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[ethelred]

I picked this game up last week just because I'm always on the lookout for what might be a worthwhiel PSP RPG. The game didn't get good reviews... and on top of that, it's a Korean RPG, and those never turn out okay.

Still! I'll never give up hope of finding a good one (aside from Eternia), and I really liked the visuals of the game, so I gave it a shit. My initial impressions (from extremely early in) were hesitantly okay.

I stand by my early praise of the visuals. The backgrounds are great 2D -- really detailed, colorful, vibrant, with lots of motion and activity. Sprites are nice, and have some cool animations.

Nevertheless, it turns out that GameSpot was very, very right, and I was very, very wrong.

I started to get the sense of that shortly after my early impressions were posted. However, what really sent this realization crashing home was when the game's story was interrupted for the second time in order that it might present to me a second diatribe on the Evils of Game Piracy.

Yeah, seriously. First it was just some weird character who showed up, stopped the plot, and started talking about how bad piracy was and how SONNORi was doing everything possible to fight it. I was a little bit creeped out, but I figured okay, whatever, I'll let it slide. The second time, though? It was even worse. The characters refused to exit a cave because they said there was a bug in the game (yes, they said that). Then the Warez fairy appeared. The whole thing was so obnoxious that I just started keying X over and over, and in the process, I guess I hit "yes" to a question where he asked if I liked Warez. The game proceeded to take away 70% of all my characters' HP.

Bad enough some ****ing crappy Korean developer felt the need to include crap like this in their game, but shame on you, Ubisoft, for leaving it in. I'm seriously knocking some major points off from these guys for the horrible job they did.

It's not just the piracy stuff, either. The whole translation is pure shit.

Here's a couple direct quotes:

"Do you mean Makrigan, the angel of destruction who will lead this world to destruction?"

Yeah, as opposed to the angel of destruction what brings bunnies and flowers and sex.

"It is certain that the Queen of Ferarin will taste the pain of the disaster she's brought in on her own."

Sorry, but that line was funnier when Fawful said it in Superstar Saga and it involved mustard.

"I'll immediately go back to Palmira to lead the troops to Ferarin and trample Ferarin down flat."

I, Garland, will knock you all down!

"We'll have to go to Midiara Town, where the Aldred Crystal is."
"You mean the Town of Midiara?"

Good guess!

"Grandpa? Do you have to go?"
"A man's got to do what a man's got to do. It could be for himself or it could be for others. And you're no exception."

There's only one problem, guys. He was talking to his granddaughter.


So, I'm pretty much disgusted at this point. This shit is painful. It'd be okay if the gameplay was exceptional, but it's not. It's not awful -- they basically use the Arc the Lad II combat engine here, only with a much, much worse menu interface (it has stuff arranged diagonally from a center point but doesn't allow diagonal inputs... umm, okay). Also, they use random encounters in dungeons, unlike Arc the Lad II, so that's a huge pain in the ass.

So, in short:

THIS IS A HORRIBLE GAME, NO ONE BUY IT.

 

[Greenpanda]

I know nothing about this game, but your post made me laugh.

 

[Mejilan]

Le sigh

I'll readily admit that the DS RPG library (in the US) isn't exactly smoking (once you remove the GBA stuff), but for as many RPG type games that the PSP already has, it's actually doing worse IMHO.

****.

 

[winter]

I picked this game up last week just because I'm always on the lookout for what might be a worthwhiel PSP RPG. The game didn't get good reviews... and on top of that, it's a Korean RPG, and those never turn out okay.

Still! I'll never give up hope of finding a good one (aside from Eternia), and I really liked the visuals of the game, so I gave it a shit. My initial impressions (from extremely early in) were hesitantly okay.

teehee

 

[ethelred]

teehee

:lol :lol

What can I say, Freudian slip!

 

[duckroll]

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Okay that post made my day! Thank you for swallowing this grenade and entertaining us all with the subsequent explosion! You ROCK!

 

[LegatoB]

THE WAREZ FAIRY

This is even better than I possibly could have hoped.

