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The 2015 RPG thread - A weak sequel but still a good year

H

HamPster PamPster

Member
2015 is going to be a great year. A few rpgs I'm keeping an eye on are Secrets of Grindea (the beta arcade mode its great, can't wait to dive in fresh to the story mode once its finished), Chaos Rings 3 (I hope it gets a localization, impressions seemed positive), Type-0 HD (I'll take a a medicore final fantasy over a lot of what Japan puts out these days), Dragon Fin Soup (all the video so far have me interested) and Unsung Story (oh god please turn out better than that Project Phoenix video...)
 
H

Hibiki Kurosawa

Member
Wait, two people tried doing a table entry for Etrian Mystery Dungeon and both put it as isometric? It's more top down, I'd say, not isometric.

Reveirg said:
Weak sequel?

Maybe in sheer quantity, but in quality big titles, much stronger! (Or maybe they just fall within my personal favorite franchises)

I mean...

-Final Fantasy Type-0
-Xenoblade X
-Persona 5
-Tales of Zestiria
-Bloodborne
-Some Falcom goodness (Brandish, Trails in the Sky SC, possibly new Ys and Xanadu Next)

....in the same year!!
Click to expand...

You have good taste.
 
D

Decado

Member
I'd expect Barkley 2 this year. Game was funded on kickstarter over two years ago. lol

And Bloodborne is an RPG? Even in the loosest sense? 0_o
 
Z

Zukuu

Banned
Decado said:
I'd expect Barkley 2 this year. Game was funded on kickstarter over two years ago. lol

And Bloodborne is an RPG? Even in the loosest sense? 0_o
Click to expand...

Bloodborne is more RPG than most other 'RPGs' nowadays - at least when it comes to character development.
 
TheMoon

TheMoon

Member
Hibiki Kurosawa said:
Wait, two people tried doing a table entry for Etrian Mystery Dungeon and both put it as isometric? It's more top down, I'd say, not isometric.
Click to expand...

image2014_1124_1619_0.jpg


I'd file that under isometric. It's just a few degrees of difference anyway.
 
J

Jigorath

Banned
Personally I'm looking forward to:

Bloodborne
Persona 5
Pillars of Eternity
The Witcher 3
Torment: Tides of Numenera
Mount and Blade 2
Cosmic Star Heroine

Gonna be a good year.
 
Z

Zolbrod

Member
I strongly disagree with the "weak sequel" statement.

This year has a bunch of releases that are more exciting than anything released in 2014.
 
F

FlyingSaucer

Banned
Decado said:
And Bloodborne is an RPG? Even in the loosest sense? 0_o
Click to expand...

You have it backward.

Bloodborne and the Souls games are what the first developpers from the 70s would have dreamed to do if they have had the technology when they first set out to adapt tabletop RPGs to the videogame format.



(I'm not even joking - I've been reading classic D&D modules these days like Tomb of Horrors, Secret of Bone Hills, Amber castle, etc : typical Souls stuff; and I'm not even speaking about the more blatant D&D references in the games themselves, illithids, mimics, level-draining, Dark Souls as a megadungeon, etc)
 
A

Arulan

Member
Jigorath said:
Are you sure MMX didn't sell well?
Click to expand...

I'd really like to know how it sold. I don't think they've released anything official, correct?

As for the difficulty, I found it very refreshing. I played on Hard, and the moments where you know you're under-leveled for a particular boss or area, and still manage to overcome it are incredibly satisfying. In particular one of the first isolated boss fights in a cave right near the start of the game. I was completely under-leveled, and from browsing the GAF thread most recommended coming back much later, but I found with the right use of specific spells, threat management, certain buffs, and managing risk I could defeat him. Every turn I used was crucial, and my shield spell (the name escapes me) just barely managed to absorb most of one of his attacks, but not always. Normally he would be able to wipe out my entire party (sans my Paladin I believe) in one of this swipe attacks. When I finally defeated him it was very rewarding.
 
