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[AgentOtaku]

Thanks for the review Shouta!

Hopefully we won't have to wait to long for it stateside

 

[reilo]

Worse Ending:

Chrono Cross

Spoiler

"beat the boss normally and go straight to credits"

in the first play through, or WKC?

 

[rykomatsu]

Ok, time for bed. I'll answer some more questions in the morning.

is the way the ending is handled better or worse than Sora no Kiseki FC?

Spoiler

there was a partial plot wrap up, but Joshua ditches Estelle and takes off and there's a preview into The Organization but not much more

it pains me to see the game sitting on my table with no way of being played atm :|

 

[Joe211]

Wow, ultra mega super duper fail.

I like cliffhanger ending though, it means you actually want to know what happens next, meaning the story was good, because if it wasn't then you wouldn't care. It also means there is a good chance of a follow-up!

But back to NG+. Why do developers fail at this?

DLC incoming?

Shouta thanks for your impressions

 

[Kagari]

is the way the ending is handled better or worse than Sora no Kiseki FC?

Spoiler

there was a partial plot wrap up, but Joshua ditches Estelle and takes off and there's a preview into The Organization but not much more

it pains me to see the game sitting on my table with no way of being played atm :|

At least you have it!

 

[neojubei]

At least you have it!

I thought the game already shipped out for you, Kagari.

 

[Kagari]

I thought the game already shipped out for you, Kagari.

It did, I just don't have it yet.

 

[Ryuartyi]

Does the attacking get any faster than 4 seconds between attacks? I watch videos and it feels like I'll fall asleep between attacks.

I want to like this game, but it's far too slow. Any good news?

 

[dralla]

so it's basically like every other Level-5 RPG, ever.

 

[Kagari]

so it's basically like every other Level-5 RPG, ever.

Except better than Rogue Galaxy supposedly. I'll get back to you on that once I beat WKC. I did finish RG

Spoiler

and I liked it except for the end with 9 fricken boss battles in a row with no saves in between >:|

 

[dralla]

Rogue Galaxy is my favorite one. unless you count DQ8.

 

[AppleBlade]

Why are JRPG's struggling this gen? This game looks solid, but all of the high profile JRPG's have been "solid" or "good" but none have been considered to be universally great.

 

[PSGames]

Ignoring my fuming anger at ending the game the way they did? Probably 8.5-8.9



Took me 43 hours to complete with a bunch of lollygagging around to get my characters evenly leveled and some guild rank grinding.

I haven't played all of the jRPGs this gen, only some. Comparatively, I like this more than The Last Remnant and I like it about the same as Vesperia's equivalent in story (since WKC's is incomplete.) There seems to be more guild quests in the areas I've already been in and crafting but I rarely ever do all of those to 100% (well, crafting anyway).

If you've played Lost Odyssey how does this compare? LO is the only next-gen JRPG I've liked so far.

 

[The_Inquisitor]

So I am a little confused as to the online component. So you get armor online from defeating stuff. Can you use it in the single player campaign and vise-versa.

 

[reilo]

Why are JRPG's struggling this gen? This game looks solid, but all of the high profile JRPG's have been "solid" or "good" but none have been considered to be universally great.

Hype? We've seen in the past that hype can propel a game to get a score higher than it deserves.

Read the jRPG recommendation threads on here, and you will find universal praise of the following:

Valkyria Chronicles and Tales of Vesperia with some Lost Odyssey thrown in there. None of those games are averaging higher than an 8 on reviews - which are great scores, but not "blockbuster" or "universally great" by reviewer standards.

Plus, jRPGs are universally long games - sometimes 50-60 hours on average. How many jRPGs have you played that started off good and then propelled to a whole new level 20-30 hours in? How many of those reviewers played it for more than 15?

 

[Kagari]

So I am a little confused as to the online component. So you get armor online from defeating stuff. Can you use it in the single player campaign and vise-versa.

Yes.

 

[LiK]

Rogue Galaxy is my favorite one. unless you count DQ8.

