The RPG Thread
 

Okay, so I wanted to talk about some old school RPG's, but more recently, did anyone play Skies of Arcadia? Sega launched a site saying they have a new rpg they are going to announce on Aug 20th (coinciding with the street date for Famitsu) and based on the artwork on the site people are flipping out sayings its Skies of Arcadia. What do you think?

This was probably one of the last games I played that impressed me quite strongly, I often felt that childhood wondrous magic while playing it. the sense of adventure combined with the storyline of sci-fi and sky pirates was quite captivating.

Skies was probably one of the greatest RPG's ever created in my opinion, I even bought the two Japanese version as well just so I'd own all versions. The ships wheel on the site page would certainly suggest that it's got a nautical theme at least? But there is only one character outline, Vyse maybe? but what about Aika? I truly hope this is a follow up cause that would be incredible!

the outlines of the two (if you refresh you can get a possible two characters). one is a girl jumping in the same pose Aika does when you win battles. if you look clearly you can see a similar (more realistic) hair style (the braids). As for Vyse, that image is really hard to make out but you can tell it is a guy wearing a pirate outfit more or less (the boots and everything). The nautical wheel fits the whole theme, Sega said about two years ago they wanted to do a sequel as well....makes me excited.

either way, since they are counting down to famitsu to make their site public with an announcement the news will probably leak since copies of that are bound to get out before the street date for that issue.

exciittteeedd. I didn't know there were a whole bunch of versions, I just have Legends for Wii.

Yeah I refreshed and saw her, definitely looks like this is a sequel *prays*

I never knew it was on the Wii? All my versions are Dreamcast.

oops, I meant gamecube. the game got rereleased for gamecube, as Skies of Arcadia Legends, with bonus content. there are some extra features, and an extra sidestory that involves a doctor, a young girl, and then a bounty hunter pirate who is the a total pain in the ass named Piastol. they shortened the load times, lessened randomized battles (but upped experience to accommodate), and enhanced the polygon count in the graphics. overall it was a pretty enhanced remake. I said Wii by accident cuz the Wii is backwards compatible with the Gamecube. Also, if this is a Skies of Arcadia game, it will probably be on Wii first and ported to other systems later, based on previous statements and rumors.

edit: some people are saying that they think the male outline looks like a lancer from Valkyria Chronicles and other people say that the flashing electronic bands that go across resemble Phantasy Star (which hasn't had an original RPG in quite some time...) Although most people are hoping for Skies or Arcadia, they are skeptic about getting their hopes up. Valkyria Chronicles had Vyse and Aika appear in the game as cameos (and are featured an episode of the anime, at least Vyse is), so Sega hasn't completely forgotten. It was just annouced that VC is getting an official sequel for the PSP in Famitsu in July (it already has it's own website...)

then again, this could be something entirely original, although the rumor machine for a Skies sequel was going pretty strong about a year/two years ago, enough time for Sega to make headway on a sequel. for a while people really thought there was a pending announcement....I hope that doesn't happen again.

i've been playing the original Grandia and having lots of fun with it

I loooooooooooooooooooooove Grandia. I should play it again.

Playing Final Fantasy 9 right now, though. :b

I have been playing...
pokemon platinum
non-stoply
since I took my wise teeths
*-*

Playing Tales of Destiny for the first time in years. It's really taking me back.

I grew up playing western PC games so I'm only now getting to play all those old console jRPG classics. Some old games really shine (Suikoden II) but a lot of oldschool classics didn't really age that well. I never mention names because I know the fans would be upset :)

I actually played Skies or Arcadia on a dreamcast emulator about a year ago, after I saw it on this great top 20 essential JRPG list.

I've finished 17 of those 21 games :P
Nice to see Nocturne, Skies and Valkyrie Profile in there as I adored those games, but where was FF Tactics? it usually gets a mention in these lists. :/

And FFVIII is better than VII.:hmph:

Edit: anybody played Koudelka? (PS1) it was like Resident Evil but with turn based battles! doesn't seem to get a lot of press but I thought it was pretty solid with a good atmosphere about it.

