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RPG Community |OT| Take the Epoch to a New Era
- Thread starter Deleted member 419
- Start date
The DS version, although if time permits I might actually finish that game before March lol. It still counts right?
You can start early, you'd just need to finish it after Mar. 1st.
I've been considering grabbing the DS version myself, along with other DS/3DS rpgs before they start to get absurdly expensive. One thing I've found I hate about trying to collect/purchase older portable games is that the owners basically never keep the boxes or manuals. It's basically double the price on eBay for a Complete copy of a DS/3DS game. I don't understand throwing away a game case...
As someone who is also trying to grow his GBA, DS and 3DS RPG collection it's honestly a godsend that quite a few games don't have the box with them. Less clutter in my home even if the collection value isn't as big.
Just thinking about all those loose carts rattling around is giving me anxiety, haha.
Eh, there are these small plastic cases for it that take up much less space.
Think I'll join the Blitz (and I really should visit the discord more). I've added DQVII, FFI GBA and Persona 5 to the list. The other two games are TBD – the first three are all more than 50% done, so maybe I'll add something new
Oh yeah I understand the feeling. It's so exhausting shopping for good, complete copies of older games. I actually think I'm done with the DS now, since I don't feel like paying an arm and a leg for the rare games I don't have (e.g. Dark Spire, Solatorobo). As for the 3DS, I don't feel an urgent need to buy much yet; though I'd keep an eye on certain titles...
The prospect of trying to finish DQVII and Persona 5, two among the all-time longest JRPGs, in 3 months makes me nervous -_- sending you my energy
So I've been playing Xenoblade X (which I definitely won't finish before March, so I'm going to count it for the Blitz). The main plot, such as it is, is ludicrous, and the blank-slate (amnesiac!) protagonist feels pretty awkward. Also Tatsu's shtick got old pretty much immediately. But the world is fun to explore, and there's lots of fun characters and interactions, particularly in the overwhelming amount of "side content" (which is really the meat of the game). The staff clearly had a lot of fun designing the world and the various kooky aliens. It's scary to think that the layers upon layers of content in here are only a scaled-back version of the game's original vision. Monolith Soft has the wildest ambition.
Haha, thanks! It should be fine – I'm at the casino palace in Persona 5 with like 70 hours of playtime, so it should actually take me less time than most shorter RPGs.
As for DQVII, the 3DS version is supposed to be much shorter. I'm at the point where everyone mastered a job or two (but I still didn't get the final party member) which more or less like the halfway point
Completely fine.
We just want to draw more discussions, group play, recommendations, and thoughts about rpgs of all types and lengths. It's always nice to have this OT to read and see what people think of stuff they've never played or always wanted to complete.
Think I'll take part, I have been catching up on a lot of games over the last year but a lot of RPGs kinda get pushed to the side. Just trying to narrow down my picks but for sure it will include Chrono Trigger (yup).
OP
OP
I just came across this on Steam, it's a recent release (Feb. 13th) and it's an open-world RPG-lite game where you play as a traveling painter and explore this gorgeous world while interacting with NPCs and doing various quests (basically most of the things you'd expect to do in an RPG minus the combat):
Also I'm glad to see so many people joining in on the blitz! It can really jumpstart your RPG productivity knowing that a lot of other people are also running through stuff on their backlog in a focused way alongside you.
Also I'm glad to see so many people joining in on the blitz! It can really jumpstart your RPG productivity knowing that a lot of other people are also running through stuff on their backlog in a focused way alongside you.
OP
OP
Also, there's a Square Enix sale on Steam at the moment if anyone was holding out for some of those. Most of the FFs are on sale, including recent ones like World of Final Fantasy which is $12.50. DQXI is $30. Some other decent deals as well.
Don't worry we envy you playing CT for the first time more than anything else haha. It's a great blitz game too, pretty short and well-paced.
I might hop in on the Blitz too.
Side note: I wish I could experience playing Chrono Trigger for the first time all over again.
Side note: I wish I could experience playing Chrono Trigger for the first time all over again.
Well, I haven't played an RPG since Octopath Traveller came out and I haven't even finished that. What is the stance of the Blitz on RPG Maker games? Or Borderlands 2?
I think RPG Maker games apply as long as they are more on the RPG side of things. I personally wouldn't count the horror games like Mad Father or The Witch's House, but would count games with the usual mechanics and trappings of the genre we've grown up with.
