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StarTopic RPGs |ST| Our Home Base For All Role Playing Game Discussions!
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Finally started Kingdom Hearts, and will post regularly after I beat every game.
But first some first impressions from KH1:
Overall, I quite like it. It has good vibes, decent combat and a fairly straightforward story. (Yes, yes, I know this won't be the case later)
But first some first impressions from KH1:
- Bit of a double edged sword, because daaaamn it shows age. With its uncanny faces, stilted dialogue and obtuse design making a less-than-stellar impression.
- But: At the same time, those very traits makes it feel magically nostalgic, and really invokes the feeling of being a starry-eyed kid in the PS2 era.
- The mushroom gathering was total bs, but Destiny Islands was so incredibly chill that I didn't mind running around there for a while.
- Granted, the FF characters are just there for the sake of being there. Which is a shame, but I knew that beforehand. It was still nice to see them.
- I'm in wonderland now, and I really like the art direction and music.
Overall, I quite like it. It has good vibes, decent combat and a fairly straightforward story. (Yes, yes, I know this won't be the case later)
Really more of an action-adventure but it has experience and level-ups with stat point distribution so it counts...
I finished Final Fantasy Adventure - or I knew it as Mystic Quest - by way of the Collection of Mana.
A foundational game of my youth as I believe I played it before A Link To The Past or anything resembling a RPG. I think as a kid I never made it further than the second boss. At least I remember nothing past swinging a scythe-on-a-chain at fire-breathing Hydra. Granted, to my younger self finding the whip weapon in the same dungeon you go up against Dracula, or the vampire's name being Mr. Lee, wouldn't have stood out as memorable; the modern more learned old me however got a good chuckle out of it.
Would recommend playing to anyone looking for a tasty morsel between two big meals. How Long To Beat states the length as 10 hours. I took longer because I got in the habit of running into directions I wasn't supposed to yet in order to test how far I could stray ahead before the game blocked me off (the answer is: not too far, but far enough to get lost on occassion). Additionally, a few of the puzzles and later dungeons can range from 5 minutes with a guide to hours without help.
Aside from annoyances like item managment, a non-functional map, and walking into NPCs triggering dialogue, the first of the Mana series withstands contemporary scrutiny. It genuinely feels like a foundational title: a variety of weapons with different uses in and out of combat, AI companions, an open though gradually unlocking world, and a stamina bar precursor that understands player psychology better than most modern implementations of similar systems.
Still a good time. Young Sheldon was right to be impressed by this on the Game Boy. Adult Sheldon is happy to confirm Mystic Quest's status as a classic.
I finished Final Fantasy Adventure - or I knew it as Mystic Quest - by way of the Collection of Mana.
A foundational game of my youth as I believe I played it before A Link To The Past or anything resembling a RPG. I think as a kid I never made it further than the second boss. At least I remember nothing past swinging a scythe-on-a-chain at fire-breathing Hydra. Granted, to my younger self finding the whip weapon in the same dungeon you go up against Dracula, or the vampire's name being Mr. Lee, wouldn't have stood out as memorable; the modern more learned old me however got a good chuckle out of it.
Would recommend playing to anyone looking for a tasty morsel between two big meals. How Long To Beat states the length as 10 hours. I took longer because I got in the habit of running into directions I wasn't supposed to yet in order to test how far I could stray ahead before the game blocked me off (the answer is: not too far, but far enough to get lost on occassion). Additionally, a few of the puzzles and later dungeons can range from 5 minutes with a guide to hours without help.
Aside from annoyances like item managment, a non-functional map, and walking into NPCs triggering dialogue, the first of the Mana series withstands contemporary scrutiny. It genuinely feels like a foundational title: a variety of weapons with different uses in and out of combat, AI companions, an open though gradually unlocking world, and a stamina bar precursor that understands player psychology better than most modern implementations of similar systems.
Still a good time. Young Sheldon was right to be impressed by this on the Game Boy. Adult Sheldon is happy to confirm Mystic Quest's status as a classic.
merp
Manakete
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Skies of Arcadia on Switch?
I've been waiting for a Skies of Arcadia sequel since 2002!
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Nice! Any idea of where you’re starting with it?
merp
Manakete
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Frankly? I've already played the beginning of Final Fantasy XIV, but stopped somewhere so I'll probably continue.
Other than that?
I... honestly want to play Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. This is why (I'm serious too):
Memes aside, this comment puts it well:
"I genuinely enjoy how sincerely edgy this guy is. No winks to the camera, no irony, no side character sassing him about it, he's just pure 00's and I love it."
And this other comment under the video:
"Character: gives a whole speech about how the world needs an antagonist, therefore she is willing to become that antagonist to inspire hope in the world and the people.
This dude: rejects the idea with a single word"
I find all this oddly refreshing and I am genuinely being serious here.
Other than those two, I might as well play:
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Final Fantasy XVI
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Keeping it with DQ2 in the way from Moonbroke to Alefgard
"ok it's way easier now in the switch version, no challenge" ->killed by a metal slime
"ok lesson learned, be careful" -> *Killed going up dragon's horn tower because I wasted all my MP on the way"
"Ok, herbs? check, best equipment I can buy? check. NPC tells me to go to Alefgard" -> fighting enemies on the sea that does 50 damage and getting killed
"ok it's way easier now in the switch version, no challenge" ->killed by a metal slime
"ok lesson learned, be careful" -> *Killed going up dragon's horn tower because I wasted all my MP on the way"
"Ok, herbs? check, best equipment I can buy? check. NPC tells me to go to Alefgard" -> fighting enemies on the sea that does 50 damage and getting killed
WhyS
#TeamJanuary
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I will be starting Shin Megami Tensei II soon. So far my journey through the series has gone 3 then 1 then 4 and now 2. One day I'll get to that copy of Shin Megami Tensei V that I own. Just not anytime soon as I will still have Shin Megami Tensei II, Shin Megami Tensei: if..., Kyuyaku Megami Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux. Someday Shin Megami Tensei V. Someday.
grumpybat
Piranha Plant
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I've had a lot of free time lately, so I've been playing through a lot of stuff I've accumulated over the last couple years. In the couple months I finished SMTV, Tales of Vesperia and Xenoblade 2, and have started Bravely Default 2.
