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RPG Hangout

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Star Ocean First Departure R without a doubt
I bought both but I'll definitely be playing through Star Ocean first now, thanks.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
I just finished Disgaea 1 on Switch. Owned the original game since the PS2 games, but had never taken on Baal. Did a lot of prep work preparing for the fight. I got the Yoshitsune and then leveled it to 100.

I was shocked when I one shotted Baal after stripping him of his equipped items.

I was going to start playing Disgaea 4 Switch next (had beat it when it was originally released, but want to play through it again). But I think I might play the newly released Star Ocean First Departure R instead.

I also just started playing FFXIV again. Need to get through the Stormblood Main Quest post release story patches before I can begin Shadowbringers content.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I also just started playing FFXIV again. Need to get through the Stormblood Main Quest post release story patches before I can begin Shadowbringers content.

Hope you like teleporting to the Doman Enclave cuz goddamn.

There's another Azim Steppe subplot tho which is, as expected, great. Best zone in Stormblood, best characters.
 

Pallas

Member
I just started up Lost Odyssey, which is one of the Sakaguchi Xbox RPGs from Mist Walker. I saw that Uematsu did the music in the credits but other than that it did not list anyone else of FF fame of not in the opening credits. I'm going to check if Sakaguchi really worked on it or just his company.

The actual game seems alright, but kinda rough around the edges so far. I'll keep playing it as I just found out about the Ring System, etc. which seems kinda cool.

The first boss is probably one of the hardest first bosses in any RPG and the second boss is no slouch either but after that it starts to get easier. It does have a very ridiculous secret boss and a even more ridiculously OP’ed dlc boss if you decide to get the dlc dungeon.
 
The first boss is probably one of the hardest first bosses in any RPG and the second boss is no slouch either but after that it starts to get easier. It does have a very ridiculous secret boss and a even more ridiculously OP’ed dlc boss if you decide to get the dlc dungeon.

Yeah, I just got to the first boss, or I hope it is, because it is kicking my a$$. I went back to the hut/Inn on the mountain and found the shield magic, which I am assuming will help with him. I am also just grinding currently, which I am not used to doing with a game that is in HD! :)
 

Pallas

Member
Yeah, I just got to the first boss, or I hope it is, because it is kicking my a$$. I went back to the hut/Inn on the mountain and found the shield magic, which I am assuming will help with him. I am also just grinding currently, which I am not used to doing with a game that is in HD! :)



Anti poison braclet(or whatever it was called) helps significantly too if you didn’t miss out on getting it. I forgot where you get it exactly but it’s before the first boss iirc.
 
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Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Beat the first Kalpa in SMT Nocturne. I'm around where I stopped playing last time (Thor). This playthrough has gone much smoother than before and its really enjoyable.

Also this bad boy came in the mail yesterday:

ps2_baldurs_gate_dark_alliance-110214.jpg
 
Tried out SaGa Scarlet Grace, but I'm disappointed. It's way too hard, frustrating and complex to be enjoyable. You can no longer just play for fun, select random attacks and enjoy whatever happens, now you need to carefully plan every single attack. Exploration is completely removed from the game. You also can no longer save between all battles, often need to fight chains of 4 battles without saving. There's also no easy way to recover LP. That's not the SaGa I like anymore.

I guess it's the perfect game for people who just want the hardest, most complex and challenging turn-based battles possible. But that's not me.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Tried out SaGa Scarlet Grace, but I'm disappointed. It's way too hard, frustrating and complex to be enjoyable. You can no longer just play for fun, select random attacks and enjoy whatever happens, now you need to carefully plan every single attack. Exploration is completely removed from the game. You also can no longer save between all battles, often need to fight chains of 4 battles without saving. There's also no easy way to recover LP. That's not the SaGa I like anymore.

I guess it's the perfect game for people who just want the hardest, most complex and challenging turn-based battles possible. But that's not me.
Oof that... doesn't sound good.
 
Tried out SaGa Scarlet Grace, but I'm disappointed. It's way too hard, frustrating and complex to be enjoyable. You can no longer just play for fun, select random attacks and enjoy whatever happens, now you need to carefully plan every single attack. Exploration is completely removed from the game. You also can no longer save between all battles, often need to fight chains of 4 battles without saving. There's also no easy way to recover LP. That's not the SaGa I like anymore.

I guess it's the perfect game for people who just want the hardest, most complex and challenging turn-based battles possible. But that's not me.

Did Kawazu work on it? Also, is it better or worse than Unlimited Saga?
 
