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[Durante]

Oh, WOW. Divinity: Original Sin looks amazing! The whole part in the official walk through where he teleports the crab, incinerates it to cause a cloud of steam in that area to damage the mini-crabs, and then are electrocuted but using lighting on the water they were standing in was AWESOME.

You are way LTT(Hype)P!

I am curious and a bit concerned about the part where he talked to the companion character and he had to choose dialogue options for both of them. That's not how it's going to work in the final game, right?

The latest information is that you can either do that, or have some personality assigned to the second character. Of course, in 2 player coop each player chooses his responses, and the one with better dialogue stats for a given situation wins the argument!


Edit: Reposting this for the new page.

Clearly, TB skills are important in 2014. I'd like more RTwP games, but otherwise the distribution seems fine.

Looking more closely at the battle position types (in TB games, all action and RTwP titles use free positioning), we see an overabundance of square-based combat, which is just unimaginative. I'd like to see more hex-based and free movement TB games. Also, a surprising number of games with "row" positioning, partially due to the revival of first person blobbers.

 

[milena87]

Oh, sorry, in threads like this it's an easy assumption to make. It does feel very wrong to say "Good woman!"

Eheh, no problem. I totally understand that it's easier to assume man

I am curious and a bit concerned about the part where he talked to the companion character and he had to choose dialogue options for both of them. That's not how it's going to work in the final game, right?

If you want to, yes.

I think it's a really interesting system. I'll probably play this alone, as I'm surrounded by people with no patience and/or understanding of RPGs, and the idea of role playing 2 characters at once is intriguing.

 

[we.are.the.armada]

Year of the RPG and Year of Persona!

 

[WanderingWind]

You are way LTT(Hype)P!

The latest information is that you can either do that, or have some personality assigned to the second character. Of course, in 2 player coop each player chooses his responses, and the one with better dialogue stats for a given situation wins the argument!

Yeah, I could only keep track of so many kickstarters at one time. Completely either missed or forgot about this. Definitely shot to the top 10 of 2014 I'm looking forward to.

As to the character thing, yeah, I am in no way going to play an entire CRPG co-op. It's a neat idea, but I am a bit worried about having to spend a game talking to myself. If the other character has some semblance of a personality so I don't feel like I'm playing catch by myself, that would be great.

I think it's a really interesting system. I'll probably play this alone, as I'm surrounded by people with no patience and/or understanding of RPGs, and the idea of role playing 2 characters at once is intriguing.

See, I wonder how interesting that could really be. I read the Twitch thing right now and they're going to have a full party and those members will have personalities, so that's something. If nothing else, talking to yourself through an entire game is certainly...unique.

 

[Durante]

I can see how playing a large cRPG in coop can be difficult to manage, but if you do it's pretty amazing. I'm currently playing Icewind Dale with a friend, 3 characters each, and we're having a blast. Of course it takes a long time since it's hard to find (cooperative) time for more than one or two sessions of a few hours each week, but it's worth it. Can't wait for Original Sin.

 

[Sinatar]

I can see how playing a large cRPG in coop can be difficult to manage, but if you do it's pretty amazing. I'm currently playing Icewind Dale with a friend, 3 characters each, and we're having a blast. Of course it takes a long time since it's hard to find (cooperative) time for more than one or two sessions of a few hours each week, but it's worth it. Can't wait for Original Sin.

Yea it's really really awesome, but you definitely need a dedicated friend to play with. Not something you're going to want to do with randoms.

 

[Ceadeus]

Dark Souls2 and X!!! awww yeah!

I'm so ready for X, let monolith see more of this please!

 

[WanderingWind]

I remember River of Time now. It came out around the time of some other release and I straight up forgot about it. The character building in this game is immensely satisfying. Classes from Dwarven prospectors to Amazon warriors to 6 different flavors of rogues and 9 different mage classes.

Sexy. I'm on the hunt for a couple of mods that allow you to move a bit faster (Google tells me most people had issues with this) and a hit Tab to highlight interactive items button, but other than that, the game is starting off very, very nice.

