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al-azad
May 28, 2009



JammyLammy posted:

Legend of Mana is like playing through a Fairy tale story book. Fun characters and gorgeous backdrops. Music was drat good too.

I played LoM to death and battled my friends almost every day as we tried to outdo each others magic instruments and see who could construct the most ridiculous golem. With that said, LoM suffered from this huge lack of direction. This is the difficulty with writing a sandbox game because you can literally beat LoM without coming to the conclusion of any storyline and I'm fairly certain some of them can be closed off forever if you do them wrong. I never did get a conclusion to that ruby hunter, the underworld quests, the centaur, the pirates, the dog who had the terrible lisp, and basically the only thing I finished were those two monks or something (a catgirl and some blonde guy without a shirt) that end up fighting and then THE END.

The game didn't provide any other guidance for possible storylines, gave me the sword of mana, and for some reason a goddess is evil and now I have to fight her. Okay, I went from stoned (er, petrified) pirates to killing god.

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al-azad
May 28, 2009



Ehhhhhh, Musashi Legends or whatever it's called is really easy and boring. I beat it in three days a few years ago and I completely forgot everything about the experience. All I remember is running around empty worlds, tons of backtracking, simple bosses, stupid puzzles, and a really boring story that had none of the charm of the original.

Pretty graphics, though.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Cool Cool Cool posted:

Speaking of charm, what are some other delightfully charming rpg's? The only one's I've ever liked enough to complete were Skies of Arcadia and Final Fantasy IX, if that gives any indication. I can play pretty much anything that isn't on PS3 or 360 or too new on PC.

Any of the Mother games but GRANDIA GRANDIA GRANDIA.

It's the only coming-of-age RPG story I can stomach because the characters are all likeable, even the villains. There's quite a bit of character development with people coming and going based on their motivation and actual need to be in the story (no "my side-plot is finished so I'll join the party but remain silent forever" characters like in nearly every other RPG). It's also the only RPG I can think of with camp fire and dining scenes which are kind of like the skits in Star Ocean or later Tales games that serve to expand on the characters as they talk about marriage and spicy desert food. Finally, it's the only PS1 game off the top of my head with a genuine love story that's not "We're nearing the final boss, I always loved you spikey headed hero." The relationship between the two protagonists grows slowly throughout the entire first disc, explodes in the second disc, then it rollercoasters as crazy poo poo starts happening in the 2nd disc.

Greatest point in the entire game is when Justin, our intrepid hero whose been totally cool up to this point, botches a fight, loses his girlfriend to one of the former villains, and is totally depressed. They march him through the mud, in the rain, as literally every named character (including a few former villains) berate him as he walks by. He immediately gets his poo poo in gear and musters the courage to enter the final dungeon. I refuse to play the game a 2nd time because I know it'll ruin my memories.

Ignore everything after Grandia, blech.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Danith posted:

All you people playing console RPG's :(

I grew up with computer RPG's like Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Treasures of the Savage Frontier, Pool of Darkness.. beat all of those multiple times. Also loved (and beat) Darksun and Darksun 2. Good times.

Ah, the golden age of PC gaming.


An age that guaranteed "A tree in every box."



An age where the manual contained the entire plot and you were referred to "Page X, Line Y" at random intervals.


An age where massive rear end disks had to be changed every time you entered a new area.


An age where copyright protection was simultaneously draconic and totally awesome.


An age where monsters outnumbered you 6:1 and you looked at the "Game Over" screen more than your inventory screen.


If I had my way, I'd totally go back.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Which anime game series on the PS2 has this dude who enters women's minds through a hole in the back of their heads and messes with them? I remember it had really creepy and suggestive dialog ("I... I want you inside me :3") and the designers literally advertised it by calling it "moe" and defined what that word meant.

There's also this 360 game I heard about where the special edition came with a pillow that had a bikini clad anime girl on it.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Bellmaker posted:

What's a jRPG with a good magic system? I'm a sucker for elemental strengths/weaknesses, especially when it applies to everyone. I played the hell out of Magical Starsign (the game's plot-shift from Earthbound-esque whimsy to "totally serious" nearly gave me whiplash), Chrono Cross, SMT...

Any of the Wild Arms games especially the first one which lets you custom create magic by piecing glyphs together or something.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Nathilus posted:

Hell yes, the Gold Box games kicked rear end. Neverwinter Nights was my first graphical online game. The gold box one, not the new one.

