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Wanted to add a few last minute nominations to @PixelKnight 's Best Switch RPGs voting thread. Did Blue Reflection Second Light and Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition this morning and had time now to write up a post for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Show some Yeah! support to those and other games if you haven't as the thread enters the last week.


Would be cool to see more classic games nominated if people have time...just saying Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Cross, and Earthbound for example haven't seen any love yet...
Im torn between thinking ‘If noone cares enough to make a nomination post for a game, it’s gonna miss out on all the yeahs from people just voting’, and also ‘if no one cares enough to write a paragraph, that’s probably an indicator of something too’ :)

(Obviously tons of people do care about FFVI and loads more- I’m kinda viewing the discussion as a temperature check at this particular point in time rather than any kind of definitive vote)
 
Im torn between thinking ‘If noone cares enough to make a nomination post for a game, it’s gonna miss out on all the yeahs from people just voting’, and also ‘if no one cares enough to write a paragraph, that’s probably an indicator of something too’ :)

(Obviously tons of people do care about FFVI and loads more- I’m kinda viewing the discussion as a temperature check at this particular point in time rather than any kind of definitive vote)
I’ve nominated five games so far, I feel bad nominating anymore personally lol.
 
KT released their financial updates and Ryza 3 selling 290K worldwide is very good considering it competed against RE4 (IIRC Sophie 2 got 200K)
 
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Overall its fine, I am enjoying it. Its 30$ so that works in its favor. As I go through it and things change Ill reply to this message.
Update on Zangentsu, I am 8 hours in, at the last part of the third "dungeon", and based on playthroughs (there is little info of this game) the game is not that long give or take 15 hours. Granted the RNG will reduce or increase that. So dungeon are really small with either the focus is multiple floors or hazards. They are not connected with the exception of the first one technically. Meaning that went you enter a new dungeon and decided to go back you return to the base.

The death mechanic will turn some people away from the game (I sometimes rage at it). Cause you can resurrect them at a cost, and if it fails (based on affinity) you can try again (your character is now in ashes) and it cost like 5 times the amount. Money is not scarce cause some items sells for a high amount but dying can leave you broke. Since their is no guide experimenting with skills/stats has been fun but confusing lol.
Also this is a something all dungeon-crawler should do, let me see the enemies HP, even if it requires a skill. I am planning defensively a lot of the times and that kinda messes with how I want to approach bosses. Sadly this games does not do that.

Since my XC3 copy is not with me and I am not really in a mood to start a new game till Zelda, Ill try to see how it ends.
 
Does anyone know who was responsible for the Frog/Tata plot in Chrono Trigger? I'm in the 8th chapter in Live A Live and someone at Square in the mid-90's clearly had thoughts about this whole hero business :LOL:
 
Does anyone know who was responsible for the Frog/Tata plot in Chrono Trigger? I'm in the 8th chapter in Live A Live and someone at Square in the mid-90's clearly had thoughts about this whole hero business :LOL:
Masato Kato wrote the escenario for Chrono Trigger which was based on a draft of Horii and responsible for that part, which is why Another Eden also have a not Frog character. With that said the director and one of the writers of Live a Live Takashi Tokita also worked as one of the directors and additional writers for Chrono Trigger so there's a chance some influence from LaL stuck there
 
Masato Kato wrote the escenario for Chrono Trigger which was based on a draft of Horii and responsible for that part, which is why Another Eden also have a not Frog character. With that said the director and one of the writers of Live a Live Takashi Tokita also worked as one of the directors and additional writers for Chrono Trigger so there's a chance some influence from LaL stuck there
Yea, I just couldn’t remember if Tokita had a hand in the story beats with CT. I remember for FFVI they took a divide-and-conquer approach with different character stories going to different planners.
 
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Rune Factory 5 really clicked for me the other day. Coming from Persona, where there was constantly a deadline, to a game where you can do as you please when you please is a nice change of pace.
 