The older I get, the more I find myself super engaged for the first 50% of most RPGs, with my patience slowly tapering off until like the last 20%, which I basically speedrun to finish.
The older I get, the more I find myself super engaged for the first 50% of most RPGs, with my patience slowly tapering off until like the last 20%, which I basically speedrun to finish.
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Original Kingdom Hearts?
Fans will hate me for it, but the original KH is a bad game and it’s only saving grace is the obvious love for Disney. The game’s combat is hectic through cramped areas and the terribad camera.
KH 2 and Birth by Sleep are better games.
Shame KH III upped the stupid again
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Random question, but I'm trying to start purging stuff out of my backlog. How essential would people say Mana Khemia is? I never really tried any of the Atelier games but this has been sitting on my backlog for ages since it had glowing reviews at a time when there wasn't many JRPGs still landing on PS2 and I hadn't picked up a PS3 yet.
KH2 and BBS are definitely solid improvements in the gameplay, but that's when the lore shenanigans seep in.
KH1 gets a lot of love for having a fairly straightforward story and yeah the Disney fan service. The gameplay is not great though, and suffers from what I refer to as "SquareSoft trying to do an action game syndrome".
KH2 and BBS are definitely solid improvements in the gameplay, but that's when the lore shenanigans seep in.
lightning16
Bob-omb
I had a little money leftover from the Atlus sale so I decided to take a chance on Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven. It was developed by Marvelous and I saw some light comparisons to Valkyria Chronicles so I took a chance. I'm through 6 chapters and it's okay.
The highlight is probably the battle system. It's not really great, but it's pretty fun and mechanically I enjoy it. The main problem with it up to this point (which I think is maybe roughly halfway through the game?) is that the actual level design is pretty basic and doesn't really seem to do a whole lot interesting with the promising mechanics.
The thing that probably hurts my enjoyment of the game the most is just a plethora of poor quality of life decisions. The game is sluggish in the way it presents cutscenes and dialogue, mostly because the portraits have (admittedly not bad) animations during dialogue but the dialogue often just pauses to get the corresponding animation through. The game is also weirdly stingy with resources and money, which some people may actually like but it doesn't really "fit" this game in my opinion. These small things build up to get pretty annoying.
The writing/story/characters aren't anything to write home about. The cast is fun enough. The story is pretty thoroughly "whatever." The whole maid thing is pretty dumb. Surprisingly not a horny game really at all up to this point, considering the maid stuff.
Bad game? Not really. Would I recommend it? Not really.
The highlight is probably the battle system. It's not really great, but it's pretty fun and mechanically I enjoy it. The main problem with it up to this point (which I think is maybe roughly halfway through the game?) is that the actual level design is pretty basic and doesn't really seem to do a whole lot interesting with the promising mechanics.
The thing that probably hurts my enjoyment of the game the most is just a plethora of poor quality of life decisions. The game is sluggish in the way it presents cutscenes and dialogue, mostly because the portraits have (admittedly not bad) animations during dialogue but the dialogue often just pauses to get the corresponding animation through. The game is also weirdly stingy with resources and money, which some people may actually like but it doesn't really "fit" this game in my opinion. These small things build up to get pretty annoying.
The writing/story/characters aren't anything to write home about. The cast is fun enough. The story is pretty thoroughly "whatever." The whole maid thing is pretty dumb. Surprisingly not a horny game really at all up to this point, considering the maid stuff.
Bad game? Not really. Would I recommend it? Not really.
D
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Ack! I got burned by Square Enix... I was playing a used cartridge of the FFX/X-2 HD Remaster and just found out that X-2 is an unreedemable download. I was really looking forward to playing that!
Oh well. I'll just stew in it for awhile, move onto Ni No Kuni, and not buy any more Square Enix stuff for a long while.
Oh well. I'll just stew in it for awhile, move onto Ni No Kuni, and not buy any more Square Enix stuff for a long while.
grumpybat
Piranha Plant
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Ouch. Not having both games on the same cart is such a letdown.
D
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Yeah, what's wild is that I bought it physically because I thought it would save me some storage space!
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What's worse is that the Asian regions have both games on the cart. So S-E decided to cheap out on the release the rest of the world got.
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I don't know if I would call it essential but overall it's a very good game, and one of the best battle systems in all the Atelier games, Just keep in mind all the PS2 atelier games are not representative of the current (or previous games even) systems, since these are more inline with classic rpgs where the alchemy part is just a complementary system instead of being the focus of the game
Also it has some bangers that were even used in future Ateliers
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Picked up Dungeon Encounters again today for a couple of hours, and I think it's likelier I'll make a serious attempt to complete it. I haven't made it any further down the dungeon, but I have found a couple more party members, levelled up some people, and am going to collect a couple more of the wanderers now I know where they are, then think through how best to rescue my first party on level 20 or 21.
7threst
Hello, lady of the house speaking?
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I second this. I think it's quite good with a pretty entertaining cast. And yeah, the music is great. That opening always gets me pumped up lol
MRC-OSF
Inch of Dust
A couple weeks ago I got really excited to get this game that made a couple rpgs of 2021 lists/videos and was talked up in this thread. Didn't really seem like a game I'll be into but it was hard to ignore people's genuine enthusiasm for it. Anyway, icymi Blue Reflection Second Light is on sale in the U.S. for $40 at amazon and gamestop so I'm gonna pick it up, won't play it yet but supposedly these KT games rarely go on sale and then sell out.
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Okay, that's it for me for Kingdom Hearts for the moment. I will return to it, but after 9 hours of increasing frustration, I need a break.
I finished Xenoblade X yesterday, and this morning, I'm diving into another X, namely Final Fantasy X.
I couldn't quite get into it the first time, but hopefully this second chance will make a better impression. What's people's takes on this game?