Borderlands 2 does check off many of the things associated with RPGs and hybrids such as levels, experience, quests, skills, character ability customization, damage numbers, etc. I don't see it as being any less eligible than Diablo 3 myself.
Was craving an RPG after playing hours of Destiny, MHW and Smash so started FFXII the other day.
When it originally came out I only played for a few hours, so it's basically my first time playing it. I'm enjoying it so far.
Zodiac system is intriguing, but I suspect it is less deep than what I originally thought in terms of assigning licenses to specific characters. Maybe I'm completely wrong though, we'll see.
I like the combat. I know it's divisive and some people find it boring but I personally enjoy it. Probably because it is a nice change of pace from the last games I played.
Music is phenomenal.
When it originally came out I only played for a few hours, so it's basically my first time playing it. I'm enjoying it so far.
Zodiac system is intriguing, but I suspect it is less deep than what I originally thought in terms of assigning licenses to specific characters. Maybe I'm completely wrong though, we'll see.
I like the combat. I know it's divisive and some people find it boring but I personally enjoy it. Probably because it is a nice change of pace from the last games I played.
Music is phenomenal.
I like XII quite a bit but I always stop at the same place for some reason. I should push through and beat it sometime soon.
I've talked a bit about this on Discord but one of the games on my short list that didn't quite make it was Shining in the Darkness. For those who don't know me I am a massive, massive Shining Force fan but my time with the rest of the Shining series is limited in comparison and it felt like a really good game to play for my blitz which is why it was on my short list. I had played Shining in the Darkness before but never got very far as I've never been a big fan of dungeon crawlers I'm very much a story>gameplay person but when I was trying to decide between this, Terranigma (which won out) and a few others the game really struck a chord with me and I wanted to play it. So I decided to do a little pre-blitz event for myself and play SitD as a bonus game of sorts and now having finished it I'm really glad I did.
Again as someone who doesn't normally like Dungeon Crawlers there were elements of the game that annoyed me at times for one thing I thought that the length of the game was a bit longer then I wanted (maybe 1 less trial and 1 less floor overall) but overall I really enjoyed my time with it. This game is just oozing charm much like the rest of the Shining series. For a game that came out in 1991 it has such a unique personality with its wide cast of supporting characters all of which fit the games world well but all of them look different and are of various different races. You've got elves, drawfs, hobbits, humans, and a few unique races as well.
(Here you have a wolfman, a ratman, an imp, whatever the heck Ghorn is (the Grey fella in the back towards the middle) among others.
The game has a simple story and design. You are a Knight in the kingdom of Thornwood and the Princess Jessa has been captured by the evil Dark Sol who is willing to free her if the King is willing to give up his kingdom to him. Why does Dark Sol want the Kingdom? It's never explained. Story is pretty light for the most part I'd say you spend 90% dungeon crawling 5% in town upgrading gear/healing and 5% story. So with no one left to turn to the King tasks you to find the Princess and save the Kingdom. You are eventually joined by your two friends Milo a Hobbit fighter/healer and Pyra an elven mage. The hero doesn't have any magic but can use the best equipment and easily deals the most damage on single targets while Milo makes for a great fighter in every regard hes got AoE magic thats quite powerful, he hits quite hard, and hes also the healer. Milo is great and maybe a bit OP XD. Pyra is also really good she starts off with low level magic but eventually learns group spells as well as various support abilities and can equip whips which hit a group of enemies at once.
The game is split up between 3 locations. You've got the castle where almost all of the story events happen and which you return to after completing each new aspect of the dungeon to progress the story. You have the dungeon itself where you explore various maze like areas, find traps and treasures and fight monsters as you search for the missing Princess and the town where you can save, heal, revive dead characters, upgrade equipment, and talk to various npcs in the tavern. It's a game on a relatively small scale compared to other games you aren't going to save the world or visiting multiple kingdoms and dungeons but because of that I feel like it works to its advantage because its on such a smaller scale the developers had a lot time to flesh out this smaller world.
(Look at those eyes, she knows a sucker when she sees one!)
Unlike many other games even compared to modern ones each shop keeper is different. So many other games including other Shining games have the NPC's that sell you stuff or where you save all be the same looking person no matter where you are which isn't a big deal really but having each of these NPC's defined helps build up immersion. It helps that the art is just fantastic, again for a game that came out in 1991 this game looks really amazing with each NPC having a very distinct look and feel as do enemies which while still having palate swaps offer a ton of variety and some really unique designs. Some of which you can see how they were repurposed into Shining Force (which would come out 2 years later) but others are just kinda crazy I mean look at these things...
