Do you play video games mates?

[donKyle]

I don't blame you on 13...what a load of crap. I don't understand how someone can make something so bad. I haven't played anything before 8

 

[iceandfire84]

The first Diablo was a pioneer in terms of how it basically created a new genre in the action based dungeon crawl. As far as appeal though I would say overall though the series is an RPG so the satisfaction comes from getting better weapons/armor, learning new spells, etc. There's also something just viscerally fun about kicking some demon ass . Each class plays very different in all three games so replayability is pretty high as it feels like a completely new game. Yeah it's a lot of clicking but it's fairly strategic at harder levels.

Postulate...definitely curious as to what JRPG's you like since you seem to have an inherent dislike for the genre overall yet have played a good amount of them. I'm certainly in agreement about FFXIII. What a disappointing game. I have played a beaten every FF from 1-10 but since then the series has just become total garbage. My favorites in the series in order are VI, X, VII/IX, IV. Not sure if you played VII when it was released or for the first time years later but that would definitely make a difference in your opinion on it.

Just to throw out some of my personal favorite JRPG's I would say Xenogears, the FF's I listed, Chrono Trigger, Lunar 1 & 2, and Suikoden 1 & 2.

 

[Sauna]

I've played IX, X, XII and XIII. IX and XII I really liked, X is okay, XIII pretty bad.

I'm playing Ni No Kuni now, it's alright but a very, very flawed game, as most (all?) JRPGs are. Also, the story does a total 180 near the end that seems off-putting and unnecessary to me, especially since the story the game was already going for wasn't fleshed out enough to begin with.

Also, your allies' AI blows.

Right. From what I've seen it seems cute and whimsical enough for me to want to pick it up at some point anyway. Definitely has some of that Miyazaki movie charm to it. Perhaps I'll have time for it once I'm done with Skyrim and the soul-crushing greyness of Papers, Please.

Has anyone played Super Hexagon? Fuck that shit lol

Checked out a trailer and it seemed like the worst thing ever.

 

[Postulate]

Postulate...definitely curious as to what JRPG's you like since you seem to have an inherent dislike for the genre overall yet have played a good amount of them. I'm certainly in agreement about FFXIII. What a disappointing game. I have played a beaten every FF from 1-10 but since then the series has just become total garbage. My favorites in the series in order are VI, X, VII/IX, IV. Not sure if you played VII when it was released or for the first time years later but that would definitely make a difference in your opinion on it.

I don't know that I really love any JRPGs. They all suffer from the same problems: the sidequests and often the main game play are chore-like, the game either railroads you or reduces exploration to a bunch of 'go everywhere, talk to everyone on the chance you might get something,' the lore of the worlds is usually inconsistent, with what characters do in combat and in the story not matching up at all, as if two different sets of logic operated depending on whether you were in a cutscene or not, the gameplay and story in general never really match up (for example, in Ni No Kuni, lots of dungeons have gaps you can't cross, when you have a spell that makes bridges, and another spell that levitates you, that you use numerous times elsewhere. Plot says so!), the characters are one-dimensional and aggravating, stupid minigames, and I'm also not really into the whole animé aesthetic in general.

The JRPG I played most was Tales of Symphonia, because it's battle system was so fucking fun. But it has all of the other problems I listed too, and I don't revisit it anymore because I overplayed it when it came out. And yeah, I played FF VII only years later, and I thought it was appalling. Aside from being a boring 'press A to win'-fest, I thought it was horrendously fucking ugly.

The reason I play them is that I just like RPGs in general, and if they have a fun battle system or inventory/crafting system, then they can be worth playing. Generally I prefer western RPGs, because even though they have their own flaws, they breathe a bit better, and usually the lore of the worlds is more consistent and involved, and also hangs together better as a whole, which makes it somewhat 'believable' according to its own internal logic (whereas in a JRPG, you have a 12 year old girl with an axe bigger than her that can take bullets to the face, or whatever, for no reason).

 

[Postulate]

Right. From what I've seen it seems cute and whimsical enough for me to want to pick it up at some point anyway. Definitely has some of that Miyazaki movie charm to it. Perhaps I'll have time for it once I'm done with Skyrim and the soul-crushing greyness of Papers, Please.

A heads-up if you do decide to play it: there's a star marker that aways tells you exactly where to go next, no matter what. If you'd prefer to look for your objectives yourself, though, you can turn it off in the options. Didn't figure that out until far into the game.

 

[Wander]

I played Ni No Kuni for a bit, but I put it down and never picked it back up. Xenoblade was a pretty fun game, but I never beat that one either, although, I'm very close. I'm also excited for the remake of FF X/X2.

Has anyone played Super Hexagon? Fuck that shit lol

Super Hexagon is great.

 

[Phanto]

playing might & magic X now.
so fuckin good.

 

[donKyle]

Super Hexagon is great.