C

Chance Hale

Member
Durante said:
It seems like Blackguards 2 for one is already failing to match Blackguards, so chalk that one up for 2014.
Click to expand...
How so? I haven't started it yet but most reviews seem to point towards the story being more entertaining and the encounters retaining the same handcrafted appeal with the hit detection system being adjusted for the better. Metacritic obviously isn't the end all but it's rated a full 10 points higher and given there's no discussion of the game on this site I'm surprised to see you say that.
 
H

Hibiki Kurosawa

Member
TheMoon said:
"by definition" ...how so? it's an angled view.
Click to expand...
Isometric isn't an angled view, it's a way of representing 3D in a 2D plane, like this:

fig_07.jpeg

And so that^ perspective has become synonomous with what it means to look like an isometric game.

Edit: I'd like to point out there's a more specific and detailed explanation that makes it have to be that exact perspective to be considered isometric, but you can read up on it if you want.
 
C

cafemomo

Member
Durante said:
Interesting to see a few quite negative posts about FF Type-0 in this thread, I thought it was well received (no idea about the game really).
Click to expand...

I beat the PSP version a few times. I'd give it a Selphie out of Yuna

+Great Music
+Good Story (granted I can only understand half of the stuff their are blabbing)
+Really pretty for a PSP game
+/- School setting, war torn nations, etc was a bit nice yet a bit lacking
-Can't do multiple quests at the same time
-Not enough Chocobos
-Controls took me a while to get used too (but if you play it on the Vita, you can configure the 2nd stick to move the camera)
-Combat felt unbalanced at times
-EXP doesn't apply across the party

Of course, they could of have fixed all my gripes with the HD release.

Psycho_Mantis said:
March?
Click to expand...

US release date for FFXHD
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
FlyingSaucer said:
You have it backward.

Bloodborne and the Souls games are what the first developpers from the 70s would have dreamed to do if they have had the technology when they first set out to adapt tabletop RPGs to the videogame format.



(I'm not even joking - I've been reading classic D&D modules these days like Tomb of Horrors, Secret of Bone Hills, Amber castle, etc : typical Souls stuff; and I'm not even speaking about the more blatant D&D references in the games themselves, illithids, mimics, level-draining, Dark Souls as a megadungeon, etc)
Click to expand...

Most of those modules are also terrible meat grinders.
 
TheMoon

TheMoon

Member
Hibiki Kurosawa said:
Isometric isn't an angled view, it's a way of representing 3D in a 2D plane, like this:

fig_07.jpeg

And so that^ perspective has become synonomous with what it means to look like an isometric game.

Edit: I'd like to point out there's a more specific and detailed explanation that makes it have to be that exact perspective to be considered isometric, but you can read up on it if you want.
Click to expand...

Alright, top down it is then. Someone tell Durante, if he ever wants to add that to the list.
 
F

FlyingSaucer

Banned
HK-47 said:
Most of those modules are also terrible meat grinders.
Click to expand...

'Tomb of Horrors' certainly is. The others ones - less so, and often suffer from an ill-deserved reputation. In any case they are less terrible than most of the more badly designed dungeon crawlers out there - and certainly more interesting and intellectualy interesting than, for example, Persona 3/4's dungeons.
 
Z

Zukuu

Banned
FlyingSaucer said:
'Tomb of Horrors' certainly is. The others ones - less so, and often suffer from an ill-deserved reputation. In any case they are less terrible than most of the more badly designed dungeon crawlers out there - and certainly more interesting and intellectualy interesting than, for example, Persona 3/4's dungeons.
Click to expand...
Well, you don't play Persona for its gameplay.
 
C

cafemomo

Member
threelights said:
But there are 32 Chocobos in total (16x2 genders).

My problem is the lack of an overpowered Chocobo for those who really get into the breeding (Master Chocobo is just not good enough).
Click to expand...

IIRC, they are just upgraded variants of existing chocobos.

