6 - I'll leave this as is, since this was basically one of my few good clues.

7.  Villain tries to destroy a part of Captain Planet - Suikoden III - 3/6 - Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Heart.  Change up Heart to Lightning (since the Heart basically runs on electric pulses, if I remember my biology right), and you have the major True Runes of the Suikoden universe...  Of which in the third game, the villain tries to destroy one of them.

8.  B-Movie Plots, one after another. - Secret of Evermore - 2/6 - The kid keeps on spouting (fake) B-Movie titles in the form of "This is just like what happens in (movie title)!"

9.  Birds have jobs too! - Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon - 0/6 - And this one was too obscure, despite me trying to be direct.  Your main character - the titular Chocobo - can change jobs at the start of dungeons, not to mention his technical job of dungeon explorer with Mog.

10. After 12600 years, magic exists again! - Chrono Trigger - 4/6 - And the easy gimme.  Magic "disappears" after a plot event in 12000 BC, and doesn't show up again until 600 AD with Magus/Frog.


El Cid - 2/10 - 6, 7
Snowfire - 6/10 - 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10
DragonKnight Zero - 2/10 - 2, 8
Sir Alex - 1/10 - 10
Twilkitri - 1/10 - 10
NotMiki - 5/10 - 5, 6, 7, 8, 10


...Honestly, this is a lot harder to do than I previously thought.  Fun, though.

[Magic Fanatic]

I'm going to go ahead and try this again.  Done in about a week, like before. Not only should this quiz be a lot easier than my last try, this quiz is going to prominently feature a specific theme!

...And if there's a specific name I'm pointing at, you don't need to guess that - just the game they're in.

1. The main idea is that you go around and get the blessing of four dragons so you can save your kidnapped girlfriend.  You both grew up in a fairly remote village, and you both have musical talents...  To the point where you're carrying around the game's sound test.

2. This dragon in the wild west may seem a bit out of place, but they're known to the point that people ask if they dream of electric sheep.  The one you recruit helps battle demons and aliens, all at the speed of your party.

3. At one point in the story, you have to recruit this faction of riders to aid in your war effort, and is one of the other types of units you can use that's very effective at their job.  The characters themselves are a bit underwhelming, but their human companions can't all be winners, right?

4. This dragon is never seen but often referenced, and is mentioned that will bring about the end of the world...  But that's part of what you're doing!  Only those that can weaponize the power of love will destroy its seals, and the temperment of the dragon is determined by who destroys the most seals.

5. The first time you see this dragon, you save it from a giant snake that killed its parents, so you take it to be raised by plant people.  The next time you see it, it saves you from a crumbling castle after you beat the load bearing boss...  But it still has the heart of a child.

6. This dragon is an arena prize you can't avoid getting, so slash up, down, left, and right until you get to the point so you can go to that tower in the sky.  You can't afford to lose?  No problem!

7. The dragon has blue hair!  You're nearly the last of your kind and have to kill more as such, but nothing will stop you from saving the world from a little girl.  Also helping you are a princess, a goddess, and four pieces of fusion fodder.

8. This dragon's minions are red, but he is blue.  Running into this dragon is completely optional, but being found in the corners of the world sends up a flag where his Center is.  He gets jealous easily though with all those others he has to join, but at least he has his own one-of-a-kind trading card!

9. There are six dragons in the world, and one even joins your party for a while.  They're all part of a weapon of mass destruction you have to take care of to save the world, and that's just on your way to fighting a creature that eats time.  Did I mention that one of the dragons is French?

10. These dragons were terrorizing an enclosed space, and when someone came to kill them, they became permanent back ornaments.  Their constant bickering gives their host little peace, but at least they can help him in battle.  One could compare them to onis.

[Magic Fanatic]

Moving this on sometime tomorrow after I get home from work, so if you haven't guessed yet and want to, send 'em in soon!