Dark Cloud 2 still my fave Level 5 RPG

 

[poking cow]

On the negative end, WHY MUST YOU END THE GAME LIKE THAT JERKS! And I have a few reservations about online at the moment.

Eh, any more questions, feel free to ask.

NOOOO, why must they do stuff like this

Well at least theres another game coming right? right?!

 

[Classic_Gs]

Graphics and Sound:

- Pretty awesome. The environments, especially, are fantastic looking. Very detailed, very pretty, and very expansive. A few of the areas really remind me of Final Fantasy XI

What areas of FFXI does it specifically remind you of?

 

[Ploid 3.0]

The first city looked similar to San d'Oria and Jeuno.

 

[makingmusic476]

Directing is still Level-5 quality stuff, so it’s not great. A little annoying but passable at least. It’s far better than Rogue Galaxy at this point.

Sold.

I like L5's stuff, but Rogue Galaxy was hard to get through.

 

[neojubei]

Rogue Galaxy is my favorite one. unless you count DQ8.

I liked Rogue Galaxy, but hated the massive time consuming dungeons. I've entered my first dungeon and hoping it isn't some huge multi=level dungeon that looks the same.

Is it me or are the trophies showing up in English?

 

[Durante]

The trend to multi-installment RPG series that started last generation with stuff like the .hack series and Xenosaga seems to be hitting its stride now with Mass Effect, WKS, and it's likely that Dragon Age will be another one with "Origins" and all. I guess it's understandable that developers/publishers want to re-use their investment a bit more -- I don't mind much as long as the wait isn't too long (I'm looking at you Mass Effect).

Read the jRPG recommendation threads on here, and you will find universal praise of the following:

Valkyria Chronicles and Tales of Vesperia with some Lost Odyssey thrown in there. None of those games are averaging higher than an 8 on reviews - which are great scores, but not "blockbuster" or "universally great" by reviewer standards.

Small correction: Valkyria is averaging 87 on reviews now, which is quite a bit higher than 8. It also has a number of 10/10 reviews. However, it's not very comparable to the other games you listed.

Unless SO4 somehow takes the western media by storm it seems doubtful we'll see a 9+ HD JRPG before FF13. Or maybe they'll love WKS? Who knows -- at least it won't get points deducted for not having multiplayer :lol

 

[Shouta]

Uhm regarding the quests, there are about 50 (see one of the trophies for the game which asks the player to get an S Rank on 50 quests), so yeah... not the very few stated on the OP Unless the source where I found the trophy info was wrong, of course.

Also you unlock a few quests by traveling around, not just by leveling up on the Guild Rank.

First off, I said there weren't many quests up until the guild rank I was at. I haven't found any quests at all in towns and you only get two normally by leveling up guild rank. Makes me wonder what the unlock conditions are then.

Second, that doesn't really change my point though, there are limited areas in the game so even though there may be 50 quests, you'll be traveling the exact same areas, over and over again which can become tedious. The quests will need to be more inventive. It also doesn't change the fact they gipped the damn main story. >=|

Did the story end where it sounds like another title is in the work?

It ends at a point where they HAVE to do a sequel to continue it. If they didn't, Level 5 is a bunch idiots.

I'm curious about the extra quest. Will you be leveling up to do it? Or are you done all together?

I haven't really decided if I'm done yet. I'm pissed about the SP ending like that and that was the main reason I was playing the game. Online was the extra longevity bit and something I can do on the side. Then there are my reservations about the online as well. Also considering there's relatively few of us playing the JP version, I'm not sure if I have enough incentive to do online and there's a time issue for me cropping up soon.

I'm actually considering trading the game back in since I can still get good money back and may pick it up later for cheap or get the US version if I want to play online.

The Knights are the big magic robots, right?

What is

Spoiler

their terrible secret?

Do you really want to know?

Worse Ending:

Chrono Cross

Spoiler

"beat the boss normally and go straight to credits"

in the first play through, or WKC?

