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CVagts posted:After playing Suikodens 1 and 2 combined about 40 times, I decided to finally play Suikoden 3. And it's actually pretty good! Really slow start, and a few moments where the game felt like it was flipping me off, but overall enjoyable. At some point I'll want to get to 4 and 5, even though 4 is near-universally panned. Just skip 4. You'll be happier for it.
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Jun 13, 2013 08:01
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A Dapper Walrus posted:Could someone give me an overview of Divinity II and which version I should buy if I decide that it strikes my fancy? I've heard good things about it and I'd like to know if it's particularly story driven, has good customization, illusion of choice, and all that other jazz. Stabbey is going to be significantly better at me than answering this, but Divinity II is basically a pretty casual, pretty light-on-mechanics action RPG with a fairly open world to explore, some wicked humour in the NPC dialogue, a neat little mindreading system to give you interesting ways to complete quests or find new information, and generally a lot of stabbing people in the gut. At most points in the game you can leap off whatever cliff you're on and turn into a dragon, which lets you fly around the countryside dropping fireballs on people. It's not at all cerebral but it sure is a good blast. Larian Studios make pretty fun games.
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Jun 13, 2013 08:55
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CVagts posted:After playing Suikodens 1 and 2 combined about 40 times, I decided to finally play Suikoden 3. And it's actually pretty good! Really slow start, and a few moments where the game felt like it was flipping me off, but overall enjoyable. At some point I'll want to get to 4 and 5, even though 4 is near-universally panned. Miss 4, definitely play 5, it feels a lot like 2 but much newer and much longer.
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Jun 13, 2013 09:50
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Stelas posted:Stabbey is going to be significantly better at me than answering this, but Divinity II is basically a pretty casual, pretty light-on-mechanics action RPG with a fairly open world to explore, some wicked humour in the NPC dialogue, a neat little mindreading system to give you interesting ways to complete quests or find new information, and generally a lot of stabbing people in the gut. At most points in the game you can leap off whatever cliff you're on and turn into a dragon, which lets you fly around the countryside dropping fireballs on people.
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Jun 13, 2013 11:05
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Cardiovorax posted:Note: You cannot actually drop fireballs on people. I'd swear I remember clearing out late-game areas (Fortresses?) via aerial bombardment.
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Jun 13, 2013 11:09
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Being a dragon honestly should not be something you try to sell people on Divinity II with because it's just not fun. The aerial combat was just boring and poorly made. Everything else about the game ruled, so it's unfortunate that one of the big plot points was so unfun
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Jun 13, 2013 11:12
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I'm about ready to give up on FF4. Not because it is too hard or because it is frustrating me, but simply because I am not all that engaged, and I am finding it very samey. I'm at the point where I've just got the Earth Crystal and I'm about to track down Kain in the futuristic sci-fi looking place to save Rosa and I'm getting annoyed with the frequency of random battles and the sameyness of everything I've done thus far. Maybe FF4 just isn't for me, but I'm not all that engrossed in the characters or the story, and find the levels to all be simple variations of the same thing. Combat is also very samey - and what is surprising is how much I loved Dragon Quest 4 and 9, as well as Lufia 2, so it's not like I dislike this style of game. I've also got FF9 which might be a different experience, or it might not. I also own FF6 and I've never really put much time into FF7 and can get that off the PSN store. But it could be the FF9 'way' just isn't my thing, and I can finally just give up on the series and get round to picking up and playing Dragon Quest V or something. 
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Jun 13, 2013 11:24
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Some old people who played FF4 as a kid probably won't like me for saying this, but FF9 is a much better and more enjoyable game. Maybe the best in the series even.
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Jun 13, 2013 11:26
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A Dapper Walrus posted:Could someone give me an overview of Divinity II and which version I should buy if I decide that it strikes my fancy? I've heard good things about it and I'd like to know if it's particularly story driven, has good customization, illusion of choice, and all that other jazz. It's a third-person real-time action RPG. You have to physically hit your enemies (or with spells/arrows), but there is no "dice rolling" to determine if you hit or not - if you make contact, it's always a hit. It is somewhat story-driven. It's not completely open world, you need to advance the main plot to open up new areas, although it generally lets you explore freely in them at your leisure. There are a couple points of no return, but they game is good at warning you about them in advance. You can customize your character's gender and appearance (but not body type) and the voice for the few sound clips they use. You are free to build your character any way you want, there's no skill tree. There are a lot of quests in the game and they usually give you multiple ways of solving them (sometimes just a "good" way and a "nasty" way), although there is no alignment system. You won't get into trouble. I particularly like how you can have your main character snark at just about everyone, including the bosses. Halfway through you can gain the ability to turn into a Dragon, although it's mostly only good as a means of transportation. Because of Xbox limitations, they had to remove the ability to target and attack ground units, so you can only attack towers and flying enemies. Dragon combat is not very challenging - except in a couple places, but the final use of the Dragon is the best in the game.
