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[Brawlz]

Time for a replay of Xenoblade 1

 

[chocolate_supra]

Time for a replay of Xenoblade 1

So you're saying it's....

...reyn time

 

[Brawlz]

So you're saying it's....

...reyn time

Oh yeah!

 

[Blue Monty]

I will be playing all Xeno games this summer in preparation for XC3, I haven't played any of them in years (outside of XC: DE) so I don't remeber a lot of stuff it is going to be a fun experience ! I'm also doing this with Ys but I'm taking it slowly playing 3 games in a row and then waiting some months to play another 2/3

 

[ermitron2]

Shining in the Darkness? Kinda obscure but it sorta fits the description, there's a lot of those games on Genesis somehow.

Yeah, that was it, thanks

 

[xghost777]

I wanted to do it sooner, but I started a replay of Chrono Trigger today! The last time I played it was the DS version where I got all of the endings. This time I’m playing the original SNES version via my Wii Virtual Console copy and I’m aiming to do a normal 100% single playthrough. I love how fast the game moves, first you are in the middle ages, then you are somewhat sneakily breaking out of prison (I got a 6-1 Not Guilty verdict!), and then you are racing motorbikes in the future (my favorite set piece in the game that’s sadly unique). The script is very colorful which is great because the game has tons of jokes in it like finding the Naga bromide and then getting jumped in the cathedral or alerting the fishmen monsters in the sewer by tagging the fake save point. The balance of the game is very breezy as you are showered with money, your best attacks get you through everything with minimal fuss, and you really only have to worry about if a monster is weak to physical or magical attacks. That’s ok though since the pacing and sense of adventure is so tight. Anyway, I’ve played up to recruiting Robo and I’m eager to play more soon! Really hoping to join everyone playing Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross (my favorite PS1 game) relatively soon after the remaster’s release.

While I’m here, I have two RPG adjacent things I want to touch on. First I usually consider the Yakuza / Judgment games RPG enough, but I did recently play through the Kaito Files DLC and found this one is almost entirely focused on combat so that mix sadly isn’t there. That said, the combat was a blast and the DLC story was excellent with amazing cutscenes, a great emotional core, and an exciting conclusion as everything came together. I really hope we see more of Kaito in the future after completing his story. Highly recommend checking out both The Kaito Files and Lost Judgment in general if you haven’t yet.

Second thing, I’ve always been a huge fan of the Japanese music group ClariS since before their first album came out. Their sixth album, Parfaitone, just came out today and features four songs from Magia Record, one from the game, Signal, and three from the anime that ties back into the game, Careless (my favorite song on the album), Alethea, and Orgel. Magia Record is my favorite dead RPG gacha mobile game and I miss it so much (my current avatar is the game’s main character). Really hope we get Arc 2 of the game in some way here eventually. Anyway, I mainly wanted to say the new ClariS album is awesome!

 

[shoptroll]

Chrono Trigger I maintain is probably the best, if not one of the best, paced JRPGs ever. There’s absolutely no fluff in it (in the original release). Which is why I’m keen to recommend it to genre newcomers.

 

[MissingNo.]

Started to play BD2 a week ago, and I have now reached Chapter 2. If you are at all interested in following a LTTP thread on my playthrough, check it out!

Spoilers — I am having a great time so far.

 

[Bokuringo]

I want to play Xenoblade Definitive Edition before XB3 comes in September too. Soon it's Reyn time for me again. Yet, I hope I'll beat the game faster than on my first playthrough.

In other news, there's going to be news for Kuro 2 tomorrow. Nice to see what we in the West can play in the far distant future.

 

[AngryNopon]

Can't wait to play Kuro 2 in 2026 at best

 

[Blue Monty]

Can't wait to play Kuro 2 in 2026 at best

It should be a late 2024/Early 2025 title , NISA is trying to release two mainline trails games per year. Zero late 2022, Azure Early 2023, Reverie Late 2023 , Kuro I early 2024 and Kuro II late 2024/Early 2025. Of course with the localitzacion of these games we all know that a lot of things can happen and they may take longer (bar the first three they are pretty much set on stone)

 

[AngryNopon]

It should be a late 2024/Early 2025 title , NISA is trying to release two mainline trails games per year. Zero late 2022, Azure Early 2023, Reverie Late 2023 , Kuro I early 2024 and Kuro II late 2024/Early 2025. Of course with the localitzacion of these games we all know that a lot of things can happen and they may take longer (bar the first three they are pretty much set on stone)

I hope you are right, but you have to consider that NISA has other titles to localize aside from Falcom stuff and that Zero and Azure are a very special case.

Sadly i don't two Trails per year will be the norm.

 

[Blue Monty]

I hope you are right, but you have to consider that NISA has other titles to localize aside from Falcom stuff and that Zero and Azure are a very special case.

Sadly i don't two Trails per year will be the norm.

