[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 483: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 112: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/bbcode.php on line 112: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/functions.php on line 4285: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /includes/functions.php:3493)
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/functions.php on line 4287: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /includes/functions.php:3493)
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/functions.php on line 4288: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /includes/functions.php:3493)
[phpBB Debug] PHP Notice: in file /includes/functions.php on line 4289: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /includes/functions.php:3493)
Forum in Aggro • View topic - Need gaming consumer advice, please!
Board index   FAQ   Search  
Register  Login
Board index Entertainment Gamer's Paradise

Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Everything related to games~

Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby Tehwilburforce » Thu May 23, 2013 1:51 pm

Alright, so Playstation's been bugging me about $5 that's left in my PS Store wallet and I went to look and see what I might buy. There's a ton of old JRPG's on here, but I dunno which to pick. Most of them are a bit more than $5, but I don't mind spending that. I'll gonna leave it up to you guys to vote for/recommend stuff and see what happens. I'm only asking because you guys seem to know a heck of a lot more about old JRPG's than I do. /swt2

Anyway, here's the list of the JRPG's I found.

Breath of Fire IV
Grandia
Legend of Dragoon
Legend of Mana
Suikoden
Vagrant Story
Wild Arms

-Sailor Mercury
User avatar
Tehwilburforce
High Mage LV 40/30
High Mage  LV 40/30
 
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:43 pm
Location: In a pretty dope Ferrari with Michiru somewhere.

Re: Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby Adol The Red » Thu May 23, 2013 2:20 pm

Good titles there. I've played Grandia and Legend of the Dragoon will both get a special mention from me. I'm also a Suikoden fan, but I haven't played too far into the first one so I can't comment yet.
Epic , brah!
User avatar
Adol The Red
High Swordman LV 63/45
High Swordman  LV 63/45
 
Posts: 428
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:11 pm
Location: The Island of Sieren. I was on a ship, but I'm Adol so...

Re: Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby Alexx » Fri May 24, 2013 7:06 am

Lets see...all my comments will be through the eyes of others, as I've only played BoFIV a short way in and a good chunk of Wild Arms.

Breath of Fire IV - Not as good as III, but still a nice game. Standard turn based fighting. Cool enemy-magic-learning system where you learn stuff from badguys. Good old fashioned beautiful spritework on 3D backgrounds. I played through a small portion of it and my wife went through and beat it. She enjoyed it, and I fully plan to get back to it sometime.

Grandia - Adol likes it! He's my only connection to this one, and he said his peice. I bought it 'cause it sounded cool, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Legend of Dragoon - I thought Adol would suggest this one more than he did! All I know is from what he talked about, and it is obviously in my list to play, but I haven't yet.

Legend of Mana - I didn't give this one a fair chance back in the day. A friend of mine bought this when it came out (back in the day *sigh* I'm increasingly sad that the Playstation is pretty much a classic system now, which makes me old) and we bought some mountain dew and a big bag of pixe sticks so we'd stay awake for hours and play it all night. We expected classic Mana action, and it's a bit different than what we expected, making us annoyed and unwilling to play very far. STILL...I was young and stupid, and I bought this not long ago to give this one another chance. I've heard good things and it's bascially Mana gameplay but with a non-linear map where you can set your dungeons wherever you like (with different reactions depending on where you set them). Oh, and if you didn't know, Mana gameplay is sort of Zelda like but with experience and levels 'n such.

Suikoden - This just comes highly recommended from everyone I know. I know i'll get to it someday, and it's on my wife's list as well. From the sounds of it, I don't think you can go wrong with this choice, but be warned that it is certainly different than any other RPG you may have played from this time period. It's got the turn-based setup, but you've got a team of 6 people, and BOY do you have a lot of people to choose from! There's a lot of character collecting, and even big army battles! Very unique.

Vagrant Story - Heard some good things, but not enough to say much more than that. I believe a friend of mine enjoyed it.