Nah, CC is worse. WKC at least has a small little montage and a scene that will lead to what happens next game.

is the way the ending is handled better or worse than Sora no Kiseki FC?

Spoiler

there was a partial plot wrap up, but Joshua ditches Estelle and takes off and there's a preview into The Organization but not much more

it pains me to see the game sitting on my table with no way of being played atm :|

Haven't played FC yet, started it but been putting it off. I'll have to see about it when I finally get around to it which will probably be pretty soon.

Does the attacking get any faster than 4 seconds between attacks? I watch videos and it feels like I'll fall asleep between attacks.

I want to like this game, but it's far too slow. Any good news?

Attacks seems to be a bit faster depending on weapon and maybe dexterity. A lot of the bigger weapons are slower to swing but I can't really say for sure without timing it. The battle system is a bit slower at first but really picks up later with more attacks and lots of enemies to fight at the same time.

If you've played Lost Odyssey how does this compare? LO is the only next-gen JRPG I've liked so far.

Have not played Lost Odyssey yet. I'm planning on playing it soon though.

So I am a little confused as to the online component. So you get armor online from defeating stuff. Can you use it in the single player campaign and vise-versa.

You hardly ever get armor itself for questing. You usually get items from questing then you can synth them for new armor. It's a bit of a pain in the butt because a lot of items have odd parts needed (that you may not get at your part of the game) or are just a plain pain in the butt to create. It's really designed to eat up time IMO.

What areas of FFXI does it specifically remind you of?

San d'Oria, Tahrongi Canyon, a little bit of Windurst, a few of the deserts as well. Also some of the characters remind me of FFXI ones.

 

[tribal24]

so many comparisons to ffxi this is gonna be good my game shipped already>.>

 

[rykomatsu]

Haven't played FC yet, started it but been putting it off. I'll have to see about it when I finally get around to it which will probably be pretty soon.

Ar Tonelico 2 then?

Spoiler

Jakuri asks Cocona to head to the 3rd tower in an attempt to revive the entire planet of Ar Ciel and leaves it at that...huge flag for a sequel that's been hinted at but Gust has just left it hanging since for over a year

 

[Shouta]

Ar Tonelico 2 then?

Spoiler

Jakuri asks Cocona to head to the 3rd tower in an attempt to revive the entire planet of Ar Ciel and leaves it at that...huge flag for a sequel that's been hinted at but Gust has just left it hanging since for over a year

That's a good cliffhanger since it still feels like the game accomplished something but it's still leading into something more. WKC is not like that.

 

[lsslave]

So before i set myself to hype for possible NA release or not (probable since its 1st party Sony? the lack of RPGs might force their hand and all >.>)

When you say its time consuming, is it redundant? The ONE thing I hate about Monster Hunter is farming the same fn Wyvern over and over and over for parts I need...

TBH that one thing is what has me lacking any real hype for #3 in the MH series, I don't like MMOs either because I hate grinding/time consuming redundancies, I would rather a challenge than just flat out grinding away in boredom

 

[Shouta]

When you say its time consuming, is it redundant? The ONE thing I hate about Monster Hunter is farming the same fn Wyvern over and over and over for parts I need...

TBH that one thing is what has me lacking any real hype for #3 in the MH series, I don't like MMOs either because I hate grinding/time consuming redundancies, I would rather a challenge than just flat out grinding away in boredom

That's exactly what I mean. Crafting requires lots of items, sometimes really hard to get and so you have to fight enemies over and over again to collect parts to create those items. This is especially true for higher levels of the crafting rank where it's like 30 of a certain item to create a piece of an armor and there's a full set of it! =|

 

[Ether_Snake]

I bet the game ended like that because they had to cut production short due to delays.

 

[lsslave]

I bet the game ended like that because they had to cut production short due to delays.

Were in the age of DLC and episodic content... the days are short when we can spend our 50-60$ and buy a full game.

