Kevin's Watch

Enlighten me.

I play on the PS2, and I'm open to both fantasy and science fiction. Turn based is preferable. I loath MMORPG's, so anything that resembles them (FFXII) will be burned on sight.

Otherwise, next in line comes artwork and story. Most important to me.

Any ideas?

I suggest you find a good 2nd-hand copy of The Bard's Tale. It is not turn based, but it isn't slap-dash either. The game is pretty linear, but it kept me easily entertained for ~18hrs of total game play. It tries very hard to be clever, and succeeded more than a few times.

Trivia - the Bard character is voiced by the Dread Pirate Robert.

dw

I'd be interested in the answer to this myself. At the moment I'm playing Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call, which is 1) hard, and 2) visually one of the blandest games I've ever seen. I don't need prettiness, but I do need a game to not look like an office corridor repeated over and over and over.

Anyway...I shall be reading the answers with interest.

How about .hack?



:::thud:::




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. Okage was a game that was very old-schooly as far as gameplay turn-based monster killin' and to be honest, the gameplay itself was especially bland, but the story was very entertaining, and the graphics were sorta nice in the cartoony style, but were never very wowing. Still, pretty damn funny story, and I found myself frequently giggling along. But again, that wore pretty thin after a while due to a dull combat system.

There was another weird one I can think of from Atlus that suffered from the same problem (good story, bad combat system) was called Tsugunai: Atonement. I think it's probably hard to find, and probably not worth your effort to spend a lot of money on, but I found compelling for a while. Does seem like there are a lot of MMORPG-like games out there though.

To be honest, one of my favorite of battle systems I've played has been how FFX-2 did it. Not with costume changes but with developing skills. Lord of the Rings: the Third Age steals this idea and it works well and was a lot of fun to play, but alas, the story was pretty bland. In fact, I can't really remember much of one at all. I remember the battles.

I enjoyed Bards Tale to some degree, but it isn't turn based, to my memory. If you can stand MMORPG-like games a little, Star Ocean: Until the End of Time is probably the one game that stands out in my mind as a better incarnation of the battle system, and with a pretty compelling story. But damn it is a long story, and I never finished it, and one of the few I often think of picking up again. It sure looks pretty too. It does have a steep learning curve at the beginning though. It took me a while to get used to the combat system, but it might have just been that my characters sucked at the beginning, and as they got stronger, I started enjoying it more.

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.

I'm curious about other answers as well.

...grumble...

Speaking of RPGs.

Just because I broke down and got Beorn a Wii last year for the exercise aspect of it, FIL has interpreted that to mean video game consoles are now "OK."

@#$!

So...turns out Beorn is now getting a PS3.

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.

I loathe RPG's, but even I want to check out Mass Effect. oops, you don't have the XBox 360, move along, nothing to see here.....

Hellgate: London?

I've played the Bard's Tale, and loved it, but the replay factor is fairly low since it's fairly linear.

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

Menolly wrote: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.

May want to check which version of the PS3 you are getting. My understanding is that there are two PS3 HW versions out: 40GB and 80GB. I have heard (but not confirmed) that the smaller-HD PS3 is *not* backwards-compatible with PS1/PS2, and the larger-HD one is.

dw

DukkhaWaynhim wrote:

Menolly wrote: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.

May want to check which version of the PS3 you are getting. My understanding is that there are two PS3 HW versions out: 40GB and 80GB. I have heard (but not confirmed) that the smaller-HD PS3 is *not* backwards-compatible with PS1/PS2, and the larger-HD one is.

Well damn...I thought it was only the X-Box 360 that came in two versions. Knowing FIL, it will be the smaller, as he knows even less about video game consoles than I do...

Here is confirmation via MSNBC:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22318414/?pg=4#Gam ... meHardware

dw

DukkhaWaynhim wrote:Here is confirmation via MSNBC:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22318414/?pg=4#Gam ... meHardware

*sigh*

Thanks, dw. I guess we'll see what it is on Tuesday...

If I had a PS2, I'd get Disgaea. It's a strategy RPG in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics and a notorious time-sink. People have spent hundreds of hours on the game. You can level your characters up to 9999 and there's dungeons with 100 randomly generated levels. The plot is also funny as hell.

Good luck finding it, though! It's worth $40.00, I'd wager.

Thanks, LF.

I just spoke with FIL. He did get the 40 gig. Now to attempt to have Hyperception convince him to exchange it before Chr-stmas, as I know Beorn will want to open it and play, so we'll be unable to exchange it then...

Balon wrote:Otherwise, next in line comes artwork and story. Most important to me.

I meant to mention, Balon: Disgaea has simple graphics, but it remains a cult favorite because of its art style. It's very anime:




It's also very turn-based.

Ugh. I'll pass on that one.

On the plus side, I found Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence to tide me over until I can find a good RPG.

Balon wrote:Ugh. I'll pass on that one.

I'd give it a rental, before dismissing it on the basis of one screenshot. It fits all the criteria you were asking for: turn-based fantasy, great artwork (if you like high-quality anime) and a fresh, funny story.

Lord Foul wrote:

Balon wrote:Ugh. I'll pass on that one.

I'd give it a rental, before dismissing it on the basis of one screenshot. It fits all the criteria you were asking for: turn-based fantasy, great artwork (if you like high-quality anime) and a fresh, funny story.

Heh. Chastised, I am.

I'll need to ask around town and see if there's any renters. Only a bestbuy and a gamestop around these parts.

Doesn't Blockbuster rent games?

Balon wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:

Balon wrote:Ugh. I'll pass on that one.

I'd give it a rental, before dismissing it on the basis of one screenshot. It fits all the criteria you were asking for: turn-based fantasy, great artwork (if you like high-quality anime) and a fresh, funny story.

Heh. Chastised, I am.

I mean, I understand if you don't like games in the style of Final Fantasy Tactics. The battles in those, while deep and challenging, can take hours.