(Yes those are Eggs with faces with wooden legs that look to be wearing Christmas hats and shoes.)
While there are plenty of your typical enemies (slimes, dragons, goblins, ect) there are a ton of really different designs as well. Some of them are certainly weird but they oddly don't feel out of place at all due to the art style of the world.
While I do like the enemy designs its a shame the actual dungeon graphics are so limited in comparison. In the game the labyrinth itself leads to 4 trials all of which have the same look as you can see from the Clodhopper screen shot above. It's disappointing its just that and the levels in the labyrinth itself are all just palate swaps of the same look except for the final floor. It's not especially bad per say but when you compare it to how varied and detailed everything else is it is something that clearly stands out for not being nearly as interesting. The actual meat of the game I said is the dungeon crawling so it is what you are looking at most of the time. Thankfully despite the graphics not being all that unique the frequent introduction of new enemy designs helps keep from the dungeon crawling from really feeling tedious.
Each floor of the dungeon is a large maze on a 30x30 layout which makes mapping it out pretty easy once you get used to it and while there isn't a ton of traps there are pitfalls and specific areas that can drain your MP (which is a major resource) with certain special enemies showing up around certain areas like rather strong Water creatures coming up from pools of water or these giant crab monsters that can appear out of the side of pathways as you approach them. Along with that the game does a good job of gating off certain items and areas until you acquire the right equipment which gives you reasons to go back and explore older areas eventually which is a nice touch. There are also very strong monsters that can appear in chests that will absolutely tear your party to pieces if you aren't expecting them.
(These things are the devil)
The game is challenging but not overly difficult. You get frequent upgrades either from purchasing items or just finding gear in the dungeon itself (later on you can craft some of the strongest weapons/armor in the game with Mithril and Dark Cubes you find in the dungeon) which helps even out the odds against the ever increasingly strong monsters that show up. HP and MP are your obvious main resources but MP is what matters most as your inventory space is extremely limited. You have 8 inventory slots but 4 of those are always taken up by a weapon and three pieces of armor and you also have key items you will frequently need to keep on you so generally each character only has 2-3 slots open and thats if you don't take healing or other items with you (and you should always take an Angel Feather with you which will teleport you out of the dungeon in case you get in trouble) so your MP gets spent on dealing out damage to enemies but also for a vast majority of your healing and if you run out of MP you likely won't get much farther exploring before having to exit to risk getting wiped in battle which results in you losing half of your gold. That may not sound that bad but when you are frequently needing money to upgrade gear getting wiped can set you back a lot. Thankfully you don't lose items or experience or just have to go back to your last save or anything. It's not THAT punishing but still something you have to consider as you explore.
Theres a lot I like about the game, the spell system for one is absolutely fantastic and very similar to what I already have seen in the Shining Force games. Each spell is fairly obvious in what it does and each spell has up to 4 levels with a bar representing what level of the spell you are casting and how much it costs along with a name and a picture of the spell itself. I don't think this gets mentioned enough but the UI in general in the Shining series is so good and spot on and seeing how it started here they really nailed it. It's simple yet intuitive and instead of messing around with just a list of menu options and names of various things the 4 directional UI just works great and the pictures show exactly what each option does and combine that with the simple and easy to use UI for magic and its easily one of the best UI's in gaming that really doesn't get talked about enough.
(Each Icon has a little animation like this in and out of battle that helps show various aspects of the UI)
Its a shame that the game will never get a proper remaster as I do think a few things could be fleshed out a little better. The main thing I think is that I feel like the MC should have some of the spells the other characters have. Milo is just way to OP having both great attack and defense but also great attack, support, and healing magic. While some of Pyra's spells could just fit better on the Hero. If It were up to me I'd give the Hero the low level healing spells that Pyra gets (heal 1 and 2), Egress (which is something the Heroes in the Force games always have instead of a mage) and also give him Milo's Burst spell (so the Hero has an AoE spell but its weak yet hits ALL enemies not just a group unlike Milo's other attacking spell Blast) as well as the Quick Spell. This gives the hero limited options for spell casting to be a bit more useful then just single target damage while also limiting Milo's overall power just a bit and freeing up Pyra to focus just on either damage dealing or support abilities.
I'm still not the biggest fan of Dungeon Crawlers but this was a fun experience and very much in spirit of the blitz with me playing a game I've had for god knows how long but never beating and branching out a bit and trying a type of RPG I don't normally play. It was a lot of fun and now more then ever I'm in the spirit of the blitz! Bring on the games!
