RPG-Thread #3 is extremely linear and does not evolve the genre

[quote name='Zmonkay']so, I'm close to the end of FFIV (on the moon) and I decided to look up a FAQ to see just how close I was. Apparently I missed out on a decent number of side quests (sylph cave, extra summons, yang, etc)... THIS is why I hate playing RPGs without guides or FAQs, too much is missable unless you randomly visit every location after each main game event...[/QUOTE]

Do a lot of games do this? I very rarely even check what I missed. It seems like a lot of games give you a pretty obvious "This is the point of no return" warning, so you can leave a save before it.

Every time I play a Suikoden game, I save off my game every 5 hours. Then once I beat it, I go back as far as I need to and collect all the characters. This is really the only series that I can think of where I worry about missables.
 
Thanks for the heads up on summons guys. I don't know if they are entirely "missable" (though I DETEST that in games) but what I really meant is I would miss them without someone explicitly telling me to go and do them. "Oh, sorry I didn't go back to the third town in the game, that I barely even stopped in the first time, right before the final boss" type of side quests really piss me off. Especially if they somehow tie into plot or characterization.

Should have said "guess I missed" not "missed out on". Sorry for any confusion, haha.
 
[quote name='dr_illingsworth']Do a lot of games do this? I very rarely even check what I missed. It seems like a lot of games give you a pretty obvious "This is the point of no return" warning, so you can leave a save before it.

Every time I play a Suikoden game, I save off my game every 5 hours. Then once I beat it, I go back as far as I need to and collect all the characters. This is really the only series that I can think of where I worry about missables.[/QUOTE]

There are certain games. But it depends on what you think you missed too. Some are like Suikoden, where you miss characters that you can use. Or then there's games where you might miss out on certain items/spells/etc.

For the 100% completionist type of person you can almost never play an RPG without a guide. :(
 
[quote name='Zmonkay']Thanks for the heads up on summons guys. I don't know if they are entirely "missable" (though I DETEST that in games) but what I really meant is I would miss them without someone explicitly telling me to go and do them. "Oh, sorry I didn't go back to the third town in the game, that I barely even stopped in the first time, right before the final boss" type of side quests really piss me off. Especially if they somehow tie into plot or characterization.[/QUOTE]
I'm not sure what you missed in FF4, but when I played it back in the day, I definitely missed Yang's sidequest and possibly Odin... although I'm not sure, because if you wandered Baron when you first started the game, the path was blocked, and it may have piqued my interest when I got to fully explore it.

I also missed the Change Rod in Mist as well as the Crystal Sword =)

But I don't know how you can miss Asura/Leviathan. I think I got an Imp summon but I threw it away because I didn't know how to use it.
 
[quote name='willardhaven']It's supposed to be fun to find things on your own... do you guys notice how wimpy gamers are these days?[/QUOTE]

I only get tired of finding things myself when the game took me 50-60+ hours to finish. :rofl:
 
After a brief try of BoF: Dragon Quarter, I do believe I'll just put it back on the backlog shelf for now. I realized that saving the game is very limited because you have to use "Save Tokens" and since I'm the kind of RPG gamer who likes to play in short intervals (many times around 30-minutes or so, sometimes less) at a time, being penalized for having to save often is a bad gameplay mechanic IMHO.

Guess that means I need to decide on something else to dig into. For the meantime, I'll just do some grinding in Nocturne till I decide on what to play.
 
Getting close to finishing Star Ocean: First Departure. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it before WKC comes.

How are the other Star Ocean games? I think I've heard that 2 is the best of them, and 3 and 4 aren't all that great.
 
I like 2 and 3 but Valkyrie Profile 2 and Radiata Stories are my preferred Tri-Ace games.

Also despite the save tokens Dragon Quarter is an awesome game. It was so much fun even though the designers did a lot of things wrong. The battle system is awesome and the story is pretty cool.
 
[quote name='Krymner']After a brief try of BoF: Dragon Quarter, I do believe I'll just put it back on the backlog shelf for now. I realized that saving the game is very limited because you have to use "Save Tokens" and since I'm the kind of RPG gamer who likes to play in short intervals (many times around 30-minutes or so, sometimes less) at a time, being penalized for having to save often is a bad gameplay mechanic IMHO.

Guess that means I need to decide on something else to dig into. For the meantime, I'll just do some grinding in Nocturne till I decide on what to play.[/QUOTE]
There's no "resume" save that doesn't use a token? I could have sworn there was. Though I also remember there being a lot of tokens, which is probably wrong.
 
For Star Ocean, I definitely loved 2. 3 is kinda eh, although if you talk to TMK he'll talk about how much he loves that game. But if you read his review it's kinda funny.

