Kevin's Watch

I want KOTOR3.

Esmer wrote:it's the whole system of play CJr, it just doesn't appeal to me for some reason. maybe it's when a firefight is imminent, the last thing I want to do is pause the game and select my moves......

Coming to Kotor from being a huge bioware/Black Isle fan already (See Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Torment, Neverwinter Nights) I thought it was really really awesome. Most of those games are borderline tactical rpg's though, and Kotor was starting to get less tactical and more actionish. Coming to Kotor after playing more action/rpgs could leave one bemoaning its sluggishness.

However it was the first decent Star wars game in almost a decade, and the story alone is worth the price of admission (especially now, I bet you found it in the bargain bin) In fact, the game left me wishing that the fellows at Bioware and Obsidion were writing the new Star Wars movies.

Neverwinter Nights 2 - I had to buy it again as I gave up waiting for a friend to return it. It's a great game.

Just picked up Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, with with recommendation from a friend. Review up tonight.

Balon wrote:Just picked up Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, with with recommendation from a friend. Review up tonight.

I dug it, but never ended up finishing it. It is HUGE. Took quite a little while for anything to really happen though, and then it took me even longer to get the feel for the combat system.

Okay, seriously...I dunno. I'm a RPGer as well, and to be honest, I haven't found any that really stand out in my head as far as gameplay.

You really owe it to try out the Fire Emblem series if you haven't (if you have, and you found it rather bland, then our tastes simply differ so meh). I would recommend Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword, which might be titled simply "Fire Emblem" over here. It's around $20 on amazon and could probably be found cheaper.

I'll rant about the cardinal virtues of fire emblem later in this post, if you're curious.

I've played Suikoden 1&2 and enjoyed them (both for Playstation), but I hear the sequels on the PS2 suffer from not being classics. That's all I know, and one day if I find them cheap, I'll pick them up and be able to tell you for sure.

Hey, a suikoden fan, I have a GREAT way to hook you for Fire Emblem (a little later).

The ones on PS2 are fairly cheap. I would bet you #3 is $10-30 range on amazon. IV is $13.52 when I just looked, V is $30. Qualitywise, V is supposed to be quite good (some have rated it above or about equal to II), IV is supposed to be not so good, III is somewhere in the middle. I found III rather disappointing because II was one of my favorite games, and III just didn't shine for me. It is an important installment in terms of pointing a finger at where things might go for the series as a whole, plotwise.

So far he has shown no interest in RPGs...but if we have the system, I suspect Hyperception and I might enjoy them. As we have played none for any system, console or PC based, where should we start? My understanding is the PS3 is backwards compatible, so if there are classics for the Playstation or PS2 that we might find used at GameStop that y'all can suggest, as well as new games, I'll be grateful.

OMG BUY HIM FIRE EMBLEM 10!!!!!!!!1111oneoneoneoneoneone!!

Sorry. Actually I would recommend 9, which is titled "Path of Radiance," first. "Radiant Dawn", #10 is a sequel. Oh, and the other 8 are unrelated to these last two except in terms of series conventions (certain character archetypes and races), much the same as the Final Fantasy series.

Anyone know anything about ZOE? Is that RPGish? Even ish would be fine.

It's better known for having a Metal Gear Solid 2 demo than anything else.

Well...there are technically levels or something like that IIRC which you get as you kill things, I think they increase your HP (it's been a while since I last played). I would say it is NOT RPGish though. It's basically a hack and slash, and the main cool thing is you're in a robot which has flight capabilities which means you can move in any direction you please.

Maybe I should describe it? You're in a sleek giant robot (closer to Eva style than gundam style, if that helps) with a lame name IMO (jehuty). The story is rather boring if you ask me, but the graphics are fairly nice looking.

It's a very fast game (a few hours to finish). It is not very complex but it is a fun play; they just needed more basic enemies to fight (there are three enemies: a lighter melee combat thing, a stronger punching robot thing, and a bulky thing which shoots things at you...that's all besides the boss fights). Pretty much the only hard part of the game is this an optional mission where you have to save a town and kill a bunch of enemies w/ almost no HP (one hit from anything will kill you). I would suggest it assuming it's affordable, if it's up to $30 or more I might skip on it. The sequel is supposed to be much better (longer, more interesting, cooler), my roommate next semester has it and I can give my own feedback later.