Zero/Azure localitzacion shouldn't take that much time off NISA due to them confirming they are using the fan-translation (they will probably adapt it but most work is done), I expect most of NISA work being adapting these games to modern console and giving some QoL stuff. So I think there is time for them to work on Kuro translations once they are over with Reverie (and Nayuta which is personaly the game I'm hyped the most). Also if there is no delays NISA has already confirmed we get 3 Trails in 2023 , Azure, Reverie and Nayuta.

 

[Leica]

Chrono Trigger I maintain is probably the best, if not one of the best, paced JRPGs ever. There’s absolutely no fluff in it (in the original release). Which is why I’m keen to recommend it to genre newcomers.

It is the best and I don't think it's very close. Absolute masterclass in pacing and it's part of the reason it has aged so well.

 

[Appelsider]

I finished Trails of Cold Steel 2 just now, but my experience was a bit of an odd one.

Midway through the final dungeon, my save files suddenly got deleted, even from the cloud.

So I was afraid I'd have to watch a yt playthrough since I wasnt gonna replay 40+ hrs again.

But luckily I learned you could play with other people's save files, so I was able to continue not far from where I left off.

But the save data was from a NG+ I think, so I was easily able to blast through everything without really properly.. playing I guess.

A major thing in the Divertissment got spoiled by the NG message for me as well. + A REALLY WEIRD GLITCH HAPPENED THAT TOOK ME OUT OF THE HYPE MOMENT

Spoiler: Picture

So this was an odd ride to say the least. XD

But the plot twiins in this game were great! I didn't see them coming.
The latter half of the game really picked up and was more enjoyable than the first half for me.

I think I would've burnt out at the end if I had kept my own save files actually so maybe this was for the best. XD

Now I might play NTWEWY before I start CS3!

 

[Tatsu]

Chrono Trigger I maintain is probably the best, if not one of the best, paced JRPGs ever. There’s absolutely no fluff in it (in the original release). Which is why I’m keen to recommend it to genre newcomers.

I agree if you take your time and do everything its 20-30 hours if you just play normally its 15 or so hours which makes new game plus playable last thing i wanna do is replay a 60 hour game until it has been a few years.

 

[xghost777]

Made awesome progress on Crono Trigger today as I already have the Epoch and I’m about to tackle the Mountain of Woe and the Ocean Palace. Last time I played, I always kept Marle in my party to make sure she was ready for the two person New Game+ Super Lavos fight. Enjoying mixing up my team more this playthrough since I’m only beating it once. Currently rolling with Crono, Lucca, and Frog. Got some great equipment going as Crono has the Rage Band for a 50% counter rate and maxed out speed from Speed tabs and Lucca has 75% less magic cost for frequent Fire 2’s.

Favorite stuff I did today was definitely the Factory dungeon (I always liked the section with the conveyor belt and the claw) and storming Magus’ Castle. The spooky vibe of that place is great and I love it’s a big gauntlet for combat with cool monsters and fun bosses. I did die in the Magus fight which was embarrassing since I forgot about his Dark Matter attack and didn’t realize Frog learned Heal already. Whoops. The rematch went smoothly. Another favorite section I played today is definitely Zeal. The floating kingdom looks so surreal and it begs to be explored. The hidden rooms in the two towns(?) have cool rewards for poking around. The whole story builds toward Zeal and it is where the most important lore is established for Chrono Cross, so I always pay extra attention here for that too.

One last detail I forgot about over the years that I forgot to share in my last post, I like that you can visit the Guru of Time while he is still alive if you do the sewer dungeon as soon as possible. He’s already losing it when you get there from living in the post apocalypse so long so he mumbles about both the Black Bird and the Ocean Palace ahead of time which is a cool early tease for later in the adventure.

 

[shoptroll]

One last detail I forgot about over the years that I forgot to share in my last post, I like that you can visit the Guru of Time while he is still alive if you do the sewer dungeon as soon as possible. He’s already losing it when you get there from living in the post apocalypse so long so he mumbles about both the Black Bird and the Ocean Palace ahead of time which is a cool early tease for later in the adventure.

I remember stumbling on that on one of my replays of CT growing up! When I was younger my modus operandi for games was to largely follow walkthroughs in Nintendo Power or a Player's Guide when they were available. The sewers dungeon in 2300 A.D. is only called out when you need to head to them for plot purposes. I remember even on my first playthrough that was it was weird that I was grossly overleveled for the dungeon (which makes sense as it's only mandatory at the very end of the game), but wasn't sure if that was intentional or not and the game was just having a bit where it hypes up the boss only for it to be really easy to take them down. However, if you do the sewers right off the bat in 2300 A.D. it's actually a bit of challenge! And like you say, the payoff for going off the beaten path is well worth it!

I think the other tip-off that you can visit the Guru while he's alive is the dialogue when you have to meet him at the end there's some bit of dialogue that makes it sound like he's met you before even if you don't visit the sewers early? That might have been what got me to try doing the sewers earlier on in my runs.

 

[chocolate_supra]

Got some great equipment going as Crono has the Rage Band for a 50% counter rate and maxed out speed from Speed tabs and Lucca has 75% less magic cost for frequent Fire 2’s.