My preferred tri-Ace is SO2 and the original VP, not the PSP remake.
 
What was wrong with the PSP Valkyrie Profile? I played it recently (and played the original many years ago), and I didn't really notice much difference.
 
[quote name='Xiados']I only get tired of finding things myself when the game took me 50-60+ hours to finish. :rofl:[/QUOTE]

This, haha. No time to randomly explore anymore. Most of the time, unless I have a guide telling me otherwise, I just plow straight through the story. That's why I love how a lot of WRPGs put quests in your log book as soon as someone mentions them.

[quote name='Krymner']Anyone have any opinions on Enchanted Arms? I'm thinking of pulling it out of the backlog next.[/QUOTE]

I actually plowed through it last month, since it had been sitting in my backlog. Not NEARLY as bad as everyone said, but not really worth it either. Generic story and HORRENDOUS voice acting, but the battle system was fairly fun. Also fairly short for an RPG. I think it was ~28-30 hours. Absolutely LOVED the ability to automate/fast forward through battles though. Sped up grinding considerably, and I wish more RPGs would do it.
 
[quote name='Zmonkay']Thanks for the heads up on summons guys. I don't know if they are entirely "missable" (though I DETEST that in games) but what I really meant is I would miss them without someone explicitly telling me to go and do them. "Oh, sorry I didn't go back to the third town in the game, that I barely even stopped in the first time, right before the final boss" type of side quests really piss me off. Especially if they somehow tie into plot or characterization.

Should have said "guess I missed" not "missed out on". Sorry for any confusion, haha.[/QUOTE]

If it's just a weapon or item, I usually just shrug and move on to the next game. But I hate it when a significant portion of the plot is optional. Lost Odyssey had a moment like that; I was doing something optional and thought "This is pretty important to the story. Why is this optional." I think Ming's best character development was a non-voice-acted, optional scene too.

Mass Effect was a pretty bad offender here too. I remember at the end Shephard and Wrex were supposed to be having some dramatic scene and I was just thinking "Who the hell is this Wrex guy?" It probably would have been more dramatic if I spent more than 9 hours beating the game, but it's really the game's fault for not forcing me to do more stuff.
 
[quote name='ChibiJosh']What was wrong with the PSP Valkyrie Profile? I played it recently (and played the original many years ago), and I didn't really notice much difference.[/QUOTE]
There's something wrong with it?
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']There's something wrong with it?[/QUOTE]
Yeah.
I didn't play it. =)

I heard there were very very minor issues though, with sorting. But I don't think anyone really cares.
 
I played through VP on PSP (I used the guide! haha) and never ran into any issues. Great port imho.

Also, I'm sitting here in my nanotechnology class and the prof is going over quantum mechanics and just went on a rant about phonons, and now all I can think of is Tales of the Abyss...
 
The issue with vp psp was a graphical one.

Like they stretched the backgrounds out to fit the screen or something...

Not really a big deal actually
 
[quote name='kainzero']Yeah.
I didn't play it. =)

I heard there were very very minor issues though, with sorting. But I don't think anyone really cares.[/QUOTE]

Sorry. When you made a point to say not the PSP port, I thought that meant you didn't care for it.
 
[quote name='JEKKI']The issue with vp psp was a graphical one.

Like they stretched the backgrounds out to fit the screen or something...

Not really a big deal actually[/QUOTE]
I thought they did that in the Japanese version, but fixed it for ours.
 
No PS3, so no White Knight for me. I like Level-5's work, so I'm curious to hear impressions from whoever's getting/got it.

Just beat Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer. It's a very, very tough game, being a roguelike and all, but also very deep and absorbing. I really loved it, but I was also wary about making a real attempt at beating it, after having spent so much time grinding and building up a cache of great items. If I made a mistake and died, I would've lost it all! Made it through okay in the end, fortunately, and obviously.
 
[quote name='Magic Box']Square Enix producer Yoshinori Kitase mentioned that a Final Fantasy VII remake would be very difficulty to do for the PS3, because it is hard to recreate the graphics in the same style as the original game and it will take enormous time. There is no FFVII remake in the works for now.[/QUOTE]

Cross that off the list for their supposed big announcement. I tell ya, it's gonna be something nobody outside of Japan cares for. SaGa Frontier 3 or some Final Fantasy cell phone game. I'm so negative...
 
