/vr/ - Retro Games

>>1883290
Shit, there were RPGs out the ass. Some of my favourites were Breath of Fire and Suikoden.

>>1883290
>I can't be the only one

Really?

>>1883371
All I ever hear is about the SNES. And honestly I never found it's library as impressive.

I honestly really loved when the PS1 used 3D models. Yeah, I know they could look like ass sometimes, but something about watching it improve over the course of the console's life was beautiful.

>>1883290
>exploring a very large room
>TRIP TRAP
>room fills to the brim with monsters
>Look in my inventory
>Have an acid rain orb
>MFW

>>1883480
>That feel when no wind crystal

>>1883441

Shit, by the end ps2 games looks freaking fantastic.

Vagrant Story is a triumph of visual art

>>1883441
Something else nice was that any games that used sprites generally always looked pretty amazing.

>>1883491
Stop it

>>1883532
And then you get a bunch of valuable items, and walk into a room with a wind crystal that turns out to be a monster room. Then they kill you before you can reach the crystal.

>>1883480
best fucking feeling in the world right there

>>1883513
It's a really sharp contrast looking at that and say, FF7. They really learned to make the most out of the hardware. It's the kind of thing you don't really see happening anymore, though.

>>1883290
You mean goldmine for good movies?

>>1883623
Don't be an ass. This is nothing none of us have heard before. Chances are if the guy made an RPG thread he doesn't care.

>>1883640
I meant haven't, fuck.

>>1883290
I might get a bit of flak for this, but does anyone else really think the PS1 era FFs were the best of the lot, FF8 and all the flaws that come with it included?

>>1883676
They had their own kind of charm, as did the earlier games.

>>1883676
FF7, FF8, and FF9 were all pretty good games. FFIV, FFV, and FFVI are a bit more iconic though. I think what really drags down the PS1 Final Fantasies is FF8. While not a terrible game, it's the weakest of the bunch.

>>1883809
The whole junction thing really didn't help that.

I'm willing to bet very few people even know what this is.

TearRing Saga is made by the guy that created Fire Emblem. Its essentially an SNES Fire Emblem with better looking battles and mature dialogue.

>>1883832
I've heard of it, but I haven't gotten around to playing it. How is it, would you recommend it to a longterm SRPG fan?

>>1883290
>who thinks the PS1 was a goldmine for good JRPGs
Doesn't everyone?

Alundra
Arc the Lad Collection
Brave Fencer Musashi
Breath of Fire III
Breath of Fire IV
Chrono Cross
Dragon Warrior VII
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Front Mission 2
Front Mission 3
Grandia
Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu
Kagero: Deception II
Kartia: The Word of Fate
Koudelka
Legend of Legaia
Legend of Mana
Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete
Parasite Eve
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
Revelations: Persona
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
SaGa Frontier
SaGa Frontier 2
Saiyuki: Journey West
Shining Force III
Star Ocean: The Second Story
Suikoden
Suikoden II
Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden
Tales of Destiny
Tales of Eternia
Tecmo's Deception: Invitation to Darkness
The Legend of Dragoon
Thousand Arms
Threads of Fate
Vagrant Story
Valkyrie Profile
Vandal Hearts
Vandal Hearts II
Vanguard Bandits
Wild Arms
Wild Arms 2
Xenogears

>>1883862
Oh shit, how did I forget about Musashi. I need to go back and play that again sometime.

>>1883849
I'm not too far into it myself, but from what I've played it feels like its a natural progression in the Fire Emblem formula. If you've ever played the SNES FE games this will defnitely feel familiar to you, but the way skills and class progression is handled is much better. Not to mention the way class levels and advances are.

If you're a fan of older FE its definitely worth a play. I like it much more than I have most newer FE. If you don't like Fire Emblem you might not like this. But I'd say give it a chance either way, you never really know.

>>1883290
Yes PS1 was god tier when it came to RPGs. Also I've never played Azure Dreams. Is it good?

>>1883884
Depends on how you feel about Roguelikes pretty much. It's got some city building elements as well, and I do mean some.

>>1883862
Wait, Shining Force III was PS1?

Most of those PS1 RPGs were garbage that just were "Spam X or O to win". I can think of very few that had a difficulty curve or interesting combat system.

>>1883919
There's always that guy that feels the need to do this. So what exactly were the RPGs you consider good then?

>>1883290
I directly fear this game. For me it was so addictive I didn't sleep when I was playing this. I still have my copy but I dare not run it.

>>1883914
Saturn

>>1883914
Nope, sorry. Snuck it in there to see if anyone was paying attention

>>1883954
Shit, I was hoping there was a port or something and I just didn't know about it.

>>1883862
Breath of Fire was the shit

I might be wrong with my memory here, but wasn't there an enemy with a trumpet that could confuse your pet? I remember getting surrounded and my pet got confused and just fucked off, leaving me to die

Those damn de-level bastards too, getting de-levelled in any game bugs me so much.

Great game though, might go back and finish it one day, always got distracted before the end when i was younger.

>>1883932

Legend of Dragoon.
Front Mission.
Breath of Fire 3.
Arc the Lad.
Vagrant Story.
Vandall Hearts.
Dragon Warrior 7.

Most of the "favorites" like Final Fantasy, Suikoden, and Wild Arms are just insultingly easy and boring. Even games in my list fall victim to "Spam Attack", but they eventually evolve past that, where most PS1 RPGs always felt borderline casual or easy mode compared to what was offered on the market.

>>1883816
Also FF8 is just kinda weird. Gunblades, character designed after weird androgynous J-pop stars, and you play as a bunch of school kids.

>>1884028
>I might be wrong with my memory here, but wasn't there an enemy with a trumpet that could confuse your pet?

That sounds like the Noise monster, who has a little horn, but they don't cause confusion. There's a statue enemy called a mandara that can, though, but I think it's pretty high up in the tower. Also Blumes can brainwash your familiars to make them fight you, but that doesn't work on Kewene, the starting familiar.