I can only play it in short spurts. I've only beaten the first level lol

 

[iceandfire84]

I don't know that I really love any JRPGs. They all suffer from the same problems: the sidequests and often the main game play are chore-like, the game either railroads you or reduces exploration to a bunch of 'go everywhere, talk to everyone on the chance you might get something,' the lore of the worlds is usually inconsistent, with what characters do in combat and in the story not matching up at all, as if two different sets of logic operated depending on whether you were in a cutscene or not, the gameplay and story in general never really match up (for example, in Ni No Kuni, lots of dungeons have gaps you can't cross, when you have a spell that makes bridges, and another spell that levitates you, that you use numerous times elsewhere. Plot says so!), the characters are one-dimensional and aggravating, stupid minigames, and I'm also not really into the whole animé aesthetic in general.

The JRPG I played most was Tales of Symphonia, because it's battle system was so fucking fun. But it has all of the other problems I listed too, and I don't revisit it anymore because I overplayed it when it came out. And yeah, I played FF VII only years later, and I thought it was appalling. Aside from being a boring 'press A to win'-fest, I thought it was horrendously fucking ugly.

The reason I play them is that I just like RPGs in general, and if they have a fun battle system or inventory/crafting system, then they can be worth playing. Generally I prefer western RPGs, because even though they have their own flaws, they breathe a bit better, and usually the lore of the worlds is more consistent and involved, and also hangs together better as a whole, which makes it somewhat 'believable' according to its own internal logic (whereas in a JRPG, you have a 12 year old girl with an axe bigger than her that can take bullets to the face, or whatever, for no reason).

Everyone has their separate gaming loves I suppose

I love the book like ascept of JRPG's and like that fact that they are somewhat on rails. I love just playing the story and enjoying the combat systems throughout the experience. You've got a point about things not matching up sometimes though. There is also such a thing as too on rails - See FFXIII's utter sucktasticness.

Western RPG's are usually about creating your own story and exploring whatever your heart fancies. I can see the appeal but it's too open ended for my personal tastes (see any Elder Scrolls or Fall Out game). As I was talking about games like Diablo though earlier there are definitely some western RPG type games I love as well.

Heck, as long as we are all playing what we enjoy there's plenty of fun for us all to have out there.

 

[TerminusDeus]

I've played and enjoyed just about every genre starting back during the NES era, but gravitate towards rpgs and adventure games. I picked up a PS4 on release day, and it's great, but I've been spending more time with the Vita. Despite what some may say, it has a fairly extensive library and that OLED screen is amazing. I'm currently playing Ys: Memories of Celceta, and will eventually get to Persona 4 Golden, which apparently is a must for all Vita owners.

 

[Postulate]

Everyone has their separate gaming loves I suppose

I love the book like ascept of JRPG's and like that fact that they are somewhat on rails. I love just playing the story and enjoying the combat systems throughout the experience. You've got a point about things not matching up sometimes though. There is also such a thing as too on rails - See FFXIII's utter sucktasticness.

Western RPG's are usually about creating your own story and exploring whatever your heart fancies. I can see the appeal but it's too open ended for my personal tastes (see any Elder Scrolls or Fall Out game). As I was talking about games like Diablo though earlier there are definitely some western RPG type games I love as well.

Heck, as long as we are all playing what we enjoy there's plenty of fun for us all to have out there.

Yeah, I definitely prefer games more open. My worry is that modern WRPGs are becoming like 'sandbox' games, which have a bad kind of openness, where everything is the same, and there's no real charm: just a bunch of interchangeable dungeons, enemies, and fetch quests, and everything boils down to 'go to the exclamation mark on the map.' I think that Bethesda is really contributing to this problem with Skyrim and the recent Fallout games, which have little replay value for me IMO because they start to feel boring and empty.

Making a good RPG seems really hard to do. Recently I've found games like Dragon's Dogma and Dark Souls that focus on engaging combat, with some WRPG-like elements, to be a good answer to the problem.

JRPGs also have difficulty with replay value, because everything is so heavily glued to the story that you can never really do what you want, except at a few key points in the game. Characters come and go, so you can't really develop them as you please, and playing the game over again is tedious when so much of it focuses on go to points A, B, C when you've already seen the story, and there's few points when you can stretch your legs and do whatever you want with the game.

 

[Krondor]

playing might & magic X now.
so fuckin good.

Wow! Thank you for this! I gotta check this out. I really liked Might and Magic 7 (though the END is not so good..) and 8 was OK too, but I didn't like 9 at all.

I really gotta check this out.

From Final Fantasy I really liked 6, 7 and 9.

 

[iceandfire84]

Yeah, I definitely prefer games more open. My worry is that modern WRPGs are becoming like 'sandbox' games, which have a bad kind of openness, where everything is the same, and there's no real charm: just a bunch of interchangeable dungeons, enemies, and fetch quests, and everything boils down to 'go to the exclamation mark on the map.' I think that Bethesda is really contributing to this problem with Skyrim and the recent Fallout games, which have little replay value for me IMO because they start to feel boring and empty.