For Azure and Cold Steel 1, I played the following game before talking about my experience and get context on the series. I was waiting to finish CS 3 Chapter 1 to talk about my experience of CS 2.

Overall I like CS 2 a bit more that CS 1 mainly because of the combat. Even playing CS 3, I still think Azure orbment systems has the most flexibility and it can make anyone I spellcaster. So far in the CS games unless you are sorta designated as one is not worth it. Going back to CS 2, one complaint early to mid game is that its a Miss fest every battle. It feels like every character has the blind ailment on, it was not great, once I got items and quartz it got better. The other combat addition, I wont mention it, was ok, kinda boring since its limited. Also when Ren gets Spirit Unification, I got him the arts double damage, a ton of offensive quarts and used his S-Craft, I was one-shot bosses or 75% hp off. Made the game user easy.

I wont go into story spoilers, but the characters felt a less fleshed out, outside of re-introducing them granted its a direct sequel. While it does not bother me a lot, I even see this in CS3, since the cast is bigger I feel like when something happens Falcom was forced to give everyone a line and it comes off as unnecessary. Lets say the protagonist got a cheese sandwich, the rest of the group will say comments like: "Thats so him.", "I would have gone for swiss.", " I don't like sandwiches.". Gets a bit dumb sometimes. Overall new characters, plot twist and ending were great. Quest system was similar but given the scenario it was easy to handle.

It felt like a sequel we don't get a ton this days. The ones people now call "DLC", I was fun jumping in right after 1. Music was better, more varied than CS1. Great that we had costume changes, the uniforms from 1 were getting old, however some of the new outfits were a choice, that is still true in CS3 lol. A great table setter for the rest of the series.

I mentioned this but I played them on PC and for some reason playing them at 60 felt weird so I capped it at 30 lol. Zero/Azure were 60fps and I've played a ton of turn based games at 60 but CS for some reason I could not.
 
Final Fantasy VI (Pixel Remaster) - PS5

I've played this before via emulation waaaay back when, never did finish it though. This time I'm so much further along, just completed Zozo area which is my favourite area yet. So dingy and dodgy. The party members are all so good and the new music arrangements are fantastic. Can't wait to see where the story goes next. Around 8-9 hours in.

Contact (Grasshopper Manufacture's weird RPG) - DS

Got my DSi out of storage and got this game out of my backlog, I'm about 5 or so hours into it so far. Definitely feels like one of those hidden gems, I'm a massive fan of Grasshopper Manufacture's games in general, so this was always going to get a playthrough. The game feels so cosy and relaxing to play, I can proper chill out and play this in bed before I sleep or sat outside, the music is really good too (then again it is Masafumi Takada - composer of Killer7, No More Heroes 1, Danganronpa series, EDF series & Super Smash Bros series arrangements, the guy never misses).

The vibes definitely give off a very Earthbound kind of feel to the proceedings and can see that's an inspiration. Akira Ueda, the game director/writer also worked on Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, so I can definitely see that too in this game. Love how the top screen is pixelated graphics and bottom screen has that early 3D era graphical style.
 
Huh, I’ve already knocked out half the side quests in Nier replicant. Guess I don’t have to worry about that uncompletable sidequest tab haunting me for now. Just helped the red bag canal guy reunite with his wife story wise after doing all 3 text adventures in the forest of myth
 
I knew there were some twists coming in Chapter 8 of Live A Live but I wasn’t expecting that 🤯 👏👏👏

I knew Oersted would be come Odio, but didn’t expect Streighbough’s heel turn or the princess going full Juliet. Dayyyummmm.

Onto the finale!
 
I knew there were some twists coming in Chapter 8 of Live A Live but I wasn’t expecting that 🤯 👏👏👏

I knew Oersted would be come Odio, but didn’t expect Streighbough’s heel turn or the princess going full Juliet. Dayyyummmm.

Onto the finale!
Yeah I saw none of that coming at all, although it did seem like it was building up to something fishy given how straightforward the chapter was with being a somewhat generic fantasy RPG setting (which the rest of the game very much avoids).