Here's a pretty cool video from the multiplayer part, I think. Jehuty VS Jehuty.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxE0DKp81yc
And here's the intro of the game, there's some gameplay of killing the basic drones about 10 minutes into it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2xfXs_Tsy0

I did feel like I was wasting an awful lot of time leveling up characters on both.

Time to start FE rant.

In fire emblem, EXP is a limiting factor, and you do not need to power level, ever (with the exception of Fire emblem gaiden which is japan only in any case). There are a set number of chapters. You have to think, a little bit, about which characters you will use each chapter and not have a few hog all the exp (usually there is a promoted unit who joins you in the first chapter, and a new player may feed him too much and have a weak party later). If that doesn't sound like fun there are some arenas or other ways around the problem for those who want every character at capped level (20/20) but the enemies provided for you to kill in each chapter are sufficient to get your party strong enough to win the game.

Secondly, stat points rarely/never exceed 30, except for HP which mostly stops at 60. Aside from Final Fantasy Tactics I don't think I've ever played a game which allows me to understand every bit of the mechanics so well. This is important; you really have to know what's going to happen to a character if that big tough mean looking enemy unit that's standing a few spaces away attacks them, because if they die they are ((usually)) never coming back. No phoenix downs ladies and gents. Most FE players play to never lose units, which means you sometimes have to restart chapters a few times (on harder difficulties it may be more than a few).

Also, characters are diverse, and you have to think a lot about how you're going to make up your force. For the most part, you need a well balanced force. Different kinds of units - horsemen have good movement, flyers better them but are weak to arrows. Most units who start overpowered have a lower potential lategame, and the opposite is true for those who start weak.

Someone here was a fan of suikoden. Remember the 108 characters? Remember how something like 70 of them at least had almost no plot significance or development? A nice thing about the Fire emblem series (well, most of the installments) is the "support conversation" option. Certain units, if they spend time on the field together, will be able to talk and have a few conversations which reveal backstory, develop friendship/romance, provide a few laughs, etc as well as stat bonuses. Nearly every character has a few of these and the amount of text available is VERY substantial - in FE7, the transcript of every support in the game is about as long as the game script itself IIRC.

Oh, and if you're an advance wars fan fire emblem has the same sort of feel to it in terms of how the turns pass etc, it's made by the same people.

If anyone has made it here, I would recommend Fire Emblem for the GBA as an entry into the series. It's sort of considered the most standard in terms of gameplay over here, probably b/c most american fans played it first. 10 on the Wii is probably the worst starting point because it's supposed to be very tough, and the story is a continuation of fire emblem 9 (so one would want to play 9 first). Sacred stones, or #8, is the easiest and in my opinion the worst of the bunch, but it's still a fairly solid game.

Sorry if I have posted this sort of thing before I have a bad memory of my posts on Fire EMblem.

Dagon wrote:I want KOTOR3.

A return to the Old Republic is in the offing, but it will be in MMO format:

Bioware Developing Star Wars MMO, gamers' heads exploding

I suppose how psyched you are for it depends on your view of MMOs and at this point I'm quite ambivalent towards them. If it's going to be a dip in, 'play as much or as little as you like' affair like EVE online then cool, if it's going to be a game like WoW where you can't acheive anything without making it into a full-time job, then no thanks.

It's certainly encouraging that Bioware are involved, as to my knowledge they're yet to make a bad game. However, it appears that this project is one of the EA's key motivations for buying Bioware, so we'll have to wait and see how their sordid influence exerts itself. Still it could be a lot worse, Lucas could've let Sony take another crack at it.

Wow...I'm a little confused by this Fire Emblem discussion. Sounds good, and I might just hunt it down for the GBA. I've been hoping for at least one more game purchase for that.

I get confused though with Fire this and Sun that as far as RPGs on the GBA go. When you first mentioned this, I thought that I had played it before, but now I realize I have played Golden Sun and thought it was just okay. So okay, I'll give it a shot. But I'm a bit confused on it being like Advance Wars, which I love, yet being an RPG. I guess I have to try it to understand it.

So if I get interested in this, and want to pick up more, is it primarily a Nintendo thing then?

Cagliostro wrote:Wow...I'm a little confused by this Fire Emblem discussion. Sounds good, and I might just hunt it down for the GBA. I've been hoping for at least one more game purchase for that.