I recently played through all of The Witcher 2 on PC. I started out really liking it, and thought that Witcher 3 must be incredible if it's considered better than 2. The game gelled with my sensibilities I guess. I think the issues with Witcher 2 are well known at this point, and they certainly made themselves known, but didn't really dampen my enjoyment.
It was shorter than I thought. The first game took me some time to get through, and I know that Witcher 3 has a reputation for it's extreme length, so I really didn't expect the brevity I encountered. Maybe if I didn't have the third game to look forward to I would have been disappointed, but I really wasn't. I just had a blast with it. Not sure if I'm ready to jump right into the next game yet. I've been thinking a lot about Xenoblade Chronicles 2 lately. I think I was about 15 hours in when I set it down.
It was shorter than I thought. The first game took me some time to get through, and I know that Witcher 3 has a reputation for it's extreme length, so I really didn't expect the brevity I encountered. Maybe if I didn't have the third game to look forward to I would have been disappointed, but I really wasn't. I just had a blast with it. Not sure if I'm ready to jump right into the next game yet. I've been thinking a lot about Xenoblade Chronicles 2 lately. I think I was about 15 hours in when I set it down.
I've talked a bit about this on Discord but one of the games on my short list that didn't quite make it was Shining in the Darkness. For those who don't know me I am a massive, massive Shining Force fan but my time with the rest of the Shining series is limited in comparison and it felt like a really good game to play for my blitz which is why it was on my short list. I had played Shining in the Darkness before but never got very far as I've never been a big fan of dungeon crawlers I'm very much a story>gameplay person but when I was trying to decide between this, Terranigma (which won out) and a few others the game really struck a chord with me and I wanted to play it. So I decided to do a little pre-blitz event for myself and play SitD as a bonus game of sorts and now having finished it I'm really glad I did.
Again as someone who doesn't normally like Dungeon Crawlers there were elements of the game that annoyed me at times for one thing I thought that the length of the game was a bit longer then I wanted (maybe 1 less trial and 1 less floor overall) but overall I really enjoyed my time with it. This game is just oozing charm much like the rest of the Shining series. For a game that came out in 1991 it has such a unique personality with its wide cast of supporting characters all of which fit the games world well but all of them look different and are of various different races. You've got elves, drawfs, hobbits, humans, and a few unique races as well.
(Here you have a wolfman, a ratman, an imp, whatever the heck Ghorn is (the Grey fella in the back towards the middle) among others.
The game has a simple story and design. You are a Knight in the kingdom of Thornwood and the Princess Jessa has been captured by the evil Dark Sol who is willing to free her if the King is willing to give up his kingdom to him. Why does Dark Sol want the Kingdom? It's never explained. Story is pretty light for the most part I'd say you spend 90% dungeon crawling 5% in town upgrading gear/healing and 5% story. So with no one left to turn to the King tasks you to find the Princess and save the Kingdom. You are eventually joined by your two friends Milo a Hobbit fighter/healer and Pyra an elven mage. The hero doesn't have any magic but can use the best equipment and easily deals the most damage on single targets while Milo makes for a great fighter in every regard hes got AoE magic thats quite powerful, he hits quite hard, and hes also the healer. Milo is great and maybe a bit OP XD. Pyra is also really good she starts off with low level magic but eventually learns group spells as well as various support abilities and can equip whips which hit a group of enemies at once.
The game is split up between 3 locations. You've got the castle where almost all of the story events happen and which you return to after completing each new aspect of the dungeon to progress the story. You have the dungeon itself where you explore various maze like areas, find traps and treasures and fight monsters as you search for the missing Princess and the town where you can save, heal, revive dead characters, upgrade equipment, and talk to various npcs in the tavern. It's a game on a relatively small scale compared to other games you aren't going to save the world or visiting multiple kingdoms and dungeons but because of that I feel like it works to its advantage because its on such a smaller scale the developers had a lot time to flesh out this smaller world.
(Look at those eyes, she knows a sucker when she sees one!)
Unlike many other games even compared to modern ones each shop keeper is different. So many other games including other Shining games have the NPC's that sell you stuff or where you save all be the same looking person no matter where you are which isn't a big deal really but having each of these NPC's defined helps build up immersion. It helps that the art is just fantastic, again for a game that came out in 1991 this game looks really amazing with each NPC having a very distinct look and feel as do enemies which while still having palate swaps offer a ton of variety and some really unique designs. Some of which you can see how they were repurposed into Shining Force (which would come out 2 years later) but others are just kinda crazy I mean look at these things...
