Finally finished Final Fantasy 4 for the first time! I absolutely liked the games characters but never beat it completely in my many attempts. Apparently got pretty dang close though. The games ending kinda just sneaks up on you and I thought there was more to the story but it felt like a good time to wrap it up as well considering its origin. Played the PSP Complete version since I like the aesthetic of the OG but wanted some more modern conventions.
Pretty easy too which was good. Doubt I'll do the extra stuff like Interlude and After Years since I heard not great things about them. My main goal was always just the main story anyway. Really like Cecil and happy he did not turn out into a trash fire at the end lol.
Seeing as it's on sale right now (and doesn't seem to go on sale often), did anyone here play Summon Night 6?
I'm usually a pretty big fan of SRPGs, and particularly value their gameplay and especially mission design, balance and challenge over things like story or leveling systems. So in particular I love games like Devil Survivor, Fire Emblem Conquest, and Growlanser, but don't really care for Disgea or Final Fantasy Tactics.
I did actually play Summon Night 5 and found it okay, but not really anything super great. The mission design was actually surprisingly okay, just too easy. But there just didn't seem to be too much variety to it, with most missions playing out in basically the same way. Which seemed mostly down to the fact that there weren't really too many strategies you could even use, since most of your characters only had really simple and one dimensional abilities.
So I'm mostly wondering if 6 is any better in this regard (harder and more varied), or if it's just mostly the same. I also hated most of the characters in 5 so it would be nice if that improved in 6, but like I said above it doesn't really matter as long as the gameplay is good.
Usually I'd just go and look at reviews, but for SRPGs in particular I find them to be completely useless, since different kind of people value vastly different things when it comes to these kinds of games, to the point that review scores basically completely useless (for example Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time being 67 on Metacritic when it's one of the best games in the genre).
Finally finished Final Fantasy 4 for the first time! I absolutely liked the games characters but never beat it completely in my many attempts. Apparently got pretty dang close though. The games ending kinda just sneaks up on you and I thought there was more to the story but it felt like a good time to wrap it up as well considering its origin. Played the PSP Complete version since I like the aesthetic of the OG but wanted some more modern conventions.
Pretty easy too which was good. Doubt I'll do the extra stuff like Interlude and After Years since I heard not great things about them. My main goal was always just the main story anyway. Really like Cecil and happy he did not turn out into a trash fire at the end lol.
It took me a long time to complete FF4 too. Finally did on the DS version last year but like you I'd apparently gotten pretty close in the past on my PSX copy--one of the many times I tried to play it :P.
Finally finished Final Fantasy 4 for the first time! I absolutely liked the games characters but never beat it completely in my many attempts. Apparently got pretty dang close though. The games ending kinda just sneaks up on you and I thought there was more to the story but it felt like a good time to wrap it up as well considering its origin. Played the PSP Complete version since I like the aesthetic of the OG but wanted some more modern conventions.
Pretty easy too which was good. Doubt I'll do the extra stuff like Interlude and After Years since I heard not great things about them. My main goal was always just the main story anyway. Really like Cecil and happy he did not turn out into a trash fire at the end lol.
Glad to see you enjoyed FF4. It's a game I have a lot of nostalgia for as one of the first RPGs I was exposed to. The sense I get is that the consensus has somewhat turned against it in the past few years. It's certainly not without its flaws, but sometimes it seems to me like people fixate on certain things so much they ignore all the things it does well. I'd like to try the DS version at some point as it sounds like they did a fair amount of modernization (in a good way).
I'm glad some of you enjoyed reading my previous post. I thought I'd share a little of my recent adventures.
After my escape from the cannibals, I decided to go anywhere but north. I saw the ocean, I swam in its acidic waters, and I nearly died stealing Beak Thing eggs. Just your regular day in Kenshi, but then I decided to enter The Swamp...
The walk to its largest city -- Shark -- was fairly tranquil. I saw Swamp Turtles and River Raptors, and marveled at the wildlife here. Both seemed content to ignore me as I passed.
Shark itself was busy with life. Merchants yelled out to sell their swamp drugs and fish. There were places of commerce all around. They even cultivated their own crops. One of the bars had an interesting sign. And nobody called me a flatskin! This is a place I could live in!
I'd come to regret that thought in the following the days. You see, there is something they don't tell you about the swamps -- the Blood Spiders. These things are vicious. They'll spot you a mile away and rip you to shreds. And once they've done that, they'll proceed to suck the life out of you. I once saw one rip someone's arm clean off!
Throughout the next few days I'd meet new companions, explore my surroundings, and run away from Blood Spiders. The few times I did have to fight them were horrific. I count myself lucky I still have all of my limbs.
As awful as it was, I came to understand The Swamp. The Swamp Turtles roam peacefully, but are hunted by us for their meat. We grow crops and think our walls will protect us, but the Blood Spiders still find a way. And the River Raptors eat what is left of Blood Spider corpses and our crops. Not even Shark was safe, as it was common occurrence to see Blood Spiders break through. Only the strongest survive here, and that's not me. Let's get the fuck out.
I packed up my things for the long trip ahead, and just as I was about to leave nature comes knocking... The River Raptors aren't my problem, I'm getting out while I still can.
I thought it wise to hire some help, and little do they know, they're going to earn those cats. Meet the Mercenaries.
Nature it seems did not want to let us go. Seconds after leaving Shark...
Already we'd suffered significant wounds. Green and the Escaped Servant's limp were sure to slow us down. The journey wasn't easy or quick, and the Mercenaries certainly earned their pay fending off several attacks along the way.
We were nearly there when the Mercenaries rushed off out in the distance. I didn't even have time to see who they were attacking when I saw something else... Blood Spiders, and a lot of them. I panicked and ran, I was in no condition to fight, and I thought I could get away, but someone didn't make it. The Escaped Servant's previous wounds slowed him down too much. There was nothing I could do without risking everyone's life. He had escaped cannibals only to now be sucked dry by Blood Spiders...