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Jun 13, 2013 11:33
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I think FF4 is garbage, frankly. I think most of the appeal is nostalgia.
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Jun 13, 2013 11:34
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I wasn't a kid when I played FF4 (I think I was in high school at the time?) and I thought it was great at the time. Haven't played it since, though.
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Jun 13, 2013 11:41
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Paperhouse posted:Some old people who played FF4 as a kid probably won't like me for saying this, but FF9 is a much better and more enjoyable game. Maybe the best in the series even. E: Forgot about Eiko's near skin colored pants. Nate RFB fucked around with this message at 12:09 on Jun 13, 2013 |
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Jun 13, 2013 11:45
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Meh. I just think there are better role-playing game experiences to be had between my PSP, DS and GBA than what I've had in the 6 hours I've put into FF4. I'd say 6 hours gives you a pretty good sample of the game to get a definitive yay or nay, wouldn't you agree?
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Jun 13, 2013 12:02
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BadAstronaut posted:Meh. I just think there are better role-playing game experiences to be had between my PSP, DS and GBA than what I've had in the 6 hours I've put into FF4. I'd say 6 hours gives you a pretty good sample of the game to get a definitive yay or nay, wouldn't you agree? If you don't enjoy it, stop playing. No one's forcing you, and you're absolutely right; six hours is more than enough to say you gave it a fair shot.
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Jun 13, 2013 12:06
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Sucks coz it was one of the games I was most looking forward to trying on the PSP. Oh wells. No shortage of backlog to play through next!
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Jun 13, 2013 12:12
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Halfway through you can gain the ability to turn into a Dragon, although it's mostly only good as a means of transportation. Because of Xbox limitations, they had to remove the ability to target and attack ground units, so you can only attack towers and flying enemies. Dragon combat is not very challenging - except in a couple places, but the final use of the Dragon is the best in the game. Francois Kofko posted:I think FF4 is garbage, frankly. I think most of the appeal is nostalgia.
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Jun 13, 2013 13:31
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Francois Kofko posted:I think FF4 is garbage, frankly. I think most of the appeal is nostalgia. I definitely agree. I did enjoy playing through it again on my PSP thanks to that nostalgia though.
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Jun 13, 2013 13:37
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Cardiovorax posted:Their gameplay is so vanilla that every other JRPG is pretty much defined as "like Final Fantasy but," That's because, along with DQ, it defined the genre for three hardware generations and was so hugely popular that other IPs borrowed pretty heavily from it in order to court those players. So it's kind of like saying every sitcom that came out after Seinfeld feels like Seinfeld except for whatever.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:01
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BadAstronaut posted:I'm about ready to give up on FF4. Not because it is too hard or because it is frustrating me, but simply because I am not all that engaged, and I am finding it very samey. I'm at the point where I've just got the Earth Crystal and I'm about to track down Kain in the futuristic sci-fi looking place to save Rosa and I'm getting annoyed with the frequency of random battles and the sameyness of everything I've done thus far. Maybe FF4 just isn't for me, but I'm not all that engrossed in the characters or the story, and find the levels to all be simple variations of the same thing. Combat is also very samey - and what is surprising is how much I loved Dragon Quest 4 and 9, as well as Lufia 2, so it's not like I dislike this style of game. I'm guessing DQ4 and DQ9 has exhausted your tolerance for JRPG mechanics of that general era. Good luck!
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Jun 13, 2013 16:03
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I don't think it's possible to dislike DQ5. Especially if you already liked 4.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:04
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Wendell posted:I don't think it's possible to dislike DQ5. Especially if you already liked 4. I disliked DQ5 the first time I played it (Super Famicom on a tolerable but not great fan translation). Going to three party members seemed like a step back and the graphics were terrible for Super Famicom. I have since purchased both the PS2 and the DS remake and it's one of my favourites in a series I generally like anyway. So it depends. In fact if I didn't have the FF5 Fiesta coming up soon I'd probably go replay it, it's been a while...