And I have to shout out the voice actor for Streighbough again, he absolutely killed that role. Probably my favorite voice in the game (Shifu is way up there too, though)
 
Well that’s the first ending of Nier Replicant down… way too many questions tho pretty obvious the shadow lord was the original me tho
Gonna take a break and start xbc3FR cause I was hoping to get through that before ToTK. Should be a nice breather before route 2
 
The “secret boss rush” mode in Live A Live was stupid fun. I’m now onto the final chapter in earnest with my boy Cube. Really liking the open-world-ness of it with having to find each party member and these character specific dungeons. Plus trash mobs seem to have teeth now so it feels like I’ve reached the real meat of the game.

And some of the subtle changes to the world from Chapter 8 has some real Undertale vibes to it. And the whole concept of this Chapter feels like a concept that could’ve easily gone into Chrono Trigger with advanced versions of enemies from all the different time periods attacking you in random battles.
 
Definitely having fun in future redeemed, just reached colony 9 and got a quest from Riku. Obvious Linka and Pancaea are aware of true history like Shulk and Rex, so definitely curious to see the explanation on that having a really good time but now to take a break and watch birdie wing(maybe mix things up with a little more Nier replicant route 2)
 
Doing a quick run between FF5 PR and SRWV and goddam still makes me mad we had to trade chad Kouji for nerd kouji and ultimate inferior mazinger infinity in the later games

 
Oh man, Rhapsody is such a nice pallet cleanser after the dreariness of Nier
Doing a quick run between FF5 PR and SRWV and goddam still makes me mad we had to trade chad Kouji for nerd kouji and ultimate inferior mazinger infinity in the later games


I’d love if we got Infinitism Steel Jeeg and Grendizer joining the party next time at least
 
So I'm playing the FF1 pixel remaster. Got the physical version so I'll be playing these in order.

Anyone have advice for the money/xp boosts? I want to keep the game balanced but not impossible, I'm currently using the defaults.
 
So I'm playing the FF1 pixel remaster. Got the physical version so I'll be playing these in order.

Anyone have advice for the money/xp boosts? I want to keep the game balanced but not impossible, I'm currently using the defaults.
It really depends how fast you want to beat it. IIRC 1 is based on the later ports which were rebalanced so things are cheaper, have more hp and fixing the int stat, etc. So playing with the default settings isn't really going to set you back. Maybe put money 2X if you don't want to grind everytime there is new equipment
 
It really depends how fast you want to beat it. IIRC 1 is based on the later ports which were rebalanced so things are cheaper, have more hp and fixing the int stat, etc. So playing with the default settings isn't really going to set you back. Maybe put money 2X if you don't want to grind everytime there is new equipment
Thanks for the advice. I'll up money if it starts to be an issue. This is my first time playing final fantasy (unless you count Bravely Default). It looks great on the oled and the arranged music is wonderful (really like the music in cornelia). I just beat Garland so I'm early in the game.
 
I am so close to the end of FF7R - I finally made it out of the Shinra building and had to turn it off for the night at the start of the motorcycle sequence. This final stretch of the game is exhausting! How many boss fights can they cram in at the end? It just feels like boss after boss after boss after boss, with no breaks in-between. I fought like, five this evening alone! And I’m pretty sure there’s three left! The boss fights are the best part of the game no doubt, but this is ridiculous. This game is absolutely incredible, but at this point, I’m ready for the credits to roll. I gotta see that controversial ending that made everyone so mad.

Hopefully I’ll be able to wrap it up tomorrow (if the final boss rush allows me to!). Then I can move on to the Yuffie DLC. All told, I might not make it to TotK on launch day, but I shouldn’t be too far behind.
 