(Yes those are Eggs with faces with wooden legs that look to be wearing Christmas hats and shoes.)
While there are plenty of your typical enemies (slimes, dragons, goblins, ect) there are a ton of really different designs as well. Some of them are certainly weird but they oddly don't feel out of place at all due to the art style of the world.
While I do like the enemy designs its a shame the actual dungeon graphics are so limited in comparison. In the game the labyrinth itself leads to 4 trials all of which have the same look as you can see from the Clodhopper screen shot above. It's disappointing its just that and the levels in the labyrinth itself are all just palate swaps of the same look except for the final floor. It's not especially bad per say but when you compare it to how varied and detailed everything else is it is something that clearly stands out for not being nearly as interesting. The actual meat of the game I said is the dungeon crawling so it is what you are looking at most of the time. Thankfully despite the graphics not being all that unique the frequent introduction of new enemy designs helps keep from the dungeon crawling from really feeling tedious.
Each floor of the dungeon is a large maze on a 30x30 layout which makes mapping it out pretty easy once you get used to it and while there isn't a ton of traps there are pitfalls and specific areas that can drain your MP (which is a major resource) with certain special enemies showing up around certain areas like rather strong Water creatures coming up from pools of water or these giant crab monsters that can appear out of the side of pathways as you approach them. Along with that the game does a good job of gating off certain items and areas until you acquire the right equipment which gives you reasons to go back and explore older areas eventually which is a nice touch. There are also very strong monsters that can appear in chests that will absolutely tear your party to pieces if you aren't expecting them.
(These things are the devil)
The game is challenging but not overly difficult. You get frequent upgrades either from purchasing items or just finding gear in the dungeon itself (later on you can craft some of the strongest weapons/armor in the game with Mithril and Dark Cubes you find in the dungeon) which helps even out the odds against the ever increasingly strong monsters that show up. HP and MP are your obvious main resources but MP is what matters most as your inventory space is extremely limited. You have 8 inventory slots but 4 of those are always taken up by a weapon and three pieces of armor and you also have key items you will frequently need to keep on you so generally each character only has 2-3 slots open and thats if you don't take healing or other items with you (and you should always take an Angel Feather with you which will teleport you out of the dungeon in case you get in trouble) so your MP gets spent on dealing out damage to enemies but also for a vast majority of your healing and if you run out of MP you likely won't get much farther exploring before having to exit to risk getting wiped in battle which results in you losing half of your gold. That may not sound that bad but when you are frequently needing money to upgrade gear getting wiped can set you back a lot. Thankfully you don't lose items or experience or just have to go back to your last save or anything. It's not THAT punishing but still something you have to consider as you explore.
Theres a lot I like about the game, the spell system for one is absolutely fantastic and very similar to what I already have seen in the Shining Force games. Each spell is fairly obvious in what it does and each spell has up to 4 levels with a bar representing what level of the spell you are casting and how much it costs along with a name and a picture of the spell itself. I don't think this gets mentioned enough but the UI in general in the Shining series is so good and spot on and seeing how it started here they really nailed it. It's simple yet intuitive and instead of messing around with just a list of menu options and names of various things the 4 directional UI just works great and the pictures show exactly what each option does and combine that with the simple and easy to use UI for magic and its easily one of the best UI's in gaming that really doesn't get talked about enough.
(Each Icon has a little animation like this in and out of battle that helps show various aspects of the UI)
Its a shame that the game will never get a proper remaster as I do think a few things could be fleshed out a little better. The main thing I think is that I feel like the MC should have some of the spells the other characters have. Milo is just way to OP having both great attack and defense but also great attack, support, and healing magic. While some of Pyra's spells could just fit better on the Hero. If It were up to me I'd give the Hero the low level healing spells that Pyra gets (heal 1 and 2), Egress (which is something the Heroes in the Force games always have instead of a mage) and also give him Milo's Burst spell (so the Hero has an AoE spell but its weak yet hits ALL enemies not just a group unlike Milo's other attacking spell Blast) as well as the Quick Spell. This gives the hero limited options for spell casting to be a bit more useful then just single target damage while also limiting Milo's overall power just a bit and freeing up Pyra to focus just on either damage dealing or support abilities.