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Jun 13, 2013 16:07
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The Joe Man posted:This is 100% correct. I was actually going to edit my post before and decided "nahhh." If you play anything that says Forsaken Gods or Arcania well you just might be dead and in hell for all eternity. I should note that I actually did like Risen 2 but it has gently caress-all to do with other games in those series and is all KINDS of euro-janky, even more so than the normal euro-janky that the rest of the series is. Maybe get it if it's like $5 on steam again or something.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:09
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My point was more that DQ5 is another high encounter rate game that makes itself criminally easy by spamming you with so many trash fights you end up over leveled. It's also a DQ game whose plot was neat at the time but it's completely in nostalgia territory at this point, much like FF4 (which was really its main selling point). I mean at least the DQ4 story approach is still pretty novel to this day. Which is kind of surprising now that I think about it. I never played the PSP version of DQ5 but the PS2 version sounds and looks great.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:17
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And my point now is that DQ5's story is not only enjoyable by those who have nostalgia for it (especially since none of us played it on release!), but stands strong with its creativity and weight.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:34
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You're trying to go down an objective perspective on DQ5 whereas I'm framing my statements around the context of a guy who is quitting FF4 to go play DQ5. One could just as easily say FF4 is as creative/weighty in its plot, if not more so than DQ5. But really DQ5 is going to suffer from a lot of the same issues that FF4 has if you play the game today. If you want me to say DQ5 has some creative (for a JRPG) parts to its story, then sure I'll give you that I guess?
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Jun 13, 2013 16:45
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Prism posted:I disliked DQ5 the first time I played it (Super Famicom on a tolerable but not great fan translation). Going to three party members seemed like a step back and the graphics were terrible for Super Famicom. This, a thousand times this. Both DQ5 and FF4 were the first SFC entries for their by-then iconic series. FF4 was a huge leap forward, which earns it a lot of that nostalgia, while DQ5 was a wasted opportunity despite some great ideas. The DQ5 remake is fantastic in that it fixes the problems and lets the game's fun shine through. I feel the same way about FF4DS, for what it's worth, but I understand why that opinion isn't shared by everyone.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:55
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The only version of DQ5 I've played was the DS remake and I thought it was brilliant.
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Jun 13, 2013 17:02
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Rascyc posted:One could just as easily say FF4 is as creative/weighty in its plot, if not more so than DQ5. I'm not the one who is going to say that though, because I think Dragon Quest 5 is loads better! The only way this is ever gonna be settled is when BadAstronaut comes in here saying he quit out of boredom/beat the game.
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Jun 13, 2013 17:04
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(DQ5) Being able to marry Debora blew my mind when I played the DS version. I went for her just for fun but I didn't believe for a second you could actually do it! Didn't regret it for a second, either. She even sort of turns into a pretty sympathetic character in the end. I did feel sort of bad when I went to visit Bianca, though... That game was ahead of its time in some ways.
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Jun 13, 2013 17:08
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Wendell posted:I'm not the one who is going to say that though, because I think Dragon Quest 5 is loads better! The only way this is ever gonna be settled is when BadAstronaut comes in here saying he quit out of boredom/beat the game. I played through DQ5 DS version a couple of years ago and honestly can't remember any of it. I clearly liked it enough to finish the game, but none of it stuck with me long-term.
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Jun 13, 2013 17:30
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Wendell posted:I'm not the one who is going to say that though, because I think Dragon Quest 5 is loads better! The only way this is ever gonna be settled is when BadAstronaut comes in here saying he quit out of boredom/beat the game. I definitely will once I've played it. Think I might move on to something else now. Maybe Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow to mix up my genres a bit. Or Metroid Fusion. Dragon Quest 5 will have to wait for now 
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Jun 13, 2013 23:48
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I've never been able to get into FFIV but I found what I played of Dragon Quest V (~10 hours or so before it was stolen) to be fantastic. I definitely wouldn't make assumptions based on the guy's opinion of Final Fantasy IV.
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Jun 14, 2013 01:46
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So I played Last Remnant a long time ago and gave up on it but people are still talking about it and I don't really understand why. Am I missing something? When I tried to get through it it seemed tedious as gently caress, especially the side quests. I remember doing some thing where I had to run through a huge desert finding markers in order that weren't labeled until you ran all the way up to them. The fighting seemed to just screw you arbitrarily and for a lot of things it seemed like there was only one right way to do things and it was rarely obvious through the game what that was. Steam says I got like 24 hours in but I hardly remember much of consequence happening or any cool moments that would justify going back and trying to finish it.
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Jun 14, 2013 02:57
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I've also never finished FF4 either, 3 & 4 are the only classic FFs I've never managed to finish, but I love DQ5, definitely my favorite Dragon Quest. Good Citizen posted:So I played Last Remnant a long time ago and gave up on it but people are still talking about it and I don't really understand why. Am I missing something? When I tried to get through it it seemed tedious as gently caress, especially the side quests. I remember doing some thing where I had to run through a huge desert finding markers in order that weren't labeled until you ran all the way up to them. The fighting seemed to just screw you arbitrarily and for a lot of things it seemed like there was only one right way to do things and it was rarely obvious through the game what that was. It's a unique game with with really weird mechanics, that's pretty much all I liked about it, and the mechanics were interesting enough that I beat it and had fun with it. The story is poo poo, the combat is very luck based, and it's overall not a very good game.