 

[Durante]

Yeah, it has a pretty complete implementation of the DSA ruleset. Lots of classes, lots of skills.

 

[onilink88]

Based on what, exactly? Still looks like it has the same shitty battle system.

Third person gun-play? Adding mechs to the mix? Mechs that are also capable of combat during flight? Body parts that take critical damage? Dismemberment? Just a few things we know about it. It also helps that Xenoblade, in fact, had, contrary to what you so forcefully believe, an excellent battle system.

 

[Ashodin]

Still waiting on Durante to add Apexicon to the list!

APEXICON - Fantasy Puzzle Combat

Puzzle RPG - May 2014

A game similar in vein to Puzzle Quest, with town building a la Soul Blazer, gameplay similar to boggle and word search for damage, and RPG character building mechanics!

 

[epmode]

Looking more closely at the battle position types (in TB games, all action and RTwP titles use free positioning), we see an overabundance of square-based combat, which is just unimaginative. I'd like to see more hex-based and free movement TB games. Also, a surprising number of games with "row" positioning, partially due to the revival of first person blobbers.

Free positioning in turn-based games often devolves into fiddly spacing metagames. Like, if I place my guy in one of these three pixels, his Fireball spell will be able to hit these three enemies instead of only two from any other location. It's similar to pixel hunting in old adventure games. Skulls of the Shogun suffers from this.

Squares and hexes (I LOVE HEXES) prevent this from becoming a problem.

 

[Sinatar]

That's true Epmode, but ToEE uses free movement for turn based and has the best combat system of any RPG ever. So it certainly can be done well.

 

[Videoneon]

Durante is an Atelier fan! Hell yes.

Between Atelier Eschatology, Xillia 2 and Bravely Default, I'm set for JRPGs.

Child of Light has me curious, though.

 

[Durante]

Free positioning in turn-based games often devolves into fiddly spacing metagames. Like, if I place my guy in one of these three pixels, his Fireball spell will be able to hit these three enemies instead of only two from any other location. It's similar to pixel hunting in old adventure games. Skulls of the Shogun suffers from this.

Squares and hexes (I LOVE HEXES) prevent this from becoming a problem.

I never really noticed this negatively. But then I like putting my party in a doorway in exactly the right way to block enemies and then cast fireball at the exact correct pixel.

Still waiting on Durante to add Apexicon to the list!

APEXICON - Fantasy Puzzle Combat

Puzzle RPG - May 2014

A game similar in vein to Puzzle Quest, with town building a la Soul Blazer, gameplay similar to boggle and word search for damage, and RPG character building mechanics!

Will do.

 

[WanderingWind]

Hexes just add so much more to the strategy - when done right. More angles of attack and all. But I love the free-form combat the best, too. Something about either clogging up a lane or sending in tanks to protect your Mage that makes me feel like a little, psychotic, magical Napoleon.

Then again, the combat grids in Spiderweb are just well done that I don't even dislike those.

I guess it all comes down to implimentation.

 

[Sinatar]

Yea a well done square grid is fine. The old Gold Box games use a square grid, but allow for diagonal attacks so you get 8 directions for attack off the basic grid.

 

[Rogue_Ledr]

I wonder if those rumored Fallout and Mass Effect sequels will drop this year?

 

[Sinatar]

I wonder if those rumored Fallout and Mass Effect sequels will drop this year?

Doubt it.

 

[Weltall Zero]

I need X in my veins. Still intrigued by Child of Light. I really should get into the Atelier series someday, many people swear by it and the mechanics sound fun, but every time I start gathering information about them I end up running away retching from the moe.

Seriously, it's not even the only game series I would totally get into if it wasn't for the nauseating moe/loli look. And this is coming from someone who's been actively importing anime since the 90's.

Oh and indeed Xenoblade's worst sin is its sidequests, but cut them out and it's an almost perfect game. Just skip them. I can also tell you're not even into the most interesting part of the game yet, Durante; please keep playing. It was the one game to top Xenogears for me.