[Magic Fanatic]

1. The main idea is that you go around and get the blessing of four dragons so you can save your kidnapped girlfriend.  You both grew up in a fairly remote village, and you both have musical talents...  To the point where you're carrying around the game's sound test. - Lunar: Silver Star - 6/7 - in L:SSSC (at least that), Alex is carrying around an Ocarina, which you can use to access the game's sound test.  Aside from that, Four Dragons is essential to the plot.
2. This dragon in the wild west may seem a bit out of place, but they're known to the point that people ask if they dream of electric sheep.  The one you recruit helps battle demons and aliens, all at the speed of your party. - Wild Arms 3 - 4/7 - This is the only one I know of that directly helps you fight demons and aliens in the back half of...  Chapter 3?
3. At one point in the story, you have to recruit this faction of riders to aid in your war effort, and is one of the other types of units you can use that's very effective at their job.  The characters themselves are a bit underwhelming, but their human companions can't all be winners, right? - Suikoden or Suikoden 5 - 6/7 - Obvious.  Granted, given how the clue describes both basically on the same level, I gave the point to anyone who guessed either.  Suikoden 1, they were Other-type units that were basically free kills on non-Bow opposition, and were immune to permadeath.  Suikoden 5...  Basically one of the best anti-ship units, just behind beavers, even though they have a faster movement speed.
4. This dragon is never seen but often referenced, and is mentioned that will bring about the end of the world...  But that's part of what you're doing!  Only those that can weaponize the power of love will destroy its seals, and the temperment of the dragon is determined by who destroys the most seals. - Mother 3 - 5/7 - PK Love (Lucas and BBEG Dragon) users pull the needles to summon the world-ending dragon to remake the world.
5. The first time you see this dragon, you save it from a giant snake that killed its parents, so you take it to be raised by plant people.  The next time you see it, it saves you from a crumbling castle after you beat the load bearing boss...  But it still has the heart of a child. - Secret of Mana - 4/7 - Flammie.  You save it from a giant snake that killed its parents, and then next time you see it, it saves you from a crumbling building after you beat Geshtal 2.
6. This dragon is an arena prize you can't avoid getting, so slash up, down, left, and right until you get to the point so you can go to that tower in the sky.  You can't afford to lose?  No problem! - Legaia 2 - 1/7 - The Wyvern you need to go to the TWind Tower to get the Aerolith.  Also: SLEEPING...  DRA...  GON! and then a sword-based Kamehame-Hadoken happens.  The last two parts are some of Lang's end of battle phrases.
7. The dragon has blue hair!  You're nearly the last of your kind and have to kill more as such, but nothing will stop you from saving the world from a little girl.  Also helping you are a princess, a goddess, and four pieces of fusion fodder. - Breath of Fire - 6/7 - No points for guessing the wrong game on this one, since even with BoF2, the amount of fusion fodder is different...  And no one uses base Karn/Bo/Ox/Gobi if they can get away with it, after the fusions are gained.
8. This dragon's minions are red, but he is blue.  Running into this dragon is completely optional, but being found in the corners of the world sends up a flag where his Center is.  He gets jealous easily though with all those others he has to join, but at least he has his own one-of-a-kind trading card! - Final Fantasy VIII - 5/7 - Bahamut is blue, he summons Red Dragons to fight you, and you can only find one Bahamut card at a time.
9. There are six dragons in the world, and one even joins your party for a while.  They're all part of a weapon of mass destruction you have to take care of to save the world, and that's just on your way to fighting a creature that eats time.  Did I mention that one of the dragons is French? - Chrono Cross - 6/7 - The six dragons, the last one being Harle.
10. These dragons were terrorizing an enclosed space, and when someone came to kill them, they became permanent back ornaments.  Their constant bickering gives their host little peace, but at least they can help him in battle.  One could compare them to onis.- Star Ocean 2 - 7/7 - Ashton, Gyoro, and Ururun.


Sir Alex - 3/10 - 4, 9, 10
SnowFire - 7/10 - 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10
El Cideon - 5/10 - 1, 2, 3, 7, 10
DragonKnight Zero - 7/10 - 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
NotMiki - 9/10 - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Dark Holy Elf - 10/10 - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Twilkitri - 8/10 - 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10

[Sierra]

I should've guessed CC for #9 just because accents.

But what I really should have remembered was "We can't afford...to lose!" Which is almost all that I recall about Legaia 2.

[NotMiki]

Elfboyyyyyyyyyy!

[Dark Holy Elf]

4. No idea. So I should guess a random RPG that you've played and I haven't... Mother 3?
5. I feel like I've seen this but that it's from one of those games I barely remember so... Secret of Mana?

So yeah, definitely got a bit lucky here. (I also never did the FF8 Bahamut sidequest so that entire clue had me drawing a total blank until the final giveaway.)

[NotMiki]

5. this sounds vaguely familiar but I can't place it. secret of mana?

um

[SnowFire]

Gonna try my own stab at Sopko-style sarcastic game summaries.  I've tried to keep these "summaries" as far as actually describing some key element of the game, the hero or villain's plot, etc., not clues as to some side plot...  for all that for some games, the actual plot as to what's really going on is super-hidden.