YES. This is how I like to set my party up, too. Especially once Lucca gets Flare.

I think the other tip-off that you can visit the Guru while he's alive is the dialogue when you have to meet him at the end there's some bit of dialogue that makes it sound like he's met you before even if you don't visit the sewers early? That might have been what got me to try doing the sewers earlier on in my runs.

I... forgot about this??
I mean, I knew you could tackle the sewer early because I accidentally did that on my first playthrough as a kid, and almost couldn't get past Krawlie. Was tough as nails but I eventually did it. But I don't remember meeting the Guru on the other side, I just remember hitting a dead end, so I never even tried it again. Wow.

Well now I know what I'm gonna do on my next playthrough.

 

[Clix]

So looking to score some new jrpgs, and Alliance Alive is one I never got on my 3DS but always wanted to…. Why the hell is the Switch version 120 dollars?!?!

 

[chocolate_supra]

So looking to score some new jrpgs, and Alliance Alive is one I never got on my 3DS but always wanted to…. Why the hell is the Switch version 120 dollars?!?!

My guess is a short print run. Retail was only $50, and that's the price I'm still seeing on the eShop.

 

[Tatsu]

Not sure if it counts but enjoying Forbidden west far better game than horizon dawn at least story wise and the Zeniths are better antagonists shame they get such little screen time.

 

[PixelKnight]

So looking to score some new jrpgs, and Alliance Alive is one I never got on my 3DS but always wanted to…. Why the hell is the Switch version 120 dollars?!?!

It’s usually down to small print runs for carts of JRPGs, it’s the exact same problem the DS and 3DS had. Trying to track down an rpg a few years after launch meant you’d end up paying more than the launch price. I picked up The Aliiance Alive a couple of years ago and it definitely gone up in price for a physical copy here since.

 

[ermitron2]

It’s usually down to small print runs for carts of JRPGs, it’s the exact same problem the DS and 3DS had. Trying to track down an rpg a few years after launch meant you’d end up paying more than the launch price. I picked up The Aliiance Alive a couple of years ago and it definitely gone up in price for a physical copy here since.

I remember this with Radiant Historia and SRW OG Endless Frontier

 

[xghost777]

I wrapped up my Chrono Trigger 100% replay today! I actually finished everything I had left yesterday except Lavos phases 2 and 3, but I couldn’t stay up any later so it was very quick today lol. When I last replayed it, apparently I missed how many items you get that can block all ailments. Just demolished the Lavos fight as I had Chrono with the Rainbow, Nova Armor, Haste Helm, and the Frenzy Band so he was just constantly critically attacking or using Luminaire, Lucca was using Flare every turn, and Frog kept everyone healthy in between attacks. I hardly saw any of Lavos’ attacks lol.

My favorite stuff from this stretch is definitely the dungeons. The Mountain of Woe, The Ocean Palace, and Death Peak are great back to back dungeons and the Black Omen is a spectacular finish. I also love all the side quests that open up after you save Crono (I picked Lucca for the hug btw!) especially reviving the Forest and saving Lara. I wish there were more scenes with the whole cast together, but it does make the forest scene special. I was happy I saved Lara on my first try, usually it takes me a few even though I know the code.

Two other side quests things, I made sure to have jerky in my inventory because I knew there were at least three places it’s used. I accidentally gave it to the rich family twice, so watch out there, and I forgot there’s no purpose to giving it to the King beyond him losing it over his high cholesterol lol. The other thing, I thought I was missing a side quest since the SNES version’s translation makes it sound like someone is in immediate danger “find this person fast!” when apparently it just wanted you to talk your party members to address their concerns.

Anyway, overall Chrono Trigger is still one of my favorite games of all time and this replay only made me love it even more. I definitely want to do a replay of Final Fantasy VI soon as it’s my last Wii Virtual console game and the last of my big three favorite Square SNES RPGs. I last played it on the Game Boy Advance so it’s been well over ten years. Tonight though, I’m very excited to finally play Radical Dreamers and start a Chrono Cross replay!

 

[xghost777]

I 100% beat Radical Dreamers! If you love Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross I really think it’s worth trying to see if it’s for you. I wrote a big post in the Chrono Cross thread that I’ll also share here:

I 100% finished Radical Dreamers tonight with all seven endings. I looked up how to trigger a few of them and apparently the sound test was either removed or didn’t exist originally.

The main scenario, as I learned the mansion’s layout and solved the puzzles, was definitely my favorite part of the game. I’ll be really curious to hear what y’alls first encounter was. I got the slugs and that really pulled me in right from the start in a way I’m not sure the others would. The way you explore the mansion really gets your imagination going which is super cool. It was super surreal to be playing new to me Chrono content as I grew up with Trigger and remember anticipating and eventually playing Chrono Cross. It really fills in a missing part of the puzzle that explains why Cross is the game it is. It also gave me an awesome new adventure with one of my favorite characters, Magus, which I never thought I’d get. The extra goofy content is a lot of fun and I’m glad it’s there, but it’s way less satisfying. That said, I’ll never forget the one with the bunny though lol.