[quote name='Rodimus']Cross that off the list for their supposed big announcement. I tell ya, it's gonna be something nobody outside of Japan cares for. SaGa Frontier 3 or some Final Fantasy cell phone game. I'm so negative...[/QUOTE]

SaGa Frontier 3 would be great. As long as they gave it the more open system of Frontier 1 and RS: Minstrel Song.
 
trying to beat Persona 3: FES. I started a while ago, but the whole seemingly-never-ending tartarus is kind of intimidating. only on floor 60 or so.. I loved P4 and I like the story in P3, I just wish I could move around places a bit faster like P4.
 
The only thing that I like about the SaGa games is the watercolor art style. Other than that I could never stand to play them for more than an hour or two.
 
[quote name='sinkingships']trying to beat Persona 3: FES. I started a while ago, but the whole seemingly-never-ending tartarus is kind of intimidating. only on floor 60 or so.. I loved P4 and I like the story in P3, I just wish I could move around places a bit faster like P4.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for reminding me! Since I got my 360 I've neglected my PS2 and more importantly my SMT games. I am right at the end of FES and should go finish it. Fabulous game just keep pushing through it. If you're at 60 you are doing just fine and won't take you too long. I found that as long as I am able to have balance with my personas and use strategy I don't need to level grind much and can run through many levels without fighting much just to advance.

P4 is sitting on my shelf unplayed :( Time to schedule a date with the PS2.
 
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[quote name='Rodimus']The only thing that I like about the SaGa games is the watercolor art style. Other than that I could never stand to play them for more than an hour or two.[/QUOTE]
Same here.
 
[quote name='Bonesinski']Thanks for reminding me! Since I got my 360 I've neglected my PS2 and more importantly my SMT games. I am right at the end of FES and should go finish it. Fabulous game just keep pushing through it. If you're at 60 you are doing just fine and won't take you too long. I found that as long as I am able to have balance with my personas and use strategy I don't need to level grind much and can run through many levels without fighting much just to advance.

P4 is sitting on my shelf unplayed :( Time to schedule a date with the PS2.[/QUOTE]

really? maybe I'm just lazy and my idea of level grinding is skewed.. how many hours have you played/what floor are you on?
 
Been playing Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, which is my first NIS game. I've already put 40 hours into the damn thing, and I'm not even a third of the way through the story. The game is really a bottomless pit of leveling.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']The only thing that I like about the SaGa games is the watercolor art style. Other than that I could never stand to play them for more than an hour or two.[/QUOTE]
Agreed; also, I like some of the music, too.
 
[quote name='sinkingships']really? maybe I'm just lazy and my idea of level grinding is skewed.. how many hours have you played/what floor are you on?[/QUOTE]

I'll check how long I've played, but I'm I'm right at the end of the game, probably around floor 200+. But like I said many of those floors I just ran through finding the exit really close to the starting point. I found I wanted to progress the story so I didn't spend as much time in Tartarus. That being said - I did die quite a few times against bosses at the end of the floor sets forcing me to grind a bit but more importantly figure out a strat.
 
[quote name='Bonesinski']I'll check how long I've played, but I'm I'm right at the end of the game, probably around floor 200+. But like I said many of those floors I just ran through finding the exit really close to the starting point. I found I wanted to progress the story so I didn't spend as much time in Tartarus. That being said - I did die quite a few times against bosses at the end of the floor sets forcing me to grind a bit but more importantly figure out a strat.[/QUOTE]

I don't know, it seems to me like I'm spending all my time leveling trying to get past the bosses because I want to progress the story as fast as possible. maybe i'm not fusing enough or something. any suggestions for early on in the game like where I am?
 
Fusing good personas is the key. And social links are the key to making good personas. Ideally you are using personas several levels above your character level due to bonus points from your S Links.

My main problem was finding a good persona that I used all the time and not being willing to fuse that persona into a higher level one (and thus lose some of the abilities). Just keep fusing and refusing and you should end up ok. Most bosses aren't bad though there a few who are a bit unfair IMO (like one that constantly charms your party members).
 
SaGa Frontier came out at a time where it seemed like Square could do no wrong. I was naive and had this silly notion that Square could never make a bad game. I thought there was something wrong with me when I couldn't understand what the fuck was going on. Was I missing something? Nope, the game is just a mess.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']SaGa Frontier came out at a time where it seemed like Square could do no wrong. I was naive and had this silly notion that Square could never make a bad game. I thought there was something wrong with me when I couldn't understand what the fuck was going on. Was I missing something? Nope, the game is just a mess.[/QUOTE]
Once you figure it out, it's quite fun.

Although I'm generally anti-guide when I play RPGs, playing SaGa with a guide is recommended, you find so much good stuff.
 
[quote name='sinkingships']I just wish I could move around places a bit faster like P4.[/QUOTE]
Thankfully you'll be able to move around much faster in PS3 Portable.
 
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