 

[GotchaForce]

What is with the horrid psp rpgs? Everyone is desparate for a decent one (and i'm not talking about dungeon hacks like untold or xmen legends) and it's been nothing but crap for more than a year. PS1 was like that though too, wasn't it?

Next month we get Valkyrie Profile, if they fix the problems with the jp version maybe we'll finally have an awesome psp rpg for the US.

 

[7Th]

Korean PC port. :lol

 

[duckroll]

Next month we get Valkyrie Profile, if they fix the problems with the jp version maybe we'll finally have an awesome psp rpg for the US.

How do you fix the problem of being a port of a game that everyone who cares beat 8 years ago?

Seriously, I welcome a good RPG on the PSP that isn't a port, and that's pretty much NEVER happening at this point.

 

[ethelred]

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol
Okay that post made my day! Thank you for swallowing this grenade and entertaining us all with the subsequent explosion! You ROCK!

I'm happy to take one for the team, ducky!

Did I forget to mention, also, that all of those quotes came from a single conversation? Imagine a whole game of it!

How do you fix the problem of being a port of a game that everyone who cares beat 8 years ago?

Seriously, I welcome a good RPG on the PSP that isn't a port, and that's pretty much NEVER happening at this point.

Please for the love af all that is good and right somebody localize Monster Kingdom.

 

[GotchaForce]

How do you fix the problem of being a port of a game that everyone who cares beat 8 years ago?

Seriously, I welcome a good RPG on the PSP that isn't a port, and that's pretty much NEVER happening at this point.

I know a few people who're looking forward to it and give me dirty looks when I tell them the port was horrid. I want it to be awesome as well, I could borrow it from a friend but I'd rather have my own portable version.

 

[duckroll]

Monster Kingdom isn't really a "real RPG" either. It's kinda like a dungeon crawler, with pokemon/SMT-ish monster collecting. I doubt we'll ever see PSP RPGs on the level of what the DS is getting with FF3 DS, TotT, etc. The simple reason is the PSP is totally bombing in Japan on software sales and this particular genre comes from.... Japan.

 

[ethelred]

Monster Kingdom isn't really a "real RPG" either. It's kinda like a dungeon crawler, with pokemon/SMT-ish monster collecting. I doubt we'll ever see PSP RPGs on the level of what the DS is getting with FF3 DS, TotT, etc. The simple reason is the PSP is totally bombing in Japan on software sales and this particular genre comes from.... Japan.

Gackt Core? :lol

Also, you missed a whole bunch of awesome RPGs coming for the DS... not to pick nits or anything, ducky.

 

[dark10x]

I'm not going to bother, of course, but that Warez stuff actually makes me WANT to play it.

I agree, though, it's a shame the PSP isn't receiving any good RPGs.

 

[djtiesto]

Hahahaha, thank god I picked up Gradius Portable instead of this! The translation sounds pretty brutal and normally that doesn't bother me, but hearing that the gameplay is weak, ugh... I'll just stick with Legend of Heroes for now even though that's not that good. I'm shocked people on Insert Credit aren't talking about the whole "WAREZ Fairy" and going "OMG postmodernism! Breaking the 4th wall! BEST GAME EVER OMG!!!"

 

[OatmealMu]

I can't say I've ever heard of a game interrupting itself to complain about warez. Any videos of this?

 

[Stench]

Then the Warez fairy appeared. The whole thing was so obnoxious that I just started keying X over and over, and in the process, I guess I hit "yes" to a question where he asked if I liked Warez. The game proceeded to take away 70% of all my characters' HP.

THAT'LL TEACH THOSE PIRATE BASTARDS

 

[Crocodile]

I said WOW. Sounds absolutely ridiculous. My condolonces ethelred.

 

[ethelred]

IGN posted this news the other day:

Original PSP RPGs keep on coming! The latest announcement comes from Compile Heart, who's currently at work on Astonishia Story for the portable. Compile Hearts is a new company in the Idea Factory (Generation of Chaos) group, and this is its first title.

Astonishia Story takes place in the original fantasy world of Astonishia. In the year 1089, a coup d'etat on the continent of Ashilia gives birth to the Latin Empire, the home of our hero, Lloyd. Your typical RPG quiet-type hero, Lloyd is a Latin Empire knight who was assigned to a particularly volatile trade route. On one mission, his party came under attack and he was left as the only survivor.