I finished Xenoblade X yesterday, and this morning, I'm diving into another X, namely Final Fantasy X.
I couldn't quite get into it the first time, but hopefully this second chance will make a better impression. What's people's takes on this game?
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How much knowledge of the series is needed to enjoy it in terms of story/characters? It's a spin-off right?
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0. It does count as a main Atelier game even is the name is different but Gust pretty much planned for every game to be played standalone to not alienate new players. Also every universe (Khemia being a duology) has it's own story and rules so you are not missing anything without playing the past games,
D
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I really liked it overall. The highlight for me is a pretty solid and satisfying battle system, and I generally liked the character designs and world-building.
A couple things do drag the experience down - wonky controls in the cloisters of trials, near-impossible (but optional) side content, and the beginning of final fantasy's over reliance on cutscenes.
From the 8 ff's I've played, it's probably my 3rd favorite behind 8 and 6.
OP
OP
I wrote a few big walls of text about it on the first few pages here if you want some extended thoughts. I think overall it’s Gust’s best game even with a core flaw of the higher difficulties being locked to a new game+ which means the awesome combat and character growth systems don’t get the chance to shine as they should. The characters/story/themes are the best part of the game and I love the soundtrack. The demo gives a great sense of the game’s tone, so it’s worth checking out.
OP
OP
Yeah that first Kingdom Hearts is rough, especially on a first playthrough. I dropped it hard at Agrabah growing up, but after playing Kingdom Hearts II I went back and powered through and ultimately liked it. I think the game gets better as it goes as more of Sora’s abilities unlock and the worlds get more interesting. Monstro was probably the turning point for me and the second to last level is far and away my favorite part of the game and makes the whole journey worth it. But yeah, taking a break is good, it’s very frustrating at times. Thankfully outside of maybe Chain of Memories, the next one, that friction leaves the series with KH2.
Final Fantasy X I didn’t like when it first came out, it didn’t speak to me the same way as FFVI - FFIX. It gets rid of the illusion of freedom the early games had as it is mostly a straight line. I played it again in high school with more Final Fantasy games and RPGs under my belt and I came away really liking it. The story and characters really go on a big journey and Spira is such an interesting, inspired world. The difficulty of the game is high for Final Fantasy which keeps it interesting throughout.
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I tried it, and found it interesting…. Then remembered I should clear the 8+ other jrpgs in my backlog first and I got Ryza 1 even a few months back. It’ll be on sale again.
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OP
OP
I’m really hoping to dive into my deep backlog this year to retire some older systems in case they break from old age. I’m starting with my Wii which for years now I’ve only had two games left to beat, Sakura Wars So Long My Love and Pandora’s Tower. I picked up my Sakura Wars save from a year or two ago and have been making good progress. I probably would have called it a dating sim with a strategy RPG attached, but the back of the box directly bills it as an SRPG which makes it fit to discuss here. The more I play, the more I agree as well since the tactical battles are very involved.
If you haven’t heard of it, the premise is that you are this baby faced Japanese naval officer who gets sent to New York to lead the New York combat revue, a secret squad of mechs in the 1920’s from Japanese demons. All the mech pilots also are the stars of a local theater which serves as their secret base (at least secret from the demons somehow lol). So uh…yeah pretty wild. I mention the baby faced part, because it is absurd and amusing how over the top it is not a single person respects him at first because of that. (I’ve definitely seen that play out to a lesser extent in real life, but you know, not everybody is on them)
I’m enjoying this game more with each chapter and I’m closing in on the end. I’ll write another post when I’m finished, but for now the strategy battles are really winning me over. I’ve heard this game formed the basis of Valkyria Chronicles and I could see it. Movement/attacks/defense all pull from the same action bar and there is a big focus on moving your units together to set up joint attacks and covering fire. Each character has unique attack attributes and special abilities which helps form the basis of your strategy. It’s very overwhelming how much the game asks of you, as maps and bosses are complicated from the start, your mechs are fragile, and there is only one difficulty mode. Battles are long so it feels extra bad when you lose. All of your stats are determined by how well you did in the purposely obtuse dating sim, so you have to work with what you get.
I want to beat it before Friday which doesn’t seem impossible walking into this week. Before I go I have to describe the plot of chapter 4 which was super absurd. I’ll put it behind a spoiler tag for anyone interested. It’s a journey lol.
If you haven’t heard of it, the premise is that you are this baby faced Japanese naval officer who gets sent to New York to lead the New York combat revue, a secret squad of mechs in the 1920’s from Japanese demons. All the mech pilots also are the stars of a local theater which serves as their secret base (at least secret from the demons somehow lol). So uh…yeah pretty wild. I mention the baby faced part, because it is absurd and amusing how over the top it is not a single person respects him at first because of that. (I’ve definitely seen that play out to a lesser extent in real life, but you know, not everybody is on them)
I’m enjoying this game more with each chapter and I’m closing in on the end. I’ll write another post when I’m finished, but for now the strategy battles are really winning me over. I’ve heard this game formed the basis of Valkyria Chronicles and I could see it. Movement/attacks/defense all pull from the same action bar and there is a big focus on moving your units together to set up joint attacks and covering fire. Each character has unique attack attributes and special abilities which helps form the basis of your strategy. It’s very overwhelming how much the game asks of you, as maps and bosses are complicated from the start, your mechs are fragile, and there is only one difficulty mode. Battles are long so it feels extra bad when you lose. All of your stats are determined by how well you did in the purposely obtuse dating sim, so you have to work with what you get.
I want to beat it before Friday which doesn’t seem impossible walking into this week. Before I go I have to describe the plot of chapter 4 which was super absurd. I’ll put it behind a spoiler tag for anyone interested. It’s a journey lol.