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Jun 14, 2013 03:22
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It's one of the few JRPGs that got ported over to the PC in recent years. It's the only big-budget one I can think of anyway.
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Jun 14, 2013 03:55
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Nighteyedie posted:It's a unique game with with really weird mechanics, that's pretty much all I liked about it, and the mechanics were interesting enough that I beat it and had fun with it. The story is poo poo, the combat is very luck based, and it's overall not a very good game. The story's fairly average if you ask me, but yeah, the battle mechanics are really what makes the game shine, and once you know how to arrange your unions, how to combo and chain attacks, that feeling of achievement is great. I also liked the glimpses of characterization they gave your party members if you talked to them enough, but finding out those little snippets would have been near-impossible if the wiki wasn't there and/or if I was a more impatient bugger.
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Jun 14, 2013 04:03
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Authorman posted:Still haven't touched 4, even though I've owned it for while now. 5 was their attempt to get back to a game more like 2, which is both a good and a bad thing. It really amplifies every bad thing 2 did far beyond 2 ever did (missable obscure to collect characters, completely broken battle system, endless opening section of the game). Still it has some of the best early bad endings I've seen in an rpg, so it still has good things going for it. 5 was... it had a lot of potential in my eyes, but it committed the gravest JRPG crime ever: I don't care if my True Runes don't do cool poo poo, and you let me turn off the awful voice acting so I can overlook its largely hamfisted dialogue, but gently caress those ten-second battle load times.
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Jun 14, 2013 04:38
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The White Dragon posted:5 was... it had a lot of potential in my eyes, but it committed the gravest JRPG crime ever: I don't care if my True Runes don't do cool poo poo, and you let me turn off the awful voice acting so I can overlook its largely hamfisted dialogue, but gently caress those ten-second battle load times. I had a problem with those on my older PS2 but they were less noticable on a newer one. They never bothered me as much as, say, FF9's but yeah, I think it depends a lot on your system
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Jun 14, 2013 05:15
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Good Citizen posted:So I played Last Remnant a long time ago and gave up on it but people are still talking about it and I don't really understand why. Am I missing something? When I tried to get through it it seemed tedious as gently caress, especially the side quests. I remember doing some thing where I had to run through a huge desert finding markers in order that weren't labeled until you ran all the way up to them. The fighting seemed to just screw you arbitrarily and for a lot of things it seemed like there was only one right way to do things and it was rarely obvious through the game what that was. It's a really long game. I haven't quite finished it yet, but almost at the end, the story's merely okay. It's not godawful, but nor have I been blown away and thought "that writing was really good." Finding all the side-quests and upgrading party members equipment are both really opaque and will try the patience of most people. If you want your party members to upgrade their own stuff, you'll basically need to play with a pencil and pad of paper beside you, and alt-tab to the Wiki to look up things a lot. (Thankfully, the Wiki is very good at not spoiling anything.) You can play in the INI settings and set something so you can manually equip them, but there are so many different possible options based on the role of that person (which also require you to hunt for upgrade materials) that I'm not sure it's easier. The combat part of the gameplay is the best part because it is quite unique. Because you can only issue general orders to your squads, the fighting can be hard until you figure out how to manipulate things to your advantage best. One non-obvious thing at the start - don't just send your union at the first one the game points you at. Try targeting others and seeing what different options come up. It may also be helpful to hold back a union if you can to let them build up AP and unleash more powerful attacks. The awesome moments tend to happen when the situation changes mid-turn, and your squads, still following the original orders can adjust what they were going to do in a surprisingly helpful way. A lot is luck-based, but it helps if you train your squads in the right things and make sure that at least one person in each group can heal and at least one can revive (preferably more the farther you get). Don't have a squad of mixed magic and melee users, they'll end up being middling at both and they're less likely to learn the high-tier arts. It's important to disable any arts you don't want that unit to use, so they can focus more on improving the ones they do use. Other than healing, squads should probably use only one or two art types, and some are more useful than others (Hexes and Invocations are better damage-dealing mystic arts than Evocations, Remedies are easier to use for healing than Lotions, Psionics are great at manipulating enemy morale).
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Jun 14, 2013 13:00
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The Witcher 2 is on sale on Steam this weekend for a little more than $6, if anybody wants to give it a spin and hasn't yet. In unrelated news, yesterday was the fantastically silly imaginary release date listed for Shadowrun Returns on Steam. I think we all knew that wasn't gonna happen, but has there been any development news on the game that isn't almost a month old now?
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Jun 14, 2013 17:49
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