>>1883290
The PS1 had a lot of pretty good JRPGs on it. Sadly a lot of the older series that either ran through it or started on it (Grandia, Koudelka/Shadow Hearts, Wild Arms, Breath of Fire, etc) are now dead, but I suppose that could be said of most older JRPG series that aren't part of the handful of surviving ones.

>>1883884
Legend of Dragoon was fucking gold. room for improvement of course, but overall an awesome game.

>>1884045
Good list other than Dragon Warrior 7. I have no idea why, but that game just never grabbed me.

>>1884091
Same here. Something about it was just off-putting compared to the other games.

>>1883809
To each their own. FFVIII is my favorite FF.

>>1883862
>Jade Cocoon
Never managed to get out from the first town. I think it's time to replay it.

>>1884081
I was always put off by the shitty world map in that game and the combat system was pretty much a one trick pony. An interesting idea that they could have done a LOT more with, but let flounder because apparently just the basic idea was "good enough". Something that has plagued RPGs (J and W alike) for fucking decades. Compounded by the fact that many games don't get direct sequels and those that do use different systems and concepts...

Not that Legend of Dragoon is a particularly bad game or anything. In fact, in spite of what I consider to be fairly major missteps (not flaws, more along the lines of lazy handling of features), it's actually a really enjoyable game anyway. I just consider it more on the level of Wild Arms 1 and Legend of Legaia and not on par with the likes of Final Fantasy, Dragonwarrior or even Grandia and Xenogears.

Worth playing, for sure, but not deserving of all the attention it's gotten over the years, in other words.

But that's just me. And while I'm certain someone or other's epic asspains will make them ragepost against my opinion, I wont respond. Because: 1) I'd rather not ruin a thread with a pointless argument and 2) I have nothing else to really say about the topic anyway. So deal with it haters.

>>1884081
Luckily I picked this up a few months ago when the price was still reasonable. Ebay prices have reached £80 for a like new copy.

>>1883884
Have you played Pokemon Mystery Dungeon?

Think that, except you play as squishy and week trainer and they're completely different monsters.

>>1884278
>>1884091
Are you guys me?

I mean I understand they put a lot of work to it and I love other DQ titles, but this one just feels so daunting in comparison.

Yes, op. You're the only snowflake that realized that. Jokes aside, the ps1 was the pinnacle of jrpgs popularity in the west, specially after ff7,

>>1884284
>Expressing little to no interest in your flirtatious dominatrix teacher that's the same age as you

>Expressing little to no interest in your flirtatious classmate that just transferred to your school and wields an oversized nunchaku

>Falling for the impulsive resistance fighter chick wearing bicycle shorts under a skirt and rides her dog Dr. Strangelove style into enemies

Squall was a fool. Him and Riona suited each other

Joking aside, the Draw command completely ruined this game's pacing and balance. The junction system was great conceptually but they made it way too easy to exploit early on

Also too easy to abuse Limit Breaks/Overdrives

Laguna was more enjoyable as a protagonist and we don't play as him for much. He doesn't even join your party as the grizzled veteran! Wasted opportunity

Seifer, Raijin and Fujin also decline to party with your crew. I don't blame them

That ending...whatever

>Positives
GOAT sub-game in Triple Triad

Dat Uematsu

Square still had reigns over Nomura instead of the opposite way around

The Ragnarok

>>1884389
I don't get what the fuck happened with Squall. It's like a little after disc 2 he somehow contracted being a dumbass.

>>1884312
I always thought LoD was a good game in both looks and attempts to make it different while sticking to the "typical JRPG game" rails harder than anyone else. But it got held back by lack of content in story and lore. It really would've been nice to have every character fleshed out more than the few main ones for example. Especially Kongol in general, what a waste of a good buildup and surprisingly complex reason for joining the team.

In Pokemon-influenced RPGs alone PS1 was fucking awesome.

Azure Dreams
Dragonseeds
Eternal Eyes
Digimon
Jade Cocoon
Monster Rancher

And there were still a whole bunch more with perfectly good monster portions on the side like Final Fantasy Tactics.

>>1884413
Don't forget the PS1 remakes of MegaTen games and Persona.

>>1883809
FFIX to me is better than FFVII. Because it drags exactly what is good about the iconic 16 bit games and mixes with the power of the ps1. It is IMHO the game that pushes the ps1 to its limits graphically wise (specially the SFX on the magics), with charismatic characters, old schoolish typical rpg elements, a few plot twists and some funny side quests.
Tho, because it is super deform, almost chibi characters some underage&b and casuals think 8 has better graphics. Not even going to mention the huge amount of weabboo yaoi fangirls that like ff8 because the androginy and the weabboo gamur girls that like the (horribly written love story that doesnt even make sense) that are a big part in this game fanbase.
You cant even compare the sfx and graphics of ff8 and ff9. Ff9 even has some realistic water transparency, and some well done details everywhere you look at.
Just compare the opaque gelatinous water spells (IE leviathan summon) with its non transparent look and compare to their counterparts in ff9.

Breath of Fire 4 had hands down one of the best turn based battle systems ever

>>1883290
As long as you avoid notoriously popular but garbage in reality series' like Breath of Fire and Suikoden yes, there's lots of good rpg's on the PS1.

>>1884432
And before FFX no doubt

>>1884458
Which titles from each series have you played and what didn't you like about them?

>>1884458
Those are like two of my favorites.

>>1884458
>It's garbage because I say so!

>>1884469
dat ass

>>1884463

It's even better than X's. Easily. IT had that boss combo system. All X had was an order chart

>>1884530
Its a god damn shame that no more RPGs that I'm aware of use that combo system. It was fucking bad ass as fuck when characters would mix skills and spells together if you timed them properly.

Hell, its a god damn shame we'll never get another BoF again.

>>1884585
Only flaw I saw in bof4 was that stupid ass progression that had lots of annoying minigames. They were so poorly designed.

>>1884593
What minigames are you talking about? Like the sandfliers and shit like that?

