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StarTopic RPGs |ST| Our Home Base For All Role Playing Game Discussions!

Yall look it's the dudes

They had better be working on a Switch version of Fantasian or Terra Battle

I am screaming.
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God the Terra Battle OST was criminally good
 


I don't expect much from this stream. The important one will be the last in October with the Persona 6 announcement.
 


I don't expect much from this stream. The important one will be the last in October with the Persona 6 announcement.

I could have sworn the original timeline said that the final announcement would be in September, one year after the kick-off on the anniversary date itself, but now that I'm looking into it it seems it always said "fall", so I must have made that up in my head. Well, October it is then!
 
I could have sworn the original timeline said that the final announcement would be in September, one year after the kick-off on the anniversary date itself, but now that I'm looking into it it seems it always said "fall", so I must have made that up in my head. Well, October it is then!
It did originally say September. So yeah since Announcement 7 did become Autumn, it probably will be made at the concert then.

Link to the 25th anniversary so it’s easy to find. (I dug through the Persona poll thread to find it lol)

 
It did originally say September. So yeah since Announcement 7 did become Autumn, it probably will be made at the concert then.

Link to the 25th anniversary so it’s easy to find. (I dug through the Persona poll thread to find it lol)

Oh good so I’m not just remembering that wrong! But either way, it’s only a difference of like two weeks. Not a huge deal, especially since it’s probably only going to be the teasiest of teasers
 
Well no more extra cases for me, time to focus on the story and blast through these last couple chapters(on 17)

IMG_5473.jpg

Edit; now that’s chapter 17 down
Edit2: And that’s chapter 18 done. That twist with Kyoko really being Alphamon replacing her consciousness was really cool. And explains the horrible coffee
 
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Finished Trails in the Sky SC tonight. I have to sit on it a little, and I might post more of my thoughts on the game then, but my feelings right now are that it might have dethroned Xenoblade 1 as my favorite JRPG. If I didn't have Xenoblade 3 on my Switch home screen tempting me, I would probably jump right into Sky the 3rd.
 
Hahahahhahahahha, in Cyberslueth I just took out Leopardon in 2 hits thanks to Crusadermon and Lilithmon’s stat penetrating attacks, that cracks me up

I think this is my endgame party. While I could swap in the awakened Sistermon C(Or B or Kuzuhamob) and Lotosmon, I think UlforceVeedranon, Examon and OmniShoutmon are probably more useful here
IMG_5480.jpg

Just got some of the story side cases then onto the digital world and chapter 20!
 
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After watching my daughter play and getting some good chuckles, I got my own copy of Miitopia.

This is a really good game. I am having a ton of fun and I hope Nintendo does something like this again.
 
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Current thing: could probably wrap up Digimon cyberslueth quick, but this is the rare time I got sucked into the what I assume are super boss challenges due to them being on the side quest board where they’re harder to ignore XD. The 7 deadly sins and another challenge cases. I’ve already knocked out 4 of the latter.

I normally just ignore super bosses since they take effort to find and a lot of building/leveling to do, but top leveling and getting equipment in this game was so easy I’ve been giving it a go

Edit:
And done! That was a blast. Will definitely play hacker memories down the road but in a day or so Xenoblade is taking over. Solid ending even if it teased something I didn’t like at first. Resolving things with a timeline split was inspired
Playtime ended in the 70+ hr range but hard to know for sure
 
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So I recently started my FF15 playthrough and have just reached Altissia.

Never gave this game a chance when it released, but I am having a good time so far. The road-trip vibes are great, the boys are only occasionally annoying, and while I can not say I love the battle system, it is certainly serviceable.
Despite enjoying it overall, I can not help but feel like something is missing. It is not just about the battle system either, but I can not quite put my finger on it. It somehow manages to feel and not feel like FF simultaneously.

But good lord, the soundtrack. The soundtrack elevates it a ton. Shimomura never misses.
 
So I recently started my FF15 playthrough and have just reached Altissia.