I am so close to the end of FF7R - I finally made it out of the Shinra building and had to turn it off for the night at the start of the motorcycle sequence. This final stretch of the game is exhausting! How many boss fights can they cram in at the end? It just feels like boss after boss after boss after boss, with no breaks in-between. I fought like, five this evening alone! And I’m pretty sure there’s three left! The boss fights are the best part of the game no doubt, but this is ridiculous. This game is absolutely incredible, but at this point, I’m ready for the credits to roll. I gotta see that controversial ending that made everyone so mad.

Hopefully I’ll be able to wrap it up tomorrow (if the final boss rush allows me to!). Then I can move on to the Yuffie DLC. All told, I might not make it to TotK on launch day, but I shouldn’t be too far behind.
You are very close to the end! You got this!

The extended finale of the Shinra Building onwards is perhaps a little too much I agree in terms of boss fights, but they are really fun! One of my favorites in the game ahead too!
 
Tried the demo of Monster Menu, it's an interesting blend between roguelike and srpg. You have to manage calories, hydratation and hapiness and most abilities are tied to the first two elements, so its a risk/reward system in battles. I think some of the food items expire too soon though, as I've been exploring a floor and by the time I reach the exit already have 1 or 2 ingredients spoiled.

The food part is cooking dishes with the monster, you gain stats and recover calories and h2o. Eat gross food and hapiness goes down which can lead to madness.

Also I was surprised one of the first notifications is if you want to activate censorship, which I thought it was something related to the characters (this is NIS, so it has those type of designs) but no, its about food and escenes are very descriptive. For example at the beginning your character has to eat the rotten flesh of a monster, and it has maggots that even with the game graphic style still makes an impact. So if that's not your thing it's recommended to activate the censor mode

Finally the presentation is too simple and the graphics are on the level of Disgaea 6 (it even has the same modes of performance, medium and graphics with perfomance having very low res). Maybe I'll get it with a discount
 
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FF7R ending spoilers

ZACK LIVES. ZACK LIVES!!! ZACK LIVES. I’M BAWLING OVER HERE.

I’ll write up something substantial soon. But oh my god what an ending.
 
FF7R ending spoilers

ZACK LIVES. ZACK LIVES!!! ZACK LIVES. I’M BAWLING OVER HERE.

I’ll write up something substantial soon. But oh my god what an ending.
I wonder how much of my lack of caring and bad reaction to the ending of FF7R was related to knowing essentially nothing about the greater FF7 universe (I had only ever played the original FF7, not any of the spinoffs, or seen Advent Children etc.; nothing else).

So to me (rant incoming):

It was just a whole lot of nonsense that made little to no sense, and characters appearing that I didn't know or care about. On top of coming off of one of the worst, most overlong dungeons in the game (Hojo's lab), too many boss fights back to back, and so on. And then we got the utterly terrible giant abomination... thing? In another world, or something? And then we're fighting Sephiroth for SOME reason??? What happened to the mystery of Sephiroth, keeping him mostly held back for the endgame as this ominous omni-powerful presence that was always somewhere else off-screen, like a great horror movie monster? And then it seems like there's supposed to be some kind of emotional reaction to Zack appearing, when I have basically only enough knowledge to know that Zack was like... a SOLDIER or something who Cloud pretended to be, essentially? I barely even know or remember him existing, much less him as an actual character. It felt to me like they were terrified of just ending the game on a nice, calm and quiet, 'we're leaving Midgar and heading into the wide world' note, so they threw everything and the kitchen sink in there that they could last-minute to manufacture a climactic ending out of nowhere.

Up until the Shinra building or so, I was enjoying the game a pretty good amount. Not loving it, but enjoying it. It has some really good parts! I loved everything they did with Jessie and her new chapter arc, Wall Market was really well-done in general, Aerith is great in this version (so is Tifa!), etc.! But then once the climax of the game starts to happen my opinion of the game completely nosedived. Just one baffling development after another that completely lost me, to the point I really have almost no interest in even playing the next one. Other than some slim hope that maybe now that we're leaving Midgar I might enjoy it more since that's the part of FF7 I like a lot more.