Also.  While this is "give the best" answer as usual, if you can convince me that your answer is as-good-or-better than the intended answer, I'll give you credit.  (Also known as the "Damnit Sopko, the entire PC and villain cast of Valkyrie Profile are gods" clause.)  A few of these could apply to an entire series, I don't care which one you give me back.  One of them is broad enough that I can think of at least 3 answers I'd accept.  Also, all video games are fair game here, but they are mostly RPGs.  (Also this was mostly written before MF's quizes, so don't assume I wouldn't repeat something that showed up on his, or Sopko's.  In fact, spoilers: At least one of Sopko's games and at least one of MF's games shows up here, too.  Aren't I nice?)

Our theme today is family values.  There's one more theme as well, but I'll let you notice it.

1.
Statue-pushing puzzle screw-up leads to Ruinous consequences.

2.
Boy and girl complete their parents' unfulfilled romance, become mercenaries, save the concept of Time, waits for him, he comes there and finds her.

3.
Long-running family feud settled by intermarriage.

4.
Long running family feud settled either by mass regicide or by (probable) intermarriage.

5.
2 cousins 1 horse

6.
2 twins 2 horses

7.
One man knows the censored truth.  His audience is put to sleep.

8.
{Summary censored, can't be published here.  This game is rated XXXXXXXXXXXXX.}

9.
If you don't get this one, it's okay, you can try again.

10.
Everything is ALL YOUR FAULT.  Even the stuff that isn't your fault.

11.
Elite warrior defies civilian control of military, allies with hated enemy alien.

12.
Elite spy overthrows military control of military, allies with mysterious mercenary and blustering idiot.

13.
Shonen rival attempts to create planet of clones.

14.
Bishonen clone attempts to destroys planet of rivals.

15.
Devoted, if senile, husband uses daughter in attempt to reconnect with estranged wife.

16.
Take your choice: kill mom and doom dad, kill mom and doom yourself, or spare mom and doom the world.

17.
Undead abomination invades heaven, slaughters gods, absorbs their power, transforms to unstoppable combination form.

18.
Japanese schoolboy abomination invades hell, slaughters monsters, absorbs their power.

19.
Somehow, everything is related to that one badass Japanese schoolkid.

20.
Two mothers fight over child custody.  Neither gets it.

21.
Psychological archetype vs. psychological archetype.
Religious figure vs. philosophical concept.
Samurai vs. samurai.

22.
Unorthodox measures are taken to secure the nation's fertile future.

23.
Old dog teaches cat a new trick.

24.
I got superpowers, met a princess, dated the princess, achieved my dream, broke up with her, made up, killed my rivals, killed my boss (who also had the same superpowers), then achieved my dream.  Again.

25.
I got superpowers, met a princess, dated my subordinate, got everybody killed, broke up with her (sorta), killed my rivals, killed my boss (who also had the same superpowers), then saved everybody.  Again.

(note: slightly edited the wording on #14)

[SnowFire]

Reminder to send in guesses!  Will close this sometime next week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday depending.

[SnowFire]

Okay this one was too hard.  Shoulda trimmed it down and worked on it a bit more but felt slightly rushed for irrational reasons.  (For whatever it's worth, on the quotes quizzes above, I threw away about half of the random ideas I had to trim things down.  Shoulda done the same here.)  Notably, for a lot of these, you really needed to actually play the game, while I think a lot of the better quotes are potentially guessable even without deeplly remembering the game.

Anyway, our answers:

1. Statue-pushing puzzle screw-up leads to Ruinous consequences.
Final Fantasy 6.

2. Boy and girl complete their parents' unfulfilled romance, become mercenaries, save the concept of Time, waits for him, he comes there and finds her.
Final Fantasy 8.  I always rather liked how Laguna x Julia doesn't happen, but their kids finish it up.  The end is a rambling quotation of Rinoa's lines in the opening.

3. Long-running family feud settled by intermarriage.
Several possibilities, but Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom would have been the most obscura-compliant.  I kinda expected there to be more possibilities for this one, but apparently not.

4. Long running family feud settled either by mass regicide or by (probable) intermarriage.
Fire Emblem Fates.  In both Conquest & Birthright, three lords will die - Garon, Mikoto, and the Other Prince.  In Revelation, all the nobles are rigged to have romantic supports with the other country's nobles.  (A lot of people went with Tactics Ogre, but...  I'm not buying it.  Sure there's Regicide in one ending, but Denam x Catiua qualifies as the reverse of intermarriage if anything.)

