Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[thesecret1]

Replaying Sengoku Rance again. It's such a damn gem – I love how a lot of content is specifically meant to be encountered only on replays, how some is remembered between playthroughs, the alternate routes, everything.

 

[aweigh]

That's on my list, but I think I'd rather play something on the PS2 right now. And what I've heard of disc 2 doesn't exactly woo me over.

What I'm wondering is how viable skipping Xenosaga 2 and just playing 1 and 3 would be...

Even the worst moment in Xenogears is 100x times better than the best moment in Xenosaga. There is simply no comparison to be made here, Xenosaga is forgettable jrpg shit, whereas Xenogears is a bona fide jrpg top 5 of all time classic. Sure, play Xenosaga, episode 1 is amusing enough, but just don't neglect Xenogears as it is a must-play for any real jrpg fan.

 

[Miner 2049er]

Berwick Saga for the PS2 / PCSX2 emulator
Full title: Tear Ring Saga Series Berwick Saga Lazberia Chronicle Chapter 174

After years the tranlation was recently completed. 1000 thanks.
It's a fire emblem like game from Shōzō Kaga (first 5 FE games). In contrast to most PS2 games, this is in 2D with lovely combat animations.

Translation patch: https://forums.serenesforest.net/in...erwick-saga-translation-translation-finished/
Opening and gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phxgBq4fxp4

 

[Grauken]

Berwick Saga for the PS2 / PCSX2 emulator
Full title: Tear Ring Saga Series Berwick Saga Lazberia Chronicle Chapter 174

After years the tranlation was recently completed. 1000 thanks.
It's a fire emblem like game from Shōzō Kaga (first 5 FE games). In contrast to most PS2 games, this is in 2D with lovely combat animations.

Translation patch: https://forums.serenesforest.net/in...erwick-saga-translation-translation-finished/
Opening and gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phxgBq4fxp4

Does it have dead ends like some of the FE games?

 

[GhostCow]

Someone told me that I have shit taste for liking Fire Emblem and that I should play a "real" srpg like Utawarerumono. I've been playing Mask of Deception for two days now and it's barely a game. It feels like there's an hour or two of visual novel between each fight. The fights are ok but it's nowhere near the level of Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. I also really dislike when turn based RPGs try to be more actiony with timed button presses added to the combat. I can live with it but that aspect is shit. I just want to be lazy and use menu commands.

 

[Miner 2049er]

I'm like 8 hours in, so I can't answer that. The game lets you hardsave and you can always abuse the emulators save states if you fear dead ends.

Someone told me that I have shit taste for liking Fire Emblem and that I should play a "real" srpg like Utawarerumono

What ? Mindblown.

 

[Reality]

Just wait until the slime split type monster enemies show up and make you feel like you are back in Gaiden with the Cantor summoning mechanic.

 

[flyingjohn]

Someone told me that I have shit taste for liking Fire Emblem and that I should play a "real" srpg like Utawarerumono. I've been playing Mask of Deception for two days now and it's barely a game. It feels like there's an hour or two of visual novel between each fight. The fights are ok but it's nowhere near the level of Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. I also really dislike when turn based RPGs try to be more actiony with timed button presses added to the combat. I can live with it but that aspect is shit. I just want to be lazy and use menu commands.

Skip Utawarerumono and go for kamidori meister if you want a visual novel with good gameplay but a lot of grinding for materials.
Edit:video

 

[GhostCow]

Someone told me that I have shit taste for liking Fire Emblem and that I should play a "real" srpg like Utawarerumono. I've been playing Mask of Deception for two days now and it's barely a game. It feels like there's an hour or two of visual novel between each fight. The fights are ok but it's nowhere near the level of Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. I also really dislike when turn based RPGs try to be more actiony with timed button presses added to the combat. I can live with it but that aspect is shit. I just want to be lazy and use menu commands.

Skip Utawarerumono and go for kamidori meister if you want a visual novel with good gameplay but a lot of grinding for materials.
Edit:video

That's the other game the same guy recommended and it looks even worse. I hate visual novels and I'm not into hentai. The combat looks pretty boring too.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Decided to restart The Lost Child on PS4. I'm about 14 hours in and I'm still not really having fun. It's got a lot of cool ideas and the demons/fallen angels etc. look really good and Lua has a lovely pair of tits. But I'm just not getting into it. As I said, I'm just not having fun. Perhaps in the future I'll give it another go when I don't have such a massive backlog.

If you're looking for an enjoyable drpg. There are plenty of other options.

 

[Nostaljaded]

...I also really dislike when turn based RPGs try to be more actiony with timed button presses added to the combat. I can live with it but that aspect is shit. I just want to be lazy and use menu commands.

There's a menu option in Utawarerumono to change all timed-attacks to normal attacks without button input, game will then be like traditional SRPG with turn order based on speed stat.
In addition to turn order based on speed stat, I like the auto-upgrade combo extensions on level ups (character progression), the ability to decide how many parts of combo to execute for each attack.

Also if Normal does not provide sufficient challenge, change to Hard, don't grind cleared stages and/or don't use BPs.

Substantial efforts by the developer can be seen in the menu options to cater to wide-ranging players' preferences and combat options for QOL and/or reduce frustrations (e.g. Turn Rewind feature).

 

[mushaden]

Playing FFIX and getting annoyed every time the dialogue (box) is "[CHARNAME]..." Did this get more common as the years went by? It's so lazy. It was also terrible in Trails in The Sky FC. I don't remember it being so overused in SNES-era.

 

[jungl]

Played Suikoden 1. The isometric and graphics gave me blood omen nostalgia. Certain character dies in a duel in the game I thought was supposed to die preventing me recruiting all the characters. Lol I beat the game thinking the story is potentially a lot darker then it really is. Gonna start suikoden 2 at some point thank the internet you can download someones save game to import.