Did Kawazu work on it? Also, is it better or worse than Unlimited Saga?
Pretty sure he did.

Also you're asking that to someone who loves Unlimited Saga. It's my second or third favorite SaGa game (after SaGa Frontier 1 and on par with Romancing SaGa 3).

I don't find these two games comparable at all though. You can't say Scarlet Grace is better or worse than USG because the target audience is so different. USG is basically a love letter to Pen&Paper players and people with tons of imagination who want to explore mysterious locations. SaGa Scarlet Grace is basically saying "I want to be the hardest most complex turn-based battle system simulator ever" and succeeded at that. But it threws everything that made the SaGa series great into the garbage bin.

I mean that's still Akitoshi Kawazu. After all in an interview about the high difficulty of his games he said "Instead of people getting boring, I rather have them quit the game."
But I never liked the SaGa series because it's hard, I liked it because it was simple and fun to play despite having complex mechanics in the background and had a great feeling of exploration.

I'd recommend SaGa Scarlet Grace to anyone who wants a real challenging turn-based combat system.
 

Katsura

Member
After dropping The Outer Worlds around the 10 hour mark, i was looking for another RPG. While i wasn't completely taken with Tokyo Xanadu, i did enjoy the whole social sim + combat thing and did some research

Trails of Cold Steel kept coming up so i've started on that. It's pretty clear it's the same devs, the formula is very similar except for the combat being turn based here. I'm only in chapter 1 but so far it feels less disjointed than Tokyo Xanadu, which is nice
 

sh2dc

Banned
Beat the first Kalpa in SMT Nocturne. I'm around where I stopped playing last time (Thor). This playthrough has gone much smoother than before and its really enjoyable.

Also this bad boy came in the mail yesterday:

ps2_baldurs_gate_dark_alliance-110214.jpg
anyone can give me brief review of this game so I can try for gameplay brothers
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
anyone can give me brief review of this game so I can try for gameplay brothers

Dark Alliance? Im bout 2/3rds in. Its a really simplistic action rpg but that works to its benefit considering its on console. Go in dungeon, kill shit, loot shit, sell shit, buy new shit, go back into dungeon lol

You can play as a human archer, dawrf warrior, or elf sorceress. The graphics are ridiculous for an early ps2 game. Music and voice acting are decent.
 

Pallas

Member
Tried out SaGa Scarlet Grace, but I'm disappointed. It's way too hard, frustrating and complex to be enjoyable. You can no longer just play for fun, select random attacks and enjoy whatever happens, now you need to carefully plan every single attack. Exploration is completely removed from the game. You also can no longer save between all battles, often need to fight chains of 4 battles without saving. There's also no easy way to recover LP. That's not the SaGa I like anymore.

I guess it's the perfect game for people who just want the hardest, most complex and challenging turn-based battles possible. But that's not me.

To be fair, SaGa games have always had a pretty hefty difficulty.
 

Pallas

Member
Yeah, but compared to Scarlet Grace, the others are easy, except maybe the final dungeon of SaGa Frontier 2.

Aye I remember that, I always thought the battles against the true forms of the 4 noble devils were pretty tough too along with the last boss(especially if you skip killing the 4 devils altogether) in SaGa 3

I never finished SaGa Frontier 1 as a kid but I remember always getting my ass handed to me by Virgil(Riki’s quest) because of the stipulation. I really want to replay that game so bad, that abs SaGa Frontier 2.
 
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Aye I remember that, I always thought the battles against the true forms of the 4 noble devils were pretty tough too along with the last boss(especially if you skip killing the 4 devils altogether) in SaGa 3

I never finished SaGa Frontier 1 as a kid but I remember always getting my ass handed to me by Virgil(Riki’s quest) because of the stipulation. I really want to replay that game so bad, that abs SaGa Frontier 2.
SaGa Frontier 1 is probably the easiest SaGa game.

Virgil is really just invincible and you need to impress him with combos with is near impossible until you learn that it considers the DSC skill a combo.
 

Nikanuur

Neo Member
Anyone plays Grimoire: Champions of the WInged Exemplar?

Man it's so Wizardry VII. I mean, what Wizardy VIII should look like.

Anyway, I'm few hours into the game, and it gets better the deeper the player is. The neat fact is, the game rewards player for paying attention and for thinking. RPG + adventure like in the old days.

Golden age gaming, as good as you remember it, only better.

INCLINE!

:D
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Finished up Dark Alliance. Had no idea it was a Chris Avellone game until the credits rolled.