I don't know what happened to the Mercenaries, but the swamp was behind us now.
Picked up Spellforce 3 on a sale recently and I'm not sure what to think. Game doesn't know if it wants to be an RPG or RTS and doesn't do either one very well. It's a great looking game, but not optimized and hitches a bit even with my RTX 2080. I'm guessing it's more CPU dependent.
I'm having fun with it, which is all that matters, but there is so much wasted potential here. It could have been such a better game.
It's probably the closest spiritual successor we've gotten to Fallout's design, especially reactivity. Colony Ship is the developer's next game, and looks to follow in the same path.
It's probably the closest spiritual successor we've gotten to Fallout's design, especially reactivity. Colony Ship is the developer's next game, and looks to follow in the same path.
Awesome. My only advice for when you do play it is to try to embody your character. Behave like you think you would if you were them. And avoid meta-gaming as much as possible (Save-scumming, trying to see all the content, reading guides to min/max, etc.).
Usually I'd just go and look at reviews, but for SRPGs in particular I find them to be completely useless, since different kind of people value vastly different things when it comes to these kinds of games, to the point that review scores basically completely useless (for example Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time being 67 on Metacritic when it's one of the best games in the genre).
I'm a bit biased because it's one of my personal favorites, but Wayfarer of Time has one of the biggest gaps I've noticed between reviews and reaction I've seen from players. Whenever it comes up it always seems like almost everyone who's played it just loved it, which you'd never guess from the lukewarm reception it got from reviewers.
Glad to see you enjoyed FF4. It's a game I have a lot of nostalgia for as one of the first RPGs I was exposed to. The sense I get is that the consensus has somewhat turned against it in the past few years. It's certainly not without its flaws, but sometimes it seems to me like people fixate on certain things so much they ignore all the things it does well. I'd like to try the DS version at some point as it sounds like they did a fair amount of modernization (in a good way).
My only gripe, if I could even call it that, has always been the short length you have with almost the entire cast. I've never seen a game before or after, that has so many characters drop in and out of the party as quick as they do here lol. Also a lot of the story elements kinda just happen, but once again that seems more like a hold over from the era it was made. Like the next party member/plot moment being in the next town without much prompting. Though a ton of games have that from back in the day, heck some still do now.
I wasn't too whelmed with the DS version when I tried it back when it came out. The graphics and voice acting were great, but I felt they made the game a bit too hard/long. Compared to the previous ones that is. I know some swear by it though.
It's probably the closest spiritual successor we've gotten to Fallout's design, especially reactivity. Colony Ship is the developer's next game, and looks to follow in the same path.
I just started Octopath Traveler with Ophelia. I best the first boss in the prologue and now I want to swap to another character (my plan was to plan each person's chapter 1, 2, etc in order). How do I go about starting a new character's story? Do I have to travel to them? This seems like a cumbersome way to go about it, especially if I have to go all the way to the other side of the world to start, say, Olbric.
I just started Octopath Traveler with Ophelia. I best the first boss in the prologue and now I want to swap to another character (my plan was to plan each person's chapter 1, 2, etc in order). How do I go about starting a new character's story? Do I have to travel to them? This seems like a cumbersome way to go about it, especially if I have to go all the way to the other side of the world to start, say, Olbric.
I'm continuing with Atelier: Meruru, and just beat what I assume is the final storyline boss. And initially, I thought this would be a sequel to Atelier: Totori. But during the final boss fight, I realized Meruru is actually a stealth spiritual successor to a different, much older Gust game: Ar Tonelico 2
Because it crashes at the final boss... At least I guess this is Koei's fault this time, not NISA's. And the boss is like 15 minutes away from the last save point, which really doesn't help.
Okay, thankfully, there was a workaround for the issue posted on Reddit - just put the game into windowed mode, then close the error messages that pop up everytime the boss does something (and also an official support response that basically just tells you to ask for a refund on Steam lol). I know that Atelier PC ports have historically been godawful, but this is bad even by their standards. Especially since it appears to be a pretty universal bug looking at various online discussions
Anyway, the actual boss was pretty easy, but did at least require crafting some decent gear before taking him on, so that was a nice challenge in a game that has otherwise been pretty easy.
Other than that, most of my impressions are the same as they were last time: the game is just confused about what it wants to be. On one hand, there's so much character story cutscenes here that the game clearly wants to be a casual, story focused experience. But then the time limits work 100% against this idea because every moment you're spending building character friendship points is a moment you're not progressing the game's goals.
But from a crafting/gameplay perspective, the time limit is just way too forgiving to even matter. I still have more than a year left to go despite I guess being done with the main story, and I'm playing completely sub-optimally. And while I was pretty excited hearing that this has town building mechanics, they really didn't amount to anything. Just a bunch of buildings you can construct that give small bonuses, and that's it. There's zero depth or complexity to it.
In addition, the missions you have to solve are just worse than in Totori, with things like "rest for 30 days" (why would you ever want to rest in this game?), or harvest materials/enter combat 1000 times (yeah, all that amounts to is an hour of mindless button pushing). Mostly though, they just ask you to craft different things, which is okay but kind of unoriginal. Meanwhile Totori actually gave rewards for exploring and finding/completing new crafting receipes or fighting different types of enemies and fulfilling different types of missions.
Sadly, the story simply isn't anywhere near good enough to carry the game. The main plot is barely there, and Meruru is pretty much the worst Atelier protagonist I've seen. She's just this sort of undefined moeblob with nothing going on for her. Now, Atelier protagonists generally aren't all that great, but they usually at least have some identifiable traits that set them apart from the rest. Meruru just kind of exists. It's basically the same way I felt about Totori, but she at least gets a pretty decent main plot later on in the game which completely redeems her.
