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Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?
- Thread starter Exhuminator
- Start date
Lyre Mors
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2007
- Messages
- 5,434
The second is definitely the weakest in the series, but absolutely still worth playing. The third is kind of where everything good came together from the the two previous games.
Grampy_Bone
Arcane
Xenosaga is a partial-birth abortion of a series. Play the first and pretend the sequels don't exist.
v1rus
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
- Messages
- 2,294
That also seems to be a common sentiment - second one is agreed as disaster, but opinion on third one goes from "best" to "not worth playing". Ill give them a try, and hell, prolly finish it even if I dont like them, cuz autism strong in me.
Lincolnberry
Educated
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2019
- Messages
- 97
I thought Xenosaga was quite hard the first time I played it. It's been at least 15 years so I don't remember much but I don't think it's just you - not well explained how it works.
The first bit with the cyborg dude and doll chick in particular was rough.
The first bit with the cyborg dude and doll chick in particular was rough.
deuxhero
Arcane
Trying to do the 18th Secret Mission in Tales of Vesperia now. I conclude Secret Missions are retarded. A bonus for doing certain actions in a boss battle seems fine, except the execution is all over the place. Some are near automatic, several require a particular character in your party (something you can't change mid-fight), others require setups that are impossible to find naturally. It feels like a mechanic included because achievements were a new feature/gimmick on the 360, like waggle in a Wii game.
v1rus
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
- Messages
- 2,294
Its not matter of difficulty (yet) - I played like two 1 hour-ish sessions, and I barely fought, because, you know... Xenosaga. But I got email about tech attacks, or was it esper attacks, or some third kind of attacks... And for the life of me, I cant make any sense of it. Something two buttons, something one button... Something leveled, one button, unleveled, two buttons.... but when I did fight, interface didnt look like that, at all.
Its prolly gonna turn out real simple, but told in most convoluted way possible. Coming from Gears, still cant figure out how do "not-deathblows" work, because, it seems, they sure as hell dont work like deathblows did.
I don't usually play JRPGs, much less 2D side scrolling, but when I do it's Fortune Summoners. An uncanny mix of kiddy, yet appealing presentation, often surprisingly challenging combat, and an exploration that can be fulfilling, yet also often borderlines wtf kind of frustration. I don't know why I like it, I suppose it's like eating too much of those aggressively fizzy, sour gummies that you can't stop eating even though your palate is already hurting and you know that it's going to get even worse.
...there's even that flying rabbit-thing that replaces all its Rs with Ws for that added layer of diabetes-inducing sweetness.
...there's even that flying rabbit-thing that replaces all its Rs with Ws for that added layer of diabetes-inducing sweetness.
newtmonkey
Arcane
Cosmic Fantasy (PC Engine)
You couldn't make a more generic 16-bit RPG if you tried. It's ridiculously linear, with you going from town to town solving the local problem (always by killing a "boss" enemy in a nearby cave or tower). You start out with a single character, but are joined by a second character shortly into the game. The main hero is strong with (basically) no magic ability, and the other character is weak but has strong magic abilities. There's not much you can do with that.
Every random battle is a war of attrition, so you absolutely need to cast the one spell that halves damage every single battle. Then you need to heal at least one character after every battle. However, healing magic is both cheap and powerful, so it ends up just being busywork rather than a challenge. You can also purchase ridiculously powerful healing items cheaply (heal to max HP and MP instantaneously), and there's nothing else to spend money on; at just about over halfway through the game, I've spent the last 5 hours or so with max gold simply because I don't have anything to spend it on. You also always go first in combat, so unless you somehow get to the point where you stumble into a cave low on HP and MP with absolutely no items, you are basically invincible.
The game feels unfinished and buggy. There are a ton of weird items that seem useful, like stuff that is supposed to freeze enemies, or slow them down, or whatever. The thing is, absolutely none of it works. You have a spell to escape dungeons, and it doesn't work in 90% of the dungeons. You have a Run command, but it never works. You have a spell that's supposed to block enemy magic spells, but no enemies cast magic spells. You have this system of barrier and gun items, but the barriers basically never work, and the guns require expensive ammo yet do less damage than your regular attacks. The solution to every single encounter in the game, including bosses, is to cast the defense spell and then just attack until you win.
It also looks like garbage. Yet another PC Engine CD-ROM game where, after spending hundreds of dollars to get next-gen gaming, you're stuck with something that's barely a step above Famicom games.
---
This is another of the "legendary" RPG series on the PC Engine, like Tengai Makyo, so hopefully the first entry is just awful and then it gets better with the second game.
You couldn't make a more generic 16-bit RPG if you tried. It's ridiculously linear, with you going from town to town solving the local problem (always by killing a "boss" enemy in a nearby cave or tower). You start out with a single character, but are joined by a second character shortly into the game. The main hero is strong with (basically) no magic ability, and the other character is weak but has strong magic abilities. There's not much you can do with that.