Never gave this game a chance when it released, but I am having a good time so far. The road-trip vibes are great, the boys are only occasionally annoying, and while I can not say I love the battle system, it is certainly serviceable.
Despite enjoying it overall, I can not help but feel like something is missing. It is not just about the battle system either, but I can not quite put my finger on it. It somehow manages to feel and not feel like FF simultaneously.
It's a very weird beast. The battle system never quite gelled for me but I will say get Wait Mode unlocked if you haven't already. The setting is particularly interesting because the stakes are high but you're swapping out a world-spanning adventure for a much more intimate feel. It's very weird but kinda works, and is a good reminder that not all RPGs need to have a sprawl to them (something that some of Tokita's projects like Live A Live and Parasite Eve I think did really well).

But good lord, the soundtrack. The soundtrack elevates it a ton. Shimomura never misses.
Shimomura and a handful of other composers!

 
With my recent first playthrough of FF13 and my ongoing first playthrough of FF15, I am considering giving an RPG that I initially bounced off of a second chance: Dragon Age Inquisition. Don't even remember why I dropped that one. I also want to replay Dragon's Dogma and actually finish it and the DLC this time.

But all that will have to wait until I wrapped up the main story of FF15, where I am surprisingly close to the end already. Unless I feel like its tackling post-game and DLCs right away, which remains to be seen.
 
Furyu released a new trailer of Trinity Trigger with all the changes based on the feedback of the demo. Good to see they care about this. Gematsu has a list of all the changes but for me the most important are that dashing is now automatic and the shortcut for weapon selections. Unfortunately still not any news if /when they are going to release it in the west as it comes out in a month. Hopefully it doesn't take too long

 
Was there no physical release of the two Voice of the Cards games? I thought there may have been but I can't find any information online.
 
I’m playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 on Switch. I’m getting distracted by Ys IX on Stadia. I got stadia to work really well on my new android (gaming only phone for me).
 
Wrapped up FF15 today, and ultimately decided to leave its post game and DLC for later. Really enjoyed the final stretch of the campaign, and I am glad I did not do too many sidequests from chapter 8 onward, so I was not overleveled for it either. Most of my party-wide healing consumables definitely got wasted here, though.

Glad I decided to give it a shot, because I had a good time with it in my 30ish hours.
 
I miss this thread! Bump.

After cruising through over half of Chrono Trigger in the past few days, holy cow what a great game.

So my question for the community is... In addition to Chrono Trigger, which RPGs have the best PACING?
 
I miss this thread! Bump.

After cruising through over half of Chrono Trigger in the past few days, holy cow what a great game.

So my question for the community is... In addition to Chrono Trigger, which RPGs have the best PACING?
I mean.. you started it off with the pacing GOAT so.. aside from CT? Dang, I dunno. Every other JRPG I can think of has at least one glaring lull in the progression.
 
I miss this thread! Bump.

After cruising through over half of Chrono Trigger in the past few days, holy cow what a great game.

So my question for the community is... In addition to Chrono Trigger, which RPGs have the best PACING?
Happy to see the bump :) Excited to start talking more about RPGs again myself here once I finally fully wrap up Xenoblade. I’m 136 hours in and have seven colonies left to max affinity with and the final cave to explore still. Maybe two or three more days? I’ll definitely write a big post here when I’m done! Also I got my copy of NIS Classics Vol 3 today and I’m excited to talk about Rhapsody here soon. I still have to check out the DioField Chronicles demo too.

Final Fantasy VI has awesome pacing imo. Pretty much moves from big moment to big moment in the first half and I love the open back half. It’s more laid back, but Trails in the Sky has great pacing too. Such a cozy game that builds up to exciting end of chapter finales. Later games in the series never quite strike that perfect balance even though they are still a ton of fun.
 
I'm still mad that the NISA Classics can't be bought separately in switch. I just want to play Rhapsody


I woudl say Grandia and Suikoden 1 and 2 and Phantasy Star 4

Nice! The next RPG on my list to play after Chrono Trigger is Cosmic Star Heroine, which is pitched as a cross between CT and Phantasy Star IV, so I'm hopeful that it also has snappy pacing.
 
