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Nate RFB posted:I can't think of a single redeeming feature in VC2. The developers learned their lesson and went back to something similar to the original for VC3?
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Feb 9, 2014 03:22
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TehGherkin posted:Hey can anyone give me the lowdown on stuff I need to know going into Divine Divinity? I've always wanted to play it and I saw a friend playing Dragon Knight Saga earlier, and I really wanna play that. Unfortunately I literally can't play a game out of order of release even if they're only barely related. Same with films and books. Divine Divinity and DKS are both great games but they couldn't be more different. Unlike DKS, which is a 3rd-person action RPG, Divine Divinity is basically an open-world Diablo-like. I guess the only thing I'd recommend is to pick an archetype and stick with it. You can mix Warrior/Magician/Rogue skills to a point, but you don't want to spread your skill points too thin. Also at some point you'll probably establish a "home base" somewhere with containers you can stash loot in to sell/use later. Even though you'll mostly get there through the use of teleport stones, you'll save yourself a lot of headache if you establish it relatively close to a teleporter pad.
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Feb 9, 2014 03:38
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Nate RFB posted:I can't think of a single redeeming feature in VC2.
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Feb 9, 2014 04:32
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Nate RFB posted:I can't think of a single redeeming feature in VC2. Randy. Randy ruled.
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Feb 9, 2014 04:34
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Endorph posted:The characters designs were appealing enough?  Maybe that's playing dirty since most of them are innocuous but eh.
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Feb 9, 2014 04:52
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Nate RFB posted:I can't think of a single redeeming feature in VC2. Killing tanks with swords was hilarious?
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Feb 9, 2014 04:57
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Neddy Seagoon posted:The developers learned their lesson and went back to something similar to the original for VC3? Heck, VC3 actually makes the multi map stuff VC2 introduced interesting.
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Feb 9, 2014 05:15
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I was always planning on giving VC3 a try so that's good to hear. Although more than the small maps I think what bothered me the most were the unit limitations. 6 was just too few for crafting an effective VC force. It made most strategies boil down to "charge the enemy base, recall the unit once they get too far out". As opposed to VC1 where you had to actually maintain defensive lines with a variety of units.
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Feb 9, 2014 05:25
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VC3 ups the number to 9, I think.
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Feb 9, 2014 05:34
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Nate RFB posted:I was always planning on giving VC3 a try so that's good to hear. Although more than the small maps I think what bothered me the most were the unit limitations. 6 was just too few for crafting an effective VC force. It made most strategies boil down to "charge the enemy base, recall the unit once they get too far out". As opposed to VC1 where you had to actually maintain defensive lines with a variety of units. VC3 has total deploy limit of 9 with cap of 5 per map, so there is quite a bit more freedom for different force splits (though it feels too stretched when you have 4 map scenarios with lots of connections, as it's difficult to fully secure stuff in scenarios like that). Edit: tactics still mainly feel centered around opening a route with shocktroopers and then getting the next camp with scouts, but sometimes flanking via other maps helps deal with stuff like tanks and emplacements. Also your own tank is 1CP in VC3, regardless of its weight (heavier builds move less), so you can actually use armor to spearhead offensives! OddObserver fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Feb 9, 2014 |
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Feb 9, 2014 05:37
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TehGherkin posted:Hey can anyone give me the lowdown on stuff I need to know going into Divine Divinity? I've always wanted to play it and I saw a friend playing Dragon Knight Saga earlier, and I really wanna play that. Unfortunately I literally can't play a game out of order of release even if they're only barely related. Same with films and books. The games are classless, but in Divine Divinity, some things to note: - Your gender determines what two skills you start out knowing. - While technically the game is classless, your starting class does have a pretty big influence on character progression. First, it determines what special skill you get. Warriors get Whirlwind, Survivors get Sneak, Wizards get Swap Places. It also determines the benefits you get from points into your primary attributes: Warriors get the biggest bonus to health per point in Constitution, Wizards the smallest. Vice-versa for Intelligence. Warriors get a bigger damage bonus per point into Strength and Wizards get a negligible bonus for points into Strength. Warriors get a bonus to Offense with points into Agility (and a penalty to Defense), Survivors get a bonus to Defense with points into Agility (and a penalty to Offense), and Wizards get a penalty to both.