So chapter 4 introduces the fifth member of the team, Diana. She is very sick and confined to a wheelchair (you later learn she has too much psychic energy than her body can handle). Your boss is convinced she will die in a year because she has lost the will to live. You find out she likes birds and has some light healing powers, but also the ability to see when something will die? Weird balance there. Anyway when one of her favorite birds who come to visit her regularly hurts its wing, she gets super depressed because she believes he just won’t recover (can’t be healed, fated for death), and to show her she needs to regain the will to live you decide to take care of the bird and nurse it back to good enough health. Standard stuff right?
Ok most of that doesn’t matter, because the villain of the chapter controls insects and hates birds and people, so she is going to control the birds with her insects to attack New York (you learn this before the characters do). There’s very little build up to this abrupt plot turn, as the mayor storms into HQ and says “we are going to destroy all the birds in Central Park.” Yup, not just kill, destroy. Some of the dialog choices during this section are great as the main guy is practically yelling all of them like “Why won’t you care about the birds??” and “those birds will die because of you!” Anyway this all climaxes on the day you successfully nursed the little bird back to health, he gets possessed and takes off along with every bird in the city. You arrive at the scene with hurt civilians and the cops wildly firing into the air at the overwhelming swarm of birds. Diana shows up and says “I can feel the anger of the birds and humans here.” She jumps in between both sides and unleashes her power to stop the fighting and thus gains the will to live. Later on during the boss fight you actually can’t hurt it with all of your rockets for a turn since its so powerful, but there they come! The birds you saved have come to save you! Somehow! Big boss fight, the end.
Ok most of that doesn’t matter, because the villain of the chapter controls insects and hates birds and people, so she is going to control the birds with her insects to attack New York (you learn this before the characters do). There’s very little build up to this abrupt plot turn, as the mayor storms into HQ and says “we are going to destroy all the birds in Central Park.” Yup, not just kill, destroy. Some of the dialog choices during this section are great as the main guy is practically yelling all of them like “Why won’t you care about the birds??” and “those birds will die because of you!” Anyway this all climaxes on the day you successfully nursed the little bird back to health, he gets possessed and takes off along with every bird in the city. You arrive at the scene with hurt civilians and the cops wildly firing into the air at the overwhelming swarm of birds. Diana shows up and says “I can feel the anger of the birds and humans here.” She jumps in between both sides and unleashes her power to stop the fighting and thus gains the will to live. Later on during the boss fight you actually can’t hurt it with all of your rockets for a turn since its so powerful, but there they come! The birds you saved have come to save you! Somehow! Big boss fight, the end.
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There are dozens of us!Hey, another 8 fan
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So, I finished Ys Origin tonight. I'm glad I gave it a second chance because I enjoyed it a lot more. It was a nice, short experience, only taking 10.5 hours. Normal difficulty wasn't too bad, although the bosses did provide a spike most of the time. The key was to just keep my weapons and armor upgraded whenever possible. Overall, I give it a 7.5/10.
As for the rest of the Ys franchise, I do have the PSP games that I never touched. I might pull my system out and give one of them a try at some point. I'll keep an eye out on 8 and 9 for Switch and if I find a deal, I might pick them up. Knowing me I probably will at some pont lol.
As for other JRPGs, I might not touch one for a little bit. I have Pokemon Legend and Horizon booked back-to-back and those will both probably be long games for me. I would like to jump back into Octopath Traveler at some point. I finished three of the eight story line but hit a wall. From what I remembered, I was pretty well leveled up, but I kept getting pulverized by the bosses. I would like to beat the game officially so I could justify purchasing Triangle Strategy. I do have a planned run of Final Fantasy X for this year, which is the last mainline FF game I have yet to play/beat. (I am looking forward to making a thread on that accomplishment)
As for the rest of the Ys franchise, I do have the PSP games that I never touched. I might pull my system out and give one of them a try at some point. I'll keep an eye out on 8 and 9 for Switch and if I find a deal, I might pick them up. Knowing me I probably will at some pont lol.
As for other JRPGs, I might not touch one for a little bit. I have Pokemon Legend and Horizon booked back-to-back and those will both probably be long games for me. I would like to jump back into Octopath Traveler at some point. I finished three of the eight story line but hit a wall. From what I remembered, I was pretty well leveled up, but I kept getting pulverized by the bosses. I would like to beat the game officially so I could justify purchasing Triangle Strategy. I do have a planned run of Final Fantasy X for this year, which is the last mainline FF game I have yet to play/beat. (I am looking forward to making a thread on that accomplishment)
merp
Manakete
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Not really related, but I saw the Samurai Warriors 5 avatar and approved.
That's all. Carry on.
D
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Damn, I should really play this shouldn't I.
I've beaten Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana from the Collection already, as well as multiple playthroughs of the Trials of Mana remake...
D
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I'm playing through Witcher 3 for the first (well, second time after bouncing due to the combat/movement) and I've fallen in love with it. I haven't seen a AAA budget used to make a world this meticulously fleshed out since like...Morrowind?
also I would like to play Earthbound on my Nintendo Switch please and thank you
also I would like to play Earthbound on my Nintendo Switch please and thank you
It's one of the gems in the Game Boy's crown.
If you can't squeeze in the full ten to twelve hours, play at least the first half hour to an hour for my favorite old-school video game start, alongside A Link To The Past, just for how ergonomically it tosses players right into the plot.
Though if you stick around till the end, the final events of this adventure add a little more weight to all other Mana stories.
WhyS
#TeamJanuary
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I finished Shin Megami Tensei II. My history with MegaTen goes SMT 3, then 1, then 4, and now 2. I would rank them as 4 > 2 > 1 > 3. Yes, I have 3 at the bottom. I still think it's good, but it's like a 7/10 for me.
The rest of this post will be my thoughts on 2. It will just be a bunch of random thoughts put together, not a proper review. I'm going to put all of it behind the spoilers tag to protect the innocent.
As for my next game, I'll keep riding the JRPG train and play Chrono Cross. I've wanted to play it for years but have never gotten around to it. The rumors of a remaster have finally pushed me to play it. I'm expecting something like the Final Fantasy VIII remaster where it's the same exact game but slightly prettier, but if it turns out to be a remake instead, I want to have played the original so I can dare to compare. They'll both be different experiences and the existence of one does not invalidate the other. I don't claim to have played a game just because I played a remake of it. I wouldn't say I played Metroid 1 if I've only played Zero Mission, for example. Even in the case of Link's Awakening, the Switch remake is very close to one-for-one, but the original and DX are still worthy of playing because they give you a different feeling and therefore experience.