/rant

Anyway, I'm happy you liked it! I know a lot of people do. It just seems like it's very much not for me, or what I want out of a Final Fantasy game. Then again, I was never a big FF7 fan in the first place, so I'm probably not the target audience.
 
I adore the ending of Final Fantasy VII Remake. I was the perfect audience for it considering I played FF7 way back in the day, I don’t like straight remakes, and I love high concept stuff (Nomura’s flavor especially so).

I do think for people like @SammyJ9 right above me, I think they did their most bold thing already that you are reacting to. I expect the story to be more straightforward / relatively grounded again now as it charts its own path.
 
I adore the ending of Final Fantasy VII Remake. I was the perfect audience for it considering I played FF7 way back in the day, I don’t like straight remakes, and I love high concept stuff (Nomura’s flavor especially so).

I do think for people like @SammyJ9 right above me, I think they did their most bold thing already that you are reacting to. I expect the story to be more straightforward / relatively grounded again now as it charts its own path.
I grumble about it a lot, probably because it's one of the very few RPGs in recent memory that just hasn't clicked with me. Not wishing any ill-will on those who love it! And I realllllly don't care for Nomura-style stuff like the ending, so that's probably another big strike, shouldn't have been a huge surprise for me probably.

Who knows, maybe I'll change my tune when the next one comes out! I do like the Cosmo Canyon and more 'fantasy' parts of FF7 quite a lot more than Midgar, so it's possible! I'll have to wait and see.
 
some brief thoughts, still not all that i have to say on the ending

Zack surviving was a huge emotional moment for me. He is such a great character and I wept at the end of Crisis Core when he died. Coming into the remake, I knew there was a twist that would change the story, but I had no idea what it would be. I’m so happy that I was able to experience that unspoiled!

@SammyJ9 you should play Crisis Core! The remaster is amazing and it’s great on the Switch.
 
some brief thoughts, still not all that i have to say on the ending

Zack surviving was a huge emotional moment for me. He is such a great character and I wept at the end of Crisis Core when he died. Coming into the remake, I knew there was a twist that would change the story, but I had no idea what it would be. I’m so happy that I was able to experience that unspoiled!

@SammyJ9 you should play Crisis Core! The remaster is amazing and it’s great on the Switch.
I've heard that! It was on my list to finally check out but other games have gotten in the way. I might have to give it a go later this year sometime when it's a bit calmer.
 
He’s all about plaid now though
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Glad to hear. While Azure did not get as much traction than Zero, at least the sales backed it up.

I'm loving the trend of smaller, very niche RPGs having strong sales (if still fairly low) lately. Ys, Trails, SMTV, etc. I believe all exceeded expectations and that's great to see. Hopefully Etrian Odyssey will do the same, even if it's just the remaster pack coming soon.
 
Glad to see Zero and Azure both did well. It just makes me hopeful Falcom will continue to grow its audience and find more success. Also, and this extends to other developers/publishers beyond NISA, we’ll see them bring back / bring over more older games and see them get the kind of deluxe treatment these two games got with extra and improved features.
 
Oh man xbc3 future redeemed continues to deliver. Nearing the end and(some fun side story spoilers)
now we got the side discussion that confirms Riku is Riki’s kid XD had a feeling. And his master being Melia is a fun surprise
Been having a blast and nearing the end, should wrap it up just in time for my copy of ToTK to hopefully arrive tomorrow(Amazon managed to screw up delivery today… hopefully tomorrow and not Monday)

Also been having a blast with Rhapsody, but now I’m having annoying doubts because I discovered with the thunder stone you don’t have to kill 9 tails and get an alternative, but when I did the Firestone I screwed up and backtracked before going to the dragon and let the villagers kill them by accident and now I’m wondering if I could’ve spared them and it’s killing me a little I guess I could just look it up and check
Edit: checked, looks like I just missed 2 optional items, which sucks but the game isn’t too hard as long as you’re leveled so I’ll live
 