5. 2 cousins 1 horse
Dragon Quest VIII.  Horse love triangles.  People didn't zoom in on the "horse" quite as hard as expected.  (The part about Charmles being Guv's cousin is more obscure though, sure.)

6. 2 twins 2 horses
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.  Twins right on the front cover, and they get horsies!  You could argue "10 twins" too but that'd just be confusing.

7. One man knows the censored truth.  His audience is put to sleep.
Final Fantasy Tactics.  Prof. Daravon framing story.  Weird choice by the game to mock its own story by making Mimic Daravon be a sleep-inducer.

8. {Summary censored, can't be published here.  This game is rated XXXXXXXXXXXXX.}
Kingdom Hearts II.  Maybe a tad too clever here.  If I had a time machine, I'd have changed the phrasing to "An organization rated this game XXXXXXXXXXXXX."  Maybe make a certain famous naming scheme more prominent.

9. If you don't get this one, it's okay, you can try again.
Any game that has save / reload or semi-controllable time loops as an explicit part of its plot.  Notably, I'd have taken any of Undertale, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, BlazBlue, etc.  Sopko went with Breath of Fire V and Elf went with Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask which weren't quite what I was thinking, but sure, they fit too.

10. Everything is ALL YOUR FAULT.  Even the stuff that isn't your fault.
Chrono Cross.  And yes this one is subjective.  CC I felt really took the time to have multiple NPCs yell at Serge for screwing everything up for things that rationally made 0 sense to blame him for because he was a baby at the time.  And of course some things done in the game genuinely are Serge's fault too!

11. Elite warrior defies civilian control of military, allies with hated enemy alien.
Halo 2 (or 3).  I wasn't really expecting the DL to get this one, but did it anyway for the mirror with #12.  My bad.  The Arbiter (the new Covenant PC in the campaign) and the Covenant Elites basically rebel against the Covenant leadership and Prophets to work with the Master Chief.

12. Elite spy overthrows military control of military, allies with mysterious mercenary and blustering idiot.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC.  Col. Richard imprisons General Morgan and works with Lorence & Duke Dunan.  Calling him a "spy" is a bit vague since he's more the boss-of-the-spies, but still.

13. Shonen rival attempts to create planet of clones.
Tales of the Abyss.  This isn't perfect because the clue is referring to Van, but Asch is Luke's shonen rival...  ah well, there are shonen rivals and potential planets of clones anyway.  Alex went with NieR and while not intended, I buy it, sure.

14. Bishonen clone attempts to destroys planet of rivals.
Final Fantasy IX.  There's Disc 4 plot to be had afterward but Garland/Terra plot is central enough I think.  Genomes are not precisely clones, more like homonculi, but close enough.

15. Devoted, if senile, husband uses daughter in attempt to reconnect with estranged wife.
Fire Emblem.  Absolutely nobody got this including Elf.  This is the extremely hidden NERGAL PLOT.  In fact, so hidden that looking it up on Wikis suggests that I, SnowFire, misinterpreted or at least attempted to make the plot make more sense than it really did!  Okay so chalk this one up as impossible then, my bad.  Anyway, in FE6/7, getting ULTIMATE DARK POWERZ requires giving up your self and your desires.  If you don't, then you go crazy but keep your desires.  Nergal really wants to open the Dragon's Gate (and kidnaps Ninian to make it happen, and also sends out agents to try and whip up wars to harvest lots of Quintessence or something and provide an excuse for Fire Emblem gameplay) but has forgotten why he wants to do this.  He's also forgotten that Nils & Ninian are his kids.  I, SnowFire, thought that Nergal's dragon wife got dragged back to the other side of the Dragon's Gate somehow, which is why he decided he needed to master dark magic to open it up and bring her back, but just became a raving loon who wanted to open the dragon's gate because that would be awesome after he lost his memories.  However, checking Wikia, apparently the game never confirms that his wife was on the other side...?  Just that "some bad men took her" (that part I remember)?  Then why the hell would he want to open the Gate?  I stand by my explanation, but feel free to trout slap me, as it turns out this was more personal fanon than canon.  Oops.

16. Take your choice: kill mom and doom dad, kill mom and doom yourself, or spare mom and doom the world.
Breath of Fire II.  The three potential endings.  For all that why she couldn't just move her claw a bit never made tons of sense...