Anyway, #TeamJanuaryForLife #TeamJanuaryNeverLoses
The rest of this post will be my thoughts on 2. It will just be a bunch of random thoughts put together, not a proper review. I'm going to put all of it behind the spoilers tag to protect the innocent.
The first thought is that the encounter rate is much much much much much lower than in 1, and a lot lower than 3. At times I wondered if I had used Estoma without remembering it because I would go so long without an encounter. It was nice.
The game was super easy, and even easier than 1. If you know the Super Famicom games, you know how easily broken they are. Get yourself a gun that hits all the enemies and status inflicting bullets, and then auto battle your way to victory. However, SMT 1 had certain areas (mainly in the late early game / early mid game) where I would bring my demons out to help me, and even when I was super powerful near the end game, there were still demons that I would run away from rather than dealing with. SMT 2 never had that. I only ever used my human characters and would bring out my demons for boss fights, most of which I could auto battle my way to victory if I wanted to. (I would make a save state before the bosses and fight them for real, but then see if I could auto battle them, and yes, I could have auto battled all but two bosses in the game.)
As for the two bosses that I couldn't have auto battled, they were Lucifer and YHVH, and they were hard. Lucifer was the hardest boss I have fought in any of these games so far. I could hit Lucifer with anyone but my MC, and even he was struggling to do so. He had 20 speed, but that simply wasn't enough, and none of my demons were able to hit Lucifer then entire fight, other than the two uses of Divine Retribution (Holy Wrath) I got from Dominion, which to be fair did a ton of damage. If I had more demons with Divine Retribution, Lucifer would have been easy. Or if I had any demons with Sukukaja to increase my hit rate, but I never recruited or fused any of those the entire game. In fact, SMT II only has five demons with Sukukaja. Also, none of them would have been strong enough to take into the Lucifer or YHVH boss fights, so even if I found them, I would have had to get lucky to have Sukukaja passed down while fusing them, or have known ahead of time that it was such a valuable and rare skill and made sure that I would only do the fusion if Sukukaja was inherited.
Speaking of recruiting demons, one of my strategies in SMT 1 was to recruit all the tricky to fight demons in an area, and then talk to them to end the battle whenever I encountered them. I never had to do that in SMT 2 because, again, it's very easy, but it also wouldn't have worked. I put about 30 points into intelligence in SMT 2 (I wonder why my speed was so low), but I was never able to recruit easily. If you put enough point into intelligence in SMT 1, it's stupid easy to recruit whoever you want. In SMT 2, it becomes easier, but still difficult to recruit anyone. Your chances are just so low of them agreeing to go with you, and with the decreased encounter rate you're not going to see each demon that many times. Also, demons ask for a ton of stuff, but they change never what they ask for throughout the entire game. They ask for the same small amount of Macca, the same small amount of Magnetite, Magic Stones, and sometimes gem stones. And they'll ask for things like ten times in a row, always saying that it isn't enough and to give them more, and then still not join you. Whereas in other games you're going to see the same demons so many times and get so many opportunities that recruiting is just going to happen and it's fun to see what you randomly end up with, in SMT 2 you really have to want to recruit and go out of your way to do it.
The quest to revive Masakado was really annoying. SMT 4 levels of annoying.
Most of the music was also in SMT 1, and the final boss didn't have his own special music, which was disappointing, though he might have been the first enemy in any MegaTen game with animations, as basic as they are.
The dungeons are actually a reasonable size in this game, as opposed to the monstrosities of some of SMT 1's dungeons.
I know I had a lot of negative stuff to say, but it's easier to put into words why you don't like something than why you do. I never claimed that I was a professional. I actually really liked the game, and while in many ways SMT 1 is superior, I still like SMT 2 more simply because it has a normal encounter rate, while SMT 1's is absolutely ridiculous, and SMT 2 has acceptable dungeon sizes.
The game was super easy, and even easier than 1. If you know the Super Famicom games, you know how easily broken they are. Get yourself a gun that hits all the enemies and status inflicting bullets, and then auto battle your way to victory. However, SMT 1 had certain areas (mainly in the late early game / early mid game) where I would bring my demons out to help me, and even when I was super powerful near the end game, there were still demons that I would run away from rather than dealing with. SMT 2 never had that. I only ever used my human characters and would bring out my demons for boss fights, most of which I could auto battle my way to victory if I wanted to. (I would make a save state before the bosses and fight them for real, but then see if I could auto battle them, and yes, I could have auto battled all but two bosses in the game.)
As for the two bosses that I couldn't have auto battled, they were Lucifer and YHVH, and they were hard. Lucifer was the hardest boss I have fought in any of these games so far. I could hit Lucifer with anyone but my MC, and even he was struggling to do so. He had 20 speed, but that simply wasn't enough, and none of my demons were able to hit Lucifer then entire fight, other than the two uses of Divine Retribution (Holy Wrath) I got from Dominion, which to be fair did a ton of damage. If I had more demons with Divine Retribution, Lucifer would have been easy. Or if I had any demons with Sukukaja to increase my hit rate, but I never recruited or fused any of those the entire game. In fact, SMT II only has five demons with Sukukaja. Also, none of them would have been strong enough to take into the Lucifer or YHVH boss fights, so even if I found them, I would have had to get lucky to have Sukukaja passed down while fusing them, or have known ahead of time that it was such a valuable and rare skill and made sure that I would only do the fusion if Sukukaja was inherited.