I'd have to say though in terms of storytelling and player freedom the next generation of RPGs kicked the poo poo out of gold box games. The generation that included the mindblowing Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and that Arabian Nights themed game. I can never remember the name of that drat game.

Al-Qadim: Genie's Curse.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



I could never get past this part in Omikron where you meet Bowie face to face and have to solve some ridiculous puzzle that makes no sense.

The game itself was completely jaw dropping when it came out. The graphics kicked the poo poo out of everything, the world was absolutely massive, and it ran fine on even the shittiest computers. I think I'm one of the few people who enjoyed the combat and shooting mechanics.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



I don't even remember the part I was on. You plant bombs in a factory and then you have to figure out a code to a giant rock or something and there's absolutely no clues on how to continue further. I'd love to play the game again but it's impossible to get working on any machine older than 2000 and the Dreamcast version has terrible controls.

Atleast I have the announced Omikron 2 to look forward to. Maybe GoG will get together with QD to release O:tNS.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



I'm of the school that Alpha Protocol was amazing and I enjoyed playing the game as much as I enjoyed the excellent writing. I didn't even pick the cheesed skills like stealth and pistols. I played an assault rifle/shotgun/infiltration expert and basically ran from point A to point B killing every mother fucker that got in my way. It was a blast so I played a second time as a serious spy veteran who mastered in stealth and pistols to chain shot my way through the entire thing in half the time.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Samurai Sanders posted:

I see that TOEE is one of the "get horribly murdered over and over again" type of RPG.

Only if you don't understand the D&D 3e battle system and character building. 1st level adventurers exist only to die horrible and hilarious deaths but if you sleep/entangle spam your way to 2nd level and beyond you'll be raping everything.

So, yes, there is that stiff level of entry. It's kind of ironic that BG2's entry level is far lower because you already start out pretty powerful and the difficult encounters are spaced out.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Like Neverwinter Nights, Drakensang is based off a table top RPG so it's pretty difficult to document the 300 pages of rules into a single manual or translate them into a game. Drakensang takes fewer liberties with the rules than NWN does which feels less like Dungeons & Dragons and more like Diablo & Dragons.

That said, check out Realms of Arkania (available for cheap on Good Old Games) to see where the series came from. It was a really solid trilogy of old school RPGs that made a lot of advances to the genre way before anyone else. It also has some deep subsystems and hidden mechanics like catching a cold if you sleep outside without a blanket.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



I'm ashamed to say I'm enjoying Mana Khemia despite being a collection of every anime trope in the world. Voice acting is painful and load times are horrendous but if your game has a deep item crafting system then you've won me over for the next 60 hours.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



casual poster posted:

Anyone looking forward to Dungeon Siege 3?

"looking forward to" no, there's too much poo poo on my backlog, but I enjoyed the demo and it's an Obsidian game with actual polish! It'll be less than $30 come winter Steam sale and I'll scoop it up.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



I made peace with the temple, the strike against Fallout 2 was the mandatory final boss. Even if you convince those dudes to join you and activate the turrets, the guy has 999hp, has instant aggro against you, and can one-shot an average character from the entire screen away. I got lucky by just defending and eventually a turret caught his attention. Everyone was pinging away for 25-50 damage and the turrets got a few lucky critical hits. I was playing as a social character and even with Enclave power armor the guy was a beast.

Worth it for one of the coolest 2D animated death throe.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Did we play the same Grandia 2? The ps2 version lags in towns so horribly it's almost unplayable.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



U.T. Raptor posted:

iirc, it was only that one town.

I got it in every major town. I don't remember the names but it was the one with the tongue demon and the big city. I'm sure I got it elsewhere but you spend so much time in those areas it was crippling.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Jack's Flow posted:

Mr. J.E. Sawyer on RPG Design.
Reading this only makes me sad. My biggest complaint with Mass Effect 2 (beyond the handling of the story and characters) was how shallow it felt. Both games are poor-man's shooters wrapped in an adventure-game shell but Mass Effect 1 kept me entertained through the end with busy work. "Busy work" usually carries negative connotations but I enjoyed comparing armor/weapon attributes, upgrading equipment, exploring planets, and bumping up stats. Mass Effect 2 was somehow longer than the first game but had nearly nothing to keep you preoccupied. Every level felt exactly the same and I couldn't invest myself into the plot as I scanned planets, talked to random people, and moved on to the next poorly designed linear hallway.