Wild Arms - Technically my wife and I played through a good chunk of this, but not this exact one. They remade it on the PS2 calling it Wild Arms: Alter Code F. Personally I think that's the way to play it. The original game has some better musical choices, but you're going to have to go through some graphical shock as they're very old 'n ugly 3D graphics. Oh - AND IT'S HARD. Hardass game. Seems to be the thing I hear the most about the original. The PS2 remake doesn't seem to be anywhere near as hard. Out of all the choices here, I'd probably rank Wild Arms the lowest, personally.

Well there we go! Best I got. Hope that helps.
"Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking." ~ Tock, the Watchdog
User avatar
Alexx
Knight LV 98/50
Knight  LV 98/50
 
Posts: 265
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2012 5:12 am
Location: The big 'ol Mitten

Re: Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby RollCasket » Fri May 24, 2013 11:06 am

If I were to rank them personally I'd say...

Breath of Fire IV - I really like the BoF series a lot, though as was said 3 is the best. BoF4 does have a cool little back row character support thing which makes your not active characters at least feel like they're more there.

Grandia - I will have to warn about Grandia though...it has probably the worst voice acting in the history of games. I definitely have to say I liked Grandia 2 a lot more, the first is hard to go back to, but it still has good combat.

Legend of Dragoon - LoD I had a lot of fun with, and was actually replaying it on my psp about a year ago. If you're really bad with timing you might have some problems with the combat but at least if there's a combo you can do easier you can switch to an older one.

Legend of Mana - LoM is fun enough, but shorter then prolly all the ones on there and has a few weird things to it.

Wild Arms - Wild Arms as was said is probably best played as Alter Code F, I still have the original PS1 game myself, but it's always hard to go back when there's remakes...still a good game though.

Vagrant Story - I never beat this game...but it does have an interesting real time turn based sort of combat. It's got a cool style to it but somehow it couldn't hold my attention long enough.

Suikoden - I know Joel really enjoys these games but haven't really given them a chance personally. You get to choose like 6 people parties out of your 926565 characters, and then there are some strategy battles also, or something. It's the only game out of these I haven't played.
Icon and sig art by Feining =)
"May the earth shatter, may the oceans dry, and may the sun extinguish itself. We are demons."
User avatar
RollCasket
High Priest LV 98/67
High Priest  LV 98/67
 
Posts: 784
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 7:20 pm

Re: Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby Tehwilburforce » Fri May 24, 2013 1:11 pm

Wait... Hold up. Legend of Dragoon has combat based on button timing??? Like Paper Mario????? I'm gonna wait longer to see what other people say, but I think LoD is now on top of my list of what I'd want to get. Timed button presses are my favorite when they aren't QTE's.

-Sailor Mercury
User avatar
Tehwilburforce
High Mage LV 40/30
High Mage  LV 40/30
 
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:43 pm
Location: In a pretty dope Ferrari with Michiru somewhere.

Re: Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby Pie » Fri May 24, 2013 4:02 pm

Breath of Fire 4-
I think BoF4 is very good! As Alex said, it's has a turn based battle system, three active front row characters and three in the back who can basically cheer for the front line once in a while for support. Characters all have their own AP recovery rate which is only active while they're in the back row which you can swap around any time between battle rounds. This can be fun because though you may have characters with super magic power but low max AP, they might have super AP regeneration too. There are six characters, all very balanced with their own variety of skills, strong and weak stats, so it's fun to mix up your party to try different combinations. The game has a very fun combo system in which if you can chain attack skills according to their properties in an order, you can deal some massive bonus damage accompanied with status effects and sometimes even causing a completely new combo spell graphic. Most characters only specialize in two or three elements, so again, it's fun to switch up your combination. Like BoF3, you can teach characters skills from monsters and switch what you've learned around too.

Though the game's color palette is a bit washed out, it's very beautifully animated. The music is nice with an ethnic feel. The battle music is subtle, yet can be a bit empowering. I really liked the characters and thought the story was very interesting and surprisingly pretty twisted and dark at some points.