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Feb 9, 2014 06:08
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Much appreciated. I'm thinking of going wizard as last time I attempted it I went warrior. How are wizards in this game, do they start weak and end up the master-race ala D&D? I'm really looking forward to the second one, even though it's a totally different style, the mind reading looks great, plus loving dragons. I have to do things chronologically though, so this first.
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Feb 9, 2014 08:11
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TehGherkin posted:Much appreciated. I'm thinking of going wizard as last time I attempted it I went warrior. How are wizards in this game, do they start weak and end up the master-race ala D&D? All classes are pretty balanced IMHO. I went wizard last time and it worked out pretty well, though the wizard's innate ability is probably the worst of the three classes. I don't think my wizard was significantly more powerful in the end game than my Survivor was the first time I played. (though that was when the game first came out way back in 2002 or whatever so my memory may be foggy) One of the advantages of being a wizard (or any magic-focused build for that matter) is that there are a lot of skill tomes for spells in the game which you can use to boost magic skills without having to invest valuable skill points. They're rare, and they're expensive, but you get more leeway to play around with them.
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Feb 9, 2014 16:21
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TehGherkin posted:Much appreciated. I'm thinking of going wizard as last time I attempted it I went warrior. How are wizards in this game, do they start weak and end up the master-race ala D&D? Wizards can be brokenly good... if you know what you're doing. How much patience you have and how much you're willing to exploit things can determine that as well. I did an LP of Divinity 1 and was surprised how crazy broken a wizard could get if you really tried. In Divine Divinity, bookshelves have a random chance of spawning a spellbook (only wizard spells, no other classes). If you abuse save and reload you can accumulate a huge pile of them. Two downsides to wizards are that mana doesn't regenerate on its own, you need to drink potions/eat certain items, or rest (which you can only do every so often). This can be mostly compensated for by buying all the Small Flasks you can get in Aleroth each time you return to town. Using them to make health and mana potions from herbs and mushrooms, then combine them to make Small Restoration potions, which are the best recovery item in the game. If you're diligent about gathering, you can have a healthy supply before you cross the river. The second downside is that Intelligence only gives you 6 points of mana per point of Int. It's better than the 4 Warriors get, but with 5 attribute points, that's only 30 mana per level. Plus, you're going to want about 70 points of Strength to wear the best gear. Constitution isn't a great investment either, as even 5 points only gives a Wizard 20 more health. Charms are what you can use to make up for deficiencies. Charms are things you put into socketable gear. The size of the gear doesn't matter, so even a ring can have a Charm Quality of 5 (meaning you can put in 5 Charms). The best quality charms can give you +100 to Health or +100 to Mana. It takes a while before you reach enemies high enough level to randomly drop those, though.
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Feb 9, 2014 17:30
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So, in Resonance of Fate, I've made it to Chapter 11 without too much trouble overall but the boss fight there is spontaneously way more of a problem. Lagerfeld's teleportation gimmick compounded with it being a solo battle (something which on its own would make the fight absurdly difficult) in particular is where all the trouble comes from. I know that I have to hit him in a way that he can't see me hitting him, but in order to do so I have to fire my machinegun a lot earlier than I would like. Zeph's MG level is 24 but I'm finding that if I wait beyond ~4.3x base damage then he just warps and hits me with that absurdly overpowered combo that removes like 3k HP and is uncounterable. Lagerfeld has too much HP for that amount of charge to really be efficient and with only 9 Bezel Shards I end up in, or near, critical condition when Lagerfeld's at around half HP if I'm lucky, even though reading around suggests that just about everyone else reckons he should be beatable in like 2 or 3 runs. I get the impression then that my gun just isn't min-maxed enough, looking at customisation stuff doesn't really help because they just post images of the gun and mods without mentioning what they are which in some cases is fine but in others just leaves me confused because there's a bunch of things that look the same. Even with the PDW-XN.V2 (the optional one from Dakota Vein and the only other MG I have beyond the one Zephyr started with) stacked to optimise Charge Speed/Acceleration as best as I think I can at this point, it still gets nowhere near as much as it apparently "should". I tried a strategy where I'd throw Toxic/Freeze/Electro Grenade (+(+))s at him, but the only ones that did anything beyond tiny damage was Electro and the stun effect didn't seem to actually make a difference. Reloaded a save from the end of Chapter 10 in the meantime to try and stack the deck in my favour further, but that's boiled down to grinding the arena which I've been doing in half hour bursts so I don't end up sick of it.