But the majority of gamers liked the straight shooter poo poo of ME2 and that changed everyone's opinions. If Alpha Protocol had come out before ME2, even by a month, it would have been better received because when you play ME1 and AP back to back they're the same loving game right down to controls and mechanics. Unfortunately ME2 convinced everyone that ME1 was terrible which carried onto Dragon Age 2 but thankfully everyone called bullshit on that. At this rate I'm expecting Dragon Age 3 to use a full out action system like Fable or Devil May Cry. I would rather Mass Effect 3 be about 12 hours long like a single run of Alpha Protocol than the 50 hours it took to not get a lovely ending in ME2.

Long post short, I'd rather developers go all out or don't. I can play through action games like Gears of War or Uncharted because they're short and sweet. If you were to extend Uncharted into a 60 hour epic then it turns into bullshit because the gameplay is too paper-thin for what you're demanding out of the player. If you challenge the player's planning and attention by having him customize every detail the next 60 hours become bearable. That's what RPGs, as a video game genre, are to me.

Polite Tim posted:

Been playing Atelier Rorona, loving hell the time system in this game is annoying. I understand it's integral to the story to have time limits, but it's loving ridiculous that it should take five days to make a batch of stuff in which you can't do anything else.

They really needed to sort that out, have a few assistants you can deligate tasks to so you can farm items and make items in the same timeframe.

Good game otherwise

It seems like all of the Atelier games have stupid time mechanics. I'm playing Mana Khemia and having the day/night cycle serves absolutely no purpose except to make enemies stupidly difficult at night.

al-azad fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Aug 24, 2011

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Honest Thief posted:

I honestly don't know how you can say that when ME1 had the exact same structure for side quests. I'll take unique or semi-unique locations to the same wharehouse battle over and over.
I never liked ME1 faux rpg mechanics, and ME2 did the right thing by removing them altogether. So what if it's not an RPG? It was barely one before.

As Kiggles said you can gauge your strength when there's noticeable mechanics behind the action. No matter how many upgrades I got or resources I pumped into little "+150% shields" etc. the change in my character's power wasn't as dramatic as the first game where equipment gradually scaled by level. ME1 suffered from the same 3 locations recycled everywhere and the "Christmas Tree" +1, +2, +3 magic item effect but those were problems that could easily be fixed.

ME2 just felt like I was playing Gears of War for 50 hours but it totally lacked the set pieces that makes Gears entertaining. ME1's planets, vehicle sections, and equipment tied it together setting it apart from every other shooter. They could have polished those sections instead of axing them altogether. Just to salt the wounds the Overlord DLC had a vehicle section and it was loving beautiful. I didn't think the Unreal Engine could make outdoor scenery look like that.

We know ME3 will have a skill tree that's not superfluous as gently caress as well as equipment customization, crouching (whose idea was it to make an action shooter and remove this?), and a greater focus on the environment. Obviously someone at BioWare was listening.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Honest Thief posted:

I'll say that ME2 main campaign was a letdown compared to the first's, while they knocked it out of the park with side content. But screw the Mako sections, that thing is crap and even Shepard could run faster than it; especially if you disabled the stamina limit on running.
You say that AP and ME are pretty much the same game but AP goes much deeper into RPG territory than ME did, and that's why I liked it better, even with all it's shoddiness.
The only saving grace for ME was it's campagin's setpieces. The shallow RPG mechanics were already distilled enough so that the experience was closer to a shooter with some RPG flavour, but what resulted was neither a particular good shooter nor RPG.
Bioware could have gone with a deeper RPG experience for ME2, but instead opted to go further into shooter territory; either way, the resulting sequel is a much better game.

The great thing about Alpha Protocol is that it didn't artificially inflate the game with bullshit. Having the game literally shut doors behind you in a mission was annoying but it didn't force you to run through bland hubs with three or four NPCs and the pacing was tight, tight, tight. If ME2 had the same pacing as AP where it cut out all the walking and jumped straight to missions, no hub areas and a galaxy map that just instantly warped you a la ME1 (what was the point of fuel anyway? to prolong the experience?) it would be a game that's 15 hours max and I would have enjoyed it loads better.