And the rest of the cast doesn't help either. Like Meruru herself, most of them simply exist, with no real plot progression. Instead, their story events are basically just repeating their one character trait over and over again, endlessly. Esty wants to get married. Mimi wants to fuck Totori. Lias is unlucky and looks up to his brother. Astrid is a terrible person. And so on. Sure, the earlier two games were like this two, but Meruru just feels like it has so much more story scenes that this really stands out. There's a couple of characters that are decent, I guess. In general, it feels like the game suffers from bringing back too many characters from previous games whose story arcs already finished, so now they have nothing to do.
Thankfully, Astrid seems to have pretty much disappeared from the game shortly after being introduced, so the story is not quite as terrible as it could have been. Or maybe I'm not triggering any of her events, but I'm happy either way. There's even a point where you have to craft a super powerful item to literally save the entire country, and Totori and Meruru straight up agree that there's nobody they can ask for help because they're the only two alchemists that exist. I don't know if that was intentional of if the writers just forgot about Astrid, but it was a pretty weird moment.
Generally, it just feels like a pretty big downgrade from Totori in pretty much every way. I can't even think of anything it does better (or even just as good), other than being slightly more polished overall. And even this polish sometimes works against it. For example, it has much larger areas, and particularly some very large (by series standards) dungeons. But all that really means is that you have to spend way more time just walking around doing nothing. Maybe there will be something that changes my opinion in the final year, but I'm not really optimistic.
Still, as far as Atelier goes, it isn't that bad. The time limits at least exist, and they give the game the same score chasing feel Totori had (just much easier). And that alone already makes it better than most games in the franchise.
A bit more than 13 hours into Etrian Odyssey Nexus and I'm really enjoying it so far. I actually named my party out of Era members from this very community, which has lead to a great many avenue for teasing and all sorts of wacky head canon. The game has a lot of comedic interactions between party members which kinda makes me believe the game was designed with the intention of naming party members after your friends; either way I really recommend it.
I swear this game is choice paralysis the game. You have to build a party of five between 19 different classes. Not only that, each class can specialize in different skills and abilities. Effectively leading to different play styles depending on what role you want that class to play on the team. I low-key dread leveling up because I'm not sure if I'm appropriately building all of my party members.
Something that struck me odd about the game is the pacing. In a micro sense, the game has great pacing. Being able to literally see every bit of progress manifest right in front of the screen as you draw tiny bits of the labyrinth is really satisfying and actually pretty relaxing. I've found myself in a trance just trying to make the dungeon floors as detailed and accurate as I can. To be honest it reminds me of those stress relief coloring books I always see at Barnes and Noble. Sometimes I would have the map zoomed in for 15 to 20 minutes just mapping out the labyrinth and when I zoom out I see half the floor is done with even realizing it! That's a great feeling. However, if I take a macro approach towards examining the pacing, I end up thinking that it's slow. Mapping out the floors of each labyrinth is great, but sometimes they take about an hour or more to complete, especially to more involved ones.
One thing that I am enjoying wholesale is the combat system. I always appreciate a good turn based battle system that is properly fleshed out and immediately understandable. No tutorials needed here. The stats are easy to comprehend and each one of them has an equivalently meaningful affect in battle. The game's pretty difficult as well so each instrument of the battle system needs to be properly mastered in order to excel at the game. Status effects, binds, buffs and debuffs are all needed overcome the unrelenting (and sometimes cute) monsters of the labyrinths. I suspect higher difficulties will need good party building techniques to form the perfect comp for each major encounter but so far I've not found an encounter I couldn't handle with my starting party.
I'm excited to see what crazy shenanigans the other labyrinths have in store for me. Each one has introduced a different mechanic to make it stand out. This last one had FOE's, bosses that roam certain areas of the floor, that didn't move unless the party was in battle. Usually that's not a problem but the encounter rate in this area was really high so the party was basically always in battle. So I would have to finish fights quickly in order to avoid the encounter with the FOE. This meant having to use more of my resources to finish fights faster. However, some of these FOE needed to move in order to progress because they were blocking important doors! This all lead to having to juggle my resources, the turns I take during a battle and the position in respect to the FOE I was in when I entered said battle. By the end of the maze I was sweating bullets because I had basically no resources and the random encounters were taking longer than I wanted.
A suspect a long journey ahead of me so consider this a first impression. So far, the game's pretty great.
Since I can't afford to buy Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 or Etrian Odyssey Nexus at the moment, I'm replaying Etrian Odyssey Untold.
The first time I played it, I played the story mode, now I'm playing classic mode. My current party is Landsknect (basically a knight), Dark Hunter (for status effects), Alchemist (for elemental magic), Medic (healer), Hexer (for binding enemies and debuffs). Slime Stack said things a lot better than I could!
Also, I should get back to Dragon Quest VIII on the 3DS. I haven't beaten it yet.
SMRPG is a game that I always wanted to check out, since i played most of the other Mario RPG games. I missed out when it came out since it was never released in Europe, and I remember looking over previews of the game in magazines from back in the day. Finished the game at level 20, and it took 22 hours.
The core battle mechanic of this game is that if you press the A button right as your attack lands, you do bonus damage. In addition, if you press the A button right before an enemy's attack lands, you can decrease the damage by half or even negate it altogether. This applies to casting spells as well, where you can increase the amount of healing you do or deal more instances of damage for offensive abilities. This system is why I enjoy the Mario & Luigi games on Nintendo handhelds; because the game keeps you active after you have selected your action from a menu. However, I feel that the M&L games are better in this regard, since the enemies are animated better and you can see their tells easier. Sometimes there is a delay between an enemy attack animation and the damage being dealt, and it is tricky to figure out when exactly you are supposed to react. Also, the later RPGs have more interesting ideas for special attacks than pressing Y at the right time or rotating the D-pad. But the basics in this game are good enough that I was still having fun even when all I was doing was regular attacks and heals.