Its been a while since I played BoF4

>>1884621
There are a lot of shitty minigames. From digging with a shovel, to playing hide and seek in a town to the stupid fishing minigame. In some parts you have to achieve something in a minigame to progress on the story. Its infuriating to grind on minigames later on as well to get better dragon breaths.

>>1884585
>Hell, its a god damn shame we'll never get another BoF again.
Hate to say it, but in case you haven't heard, Capcom's performing a bit of necromancy and raising the series as a zombie with Breath of Fire 6 for mobile phones with online capabilities. Granted, I still wouldn't consider the series alive anymore even after that comes out.

>>1884631
That shit doesn't count. They even tried to do the same with Onimusha and was a piece of shit.

>>1884630
Was it 4 that had you managing a faerie village Sim City style? My mind's trying to shield me from the trauma

>>1884630
Oh wow I completely forgot about those, I guess its been a while since I played BoF4.

Now that I remember, fuck that hide and seek bullshit. I was stuck on that shit for so god damn long in a time before I had the internet to look up the solution.

>>1884631
I'd sooner count Dragon Quarter to be a BoF than I ever would that fucking mobile Maplestory looking bullshit.

>>1884636
>managing a village full of naked fairies
>trauma

>>1884634
I know, just saying that they're attempting to bring it back to some form of life. Of course, who knows if they'd even bring it west, so even if it did come back to life out there, it may very well just stay dead and buried out here.

Honestly wish there wasn't so much emphasis on switching older series over to mobile. I recall Square-Enix doing that to the World of Mana series after the DS entries, as well as SaGa last I checked.

>>1884593
Breath of Fire generally had some pretty fun minigames, although I'll concede the fishing minigame in 3 is superior.

>>1884636
Man, that shit was in 3 and 4 and it was great.

>>1884650
>>1884641
Glad to hear it then. It's been too long for me

>>1884630
I just remembered the hide and seek. Mundane mandatory minigames and/or fetch quests should have no right being in modern rpg's

>>1883862
>Tales of Destiny
>Tales of Eternia
>Not Tales of Phantasia

Do you even touched a PS1?

>>1884671
There's a difference between SNES Phantasia a PS1 Phantasia?

>>1884673
Yeah, one is playable the other isn't.

>>1884675
There's an entire guide about this.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588771-tales-of-phantasia/faqs/7368

>>1884673
It's got a far better engine for one. Also if you can't speak rune both fan translations are far better than "she fucks like a tiger."

>>1884673
The PS1 version was the first remake of the game as I recall (or if not, at least a very enhanced port) with more fluid combat (though not quite to the point of Eternia's fluidity), playable Suzu, more reasonable encounter rate (one might say it's actually a bit too low; Eternia felt like more of a balance), Chester having actual artes, and other stuff as well from what I remember.

>>1884673
There's an entire guide about this.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588771-tales-of-phantasia/faqs/7368

>>1884675
I wouldn't say the SNES version is unplayable, just a bit hard to go back to after later games, compared to the PS1 version. Still a game to be respected for what it managed to accomplish at the time it came out, even if not the go to version to play anymore.

>>1884684
The SNES version was "too hard"? Because it was the second RPG I played in my life and the only areas I found too hard was Moria Gallery but I was like 12.

>>1884639
>I'd sooner count Dragon Quarter to be a BoF

and count it you should you miserable faggot.

Seriously is baby mad he couldn't spam his dragon form?

>>1884593
>Only flaw I saw in bof4 was that stupid ass progression that had lots of annoying minigames.

at least they all had pay off and would power up your dragon forms.

3's where just....uuuuuuuuugh

>>1884690
Just saying that if you're coming from later entries and are used to the fluidity and refinements to the combat, the SNES original of Phantasia can feel rather dated and take time to get used to, which not everyone can tolerate. Also the fact that the PS1 version's fan translations don't take liberties or try to over-embellish the original point like the DeJap one for the SNES did at times ("fucks like a tiger" and all).

>>1884694
If the concept of the fucking series is that you can turn into a dragon, the game should not limit you from turning into a goddamn dragon. Also, having to restart to see everything and the serious lack of party members was dull and stupid.

>>1884694
Not him, but to be honest, if Capcom had considered it a spin off or side story, and not named it as the fifth main game in the series or had been working on both it and a proper main entry, I think it would have been better received, and the gameplay shift wouldn't have been considered nearly as huge a deal, at least if you ask me. As such they haven't bothered to make a new title in the series since then up until they announced that new mobile game, which they are again considering a numbered entry.

>>1884706

so yeah you're a whiny goddamn twat who was mad the game made him actually work for his wins instead of powering through it via dragon forms

>>1884717
Says the whiner who can't handle someone disagreeing with him. Besides, the dragon forms were the reasons I got into it as much as I did. It was unique and different, and the other games limited dragon forms via AP, and had plenty of difficult moments.

What are some Japan-only PS1 RPGs that people recommend?

I'm planning on checking out Linda Cube Again and Ore no Shikabane wo Koete Yuke, but there have to be plenty more.

>>1884720
>Says the whiner who can't handle someone disagreeing with him.

I don't give a shit if you like the game, just don't go around saying stupid shit like

>not a real Breath of Fire

without expecting people to call your dumb ass out on it.

>and the other games limited dragon forms via AP

and gave Ryu almost no other spells worth using so by the time you get to the boss guess who's getting lizard raped

>>1884463
>dat Nina

I don't know how Ryu didn't go down hard on that every night in the tent from day ONE.

>>1884724
Tales of Phantasia PS1 is pretty decent and has a pair of translation patches (that said, if you know moonspeak, the version of the game bundled with NDX on the PSP is the most refined version on the gameplay end, which might make for a more fun experience).

>>1884732
I'm fluent so the translations aren't a problem. Good to know about the PSP version.

I'm a bit hesitant on jumping into a big series like that, but I see it mentioned a lot so I'll add it to the list, thanks.