 

[Chairman Yang]

Great work, Durante. I feel kind of bad after arguing for a turn-based Torment in the other thread, though...there definitely aren't enough RTWP games in 2014.

After digging deep into the Age of Decadence Early Access version, I'm convinced it'll be something special. Definitely not the best RPG of 2014, but one of the most unique, and perhaps with the best choice & consequence of the lot. It also has good (if supremely cynical) writing, an interesting setting (post-apocalyptic Roman Empire...sort of), and unforgiving combat that takes off the kid gloves but rewards careful decisions.

 

[Dr Dogg]

I was thinking this the other day that finally the cRPG is back in full force in 2014 but I didn't realise just how many were on the horizon. I might have to get cracking on ye olde backlog sharpish as there certainly going to be 100's of hours of goodness in the few KS games I backed alone.

Edit: Oh and great work on the thread Durante, and just after I cleared a massive chunk of my wishlist as well.

 

[Dragon1893]

Now all we need is for 2014 to have 5000 days instead of 365.

Man, this is going to be an amazing combo of W and Jrpgs.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Now all we need is for 2014 to have 5000 days instead of 365.

Man, this is going to be an amazing combo of W and Jrpgs.

I'm contemplating the possibility that I may play all of 7 or 8 games all year judging by this list

 

[FourMyle]

I'd wager a whole lot of those RPGs are going to miss their 2014 date. Even so, it's great to see so many RPGs on the way.

Pillars Of Eternity, Dead State, Divinity: Original Sin, Grim Dawn, Might & Magic X: Legacy, Wasteland 2 and Drakengard 3 have got me incredibly fucking hyped for 2014. It's going to be a great year.

 

[MrSaturn99]

Atelier Escha looks aesthetically beautiful, but I'm a little confused as to how it works. It's centered around alchemy, but there's a battle system and it's a sequel and there's (supposed) lesbian subtext and whatnow? Can someone help me out here?

 

[Dawg]

Mass Effect 3 was delayed to Q1 2012 and I bet Dragon Age: Inquisition will be delayed to Q1 2015

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Third person gun-play? Adding mechs to the mix? Mechs that are also capable of combat during flight? Body parts that take critical damage? Dismemberment? Just a few things we know about it.

We'll see. On paper that sounds great, but it's all about the execution.

It also helps that Xenoblade, in fact, had, contrary to what you so forcefully believe, an excellent battle system.

If by excellent you mean "the most annoying" then I agree. I gave up on the game because of that (and its shitty MMO filler "quests", and its bland story and crappy voice acting, and its... oh well I'll stop ranting now).

 

[Durante]

Atelier Escha looks aesthetically beautiful, but I'm a little confused as to how it works. It's centered around alchemy, but there's a battle system and it's a sequel and there's (supposed) lesbian subtext and whatnow? Can someone help me out here?

It's a sequel (to Atelier Ayesha), but if it follows the tradition of the Atelier games you aren't missing much by jumping in at any point. Each story is usually completely self-contained, and there are just some recurring characters. I don't know anything about a lesbian subtext, though it's noteworthy that Atelier Escha & Logy is the first Atelier game in forever to have a male protagonist (in addition to the female one).

Great work, Durante. I feel kind of bad after arguing for a turn-based Torment in the other thread, though...there definitely aren't enough RTWP games in 2014.

I told you all!

 

[FourMyle]

Haha, excellent is just about the last word I would use to describe Xenoblade's combat system. Mindless and boring, yes, excellent no way.

 

[chickdigger802]

disappointed that the best rpg of the year isn't on the list.


ff6 ios.

 

[Sentenza]

Free positioning in turn-based games often devolves into fiddly spacing metagames. Like, if I place my guy in one of these three pixels, his Fireball spell will be able to hit these three enemies instead of only two from any other location. I

You say it as if it was a bad thing.

 

[Sinatar]

Final Fantasy 6 is a great game but the iOS version looks awful.

 

[injurai]

More proof that RTwP is a rare gem that must be cultivated. Such a great gameplay style.