Other concepts of note: your special attacks use Flower Points, which is a single pool that is shared by all your characters. You can increase the max FP you have by finding flowers in chest-shaped-question-blocks, or via rewards from people as you help them along the course of the game. On occasion, when you use an item during battle, you can get a "Freebie!" message, which means your item isn't used up. Another RNG idea is that when you kill basic enemies, you have a chance of getting a boost flower which can refill your character's health, give them increased damage or defence, or let them take another turn straight away. When levelling up, you get automatically assigned bonuses to stats but also have the option to additionally increase your attack, magic or health. And, every so often, you get the option to double-or-nothing your XP or coins after a battle, which involves a three-egg-monty minigame where you have to guess which egg Yoshi is hiding in.
The game is very forgiving when it comes to the fighting. Your healing spells are pretty cheap, including the revive spell. Everyone receives equal XP points whether they are in the party or not, so you're fine with switching to a party member you haven't used in a while and they won't be a weak link. Allies who are knocked out during battle also get full XP, so no need to rush to revive them before a battle ends. Reviving allies with the Pick Me Up item gives them full health, and it only costs 5 coins. After certain big battles, your health and FP are filled to max.
Story Stuff!
You may be wondering about the plot of the game. Does Princess Peach get kidnapped again? No, silly! Because she's called Princess Toadstool in this game! The toads make jokes about how she has gotten herself in the same predicament she always does. The game actually starts with Mario confronting Bowser while Peach is above them, when a giant sword falls from the sky and impales the keep, and in doing so flings Mario away to the nearby town.
The princess doesn't come a party member until later (I think she's last), but the first guy you get is Mallow, a guy who thinks he is a tadpole, but is clearly not. He is a cloud, and when he cries, it starts to rain. When taking him back to his grandpa (a frog), you are told that he was found floating down the river in a basket and you set out on finding his real family. Close to the end of the game you find Nimbus Town, a place filled with cloud people floating in the sky. After defeating an impostor (guys, the fake Mallow is a giant bird, how did you not notice!!) you find out that Mallow is a prince, and he is reunited with his parents. My favourite part is when you defeat Valentina, the woman who is trying to grab the throne for herself, and Mallow rushes in to free his parents. Mario lets him go alone, and after a few seconds he opens an umbrella. Moments later, it starts to rain. It was nice for Mario to stay back and let Mallow and his family have a private, tearful reunion.
The other original party member is Geno, who has a great origin. Mario comes across a child toad playing with his toys, including a toy Mario that gets knocked across the room by toy Bowser. Mario stands there embarrassed when the kid tells him to join in, and the kid takes his favourite figure, a blue caped guy called Geno . . . that launches a rocket right into Mario's face. Mario rests upstairs, but during the night, a star comes down from the sky and possess the toy, making it grow to full size. He struggles to walk for a moment, before he leaves. Mario tracks him down in a forest and sees him fight one of the antagonists, and helps him out in recovering a Star Piece. Geno says he is a visitor from above, here because the Star Road has been shattered, and its existence is needed to help fulfil people's wishes. Without it, no new stars can be made, and if people can't wish upon stars then their dreams will not come true. At the close of the game, the star that we know as Geno leaves the toy it had been inhabiting, and returns to the sky to fix the Sky Road.
A fair few of the bosses have their own quirks which set them apart. Bowyer's fight screen has the buttons A, X and Y on the ground, and if he shoots one of them then you won't be able to use that button during the fight, banning attacks, items or specials respectively. Belome II has the ability to swallow an ally, and make a clone to fight for him. The final boss, Smithy, can actually change his head to do different attacks, including a whole entire tank that does big physical damage, to a head which resembles a creepy wizard that can cast spells that hit the entire party.
The game has a bunch of easter eggs and references. One of the best is at Star Hill, where stars that have been wished upon have fallen. One of the stars has the message "I wish I could be a great plumber like my brother". I've seen toys of Samus and an Arwing, and there's a certain part where you turn into 8-bit Mario. I've read that Link can be found sleeping in one of the beds when you visit a certain inn. One of the best things I've read is that there is a secret boss called Culex, and he is basically a Final Fantasy boss inside a Mario game. His artstyle is completely different to any other enemy, and the boss music is the old FF battle theme.
Some Images!
Praise the sun!
Bowser has a different relationship with his minions then I once thought . . .
The game's art style reminds me of Donkey Kong Country, and there are bee enemies that look very similar to the ones from DKC. But then there is also this chunky dude:
When Bowser is told that the Smithy Gang will still come through into his keep if they don't stop them, his reaction is "What about my . . . privacy?" which got a laugh out of me. Later on, Bowser realises how much he wants to be with people who respect his power and forms a short haiku. Mario then puts his hand on his shoulder to comfort him:
The closing credits are accompanied by a marching band, led by Luigi, featuring all the characters in the game.
Some Songs!
The standard battle music might be my favourite in the game.
The "we're all going on an adventure" song is also good.
Ending music:
And another thing: all this time I've been hearing Smash fans begging for Geno to added as a fighter. I was looking forward to see how amazing Geno would be in this game. And all I can says is . . . Mallow > Geno. That is all.
Played Ys VI over the last couple of days during study breaks. Classic Ys is always so refreshing: short, sweet, and to the point.
I'd only really heard negative things about the game until getting to know this community, so I'm thankful for people talking Ys VI up. I can see how coming from tOiF and Origin people could be disappointed but I came from tOiF and Origin and wasn't disappointed :P. It was fun.
Definitely has a very step-like difficulty/leveling curve though. Wish that had been a bit smoother.
Finished Pillars of Eternity today, my 4th game of the blitz!
Overall i liked it, it has a lot of cool things going like the gameplay in general (RtwP is king), the different classes (some are really fun and inventive), some of the itemization (specially loved soulbound items) and half of the companions.