I get confused though with Fire this and Sun that as far as RPGs on the GBA go. When you first mentioned this, I thought that I had played it before, but now I realize I have played Golden Sun and thought it was just okay. So okay, I'll give it a shot. But I'm a bit confused on it being like Advance Wars, which I love, yet being an RPG. I guess I have to try it to understand it.

So if I get interested in this, and want to pick up more, is it primarily a Nintendo thing then?

Yes. Fire Emblem is basically the "nintendo series" that never touched american shores; in japan, there are 10 versions. Intelligent Systems is the dev company, they also made Advance Wars.

Ok, it's not that much like advance wars. The units on your side are all (well, w/ rare exceptions) unique, sorta like shining force if you've ever played that. Some units start "unpromoted" which means when they are anywhere between 10-20 they can use an item to go back to level 1 of a higher class, w/ better stats. Additionally they sometimes get better abilities or new weapons. Others start on a promoted class. Almost always units can only promote once.

The ONE drawback about "Fire Emblem" for GBA is that there is a long tutorial. Remember the tutorial section for advance wars 1, and hwo you had to beat it before beating the main game? If you liked that, you will like Fire Emblem's tutorial mode too.

Again, in most cases if a unit dies it is gone forever. The only exception in the original "Fire Emblem" for gameboy is that if someone dies during the tutorial, they'll come back in the main storyline.

I guess another other distinguishing thing between fire emblem and advance wars is that FE IMO has a more developed plot.

EDIT-Ever played Super Smash Bros? The main character of the GBA Fire Emblem is Roy's pappy. He's almost identical, except that at the end of the game he wields a big fucking broadsword called the durandal instead of the smaller, but better, sword of seals.

Nav wrote:

Dagon wrote:I want KOTOR3.

A return to the Old Republic is in the offing, but it will be in MMO format:

Bioware Developing Star Wars MMO, gamers' heads exploding

I suppose how psyched you are for it depends on your view of MMOs and at this point I'm quite ambivalent towards them. If it's going to be a dip in, 'play as much or as little as you like' affair like EVE online then cool, if it's going to be a game like WoW where you can't acheive anything without making it into a full-time job, then no thanks.

It's certainly encouraging that Bioware are involved, as to my knowledge they're yet to make a bad game. However, it appears that this project is one of the EA's key motivations for buying Bioware, so we'll have to wait and see how their sordid influence exerts itself. Still it could be a lot worse, Lucas could've let Sony take another crack at it.

Boooo! Last I heard, there was a KOTOR 3 in the pipeline, intended to use the Jade Empire system rather than the established KOTOR one. Not that it makes much difference to me whether there is one or not, since I wouldn't be able to get it anyway.

Wasn't Jade Empire supposed to be insanely hard?

all the bases I could think of are covered.

except for the "tales of" series that has been around for years. I'm not a fanatic so I don't know the particulars. however I do know that Tales of Symphonia is reguarded as one of, if not, the best "tales of"

tales of symphonia's graphics are also of the anime variety, and it follows with decent rpg elements, but its shine is the combat system; a sort of button masher.

it is for the game cube.

There are some really good indie RPG's that can be downloaded for PC for free. And I actaully mean there are some really good ones.

Suikoden III is actually my favorite, I couldn't get through either of the PS1 ones, and 4 is garbage. (Why must the Japanese insist that sailing is like the epitome of awesomeness?) 3 definitely has the tightest story of the series, and having three main characters was a pretty inspired choice, and one I am surprised they haven't used again.

The only argument you can really make against three is that it looks a little clunky compared to the rest of the series. (And it's a valid point to make)

If you like classic RPGs, you could download Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, etc., and just play them on your PC using an emulator. Of course, that's ILLEGAL and EVIL and I would never suggest such a thing.*

* download RPGs and emulate them.

Holsety wrote:Sacred stones, or #8, is the easiest and in my opinion the worst of the bunch, but it's still a fairly solid game.

I agree. Sacred Stones was my first FE game, and the tutorial seemed to never end (about six missions introduced new stuff, and each time I was saying, "Okay, just let me off your leash and let's play"). Still, interesting series, and I'd like to emulate--er, try--the SNES Fire Emblems. I believe one came out on the SNES as late as 1999? What's the story behind that?

Holsety wrote:

Cagliostro wrote:Wow...I'm a little confused by this Fire Emblem discussion. Sounds good, and I might just hunt it down for the GBA. I've been hoping for at least one more game purchase for that.