Compile Hearts was formed to publish simple games for the masses. This is reflected in Astonishia Story's 2D visuals and character art, and classic dungeon exploration. Screenshots haven't been released yet to the internet, but the game looks like a PlayStation-era 2D RPG.

Encounter an enemy in the dungeons and on the over world, and you enter into a turn-based strategy-style battle system where your goal is to take out all the enemy beasts. The game features an elemental system with seven elements: fire, ice, lightning, air, recover, transform and psychological. The last three are a bit different from your typical elements, but seem to be used for recover/defensive spells during battle.

A Japanese release for Astonishia Story is set for September. The game has yet to be announced for America.

What the ***ing ***ity****? Is this some kind of a sick joke? Because I don't get it!

 

[demi]

Astonishia Story takes place in the original fantasy world of Astonishia.
Astonishia Story takes place in the original fantasy world of Astonishia.
Astonishia Story takes place in the original fantasy world of Astonishia.
Astonishia Story takes place in the original fantasy world of Astonishia.
Astonishia Story takes place in the original fantasy world of Astonishia.
Astonishia Story takes place in the original fantasy world of Astonishia.
Astonishia Story takes place in the original fantasy world of Astonishia.
Astonishia Story takes place in the original fantasy world of Astonishia.

:lol :lol :lol

 

[MrDaravon]

http://psp.ign.com/articles/711/711568p1.html

IGN's review. Dated June 6th.

More evidence IGN has no idea what they're doing. :lol

 

[john tv]

It's possible Anoop wasn't aware of the US version. They didn't mention it in Famitsu at all (nor any mention of Korea, I don't think?).

 

[Link1110]

First it was just some weird character who showed up, stopped the plot, and started talking about how bad piracy was and how SONNORi was doing everything possible to fight it. I was a little bit creeped out, but I figured okay, whatever, I'll let it slide. The second time, though? It was even worse. The characters refused to exit a cave because they said there was a bug in the game (yes, they said that). Then the Warez fairy appeared. The whole thing was so obnoxious that I just started keying X over and over, and in the process, I guess I hit "yes" to a question where he asked if I liked Warez. The game proceeded to take away 70% of all my characters' HP.

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

I bought this game, haven't played it yet though, oh well, should be good for a laugh at least.

Edit: Funny, if its against piracy, why did they put it on GP32 and PSP, the 2 colsoles with emulators?

 

[Tabris]

How do you fix the problem of being a port of a game that everyone who cares beat 8 years ago?

Seriously, I welcome a good RPG on the PSP that isn't a port, and that's pretty much NEVER happening at this point.

Aren't you enjoying Brave Story right now?

 

[duckroll]

Aren't you enjoying Brave Story right now?

I guess someone listened to our cries for a good original PSP RPG! Long live the Giant Enemy Crab! :lol

 

[Tabris]

I guess someone listened to our cries for a good original PSP RPG! Long live the Giant Enemy Crab! :lol

btw, I don't think a handheld has ever had an amazing ORIGINAL traditional RPG.

Think about it? What non-ports RPGs are there on GBA that are good?

Kingdom Hearts: Com? More of a card game and not traditional.
Golden Sun? It had the gameplay but the story and dialogue was mind-numbing. Let me re-inact 5 mins of dialogue in Golden Sun:

1st Character: *says something*

2nd Character: *emote* . . .

3rd character *emote* ^^;

1st Character *emote* . . .

Now GBA had some VERY excellent SRPGs.

 

[duckroll]

btw, I don't think a handheld has ever had an amazing ORIGINAL traditional RPG.

The Last Bible games on GB? Dragon Quest Monsters? SaGa -started- on the GB, not console! Mother 3? There are TONS of solid original RPGs on the GB and GBA, it's just that most of them never hit the US because it's cheaper and more worthwhile to localize action and puzzle games. Oh and ports.

 

[Tabris]

Final Fantasy Legend III was pretty awesome actually.

I take that back, GB had it going on but as far GBA and later, zzzz snore (for now)

 

[duckroll]

Final Fantasy Legend III was pretty awesome actually.

