Really poor judgement call, I bought the new Star Ocean

[Damned Registrations]

No, I was talking about the one for the PSX. The begining of it depends on which of two characters you choose to play from the perspective of; which changes a fuckton of things throughout the game.

When I actually think of all the dialogue in the game and how many variations of it there are based on all the decisions you make and which characters are in your party, I'm starting to think it might be the game with the most writing, period. It blows anything else I've ever seen out of the water. Fallout 2 is the closest competition to it I can think of, and I'd say even it lags behind by a lot. Between that and the fact that you'll never see even half the dialogue in the game in a given playthrough, whoever decided on this aspect of the game was a fucking genius.

 

[A user named cat]

Second Story was great just for building characters and grinding with the fun battle system. Had some good music too, even if a bit heavy on reverb. The voice acting, characters and writing blew balls but that was to be exptected. Being able to do private actions in towns and influence the ending you received was pretty cool as well. Probably the most enjoyable JRPG I ever played.

 

[ghostdog]

Almost all of the early games of most jrpg series are better than the sequels. All the SMT, Star Ocean, Dragon Quest, FF , Tales Of Phantasia games in SNES are better than the PS1&2&3 games. Really, if you want to play decent jRPGs get a SNES emulator, in snes you can also find the best jrpg evar, Chrono trigger.

 

[DiverNB]

Almost all of the early games of most jrpg series are better than the sequels. All the SMT, Star Ocean, Dragon Quest, FF , Tales Of Phantasia games in SNES are better than the PS1&2&3 games. Really, if you want to play decent jRPGs get a SNES emulator, in snes you can also find the best jrpg evar, Chrono trigger.

That shit is so over rated. Couldn't even finish it.

 

[Satori (original)]

Any praise a jRPG receives automatically makes the game overrated.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Chrono Trigger got nuthin' on Barkley: Shut Up And Jam Gaiden.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Chrono Trigger got nuthin' on Barkley: Shut Up And Jam Gaiden.

Yup, Cesspool X, the city of furries.

Savegame points which contain message board posts by JRPG fans.

"Shit's changed, Bird, it ain't the golden age of b-ball anymore."

"Sha na na na, get a job"

 

[Chateaubryan]

JRPG with an interesting story, and from readable to decent writing :

- Shin Megami Tensei : Nocturne (or Lucifer's Call) - PS2
Some Choices & Consequences : 6 different endings : the nazi ending, the nihilistic ending, the über-nihilistic ending, the bad mofo ending, the procrastinator ending, the optihilistic ending.

Best JRPG, AFAIK.

The combat system is a little cliché, except for one or two twists : you can talk to ennemies to seduce/bribe/intimidate/extort items & recruit them, and get free actions if you strike at the ennemy's weakness.

You can heavily customize the main character (More than 100 skills to learn, and only 8 to keep), and his companions (by fusing them).

No fucking JRPG cliche characters

-Shin Megami Tensei : Digital Devil Saga (the first one, only. The second is an uninspired epilogue) - PS2

Combat system is a little less interesting than Nocturne's, but the game still has guts (story, atmosphere.)

-Breath of Fire IV - PS

Nice skill system, original background and story-telling, has some JRPG cliche but never pushes it too far. Much better than most JRPG.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I've played and enjoyed Chrono Trigger, but it is nowhere near being the best jRPG. Why do people hype it to be so?

 

[Andyman Messiah]

In case someone missed DraQ's two words of wisdom:

Play Anachronox.

 

[Mantiis]

In case someone missed DraQ's two words of wisdom:

Play Anachronox.

Why? So we can play an unfinished game? Ill stick to KotoR 2 thanks.

Actually Anachronox isn't half bad

 

[Lockkaliber]

I am telling you people, check out Vagrant Story. Probably the best game Square Enix has ever churned out.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I am telling you people, check out Vagrant Story. Probably the best game Square Enix has ever churned out.

I know VS is pretty good and all, but when you put it that way, it doesn't sound like much of an achievement.

 

[Mantiis]

How did you guys cope with the incredibly long load screens for the inventory? For a game with so much riding on inventory management this killed it for me. I couldn't finish it.