Speaking of recruiting demons, one of my strategies in SMT 1 was to recruit all the tricky to fight demons in an area, and then talk to them to end the battle whenever I encountered them. I never had to do that in SMT 2 because, again, it's very easy, but it also wouldn't have worked. I put about 30 points into intelligence in SMT 2 (I wonder why my speed was so low), but I was never able to recruit easily. If you put enough point into intelligence in SMT 1, it's stupid easy to recruit whoever you want. In SMT 2, it becomes easier, but still difficult to recruit anyone. Your chances are just so low of them agreeing to go with you, and with the decreased encounter rate you're not going to see each demon that many times. Also, demons ask for a ton of stuff, but they change never what they ask for throughout the entire game. They ask for the same small amount of Macca, the same small amount of Magnetite, Magic Stones, and sometimes gem stones. And they'll ask for things like ten times in a row, always saying that it isn't enough and to give them more, and then still not join you. Whereas in other games you're going to see the same demons so many times and get so many opportunities that recruiting is just going to happen and it's fun to see what you randomly end up with, in SMT 2 you really have to want to recruit and go out of your way to do it.
The quest to revive Masakado was really annoying. SMT 4 levels of annoying.
Most of the music was also in SMT 1, and the final boss didn't have his own special music, which was disappointing, though he might have been the first enemy in any MegaTen game with animations, as basic as they are.
The dungeons are actually a reasonable size in this game, as opposed to the monstrosities of some of SMT 1's dungeons.
I know I had a lot of negative stuff to say, but it's easier to put into words why you don't like something than why you do. I never claimed that I was a professional. I actually really liked the game, and while in many ways SMT 1 is superior, I still like SMT 2 more simply because it has a normal encounter rate, while SMT 1's is absolutely ridiculous, and SMT 2 has acceptable dungeon sizes.
As for my next game, I'll keep riding the JRPG train and play Chrono Cross. I've wanted to play it for years but have never gotten around to it. The rumors of a remaster have finally pushed me to play it. I'm expecting something like the Final Fantasy VIII remaster where it's the same exact game but slightly prettier, but if it turns out to be a remake instead, I want to have played the original so I can dare to compare. They'll both be different experiences and the existence of one does not invalidate the other. I don't claim to have played a game just because I played a remake of it. I wouldn't say I played Metroid 1 if I've only played Zero Mission, for example. Even in the case of Link's Awakening, the Switch remake is very close to one-for-one, but the original and DX are still worthy of playing because they give you a different feeling and therefore experience.
Anyway, #TeamJanuaryForLife #TeamJanuaryNeverLoses
OP
OP
I know that feeling. I finally beat Metroid 1 for myself last year. Wildly different experience than Zero Mission. You have to be cautious at every turn and keep a great internal map in your head versus just constantly, smoothly moving forward in Zero Mission. I’m expecting an FF8 style remaster for Chrono Cross as well.
While we are on this subject, I really wish companies would put out the original versions of games alongside remakes. I’m really dreading the Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster for example because from the few screens we have I’m worried it’s going to look cheap in comparison to the more imaginative sprites of the original. It wouldn’t be an issue if we had both versions.
D
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this is really cool, Daggerfall was well before my time but this might get me to check it out. I wonder if the writing is any good compared to what came after
Morrowind has some of the most incredible (and deeply strange) writing and atmosphere of any game I've played, even without mods, highly recommended if you can deal with some archaic combat
merp
Manakete
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Oh yeah, I was told that Morrowind was like Majora's Mask in that regard, which is exactly what intrigues me about it.
Also, I was told that Daggerfall's story was actually quite alright, though that was just one person.
D
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I finished Phantasy Star IV this morning. It's a a stone cold classic. I'll give my thoughts and a review in the games completed thread tomorrow, but yeah, highly recommended!
Awesome and weird sci-fi rpg's... I want more.
Awesome and weird sci-fi rpg's... I want more.
OP
OP
I finished Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love last night. Overall I’m glad I played it. The purposefully obtuse dating sim is frustrating (and more difficult on the Wii if you are playing Wii Remote and Nunchuck since it lacks a second stick), but that did keep it interesting. I think I would have liked the characters in the game more if you didn’t have to interact with them constantly in that dating sim context because the correct choice is frequently not obvious and major stat boosts are always on the line. I rolled with some results, but still reloaded frequently. Gemini was my final partner though I wasn’t that attached to her. My favorite part of the story was definitely chapter 4 that I wrote about in my last post. I’ll never forget the birds lol.
I think I mostly touched on combat in my previous post, so I’ll just add I was really impressed with the amount of variety in the maps. Some maps have both ground and air combat, have boss battles to contend with, and areas to defend. You really have to pay close attention to your resources and bad plays can get punished quickly. Aside from the birds, I think the strategy missions are what I’m going to remember most fondly. I barely survived most of them with my squad intact. Only three times in the final chapter I lost a member which is bad since they lose stats which only makes the rest of the missions harder.
I haven’t committed to my next RPG yet. My final Wii disc game is Pandora’s Tower so I’m likely going to finally play that tonight (I only played like 20 minutes when I got it). I’ve decided I’m holding off on Pokemon Legends until at least next week when more impressions are out. I’m going to be interested in seeing what y’all think!
I think I mostly touched on combat in my previous post, so I’ll just add I was really impressed with the amount of variety in the maps. Some maps have both ground and air combat, have boss battles to contend with, and areas to defend. You really have to pay close attention to your resources and bad plays can get punished quickly. Aside from the birds, I think the strategy missions are what I’m going to remember most fondly. I barely survived most of them with my squad intact. Only three times in the final chapter I lost a member which is bad since they lose stats which only makes the rest of the missions harder.
I haven’t committed to my next RPG yet. My final Wii disc game is Pandora’s Tower so I’m likely going to finally play that tonight (I only played like 20 minutes when I got it). I’ve decided I’m holding off on Pokemon Legends until at least next week when more impressions are out. I’m going to be interested in seeing what y’all think!
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Are the Soulsborne games allowed here? I know the Soulsborne games are pretty detached from what a lot of people think of when they think of RPGs, but I do feel like they're pretty much the premiere Action RPGs, and I wanted to have somewhere to write my impressions on Bloodborne.