The game itself was fun but you will never see all the unite attacks with how cumbersome it is navigating the UI menus and leaving your home base once again thank the internet for that. I still think suikoden 3 is the best game in the franchise with now played all the mainline ones outside of 2.

 

[JDR13]

Phantasy Star Generation 1 on the PCSX2 emulator with the English translation patch.

 

[HydrakeLogistix]

Someone told me that I have shit taste for liking Fire Emblem and that I should play a "real" srpg like Utawarerumono. I've been playing Mask of Deception for two days now and it's barely a game. It feels like there's an hour or two of visual novel between each fight. The fights are ok but it's nowhere near the level of Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. I also really dislike when turn based RPGs try to be more actiony with timed button presses added to the combat. I can live with it but that aspect is shit. I just want to be lazy and use menu commands.

Utawarerumono is a visual novel first and foremost, if you don't like visual novels then its not worth it. Having recently binged the trilogy I can say this that you should play the first one. It is short but very bittersweet and has a fantastic ending. But the battles are absolute ass . Might be worth waiting for the remake though. You can play Mask of Deception without playing the first game but Mask of Truth relies heavily on the first game. Also Mask of Truth is much longer has more battles and on hard without grinding can be challenging. Although I don't think the Mask duology lived up to their predecessor and absolutely shat themselves at the end.

 

[Kaivokz]

Anyone pick up the Langrisser I + II remakes?

If so, is the "original art" option only for character portraits, or does it swap the maps and battle animations too? I don't usually care that much about graphics, but this new style looks so trashy. The faces, the body movements, everything about it is bad.

The original music (on genesis) sounds so much better, too. The arranged tracks aren't bad, but...

Spoiler

 

[Puukko]

Didn't spekkio just pick those up?

 

[spekkio]

Anyone pick up the Langrisser I + II remakes?

If so, is the "original art" option only for character portraits, or does it swap the maps and battle animations too? I don't usually care that much about graphics, but this new style looks so trashy. The faces, the body movements, everything about it is bad.

The original music (on genesis) sounds so much better, too. The arranged tracks aren't bad, but...

There are two options for the things you've asked about.

First option: graphics-related. Which means character art (portraits) and terrain. You can choose between: 2 x new, 2 x old , 1st old 2nd new and 1st new 2nd old.

Sadly, there's no option for old "units" (unit icons) and animations (and the entire "combat screen"). Which is a shame, as both of these are IMO inferior.

Second option: sound related. You can switch between old and new music.

Another irritating thing: during missions there is only a "save" option (one slot only), to load a save, you have to go back to main menu. Fucking consoles, mang. 2001 Korean remake of L1 had 4 save slots and OFC you could've saved / loaded at any time.



Some screenshots here

Verdict: kinda meh, at least from technical / UI design POV.

 

[Kaivokz]

That is disappointing; I honestly would have paid full game price for a bare bones port of 1 and (a translation) of 2. Maybe I'll pick it up cheap later, but having played Warsong when I was younger, playing it with unit/combat art that looks like it belongs in a mobile game feels like an injustice.

And from what I've seen there are no more manly "Huah's" in combat. I guess this game was marketed toward the audience they gained from the mobile game more than fans of the originals, but at least they've provided portraits and old music.

 

[Kaivokz]

Lance's before and after art seems a fitting analogy for the port. Drained the machismo out of it and airbrushed all the edges so it appeals to weebs.

 

[Damned Registrations]

So you're mad because he doesn't have 70lb pauldrons and magic spiral hair? The newer version is certainly a lazier/cruder work in terms of technique, but the design is way better without the retarded overdone armor and a size 0 waist.

 

[Endemic]

The old art could look goofy at times. The exaggerated 70s hair and Cherie's ass on the cover come to mind.

 

[newtmonkey]

Soul Blazer (SNES)
This is more of an action game than RPG, but it has stats and leveling, so here it goes.
This is one I used to rent back in the day but never was able to play it enough over the weekend to finish it. I've decided to play/complete the Quintet Soul Blazer/Illusion of Gaia/Terranigma trilogy, and I finally finished the first game.

It's a fun little action game akin to Ys (closer to Lagoon though) sort of combined with Gauntlet. Action stages are typically small mazes filled with monster generators, which are exhausted after you kill a certain number of enemies. Doing this either opens a path in the action stage for further exploration, or restores an NPC or building in the associated town stage. This is the whole point of the game, and it's all you'll be doing, so if you get bored a couple of worlds in you might as well stop playing because the game never changes much.

I enjoyed it, personally. It was a lot of fun slowly rebuilding the towns and gradually filling up my status screen with items and equipment—each item has a little icon, so it gives you that same satisfaction as Ys when you get to the end and you have an item screen full of equipment and items. The little stories you uncover in the towns can be interesting, and there's even some mildly though-provoking stuff. I especially liked the mountain elves which are born, mature, and die within a single year. The final boss gives a speech that reads like typical final boss gloating in the Japanese version, but comes off as cooly indifferent and badass in the English translation thanks to the weirdly formal and dry but competent translation.

It's a very easy game, and I reckon it took around 10 hours or so to finish. Some of the boss fights could be pretty tough, but it was just a matter of learning their patterns and/or finding safe spots.

 

[Grauken]

The old art could look goofy at times. The exaggerated 70s hair and Cherie's ass on the cover come to mind.

That looks great. No wonder anime has gone to shit with the boring char design they have in a lot of anime these days

 

[Damned Registrations]

The old art could look goofy at times. The exaggerated 70s hair and Cherie's ass on the cover come to mind.

I'm all for cheesy aesthetics, but there's such a thing as trying to hard. I think Brigandine really nails character design: