So You Think You Can Ride RPG Thread XIV's Chocobo!!!?

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[quote name='icebeast']Agreed, most "hardcore" games these days are all about the illusion that you are bad ass, in the end it's mostly just a show to mask the fact that there isn't anything "hardcore" about said games which are just flashier casual games. (Not that I'm complaining too much as I don't mind my games being more causal, haha). If anything the second cartoon should be the waiter bringing out a huge block of fun and when the customer puts a fork in it, it deflates back to the size it was in the casual game cartoon and he still eats it and likes it.[/QUOTE]
What is the difference between a hardcore game and a flashy casual one if you don't mind me asking.

Finished ARF finally, man the bosses in that game were brutal. Very middling but at least the bosses were a challenge and the plot had some decent points to make. Wondering if anybody has any opinions on what my next game should be, Muramasa - the Dream Blade, Fragile Dreams, or Shiren the Wanderer (Wii version), Xenoblade, or Sakura Wars (which I will be picking up tomorrow).
 
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[quote name='cindersphere']What is the difference between a hardcore game and a flashy casual one if you don't mind me asking.[/QUOTE]

The skill and/or thought the game takes to play (again not saying there is anything wrong with a game being easy to pick up and play, as I tend to find those games more palatable as I've gotten older). For instance Mass Effect 2 vs Demon's Souls. ME2 is fairly mindless (assuming you're playing on normal difficulty) with the game only occasionally posing any kind of major challenge but the game tries its hardest to make every moment seem epic and like there is impending danger (which there isn't), whereas Demon's Souls where there is a decent amount of fear that you might be killed by normal enemies. One game more or less tells you "feel afraid now, this is a suicide mission" the other game lets you experience the meaning of fear.
 
[quote name='icebeast']The skill and/or thought the game takes to play (again not saying there is anything wrong with a game being easy to pick up and play, as I tend to find those games more palatable as I've gotten older). For instance Mass Effect 2 vs Demon's Souls. ME2 is fairly mindless (assuming you're playing on normal difficulty) with the game only occasionally posing any kind of major challenge but the game tries its hardest to make every moment seem epic and like there is impending danger (which there isn't), whereas Demon's Souls where there is a decent amount of fear that you might be killed by normal enemies. One game more or less tells you "feel afraid now, this is a suicide mission" the other game lets you experience the meaning of fear.[/QUOTE]
On the other hand I'd say I felt far more fear in ME2 than Demon Souls simply because I actually care about the fate of Shepard and her crew rather than some faceless character.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']On the other hand I'd say I felt far more fear in ME2 than Demon Souls simply because I actually care about the fate of Shepard and her crew rather than some faceless character.[/QUOTE]

Sure, I could see that argument being made. But I think that many modern games use story and cut-scenes in place of gameplay, there is a huge list of games where for instance in a cut-scene you're doing insane stuff which looks awesome then it switches back to the actual gameplay and you can't do anything that you just saw in a cut-scene.

In the case of ME2 playing on normal I hardly ever got a sense of impending danger because the game is so easy on normal that I didn't feel threatened at all, which is why when it switches to a story sequence where the point is to make it feel like overwhelming odds it's hard for me to stomach because the gameplay didn't really convey that.

Obviously it is a fine line between making the gameplay too realistic at the expense of fun, and of course stories can add a lot to a game, but I do think that if you look back at classic games they were memorable because the gameplay was meaningful and compelling since everything a developer wanted to convey had to almost totally be handled through gameplay itself (and sure when we talk about something like Pac-Man or Galaga maybe the only point was to make a fun game, but the fun part was the game, not watching a movie where the player has little or no input), but now developers can afford to be sloppier with really nailing a mood or action sequence during gameplay since they can just turn it into a cut-scene, or just have the characters say how they feel in a story sequence, or not even show something and just have characters talk about what happened allowing them to even avoid making a cut-scene.
 
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[quote name='cindersphere']Wondering if anybody has any opinions on what my next game should be, Muramasa - the Dream Blade, Fragile Dreams, or Shiren the Wanderer (Wii version), Xenoblade, or Sakura Wars (which I will be picking up tomorrow).[/QUOTE]

Xenoblade! Such a fantastic game! Tried a bit of Fragile Dreams and didn't really care for it, though I only played for a very short time. Muramasa was good too if you are more in the mood for a good fast paced action game instead of an RPG.
 
[quote name='cindersphere']Finished ARF finally, man the bosses in that game were brutal. Very middling but at least the bosses were a challenge and the plot had some decent points to make. Wondering if anybody has any opinions on what my next game should be, Muramasa - the Dream Blade, Fragile Dreams, or Shiren the Wanderer (Wii version), Xenoblade, or Sakura Wars (which I will be picking up tomorrow).[/QUOTE]
Just started Xenoblade, I fully recommend it.
 
[quote name='cindersphere']Finished ARF finally, man the bosses in that game were brutal. Very middling but at least the bosses were a challenge and the plot had some decent points to make. Wondering if anybody has any opinions on what my next game should be, Muramasa - the Dream Blade, Fragile Dreams, or Shiren the Wanderer (Wii version), Xenoblade, or Sakura Wars (which I will be picking up tomorrow).[/QUOTE]
The only one I've played out of those is Shiren, which was okay. Still, it's worth playing if you like that type of game.
 
[quote name='icebeast']In the case of ME2 playing on normal I hardly ever got a sense of impending danger because the game is so easy on normal that I didn't feel threatened at all, which is why when it switches to a story sequence where the point is to make it feel like overwhelming odds it's hard for me to stomach because the gameplay didn't really convey that.[/QUOTE]
Try playing ME2 on Insanity sometime. You'll feel it. ;)
 
[quote name='Zmonkay']Xenoblade! Such a fantastic game! Tried a bit of Fragile Dreams and didn't really care for it, though I only played for a very short time. Muramasa was good too if you are more in the mood for a good fast paced action game instead of an RPG.[/QUOTE]

If we could steer the discussion toward Wii RPGs for a second, I decided to import Earth Seeker yesterday after the window on Wii localizations pretty much closing for good. Hope it's fun (and light on kanji) :cold:
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Try playing ME2 on Insanity sometime. You'll feel it. ;)[/QUOTE]

Actually upping ME2's difficulty mostly just breaks the game and makes it un-fun, or at least that was my feeling when I tried it as a Vanguard. Basically 75% of what defines that class is rendered useless because it's almost impossible to get close enough to use a shotgun or use the Charge ability without dying because the damage scaling is so high. I mean if you enjoy having a class who specializes in close combat but can only use a pistol and Pull unless you're fighting 2 enemies tops more power to you, but I'd call that broken.
 
[quote name='fwbweux']If we could steer the discussion toward Wii RPGs for a second, I decided to import Earth Seeker yesterday after the window on Wii localizations pretty much closing for good. Hope it's fun (and light on kanji) :cold:[/QUOTE]

Looks pretty cool, too bad about the localization. Wiki has a link to XSeed saying they were interested in translating, but that was way back in June/July 2011, so I assume we'd have heard something by now if it was gonna happen :(
 
Seems like Xeno is the way to go then.
[quote name='fwbweux']If we could steer the discussion toward Wii RPGs for a second, I decided to import Earth Seeker yesterday after the window on Wii localizations pretty much closing for good. Hope it's fun (and light on kanji) :cold:[/QUOTE]
Hmm, looking up the synopsis and some videos of it. Man this seems like an interesting game, sadly it will probably never see a US release and I don't understand Japanese. :(
And haha David's penis.
 
I dislike ME2 and most cover based shooters on insane because I feel like I'm just playing a waiting game, given the fact that health will come back to me. I feel like those games shine more on the regular settings.
 
[quote name='Zmonkay']Looks pretty cool, too bad about the localization. Wiki has a link to XSeed saying they were interested in translating, but that was way back in June/July 2011, so I assume we'd have heard something by now if it was gonna happen :([/QUOTE]

It was never a good candidate for being brought over anyway, the market for Japanese Wii games kind of died with Arc Rise Fantasia. I'm just jumping on it because it's currently cheaper than I've ever seen it on amazon.co.jp, a little over 1000JPY + S&H & finder's fee. Retailed for 7700 ($100-ish) originally, ugh.

Before I place my order I'm trying to remember if there are any unlocalized Wii JRPGs that I'm forgetting about. I can get Takt of Magic pretty cheap, but after watching some gameplay videos it just doesn't look that entertaining. Am I forgetting any good titles?
 
I can't see how raising the difficulty in ME2 makes it un-fun. If anything, the game gets more exciting. Not to mention that you feel accomplished when you beat a boss or complete a tough mission (Horizon) on Insanity.

Well I tried the FFXIII-2 demo and I like it far more than FFXIII. It seems less linear so that is somewhat fixed, but they the leveling system is just too boring and while having a monster on your team is pretty cool, it really makes no sense. Why not just have a character from a previous game as that third party member or a new character? The music sounds pretty great, though so there is that.
 
[quote name='fwbweux']Am I forgetting any good titles?[/QUOTE]

Wish I knew. I don't understand any Japanese, so the only ones I know are those that get announced for a stateside release or that a fan translation is being done on.


On ME2: I don't like bumping up the difficulty either. I'm not a big fan of shooters, but love the ME universe/story/characters, so I'm perfectly happy with it being pretty much a cakewalk, cuz I don't play for the "shooter gameplay". It allows me to enjoy the story/role play more.
 
[quote name='GhostShark']Well I tried the FFXIII-2 demo and I like it far more than FFXIII. It seems less linear so that is somewhat fixed, but they the leveling system is just too boring and while having a monster on your team is pretty cool, it really makes no sense. Why not just have a character from a previous game as that third party member or a new character? The music sounds pretty great, though so there is that.[/QUOTE]

I tried it too. I actually like the monster thing. Cait Sith became my main healer. What I don't like is the combat. I was just hitting auto-battle. Made it as bland to me as Crisis Core was for me. The main characters' voice acting annoy me though, so I'm leaning towards the Asian version.
 
[quote name='GhostShark']I can't see how raising the difficulty in ME2 makes it un-fun. If anything, the game gets more exciting. Not to mention that you feel accomplished when you beat a boss or complete a tough mission (Horizon) on Insanity.[/QUOTE]
I can understand it. Increasing the difficulty lowers the number of viable strategies. There's being forced to find better strategies and tactics, and then there's being forced to use the same one or two viable-but-boring techniques again and again.

Now, I kinda liked ME2 on Insanity, but I can understand if ya didn't. A lot of abilities do go way down in usefulness on the top two difficulties due to the omnipresence of enemy protection, though I don't think it's as bad as has been stated earlier. I briefly toyed with a vanguard on insanity and found charge perfectly viable, though I don't know how possible it would be without that one DLC shotgun. The biotic "push" ability remains very useful on Grunt's recruitment mission for quickly killing krogan on catwalks and against husks thanks to their low post-armour HP (they die to basically anything) and the absurdly low cooldown on that ability, and it's pretty fun early on in Kasumi's mission. Pull field is comically powerful on lower difficulties, and situationally awesome on hardcore and insanity, especially with warp explosions mixed in. Things like Mordin/the sentinel's cryo attack? Okay, those are straight-up shitty. Same for shockwave; only place I can think of for that on higher levels is MAYBE on Garrus' recruitment mission.
 
Still slogging through Infinite Undiscovery. Party management is getting ridiculous but my daughter loves the game. Gonna finish it and then chill out on RPGs for a while.
 
[quote name='Zmonkay']Wish I knew. I don't understand any Japanese, so the only ones I know are those that get announced for a stateside release or that a fan translation is being done on.


On ME2: I don't like bumping up the difficulty either. I'm not a big fan of shooters, but love the ME universe/story/characters, so I'm perfectly happy with it being pretty much a cakewalk, cuz I don't play for the "shooter gameplay". It allows me to enjoy the story/role play more.[/QUOTE]

That's how I played through Bioshock too. I just wanted to experience the world and the story. I kept that game on easy 90% of the time. Every so often I'd feel "This is too easy" and bump the difficulty up, then get frustrated by running out of ammo and repeatedly dying.
 
If I like skyrim and thought it was one of the best game I have ever played and will buy the DLC on day 1 would I like dark souls?
 
[quote name='GUNNM']If I like skyrim and thought it was one of the best game I have ever played and will buy the DLC on day 1 would I like dark souls?[/QUOTE]

Dark Souls is actually a game, so if you like games then yes.







Okay that was a terrible joke. Skyrim is more side quest and plot driven, while Dark Souls is an active combat system with a crazy cool online aspect. If you play for story, then Dark Souls is not for you. If you get frustrated easily, then Dark Souls is not for you. If you hate people trolling you online, then Dark Souls is not for you. If you LOVE a challenge, then Dark Souls is for you.

@ $30 get it. You'll either never get past the first area, or you will be saying this with every kill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqbjDbnBWgo
 
picture time!!

by5vl.jpg


wtfreek is this thing?!?!?!

not only that... but it killed me!! argh!!!

thankfully I had saved not too long ago so I didnt lose much time at all.

rDit3.jpg


kekeke
 
[quote name='eldergamer']That's how I played through Bioshock too. I just wanted to experience the world and the story. I kept that game on easy 90% of the time. Every so often I'd feel "This is too easy" and bump the difficulty up, then get frustrated by running out of ammo and repeatedly dying.[/QUOTE]

I remember there being an editorial in Game Informer a few months ago about playing games on easy. Personally, I'd get bored with a game if it is too easy. I need something that engages my brain. That being said, I don't solely play games because they are challenges. If I'm stuck, I am going to cheat and look at solutions. If I want to see all parts of a branching game, I'm going to look that up as well.

Getting back to games, I'm still making some steady progress with Fire Emblem, tho I end up replaying levels multiple times because characters die stupid deaths. Sometimes, I just change out the characters.

Still trying to figure out how to level up the thief, tho. At level 2, Mathew is a pretty weak fighter, so I can only really send him against enemies that have been softened up.
 
I play a lot of games on Easy, mostly because I just want to experience the story and the world, and I like making quick progress. If I really, really love the game (Mass Effect, Dead Space, Gears, a few others), then I'll go back and play again on the hardest difficulty. I don't agree that ME2 on Insanity is broken or un-fun though. Just a different kind of fun.
 
Finished reading The Dark Id's Xenogears Let's Play last night. Good stuff :D

Also, if anyone's interested, RPGamer has their Best Of 2011 awards up.

[quote name='TheLongshot']Personally, I'd get bored with a game if it is too easy.[/QUOTE]
I only ever gotten this way with certain RPGs. Unfortunately, this backfired on me when I played Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance-- the hard mode in that game is too hard, especially when it comes to the final battle (I got that far, but couldn't beat it).

With action games, I'll tend to start one on normal first, then switch to easy if it's too difficult. This is something I've had to do a lot with games directed by Hideki Kamiya :p
 
[quote name='blueshinra']Finished reading The Dark Id's Xenogears Let's Play last night. Good stuff :D

Also, if anyone's interested, RPGamer has their Best Of 2011 awards up.[/QUOTE]

Lol at Worst RPG. Just bought my third copy (first play copy) last week.
 