Anyway, people who haven't played Type-0 before will enjoy the bloom remaster. I feel the people who are constantly spewing negative stuff about it was probably were expecting too much out of a handheld game. I personally like the game (I don't hate it though) but I'm not hyped for its re-release. At this point, I just view it as a free game thrown with a $60 demo. Heck, I'm more looking forward to replaying FFX on the PS4 than Bloom-0 HD.
 
J

Joey Fox

Self-Actualized Member
How could anyone not be excited for Xenoblade Chronicles X? I'll keep the thread in mind as always if I want some CRPG goodness, though.
 
J

Jsheldon

Member
Never heard of The pillars game (console gamer) but doing some research I'm thinking I'm finally going to take the plunge on a gaming PC or laptop this spring to enjoy something like this and TW3 on better than console settings. Much thanks to the OP.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Jsheldon said:
Never heard of The pillars game (console gamer) but doing some research I'm thinking I'm finally going to take the plunge on a gaming PC or laptop this spring to enjoy something like this and TW3 on better than console settings. Much thanks to the OP.
Click to expand...

ijqhXpmjsBjeV.gif


2015 is actually shaping up to be a great year to jump into PC gaming or upgrade your current PC from a component standpoint. This year will likely see dieshrinks and competitive offerings from both GPU vendors, Intel's Skylake processor release, DDR4/M.2 SSD prominence (though is likely has little impact on gaming applications), stacked VRAM, competitive freesync/gsync monitors, along with the massive release schedule.
 
G

Gurthang

Banned
Pillars of Eternity is going to be freaking amazing but it sorta looks dated. I mean during the conversations characters are static. The world stops. I know this is the reminiscent of the old cRPGs but still they could have shown some animations for the characters during the conversations. Also the world seems samish. I mean there are probably a lot of diverse areas in the game but all the rooms in a specific dungeon look the same. The NPCs in the towns don't seem to be doing much other than standing and waiting to be clicked on. Again these complaints are present in the old cRPGs but it would have been nice if Obsidian had tried to do things a bit differently.
 
C

Chance Hale

Member
Anyone here spent time with The Age of Decadence? Seems like it could be incredible and the description of the game on the steam store page(making deals with various factions and simply trying to survive day to day political maledictions) is something I've wanted for a while in an rpg.
 
P

PandaPedinte

Member
HamPster PamPster said:
2015 is going to be a great year. A few rpgs I'm keeping an eye on are Secrets of Grindea (the beta arcade mode its great, can't wait to dive in fresh to the story mode once its finished), Chaos Rings 3 (I hope it gets a localization, impressions seemed positive), Type-0 HD (I'll take a a medicore final fantasy over a lot of what Japan puts out these days), Dragon Fin Soup (all the video so far have me interested) and Unsung Story (oh god please turn out better than that Project Phoenix video...)
Click to expand...

Secrets of Grindea is going to be amazing, the beta is really great and it did make me want to play the complete game after I finished it.
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Gurthang said:
Pillars of Eternity is going to be freaking amazing but it sorta looks dated. I mean during the conversations characters are static. The world stops. I know this is the reminiscent of the old cRPGs but still they could have shown some animations for the characters during the conversations. Also the world seems samish. I mean there are probably a lot of diverse areas in the game but all the rooms in a specific dungeon look the same. The NPCs in the towns don't seem to be doing much other than standing and waiting to be clicked on. Again these complaints are present in the old cRPGs but it would have been nice if Obsidian had tried to do things a bit differently.
Click to expand...

Textual description of expression will more than make up for zoom out animations.
 
K

Kieli

Member
For me, 2015 could actually be a much better year than 2014 (I've only played Dragonfall and Divinity for a combined 2 hours [not because they aren't good, but because lack of time]).

Games I'm looking forward to:

Bloodborne: Can't say I'll be there day 1. Never been the person to buy a console just for one game. Also not too much a fan of the Gothic Victorian setting. I like my dragons and plate-mail armor. :(

Pillars of Eternity: Backed and awaiting deployment. Hype fluctuates between excited and MAX EXCITE.