Making a good RPG seems really hard to do. Recently I've found games like Dragon's Dogma and Dark Souls that focus on engaging combat, with some WRPG-like elements, to be a good answer to the problem.

JRPGs also have difficulty with replay value, because everything is so heavily glued to the story that you can never really do what you want, except at a few key points in the game. Characters come and go, so you can't really develop them as you please, and playing the game over again is tedious when so much of it focuses on go to points A, B, C when you've already seen the story, and there's few points when you can stretch your legs and do whatever you want with the game.

Couldn't agree more. The sandbox thing can easily turn into bigger is better without the actual content and repeating landscapes. It's funny how the first Fable struck me as a pretty fun game and the other two didn't do anything for me at all even though they were bigger and better. I suppose that's besides the point that there was no challenge whatsoever in the latter two.

I haven't tried Dragon's Dogma...will have to look that one up. Demon's/Dark Souls are amazing games that bring me back to the glory days of gaming. Difficult and beatable without tedious hand holding. What made that game so awesome though was the charming yet gloomy world that just felt so empty yet had this aura of a rich history.

 

[iceandfire84]

Wow! Thank you for this! I gotta check this out. I really liked Might and Magic 7 (though the END is not so good..) and 8 was OK too, but I didn't like 9 at all.

I really gotta check this out.

From Final Fantasy I really liked 6, 7 and 9.

I was looking at M&M X the other day but couldn't really tell how the gameplay is. I haven't played any of that particular series but I believe it is a spiritual successor to Heroes of Might and Magic correct? I played the heck out of II the most but also have played III & IV.

The only screenshots I could find made it sort of look like an old D&D game. I know they've been touting the "old school" roots.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Difficult without hand holding = golden formula for success.

Shadow of the Colossus worked as an open sandbox. It's not a huge world. There's no dialog really. There's no quest really. You know all you need to know right from the start. Just go do it. And it's well designed.

 

[Postulate]

Couldn't agree more. The sandbox thing can easily turn into bigger is better without the actual content and repeating landscapes. It's funny how the first Fable struck me as a pretty fun game and the other two didn't do anything for me at all even though they were bigger and better. I suppose that's besides the point that there was no challenge whatsoever in the latter two.

I haven't tried Dragon's Dogma...will have to look that one up. Demon's/Dark Souls are amazing games that bring me back to the glory days of gaming. Difficult and beatable without tedious hand holding. What made that game so awesome though was the charming yet gloomy world that just felt so empty yet had this aura of a rich history.

Dark souls is a good game (haven't played Demon Souls), but IMO Dragon's Dogma is better. Probably my favorite game of this past generation. It's amazing because there are almost no scripted events, and everything's 'up to you' as far as combat goes, and yet the battles still feel very 'cinematic.' You fight griffins and dragons and cyclopes, and it seriously feels like shit is going down. Basically it's what I think developers want 'cinematic' games to feel like, but never do.

 

[Phanto]

I was looking at M&M X the other day but couldn't really tell how the gameplay is. I haven't played any of that particular series but I believe it is a spiritual successor to Heroes of Might and Magic correct? I played the heck out of II the most but also have played III & IV.

The only screenshots I could find made it sort of look like an old D&D game. I know they've been touting the "old school" roots.

Nah. The Heroes games were a strategy spin-off from the Might & Magic games. They're set in the same "world" but they're nothing alike in terms of gameplay.

Might & Magic are first-person party-based (meaning you create and control all characters) RPGs. You move in "grids" (from a first-person perspective) fighting monsters, solving puzzles and just exploring and stuff.

It's a relatively slow-paced and challenging game. Perfect for a warming dram of whiskey and a good background tune

 

[iceandfire84]

Dark souls is a good game (haven't played Demon Souls), but IMO Dragon's Dogma is better. Probably my favorite game of this past generation. It's amazing because there are almost no scripted events, and everything's 'up to you' as far as combat goes, and yet the battles still feel very 'cinematic.' You fight griffins and dragons and cyclopes, and it seriously feels like shit is going down. Basically it's what I think developers want 'cinematic' games to feel like, but never do.

Crazy I hadn't heard of it before. Will have to give it a shot.

 

[iceandfire84]

Nah. The Heroes games were a strategy spin-off from the Might & Magic games. They're set in the same "world" but they're nothing alike in terms of gameplay.

Might & Magic are first-person party-based (meaning you create and control all characters) RPGs. You move in "grids" (from a first-person perspective) fighting monsters, solving puzzles and just exploring and stuff.

It's a relatively slow-paced and challenging game. Perfect for a warming dram of whiskey and a good background tune

Gotcha, I was able to find a gamplay video and check it out. Looks really well made and sort of like a D&D game. Too bad I can't stand first person RPG's. I got a little excited they were going back to a more HOMM style game. A man can dream!