17. Undead abomination invades heaven, slaughters gods, absorbs their power, transforms to unstoppable combination form.
Valkyrie Profile II.  Chapter 6, aw yeah, eat those Valkyrie souls, the perfect after-meal palate cleanser after eating some Einjergar souls.

18. Japanese schoolboy abomination invades hell, slaughters monsters, absorbs their power.
Several possibilities here, but Castlevania: Aria/Dawn of Sorrow was what was intended.  Soma the Dracula kid who steals monster abilities.

19. Somehow, everything is related to that one badass Japanese schoolkid.
Several possibilities here, but Persona 2: Eternal Punishment was what I was going for.   All the bad events of the game are related to Other Side Tatsuya, Japanese high schooler with a sword.  (But with more reasonable blame than Chrono Cross at least.)  I'll buy Persona 3 too, though, sure.  (I won't buy Persona 4, though, that would be "everything is related to one badass gas station attendant."  Or maybe "Japanese schoolkid, a cop, and a crazy dude.")

20. Two mothers fight over child custody.  Neither gets it.
Super Metroid.  Adoptive mother Samus & Mother brain.

21. Psychological archetype vs. psychological archetype.
Religious figure vs. philosophical concept.
Samurai vs. samurai.
Xenosaga III, although II would work too.  The URTVs have Jungian archetype pretentious blather in the encyclopedia they're named for, notably Rubedo (Jr.) & Albedo.  KOS-MOS is a robot powered by the soul of the Virgin Mary while Telos is a Greek philosophical concept.  And Jin vs. Margulis in space samurai duels.

22. Unorthodox measures are taken to secure the nation's fertile future.
Catherine.  But from the perspective of the villain (Sopko's was from Our Hero's perspective).  Twenty-somethings These Days are leaving their girlfriends hanging and not having enough kids, a complaint straight from the Japanese Diet, so it's time for some nighttime deadly puzzle solving to fix that!

23. Old dog teaches cat a new trick.
Ghost Trick.  Missile.

24. I got superpowers, met a princess, dated the princess, achieved my dream, broke up with her, made up, killed my rivals, killed my boss (who also had the same superpowers), then achieved my dream.  Again.
The Last Story.  This is pretty much the plot.

25. I got superpowers, met a princess, dated my subordinate, got everybody killed, broke up with her (sorta), killed my rivals, killed my boss (who also had the same superpowers), then saved everybody.  Again.
Radiant Historia.  This is pretty much the plot, with more focus on the Raynie dating sidequest than there really should be to make it line up with #24 better.

MagicFanatic: 6 (FF8, FFT, TotA, BoF2, Persona 3, Xenosaga 2)
Sir Alex: 6 (FF6, FE Fates, FFT, NieR, Super Metroid.  Half credit for SMT:DDS on 17, I dunno if I'd call AIs undead, but everything else is spot on.  Half credit for The Guided Fate Paradox on 18, I don't know the game, but it does seem like it mostly fits.)
Twilkitri: 9.5 (FF6, FF8, FE Fates, FE8, CC, FF9, Persona 3, Radiant Historia.  Half credit for FF13 on 8.  Half credit for FF7 on 11, dang if that doesn't fit pretty well, Sephy & Jenova.  Half credit for Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn on 20, that kinda works too.)
Sopko: 6.5 (FF6, FE8, FFT, BoF5, FF9, Xenosaga 2  Half credit for WA3 on 22.) 
Dark Holy Elf: 13.5 (FF6, FF8, FE8, FFT, LoZ: MM, TotA, FF9, BoF2, VP2, Xenosaga 2, Ghost Trick, The Last Story, Radiant Historia.  Half credit for Xenogears on 10.)
NotMiki: 12.5 (FF6, FF8, FE Fates, FFT, Undertale, TotA, FF9, BoF2, VP2, Persona 3, Radiant Historia.  Half credit for Terranigma on 10.  Half credit for FF7 on 11.  Half credit for WA3 on 22, Yggdrasil is more about the planet than a country, but it's certainly unorthodox.)

Congratulations to Elf, who has narrowly defeated NotMiki once more.

[NotMiki]

Elfboyyyyyyyyyy!

[Hunter Sopko]

I almost guessed DQ8 for 5, but the one I'm really kicking myself for is freaking 10. Way to Go, Serge is the name of the goddamn trope.