On the other hand, the main story is meh, the other half of the companions are plain boring and your inventory gets filled with A LOT of crap throughout the game (with the side effect of slowing down menues if you don't instasell trash). Besides that, the game is very poorly optimized, and it's something that gets worse the more you advance in the game. By the last hours, every screen transition took something like 20 seconds, and a "quick"save took 10. That made stuff like changing a party member (i.e. going to a city, then to the inn and come back) take something like 3-4 minutes, which is really annoying. Or stuff like taking care of sidequests where you have to enter and leave a lots of areas a chore. It's a shame cause it really hindered my enjoyment of the late game.
Another complaint is that the game has a few difficulty spikes that don't really feel fair and some bosses that are plain broken and you either cheese them or skip.
I have to make a separate mention of everything White March, clearly the best the game has to offer. The story is really compelling (even though the companions are forgettable) and it shines where the main campaign fails. Also adds some of the most exciting parts of the game, and as counterpart the 2 most bullshit bosses.
I'm excited to play PoE 2 in the not so distant future, since it seems like it improves on every aspect of this game, mainly the technical issues.
Finished Pillars of Eternity today, my 4th game of the blitz!
Overall i liked it, it has a lot of cool things going like the gameplay in general (RtwP is king), the different classes (some are really fun and inventive), some of the itemization (specially loved soulbound items) and half of the companions.
On the other hand, the main story is meh, the other half of the companions are plain boring and your inventory gets filled with A LOT of crap throughout the game (with the side effect of slowing down menues if you don't instasell trash). Besides that, the game is very poorly optimized, and it's something that gets worse the more you advance in the game. By the last hours, every screen transition took something like 20 seconds, and a "quick"save took 10. That made stuff like changing a party member (i.e. going to a city, then to the inn and come back) take something like 3-4 minutes, which is really annoying. Or stuff like taking care of sidequests where you have to enter and leave a lots of areas a chore. It's a shame cause it really hindered my enjoyment of the late game.
Another complaint is that the game has a few difficulty spikes that don't really feel fair and some bosses that are plain broken and you either cheese them or skip.
I have to make a separate mention of everything White March, clearly the best the game has to offer. The story is really compelling (even though the companions are forgettable) and it shines where the main campaign fails. Also adds some of the most exciting parts of the game, and as counterpart the 2 most bullshit bosses.
I'm excited to play PoE 2 in the not so distant future, since it seems like it improves on every aspect of this game, mainly the technical issues.
You are in for a treat with POE2, it's so much better in every respect. POE1 underneath its own lore felt like any other previous baldur gate or NVN game, but the POE2 feels like it's own complete thing.
It's setting is also really unique, on the surface it seems like just standard pirate fare but really its this colonial feeding frenzy setting, I don't think I've seen any other Rpg with a similar setting to this.
It's probably the closest spiritual successor we've gotten to Fallout's design, especially reactivity. Colony Ship is the developer's next game, and looks to follow in the same path.
I didn't play it yet, but Underrail also seems to be like Fallout 1+2. Did you play that?
@Topic: I started Baten Kaitos a week ago and really like it. It's a bit slow paced but collecting cards and building decks is great. I also got back into ELEX and after 30 hours I finally got a better armor and enough skillpoints to wield a weapon that puts out some damage. I can finally kill bandids and insects without dying all the time, lol. Seems like all the factions are total assholes anyway so I went with the Outlaws because they have the coolest armors. I will climb their ranks and then piss off whoever annoys me, haha. Appart from the usual jank Piranha Byte games still manage to drag me into their worlds like few other open-world-RPGs. They have this unique charm and lot of great quests with real consequences to your decissions.
I beat PoE2 in turn-based mode last month. It definitely was not buggy or clunky, except for one instance where a character was caught in a poison cloud and the damage kept ticking on them in real time even though I couldn't move them and their turn was still several character away. But that only happened once in the entire game.
Balanced is another matter, the game felt significantly easier than the same difficulty level in real-time. But it sounds like the upcoming 5.0 update that brings turn-based mode out of beta addresses this as well. Kinda of makes me wish I waited a little longer to play it, but I still had fun and I'm glad I did.
I beat PoE2 in turn-based mode last month. It definitely was not buggy or clunky, except for one instance where a character was caught in a poison cloud and the damage kept ticking on them in real time even though I couldn't move them and their turn was still several character away. But that only happened once in the entire game.
Balanced is another matter, the game felt significantly easier than the same difficulty level in real-time. But it sounds like the upcoming 5.0 update that brings turn-based mode out of beta addresses this as well. Kinda of makes me wish I waited a little longer to play it, but I still had fun and I'm glad I did.
Nice, thanks for the quick impressions. I'll wait for 5.0 then and give it a try probably sometime in June.
Very excited to give the turn-based mode a try. I don't really have a problem with RTwP in general, but combat always feels a bit too chaotic with that. Sure it makes easy battles go by fast, but it also makes tracking things a bit too hard at times, so I often end up playing on a lower, much less satisfying difficulty level.
Nice, thanks for the quick impressions. I'll wait for 5.0 then and give it a try probably sometime in June.
Very excited to give the turn-based mode a try. I don't really have a problem with RTwP in general, but combat always feels a bit too chaotic with that. Sure it makes easy battles go by fast, but it also makes tracking things a bit too hard at times, so I often end up playing on a lower, much less satisfying difficulty level.
Started playing Trails FC after finishing up with Blue Reflection & It's been a lovely experience so far. I'm constantly enamored at how much care was put into the worldbuilding & characters even the npcs.
You are in for a treat with POE2, it's so much better in every respect. POE1 underneath its own lore felt like any other previous baldur gate or NVN game, but the POE2 feels like it's own complete thing.
It's setting is also really unique, on the surface it seems like just standard pirate fare but really its this colonial feeding frenzy setting, I don't think I've seen any other Rpg with a similar setting to this.
Yes, it's a great RPG as well. I played it at release, so I can't comment on anything they've added/improved since then. You could say The Age of Decadence focuses on its world-building, reactivity, and trying to make you behave as your character, while Underrail is much more focused on the mechanics surrounding combat and exploration. Both are very much inspired by Fallout however.