I’m not sure how I’ll feel about the Chrono Cross remaster on a technical level (I’ll be playing it next), but I’m already super glad I got this for Radical Dreamers alone. It’s not for everyone, but if you like Chrono Trigger and Cross I think you should give it a chance. Go in blind for at least the first run.

Also! Kingdom Hearts IV was finally announced and looks awesome! I made a thread and gathered all the info available! Check it out if you haven’t!

Kingdom Hearts IV Announced, Set In Quadratum, And More!

New projects for the 20th Anniversary of Kingdom Hearts! Looks hype!! I’ll add details as they come :) Union X Dark Road - Xehanort’s mobile game “final chapter” update coming in August. Missing Link - New action game on phones, closed beta in 2022, follows events of Union Cross. Brain is...

famiboards.com

 

[Brannigan]

I just beat Crimson Shroud. It was one of the titles that caught my eye before I got my first 3DS in 2014, but never got around to it until Nintendo announced the end of life for the eshop.

I thought it was a really cool experience. The graphics and tabletop style were charming. The music and tone of the story were a great taste of the FF Tactics/FF12 style. I thought the battle system was very cool, but it took me a bit of time to wrap my mind around it. The combo system (based on elemental affinity of skills/attacks) was fun. The sound effects in battles and menus were crisp and incredibly satisfying. There was one difficulty spike at the penultimate battle that was really frustrating. I wasn't able to make progress without a bit of grinding and reading online to improve my understanding of the item merge system (which is the main method of character development, in lieu of traditional XP). I like the idea of a "short story" RPG like this. I'd like to see more in the future, especially if appropriately priced. Please share recommendations if you have them. I'll probably return to play the new game+ because I think that gives a different ending?

I've also made a good bit of progress on Fire Emblem Path of Radiance since my last post. I've had a bit of a mindset change. When I've played previous FE games (the GBA titles and Echoes), I focused on building up weaker units at the expense of the stronger units, trying to balance things out I guess. Now I have thrown that method out the window and I am ruthlessly capitalizing on my stronger units (Boyd, Astrid, Ike, Gatrie and so on). I also discovered the importance of the Forge, which lets you create one powerful weapon per stage. I'm in the middle of stage 24 of 28, so an end seems to be in sight.

Finally, a question: have any of you played the Denpa Men games? I'm looking at wrapping up my time on my 3DS with some more RPGs and these have caught my eye. Based on a few reviews, it seems like the first one is a simple dungeon dive, but it might be the best of the three? The reviews I watched said that the others added overworlds, but had tough difficulty spikes that necessitated taking advantage of the AR-camera/Wifi stuff, which doesn't seem all that appealing to me.

 

[Brawlz]

Time for a replay of Xenoblade 1

I'm now 0 minutes and 0 seconds in my second playthrough

(Being busy sucks)

 

[TheWolvesDen]

Just started Tales of Vesperia. Was getting tired of Star Ocean First Departure R & Ni No Kuni 2. Wanted a different action rpg.

 

[Tailzo]

I finished the main story in assassins creed odyssey. More than enough gameplay to me, I don't need any dlc. I deleted the install, and now I can concentrate on shin megami tensei III again.

 

[chocolate_supra]

Watching the BattleBots finals (a bit late, I know) and I gotta ask, has anyone else been watching this season?
And if so, did the last half of the battle between Witch Doctor and Minotaur remind anyone else of Xenogears Disc 2?

 

[xghost777]

Been posting a lot in the Chrono Cross thread lately as I’m replaying the game. I’m making decisions I haven’t done before which has kept it interesting including getting Leena, picking and sticking with Guile, and abandoning Kid to get Glenn. When I’m a little farther, I’ll definitely write up a bigger post for both threads.

I wanted to post here today though since I have finally fully wrapped up Chocobo GP for now and can now share my full impressions. I 100% recommend the free to play version of the game that features the Chocobo GP mode. I’m one of the 3,000 people who reached level 60 to claim Cloud and I had an excellent time doing it playing three or four GPs every other day or so since launch. It took two weeks, but they smoothed out the online issues including the very annoying never ending loading screens. Chocobo GP is no replacement for Mario Kart, but it’s an excellent compliment. I kind of play most Mario Kart 8 races on autopilot these days as I’ve been playing Mario Kart for nearly 30 years, but here I’m always optimizing my turns, items, and specials, as well as looking behind me to dodge attacks (I think it’s neat you actually have to look as the warning siren doesn’t tell you what’s coming specifically). Choosing when to use or upgrade your items and building and timing your specials are especially clutch to success and squeaking out wins against randos is always a huge rush. I really like the elimination rounds followed by the grand prix as you weed out weaker opponents and have especially cut throat final races. My main is Chocobo, one of the three free characters, and I have him wearing a cute white mage outfit to match a plushie I have. I feel Chocobo’s special is incredibly powerful such that I’ve always stuck with him online and don’t feel there is a Pay to Win advantage by having more characters. I’m looking forward to returning when season 2 begins next month and they add more tracks and characters. Also if you are worried about the monetization beyond the paid version, I personally think there is nothing at all interesting to buy so whatever there.