 

[Durante]

disappointed that the best rpg of the year isn't on the list.


ff6 ios.

I'll add it right after BoF 6.
(That would actually fit the requirements unlike the ff6 port, but even if they'd announce an English version I'd flat out refuse)

 

[epmode]

You say it as if it was a bad thing.

It is! I prefer the more granular calculations resulting from hexes and squares. "These dudes are all within a three square radius so I know my spell will murder all of them even before I look" is a lot better than having to hover targeting circles all over the place.

 

[Durante]

It is! I prefer the more granular calculations resulting from hexes and squares. "These dudes are all within a three square radius so I know my spell will murder all of them even before I look" is a lot better than having to hover targeting circles all over the place.

But the best is the feeling of accomplishment in Icewind Dale (or any IE game) of hitting a fireball just so that 5 enemies fighting your melee line are hit and none of your party members are. That's with no targeting circle at all, free movement, and everyone moving while you're casting the spell (which you need to predict).

People call it terrible UI, I call it fun. Of course, it's also fun when you miss by a hair and incinerate your warrior. Double fun if you're playing in coop and he's not yours!

 

[onilink88]

If by excellent you mean "the most annoying" then I agree.

Please, if you're going to respond to me and expect to be taken seriously, refrain from employing schoolyard-quality reversals.

I gave up on the game because of that (and its shitty MMO filler "quests", and its bland story and crappy voice acting, and its... oh well I'll stop ranting now).

I'll give you crappy sidequests, but neither the Japanese nor English dub were anywhere near bad. And its "bland" story, which was, once again, not bland, was better written and far more intriguing than what most JRPG writers put out. But I digress, as well.

Haha, excellent is just about the last word I would use to describe Xenoblade's combat system. Mindless and boring, yes, excellent no way.

Well now, all of those reviewers, professional ones and the average JRPG fan alike, that praise it as such must have poor standards, I take it? All of them? None of that praise could be founded on anything? It couldn't possibly be that it was a well-though-out, well-executed, and fun battle system that you didn't like. Must be mindless, boring, and poor. Well then, O Harbinger of Truth, I'll be sure to remember that the next time I see any praise leveled at it.

Spoiler

Lordy, I've probably depleted my sarcasm quota for the year.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Please, if you're going to respond to me and expect to be taken seriously, refrain from employing schoolyard-quality reversals.

*snorts* Coming from the one who started the whole "you're wrong, I'm right, because!" inanity, you're in no position to get atop any kind of high horse.

Well now, all of those reviewers, professional ones and the average JRPG fan alike, that praise it as such must have poor standards, I take it? All of them? None of that praise could be founded on anything? It couldn't possibly be that it was a well-though-out, well-executed, and fun battle system that you didn't like. Must be mindless, boring, and poor. Well then, O Harbinger of Truth, I'll be sure to remember that the next time I see any praise leveled at it.

Spoiler

Lordy, I've probably depleted my sarcasm quota for the year.

Is this more Argument from Metacritic that I like to laugh about so much? Sure looks like it.

 

[Vampirolol]

I loved the combat system in Xenoblade but sure it wasn't perfect at all... it gets boring, the only way I kept having fun from it was changing my strategies just becuase, but that happened after hours and hours of fun. So that's not the strongest part about Xeno but not even a weak point. The formula needs to be explored much more in X.

 

[epmode]

But the best is the feeling of accomplishment in Icewind Dale (or any IE game) of hitting a fireball just so that 5 enemies fighting your melee line are hit and none of your party members are. That's with no targeting circle at all, free movement, and everyone moving while you're casting the spell (which you need to predict).

That's real time with pause though! I love free movement there too! I'm only whining about free movement in a turn-based game.

To my eternal shame, I still haven't played ToEE for more than 20 minutes so I can't say how well free movement is handled there.

 

[Some Nobody]

Please, if you're going to respond to me and expect to be taken seriously, refrain from employing schoolyard-quality reversals.



I'll give you crappy sidequests, but neither the Japanese nor English dub were anywhere near bad. And its "bland" story, which was, once again, not bland, was better written and far more intriguing than what most JRPG writers put out. But I digress, as well.