I'm still not the biggest fan of Dungeon Crawlers but this was a fun experience and very much in spirit of the blitz with me playing a game I've had for god knows how long but never beating and branching out a bit and trying a type of RPG I don't normally play. It was a lot of fun and now more then ever I'm in the spirit of the blitz! Bring on the games!
Nice writeup! I have this in the Sega Genesis Classics collection on Switch and I'm looking forward to playing a bit of it once I've finished Landstalker.
Not a remaster, but Shining the Holy Ark on Saturn is sort of like a spiritual sequel.
Its a shame that the game will never get a proper remaster as I do think a few things could be fleshed out a little better
Thanks, its good but Shining Force 1-2 are even better (although different as they are SRPGs)!
Yeah I've played a lot more of The Holy Ark but I never finished it, at some point I'll need to get back to it as I really liked that game.
It's rough as all hell and the combat system isn't all that great. I can't remember if real-time or turn-based was recommend for the game though. Also in my experience don't go pure guns.
Edit: I should probably state that under all that the game is pretty great in many ways.
All this talk about Shining Force reminded me that I've owned the PSP remake of Tactics Ogre since launch and still haven't played it. In fact, it's the game I've owned the longest without completing it. I should play it one of these days.
Pretty sure that's an actual sin. What are you doing with your life?
Play it. It's the GOAT.
Thanks, looks like the multiverse edition is the way to go, right?
What's going on with the stats sheet? In particular, what's the relation between the graphical and numerical representations of the stats (or are those bars representing something else?)?
...
Got into Labyrinth 6 in EO Nexus. Hadn't made much progress for a good bit. Labyrinth 5 was a lot longer and had some kind of obnoxious F.O.E. design (thinking of the birds :P).
I'm really enjoying growing my hero in particular. Excited for her master tier skills and enjoying maxing out her core passives until then (just maxed out the after image passive and almost done with the attack/attack speed + passive...not sure yet if/how much I want to go in on the defensive mirror passive). Also just really like her offensive abilities across the board. Particularly, the lightning move is so satisfying on enemies strong to slash! And then there is the passive healing... (Plus I could also turn her towards more of a tank build). But yeah I am excited for dark image and the force management abilities seem like a total game changer. Dreaming of getting her into multiple force burst states...
My Ronin and Sovereign are also amazing. Arcanist is good. Zodiac is kind of meh...
...
Got into Labyrinth 6 in EO Nexus. Hadn't made much progress for a good bit. Labyrinth 5 was a lot longer and had some kind of obnoxious F.O.E. design (thinking of the birds :P).
I'm really enjoying growing my hero in particular. Excited for her master tier skills and enjoying maxing out her core passives until then (just maxed out the after image passive and almost done with the attack/attack speed + passive...not sure yet if/how much I want to go in on the defensive mirror passive). Also just really like her offensive abilities across the board. Particularly, the lightning move is so satisfying on enemies strong to slash! And then there is the passive healing... (Plus I could also turn her towards more of a tank build). But yeah I am excited for dark image and the force management abilities seem like a total game changer. Dreaming of getting her into multiple force burst states...
My Ronin and Sovereign are also amazing. Arcanist is good. Zodiac is kind of meh...
On the first one? It's the progression bar (XP) for the stat.
Yup. Not the issues section as well, in case you run into any.
Dusted off the PSP and fired up Tactics Ogre last night. I own this game on UMD so no Vita for me :(
I have a save about six hours in, but there's a lot I don't remember. Started going through some FAQs just to get a handle on the game again. There's a skill system that I forgot about, and buying gear is kind of a massive undertaking. I don't know if there's a way I can easily compare equipped items to what's for sale in the store. I'm going to have to take notes before I can do a shopping trip. The experience system is a little confusing as well. I played a few battles, and I just had to go for the objective in order to win because my team was starting to get slaughtered. I have a lot of units but only a handful seem effective at this point. I'll have to spend some more time figuring out who is good against what. Makes me miss the weapon triangle of Fire Emblem.
I have a save about six hours in, but there's a lot I don't remember. Started going through some FAQs just to get a handle on the game again. There's a skill system that I forgot about, and buying gear is kind of a massive undertaking. I don't know if there's a way I can easily compare equipped items to what's for sale in the store. I'm going to have to take notes before I can do a shopping trip. The experience system is a little confusing as well. I played a few battles, and I just had to go for the objective in order to win because my team was starting to get slaughtered. I have a lot of units but only a handful seem effective at this point. I'll have to spend some more time figuring out who is good against what. Makes me miss the weapon triangle of Fire Emblem.