I mentioned in a prior post, I liked the game enough I bought the full version early on. While I’m happy with my purchase, I would not recommend it unless you fall into one of two camps: if you want to play the game locally with friends or family (which I do) or if you really like unlocking stuff like in the old days. 20 some characters are locked behind playing story mode which has cute fun cutscenes, but otherwise just features standard races. Once you’ve played online, it’s hard to get excited about these CPU races. All the big unlocks are thankfully tied to just beating the race, but there are four mini goals that are always the same: three levels of times to clear (ie beat in 2 minutes 15 seconds, beat in 2 minutes 10 seconds, beat in 2 minutes etc.) and always be in first for each lap. I know some people love to clear stuff like this, but this is pretty blah stuff imo. There’s also series races to clear that at first glance look like Mario Kart cups with four races to clear. The weird part is that because there are so few tracks (I think I read 19 currently somewhere including all of the variations) for the ten cups they thus repeat tracks a lot. Certain tracks appear in three different cups! It’s weird! Clearing these doesn’t unlock courses to play either. You literally start with only two tracks for offline and have to unlock the rest in story mode. Again, bizarre. You do get characters like Terra, Vivi, and Gilgamesh in the paid version, but yeah unless you have someone to play with locally or really like unlocking things I think it’s safe to pass on buying it and sticking with the free version. I think I read they are looking into letting people who own it host custom games online with free to play players which would be a significant value add, but until then I can’t recommend the paid version broadly.

Still, I do highly recommend the free to play version. If you like Kart racing it’s 100% worth trying. The controls are a little weird first, but it feels so good once you got a handle on them. If you are a Final Fantasy fan especially the music, characters (all really well animated), and themed stages are a lot of fun and make the game feel extra cozy.

 

[WhyS]

Last night I started Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux. Once I finish this game, there will be nothing standing between me and SMT V. I only played for about 40 minutes last night, and I haven't even made it to the first battle yet. I still consider this to be a massive improvement over playing Apocalypse. I'm going to make the rest of this a spoiler, though I don't actually think I spoil anything. It's just that it's negative and I am allowing you to ignore it if you want, and I totally understand. I kind of didn't want to post this, in fact I beat the game over two weeks ago, but I chronicled the rest of my recent MegaTen experiences, and someone said they were interested in seeing how I felt about Apocalypse.

Spoiler

My opinion is a little different than most Apocalypse haters. I see a lot of people saying that Apocalypse has great gameplay but a terrible story and awful characters. However, my issue was with the gameplay. Was the story bad? Yes. Were the characters bad? Most of them, though I actually liked Navarre, but I think Tatsu is the best Nopon in any Xenoblade game, so ignore all of my opinions. (I regularly quote Tatsu in real life. Whenever I that something is "too cute, too adorable," or anything like that, such as calling myself "too smart, too attractive," then I am quoting Tatsu and no one knows.)

My issue is that I was super bored playing the game. I was going through all the areas that I had seen before and spent 44 hours in while playing SMT: IV. So little of it was new, and once it was new, I wanted to stop playing. The last two dungeons are awful, and had they been earlier in the game, I might have quit. It was because I was so close to the end that I powered through them.

But that's why I say my opinion is only a little different than most of the haters. The story was not offensive to me. I knew it was bad, but I didn't care and it wasn't actively hurting my experience, but the bad story makes it so none of the gameplay was worth it. All the boredom through most of the game and the frustration at the end wasn't worth it for that story. So the story by itself didn't bother me, but when combined with everything else it made the entire experience worse.

Also, the combat in SMT IV and Apocalypse is the worst of all the MegaTen games I've played. I haven't seen anyone else saying that, but I'm saying it here. It has the Smirk mechanic. I would rather have any of the other games' combat that don't have Smirk. Yes, older games were simpler, but simpler does not mean worse. It means they don't have Smirk, which makes it better. Though it's not like I hated the combat or anything. I still enjoyed it. I'm just saying that it's the worst combat in a series of games with good combat. I would rather they have gotten rid of Smirk in Apocalypse than trying and failing to fix it.

 

[SammyJ9]

Last night I started Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux. Once I finish this game, there will be nothing standing between me and SMT V. I only played for about 40 minutes last night, and I haven't even made it to the first battle yet. I still consider this to be a massive improvement over playing Apocalypse. I'm going to make the rest of this a spoiler, though I don't actually think I spoil anything. It's just that it's negative and I am allowing you to ignore it if you want, and I totally understand. I kind of didn't want to post this, in fact I beat the game over two weeks ago, but I chronicled the rest of my recent MegaTen experiences, and someone said they were interested in seeing how I felt about Apocalypse.

Spoiler

My opinion is a little different than most Apocalypse haters. I see a lot of people saying that Apocalypse has great gameplay but a terrible story and awful characters. However, my issue was with the gameplay. Was the story bad? Yes. Were the characters bad? Most of them, though I actually liked Navarre, but I think Tatsu is the best Nopon in any Xenoblade game, so ignore all of my opinions. (I regularly quote Tatsu in real life. Whenever I that something is "too cute, too adorable," or anything like that, such as calling myself "too smart, too attractive," then I am quoting Tatsu and no one knows.)