Nice! The next RPG on my list to play after Chrono Trigger is Cosmic Star Heroine, which is pitched as a cross between CT and Phantasy Star IV, so I'm hopeful that it also has snappy pacing.
Totally, all the Zeboyd games are carefully paced. I aslo recommend from the Chtulhu saves the christmas
 
Nice! The next RPG on my list to play after Chrono Trigger is Cosmic Star Heroine, which is pitched as a cross between CT and Phantasy Star IV, so I'm hopeful that it also has snappy pacing.
Yessssss
The whole time I was playing Cosmic Star Heroine I kept telling myself "This is like if Chrono Trigger had been made for the Genesis instead"
Like they really nailed the vibe.
 
Yessssss
The whole time I was playing Cosmic Star Heroine I kept telling myself "This is like if Chrono Trigger had been made for the Genesis instead"
Like they really nailed the vibe.
I still get mad when replaying it becuase they added a cameo from their april's fools Wild arms based game and it always remember it will never be :(
 
Oh hey this thread is still around! I'm currently on Chapter 7 of XC3 (105 hours in), but am kind of putting it on the backburner and am playing Soul Hackers 2 right now. SH2 is... odd. It has a lot of things I like about it, and a lot of things that are kind of bland, and feels like a mixed bag that needed more budget overall. But it's still pretty fun! And also not very long, it seems like.
 
Oh hey this thread is still around! I'm currently on Chapter 7 of XC3 (105 hours in), but am kind of putting it on the backburner and am playing Soul Hackers 2 right now. SH2 is... odd. It has a lot of things I like about it, and a lot of things that are kind of bland, and feels like a mixed bag that needed more budget overall. But it's still pretty fun! And also not very long, it seems like.
I love my first hour of Soul Hackers 2. Fast, snappy, stylish and it sounds great.
 
Nice! The next RPG on my list to play after Chrono Trigger is Cosmic Star Heroine, which is pitched as a cross between CT and Phantasy Star IV, so I'm hopeful that it also has snappy pacing.
It’s a great game, but it feels more like PSIV than chrono trigger to me.
 
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As mentioned in the other thread, started a replay of Wild Arms 3 after listening the Armed Fantasia battle track, and everytime the train intro gets me with the Morricone references, certainly Naruke's finest OST, not to mention that the game still has its own charm with the cell shaded effect they used.

 
So my question for the community is... In addition to Chrono Trigger, which RPGs have the best PACING?
Parasite Eve, which shares a number of key personnel along with a mechanical through line, is a nice and tight 6-8 hour RPG that just keeps moving without really any filler moments. Highly recommend checking it out in the context of CT.

Also has one of Shimomura’s other best OSTs that no one really talks about
 
FInally, a trailer for the next Voice of card games: the beast of burden. Let's see where it fits in the story

 
Just wanna ask this thread a question:

Can an RPG be an RPG without an experience system? I'm interested in that prospect.
Without an XP system, or without leveling up at all? There have been RPGs that haven't had XP like Chrono Cross, but they still have level ups in some way or another usually.
Define “experience system”. Otherwise, yes and Zelda is your answer.
Not to derail too much into the "what is an RPG" argument but I don't think I'd consider Zelda to be an RPG
 
Without an XP system, or without leveling up at all? There have been RPGs that haven't had XP like Chrono Cross, but they still have level ups in some way or another usually.

Good point, and I'd say either of the two.

BotW comes close to being an EXP-free RPG, but the orbs are a form of exploration-rewarded EXP imo.
 
Good point, and I'd say either of the two.

BotW comes close to being an EXP-free RPG, but the orbs are a form of exploration-rewarded EXP imo.
My basic definition has always been:
  • If character growth can be controlled by the player at their own pace (e.g. allowing the player to keep fighting enemies for more EXP if they want to) then it's an RPG.
  • If character growth is given by upgrades found out in the world that can usually only be picked up once then it's an adventure game.

It can get muddy in some cases and these definitions aren't perfect. Like Diablo 1 not having respawning enemies works against my definition. Also, upgrades found out in the world can still feel more RPG-like if the upgrades aren't a single power-up but rather allow you to purchase an upgrade from multiple options like BotW does (health vs. stamina). If it feels like you have some control to direct your growth into different builds then I would say it's a lot more RPG-like.

But as a more direct answer to your initial question, I wouldn't say traditional EXP with stat ups each level is required to be qualified as an RPG. A game without constantly increasing stats but has some skill points gained from monsters/quests that can be used to purchase various perks would still be an RPG.
 