Don't try to walk a middle path of magic or guns (unless you're not investing in either). Certain enemies have magical inclination and I recall going slightly towards technology made them harder to hit (especially with guns), but if you go hard technology (~100% on the magic/tech chart that you can lookup somehow) they're much easier. I'm guessing the reverse is true of technology enemies - the more extreme you are on the side, the easier a time you'll have.
If you're in turn-based mode, action points are king, and one of the early inventions you can put points toward (IIRC electrical lv2) is a ring that gives you two action points per turn. You can make four of them early, give two each to yourself and Virgil, and you'll get at least one extra attack per turn each. The first forge invention, balanced sword, is also very good because it's powerful and costs only 2AP per turn to attack (vs 3 or 4 for most weapons). Keep in mind that if you're recruiting an earlyish companion (~2 hours in?) he unlocks that invention also, but you have to wait awhile to get there and the early game is rough.
Guns suck early, but get much better once you find/invent better weaponry. Unfortunately, you don't get much benefit later on from dropping points in melee/dodge early, so you may just have to deal with restarting some unlucky fights.
Persuasion is very situational. I can only think of two places where it's actually used (although where it is used it saves you from some rough fights). I probably wouldn't put points in it again if I replayed.
The background "beat with an ugly stick" is really powerful, particularly for melee characters but IIRC the net stat boost is really good. You can offset the initial attitude malus easily, via a quest you find in the first area. Rarely does that malus affect conversations beyond the first round, where it'll improve initially. I would only not use it if using one of the other special backgrounds (e.g. Teacher, which lets you give allies apprenticeships/expert skills they wouldn't otherwise get).
Got it, thanks!
Thanks for this insightful post, I didn't understand most of it right now but I'm sure it will be really useful once I get into the game :D
I'm gonna start as soon as I finish the book I'm reading
OP
OP
God I really need to finally play Tactics Ogre. That's been on the backlog for so long, hell it might legitimately be the oldest thing I've had on there in terms of when it got "backlogged." I picked that up around the LUCT launch and...yea.
Also blitz starts tomorrow so - if there's anyone else who wants to join in, feel free! We've got a ton more people participating this time, it's great.
Also blitz starts tomorrow so - if there's anyone else who wants to join in, feel free! We've got a ton more people participating this time, it's great.
So as this is the first official day of the new Blitz I thought I'd share my current thoughts on my first Blitz game, Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition. I actually started the game a few days ago just to see what I was getting into and it really gripped me right away. Many in discord already know this but I'm not the biggest fan of Western RPG's. I've enjoyed stuff like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Witcher, ect. but many WRPG's just don't excite me all that much so its a genre I know of quite well since I have played quite a few but rarely if ever do I actually finish them.
One reason I went with this game over some others was that the combat was turn based and I absolutely prefer turn based for games like this and I really liked what I heard about the strategy elements of the game (I'm a massive fan of Strategy RPGs) so I dived in not really knowing what to expect and to be completely honest, I was a bit worried that I wouldn't like the game or there would be some element to it that really bothered me, thankfully that hasn't been the case at all so far!
Getting to the character selection screen I was pretty surprised to find that you get to create two main characters. I had heard the game was co-op but I didn't realize the game would just give you two MC's to start with. It was a nice surprise although it made character creation all that more intriguing and time consuming because of it. I eventually realized that I had no idea what I was really doing with these abilities and stats and how they worked in this game and decided to just take 2 of the default classes without changing anything and so I went with a Rogue and a Hunter.
The story intrigued me from the get go, while the concept of 'Source Hunters' being this worlds version of Star Wars Jedi or Mass Effects Spectres was off putting as far as setting up the plot goes the actual plot involved with a Murder Mystery of a City Councilman was far more interesting and compelling. I don't want to make this to long but I loved how many elements of this played out. I loved searching for clues and finding out who done it was a lot of fun. Going to spoiler tag this next part:
The combat is also fantastic, while I've made some mistakes with the way I've built my characters as I now realize I really do enjoy the turn based combat and how many ways the game can be messed with and how all of these elements play off of each other. The game is also constantly challenging, I've pretty much started saving after every battle as you can get ambushed pretty easily and get your ass handed to you. I faced off against the first arcs final boss and he wiped out my party with an AoE attack before I could even act. Thankfully with the help of Luminaire I was able to cheese the fight a bit which made it a lot easier to deal with after I wiped on it for a good half hour straight.