[quote name='blueshinra']With action games, I'll tend to start one on normal first, then switch to easy if it's too difficult. This is something I've had to do a lot with games directed by Hideki Kamiya :p[/QUOTE]

The only time I did that was with Onimusha 2. I just couldn't get past one boss and finally just switched it to easy to get past it. Unfortunately, you couldn't switch it back to normal after that.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Hey now, getting hit with a disarm shout and getting your weapons knocked off the side of a mountain can be plenty frustrating.[/QUOTE]
it's not as frustrating as the random crash that corrupts your save file =)
 
[quote name='elessar123']Lol at Worst RPG. Just bought my third copy (first play copy) last week.[/QUOTE]

I'm probably the biggest Hyperdimension Neptunia hater on CAG, so I'm pleased by their choice.

They voted Skyward Sword as best RPG, though? :whistle2:s I have no qualms about opening this can of worms: Zelda is not an RPG.
 
[quote name='fwbweux']They voted Skyward Sword as best RPG, though? :whistle2:s I have no qualms about opening this can of worms: Zelda is not an RPG.[/QUOTE]
If I'm reading it correctly they actually chose Bastion as their RPG of the year, with Skyward Sword as the first runner up. To my mind both of those games are more action-adventure than RPG.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']If I'm reading it correctly they actually chose Bastion as their RPG of the year, with Skyward Sword as the first runner up. To my mind both of those games are more action-adventure than RPG.[/QUOTE]

Aye. Skyward Sword did get best console though... No idea what that really means.
 
*facepalm* I looked at the first award on the list and assumed that was their RPG of the year. "Best Console RPG" sounded close enough.

IOONd.jpg


Actually...that image might be in poor taste with the Costa Concordia thing going on, but I have nothing else to express my failure.
 
Only RPGs I beat last year were Zelda, Nier & Sweet Home.

I have Bastion and haven't beatin it yet. It's okay but I'm not feeling it. I think I'm about halfway and I'm just bored with it. Persona 2 (PSP) is also on standby. I started watching the Persona 4 anime and it's getting me in the mood to play the game again. I really like the show and I generally hate anime.
 
Man, I should really be liking Xenoblade. I just really can't seem to get into it though. Like at all. I really don't like it's battle system, but I was hoping the other part of the game would outshine it, but it really doesn't at about 5 hours in. :(

Edit- Man reading through the list of the best of from the rpgamer, really? Zelda an rpg? It was a great game and deserved a nod on more lists but it is not an rpg at all. I completely agree with fwbweux.
 
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[quote name='The Crotch']Aye, I haven't been hit by that one since KotOR 1 and 2.[/QUOTE]
it happened a couple times to me because i relied on autosave...
 
No question, Zelda is not an RPG.

And Skyward Sword is the worst Zelda game I have ever played (coming from someone who loves the series, plays OoT once a year, and bought a 3DS just to play OoT 3D). Granted, it's still better than a lot of other games out there, but as a Zelda game it was horrible. I actually had to force myself to finish it this past weekend after not touching it for almost a month (every other Zelda that has come out has been beaten in a marathon of 3-4 days tops because I can't put them down).
 
[quote name='cindersphere']Man, I should really be liking Xenoblade. I just really can't seem to get into it though. Like at all. I really don't like it's battle system, but I was hoping the other part of the game would outshine it, but it really doesn't at about 5 hours in. :(
[/QUOTE]

Oh come on now, "I should really be liking Xenoblade." It's already on that high a pedestal that people who have criticisms of it feel ashamed of themselves? Expand on why you don't like the battle system, nothing is set in stone!

JRPG conversations sometimes...
 
"Spoony Bard" has nothing on DQ7: "He thinks I hate him? To be sure, he is an irrational, iniquitous surface dweller, with a face in desparate want of symmetry, who callously robbed my daughter of her innocence. But I don't hate him."

Also: Skyward Sword is terrible. The controls are beyond frustrating. I couldn't even make it 3 hours.
 
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