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Feb 9, 2014 22:15
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So I need a game that is like bravely default that isn't exclusvely on 360/ps3 (because I no longer own them). I can't afford to buy BD for probably at least a week (ironically when everyone stops playing it) but I would like something like it to tide me over until then. I've already beaten the demo and the final bosses like ten times and it's not like I can just mindlessly grind for cash because that doesn't carry over, or items. Any tips?
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Feb 10, 2014 00:56
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GreenBuckanneer posted:So I need a game that is like bravely default that isn't exclusvely on 360/ps3 (because I no longer own them). You could try Final Fantasy: Four Warriors of Light which is a kind of pseudo-prequel to Bravely Default, it's on the DS so I dunno how cheap you can find it nowadays. Also, it has a really weird level scaling system where you can really gently caress yourself over by grinding too much, so beware of that.
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Feb 10, 2014 01:01
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Was gonna play through the Xenosaga games and was wondering if part 3 wrapped the story. I know the series got cut short but were they able to rework things?
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Feb 10, 2014 09:18
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Six-years-ago me thought they did pretty okay. (Then again six-years-ago me was even stupider than today me is.) Also there's a codex-type thing in III (which brings you up to speed regarding the first two) and all three games have been LPed, if that's a sway factor for you. dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Feb 10, 2014 |
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Feb 10, 2014 09:44
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Spoke Lee posted:Was gonna play through the Xenosaga games and was wondering if part 3 wrapped the story. I know the series got cut short but were they able to rework things? One recommendation that always comes with the series is to skip or otherwise cheese the second one.
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Feb 10, 2014 13:01
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Spoke Lee posted:Was gonna play through the Xenosaga games and was wondering if part 3 wrapped the story. I know the series got cut short but were they able to rework things? One thing to note is if I remember right the gap between 2 and 3 is pretty large while the gap between the first two is non-existent. Naturally there was still plot happening in that gap so when you start 3 be prepared to do some reading so that you're not lost later even if you don't plan to recap the other games. I imagine those plot things were originally going to be other entries in the series, but yeah.
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Feb 10, 2014 15:41
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The gap mentioned is really only like a light timeskip. It's filled in for you later as the story goes on, though the reasons were kind of dumb. I mean, as RPGs go Xenosaga 3 is easily the best one, but namcobandai really poo poo all over the franchise in trying to compete with FFX, localization, blaming poor sales due to it not being good enough and changing stuff up to "fix" it (when part of it was localization and being tryhards on the devs). It "ties" up the plot threads but you can tell they tried to mush everything together towards the end because they didn't have enough game. Combat is great tho.
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Feb 10, 2014 17:14
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Anyone else playing Paper Sorcerer? I have been enjoying it a lot and for a measly 5 bucks you really cant go wrong. It's a classic turn based RPG with tons of party customization and a first person exploration. The combat system is ap and cd based and it's pretty fun and tactical. But imo the best part about the game is that the devs looked at the endless grind of most turn based rpgs and said "gently caress that". There are no random battles and floors are short and to the point. Battles are hard and last a long time, but there are usually only 2 or 3 per floor, so every one of them feels meaningful and the game never gets tedious. It's a must buy for any lover of good, tactical turn based RPGs. The graphics are kinda lovely tho, Legend of Grimrock this is not. And the music takes some getting used to (but it has grown on me)
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Feb 10, 2014 18:20
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Friendly Factory fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Jun 4, 2018 |
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Feb 11, 2014 04:02
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I don't think there is any news really. I've started playing it recently and beforehand I was reading around to see if maybe I should wait and play it on PC, but I couldn't find any release date or anything. I can only assume that it shouldn't be THAT much longer though, considering they originally thought it would be out in 2013 and the sequel is still apparently slated for a mid 2014 release
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Feb 11, 2014 05:06
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babypolis posted:Anyone else playing Paper Sorcerer? I have been enjoying it a lot and for a measly 5 bucks you really cant go wrong. I think I'd really like this game if the interface weren't ... whatever the gently caress it is. Everything is super clunky and takes way longer to do than it should. Information is hidden that should be obvious, things just feel crazy thrown together. Combat animation speed is also ridiculously slow. I'm running the 2.2 demo version for whatever that's worth, don't know if it's radically out of date or what. I actually like the graphics though, it's got a cool monochrome style to it, reminds me a lot of Dark Spire.