Rutee is best tales

>>1884671
I actually got them mixed up. It should be Phantasia on there instead of Destiny. Waiting on the fan translation of Destiny Director's Cut for PS2 as I missed the game the first time around

>>1884737
Well, if you know moon and have access to stuff like a Japanese PS2/good emulation, you're not going to miss out on a bunch of titles like those of us that can't have (like Destiny 2, Rebirth, Destiny Director's Cut, etc). Eternia on the PS1 is a great starting point for the series, and if you're not averse to non /vr/ games, so are Symphonia and Vesperia. And in general, there's not a huge amount of bad games in the series to avoid, namely just Tempest, Phantasia GBA, and depending on who you ask, Legendia and Symphonia 2 (the former of which I don't exactly hate, but is a bit too flawed for me to love either).

In general if you enjoy JRPGs with real time combat and can tolerate some anime influence to them, you should get a real kick out of the series. Just note that the story isn't generally the main reason people play it (while not always good, most are at least acceptable), but rather the combat (of which every console entry since Destiny has had the option for co-op, barring Legendia), characters, and interactions.

>>1884756
Well, at least Absolute Zero announced that they've pretty much taken the fan translation effort over from Cless (though he can apparently still pitch in and work with them if he wants), and they generally have a better track record of finishing projects they've started and getting them out in a halfway timely manner. Especially since Kingcom apparently got a good debugger working for PCSX2, which they say should make implementing the translation a lot smoother (the biggest issue prior to that having been technical issues, according to a recent post by Thoroughim).

>>1884737
Super Robot Wars Alpha

>>1884770

wait so you're saying I may be able to play this before my kid graduates college?

>>1884773
They posted an update about it on Absolute Zero's site on the thirteenth.

They're saying it will still take at least a couple of years (to the point that even a 2016 release would likely be too optimistic; apparently the game has a LOT of content and a LOT to translate, which I suppose is to be expected of a Director's Cut release), but it's better than it had been, just stagnating with no progress being made from Cless (not even a page on his site for it having been made) or them. Hopefully some of the other groups working on PS2 stuff might find that debugger useful in speeding things up a lot. On that note, with Cless still handling Destiny 2, I doubt we'll be seeing that one for another decade at least.

>>1884798

well I wasn't really expecting it to come out tomorrow.

upshot is by then my PC will be less shit and better at emulating

>>1884806
Yeah, I'm going to probably have to look into seeing if I can either get my PS2 modded or set up somehow to play it (fucking region lock). Been playing through the series with a friend on co-op; would hate to miss out on that with this game, since I've heard a lot of good things about it.

>>1884729
I never said it wasn't a real breath of fire. It's a breath of fire game, it's just bad.

>no other spells worth using
>not resurrecting the zombie dragon

>>1884813

>Being a pussy

>>1884748
That's a funny way to spell Leon.

>>1884762
Cool, thanks for the info.

I have a JPS2 (two of them, even), but they're packed away in storage. Some day when I can dig one of them out I'll be sure to try the games you mentioned. For now I'm stuck with easily emulated games or PSN stuff.

>>1884818

you know given Japan's hardon for that little faggot Im shocked we never got a ToD anime.

manga was pretty decent though

on the subject for the time ToD psx has a shockingly well done localization. No MAJOR grammar flubs or anything

hell I don't even recall an over usage of ellipses

>>1884817
>says there's no other spells worth using
>when an example is given you retaliate

You done being retarded?

>>1884903

you also said the game was difficult and mentioned how you can one shot kill a boss

>>1884903
Yes because exactly one boss counts.

Most of the bosses dragons or no require some strategy as long as you don't super level grind.

>>1884829
Who's at the top of the popularity charts right now anyway?

>>1884978

who's the most faggoty character after Leon

>>1884418
Except SMT influenced Pokemon

>>1884748
I'm fond of Arche myself.

>>1885016
Is this legit or just guesswork?

>>1885001
Am I missing something? What's wrong with Leon?

>>1885017

>>1885030
>What's wrong with Leon?

he's an emo pretty boy faggot asshole

>>1885038
How is he emo at all? Do you have any actual reasoning or are you literally just whining that he looks kind of girly.

>>1885047

how is he not, he's a perpetually angry twat who's always on about something. If it's not woe is me it's treating the rest of the party like garbage

>>1885056
There is a massive difference between being a prick and being emo. Learn your terminology. At least he stood out more than a lot of destiny's characters.

>>1883290
Why the hell are so many of them untranslated.

>>1885063

just so long as we agree he's a right cunt

>>1885073
Yeah, but the difference is that I like the fact he's a prick. That is one of the big reasons I like him. If no one was a cunt, there wouldn't be conflict. Conflict is what stories are about, and Leon causes a shit ton.

>>1885081

I certainly agree he serves purpose the game falls apart without him. He's not like say Genis who's just a fucking little shit.

and on the upshot you get to kick his ass no less than three times

>>1885085
>genis makes desians look like scrubs
>genis not being one of the most entertaining characters

>>1883290
So does anyone have any good, obscure RPGs? Not necessarily just PS1, just anything obscure in general.

>>1885104
>Genis
>gets you exiled from your village
>insults everyone constantly oft unproved
>blabs secrets Lloyd tells him in confidence just so he can laugh at him

he's a shit.

>>1885105

Vanguard Bandits is pretty tits

>>1885106
>Genis
>helps an old lady who's kept at a slave camp
>gets you exiled from a village full of cowards who would never do anything anyway
>fucks with Lloyd because they're friends and friends kind of do that shit
>besides those few times, shows nothing but gratefulness for Lloyd's treatment of him
>is one of the most useful party members in combat or out

He's bro tier.

>>1885109
Any word on what it's like? I've heard of it before, but I know nothing about it.

>>1885114
>Any word on what it's like?

tactical medieval strategy rpg with giant robots. and three story path campaigns

>>1885115
Sounds pretty sweet, I'm gonna have to give it a go.

>>1885118

it's on PSN I believe

>>1883290
So how about that Xenogears.

>>1884458
BoF is obscure. And for a reason since the games are utter shit that drew no natural attention whatsoever. Neither good nor bad.

>>1883862
All of these aged terribly with the exception of FFT and VS.