 

[Lockkaliber]

I am telling you people, check out Vagrant Story. Probably the best game Square Enix has ever churned out.

I know VS is pretty good and all, but when you put it that way, it doesn't sound like much of an achievement.

Yes I know, let me rephrase it: It's one of the best games for the PSX, and it is nothing like their other games. Solid writing that is not standard japanese drivel, and a great translation, deep combat system that is not menu choosan gaemz, great scripting, AWESOME art direction and a very nice soundtrack.

How did you guys cope with the incredibly long load screens for the inventory? For a game with so much riding on inventory management this killed it for me. I couldn't finish it.

Talking about VS? I didn't notice long loadtimes for the inv, I just found the interface a bit clunky. However it took an awfully long time to save the game, which was pretty annoying.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Barkley: Shut Up And Jam Gaiden.

Best. Game. Ever. Every Codexer should download it RIGHT NOW, as it is indie and freeware.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I think saving was mandatory when accessing your stash, so I can see where you'd make that connection. Personally I handled the issue by giving up on forging new weapons constantly, and just killing all the tough bosses with stupidly long chain attacks, and running past the normal enemies.

All the element and racial modifiers and bodypart targets in VS's system were awesome. The infinite damage in one attack if you have good rythm thing, not so much. Especially since they seemed to balance the later enemies around that fact and give them stupidly high defenses.

 

[Lockkaliber]

I think saving was mandatory when accessing your stash, so I can see where you'd make that connection. Personally I handled the issue by giving up on forging new weapons constantly, and just killing all the tough bosses with stupidly long chain attacks, and running past the normal enemies.

All the element and racial modifiers and bodypart targets in VS's system were awesome. The infinite damage in one attack if you have good rythm thing, not so much. Especially since they seemed to balance the later enemies around that fact and give them stupidly high defenses.

I took the time to learn the crafting system somewhat, which rewarded me very much with the later enemies. I had 3 different weapons with different affinities and that was pretty much all I needed, but I can see how just chaining for 1 damage a trillion times would become boring. Most of the time, with the right buff and debuff spells, I could finish even the bosses within 10 hits or so, so I never had that problem.

 

[DraQ]

In case someone missed DraQ's two words of wisdom:

Play Anachronox.

Why? So we can play an unfinished game?

I would love it if all the 'finished' games were at least half as good.

Actually Anachronox isn't half bad

No, it's full good, despite being only half long.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Learning about the crafting system is what made me give up on it. I didn't feel like smacking training dolls for a few hours and collecting parts to try and make a strong blade when I could just chain for ~100 damage in 20 hits. Never really bothered with the buffs/debuffs much. Did they have good hit rates and durations? Most of the elemental spells were crap except for very specific instances.

 

[Hory]

I have an Xbox. Embarrassment.

 

[DiverNB]

Dicks.In my mouth, slapping my man titties.

 

[DiverNB]

So I bought Lost Odyssey off a friend for like 10 dollars and beat that next. I'm going to try and find a copy of this Shin Magamei Tensei for my PS2 on Amazon or something, and I figure I'll check out Anachronox eventually.

Anachronox already disappoints me somewhat though, hearing about it's half finished state and ending with no sequel

 

[Lockkaliber]

Learning about the crafting system is what made me give up on it. I didn't feel like smacking training dolls for a few hours and collecting parts to try and make a strong blade when I could just chain for ~100 damage in 20 hits. Never really bothered with the buffs/debuffs much. Did they have good hit rates and durations? Most of the elemental spells were crap except for very specific instances.

It just came naturally for me I guess. Didn't even grind on the dolls, just used each of the three weapons for two types of enemies and affinities. Two of my weapons weren't even crafted (merged later on though for higher affinities), but just finds from the static loot in the chests. The buffs and debuffs were pretty much essential, and they had good durations and pretty much always hit, unless you had equipment that negated magic. Key to this was using the "scan" spell and checking the status screen to see what affinites each enemy had and using the right physical or elemental buff/debuff for that encounter.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Ah, I think that was why I never used them. Pretty sure I had some magic defense accessories equipped or something. I remember magical healing being unreliable. That + skipping fights made for rather shoddy equipment.