I finished Might & Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen for the blitz tonight. I really enjoyed the game and will probably play Darkside of Xeen pretty soon. I'll have to play VI eventually since a lot people regard that as the pinnacle of the series, but it will be hard to top the Xeen games for me. Might & Magic I was one of the first games I remember playing as a kid, but I was too young to understand it and never got far. I replayed it a couple years ago and it really made since why the game stuck with me so much. The first game is a huge grind though and that can really bring down the enjoyment at times. Clouds of Xeen seems to have perfected the M&M formula. Lots a quests to engage with in a interesting game world. The game can be difficult at times, but you never need to grind away to move on to the next quests. Just reload and try again. All and all a very satisfying experience.
So it looks like I'll only have completed two games for the blitz unless I want to just bomb rush the finish of Breath of the Wild. Probably not too inclined to do that though. It was a nice motivation to finish up some games I've been meaning to play for a while now. I'll probably participate again next year. Happy blitzing guys!
I finished Might & Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen for the blitz tonight. I really enjoyed the game and will probably play Darkside of Xeen pretty soon. I'll have to play VI eventually since a lot people regard that as the pinnacle of the series, but it will be hard to top the Xeen games for me. Might & Magic I was one of the first games I remember playing as a kid, but I was too young to understand it and never got far. I replayed it a couple years ago and it really made since why the game stuck with me so much. The first game is a huge grind though and that can really bring down the enjoyment at times. Clouds of Xeen seems to have perfected the M&M formula. Lots a quests to engage with in a interesting game world. The game can be difficult at times, but you never need to grind away to move on to the next quests. Just reload and try again. All and all a very satisfying experience.
So it looks like I'll only have completed two games for the blitz unless I want to just bomb rush the finish of Breath of the Wild. Probably not too inclined to do that though. It was a nice motivation to finish up some games I've been meaning to play for a while now. I'll probably participate again next year. Happy blitzing guys!
Nice! Clouds of Xeen was one of the first RPGs I ever played back on my old 386. I never beat though since I had a corrupt floppy, I need to go back sometime (especially since I already own it through GOG).
It's been a long while since I've posted in here, just partially because I haven't been on Era too much beyond skimming gaming front page for news, and partially because I wanted to save a bigger post for when I beat Phantasy Star 1. I beat Phantasy Star 4 a while back but wanted to discuss it more in the context of its predecessor, unfortunately that playthrough is just taking a bit more time than I anticipated due to being so busy recently.
I had actually saved a few specific posts that I wanted to respond to but I see now that those responses would be months later, jeez time flies. I guess in a general sense I'll just say that I enjoyed reading impressions from people completing blitz games and specifically I want to shout out MoonFrog going through MT1, Luminaire and their Atelier impressions, Iva Demilcol 's KH2 writeup, Thuddert experiencing the greatness that is DQ4 and Ratchetdude231 blowing through DQ2 and DQ3 like an absolute unit, Taborcarn 's PoE2 writeup which has me even more curious to try the turn-based mode in that game, Absentmindedprof 's Xeen impressions (awesome game and pretty accessible even today, a testament to strong and carefully balanced game design), emonk 's Phantasy Star 2 impressions which mirrored my own thoughts on the game when I tried it recently, and Arulan 's Kenshi discussion and stories, which convinced me to pick it up, though I haven't started it yet.
Anyway, going back to Phantasy Star 4 - that was a really remarkable game for a few reasons.
I think that, in general, Genesis/MD games have a certain style that is distinct from the kind of games you'd find on the SNES. That's not to say that the SNES doesn't also have punchy action games that draw more from an arcade background, but there's just something about many of the notable games on Sega's 16-bit system that gives them more of a focused, "gamey" edge. But I don't know - maybe a lot of that is just the "blast processing" "Genesis does what Nintendon't" marketing at work.
Regardless, the Genesis' reputation for more arcade-oriented, gameplay-tight action experiences I think informs at least some of the design principles of its stable of RPGs. I've previously played Shining Force and Landstalker and both of them had that same "edge," a no non-sense feeling of tight gameplay loops and brisk pacing. Again, maybe it was just my preconceptions going into them, but it was something I picked up on and made a note of. (For what it's worth I think this tautness of design further informs many of the RPGs found on the Saturn, notably Panzer Dragoon Saga.)
I mention all of this to, in a roundabout way, lead back to Phantasy Star 4. My biggest takeaway from the game was just how tight it was. In terms of the general thrust of the narrative, I think the only 16-bit RPG that's equally as well-paced is Chrono Trigger. PS4 just moves at an astonishingly brisk clip and I think it accomplishes one of the most difficult balancing acts in an RPG, which is to make you feel like you've gone on a vast, sprawling journey without actually requiring you to invest a huge amount of time to make that literally true. After all, if you put, say, 80 hours into an RPG, that sense of scale and experience sort of comes inherently as a corollary to the rather large amount of time you've dumped into the adventure. I think it's significantly more difficult, and also significantly more impressive, to accomplish that feeling while keeping things at a breakneck ~20 hours pace. But PS4 does exactly that, through a combination of geographic scale - a whole solar system with planets of distinct biomes - and through narrative scale, through that feeling of truly legendary events unfolding as the story progresses.