>>1885260
>using the "aged terribly" argument
>on /vr/

>>1885258
>>1885260
Thanks. Any other terrible opinions I can ignore?

>>1884069

>Blumes can brainwash your familiars to make them fight you

i think that's what i had in my mind!

I liked how the familiars in the game were different to most other traditional creatures in rpgs.

>tripnigger calling anyone but himself on terrible opinions
The ironing

>>1885023
It started before pokemon in any rate.

Demikids was definitely Pokemon infulenced though.

>>1884081
It's okay. After my first playthrough I always stopped at Law City Zanebatos though.

Fuck that place.

>>1885667
>Normal monsters that deal out instakill like candy
>annoying fuck to get laws done though it's possibly a satire.
>while doing annoying as fuck laws unless you take the time to make it not so, you're constantly chased by police who are faster than you and can teleport you out when caught.

It's like this point was designed to test the player's willpower.

>>1885023
The world may never know, but it's good to assume it did, because of how culturally aware game development and Japan itself is.

>>1885820
I remember hearing once that the SaGa and Dragon Quest V were big influences on Pokemon, but I don't remember from where.

>>1883290
Did anyone else play pic related? I wasn't into rpgs much so i didn't play final fantasy back in the day, and this game is what got me into srpgs

>>1884070
truly the state of modern rpgs is a sad state of affairs. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom hearts are the only big survivors

>>1884362
Its like $20 for like new, and amazon has new black labels for $60

>>1884432
>those ass-rapingly difficult bosses

I need to beat this one day.

>>1885258
>they're shit because I say they are

Besides, 2 and 3 are fairly well known.

>>1885861
I tried it, and while it was okay something just bothered me about it. I was never really sure what it was though.

>>1885862
Yeah, I can't stand modern RPGs on average. It's sad, really.

It isn't just JRPGs either. WRPGs have gone to shit too.

>>1883290
So I expect to get more than a little flak for this shit, but did anyone else think that most of the SaGa games were pretty subpar? I could only get into the first game and Frontier 1 and 2.

Although I'm still waiting for the other two romancing sagas to be translated.

>>1885993
Sorry for forgetting to add "IMO" to every post, you fucking autist.

>>1886035
Get over it, people are going to disagree with you.

>>1886053
And it wouldn't restrict me from input.

>>1886057
Never said it would or should, but people are going to disagree with you.

>>1884389
>I just need someone to talk to!
>Then go talk to a wall.

>>1884684
>tfw snes is the only version i ever finished, gba was laggy shit and ps1 got burned out before getting shadow
going into moria all the way down two times? fuck that shit

Playing this mofo right now. Started off it was like ughh this is dated but now I'm addicted. Everything about it is so fresh and I could see myself playing through it again.

>>1886131
forgot pic

>>1886139
It's pretty good despite a lot of the criticisms. The story does kind of lose it around a certain point though, but I actually like the way the elements and allocation work.

>>1886157
>>1886131
When you know about the problems it's actually pretty good. It looks really pretty and you gotta give the localization team a couple props for making the text your companions say a lot better.

>>1886139
have fun with some of those bosses

>>1886171

also the OST is godly

>>1886210
That was kind of a thing with a lot of PS1 RPGs though. They tended to have really good music.

>>1883862
Anyone else remember Legend of Mana? I honestly thought it was better than the entire rest of the series, and yes I am including SD3.

>>1886361
I liked the whole storybook feel and how sidequests were the entire game.

>>1886405
Me too. There was something very charming about it.

>>1884432
I really liked the apprentice system in 3 and 4 as well. It really allowed an element of choice when it came to your stats and skills.

>>1886157
Yeah the story was bad. Insultingly bad. Probably a good idea when making a sequal not to retcon and shit all over your progenitor.

>>1886736
CT deserved to be shit on.

>>1886743
Any actual reasons for that?

>>1883954
why do you toy with my emotions

>>1885861
That cover is pretty lame

>>1885862
There's more besides those. Also Tales, SMT/Persona, Atelier, Ys (if you count it), and Legend of Heroes (though it's Japan only for the most part) as surviving long running series from fifth gen or earlier, even if some of them took their time getting over here.

>Dragon Quest
And now Square-Enix seems content to kill that off as far as localizations go.

>>1887084
Ys is an action RPG, but still an RPG. Atelier, SMT, and Tales are still going strong, yes. Surprisingly some franchises have managed to remain.

Squeenix seems determined to kill off anything that might be fun honestly.

>>1887032
>That cover is pretty lame

the game was like 10 bucks when it came out new.

>>1887178
jesus really? explains why it was so slow

>>1887148
Still sad that more haven't survived. At least there's still some decent stand alone ones coming out here and there.

>>1887210

yeah the company released like FOUR games at the time for 10 dollars new.

>>1887301
>>1887178
How would you even make a profit off that? I mean, wouldn't just the printing costs take a decent chunk of that? Or do you mean they did so poorly they dropped to $10 new extremely fast?

I bought and played a lot of JRPGs on the Playstation, but then I suddenly realized how same-y and cookie-cutter they were and stopped pretty much cold turkey. I sometimes get the urge to pick up another one (most recently Xenoblade on the Wii) but I'm always quickly reminded why I don't like them.

JRPGs were the FPSes of the Playstation era.

>>1887414
So do you have any examples or are you just trying to evoke a reaction?

>>1887301
Who made it anyway? What other games did they even make?

>>1887325
>How would you even make a profit off that?

Volume. these where not high budget games man. Do you know what a CD and Case costs? fucking nothing

Citan's a cunt

http://lparchive.org/Xenogears-%28by-The-Dark-Id%29/Citan/

>>1887704
I remember that. Good shit.

>>1887414
>JRPGs were the FPSes of the Playstation era.
Nonsense. That was survival horror.

>>1887769
FPSes were the FPSes of the playstation era.

Jade Cocoon was my first JRPG after Pokemon. So many hours spent, and it wven had an infinite dungeon.

>>1884731
>from day ONE

'Cause he was like 9 years old back then.