Torment: Call me crazy, but one can wish.... The trailer looked amazing. If that's anything to go by, they truly understand the atmosphere/mood needed to make a successful spiritural sequel.

Persona 5: MC needs to get a new haircut.

Xenoblade X: I don't think it looks quite as good as Xenoblade Chronicles on an artistic level in terms of textures, colour palette, and character models. Otherwise, it has everything else (that I care about) in spades: e.g. gorgeous, expansive worlds; sci-fi story; RPG systems; etc...

Games I'm interested in:

Shadowrun: Hong Kong - What limited amount of time I spent with Dragonfall has got me intrigued in Hong Kong. I'll be reserving judgement until I have time to really sink my teeth in, however.
 
K

kurahador

Member
Gurthang said:
Pillars of Eternity is going to be freaking amazing but it sorta looks dated. I mean during the conversations characters are static. The world stops. I know this is the reminiscent of the old cRPGs but still they could have shown some animations for the characters during the conversations. Also the world seems samish. I mean there are probably a lot of diverse areas in the game but all the rooms in a specific dungeon look the same. The NPCs in the towns don't seem to be doing much other than standing and waiting to be clicked on. Again these complaints are present in the old cRPGs but it would have been nice if Obsidian had tried to do things a bit differently.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I kinda agree with this. Similar to Shadowrun Returns, the game really felt like it was made on a strict budget constraint.

I wonder how the hell Divinity:OS managed to look better with similar budget.
 
E

epmode

Member
HK-47 said:
Textual description of expression will more than make up for zoom out animations.
Click to expand...

And it has the benefit of costing almost nothing for the developer.

In related news, I don't even think it would be possible to fully render and animate Planescape: Torment. You'd blow an entire AAA game's budget on the Sensorium (a single building)! Sure, you could heavily edit the stuff that would cost so much but that's pretty much the reason I love the game.
kurahador said:
Yeah...I kinda agree with this. Similar to Shadowrun Returns, the game really felt like it was made on a strict budget constraint.

I wonder how the hell Divinity:OS managed to look better with similar budget.
Click to expand...

A few things:

Original Sin didn't have a similar budget. Larian already spent a significant amount ($3M, I think) getting the game to the point seen during the Kickstarter campaign.

Shadowrun Returns was unfortunately developed with tablets in mind. This negatively affected the game's UI and placed limitations on the designers that wouldn't have been an issue otherwise.
 
S

Some Nobody

Junior Member
*sees thread title* Makes perfect sense if you're PC only or even a PC primary gamer. As a console gamer though, 2014 was fucking trash and 2015 is looking fantastic. Witcher 3 and Xenoblade Chronicles X alone solidify that. Nevermind Persona, Tales, Banner Saga coming to consoles (hopefully the sequel as well), etc. etc. etc.

Pretty exciting times either way though. I know most of you aren't even done with the games from 2014. :p
 
S

Spoit

Member
ricochetguro said:
Anyone here spent time with The Age of Decadence? Seems like it could be incredible and the description of the game on the steam store page(making deals with various factions and simply trying to survive day to day political maledictions) is something I've wanted for a while in an rpg.
Click to expand...

The little bit I played was very good, at least in terms of reactivity. The combat on the other hand... It's pretty clear that it's a RPGcodex game through and through
 
P

Psycho_Mantis

Banned
suppadoopa said:
I beat the PSP version a few times. I'd give it a Selphie out of Yuna

+Great Music
+Good Story (granted I can only understand half of the stuff their are blabbing)
+Really pretty for a PSP game
+/- School setting, war torn nations, etc was a bit nice yet a bit lacking
-Can't do multiple quests at the same time
-Not enough Chocobos
-Controls took me a while to get used too (but if you play it on the Vita, you can configure the 2nd stick to move the camera)
-Combat felt unbalanced at times
-EXP doesn't apply across the party

Of course, they could of have fixed all my gripes with the HD release.



US release date for FFXHD
Click to expand...

I had no idea FFX HD is coming to PS4 in March. Great news :)
 
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