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Feb 11, 2014 08:30
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Friendly Factory posted:Is there info on when Trails in the Sky 1 is going to be on Steam? I've been itching for a jRPG lately and had been looking forward to it after hearing good things. They said winter 2013, now early 2014, but I can't find info beyond that. I couldn't get into it on the PSP so I decided to wait on the PC version and I asked the same question the other day. I'd prefer it on a bigger screen because my old eyes don't do handhelds very well anymore. I hope we hear something soon.
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Feb 11, 2014 13:10
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Well, in the year of our Lord two thousand and fourteen I've finally gotten round to playing Chrono Trigger and drat I can't believe this game was made in 1995, it's like a response to every criticism of the jRPG genre up to and including the current gen, how the hell did its own developers manage to ignore nearly every cool thing they did in every subsequent game they made? For example: - Not only are there no random battles but there's not a needlessly large amount of scripted battles either either, allowing the game to move at a brisk pace. - All encounters take place on the explorable field cutting down on loading times and keeping a stronger sense of continuity between modes of gameplay. - Positioning being relevant in combat allows for a greater variety of special moves with less redundancies and smarter hand-crafted encounter design without bogging the game down with slow-paced SRPG mechanics. - Side quests are heavily telegraphed and I'm fairly sure are not missable, or at least have really obvious fail conditions, I don't think there's a single instance of 'in between events N and M, go back to area B and talk to the dog twice' bullshit you still see in jRPGs today. I get the underlying reasoning for the first three points is almost certainly prioritisation of graphics over gameplay systems, which is depressing, but it still baffles me that if this game were to released for the first time today it would almost certainly be held up as a paragon of progressive game design when it's been sitting there for nearly twenty years, held up as a great game but basically ignored from a design perspective.
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Feb 11, 2014 14:41
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I had a lot of the same thoughts when playing Earthbound for the first time last year. At least for me, it's aged incredibly well, and should be copied much more often than it is. Not only are enemies visible, but they run from you once you are powerful enough? Combat with weak enemies just autoresolves? I am even okay with the limited inventory in Earthbound, which I normally hate, since it's so obviously to make you use your cool items instead of hoarding them forever.
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Feb 11, 2014 15:12
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I'll never get over why more JRPGs don't use the Chrono Trigger sidequest system. It's basically the perfect way to go about adding content to a game in a way that is both relevant to the plot/gameplay but also easy to initiate. I guess the argument would be that they aren't sidequests per se, but rather endgame preparations that just happen to not be mandatory. But compared to say the Tales series? I just shake my head every time. The only sidequest that is missable is the one with the forest, but only if you deliberately close it off by telling the girl in Zeal to burn the plant. And technically there is the black chest trick where you can power them up in a specific manner, though that's not really part of any one sidequest.
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Feb 11, 2014 15:26
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I really love the way the enemies are integrated into the world as well. Every other RPG with visible enemies just has them aimlessly wandering, but Chrono Trigger has them hiding in bushes, kicking each other around, charging across the plains, spinning in circles for the hell of it, just existing in ways that are natural to the world. The game was a culmination of everything that RPGs had been building toward to that point, and it even has some future-looking stuff like the non-tile based background for the trial.