>>1886275
I thought the composers just went all out when they found out that the PSX has a decent soundfont.

>>1888081

I was replaying this last year and found the combat too slow, I had to bind a frame delimiter/limiter just to skip through some of the animation sequences.

>>1883290

>Azure Dreams

my niggah

That was the first Roguelike I ever played. I was like 11 and couldn't figure out why enemies only moved when I moved.

>>1888081
That game was pretty unique. I wish they made shit like that more.

Anyone got any other RPGs with unique mechanics that should catch on more?

>>1883290
Man, anyone play Thousand Arms? It sounded neat on paper but it was pretty painful to play. Might've helped if the protagonist wasn't such a massive cunt.

>>1888314

I liked it. But I was a massive weab back in the early psx days

>>1883290
I never understood the love for PS1 RPGs at all, beyond nostalgia. Sure, a lot of interesting concepts were brewing during the era, but it's pretty much an uncanny valley of sorts, where it retains the flaws of SNES RPGs (and makes them worse) and doesn't present as much quality as some 6th gen JRPGs do. While the idea that JRPGs = VNs is obviously a farfetched generalization, at no other point was it closer to truth than during the PS1 age. Remember that this was the batch of games where common pitfalls of the genre such as overtly common random encounters, tediously long battle animations, press X to win difficulty, unskippable cutscenes and crippling corridoresque linearity in favor of hands-off storytelling were at an all-time high.

>>1888340
Man, I can't say I agree with you at all, but it feels nice to see someone with an intelligent and well thought out argument. Thanks, it's nice to see stuff like this.

>>1888340
Some people don't have a problem with some of that. I'll admit to the Random Encounters, but that varied from game to game, but fuck if some SNES games weren't a thousand times worse. FF6 really comes to mind.

I don't get where the Press X to win difficulty thing comes from. Maybe I just got lucky and missed those games.

As for me, I just don't mind the cutscenes much. I love stories, and cutscenes don't really bother me...unless it's right before a boss battle. I'll admit that shit becomes pretty fucking dicks real fast. And the animations I never really minded.

>>1888351
Thank you.
>>1888364
My judgement might be clouded by predominantly playing PC RPGs at the time. Sure stuff like Fallout and Might & Magic 6 might look kind of drab when compared visually to FF7 or Legend or Dragoon, but after a hour or two all that I mind is how these games are so amazingly smooth to play. I get a great impression of time efficiency whenever a game's animations aren't much slower than what my button pressing speed might be. With PS1 JRPGs (and you're right that a lot of SNES JRPGs did that too, but on average they seem faster), I'm yet to find one that doesn't feel like I'm wasting enormous amounts of time waiting for battle loading, attack animations, victory fanfares and all that stuff that feels like unnecessary ballast. DQ7 is probably the closest PS1 JRPG I've seen to being "fast", but still it could've been even more so.

>>1888375
I suppose primarily it's a difference in taste.

And to be completely fair, fallout is supposed to look drab. It comes with the setting.

>>1888180
What about when they met back up?

>>1885861

i played it a little, never finished it but i would like to play it again.

One thing about it i always thought, the controls don't line up with the screen as you would expect. When you press up on the pad it moves the cursor to the block to what would usually be considered left. It sounds minor but it always threw me off.

>>1888461
>I suppose primarily it's a difference in taste.
The thing is however that the way I see it, a "fast" turn-based game can accomodate both a more active and a more passive player, whereas PS1 RPGs straight-up force the player into a more passive role. Considering that I probably look more like a Tetris player when I play Wizardry, this displeases me greatly.

>>1888678
Not entirely. Admittedly, some do so with the overly long animations and whatnot, but for those games that actually present a challenge the animations are time to consider your next move.

Also, not necessarily all PS1 RPGs were turn based.

>>1888678
That's one way of looking at it, but the cutscenes and even the animations are fascinating for some.

I for one enjoy considering the issues presented by RPGs on a larger level, so I don't really mind if it is a passive role. I find it quite enjoyable to consider what's happening on as deep a level as is possible with the given game.

>>1888702
The thing is, that very few of them actually present challenges that you can't figure out in a shorter time. In fact, most of them from what I could see favor very no-brainer approaches such as the good ol' "spam attack and heal when things get dire". Even Grandia, which seems to be hailed like some tactical masterpiece, wasn't hard to figure out at all before the fireworks stopped exploding every single turn.

I'm mainly discussing the turnbased ones, since ARPGs are a completely different thing and can't be gauged on the same level in this matter.

>>1888715
I find Grandia is very overrated in general anyway. Besides the combat being far simpler and less requiring of any strategy than most say, that game has some of the most bland, repetitive dungeons I've ever seen in a game.

>>1888714
>That's one way of looking at it, but the cutscenes and even the animations are fascinating for some.
Yes, but how many times will the same few animations stay fascinating? Maybe a dozen or so. And these are games where the combat encounters regularly run into hundreds, some maybe into thousands. Granted, you aren't using the same attacks every battle, but still, how many games offer enough variation to cover the whole game? And how much of this variation is redundant gameplaywise anyway?

Of course, an optimal solution to keep everybody happy would be an on/off toggle for every aspect of combat animation whatsoever, but that kind of thing is even harder to come by than regular fast combat - in fact, the only game I've seen do that was released in 2012.

>>1888721
That's how I felt about it too actually.

>>1888745
Agreed, I would like if more games had an on/off toggle for that kind of thing. Some get close, letting you skip certain overly long animations you've seen before, but none I can think of include it for every aspect.

>>1887481
It's been over ten years so I can't name specific games, but the "you're a teen in a village and there's a war and then there's a mysterious girl and oh no your childhood friend turned out to be an enemy" trope seemed to repeat an awful lot. Same with the fantasy-steampunk mashup setting.