A game without constantly increasing stats but has some skill points gained from monsters/quests that can be used to purchase various perks would still be an RPG.

That's just another money system though. I feel like Super Mario Odyssey would be an RPG since you get coins from killing enemies.

Yeah, the RPG definition has gotten really muddy since the days of it meaning "make choices within your role"...
 
That's just another money system though. I feel like Super Mario Odyssey would be an RPG since you get coins from killing enemies.

Yeah, the RPG level has gotten really muddy since the days of it meaning "make choices within your role"...
I think it depends on what is being purchased - that it's actually character growth - and how integral it is to clearing challenges in the world.

Like buying equipment (something that can be removed and replaced) is not character growth. Buying consumable items or outfits are also not character growth. Think of stuff more like Feats you can acquire in Dungeons and Dragons as a better example of what I mean by perks. Buying a potion is not growth, but buying the Herbalism skill that makes the character who purchased the skill heal allies by 50% more when using potions is character growth.

In Mario Odyssey, coins are mostly just used for purely cosmetic stuff like costumes. Unless I'm misremembering, you don't buy new moves for Mario to use with coins. If you could buy actual upgrades to Mario's movement and moveset, and these upgrades were important to actually beating the game and not just cool little bonuses, then I would consider it an action game with strong RPG elements.
 
I think it depends on what is being purchased - that it's actually character growth - and how integral it is to clearing challenges in the world.

Like buying equipment (something that can be removed and replaced) is not character growth. Buying consumable items or outfits are also not character growth. Think of stuff more like Feats you can acquire in Dungeons and Dragons as a better example of what I mean by perks. Buying a potion is not growth, but buying the Herbalism skill that makes the character who purchased the skill heal allies by 50% more when using potions is character growth.

In Mario Odyssey, coins are mostly just used for purely cosmetic stuff like costumes. Unless I'm misremembering, you don't buy new moves for Mario to use with coins. If you could buy actual upgrades to Mario's movement and moveset, and these upgrades were important to actually beating the game and not just cool little bonuses, then I would consider it an action game with strong RPG elements.
I'm mostly with you. But, one thing I would say is that what is and isn't an RPG is also kind of a vague "you know it when you see it" thing. And also depends on how important it is to the game.

For example, tons of games these days use RPG elements - games like God of War, Assassin's Creed, etc., have levels, stats, equipment, skill trees, all that jazz. But I wouldn't call any of them RPGs. They're action/adventure games that also have some RPG elements in them. Where exactly you draw that line between "this game has RPG elements but isn't really an RPG" and "It's just straight up an RPG" is very difficult to pinpoint sometimes.
 
I'm all goofed because to me "RPG" always meant "menu-based battle system," as opposed to stuff like Zelda where you thwack away at enemies with 1:1 button press to action. Even most obvious RPGs these days don't have that anymore, so I don't know how to define them.
 
I'm mostly with you. But, one thing I would say is that what is and isn't an RPG is also kind of a vague "you know it when you see it" thing. And also depends on how important it is to the game.

For example, tons of games these days use RPG elements - games like God of War, Assassin's Creed, etc., have levels, stats, equipment, skill trees, all that jazz. But I wouldn't call any of them RPGs. They're action/adventure games that also have some RPG elements in them. Where exactly you draw that line between "this game has RPG elements but isn't really an RPG" and "It's just straight up an RPG" is very difficult to pinpoint sometimes.
For sure. Probably one of the most important elements in defining a genre that my previous posts missed is the lineage of the design elements. Identifying the main dish of gameplay and tracing back the lineage of its designs and the associated tropes gives a clearer picture of what the genre is supposed to be.

It's why I would still consider a Mario game to be an action game with just RPG elements even if it had permanent moveset upgrades purchasable with skill points because the main dish of the gameplay would still be following the lineage of what we consider platformer design with an emphasis on interaction with terrain. We would recognize a skill tree as coming from the lineage of RPG design but if the skill tree seems like just a side to the main dish which has more in common with a beat 'em up (e.g. God of War) then we would just say it has RPG elements rather than being an RPG.
 


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