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Feb 11, 2014 15:30
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Wendell posted:I really love the way the enemies are integrated into the world as well. Every other RPG with visible enemies just has them aimlessly wandering, but Chrono Trigger has them hiding in bushes, kicking each other around, charging across the plains, spinning in circles for the hell of it, just existing in ways that are natural to the world. The game was a culmination of everything that RPGs had been building toward to that point, and it even has some future-looking stuff like the non-tile based background for the trial. The enemies existing organically really stood out for me as a kid. The first time you're in the future you go through a series of junkyards, and at some point there's a creepy looking fat mutant thing lying around. Sure enough when you pass near the thing it springs to life and attacks you. I was like 6 and my instincive inclination was to try to slowly walk by despite knowing that probably wouldn't let me avoid the combat.
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Feb 11, 2014 15:36
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I could write a 3 hour documentary stating why Chrono Trigger is the second greatest game ever made. It just consists entirely of Good Things. It's one of the only games I've ever played where every element feels like its working with the others around it, and it is just consistently fun and its super player friendly and an all around joyous experience and oh my gosh I love Chrono Trigger so much 
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Feb 11, 2014 15:55
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And then six years later the same director would make you dodge 200 lightning bolts in a row and dodge suicidal birds to finish a race in zero seconds. I just don't understand what went wrong 
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Feb 11, 2014 16:06
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I assume Chrono Trigger was made by a lot of people contributing, whereas FF10's gameplay stuff was him without any restraints. Kind of like Final Fantasy Tactics was fairly polished even if it had some stupid stuff like Deep Dungeon/Midnight's Deep, but Tactics Ogre for the PSP is every possible way you can make a game a grindy slog that could have been fixed in five minutes, despite being made much later later.
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Feb 11, 2014 16:46
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Gwyrgyn Blood posted:I think I'd really like this game if the interface weren't ... whatever the gently caress it is. Everything is super clunky and takes way longer to do than it should. Information is hidden that should be obvious, things just feel crazy thrown together. Combat animation speed is also ridiculously slow. I'm running the 2.2 demo version for whatever that's worth, don't know if it's radically out of date or what. Yeah the game really does feel kinda thrown together, lots of minor bugs, grammar issues, and as you said the interface is a mess. I dunno how much the demo is improved on, I didnt really play it. But the game has been getting some decent support, so it might have been better. But the actual battle design is actually kind of brilliant, the battle system is really interesting and well done.
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Feb 11, 2014 16:54
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There are also a lot of people who actually like random battles, discrete battlefield screens, etc and will complain mightily if their pet series eschews them for a game or two (see how much people other than me hated FFXII for example). So exploring new mechanics in new IPs with comparatively lower development costs (say, developing for a handheld) is a thing these days. Taking risks on AAA titles is seen as ill-advised.
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Feb 11, 2014 18:23
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Dross posted:There are also a lot of people who actually like random battles, discrete battlefield screens, etc and will complain mightily if their pet series eschews them for a game or two (see how much people other than me hated FFXII for example). So exploring new mechanics in new IPs with comparatively lower development costs (say, developing for a handheld) is a thing these days. Taking risks on AAA titles is seen as ill-advised. Well Chrono Trigger is one of the most highly regarded games of all time and alot of things it did are things people always complain jRPGs don't do, it's hardly some crazy niche RPG like the SaGa series with wildly left-field mechanics. Anyway, that's all I came here to say; it's an absolutely phenomenal game.
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Feb 11, 2014 19:06
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It always disappoints me that the sequel to Chrono Trigger didn't do those very things that help make Chrono Trigger unique and good.
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Feb 11, 2014 19:11
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A Steampunk Gent posted:Well Chrono Trigger is one of the most highly regarded games of all time and alot of things it did are things people always complain jRPGs don't do, it's hardly some crazy niche RPG like the SaGa series with wildly left-field mechanics. Anyway, that's all I came here to say; it's an absolutely phenomenal game. Chrono Trigger is really well regarded but not for any specific one reason. It's a solid game because almost everyone can find something to like about it but they don't always agree what is good and bad.
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Feb 11, 2014 19:11
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