I never liked that character interaction was limited to running up to NPCs and hitting X to see one of two fixed lines. I started playing RPGs with Ultima 4 in the late 80s, and in many ways it was more advanced than even modern JRPGs. I know this is terribly reductionist, but it just feels like the Japanese were stuck on iterating on the first Wizardry games brought over to Japan, and while production values are amazing the basic gameplay didn't change much. In modern games the basic template still hasn't changed that much, and instead gameplay evolves by adding increasingly complex rules and skill systems.

>>1888772
>none I can think of include it for every aspect
The game I had in mind was Elminage Original. It allows turning off almost every single "slowing down" aspect of not only combat, but also dungeon exploration as well (instead of smoothly sliding from tile to tile like in Etrian Odyssey you'd just instantly appear on the tile in front of you). On the surface it seems like a budget title, but a surprising amount of design decisions within it seem decided directly for player convenience.

>>1888825
But...is it good?

>>1888956
Different anon, It's oldschool as fuck but honestly, I enjoy it. It takes a while for your party to get some good gear but when you do get it, it's worth all the effort.

The interface has a few translation issues, even with the patch that fixed most of them, but you'll get over them. If you decide to pirate it, this post I made on /vg/ details how to download apply the patch to a hacked PSP.

http://pastebin.com/CxR3dkJn

It's genuinely worth trying at least.

>>1888956
Seconding what >>1888992 said. If you're familiar with Wizardry 1-5, it's literally the exact same game, except with a few mechanical improvements (more classes, two extra magic schools, more flexible character creation system, etc).

>>1888992
Thanks for the info

>>1889014
I do like me some dungeon crawling.

>>1888956
I really enjoyed Elminage Original, it's one of the better Wizardry-clones I've played. They put some effort into making the different dungeons actually feel like different locations, and there are a ton of classes and races available. The classes are also surprisingly well-balanced; I had a hard time picking out a party of six because so many of the classes seemed essential to survival. A lot of the non-spellcasters have few abilities, but using them correctly can shift the tide of battle dramatically.

As was previously mentioned, the patch is really needed in order to enjoy the game though. The initial localization job was absurdly terrible.

>>1887704
WOW WHAT AN ASSHOLE

>>1885109
eh, it was a really uninspired tactics-style game.
not very difficult or memorable.

however, this also makes it about the only tactics game that doesn't cost $50+. at least not all the time.

>>1883290
So how about those games with great weapon creation systems? Parasite Eve and Vagrant Story, your turn.

>>1889294
Legend of Mana had one although it was pretty linear once you figured out how it worked.

>>1889235
Got anything to compare it to?

I always have a problem getting the gall to continue playing RPGs. I spent a ridiculously long time playing Earthbound and I'm playing Chrono Trigger atm, but I'm scared that I won't have the long term attention span to beat it.

>>1889428
If you don't want to finish it, don't force yourself to. If you do want to finish it, then do your best to keep your focus. That's really all you can do.

>>1889428
Chrono Trigger's generally a rather short, but excellent JRPG, unless you go through it on NG+ to get the alternate endings (which can extend the time it takes to get through it, even with NG+ letting you carry over levels, techs, equipment, etc; not a bad thing if you ask me since again, the alternate endings are the main perk to doing NG+). I think my first playthrough was about 20-30 hours or so, what with doing all the sidequests in addition to the main plot.

>>1889456
Plus the sheer volume of alternate endings that exist.

>>1889609
Yeah, that's certainly true. Seemed like a fair amount of thought was put into the question of "what if Lavos was defeated at this point of the game, with these plot points yet to be resolved?" And then there's just plain cool ones like the developer room ending.

>>1889639
It's a shame Cross's alternate endings were so cookie cutter in comparison.

>>1886361
>>1886405
>>1886557
True enough but the gameplay was average at best and the crafting system (and other creation systems) were ridiculous in the read a FAQ or don't bother-tier.

>>1889705
It wasn't that bad. Unless you were dealing with the higher difficulties, you could easily go far without knowing how the crafting worked.

It's not PS, but I played for hours and hours.

Castle of the Winds 1&2

>>1888598
What makes you think he didn't tap that ass?

>>1890201
The fact that they were stuck in a tent with a bunch of other people.

>>1890150
What are they for?

>>1890210
Why would that stop them? The gang could just roll over to the other side if they don't like to watch. It's like you've never gone camping and had sex with your hot cousin while your family sleeps before.

bump

Love Front Mission 3 but I hate the MC. I played it again recently and when I played the second route I renamed him Cocksucker. Ryogo should have been the MC.

>>1890215
>why would that stop them
>Peco has no sense of what not to do
>Rei would probably sneak peeks or something
>who knows what the fuck Momo would do

Garr is the only one that would give them an absolute sense of privacy. And besides that Ryu's gotta be the most sheltered and innocent guy of all time.

>>1890231
What was wrong with him?

>>1889647
Tell me about it. Most of the endings were slightly altered variants of each other.

>>1883832
Does it or it's sequel have an english fan patch?

>>1890213
PC Windows 95/98/XP

Google it. Doesn't look like much, but loot/monsters/dungeons are all randomly generated. No 2 games are exactly alike.

>>1890394
Here's a pic. Again, it doesn't look like much. Not a real in depth story, but loot(including enchantments on that loot) and dungeons are random. And you need to figure in not only weight but also bulk in carrying.

>>1890254
Bullheaded, hotblooded idiot who keeps saying stupid shit and acts like he's an MC of a shonen show and only survives because of plot armor. It's kinda charming on a female companion in moderation but the asshole is a raging faggot 24/7. The worst part is the party tolerates his shit.

>>1883878
>a natural progression in the Fire Emblem formula

Does it still have that shitty random stat growth on level up?