I admit the dragon changing system isn't as good as BoF3's since you can't make your own dragon through gene manipulation, especially considering that graphically, the only visual difference between Ryu's dragon forms are his dragon breaths which are more like summons. As much as I liked where the story was going, the ending felt very abrupt as though the creators were tight on time and had to tie things up prematurely. The ending feels disappointing and you get almost nothing to do as bonus material after you beat it too. If you're going to play this game, do it for the journey. ^^;


Grandia-
Good long game with a fun journey with some pretty good characters. The battle system was o-kay for me, Grandia 2's definitely felt more tight making it a lot more fun in comparison, not to say Grandia's isn't good. I'm a bit unsure what to think about it overall though because I kinda grinded a little too much which made the whole game feel super easy. >.<

I don't think the English dubbing is too bad; I actually thought it was charming for the most part, but I admit it kinda ruined the ending. >.<

Character-wise, I think Justin really stands out among many JRPG heroes. He's fun but has his other moments too. I think the main theme to the game is the sense of adventure. There is a main overlaying plot, but it doesn't really have a sense of urgency until near the end. The story was interesting and fun, but I never felt super attached to the characters, though Justin's pretty cool. =) Oh yeah, no random encounters. XD


Legend of Dragoon-
Very good long game; great interesting story and very fun timed hit combat. There must have been a LOT of thought put into creating the game's systems. It has a number of simple rules that give you a very good sense of control, thus letting you strategize. Guarding for example will ALWAYS decrease received damage by exactly half (rounded up or down 1 for odd numbers. -Don't remember '_') and will make you immune to incoming status ailments. I think they guard immediately too. Having so much planning ability was fun! You also have a variety of characters with interesting extreme strengths, weaknesses, and elemental affinities! XD

The music is okay; it has its own flavor, but not excellent; the game does have some pretty catchy/cool battle themes though. I admit too that due to the music, the potentially dramatic and touching moments seem to fall very short. '_'

The English dubbing is HORRENDOUS! The battle grunts and special move cries aren't too bad, but e-gad, the cinematics! Thank goodness they're rare. @_@


Legend of Mana-
This game is not like others of the series; it's more like a side scrolling beat'm up fantasy RPG. You create a character, do quests for reoccurring NPC's, doing so gives you artifacts that will create plots of land (areas that you can explore) which then you can place adjacent to other plots of land on a grid-like overworld map. Character stat growth and handling depends on what weapon you wear as you level up. You get two base attacks, quick weak ones and strong slower ones (holding down forward while doing a strong will launch enemies). I felt there was very little reason to use weak attacks since there's very little downtime between strong hits; you can just launch->chase->launch->chase to attack. It got very repetitious. '_'

You will randomly learn super attack skills for weapons you are equipped with. Though they can look really cool, I don't like the supers in this game because your characters stick in the ground charging for five or so seconds before it actually executes. Monsters still run around the map as you're doing this so good luck hitting the monster if your super has a point blank range.

The game sports 2player co-op play, but it really sucks because the second player isn't allowed to learn any new skills, not only that, but quests constantly require you to take an NPC guest around (which can be controlled by the 2nd player) which afterwards you have to return to a specific place for the 2nd player to reload their character again.

I didn't beat it, but my brother did, I got pretty far but lost interest. o_< The game however is very beautiful visually and has an amazing soundtrack! ^^;


Suikoden-
Really nice game with a simple and quick battle system. Battles are quick because after entering all of your commands, more than one character can attack enemies at a time.~

You can collect 108 characters, characters differ from each other mainly through base stats, the type of weapon they wield, and sometimes a rune that they poses. You can apply runes that give spells associated to an element, a theme, or a special move to characters. Some characters have runes that only they can wear. Some characters have combo attacks with other characters they are associated to. Though you can have 108 characters, switching up your party with characters you've never used isn't a problem. You gain experience based on the level of the enemy so characters can catch up really fast; it's possible to gain 15 levels after one battle! A part of the fun is collecting cool characters and incorporating them into your party. XD

Not all characters that join you are battle characters. You end up getting a castle and a lot of them give you special services, like mini games, a jukebox, text box window changes, etc.

The music is amazing, definitely one of Bear and my favorite soundtracks of all time!!

I really like the cast of main characters, it's one of the few games that gave me an emotional tug.