The quality tapered off a little in the third act, but it still managed to be a very satisfying dungeon crawler. Recommended for sure.

Anyone plays Grimoire: Champions of the WInged Exemplar?

Wasn't that game made by like one dude lol
 
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Havoc2049

Member
Finished up Dark Alliance. Had no idea it was a Chris Avellone game until the credits rolled.

The quality tapered off a little in the third act, but it still managed to be a very satisfying dungeon crawler. Recommended for sure.

A buddy and I co-op’ed Dark Alliance (Xbox version) years ago when it first came out. It was a solid game and fun co-op, but nothing epic, although I don’t think they were going for epic. I still have it in my collection and picked up Dark Alliance II a few years back, but still need to play it.
 
Anyone plays Grimoire: Champions of the WInged Exemplar?

Man it's so Wizardry VII. I mean, what Wizardy VIII should look like.

Anyway, I'm few hours into the game, and it gets better the deeper the player is. The neat fact is, the game rewards player for paying attention and for thinking. RPG + adventure like in the old days.

Golden age gaming, as good as you remember it, only better.

INCLINE!

:D
I bought it on GoG but haven't tried it yet.

I love dungeon crawlers, but often them seem to be completely lacking modern quality of life features (I mean even if you want to be retro, you don't really have to copy the ancient controls schemes from DOS times).

Hope Grimoire does a good job at it.
 

Katsura

Member
I bought it on GoG but haven't tried it yet.

I love dungeon crawlers, but often them seem to be completely lacking modern quality of life features (I mean even if you want to be retro, you don't really have to copy the ancient controls schemes from DOS times).

Hope Grimoire does a good job at it.
Have you played Labyrinth of refrain Coven of dusk?
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Oh hey a new place to hang out! Love RPGs
currently finishing DQXIs at the end of ACT 2 and starting No no Kuni for the first time. The switch is shaping up to be my favorite RPG machine.
The Switch is an absolute RPG powerhouse. It's become my favorite RPG machine of all time now. Games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Octopath Traveler, Final Fantasy, Ni No Kuni, not to mention the thousands of other great stuff like Skyrim, Atelier, Mario + Rabbids, Stardew Valley, Diabo III, and on and on. There is literally something everyone can enjoy.
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
The Switch is an absolute RPG powerhouse. It's become my favorite RPG machine of all time now. Games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Octopath Traveler, Final Fantasy, Ni No Kuni, not to mention the thousands of other great stuff like Skyrim, Atelier, Mario + Rabbids, Stardew Valley, Diabo III, and on and on. There is literally something everyone can enjoy.
Yep. Enough RPGs to last a few years. It’s glorious.
 
Oh ok. I only asked because that's my favourite old school style dungeon crawler by far in recent years
I liked Legend of Grimrock 1&2 (even though not very fond of real time combat), Wizardry Labyrinth of Souls and Elminage Gothic more.

I felt the large party size in Labyrinth of Refrain overcomplicates party organization. If you want to carefully min/max your equipment, you easily can spend 2 hours just in menus per dungeon run. Everything else was pretty great, though.
 

Havoc2049

Member
Anyone plays Grimoire: Champions of the WInged Exemplar?

Man it's so Wizardry VII. I mean, what Wizardy VIII should look like.

Anyway, I'm few hours into the game, and it gets better the deeper the player is. The neat fact is, the game rewards player for paying attention and for thinking. RPG + adventure like in the old days.

Golden age gaming, as good as you remember it, only better.

INCLINE!

:D
Oh wow, I need to get this.
This trailer cracks me up.:messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Yea I'm done with Nocturne.

"oh lol u can die instantly in random battles"

Fuck you. Good game if you are in high school or college. But if you are working it doesn't respect your free time.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Yea I'm done with Nocturne.

"oh lol u can die instantly in random battles"

Fuck you. Good game if you are in high school or college. But if you are working it doesn't respect your free time.
I hate when games do this. It's why I never could get into the "Souls" genre. I could die over and over again, and I knew that my skills were improving but there were too many "fuck you" moments in regards to enemy placement or enemy movesets that often times just left me feeling like I was wasting my time by playing.

Difficulty doesn't have to be punishing.
 

Nikanuur

Neo Member
I bought it on GoG but haven't tried it yet.

I love dungeon crawlers, but often them seem to be completely lacking modern quality of life features (I mean even if you want to be retro, you don't really have to copy the ancient controls schemes from DOS times).

Hope Grimoire does a good job at it.