I take that back, GB had it going on but as far GBA and later, zzzz snore (for now)

Yeah actually I kinda agree. The GBA really ruined the portable scene imo by welcoming cheap cash-ins since it was the ONLY portable that had a viable userbase internationally. This effect spilled over to the PSP and DS initially but it seems that it's starting to even out nicely now that both systems are active competitors.

 

[Tabris]

Yeah, well we got Tales on DS, and hopefully it's more like Destiny/Eternia than the later Tales (especially that Legendia)

If FFIII is different in more than just graphics, then maybe it can be considered an original title.

Then apparently Brave Story is pretty good.

So that's at least 3.

 

[ethelred]

The Last Bible games on GB? Dragon Quest Monsters? SaGa -started- on the GB, not console! Mother 3? There are TONS of solid original RPGs on the GB and GBA, it's just that most of them never hit the US because it's cheaper and more worthwhile to localize action and puzzle games. Oh and ports.

Er, seriously, I'm baffled by someone saying handhelds never had good original RPGs.

Like you said, SaGa started on handhelds (SaGa 1, 2, and 3). So did Seiken Densetsu! I'm amazed to hear that Mana is now sucky.

Fire Emblem VI, VII, and VIII? Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis may not have been anywhere near as good as the original, but it was still a very solid game. Golden Sun: The Lost Age was outstanding. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (Oh, wait, I forgot, Tabris says that isn't even an RPG! :lol) Pokemon? Shining Soul 1 and 2? Riviera and Yggdra Union?

Come on, now.

Edit: Just saw you excluded SRPGs. Okay. But I still say all the others up there were excellent games, so whatevs.

 

[duckroll]

It just hit me. We're discussing what portable RPGs can be considered GREAT.... in a thread.... about Astonishia Story. :lol

 

[Tabris]

Edit: Just saw you excluded SRPGs. Okay. But I still say all the others up there were excellent games, so whatevs.

Reading is fun

and Pokemon? Pokemon?! Did you really want to go there

 

[ethelred]

Reading is fun

Yeah, yeah, I deserve that.

and Pokemon? Pokemon?! Did you really want to go there

It's an original turn-based traditional RPG series that brought a huge amount of fairly new ideas to the genre and has proven extremely influential. While the lack of any sort of discernable story means they will never, ever rank amongst my favorite RPGs, I don't think it's possible for any objective individual to deny that they're quality made games. And for what it's worth, their praise never derives from the stories, but always from the gameplay.

But anyway, those aside, I would still easily rank SaGa 1/2/3, Golden Sun: The Lost Age (and to a lesser extent, Golden Sun 1), Magical Vacation, Mother 3, Riviera, Dragon Quest Monsters 1/2/Caravan Hearts, Mario & Luigi 1/2, amongst plenty of others... as quality original RPGs.

 

[Tabris]

First of all, I said there hasn't been any -amazing- traditional RPGs.

Games like Final Fantasy (VI, VII, X, etc depending on your taste), Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, Chrono Series, Xenogears, Persona/SMT, Earthbound (again, Mother 3 is not out here), etc, etc.

Golden Sun 2 is a sham compared to the above. Romancing Saga is weak. Mario&Luigi? Please. Riveria? This is a decent title at best. The other games you listed are either not released here or are monster training games which is a different genre.

 

[7Th]

First of all, I said there hasn't been any -amazing- traditional RPGs.

Games like Final Fantasy (VI, VII, X, etc depending on your taste), Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, Chrono Series, Xenogears, Persona/SMT, Earthbound (again, Mother 3 is not out here), etc, etc.

Golden Sun 2 is a sham compared to the above. Romancing Saga is weak. Mario&Luigi? Please. Riveria? This is a decent title at best. The other games you listed are either not released here or are monster training games which is a different genre.

Why?

 

[Tabris]

Why?

Entirely different thread for that, so let's just ignore that and continue on that GBA, DS and PSP at the current moment has never had an amazing RPG and has had maybe 1 or 2 pretty good titles at most.

SRPGs are an entirely different story and GBA has some amazing titles. Probabaly my third favorite SRPG is on GBA.