That list was trash. Final Fantasy VIII, X, and XII made the list while IX didn't? FFIV, VI, and VIII got lumped into one slot the previously mentioned games and V got their own separate spots? Balls. Not even a mention of my favorite series Lunar...

How can Lunar be your favorite?
(below I'm speaking only about Silver Star Story Complete because I didn't play the next game)

Most of the characters have 2-dimensional personalities, and no history worth noting. The only remotely deep characters are the two who had twists (Magic Emperor and Dyne).

There's no rare loot worth noting. You know exactly what to expect, every time you kill a non-boss, and the only reason(s) to kill them are basically for experience, and sometimes money.

The only thing you can do to "get ahead" is level grind, and the game makes the boss fight(s) progressively more difficult all the way up to Level 50.

---

Now is Eternal Blue any better? Am I seriously missing out?

^ I could say those same things about most RPGs, especially the SMT games which happens to be my other favorite series.

The Sega CD version is superior to SSSC. Much better story, dungeons, battles, and music. However, the characters are mostly the same. They have hardly any history (how is that bad?), but they have loads of personality when interacting with each other even in the PSX version. They make the game as awesome as it is. You are the only person I've ever heard weren't the best part of the game. Of course, I can see if you don't care for Working Designs very dated humor/translation.

Eternal Blue is better than the original. The PSX version is almost as good as the Sega CD version this time. It actually follows the original story this time, but still has horribly simplified dungeons and worse music. The characters have more history, but it's still probably not what you're looking for.

Planescape: Torment is the greatest RPG. Argument over.

As for Japanese RPG, it's either Chrono Trigger or Shadow Hearts (Sequel to Koudelka that Ringo Bingo mentioned). I find most JRPGs quite tedious tbh, with their anime plots. I actually don't mind grinding THAT much. It's just that most JRPGs that aren't called Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne or Dragon Quarter or belong to the SRPG sub-genre have annoying battle systems where it's OK to just bash A the whole way through.

Skies of Arcadia and Mother series are good, though.

Xenogears wins thread, simply no competition.
Comparing usual RPGs to Xenogears is like comparing Disney movies to The Godfather.
And although I LOVED Chrono Trigger (played it twice, which I did with no other rpg ever) I think I would still rank Dragon Quest 7 higher. Because it's fucking brilliant.

it says in the beginning of the article that action RPGs and strategy RPGs were purposely excluded from the list. I guess the writer wanted to stay focused on one genre?

yeaaaah
Shadow Hearts 2 and Planescape Torment are in my personal top 5 RPGs . I didn't like Chrono Trigger, though. *ducks*

Planescape Torment was great because it managed to give you the freedom and complexity of western RPGs with the tight plot, characters and emotional involvement of Japanese RPGs.

^ ahh I never noticed that as I just skimmed through the list.
I also don't like Chrono Trigger *stands firm* :hmph:

Yes, exactly! It's linear, but the journey is non-linear, and a lot of the optional stuff you do feeds into the main quest. Plus it's so well written. You have great taste =)

I can understand what you guys mean with Chrono Trigger. RPG fans constantly babble about it as if it's the second coming. Really, there's nothing special about it -- it's just extremely well-executed, IMO. I also have a soft spot for RPGs that make me feel like I'm on a grand happy adventure -- which is also why I enjoy Skies of Arcadia so much.

Hmm...

Dragon Quest is another great JRPG series that doesn't take itself too seriously. I want to try 7, but I heard that it's extremely time consuming. Like around 100 hours.