I get confused though with Fire this and Sun that as far as RPGs on the GBA go. When you first mentioned this, I thought that I had played it before, but now I realize I have played Golden Sun and thought it was just okay. So okay, I'll give it a shot. But I'm a bit confused on it being like Advance Wars, which I love, yet being an RPG. I guess I have to try it to understand it.

So if I get interested in this, and want to pick up more, is it primarily a Nintendo thing then?

Yes. Fire Emblem is basically the "nintendo series" that never touched american shores; in japan, there are 10 versions. Intelligent Systems is the dev company, they also made Advance Wars.

Ok, it's not that much like advance wars. The units on your side are all (well, w/ rare exceptions) unique, sorta like shining force if you've ever played that. Some units start "unpromoted" which means when they are anywhere between 10-20 they can use an item to go back to level 1 of a higher class, w/ better stats. Additionally they sometimes get better abilities or new weapons. Others start on a promoted class. Almost always units can only promote once.

The ONE drawback about "Fire Emblem" for GBA is that there is a long tutorial. Remember the tutorial section for advance wars 1, and hwo you had to beat it before beating the main game? If you liked that, you will like Fire Emblem's tutorial mode too.

Again, in most cases if a unit dies it is gone forever. The only exception in the original "Fire Emblem" for gameboy is that if someone dies during the tutorial, they'll come back in the main storyline.

I guess another other distinguishing thing between fire emblem and advance wars is that FE IMO has a more developed plot.

EDIT-Ever played Super Smash Bros? The main character of the GBA Fire Emblem is Roy's pappy. He's almost identical, except that at the end of the game he wields a big fucking broadsword called the durandal instead of the smaller, but better, sword of seals.

Christ, I never read this. But since you recommended this, I did a little research and have been stretching out my gloves of evil to try to find it. No luck yet, but I'll keep looking.

I agree. Sacred Stones was my first FE game, and the tutorial seemed to never end (about six missions introduced new stuff, and each time I was saying, "Okay, just let me off your leash and let's play"). Still, interesting series, and I'd like to emulate--er, try--the SNES Fire Emblems. I believe one came out on the SNES as late as 1999? What's the story behind that?

My guess is that the SNES took a long time to die in japan. Not really sure, but that one was Thracia 776 which is usually considered the hardest (usually synonymous w/ best) in the series. I have beaten it, and I'd have to agree. If you're emulating it there are "patches" you can use to get the game in english. (there are patches for nearly all the pre-america fire emblems).

Fire Emblem 7 (just called "Fire Emblem" here) has a 10 mission tutorial...BUT it's separated out from the main game. If you want you can play FE7 w/out a tutorial file, the characters from the tutorial will be a few levels weaker but it's not a big deal. If you do want the stats, all you have to do is copy your save file from mission 10 before continuing the game, and you can use that save every time you want to go through the game again.

And if you play through it on hard you skip all the tutorial instructions at least, though the chapters are still extremely easy compared to the rest of the game.

Okay, the only one I've seen in stores has been Sacred Stones, which was the first one I found. I bought it yesterday and have just started playing. So far, seems pretty standard fare, for the most part. A little interesting, but...yeah, we'll see. I remember Advance Wars hitting me the same way with how far I am so far. And it ended up being like crack for me.

Looks like 360 ownership will not be required to play Mass Effect for much longer: Mass Effect dated for PC - May 6

The most exciting thing for me is the potential for some of the Unreal Engine glitches to be ironed out. It looks like the encryption game is being improved, which is good as it was too simplistic before. They're changing the Mako's controls though and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess some changes were necessary for the PC interface, but I liked that it was tricky to drive as it meant you had to stay engaged to keep it pointed in the right direction. There are some quite long drives in the game that would be boring otherwise.

Nav wrote:Looks like 360 ownership will not be required to play Mass Effect for much longer: Mass Effect dated for PC - May 6

The most exciting thing for me is the potential for some of the Unreal Engine glitches to be ironed out. It looks like the encryption game is being improved, which is good as it was too simplistic before. They're changing the Mako's controls though and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess some changes were necessary for the PC interface, but I liked that it was tricky to drive as it meant you had to stay engaged to keep it pointed in the right direction. There are some quite long drives in the game that would be boring otherwise.

I figured as much. It's just too easy to port Xbox games to PC, since that's basically all an Xbox is.