If delays mattered GT5 would be out by now, as would Killzone 2, I would think its much different things in play that caused this (hangup ending to try and force people to buy the sequel for closure)

Another question now:

Is online imperative to the game? Or will I be able to enjoy it offline 90 percent of the time if I don't have much interest in a Monster Hunter grindfest?

 

[rykomatsu]

That's exactly what I mean. Crafting requires lots of items, sometimes really hard to get and so you have to fight enemies over and over again to collect parts to create those items. This is especially true for higher levels of the crafting rank where it's like 30 of a certain item to create a piece of an armor and there's a full set of it! =|

Sounds like WoW

edit1: Multi-heroine ED or just one straight story ED/cliffhanger?

edit2: thanks for the review

 

[ampere]

The battle system is MMO-like akin to FFXI, FFXII

Sounds cool. I hope there's a demo though

 

[Shouta]

Is online imperative to the game? Or will I be able to enjoy it offline 90 percent of the time if I don't have much interest in a Monster Hunter grindfest?

You don't need to go online at all. You can even do the quests offline and solo. However, that also kinds of ticks me off. I can't use the story characters in the offline versions of the quests. I might be more interested in doing the quests offline if that were the case but only solo? That's just urgh.

Sounds like WoW

Perhaps a little worse considering how far the game is in relative scope.

Straight up story cliffhanger, ryko.

 

[hateradio]

I guess this game sounds disappointing mostly story-wise due to the ending, I wonder if they really would make a sequel or something :?

 

[Ryuartyi]

Attacks seems to be a bit faster depending on weapon and maybe dexterity. A lot of the bigger weapons are slower to swing but I can't really say for sure without timing it. The battle system is a bit slower at first but really picks up later with more attacks and lots of enemies to fight at the same time.

My brother found a video where the main character was able to pull out an attack in one second instead of four, even as the White Knight.

My hype is back, and I'm looking forward to the game's release again.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

I guess this game sounds disappointing mostly story-wise due to the ending, I wonder if they really would make a sequel or something :?

Sounds like that was kind of the plan to start with, and considering it is now one of the best selling PS3 games in Japan I am sure they will.

 

[Davey Cakes]

I'm glad that the OP didn't include a number score.

With most games I play today, I try to think in my head what score I should give, but I never come up with anything satisfying. Numbers just don't convey the experience of a game.

Nice impressions!

 

[rotaryspirit]

I pretty much agree with everything Shouta said so far, except the story bits since I am not exactly there yet. Hopefully I can put some hours in today and get through this so I can really start to focus on the online part. Also, I think the music is a little bit better than just average; the opening song certainly is catchy, but the in game stuff is really nice as well. I'm liking it a lot.

 

[cruets]

personally not worried about the story. i just want a nice mini-ffxi/ffxii clone that i can play online and loot whore. i hardly ever read the text in ffxi as it is

 

[grandjedi6]

Correct. They didn't finish it in this game which means they want to do a part 2. It's not like other games where they finish a story then connect the two games. This is more like part 1 of game 1 is done.

Video Game Bible Commandment #4: Though Shall Develop a Game as if it is to be the Only Game.

 

[WickedLaharl]

Correct. They didn't finish it in this game which means they want to do a part 2. It's not like other games where they finish a story then connect the two games. This is more like part 1 of game 1 is done.

that is really disappointing news.

 

[nyong]

I guess this game sounds disappointing mostly story-wise due to the ending, I wonder if they really would make a sequel or something :?

DLC is my guess.

 

[linsivvi]

I read from another forum that after you beat the game, the shops will restock with new powerful items and you have the option to reset your level 50 characters back to level 1, while keeping all of your skills. Which means you can make your characters even more powerful. Sort of a new game+ I guess?

 

[Ashour]

I rather have a full sequel that explains everything rather than a DLC that shows the rest of the ending without really telling much, even if it takes 2 more years to make.

Thanks for the review Shouta. I’m going to pick this one up when it gets released stateside, though hopefully not Fall that would be lame…