My issue is that I was super bored playing the game. I was going through all the areas that I had seen before and spent 44 hours in while playing SMT: IV. So little of it was new, and once it was new, I wanted to stop playing. The last two dungeons are awful, and had they been earlier in the game, I might have quit. It was because I was so close to the end that I powered through them.

But that's why I say my opinion is only a little different than most of the haters. The story was not offensive to me. I knew it was bad, but I didn't care and it wasn't actively hurting my experience, but the bad story makes it so none of the gameplay was worth it. All the boredom through most of the game and the frustration at the end wasn't worth it for that story. So the story by itself didn't bother me, but when combined with everything else it made the entire experience worse.

Also, the combat in SMT IV and Apocalypse is the worst of all the MegaTen games I've played. I haven't seen anyone else saying that, but I'm saying it here. It has the Smirk mechanic. I would rather have any of the other games' combat that don't have Smirk. Yes, older games were simpler, but simpler does not mean worse. It means they don't have Smirk, which makes it better. Though it's not like I hated the combat or anything. I still enjoyed it. I'm just saying that it's the worst combat in a series of games with good combat. I would rather they have gotten rid of Smirk in Apocalypse than trying and failing to fix it.

I feel similarly about SMT4:A, but smirk doesn't bother me much, it's fine. Mostly I agree that I just didn't love going back to all the same places I'd already been in SMT4, which I liked a lot more. The characters also weren't that bad to me, but the whole game felt kind of... unnecessary, I guess? Like it was mostly just tacked on. I do think that SMT4:A has the best battle system, although 5 is right there with it. There's a few things I quibble with in 5 but it's great.

Strange Journey Redux is a game I overall enjoyed, but there are some things in it that really annoy me. Mostly, I don't like the combat system very much. I don't like being heavily limited to demons of certain alignments, and the 'team up' mechanic thing it has going on is nowhere near as good as press turn. I also REALLY don't like a lot of the music in the game; some of it is good for creating an oppressive atmosphere but the boss and battle themes in particular are some of the weakest in the series IMO.

 

[Schlubotipelto]

I didn't like Apocalypse either. Just a really rehashed version of IV. IV wasn't that great either.

Strange Journey was definitely way better. I remember when the DS version came out, the developers said that it was basically SMTIV. I would have been much happier if that was the true IV than the one we got.

Luckily V is a big improvement over IV, but it still has some issues.

 

[PixelKnight]

Strange Journey is an amazing game. My favourite SMT.

 

[SammyJ9]

I didn't like Apocalypse either. Just a really rehashed version of IV. IV wasn't that great either.

Strange Journey was definitely way better. I remember when the DS version came out, the developers said that it was basically SMTIV. I would have been much happier if that was the true IV than the one we got.

Luckily V is a big improvement over IV, but it still has some issues.

Massive disagree. There's a lot to like about both Strange Journey and 5 especially, but SMT4 is IMO the best SMT game by a pretty good margin. Nothing else I've played has really come close or scratched that same itch, it's just a really special game.

 

[Leica]

I think SJ would be my favorite too but I dislike the combat in it, just doesn't really work that well and I like press turn a lot so it just felt like a straight downgrade.

 

[Schlubotipelto]

Massive disagree. There's a lot to like about both Strange Journey and 5 especially, but SMT4 is IMO the best SMT game by a pretty good margin. Nothing else I've played has really come close or scratched that same itch, it's just a really special game.

Nah, in terms of the main series, 2 and 3 are vastly superior to IV. Better stories and better combat. IV is pretty stale and doesn't really do anything particularly well compared to others in the series.

It also has probably the worst world map of all time in a JRPG, which is especially awful considering how much time you spend on it.

It's not a bad game but it is really average. It doesn't do anything great, and other than the world map, doesn't do anything bad either. It's just a pretty forgettable game.

 

[SammyJ9]

Nah, in terms of the main series, 2 and 3 are vastly superior to IV. Better stories and better combat. IV is pretty stale and doesn't really do anything particularly well compared to others in the series.

It also has probably the worst world map of all time in a JRPG, which is especially awful considering how much time you spend on it.

It's not a bad game but it is really average. It doesn't do anything great, and other than the world map, doesn't do anything bad either. It's just a pretty forgettable game.

I haven't played 2, so I can't comment on that one and you may be right. But I liked 4 WAY more than 3, which I honestly do not understand the love for at all. 3 feels empty, bland, and lacking basically any plot and character. 4 to me has the best combat in the series (again maybe other than 5, it's a tough call), and it has my favorite plot, characters, and especially setting too, which is the biggest thing I didn't like about 3. Oh, and the music is the best as well, with 5 just behind.

The world map is pretty bad, yeah, I'll give you that one, but it didn't bother me too much.