Every random battle is a war of attrition, so you absolutely need to cast the one spell that halves damage every single battle. Then you need to heal at least one character after every battle. However, healing magic is both cheap and powerful, so it ends up just being busywork rather than a challenge. You can also purchase ridiculously powerful healing items cheaply (heal to max HP and MP instantaneously), and there's nothing else to spend money on; at just about over halfway through the game, I've spent the last 5 hours or so with max gold simply because I don't have anything to spend it on. You also always go first in combat, so unless you somehow get to the point where you stumble into a cave low on HP and MP with absolutely no items, you are basically invincible.
The game feels unfinished and buggy. There are a ton of weird items that seem useful, like stuff that is supposed to freeze enemies, or slow them down, or whatever. The thing is, absolutely none of it works. You have a spell to escape dungeons, and it doesn't work in 90% of the dungeons. You have a Run command, but it never works. You have a spell that's supposed to block enemy magic spells, but no enemies cast magic spells. You have this system of barrier and gun items, but the barriers basically never work, and the guns require expensive ammo yet do less damage than your regular attacks. The solution to every single encounter in the game, including bosses, is to cast the defense spell and then just attack until you win.
It also looks like garbage. Yet another PC Engine CD-ROM game where, after spending hundreds of dollars to get next-gen gaming, you're stuck with something that's barely a step above Famicom games.
---
This is another of the "legendary" RPG series on the PC Engine, like Tengai Makyo, so hopefully the first entry is just awful and then it gets better with the second game.
v1rus
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
- Messages
- 2,294
Mixed feelings about Xenosaga Part 1.
I'm enjoying the setting, plot, and even combat is great. Tad too linear map design, but still enjoyable. OTOH, cutscenes are killing me. I usually dont mind long, narrative cutscenes, but it doesnt float my boat right now, at all.
Not the games fault, and I knew fully well its a cutscene fest, just picked it up at a wrong time. Shame, because Im gonna finish it, since if I put it down, I'd most prolly forget all of the plot (and thousand mysterious baddies that pop up all over the place). I'm at Miltia, so I'm well into game, I think, prolly like 2/3, so not that much left. I'll return to part 2 and part 3 for sure, but not now, no. Prolly gonna go to something active, perhaps Hyper Light Drifter or Environmental Station Alpha.
Its weird tho. I wanna play the game. Really. But knowing theres a 30 minute cutscene ahead, even tho I'm enjoying the plot itself, just knocks me back.
I'm enjoying the setting, plot, and even combat is great. Tad too linear map design, but still enjoyable. OTOH, cutscenes are killing me. I usually dont mind long, narrative cutscenes, but it doesnt float my boat right now, at all.
Not the games fault, and I knew fully well its a cutscene fest, just picked it up at a wrong time. Shame, because Im gonna finish it, since if I put it down, I'd most prolly forget all of the plot (and thousand mysterious baddies that pop up all over the place). I'm at Miltia, so I'm well into game, I think, prolly like 2/3, so not that much left. I'll return to part 2 and part 3 for sure, but not now, no. Prolly gonna go to something active, perhaps Hyper Light Drifter or Environmental Station Alpha.
Its weird tho. I wanna play the game. Really. But knowing theres a 30 minute cutscene ahead, even tho I'm enjoying the plot itself, just knocks me back.
Lyre Mors
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2007
- Messages
- 5,434
Why in the fuck would you play a Xenosaga game if you weren't ready for some cutscenes per session?
Either way, they tend to come less frequently from that point on I think, though the halfway point is when I kind of started looking forward to every upcoming cutscene, because they get continually better from then on. Don't tell me you're playing the dubbed version too? The Japanese voice acting makes every cutscenes fifty times better than the shitty dub version.
Either way, they tend to come less frequently from that point on I think, though the halfway point is when I kind of started looking forward to every upcoming cutscene, because they get continually better from then on. Don't tell me you're playing the dubbed version too? The Japanese voice acting makes every cutscenes fifty times better than the shitty dub version.
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v1rus
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
- Messages
- 2,294
Undub, always, dw
Dont know. Just didnt know what I was feeling like, the game has been on my PC for a while, and I decided to boot it up, only to realize halfway I should have left it for when I'd enjoy something more passive.
OTOH, the setting seemed (and proved to be) really enjoyable, thus at least my space opera itch was scratched.
why the undub
Undub, always, dw
Dont know. Just didnt know what I was feeling like, the game has been on my PC for a while, and I decided to boot it up, only to realize halfway I should have left it for when I'd enjoy something more passive.
OTOH, the setting seemed (and proved to be) really enjoyable, thus at least my space opera itch was scratched.
missing out on the cheese
v1rus
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
- Messages
- 2,294
why the undub
Undub, always, dw
Dont know. Just didnt know what I was feeling like, the game has been on my PC for a while, and I decided to boot it up, only to realize halfway I should have left it for when I'd enjoy something more passive.
OTOH, the setting seemed (and proved to be) really enjoyable, thus at least my space opera itch was scratched.
missing out on the cheese
idk, i always like undubbing. Jap game? Bring me nippon. Ruskie game? Gib me Ruskie.