That second element - narrative scale - is one reason why I would emphatically recommend playing the earlier Phantasy Star games first, at least the first two. I've spent a decent chunk of time recently exploring the earlier entries to various extents, and one incredible aspect of PS4 that will be completely lost on a series newbie (as I was at the time) is how much of its plot and broader lore are tied inextricably and skillfully into the previous games. The game is remarkable not just because of how tight and focused it is in isolation, but also in the way that it uses plot points and worldbuilding from previous games as an economical shorthand to give events more meaning and import, without resorting to outright telling you why you should care. It's a game that recognizes the impressive scope of its narrative and lets each part of that narrative, especially as it ramps up toward the end, properly breathe. And this great storytelling simultaneously makes the game feel both more brisk and also more meaningful, because the signal-to-noise ratio is incredibly low. Everything that happens is meaningful, contributes to the broader narrative in important ways, carefully and incrementally raises the stakes, and is steeped in references and lore culled from previous entries. This economical storytelling is admirable in a medium where narratives tend to get bogged down in pointless minutiae and fail to just get out of their own way, and it also retroactively makes me regret not having invested time in the prior entries before playing PS4. People aren't wrong by any means when they say it can stand alone as a first Phantasy Star, but at the same time I think there actually is a sizable chunk of meaning derived from previous games that anyone about to play it should be made aware of. The game is a snappy enough playthrough that I may replay it after finishing both PS1 and PS2.
The gameplay in PS4 is also exceptionally tight and "arcade-like" and it all stems from the genius of the macro system. When I started the game I viewed the macros as merely a way to automate the UI steps necessary to do basic actions like "all attack" or "DPS attack and mages heal." Don't get me wrong, that's absolutely one of the best uses for the macro system, and it drastically cuts down on the amount of time you spend fiddling in menus in random encounters. But as the game continued and I got a feel for the dungeon crawling, I realized that the macros are a way to solve the puzzle of each random encounter set you may run into in a given area. The system challenges you not to just wade through a dungeon on your way to the boss, but rather to take a proactive approach to exploring each random encounter and building a set of automated instructions that most efficiently and safely disposes of that "puzzle" and allows you to continue your trek deeper into each area. It's an ingenious system that requires you to identify the composition of each random encounter possibility, their strengths, their weaknesses, etc., and to think about what consistent options your party can take to exploit those weaknesses and mitigate those strengths - and then to implement those findings in a macro that can be selected one time and executed any time that random encounter appears.
If you think about it, it's a very arcade-like arrangement; it places a special emphasis on pattern recognition and tasks you not just with general resource conservation, but moreso with identifying patterns, learning efficient and safe solutions, and internalizing them for later use to "clear" that random encounter should it come up again. In something like, say, Shinobi, you have a single level which consists of a series of consecutive combat/platforming "micro-challenges" meant to test various skills, and all of which you must master in an unbroken sequence before the level is completed. Phantasy Star 4 takes that concept, extracts the individual micro-challenges, and turns them into different random encounter sets in each dungeon; as the random encounters occur, you build the most efficient solutions to conquer them, and once you've developed this set of automated macros and established mastery over the dungeon, you reach the boss, defeat them, and "clear" the level. This setup is how most dungeon crawling RPGs work, but the macros in PS4 really emphasize the pattern recognition elements of traditional dungeon crawling gameplay in a way that I've never quite seen before, and I find it baffling that more JRPGs don't have such a system. It just works so well, and - like being able to walk away from NPCs while talking to them in Chrono Trigger - it makes you scratch your head that it didn't become a genre standard moving forward.
The memorable "manga panel" cutscenes were also a neat, efficient way to present the plot points and convey a bit more visual flair than the usual 16-bit "sprites move abstractly to simulate emotions while dialogue boxes appear" arrangement that most other console RPGs from the time used. Not that there's anything wrong with that format, but PS4's approach made a lot of scenes deliver in ways that they might not have been able to had we, as the audience, been "above" the action watching little sprites move around. For instance
Alys' death scene is pretty well done and it's largely because the framing and composition of the scene through the paneled approach really sells the characters' anguish, particularly Chaz.
I could add more but I'm sure I'll discuss this game much more over time organically so I'll leave it at that for now, but overall it was an excellent experience and a crown jewel in the Genesis' lineup. The OST was also fantastic and I'll leave a few of those cuts here:
Been playing Megami Tensei II (as part of KMT, not the NES original):
I'm currently at Baal's castle.
It is markedly more like SNES SMT than MT1 was: there is post-apocalyptic, demon-infested Tokyo; the world is divided into a world map and dungeons/towns based on various neighborhoods of Tokyo, ruined and strewn out across the map; there is a friend/rival character; there are demon and human factions, including the Messians and the Gaians (Deva); there are both guns and swords; there are teleporting save terminals; etc. MT1 had the demon-summoning and the classic hero/heroine character/role pair but MT2 feels like an origin for so much more of quintessential SMT to me. Going back to SNES SMT was already revelatory in how complete SMT already was and MT2 is much the same revelation. (Don't sleep on any of these!!)
The game is also very easy to read. I got stuck once so far and that was because I didn't think to walk on top of a town to get to the other side (which was dumb because you are usually walking on top of towns to even get in them) and so I spent good bit of extra time in the subway system. But the NPCs are helpful, the options forward are limited if multiple, and for much of the early game Pazuzu will give you guiding instructions.
The dungeons have been pretty satisfying and I've been consistently pushed to actually summon demons recently in order to survive the hordes. Money is pretty tight for me. I guess the arena would be a good way to make a lot more but I've been getting by if not able to buy much new equipment.
Equipment itself is pretty interesting. It is very much more about the stat bonuses and resistances than it is about a straight defensive boost. It operates as ability augments.
There are lots of neat little moments, e.g. listening to a madman rave about dancing with Hachiko then actually dancing with Hachiko and finding a magical sword. Or the way I got my new computer last night...
I'm failing miserably on my blitz thanks to getting back into FFXIV with a friend. That and my free time has gone to writing, drawing, and touching up my resume, so its been rough in the world of game time.
However! Ayesha update! I hope to finish this before Lulua comes out next week...
The bread saga with Fred continues. He seems like a really nice guy. He gave away a bunch of bread to hungry kids. Moving on, Juris, Nanaca's older brother, offered to assist whenever Ayesha goes out on hunts and gathering. I haven't used him yet, but it's hard to replace Linca and Wilbell. Though, I may let one of them take the bench for a while. Or both and see how Regina has evolved alongside how Juris handles. On the subject of Wilbell, her teacher/great-great-great grandmother is a really kind lady who is just looking out for the little troublemaker.