So yeah, really enjoying the game and glad I decided to start my blitz with it. Before I go just want to throw in a series of random things I had while playing it.
- The talking to animals perk is amazing. The murdered man's dog was adorable and I wanted to adopt him! I also met a rather hilarious crab and I like that rats in dungeons can generally offer little clues to puzzles.
-Speaking of puzzles while I like the ones so far they either range from completely obvious or rather hard to figure out even if you get the concept behind them.
- The best spell is the water regen spell by far, having no real quick and easy way to heal was rough early on until I got a mage.
- I wish I had not rolled a Rogue as my main character as the Rogue party member you can use is mute and seemed really interesting, oh well maybe in another playthrough.
- I've done for all the treasure maps but the rewards don't seem anywhere near what you have to pay for the maps themselves.
- I was very surprised to find that theres no way to resurrect a dead character via a healer or an Inn. You have to use a resurrect scroll or have a high level spell for it. There is no actual penalty for death as far as I've seen but it just seems odd that you need to carry around a bunch of these scrolls in order to keep everyone alive.
One reason I went with this game over some others was that the combat was turn based and I absolutely prefer turn based for games like this and I really liked what I heard about the strategy elements of the game (I'm a massive fan of Strategy RPGs) so I dived in not really knowing what to expect and to be completely honest, I was a bit worried that I wouldn't like the game or there would be some element to it that really bothered me, thankfully that hasn't been the case at all so far!
Getting to the character selection screen I was pretty surprised to find that you get to create two main characters. I had heard the game was co-op but I didn't realize the game would just give you two MC's to start with. It was a nice surprise although it made character creation all that more intriguing and time consuming because of it. I eventually realized that I had no idea what I was really doing with these abilities and stats and how they worked in this game and decided to just take 2 of the default classes without changing anything and so I went with a Rogue and a Hunter.
The story intrigued me from the get go, while the concept of 'Source Hunters' being this worlds version of Star Wars Jedi or Mass Effects Spectres was off putting as far as setting up the plot goes the actual plot involved with a Murder Mystery of a City Councilman was far more interesting and compelling. I don't want to make this to long but I loved how many elements of this played out. I loved searching for clues and finding out who done it was a lot of fun. Going to spoiler tag this next part:
Finding out that multiple side quests I had already done were actually key points to the main overarching story was great and made the whole thing a lot grander in scope. From the stolen staff side quest, to the stuff with the orcs and undead, how everything tied together was absolutely fantastic and then finding out that the Councilman was actually working with the cultists and had been resurrected as a zombie was also interesting and well done. I especially like how it paints a picture of pretty much everyone involved being a bad person. The victim was a complete nutcase, the wife cheated on her husband, The legion's commander was ready to just blame the wife for the crime not realizing the danger he was overlooking (and still doesn't believe anyway), ect.
The combat is also fantastic, while I've made some mistakes with the way I've built my characters as I now realize I really do enjoy the turn based combat and how many ways the game can be messed with and how all of these elements play off of each other. The game is also constantly challenging, I've pretty much started saving after every battle as you can get ambushed pretty easily and get your ass handed to you. I faced off against the first arcs final boss and he wiped out my party with an AoE attack before I could even act. Thankfully with the help of Luminaire I was able to cheese the fight a bit which made it a lot easier to deal with after I wiped on it for a good half hour straight.
So yeah, really enjoying the game and glad I decided to start my blitz with it. Before I go just want to throw in a series of random things I had while playing it.
- The talking to animals perk is amazing. The murdered man's dog was adorable and I wanted to adopt him! I also met a rather hilarious crab and I like that rats in dungeons can generally offer little clues to puzzles.
-Speaking of puzzles while I like the ones so far they either range from completely obvious or rather hard to figure out even if you get the concept behind them.
- The best spell is the water regen spell by far, having no real quick and easy way to heal was rough early on until I got a mage.
- I wish I had not rolled a Rogue as my main character as the Rogue party member you can use is mute and seemed really interesting, oh well maybe in another playthrough.
- I've done for all the treasure maps but the rewards don't seem anywhere near what you have to pay for the maps themselves.
- I was very surprised to find that theres no way to resurrect a dead character via a healer or an Inn. You have to use a resurrect scroll or have a high level spell for it. There is no actual penalty for death as far as I've seen but it just seems odd that you need to carry around a bunch of these scrolls in order to keep everyone alive.