Gametrailers cRPG GOTY

[Kendar]

Most adventure games have an emphasis on puzzles [...] while jRPGs don't have those elements at all.

I admit I have no't played a lot of jRPGs, but there were a lot of puzzles in them. To tell the truth, they were often the only real challenge, because of how arbitrary they are, like having to guess in wich order you must trigger five levers scattered around a dongeon before placing crates somewhere, thereby opening a door leading to a room where you have to understand why the floor has differents colours, and modifying them using two imbricated rotating pillars that do not turn at the same speed, not to mention that said speed is altered by whether or not you have collected the three orbs and placed them on the aforementionned coloured floor before flooding the room, wich reveals a key that you have to imbue with some power. The first time you spend three hours there, and the second time you get through in ten minutes (no including the combats).

 

[afewhours]

Heh heh, you've hit the nail on the head. I've already played PST

This is where I get sad, and say that PS:T seems kinda unique in its setup. I don't know anything that fits yer criteria straight off the bat. I would love another game to follow in its footsteps, but I doubt it will happen any time soon.

There seem to be a lot of fellas on this board who are much savvier than me. Hopefully, one of them could be more helpful.

You mentioned you had NWN2? I can at least recommend you get MotB. Even if it's more comat-oriented than Torment, there's a lot of C&C goodness in that game. I know people have hated NWN2's OC but loved MotB, so it's worth a gander even if NWN2 left you cold.

 

[Fyz]

I admit I have no't played a lot of jRPGs, but there were a lot of puzzles in them. To tell the truth, they were often the only real challenge, because of how arbitrary they are, like having to guess in wich order you must trigger five levers scattered around a dongeon before placing crates somewhere, ...

Those kind of puzzles aren't really adventure game elements, you can find them in almost any kind of game. Probably because they are rather easy to implement (but they take a long time to solve), so developers can easily add a lot of gametime by adding such puzzles.
Not to mention that when done wrong (and that happens in many cases) they feel out of context. Like the brazier lighting puzzle in BG2s Watchers Keep, or most puzzles in classic Doom. Of course you'll find such examples among adventure games aswell, like the crate pushing puzzles of Broken Sword 3. It felt like a Sokoban minigame, and you had it in every second room. Or the insult sword fighting in Monkey Island 4. It was well done in the old MI games, but the 'Monkey Kombat' in MI4 was beyond stupid. And you even had an end boss to fight in such way.

What i meant by adventure game puzzles are the ones you'll find in classic Sierra/Lucasarts/Revolution adventure games, like getting past the pimp in Larry1, the pawn shop trading in King's Quest 6, using the telephone at Broken Sword 1s beginning or getting a crew in Monkey Island.
While i haven't played any recent jRPG (besides Pokemon for Gameboy :p), i dont recall having such puzzles in them, and even if you find one or two similar puzzles in a jrpg, claiming that jrpgs are adventure games with stats is simply untrue.

You mentioned you had NWN2? I can at least recommend you get MotB. Even if it's more comat-oriented than Torment, there's a lot of C&C goodness in that game. I know people have hated NWN2's OC but loved MotB, so it's worth a gander even if NWN2 left you cold.

Thanks, but I've also played that one, although few months after release as hungarian distribuitors fail at importing decent games.

 

[ElPresidente]

I've often referred to JRPGs as adventure games where combat replaces the puzzles. Outside of this there is no difference between the two genres. They are both primarily story telling devices where the gamer is led by the designers as opposed to what we prefer to call real RPGs where the player leads the story instead.

Anyway I do want to say as ridiculous as comments like the ones mentioned earlier in this thread are, Persona 3 is a freaking brilliant game. Any JRPG fan REALLY NEEDS TO GET IT!!!

That said the whole Gametrailers thing is a bit of a joke... where in Hell is MotB and The Witcher. Surely the only two real contenders for RPG of the year (Oh and Mass Effect was awesome but the old schooler in me prefers the other titles being in contention :D)

 

[Andhaira]

Wat about eschalon? don't it just rawk?