I've had this game since around/possibly at launch in 2015 and since then I've never been able to beat it. This time I've gotten the farthest I ever have by far and I'm definitely going to beat it, assuming all goes well and there is no problems. I'm a pretty huge fan of the original Dark Souls (though I haven't played it extensively in a while), so the fact that I was never able to get into this game always seemed a little disappointing.
I'm enjoying my experience of playing through this game more now than ever before, but at the same time this playthrough has really validated a lot of my problems with the game. There's just so many regressions from Dark Souls that, for me, are hard to overlook.
I think the worst part is, as much as I could normally forgive a developer trying to do different things with their games, and indeed I find the "spiritual successor" approach From Software often employees particularly refreshing, none of the changes to combat that make it more action-oriented actually go far enough to make up for what we've lost in comparison: diversity and variety in builds, in settings, in weapons, in ideas. A lot of the mechanics are just an unnecessary step back for no reason other than to make the game different, but the game itself still isn't different enough to justify that. I don't see any real improvement in the lamp system, or in the weirdly backwards ideology behind scaling-back the importance of humanity. Maybe I'll see it in time, maybe I'm missing something later in the game. But I doubt it.
It's just frustrating. I respect From Software a lot, but besides Dark Souls 3 (which is, ironically, their least "fresh" experience, basically being an amalgamation of every game before it, and thus the one I give the least credit to) I have not been addicted to a Souls game in a while, and to be honest Dark Souls 3 didn't even come close to the original either. It's frustrating seeing everywhere that Bloodborne is the pinnacle of the series - something even Miyazaki agrees with - and meanwhile I'm just wondering where half of what made Dark Souls great is? I know I shouldn't care, but I wish I could be that guy that thinks From Software has made back-to-back masterpieces, I want to enjoy these games as much as everyone else, but while I'm really enjoying Bloodborne for the most part, I just don't see it.
That was years in the making. Sorry, I needed to vent
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I've had this game since around/possibly at launch in 2015 and since then I've never been able to beat it. This time I've gotten the farthest I ever have by far and I'm definitely going to beat it, assuming all goes well and there is no problems. I'm a pretty huge fan of the original Dark Souls (though I haven't played it extensively in a while), so the fact that I was never able to get into this game always seemed a little disappointing.
I'm enjoying my experience of playing through this game more now than ever before, but at the same time this playthrough has really validated a lot of my problems with the game. There's just so many regressions from Dark Souls that, for me, are hard to overlook.
There's some obvious ones like the customization. It's lacking, big time. Maybe it gets better later in the game but weapon drops/pickups are almost non-existent, I think I got maybe one weapon in the entire game so far from a drop. In fairness, there is those weapon medals you can find that apparently open up new weapons for you to purchase from the helpers in the hub, and I have found 2 of those. But one of them only seems to allow you to buy the starting weapons ... that you already get to choose from. By this time in Dark Souls, most players probably found multiple weapon drops, weapons to buy from merchants, and were possibly rewarded for exploring areas they aren't necessarily supposed to be to yet. Even the armor customization seems less thought out in this regard, though maybe I can. The most I can say is that they've found really inventive ways of replacing your shields functionality with both different guns and a torch, but then again I'm not sure that actually provides more variety in gameplay than Dark Souls 2 (which had a torch already) or the talismans/pyromancy gloves/staffs from Dark Souls. It's just a clever differentiation of the formula, which of course is still appreciated nonetheless!
All of this really effects how much I care about stat distribution, too, which I feel like is a big problem? Maybe I'm alone on this, but I honestly believe Dark Souls has one of the better leveling systems in any RPG I've ever played. It's simple, but it really makes me think about how I distribute stats (and use souls) in a way most RPGs simply don't. Your build can change drastically from player to player, and after only about 10 or so hours the game really starts to de-incentivize "jack-of-all-trade" builds due to the high souls amount needed for leveling up further. None of this I've felt in Bloodborne so far, despite the fact that I'm about at the point where picking a build would and sticking to it would have become a necessity in Dark Souls.
The lamp system is just terrible. They tried to de-emphasize bonfires, which was a nice idea, but they went about it in a way that just inconveniences the player. Lamps are few and far between in this game (more on that later), and most of the maps revolve around streets. So naturally, even more than before with the Souls games, a lot of paths are essentially going from point A to point B, even if there is some interconnectivity and non-linearity. The problem is that the lack of open areas to explore and high density count of enemies means it's often more convenient to just fast-travel, a feature that the game gives you right away. But ... to fast travel you have to ... go back to the hub. Yeah. This is also true for the health restoration of the lamp, but to be fair I can kind of see why they wouldn't want players to camp around a lamp for health like they did bonfires.
What's frustrating about all this is that the games level design and mechanics actually incentivize using the lamp more than Dark Souls did the bonfire, despite the lamp itself being purposefuly made worse than the bonfire. As previously mentioned, fast traveling to areas you've been to previously is much more crucial here because of the narrow paths and high enemy density, but also, this game doesn't give you a guaranteed amount of health items every time you visit the lamp. So at times, you will literally have to grind for health items, lest you want to buy them at the hub ... which requires you to use a lamp anyways. So to get the health items you want, or to fast travel you basically have to use a loading screen at least twice, because resting at lamps to respawn enemies or fast traveling from a lamp is not an option (you can only fast travel from the hub ... which you access through the lamp). This means that a large amount of your playtime will just be staring at two loading screens back to back for no reason other than the developers purposely made the lamp obsolete.
I don't get it. I see what they were going for here, making the "bonfire" of this game less of a safe-space is a good idea on paper. But they actively put design decisions in there that conflict with making the lamps less useful to the player, and then just carry on like it makes sense.
On the topic of diversity, a lot of the bosses in this game just feel samey? I know that's ironic to say because Dark Souls had some seriously samey bosses. But man, I've fought like three beasts and besides the first one none of them felt particularly memorable. Even the rhythm and pacing of battle feels exactly the same. It's to the point where I just find bosses monotonous, like something I have to do in order to progress, rather than something fun to test myself with. I'm giving the game the benefit of the doubt on this, though, maybe that changes.