A few recent RPGs I've liked is The World Ends With You and Persona 4. Although I just said that I hate a lot of JRPGs for being anime-ish, the above games rise above that for being unique and being set in modern day settings (Which is such a breath of fresh air)

Yeah, it IS pretty long, I wouldn't say 100 hours, but still long.
And it takes itself quite serious, which is an exception for what I've played of DQ so far. It's just extremely well written, and completely addictive.
DQ always tends to episode like stories, but with the backgroundstory of DQ7, this way of storytelling is brought to perfection.
Just don't let yourself drag down by the 2 hour intro without any fights :(

one of my most favorite rpgs that don't seem to be mentioned that often are wild arms 1 and 2. I love them both, 3 was ok i guess, but after that the series spiraled downward

my favorite though has to be a tie between FF7 and FF8

oh and also i loved Suikoden, it was one of the first rpgs i've ever played, i actually owned the game when it came out, but i never actually played 2 XD but from what I hear it was just as good if not better

Another game that never gets much of a mention is Alundra. Very similar to the old Zelda games and pretty fun to go through.
Terranigma was good as well. :)

How does Dragon Quest VII compare to Dragon Quest VIII? I thought that 8 lost it's way after a while and I wasn't fond of the characters nor the endless hunt for Metal Slimes just to level up at a decent rate in the later stages. :(

Dhoulmagus was a crap boss as well

DQ7 is definitely more a storytelling experience than DQ8. Seen in comparison:
I stopped playing DQ8 when after a short time to continue DQ7.

I knew I finally developed a tolerance to casual sexism in Japanese pop culture when I played Dragon Quest 7 and I wasn't surprised when female characters used a serving tray as a shield through most of the game.

Suikoden 2 is waaaay better. Suikoden 1 is a solid RPG but Suikoden 2 is a masterpiece in my opinion. I've just finished playing Suikoden 5 and it's on the same level as Suikoden 2... awesome game.

I keep hearing good stuff about Suikoden. But I'll never play any of them, because I can not stand having so many characters available.
It's bad enough If I have to choose 3 or 4 of 6 or 8, but Suikoden is just too much for me. Recruiting characters is my worst nightmare.
So no Suikoden for me.

FF Tactics was like that as well, constantly getting new members in your party and never having a connection with any of them. You feel less inclination to play when it's set up like that I find. I prefer a core party of no more than 8 or so and just stick with that through the whole game.

And even that can be too many!

Well with Suikoden it felt more like an army. And, while you didn't have a real connection with most of them, they all had their unique personalities, and reasons for joining you.

Also most of them were absolutely useless in combat and would never be used anyways. XD

btw, if I would ever try to play it, do I have to play suikoden 1 to understand 2?

from what I gather, no, not really
there are some characters from 1 in 2, but i think it's a whole new story, and new main character

I know what you mean... I do agonize over which characters I should take with me each time. However, it's still fun to mix a match because they have combo attacks that can only be executed when the right people are in your party... these attacks can be extremely powerful or completely useless. Besides, not all characters are playable- many of them offer other services such as mini games, shops, a detective agency, a theater etc.
It's fun seeing your derelict base of operation slowly growing into a busy town. Some people might find all that distracting and tedious, though. I guess it just depends on what type of gamer you are.

sega's mystery rpg that I posted on the first page is being revealed tomorrow...or sometime today...

I bet it'll disappoint. Everyone knows that Sega is a shadow of their former selves.

phantasy star 2 portable.

FUCK THAT SHIT.

skies of arcadia or bust, SERIOUSLY

Tooooooooold you so. Sega was more or less my childhood.

WHAT!!! Fuck Off SEGA :(

Earthbound (Mother 2) was the greatest game ever. So i bought Mother 3 and ....IT WAS ALL IN HIRAGANA! WTF! I can't handle all those words with nothing to tell where one starts and another ends.

Looking for a good game on DS to play to practice Japanese. FF3 is working out ok. Any more?

omg, POKEMON for the WIN, err, I mean FAIL, in this situation. I tried playing Diamond/Pearl in japanese and it was ridiculous, no kanji whatsoever. deciphering the pokedex entries was interesting to say the least.

I'd suggest Phantom Hourglass in Japanese (legend of zelda) because that game utilizes full kanji-touch support, meaning they opted to include all the kanji but you can touch any character and the furigana pops up, so it helps you learn japanese while you play!

lazer, you do know that Mother 3 has been fan-translated into English, right?

/game geek mode

Ohhh, Mother. That series has it's own special place in my heart.

3 was on par with and sometimes surpassed 2 for me, which I guess is saying a lot because 2 has been one of my all-time favorites since it came out in America.