 

[ethelred]

First of all, I said there hasn't been any -amazing- traditional RPGs.

Games like Final Fantasy (VI, VII, X, etc depending on your taste), Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, Chrono Series, Xenogears, Persona/SMT, Earthbound (again, Mother 3 is not out here), etc, etc.

Golden Sun 2 is a sham compared to the above. Romancing Saga is weak. Mario&Luigi? Please. Riveria? This is a decent title at best. The other games you listed are either not released here or are monster training games which is a different genre.

I would say that there are amazing handheld original RPGs, but not that there are amazing handheld original RPGs which top the very best original RPGs on the PSX (the best RPG system ever) or the SNES (the second best RPG system ever).

You're confusing "not on par with PSX/SNES" with "no excellent RPGs."

The SaGa series is hardly weak. Riviera is far, far above decent -- it's one of the most innovative RPGs in years, and (aside from Venus and Braves) is probably the first traditional turn-based RPG that's managed to incorporate the style and strategy of Ogre Battle into its battle system. And Golden Sun 2 is definitely not a sham. While, again, it doesn't compare to the VERY BEST of the SNES/PSX, it's still an excellent RPG (much, much better story than the original and outstanding gameplay). Same with Mario & Luigi.

I don't see the issue here.

 

[Tabris]

The issue is -I- (and others from this thread it seems) think there hasn't been a single excellent traditional RPG on any handheld since the original GB.

Have you even played any Romancing Saga games except for the remake for PS2? Riveria? Gameplay is subjective, but it's still missing all the elements (story/etc) that make a great RPG. Golden Sun 2? It has the gameplay, but the story, while yes, an improvement from 1 (not hard when it's one of the worst ever) is still pretty shallow.

So once again, while they may have a component or two to make a great RPG, they don't have the full package.

Final Fantasy Legend III (bear in mind, consider when it was released) is probabaly one of the few handheld RPGs that does.

 

[duckroll]

MOTHER 3

 

[ethelred]

The issue is -I- (and others from this thread it seems) think there hasn't been a single excellent traditional RPG on any handheld since the original GB.

The only one I see saying this was you.

Have you even played any Romancing Saga games except for the remake for PS2?

The Romancing SaGa games were on the SNES. The Game Boy had Makai Toushi SaGa, SaGa 2, and SaGa 3 (which became Final Fantasy Legend 1, 2, and 3). So I don't get the question.

Riveria? Gameplay is subjective, but it's still missing all the elements (story/etc) that make a great RPG.

Well, I don't agree. The story itself was nothing shockingly original -- but you brought up FFVI, and FFVI's story wasn't all that original, either (much of it easily could've been lifted from Breath of Fire, one of the most cliched RPGs ever). The characters, however, are what made it shine -- that, and the dialogue was just outstanding. One of Atlus's best translation efforts. I consider it an excellent RPG. See Dragona's Appreciation Thread if you're still unsure why this easily ranks.

Golden Sun 2? It has the gameplay, but the story, while yes, an improvement from 1 (not hard when it's one of the worst ever) is still pretty shallow.

Eh, no. Golden Sun's story wasn't very good, but it was far from one of the worst ever. Far, far, faaaar. That's just silly hyperbole. And I do think that Golden Sun 2 had a good story (albeit a lighthearted one, though I see nothing at all wrong with that) with good villains, an excellent world design (ton of locations to visit and NPCs to talk to) and some good narrative twists. And like you said, it has the gameplay. Between the battle system, character customization system, the puzzles, the ton of sidequests, and some of the best dungeon level design seen since Lufia 2... yeah, I will stand by this as an excellent game.

Final Fantasy Legend III (bear in mind, consider when it was released) is probabaly one of the few handheld RPGs that does.

It definitely was excellent, but again I disagree with "few." I stand by all the games I mentioned in my last post (including Mario & Luigi), and I still think the problem here is that the GB and GBA simply haven't had games that could stand up to the very, very best of the PSX and the SNES -- those two systems are most definitely far superior for RPGs, but it doesn't mean that the handhelds haven't had excellent traditional RPGs of their own. Just not the very best in the genre.