A game for me has to go all the way or not at all. It's difficult to explain but the best example I can think of is Mount & Blade. Imagine if the game took away town menus and forced you to walk through every single town and city whenever you wanted to do a single thing. Want to visit a single merchant? Walk through town. Go to the castle? Walk through town. Want to exit the town? Sorry, no quick exit button, you have to walk back to the gate you entered from. If the town is necessary for flavor then let the player walk through it once. If the only thing of interest in a town are shops, just cut out the boring poo poo and let the player teleport to a shop. If there are quest givers, place them in the most important areas. If you're going to start cutting things so there's a greater focus on a particular action then go all the way and cut the erroneous poo poo. Heavy Rain wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable if it contained a huge city map like LA Noire and forced you to drive everywhere (and if that game didn't have an auto-drive I wouldn't have finished it).

It's ironic that we complain about single player games getting shorter and shorter in favor of multiplayer content but RPGs have consistently padded their length for the sake of padding their length. Right now I'm finishing up Mana Khemia which is annoying as hell because they put the item creation station and the weapon creation station in two separate rooms forcing you to walk back and forth unless you physically write down the recipes you need. I was okay with artificially padding as a kid but as an adult it's bullshit. The Witcher 2 was the perfect length for the content it had which kept me coming back for a second run. I think I'm on my fourth run of AP and I wouldn't be if the game was a 40 hour epic. My first run I played it as a rookie action hero, no stealth or putting points into anything but health, hand-to-hand, and assault rifle. The second run was as a stealthy veteran and the game was twice as enjoyable.

al-azad fucked around with this message at 13:34 on Aug 27, 2011

al-azad
May 28, 2009



FreudianSlippers posted:

I like that Arx Fatalis actually has toilets. Too many sandbox RPGs ignore the fact that even goblins and necromancers need some place to take a poo poo but Arx Fatalis does not. There are numerous toilets scattered throughout the dank and dark halls of the underground city of Arx. At one point in the game you even need to put wine into the food of a character that gets sick from wine in order to get him to go to the shitter so you can have a chat.

And you chat with him while he's making GBS threads his guts out.

But if there were toilets in Elder Scrolls you'd have a clan of players who peep on everyone in the toilet. There would be Steam groups, Wiki's devoted to making GBS threads schedules, and youtube series galore.

On second thought, put that feature in Bethesda.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



About 3 hours into the first Persona remake on PSP. Good god is this game ugly with a horrid font that's annoying to read. Is this thing as short as I think it is (only a handful of dungeons it seems)? I probably won't ever touch Snow Queen based on how frustrating I hear it is.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



War of the Lions is better because the translation actually does the excellent story justice. Disgaea and Soul Nomad are radically different games as are most of NIS' strategy games. They play similar but each have their own mechanics. It doesn't really matter where you start because most of the strategy games are based on timeless formula.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Amppelix posted:

But does it come with the book?

The PS3 version doesn't require it like the DS version. It's kind of dissapointing because I would pay a premium for a "Magic Master" edition but you literally can't get past the first 30 minutes of the DS game without the book. Lose the book? Please send proof of purchase and $40 to Level-5 corporate and wait 6-8 weeks.

But this is drat good news, I love me some JRPGs.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Doc Hawkins posted:

It would have been brilliant 3 years ago. It would have been oddly last-minute a year ago. Now it is truly strange.

Maybe it'll be downloadable on the Vita also? Hopefully along with the sequel, since it's, you know, one of the greatest RPGs ever made.

If it's a PSP title then you can play it on Vita unless they're doing something weird like utilizing the camera or something.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



It's old but I've been (re)enthralled with Ultima Underworld. The controls take a bit to get used to but the game is proof that level design just isn't what it used to be. In the first five minutes I stumbled on a secret door and took a swim down an underground river to wind up halfway across the map on the complete opposite side of where I was supposed to go fighting goblins and poo poo on the way back. There's a bug in the game where sound effects are replaced with piano sounds but I haven't bothered fixing it because it actually sounds nice.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



The website has it pushed back as well. I just called my friend (manages a store) and he said they never received the shipment even for preorders. The stores receive normal shipments Tuesday and Friday mornings. Let's see how Amazon handles it because we might have another Catherine/Bit.Trip mess where some stores get it but most don't and Amazon was delaying people three to five days before shipment.

Ico/Shadow was chilling in retail stockrooms since last Tuesday, oddly enough.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



thetoughestbean posted:

If a segway from Suikoden II is allowed, I'd like to raise a question:

What makes a JRPG, or any RPG, "good"? A better phrasing probably is "what makes a good RPG?"