Linca was told to find a goal, an aspiration, or have some kind of ambition beyond just 'be Marion's bodyguard.' This provided some internal conflict for Linca, as she's mostly interested in combat and proving herself as strong. When Ayesha decided to give her some tips, Linca's initial ambition is to defeat a strong enemy. I wonder if this has anything to do with my arch nemesis Edge Wolf. Unfortunately, Linca's strong enemy wouldn't just pop out of the bushes like she'd hoped.
I decided to fulfill Keith's ultimatum after visiting with Odelia. I had no idea what he wanted, just that he wanted something that he would use. He gave me nothing else to go on. I saved and created something he might need, and offered it up to him. He didn't even bother to look at it. He just wanted to confirm it could be done. His words were harsh, but he sees a talent in Ayesha. She's been stumbling her way through alchemy, guessing on things and using rough estimates. That alone is impressive to him, as she has no teacher and is completely self taught. As a reward, he returned the item he took during the battle where he wiped the floor with the entire party in a flashy mess of overkill. Even his backhanded compliments are a bit over overkill.
So, one of Nanaca's cows went missing. Normally I'd just consider it a fluffy side story with little to do with the main plot, but after following the runaway cow, Ayesha ran into her sister Nio. Nio said she'd help the cow, and it disappeared into whatever world Nio is in.
Another task on my list was to investigate the Dry Valley. Word has it, there are glowing flowers there that may have something to do with Nio. I learned how to make an item that would call forth a rainstorm that will make the flowers bloom. First, I had to make it, which required a bit of studying. Of course, it was a success! And guess who showed up?
Afterwards, I returned to the workshop to offload the myriad items I gathered from points and enemies. Ayesha pondered on her recent meetings with Nio, and also decided to try to utilize some of the flower petals she gathered from the glowing flowers. This is where things started to unfold some of the deeper story going on. Ayesha fell into a deep sleep, and 'awoke' in a heavenly place with her sister who she'd been searching for this whole time. It was a sweet reunion, and Nio shared some of what has been going on.
This seems like the place that Nio has been, or at least some version of it. Ayesha and Nio had a much longer conversation. Nio said she was trying to help Ayesha pick flowers for her work, but saw one on a cliff. She reached for it, slipped and fell and woke up here. I'm wondering if this is some form of limbo. Could Nio be dead, and her ghost is simply refusing to let go of this world?
Ayesha awoke in the workshop, alone. She couldn't tell if she was awake or dreaming. The ending of that exchanged seemed bizarre. I'm not sure what to take of the situation. Could this world be a simulation? Could there be some alchemic guardian protecting Nio and those spirited away? What's the connection with the waking world and the dreaming place that Nio is at? My guess would be that the ancients were spirited away by...something due to their rampant destruction of the world. I'm now deeply curious as to whats going on. This is certainly a twist I wasn't expecting...
I have some more stuff, but I'll save it for another post. I wanted to check in on Regina and see what cool new stuff she learned, and I also wanted to start tackling the bigger hunts in areas I've visited before. I really love how the world feels familiar and big, but small enough to navigate and remember every passage. I know the tunnels like the back of my hand, I know the trek to Hornheim quite well, I've spent more time in the salt desert than I care to admit, and I have some fond memories of my passage through the dying world. The environmental storytelling is superb, and it leaves you with just enough information to try to develop your own theories on what happened in a particular area. Seeing the giant walkways that fell apart in the tunnels, the scattered boxes and explosives in the mines alongside giant corpses, and the empty houses with valuables tucked away. It all adds to the world, along with every ability feeling like it belongs.
As I'm in the middle of Year 3, I think I'm coming up near the end in a few hours. Maybe 5-6? Nio is showing up a lot more, strange events are happening that make the world more than what it seems to be at first glance, and Keith is getting closer to helping Ayesha learn the truth. I hope I can find a book that will let me create the worlds biggest bomb, because my biggest regret would be to finish the game without wiping the white Edge Wolf from this plane of existence in a conflagration so luminous it blinds half the world. Perhaps I am overly ambitious with explosives, but that wolf crossed the wrong apothecary.
Couple of hours into turn-based Pillars of Eternity 2 and I'm frankly enjoying the combat waaaay more like this. I certainly don't hate RTwP and sometimes it does work well, but after this and DOS2 it's clear to me that turn-based is where it's at for me. Combat just feels so much more satisfying to me. It's more manageable yet more tactical, you get to directly see every single action everyone takes and it's much easier to really plan things out. Buffs and debuffs somehow seem more worthwhile when their duration is counted in turns rather than seconds etc.
Which is all well and good, cause the story and the world still isn't grabbing me like at all. Initially the original game was pretty interesting, but by now I've really gotten bored of the huge focus on religions, gods, souls and such. I'll probably approach it like I approached Dragon Age: Inquisition some year or two ago: I'll just pick the most seemingly entertaining dialogue options whenever possible, not really caring about the consequences or the overarching story. At least this time around they've definitely worked to add some color to the dialogue and dialogue options, which is a nice improvement from PoE1.
Couple of hours into turn-based Pillars of Eternity 2 and I'm frankly enjoying the combat waaaay more like this. I certainly don't hate RTwP and sometimes it does work well, but after this and DOS2 it's clear to me that turn-based is where it's at for me. Combat just feels so much more satisfying to me. It's more manageable yet more tactical, you get to directly see every single action everyone takes and it's much easier to really plan things out. Buffs and debuffs somehow seem more worthwhile when their duration is counted in turns rather than seconds etc.
Do you find combat taking much longer with turn based? Because there is alot of combat in POE2. Also is turn based combat a toggle or set for the entire new game?