Yeah it's not modern, like for example Grimrock, you are right about that and I totally get you.

It's as if Wizardry VII got a total graphic, skill and item overhaul with things really showing in the game view not just being written in the chat window. It's sort of cumbersome to use, but in a game with this scope you'll get over it soon. It's rewarding experience if you think what to do - I'm talking about not just using items somewhere, I'm talking about thinking why and when and where to use something. It doesn't have Monkey Island logic, so you are prone to discover what you are supposed to if you read, observe and conclude.
 

Nikanuur

Neo Member
Finished up Dark Alliance. Had no idea it was a Chris Avellone game until the credits rolled.

The quality tapered off a little in the third act, but it still managed to be a very satisfying dungeon crawler. Recommended for sure.



Wasn't that game made by like one dude lol

Dark alliance was really cool in it's own way +1

As for the Grimoire - Yes! It took him like 15 years or so. He did everything by himself. He's a maniac.
 

Labadal

Member
I was looking at the eshop store and saw Alliance Alive is 20% off. I'm a bit tempted. Any SaGa-like is interesting to me.
 

Ruben43cb

Member
Deciding if I give the Witcher 3 another chance. Played maybe 2 hours but never got into it. Only Got to where you have to kill the first Griffith at the start.

Hear all these amazing things... want to try again, maybe have to give it more time.
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
Deciding if I give the Witcher 3 another chance. Played maybe 2 hours but never got into it. Only Got to where you have to kill the first Griffith at the start.

Hear all these amazing things... want to try again, maybe have to give it more time.
Doit.gif
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
How long to get into it far enough to know?
It’s different for everybody. I played the entire game, collected everything. Bought both DLCs and played through all of that (and I never buy DLC) and I was disappointed when it finished. Loved every second of it.

Do you usually like these type of games? Open world. Fantasy. Deep lore. If not, maybe it’s not for you?

I think you should soldier on, get to maybe 10 hours and if it’s still not clicking, then drop it. I know there have been many games that I tried to play for years, never got passed the first 2-3 hours, but when I finally pushed through, absolutely loved them.

I’m guessing you never completed Witcher 1 and 2?
 

Ruben43cb

Member
It’s different for everybody. I played the entire game, collected everything. Bought both DLCs and played through all of that (and I never buy DLC) and I was disappointed when it finished. Loved every second of it.

Do you usually like these type of games? Open world. Fantasy. Deep lore. If not, maybe it’s not for you?

I think you should soldier on, get to maybe 10 hours and if it’s still not clicking, then drop it. I know there have been many games that I tried to play for years, never got passed the first 2-3 hours, but when I finally pushed through, absolutely loved them.

I’m guessing you never completed Witcher 1 and 2?

Thanks for that response! I tried witcher 2 back then but my PC wasnt good enough.

I do usually love RPGs and fantasy/lore. Played elder scrolls, skyrim, and many jrpgs.

I will give it more time! Really want to experience it the way everyone else has
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
Thanks for that response! I tried witcher 2 back then but my PC wasnt good enough.

I do usually love RPGs and fantasy/lore. Played elder scrolls, skyrim, and many jrpgs.

I will give it more time! Really want to experience it the way everyone else has
It honestly has some of the best writing in video games. It’s not hyperbole when you hear that. There’s one scene involving witches (I won’t spoil it) that still sticks in my brain. Just the look and creepiness of it. So well done. Some people play the game and never even see that scene. Just so much effort went into this game. Really well crafted.

I really hope you enjoy it.
 

Ruben43cb

Member
It honestly has some of the best writing in video games. It’s not hyperbole when you hear that. There’s one scene involving witches (I won’t spoil it) that still sticks in my brain. Just the look and creepiness of it. So well done. Some people play the game and never even see that scene. Just so much effort went into this game. Really well crafted.

I really hope you enjoy it.

Thanks I will give it a good go and let you know!
 

ROMhack

Member
Been playing FFIX on muh Switch this week. Never played it before and it's very enjoyable so far. Just recruited B into muh party.

QOL improvements are good and the time it takes to get into battle doesn't bother me as much as I expected.
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
Just a heads up - there’s a lovely piece in Retro Gamer Magazine about the development of KOTOR 1. Retro Gamer do the best proper journalism you’ll find anywhere there days so go check it out.
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
Interesting. Might have to pick it up.
They also cover Disco Elysium as a future classic, have sections on homebrew games on old systems etc. I get it on readly - basically Spotify for magazines.
 
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