Well now, all of those reviewers, professional ones and the average JRPG fan alike, that praise it as such must have poor standards, I take it? All of them? None of that praise could be founded on anything? It couldn't possibly be that it was a well-though-out, well-executed, and fun battle system that you didn't like. Must be mindless, boring, and poor. Well then, O Harbinger of Truth, I'll be sure to remember that the next time I see any praise leveled at it.

Spoiler

Lordy, I've probably depleted my sarcasm quota for the year.

You do know you don't have to defend your love of Xenoblade or your excitement for X, right?

 

[Silvawuff]

Nice list! I'm excited for Bravely and Child of Light.

I think SE will (re)release more titles via mobile this year as well, so that's something to look forward to.

 

[Sentenza]

It is! I prefer the more granular calculations resulting from hexes and squares. "These dudes are all within a three square radius so I know my spell will murder all of them even before I look" is a lot better than having to hover targeting circles all over the place.

I'm not sure what you are trying to argue there, because more granularity is precisely the main advantage of a gridless system.

 

[onilink88]

*snorts* Coming from the one who started the whole "you're wrong, I'm right, because!" inanity, you're in no position to get atop any kind of high horse.

Not just "because". It would be wrong, by objective standards, to claim that Xenoblade had a terrible battle system. But to hell with any kind of objectivity, right? While we're at it, how 'bout I accuse, say, Super Mario Galaxy 2 of being a terrible game?

Is this more Argument from Metacritic that I like to laugh about so much? Sure looks like it.

That's weird; I don't remember using the term "Metacritic" in my post. And I certainly haven't appealed to any other ranking system. I don't think you're interested in anything other than nonsensical extrapolation, so I'm not sure taking the time to delineate the intention of my post would be time well spent. Tell you what: I'll end this derail by sarcastically conceding to you that Xenoblade was a terrible game.

 

[Charleston]

Holy crap, what a list!

Mount and Blade 2 !?

*Drools*

 

[witness]

I'm ready for my favorite genre to get going on new gen, I'm so excited for Dragon Age and The Witcher on PS4. If only there were a PS4 port of Skyrim to hold me over.

 

[epmode]

I'm not sure what you are trying to argue there, because more granularity is precisely the main advantage of a gridless system.

Oh god I wrote "more" when I should have written "less".

I suppose I'm not making myself clear. It makes more sense when you play Skulls of the Shogun and you find yourself inching your characters around a pixel at a time to best take advantage of microscopic gaps between enemy range radius markers. Feels more like leet sploits than a legitimate strategy.

I find it lots of fun in a real-time system when you have to account for all sorts of other variables (projectile travel times, casting times, enemy movement, etc) but it really distracted me in the purely turn-based Skulls..

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

Why are optional side quests a negative all of a sudden?

Sure most were bland but nothing said you had to do them.

If they forced you to complete them to move the story along then I could agree giving Xenoblade negative marks but if your buying RPGs for their side quests and not the main story then thats on you, not the game.

The story was great overall.

The slow setups led to great reveals and twists that you can't appreciate if you stopped early.

 

[Phandy]

But the best is the feeling of accomplishment in Icewind Dale (or any IE game) of hitting a fireball just so that 5 enemies fighting your melee line are hit and none of your party members are. That's with no targeting circle at all, free movement, and everyone moving while you're casting the spell (which you need to predict).

People call it terrible UI, I call it fun. Of course, it's also fun when you miss by a hair and incinerate your warrior. Double fun if you're playing in coop and he's not yours!

I love you. srs. IE engine combat is just so good. RTWP shits on everything (nb. fuck Torment).

But seriously calling it bad for that is stupid. If your gonna complain about the UI, you complain about having to click on every single piece of loot on the ground, and having to move it all manually via drag and drop to other characters, or lack of comparisons. Or moving it to other characters JUST to identify it etc etc etc. This is basically what I hope they are going to fix with Pillars. Just respect the players time and don't make the UI tedious, thanks.