I love the first six Final Fantasies, with III and V being my favorites because I like the job systems, FFTA2 is honestly my favorite game ever, and I played through Bravely Default twice without playing other games in between. However, I can't put my finger on why they appeal to me so much beyond the joy managing to get my numbers high enough to beat the final boss.

I have to quote Tom Francis on "What Makes Games Good" for this. RPGs usually embody a sense of Promise, more so than any other genre. Story has its place but I've found myself far more interested in a game's mechanics than anything else. I've played games I hated to the end (Wild Arms 3 and Dark Cloud instantly come to mind) because I enjoy the systems in place and genuinely want to acquire the next level or stat point so I can tweak my character further. God drat you if you have even the most rudimentary random loot system in place, I will probably buy and complete your game because I'm like a baby in a ball pit when it comes to character load outs.

Second to Promise are the games that evoke a sense of PLace. I love Ni no Kuni, Planescape: Torment, Persona, and Dragon Quest 8 despite being mechanically broken or simplistic games they have a wonderfully realized world and my goal is to see every new level or event. Valkyrie Profile evoked Fantasy, what other game lets you be the herald of the apocalypse, collecting deceased warriors for your army? CRPGs like Dinivity: Original Sin and Ultima 7 embody a sense of Freedom that few games have.

Sakurazuka posted:

You can tell they were coming off of the MMO FF11 when they made 12, a lot of the system are way more obtuse than anything else in the series.

Actually, I guess it's more likely Matsuno's fault, since Vagrant Story was also a mess of poorly explained mechanics.

Matsuno probably had nothing to do with the game's design beyond creating Ivalice. I thought it was pretty clear that he washed his hands of the project early on.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



theblackw0lf posted:

Playing through Lunar Silver Star Story (PS1 version) and I absolutely love how your party members will respond to what even minor NPC characters say, which is actually pretty unusual in most RPGs I've played. Usually either the NPC will say something and there will be no response at all, or any response just comes from the main player character.

Trails From the Sky also did this, which is what I think helped that game and Lunar have such memorable characters.

What other RPGs do this?

A more recent example, Divinity: Original Sin does this. During major conversations the two player characters will actually argue with each other. During co-op you can rebuff the other player's decision. If you're playing single-player you can roleplay the opposed conversation which changes the player characters' personality.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Wendell posted:

He's treated that way throughout the game. It's interesting that they created what I'd call a very likeable character by accident, since apparently we're supposed to be grossed out by his bisexuality.

This is exactly how I feel about Kanji in Persona 4. The kid is insecure about his gender identity but everyone (and by everyone I mean Yosuke) rags on him constantly. I'm just waiting for there to be a dialog option that's like "Hey Yosuke? Shut the gently caress up man, this is why Saki hated your loving guts." but it never comes.

For a game that's otherwise decently written, I can't tell what the writers want me to feel about this character even though I think he's the most likable. I guess you can write it off as them being jerk rear end kids but this was handled so much better in Catherine where it's revealed Erica is an mtf and the characters treat her no differently than they do each other.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Mokinokaro posted:

Yosuke is an rear end. It's obvious you're supposed to see him that way. Though his treatment of Kanji is pretty awful due to Japanese social norms.

As for Catherine, there's the bit with the one character being upset because he slept or wanted to date her, but at the same time it's understandable to be a bit weirded out when you find something like that out and it doesn't really affect how he treats her after.

Not only that, but none of the characters rag on him for it beyond the initial shock. It's like "Oh, you had sex with her!? Okay, whatever back to our liquor trivia and weird dreams."

al-azad
May 28, 2009



The problem is that the media often portrays bisexual people as insatiable rakes which stems from the idea that bisexuality is equivalent to being unfaithful or indecisive. This is almost exclusively a male trope.

And that may not necessarily be the intent of the writing because...

Rascyc posted:

I guess that doesn't really register as bisexual for me when it comes to JRPGs/Anime, haha. I AM PART OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC.