I know a lot of people love SMT3, so maybe I sound too harsh on it and I don't want to crap too much on a beloved game, but it's one of the biggest examples of a game I can think of that I just... don't get it.

 

[Leica]

4's combat would be the best in the franchise if it was balanced a bit better, I think 4A (it's just 4's combat but much improved so yeah) and 5 end up beating it because the team building is better in those compared to 4 vanilla, 3's is good too but the demon roster is a little limited.

1 and 2 both have really mediocre to bad combat so I definitely disagree with that too.

 

[SammyJ9]

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread too much . In terms of RPGs coming up, I'm really looking forward to XC3 and Soul Hackers 2 (even if it's not on Switch).

I'm planning to play Torna finally sometime soon in preparation, and I'm currently slowly working my way through a Chrono Cross replay. Otherwise it's a bit slow lately for RPGs so I'm not sure what I'll play next.

 

[PixelKnight]

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread too much . In terms of RPGs coming up, I'm really looking forward to XC3 and Soul Hackers 2 (even if it's not on Switch).

I'm planning to play Torna finally sometime soon in preparation, and I'm currently slowly working my way through a Chrono Cross replay. Otherwise it's a bit slow lately for RPGs so I'm not sure what I'll play next.

Hey SMT discussion never counts as a derail in this thread surely, there should be more of it!

I agree it’s a bit slow at the moment. I’m waiting on a good sale to pick up some indies, and then MH Sunbreak and Live A Live for the summer. Otherwise I really want the HD2D DQIII game but I’m guessing that’s still a long way off.

 

[SirArthur]

For "Trails of" people, I am interested in the series, I preorder Zero. I want to try the Cold Steel but 1&2 aren't on switch in the west (at least they haven't been announced for a west release). Ill probably wait (grad school and backlog) but would 3 (and its recap section) be good enough to get into?

 

[xghost777]

For "Trails of" people, I am interested in the series, I preorder Zero. I want to try the Cold Steel but 1&2 aren't on switch in the west (at least they haven't been announced for a west release). Ill probably wait (grad school and backlog) but would 3 (and its recap section) be good enough to get into?

You’ll want to avoid Cold Steel III as a starting point. It’s basically the Avengers Infinity War of the series. I’m not going to say it’s impenetrable if you love RPGs, but there’s so much character and world stuff the game expects you to know and there’s a character reunion (or two or three) every thirty minutes or so. You just wouldn’t get as much out of the big and little moments.

Trails in the Sky (first game), Trails From Zero (fourth game), and Trails of Cold Steel (sixth game) are the best starting points. Zero is the best after Sky and the most standalone Trails game besides Sky.

 

[SirArthur]

You’ll want to avoid Cold Steel III as a starting point. It’s basically the Avengers Infinity War of the series. I’m not going to say it’s impenetrable if you love RPGs, but there’s so much character and world stuff the game expects you to know and there’s a character reunion (or two or three) every thirty minutes or so. You just wouldn’t get as much out of the big and little moments.

Trails in the Sky (first game), Trails From Zero (fourth game), and Trails of Cold Steel (sixth game) are the best starting points. Zero is the best after Sky and the most standalone Trails game besides Sky.

Perfect, thank you. Ill probably play Zero till the others get localized. I know Sky's rocky localization story so that game is probably stuck on PC (since the console versions are on old hardware)

 

[WhyS]

Speaking of Trails.............Megami Tensei! So I've mentioned that I've been playing through the mainline MegaTen games with the goal of eventually playing the copy of SMT V that I've already purchased. I know that buying a game on sale and sticking it in your backlog to play eventually is nothing new, but it's kind of silly to do that when you still need to play through the entire series before you'll get to that game. However, it's not the first time I've done this.

Back in 2019, I bought The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel when it was released on PS4. I hadn't played a single Trails game yet.

Then I bought Cold Steel II when it was released on PS4, still without having played a Trails game.

Then I bought Cold Steel III when it came out, while I was still playing the Crossbell games.

According to HowLongToBeat, and going by the main + extra times, when I bought the first Cold Steel game, I had 300.5 hours of video games to play before I made it to Cold Steel. But I did it! Between the summer of 2019 and the winter of 2020, I beat all the Trails game that could be played in English up to that point.

It's actually not as silly as all of it sounds. In regards to SMT V, until the holiday season, the only game that I bought in 2021 had been Skyward Sword HD, though I did beat Deltarune Chapter 2, but I didn't buy that, it was free. Due to not buying many games, I actually finished up my entire backlog and needed to create a new one. SMT V was consistently on sale, so I picked it up, and by doing so created a backlog of every mainline MegaTen except Nocturne, which I had already played.

My Trails spending was a little sillier. I bought those Cold Steel games at full price and on release day, but I really wanted to play the Trails games already. I was just waiting for a sale on the Sky series, which happened and I grabbed all three. However, in my defense, Cold Steel I, II, and III on PS4 all came out a few months apart from each other. It's not like I bought Cold Steel I and then waited over a year to play it while picking up other Cold Steel games in the process.