Not sure should Gothic be played in German or Polack tho, hm.
Derringer
Prophet
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2020
- Messages
- 1,934
Tengai Makyo is a little bit better but it's still just edo Dragon Quest, Tengai Makyo 2 tried a bit more with the design and writing of the game along with the art/va assets, from playing it in Japanese.
I liked the dub for Valkyrie Profile since it had the old 4kids vas doing the work and they did a decent job with it even if it's kinda cheesy and obviously not as clean sounding as the Japanese dub. I never really cared for Xenogears' dub, G Gundam's dub was better. Gothic's German dub sounds better compared to the English dub but I couldn't find a easy way to swap the dub unless I tried swapping it manually.
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playing DQ1 but DOS port.
Thanks to felipepepe crpg book, learned a lot.
Comparing two versions at the same time is fun.
Thanks to felipepepe crpg book, learned a lot.
Comparing two versions at the same time is fun.
Val the Moofia Boss
Scholar
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2022
- Messages
- 1,241
Trails in to Reverie/Hajimari no Kiseki
It seems there has been a running trend since the Crossbell games. The Trails franchise depicts cities as being the source of warmongering populaces. In Crossbell you had the cityfolk becoming zombies en masse and then later supporting Dieter's one world order. In CS3 and CS4, the Great Twilight not only takes the most root in Heimdallr and Crossbell, the protagonists also comment "seems he has been affected by the curse" on several NPCs in cities such as Saint-Arkh, Ordis, and Raquel. You can find nary an NPC losing their minds in the rural villages like Milsante, Leeves, Eryn, Saint Ursula's Hospital, etc. Only the mayor of the village of Alster becomes affected. And then here again in Reverie, you have the cityfolk of Crossbell going crazy (for the fourth time in three years!) while the rural populace of Armorica keep their heads on straight. I'm guessing in the Kuro games, we will see the city populations of Calvard - particularly the capital of Edith - thirst for blood.
The clownshow always begins in the urban hellhole. The reclamation always begins out in the boonies.
It seems there has been a running trend since the Crossbell games. The Trails franchise depicts cities as being the source of warmongering populaces. In Crossbell you had the cityfolk becoming zombies en masse and then later supporting Dieter's one world order. In CS3 and CS4, the Great Twilight not only takes the most root in Heimdallr and Crossbell, the protagonists also comment "seems he has been affected by the curse" on several NPCs in cities such as Saint-Arkh, Ordis, and Raquel. You can find nary an NPC losing their minds in the rural villages like Milsante, Leeves, Eryn, Saint Ursula's Hospital, etc. Only the mayor of the village of Alster becomes affected. And then here again in Reverie, you have the cityfolk of Crossbell going crazy (for the fourth time in three years!) while the rural populace of Armorica keep their heads on straight. I'm guessing in the Kuro games, we will see the city populations of Calvard - particularly the capital of Edith - thirst for blood.
The clownshow always begins in the urban hellhole. The reclamation always begins out in the boonies.
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Lincolnberry
Educated
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2019
- Messages
- 97
Finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna expansion. I had played XC2 a few months back and eventually circled back around.
Overall I can easily see why it's better liked than the base game - it's sped up across the board, gacha elements are mostly gone, but also builds on some of the base game's strengths in the art and music in a fresh way with some of the remixes and the new continent.
It's fairly startling to play after FF16, my most recent prior JRPG. This game just has so much more going for it in the characters and writing department, even if I still think the combat system is pretty meh (if improved vs XC2). Feels like a proper adventure. Hard to overly recommend story as a prequel where you know where things end but I quite enjoyed it for what it is.
Not sure when I'll do XC3 - but I've enjoyed both prior mainlines enough to give it a go eventually.
Overall I can easily see why it's better liked than the base game - it's sped up across the board, gacha elements are mostly gone, but also builds on some of the base game's strengths in the art and music in a fresh way with some of the remixes and the new continent.
It's fairly startling to play after FF16, my most recent prior JRPG. This game just has so much more going for it in the characters and writing department, even if I still think the combat system is pretty meh (if improved vs XC2). Feels like a proper adventure. Hard to overly recommend story as a prequel where you know where things end but I quite enjoyed it for what it is.
Not sure when I'll do XC3 - but I've enjoyed both prior mainlines enough to give it a go eventually.
Puukko
Arcane
I dropped Torna when it told me to go do a dozen more side quests to be allowed to fight the final boss.
deuxhero
Arcane
I've gotten stuck at the end of chapter 2 (of 3) in Tales of Vesperia. The boss of the chapter has a special attack that kills or nearly kills everyone in my party. It's not elemental, so I can't resist it, XP gaIns at this point are so shit I can't really grind past the problem in a meaningful amount of time.
Good luck with that, sharp decline.
Lincolnberry
Educated
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2019
- Messages
- 97
Very fair criticism, definitely the worst part of the game bar none. I was able to do enough in maybe an hour or two but completely unnecessary padding in an otherwise fairly streamlined experience.
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