...the "harmless/annoying perv" is an archetype so very common in Japanese media but the lines can easily blur.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



dude789 posted:

I remember the playstation version of the first Lunar game to actually be pretty hard, or at least hard by RPG standards. I remember having some trouble with a few of the bosses (Royce! :argh:)

I always found Lunar to be hard in the same way Dragon Quest is hard. The dungeons are designed to purposefully drain your resources and just a single level or two is enough to turn the tide of battle. Bosses in particular are designed with a curve that scales to your level but once you reach X levels diminishing returns actually make the boss weaker. It's been so long so I don't remember the details but I fought the last boss at like level 49, got my rear end kicked hard, grinded until 50 then beat him without breaking a sweat.

I actually kind of wish SSSC had battles on the world map like the Sega CD version because I felt underleveled in every dungeon.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



I hate combat in Fallout. It's slow, clunky, and too simplistic. Any game where a 30 second battle devolves into 5-10 minutes because you have to wait for everything to go (Septerra Core, I'm looking at you) is not a well designed game. Brotherhood of Steel sped things up and gave it more variety but that was a strategy/action game than a traditional RPG.

Snackula posted:

This is obviously highly subjective and probably won't go over too well in the RPG thread but I usually only play JRPGs in spite of their godawful battle systems. That doesn't mean I play them entirely for the plot, it's more like I enjoy running around in a world of softserve anime tropes listening to some chill tunes after work (the plot is usually stupid too). Like they basically fill a soap opera type niche for me I guess.

Nah, I'm in the same camp. I'll play a generic RPG because sometimes I just like having noise or maybe I find genre cliches endearing at times.

Morpheus posted:

Ooh, how did I forget about that? Yeah, Person 4 has gameplay that's essentially identical to its predecessor, with copy-paste dungeons that change nothing but the enemies and backgrounds, and combat which doesn't really change much as you progress through the game. But the plot is solid (well, as long as you aren't one of those 'ugh too anime' types), with good characters and a mystery to solve. It's the last part of the game, when the story is all wrapped up and there's one final dungeon to do, where things feeling lag.

Compared to the rest of the Persona series, Persona 4 is heads and tails better in the gameplay department.

al-azad fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Aug 14, 2014

al-azad
May 28, 2009



The White Dragon posted:

If you can get Xenoblade for fifty fuckin' clams, holy poo poo, buy it. Gamestop actually price gouged it by selling their new copies used at like one and a half times the list price because they knew they had an exclusive distribution contract and that it was a cult title with a limited printing. Cocks.

Apparently they reprinted Xenoblade and Metro Prime Trilogy because people noted that new copies are in the cheapo recyclable cases that became the standard in the past 2-3 years. Both games are relatively common now but you're still going to pay $40+ for each.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



SNK seems like the slimiest company to work with in Japan. Late last year they announced they were terminating the contract with Tommo over the Neo Geo X and that Tommo needed to recall everything at once. Tommo said they had the rights until 2016 and had no idea why SNK made the disparaging announcement out of the blue. SNK also created an artificially inflated market in the 90s with their serial number tracking and blacklisting resellers. Hell, given their track record, maybe the Neo Geo X threats were to create an artificial paranoia and get people to buy the console before it was "pulled off the shelves."

I can't think of another company that hasn't been relevant since the 90s but still swings their dick around.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



I seriously feel bad because Sega 2007-2011 was putting out some wildly original stuff which reminded me of Square's late 90s boom.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



GulagDolls posted:

it's even kind of obvious playing star ocean 2 that it was only any good accidentally. technically, it's a giant loving mess and there is incompetence visible in every step, but these things add up to something cool...

air slash!!

I feel the same way with Symphony of the Night. Under the hood that game is held together with bubblegum but it arguably saved Castlevania which just couldn't make the transition to 3D

al-azad
May 28, 2009



theblackw0lf posted:

What RPGs can be compared to Xenogears in terms of epic scope and worldbuilding?

Ehhh, you need to elaborate more. Because Xenogears is pretty standard in scope even if the hybrid fantasy/tech setting isn't widely used. I'd say the early Tales games like Phantasia and Destiny. Up to a point Tales games had this thing where they give you a fake out ending before flipping the world on its head FF6 style.

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al-azad
May 28, 2009



Cake Attack posted:

Doesn't every Tales of game do that?

Admittedly, some are more successful than others (ToS and its fake ending on Disk 1.)

Some are more opaque than others. Eternia has a separate world but they don't pull the "it's over! but not really" card. Abyss does it too early to have any real impact (which also fucks up the economy which I both liked and loving hated) but Destiny legitimately got me when I first played it.

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