The art style is amazing and really this is probably still one of the best looking PS4 games. It's one of the only games I've played that nails that realistic look in a way that is still stylize enough to become something that I can see being truly timeless - the only other game that I really think matches it in that regard is Resident Evil Remake. But ... honestly? I can't help but think so much was lost for the sake of this games style. By the time you were 8 hours into Dark Souls, you had seen multiple locations that felt completely different from one another. Multiple areas that were completely different. Honestly, even the areas that were pretty similar in Dark Souls, had pretty different atmospheres. Like the bridge with the Taurus Demon that has a tower with moss growing on it, or the dark & damp sewer system with similar brickwork. I guess on paper, Bloodborne has variety in locales, but they all feel the same. It's just so ... deflating? And a bit uninteresting at times. Having said that, I will say that the exploration is the best part of this game, so it's not like I don't find the setting intriguing. It is. It just feels very sparse in terms of variety.
All of this really effects how much I care about stat distribution, too, which I feel like is a big problem? Maybe I'm alone on this, but I honestly believe Dark Souls has one of the better leveling systems in any RPG I've ever played. It's simple, but it really makes me think about how I distribute stats (and use souls) in a way most RPGs simply don't. Your build can change drastically from player to player, and after only about 10 or so hours the game really starts to de-incentivize "jack-of-all-trade" builds due to the high souls amount needed for leveling up further. None of this I've felt in Bloodborne so far, despite the fact that I'm about at the point where picking a build would and sticking to it would have become a necessity in Dark Souls.
The lamp system is just terrible. They tried to de-emphasize bonfires, which was a nice idea, but they went about it in a way that just inconveniences the player. Lamps are few and far between in this game (more on that later), and most of the maps revolve around streets. So naturally, even more than before with the Souls games, a lot of paths are essentially going from point A to point B, even if there is some interconnectivity and non-linearity. The problem is that the lack of open areas to explore and high density count of enemies means it's often more convenient to just fast-travel, a feature that the game gives you right away. But ... to fast travel you have to ... go back to the hub. Yeah. This is also true for the health restoration of the lamp, but to be fair I can kind of see why they wouldn't want players to camp around a lamp for health like they did bonfires.
What's frustrating about all this is that the games level design and mechanics actually incentivize using the lamp more than Dark Souls did the bonfire, despite the lamp itself being purposefuly made worse than the bonfire. As previously mentioned, fast traveling to areas you've been to previously is much more crucial here because of the narrow paths and high enemy density, but also, this game doesn't give you a guaranteed amount of health items every time you visit the lamp. So at times, you will literally have to grind for health items, lest you want to buy them at the hub ... which requires you to use a lamp anyways. So to get the health items you want, or to fast travel you basically have to use a loading screen at least twice, because resting at lamps to respawn enemies or fast traveling from a lamp is not an option (you can only fast travel from the hub ... which you access through the lamp). This means that a large amount of your playtime will just be staring at two loading screens back to back for no reason other than the developers purposely made the lamp obsolete.
I don't get it. I see what they were going for here, making the "bonfire" of this game less of a safe-space is a good idea on paper. But they actively put design decisions in there that conflict with making the lamps less useful to the player, and then just carry on like it makes sense.
On the topic of diversity, a lot of the bosses in this game just feel samey? I know that's ironic to say because Dark Souls had some seriously samey bosses. But man, I've fought like three beasts and besides the first one none of them felt particularly memorable. Even the rhythm and pacing of battle feels exactly the same. It's to the point where I just find bosses monotonous, like something I have to do in order to progress, rather than something fun to test myself with. I'm giving the game the benefit of the doubt on this, though, maybe that changes.
The art style is amazing and really this is probably still one of the best looking PS4 games. It's one of the only games I've played that nails that realistic look in a way that is still stylize enough to become something that I can see being truly timeless - the only other game that I really think matches it in that regard is Resident Evil Remake. But ... honestly? I can't help but think so much was lost for the sake of this games style. By the time you were 8 hours into Dark Souls, you had seen multiple locations that felt completely different from one another. Multiple areas that were completely different. Honestly, even the areas that were pretty similar in Dark Souls, had pretty different atmospheres. Like the bridge with the Taurus Demon that has a tower with moss growing on it, or the dark & damp sewer system with similar brickwork. I guess on paper, Bloodborne has variety in locales, but they all feel the same. It's just so ... deflating? And a bit uninteresting at times. Having said that, I will say that the exploration is the best part of this game, so it's not like I don't find the setting intriguing. It is. It just feels very sparse in terms of variety.
I think the worst part is, as much as I could normally forgive a developer trying to do different things with their games, and indeed I find the "spiritual successor" approach From Software often employees particularly refreshing, none of the changes to combat that make it more action-oriented actually go far enough to make up for what we've lost in comparison: diversity and variety in builds, in settings, in weapons, in ideas. A lot of the mechanics are just an unnecessary step back for no reason other than to make the game different, but the game itself still isn't different enough to justify that. I don't see any real improvement in the lamp system, or in the weirdly backwards ideology behind scaling-back the importance of humanity. Maybe I'll see it in time, maybe I'm missing something later in the game. But I doubt it.
It's just frustrating. I respect From Software a lot, but besides Dark Souls 3 (which is, ironically, their least "fresh" experience, basically being an amalgamation of every game before it, and thus the one I give the least credit to) I have not been addicted to a Souls game in a while, and to be honest Dark Souls 3 didn't even come close to the original either. It's frustrating seeing everywhere that Bloodborne is the pinnacle of the series - something even Miyazaki agrees with - and meanwhile I'm just wondering where half of what made Dark Souls great is? I know I shouldn't care, but I wish I could be that guy that thinks From Software has made back-to-back masterpieces, I want to enjoy these games as much as everyone else, but while I'm really enjoying Bloodborne for the most part, I just don't see it.
That was years in the making. Sorry, I needed to vent
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