So about the ending to FF7R

I can totally understand why it was controversial. FF7 is one of the most beloved games of all time, and it’s story is well-known. Of course you would expect a game that literally has the word “Remake” in the title to hew closely to the source material! But I think that’s exactly why the ending works so well, because it was so unexpected. The Whispers are introduced pretty early in the game, yeah, but they aren’t explained until you find Aerith in the Shinra building dozens of hours later. Until that point, the game is basically the expanded version of the Midgar portion of FF7 just as it was advertised. And even once they are explained, the full scope of what they mean for the story isn’t revealed until basically the very end, when you take on Fate itself in what is frankly a masterful boss fight (seriously, that fight ruled. It was one of the best fights in a game that’s full of fantastic boss encounters). The revelation that Zack is alive at the end is both a consequence of defeating Fate and also a promise to FF7 vets that no one knows what’s coming next. And I think that’s genius. To FF7 newcomers, they won’t know that anything is different and the story over the next two games will just be taken on its face, but for returning players, nothing is certain. There’s drama there, and excitement. The unknown. I loved it. I can’t wait for the rest of the story.

My opinion on this is in no way biased by the fact that Zack lives.*

*I totally am biased by that

tldr The changes to the story are exciting and dramatic and I am here for it.
 
So about the ending to FF7R

I can totally understand why it was controversial. FF7 is one of the most beloved games of all time, and it’s story is well-known. Of course you would expect a game that literally has the word “Remake” in the title to hew closely to the source material! But I think that’s exactly why the ending works so well, because it was so unexpected. The Whispers are introduced pretty early in the game, yeah, but they aren’t explained until you find Aerith in the Shinra building dozens of hours later. Until that point, the game is basically the expanded version of the Midgar portion of FF7 just as it was advertised. And even once they are explained, the full scope of what they mean for the story isn’t revealed until basically the very end, when you take on Fate itself in what is frankly a masterful boss fight (seriously, that fight ruled. It was one of the best fights in a game that’s full of fantastic boss encounters). The revelation that Zack is alive at the end is both a consequence of defeating Fate and also a promise to FF7 vets that no one knows what’s coming next. And I think that’s genius. To FF7 newcomers, they won’t know that anything is different and the story over the next two games will just be taken on its face, but for returning players, nothing is certain. There’s drama there, and excitement. The unknown. I loved it. I can’t wait for the rest of the story.

My opinion on this is in no way biased by the fact that Zack lives.*

*I totally am biased by that

tldr The changes to the story are exciting and dramatic and I am here for it.
Loved hearing your full thoughts Red! They echo mine :) Super excited for the sequel which I’m guessing is for early next year.
 
And that’s the community chart down in XBC3 Future redeemed. I expect I’ll clear the collectopedia(one item left), and affinity scenes(also on left), but I’m not bother with superbosses. Trying to wrap this up, then a dinner break, then time to kick off ToTK!
 
tldr The changes to the story are exciting and dramatic and I am here for it.
Aren’t they mostly taking the same approach as Rebuild of Evangelion with Remake/Rebirt/Re3? Which would be totally fitting given how much Evangelion influenced JRPGs of that era.
 
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Aren’t they mostly taking the same approach as Rebuild of Evangelion with Remake/Rebirt/Re3? Which would be totally fitting given how much Evangelion influence JRPGs of that era.
Yeah it’s a similar concept here of appearing to be a straight remake and then diverging to do new things. Personally love it as we get two cool things out of it instead of just an extra shiny version of an old thing.

They do have that recap game they announced, but I don’t know if it ever came out?
 
Yea Ever Crisis is still in development last I heard. Not sure if it’s soft launched in any regions yet.
 
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Speaking of FF7, I’ve never actually seen Advent Children. Is it worth getting a copy and setting aside an evening to watch it?
I thought it was worth watching just to see what they made. The fight scenes are pretty cool if nothing else. There’s a good chance it’ll factor into the Remake games somehow given they’ve pulled from everything else so probably a good idea to see it sooner than later.
 


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