newer rpgs

LuminousAether

My name is Distance
Dec 22, 2001
4,418
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Columbus, Ohio
www.hypnos.clan.st
Is it just me, or is this past couple of years been the best time for rpgs since the heydey of the SNES?

I just got Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. It took me a while since I'd seen a lot of negative user reviews for it, but after playing it for a while, I've come to the conclusion that they are just a bunch of pussies. Ohhh it's too hard. Oohhh I can't save it every 5 minutes. Ooohh no the enemies are very difficult and there are few healing potions.

As for myself, the extreme difficulty is a huge turn-on. I absolutely love it. There is only one way to heal yourself: healing potions. No spells. No inns. Only potions. And they are expensive as well at $60 and the average enemy drops $10-$30 and hits you about half of a healing potions worth (50 hp). You can only use temporary saves that are deleted when you load them except at save points which are not that common and you have to use a Save Token to use them which are even more rare (2+ hours into the game I've only found 1 plus the 1 I started with) (I've seen 4 save points so far). The first real boss I made it too killed me almost immediately as my character had around 140 hp and he hits for 50-60 with each hit and if he gets too close he can hit twice in a row. Which brings me to the best thing about the game, the extremely awesome combat system. It's turn based... but it's not that static stand in one place and wait your turn like Final Fantasy and that ilk. You can move around to the extent of your AP which is used up by moving and by attacking. So you could move back a bit, wait your turn (which saves up AP) and then use your saved up + new AP to attack the now closer enemy and then retreat to a safe distance. There are so many new tactics opened up by this addition that it's crazy, which is augmented by a deep and diverse combo system which uses up AP as well. Not only that, but a few hours into the game you get a D-counter which steadily progresses to 100% at which point your character loses his humanity and the game ends. It's a good thing you can restart the game with your Party XP (XP that you can save up), money, and equipment or this game would be next to impossible. The average gamer will probably need to restart at least 4 times to beat the game, and you need to keep playing it to open new story segments and dungeons that aren't available the first time through.

So yeah, it's amazingly hard and it will take over 60 hours to see everything, most likely. But you CAN beat it in under 8 hours (and you have to to get the best D-Ratio). Thank god there's finally a hard rpg... I was about to flip out over the increasing ease factor of games these days.

That said, I still need to get these rpgs:

Xenosaga
.hack/ parts 1 and 2
Wild Arms 3
Suikoden 3
Skies of Arcadia Legends
and the new Arc the Lad


I take donations.
 
Xenosaga = ABSOLUTELY AMAZING


I cant wait till Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time comes out. Ive been waiting a LONG time for it.

I've never played the .hack series...but it seems pretty cool....i like the whole continuation of the series thing...prolly will get into it once i get money.
 
I got Bof:DQ.
Its not what I expected. I wanted another BoF, but its too different ...


Suikoden 3 Rocks so much buttock, im impressed...i liked the others and this is no let down....i have xenosaga, havent started it though. The rest..ill get to. Try to get Legaia 2 if you can as well.
 
Moshing Kosher said:
Suikoden 3 Rocks so much buttock, im impressed...i liked the others and this is no let down....i have xenosaga, havent started it though. The rest..ill get to. Try to get Legaia 2 if you can as well.

i never really enjoyed Suikoden . My friend let me borrow the second one, and i have to say, i didnt like it at all. :ill:
 
Well, I thought the other Breath of Fire games were very dull and typical rpgs. They were so cliched and formulaic that they made Final Fantasy games look original in comparison. This is finally the first Breath of Fire game that I can say is awesome, and mostly because of the fantastic battle system which runs like a mix of Final Fantasy Tactics and Xenogears.

Oh yeah, I forgot another great thing: it's not particularly story based. THANK GOD FOR THAT. An rpg that isn't 90% cutscenes, halelujah! The dungeons are the majority of the game, and that my friends is a fantastic turn of events. A roleplaying GAME centered on gameplay. The world is going to end.
 
I've always been interested in RPG's on consoles but have always hated the damned battle systems. Any RPG's you guys know of that have a unique battle system? Or any one with a battle system you particularly liked above the rest?
 
Read my thread man, get Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. The combat is very awesome, you can move around the enemies and use combos to devastate their health. It's almost rediculously difficult as well. The game is only $30 too, so it ain't gonna put a huge dent in your wallet. Just the price of 2 new cds.
 
I wouldn't go as far to call Xenosaga absolulely amazing. It's a very solid game, but it's not as good as Xenogears. Nor is it really a "true RPG," I guess. Very little exploring and all that. I enjoyed it.

Skies of Arcadia is fucking awesome. You have to play it. Seriously.
 
Also, to add to BoF: DQ's appeal, NO RANDOM BATTLES. No respawning enemies. There are a limited amount of enemies, so building up doesn't occur and the enemies stay difficult enough to give you a challenge through the whole game. What a great move...
 
yees i agree, Xenogears > Xenosaga...

and to Thanatopsis123 , id say the battle system in Star Ocean 2 is one of the best ive played. YOu fight on a huge field moving arud using combos etc. Its quite an experience
 
Star Ocean 2 really bothered me because you can't control the other characters. I HATE HATE HATE NPCs fighting alongside you, they always get in the way and I spend more time healing them than fighting the enemy. If you are going to go the real time / action route, do it without NPCs, PLEASE. That said, I hated Star Ocean 2 for that reason, and I have a very hard time playing Seiken Densetsu games without having an aneurism due to anger at the retarded NPCs.
 
Another RPG with a different combat system is Morrowind for the Xbox and PC. It has a purely realtime action based combat system where you cast spells and swing weapons in a first person view. It's an extremely long (300+ hours) and deep game where you can play however you want. You can be a thief or an assassin running around killing people for one of the local families or you can be a soldier fighting for the army or you can just be an adventurer finding treasure in dungeons. The story is incredibly complex and convoluted and you need to spend a lot of time talking to people and going from person to person across a vast island. After over 150+ hours of playing, I was about halfway done with the game and there were still huge areas of the island that I had not explored or even seen.
 
Xenosage is fucking brilliant. The storyline is phenominal. Skies of Arcadia is likely my favorite rpg ever. I got it back on the Dreamcast and the exploration level in the game is just outstanding. Simply one of the best rpg's on any system. I'm growing tired of Final Fantasy games as they grow stagnant extremely fast. I can't wait for Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic to come out on PC. A Star Wars rpg set in times of the sith...what could be better. Note: Wild Arms 3 is very traditional and a bit dull at points.