Suikoden is very good game (though a little short), but what makes this a must-play-game is to set you up for Suikoden 2 which is a SERIOUS-MUST-PLAY! Suikoden 2 takes place a few years after S1 so they end up accentuating each other.


Vagrant Story-
I have very little experience with this one. o_< It's made by the Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre crew so if it might not be a bad leap of faith. XD


Wild Arms-
I'm disappointed to hear you guys referring him to play Alter Code F over the original! /omg Though I agree the polygon battles aren't too pretty, it has a solid battle system and is also a beautiful sprite based game outside of battles. Many things were changed for the PS2 remake; they're pretty much two very different games with the same overall plot.

I feel a little reluctant talking about Alter Code F since I've only played it for a few hours, but from what I DID play, I found it a huge turn off. I have so many issues with this game. I don't feel like writing about it right now though. >.<

-anyhow, I think most of what I have to say about Wild Arms is pretty much summed up . ^^;
Last edited by Pie on Fri May 24, 2013 7:14 pm, edited 4 times in total.
User avatar
Pie
Gypsy LV 87/55
Gypsy  LV 87/55
 
Posts: 502
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 2:44 pm
Location: Cookie Crunch!

Re: Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby Adol The Red » Fri May 24, 2013 6:13 pm

I have to agree that the voice acting in Legend of the Dragoon is absolutely terrible, and thankfully there isn't much. Otherwise it's freak'n awesome. It also has my vote for most creative final dungeon in an RPG. The voice acting in Grandia tends to have its ups and downs, from okay to ohgodmyears. Thankfully most of the characters you'll spend the most time with are passable. It was the early days of video game voice overs. If you want truly terrible, listen to someone play House of the Dead 2 over and over again, as I have with Alexx and our friend Simon, on a saturday for a few weeks in a row.
Epic , brah!
User avatar
Adol The Red
High Swordman LV 63/45
High Swordman  LV 63/45
 
Posts: 428
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:11 pm
Location: The Island of Sieren. I was on a ship, but I'm Adol so...

Re: Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby RollCasket » Fri May 24, 2013 10:26 pm

"More and more! More and more! More and more! More and more! More and more!" - Rose, LoD

Seriously though, I still say Grandia had moments that were so much worse then the worse moments in LoD, that's why I say it "wins" for the worst voice acting. There were plenty of times when it was just fine in both games.

It was pretty funny though how BoF1 had you change into dragons, BoF2 was summons, BoF3 had you change into dragons, and BoF4 was summons again. If you had put BoF3 as one of the choices though I would've easily said you should put it way above the rest. Really love that game.

But yeah, as said LoD has timed button combos. I...think you only use one button for your hits, could be wrong, but if the enemy tries to counter during your combo you hit a different button in time to ignore their counter. Like I said some of the combos can get pretty crazy, like Meru's for example, and is a bit beyond Paper Mario timing. I play a lot of rhythm games and such so it wasn't a problem, and found the combat quite fun. Also too, when you get the dragoon powers you get a different timed combo as well.

As a random side note, Meru is brokenly good. Her magic defense and speed are both absurdly high. There was one boss I beat while way underleveled entirely because of her. Also "Cool Boogie" is the best move ever, because of lulz.
Icon and sig art by Feining =)
"May the earth shatter, may the oceans dry, and may the sun extinguish itself. We are demons."
User avatar
RollCasket
High Priest LV 98/67
High Priest  LV 98/67
 
Posts: 784
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 7:20 pm

Re: Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby Pie » Fri May 24, 2013 11:29 pm

User avatar
Pie
Gypsy LV 87/55
Gypsy  LV 87/55
 
Posts: 502
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 2:44 pm
Location: Cookie Crunch!

Re: Need gaming consumer advice, please!

Postby Adol The Red » Fri May 24, 2013 11:59 pm

Epic , brah!
User avatar
Adol The Red
High Swordman LV 63/45
High Swordman  LV 63/45
 
Posts: 428
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:11 pm
Location: The Island of Sieren. I was on a ship, but I'm Adol so...

Next

Return to Gamer's Paradise

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests

cron