Also, Alisa has the best character arc ever told in any form of media.

Spoiler: Alisa's Story

Her mom won't accept her for who she is, so she conforms to her mom's precise wishes. Really touching stuff. Truly motivational.

 

[gtrwll]

Whew. Just finished Trails of Cold Steel IV. It sure overstayed its welcome, but mostly due to my obsessive need to talk to everyone in every situation. Could have cut at least 50 hours if I’d just done the quests and call it a day.

One damn series. Started just over two years ago, completed Sky, Crossbell and Cold Steel. Definitely Covid games for me. Bloody great.

 

[Pavolink]

I haven't played 2, so I can't comment on that one and you may be right. But I liked 4 WAY more than 3, which I honestly do not understand the love for at all. 3 feels empty, bland, and lacking basically any plot and character. 4 to me has the best combat in the series (again maybe other than 5, it's a tough call), and it has my favorite plot, characters, and especially setting too, which is the biggest thing I didn't like about 3. Oh, and the music is the best as well, with 5 just behind.

The world map is pretty bad, yeah, I'll give you that one, but it didn't bother me too much.

I know a lot of people love SMT3, so maybe I sound too harsh on it and I don't want to crap too much on a beloved game, but it's one of the biggest examples of a game I can think of that I just... don't get it.

Agree on the love of IV. The journey to me was epic, and I loved way more than III.
My only grudge against V was that it tried to be similar to III rather than IV. Otherwise, to me is: IV > V > III.

Still like III, but not as much as the other two. Do not like random encounters tbh.

 

[xghost777]

I beat Chrono Cross tonight! I had an awesome time revisiting it and playing Radical Dreamers finally made it even better. If the new HD remaster credits are teasing a new Chrono game, I’m really excited to see it. I wrote a big post about beating the game in the Chrono Cross ST that I’ll share here too below this post.

I’m not sure what RPG I’ll play next, but I’m probably sticking with retro games and replays for a little longer since I want to fully wrap up my Wii and Wii U Virtual Console games and replay a few GameCube games. Unless I’m forgetting something, the next new RPGs I’m looking forward to are Live A Live and Xenoblade 3, so plenty of time to work on my RPG backlog

I finished Chrono Cross! I believe this is the first time I did it with the good ending too since I don’t remember seeing the true credits before. It was always my favorite PS1 game, but I love it even more than I did before. The awesome, flexible combat system remains interesting throughout, the music is incredible, and I loved the wild story. I remembered a lot of the details, but definitely a few big ones I forgot (there’s a lot going on to be fair and it’s been like 15+ years since I last beat it). I hope the HD credits are pointing to a new Chrono game, because I want to play it, but I’m mainly just very happy we got Radical Dreamers. I’ve mentioned it prior, but it truly was a missing piece of the greater puzzle and I loved how it came up at various spots here and ties in with the ending. My final party was Serge, Norris, and Janice, but virtually only Serge and Norris mattered. I never ended up crafting Rainbow equipment (I’m not sure how you get star materials), but through accessories and making sure to get as many mini level ups as possible between stars, those two began obliterating everything. Bosses even started going down in less than three turns of regular attacks between them which was absurd. Good times though lol. I’ll throw some final story thoughts behind a spoiler tag, but yes Chrono Cross is a masterpiece.

Spoiler: Full CC and RD Spoilers

While I really appreciated the human drama more this playthrough, especially since I was thorough getting level 7 techs to wrap up all the character stories, Chronopolis is still my favorite part of the game. What an awesome concept. Basically in the new future Balthasar winds up in as a result of Trigger, he makes Chronopolis. A later revelation that this next part was secretly planned is absurd, but I love the idea of a time experiment going wrong and sending a super computer back in time that then tries to preserve its own existence by making sure nobody encounters it. I always loved the fact that save points are evil in the game even though it begs the question, why the Another timeline, the true one(!!), doesn’t possess your party (I guess they are still somewhat broken from Serge becoming the admin?). Also it’s super messed up learning Lynx was Serge’s Dad possessed by Fate not to mention what happened to Miguel.

I was definitely paying more attention this time so I knew exactly why Dinopolis was there and what was going with the dragons (organic computer is wild). That both final bosses are named the Time Devourer is weird, but I guess it kidnaps Schala from Lavos when you beat it the first time? Still fuzzy on that one.

I totally forgot you do time travel yourself in this game to go to Lucca’s orphanage (and the final boss) which is just her house. I also forgot, Chrono, Lucca, and Marle are actually there on the beach at the end even though I’m not sure why they are younger here because they definitely should be older as they raised Kid. I wonder if this is something they’d explain more in a future Chrono game as Lucca did say in her letter to Kid she had a plan.

I really dug in general that this game explores the darker consequences of time travel. That by averting the apocalypse you may have created new problems either by the old timelines “seeking revenge” or just the fallout of new timelines charting their own course through time. I do love that the game ends on a super hopeful note, but with the new credits in mind for Magus/Magil, I’m really excited to see what the next adventure could be now and what characters will return. There’s endless possibilities.