>go back and play FF7, a game I loved at age 10
>story puts me to sleep
>combat doesn't have any remotely challenging fights until im nearly done with the game and I'm mashing X without looking at the screen for every random battle
>mini games are exponentially better than the actual game

>go back and play Xenogears, a game I hated at age 11
>i actually understand the story now
>dialogue is engaging, plot is no longer 2deep4me
>doing combos with my mad skillz, multiple fights throughout the game threaten my butthole
>phenomenal soundtrack

It's crazy, I had carried this shining picture of FF7 in my head, which was buffered by all the accolades it gets from people who are most likely in the same nostalgic situation.
But. . .when I went back to play it, I realized just how generic and trite the actual game was. The mini-games were what I had such fond memories of, since they are genuinely enjoyable and have more depth than the game's combat system, which becomes filler content in between mini-games.
Xenogears, on the other hand. . . Wow. I can't believe I ever shit talked this game based on my 10 year old brain's conception of it. It stole from multiple fantastic novels, had legitimately interesting characters with more basis and thought to their actions than any JRPG outside of Suikoden 2, and a generally wonderful world, despite having it butchered by FF8s budget.

>>1890796
Shit, the random growth was the best part.

>>1890798
I can't say I agree on FF7, but with Xenogears it really makes you wonder how it would've turned out if it hadn't been butchered.

>>1890897
I'd rather something similar to BoF 3, the master system lets you influence your stat growth to an extent. I've had consecutive +1s on a unit's relevant stats on FE and it's hella frustrating and would often cripple him later.

>>1890920
There's a difference, and I like both.

BoF3 allows a level of control over how you advance, but Fire Emblem brings in a level of chance.

You watch your units and how they grow, and you decide consciously who is no longer a viable option because they aren't performing up to snuff.

The payoff is especially great when a unit starts getting increases in nearly all of their stats, and because of the way it works you're almost certainly going to have some units you can use, even if you have to experiment with them.

>>1890798
I try not to use games like Xenogears, FFT/Tactics Ogre, or Suikoden 2 as benchmarks for JRPG story/characters, since that can only end in disappointment.
I also don't hold it against other inferior games for being more popular. Popularity is rarely indicative of quality so much as it is marketing/establishing a brand and streamlining things to appeal to a broader demographic.
If design creativity and originality was appreciated by the masses, games in the SaGa series would replace FF and DQ. Unfortunately, most people much prefer a familiar, easy trek through JRPG land. It's silly to condemn those people, unless of course they refuse to play other titles because "MUH FF IS BEST". Then they're confirmed as Grade A faggots.

>>1891010
Really what gets to me is just when people refuse to try other titles than what they're used to in general, or even attempt to give them a chance.

>>1890903
Most people who have played more than a handful of JRPGs and use fair criticism still give Xenogears a very high spot regardless of what they did to the 2nd disc. A 75% finished masterpiece is still miles ahead of a 100% mediocre game.

>>1891015
And I do as well. I'm just saying, imagine what it could've been like if it had been completely finished.

>>1891014
Someone recommended Baten Kaitos: Origins to me when I was talking about how much I enjoyed diverse combat systems in RPGs, and by god am I glad I heeded his advice.
Hands down the most engaging, challenging combat system I've ever experienced. All of the mechanics that would be gimmicks in most games were NECESSARY to get through even normal fights. That in itself is amazing game design.
If I hadn't kept an open mind to new things, I never would have known that game existed, since my entire concept of the series was that it was some card game.

>>1891028
Baten Kaitos was pretty unique in general. It's always great when a game does something like that so that it stands out from the rest.

>>1891030
I heard someone the other day tell me that "FF is a series about change".
I couldn't help but let a laugh bust out.
It's a pity how many of the greatest JRPGs haven't been touched by more than a few hundred thousand people.

>>1891035
>It's a pity how many of the greatest JRPGs haven't been touched by more than a few hundred thousand people.

well then spill the beans, faggot

>>1891041
Not him, but I'd like to nod towards the Atelier series (not the PS3 games, those are shit-tier).

>>1891041
not that guy, but read the fucking thread
theres numerous suggestions, and most are great

>>1884312
>On par with Wild Arms and Legend of Legaia
Yeah. I will definitely agree with this.

Legaia suffers from a very VERY steep EXP curve which cripples the pacing, especially considering if you're under leveled, bosses can, and will be able to one shot you if you don't use the Spirit command (effectively defend, but lets you use extra attacks next turn). Combined with the fact the combat is slow (loading screens in and out, the fights itself being long, bosses having huge amounts of health and other gimmicks), and the story generally uninteresting its completely generic and forgettable, but people seem to love it for some reason.

Don't get me wrong its not terrible, its a decent game, but there are so many better games out there and this one just did not excel like it could've.

>>1891080
>those loading screens and combat pace
People seriously don't understand how important that shit is to the enjoyment of a JRPG where most random battles are effectively ignorable fodder.

Suikoden 2 perfected it imo. The average random battle lasted maybe 10 or 11 seconds, and the logarithmic leveling means that grinding was all at once impossible and unnecessary.

I encourage long battles for games that actually have enjoyable combat systems...but if most of the fights are designed as trash, then don't make them long.

>>1891064
You scared me for second.

>>1891064
I remember playing Atelier Iris, it was ok but I drop it because I had to grind to kill that dragon in the ice mountains.

>>1891123
He might mean the games before even that, but those are mostly in moon I think.

>>1891035
If they meant miniscule change, then yeah. The series doesn't change that much from one iteration to the next.

>>1891035
>FF is a series about change

>>1883290
The GB version was better.

>>1888818
>Same with the fantasy-steampunk mashup setting
How many weren't FF?

>>1891704
Meh.

>>1891658
Am thinking of OBAMA SIM 2K15

>>1891000
>>1890920

BoF4 improved on the master system greatly

combine that with combo system and you're in for a good time

>>1891958
Tell me about it, that was some good shit.

It was just plain satisfying.

>>1891958
>>1891960
Speaking of Breath of Fire, I decided to look into it starting with the first game (which while a bit bland, hasn't been too bad at all). I've been planning to go in order, but I am curious as to if, say, III is more difficult to go back to after playing IV due to combat or control refinements or something.

>>1891985
That probably depends on the person. III gets bonus points for having the best dragon system in the series, while IV refines many of the core mechanics and includes the got-tier combo system.

Me, I can go back and enjoy both to this day.

>>1891996
Yeah, I mean I can generally do that sort of thing pretty easily unless it's a game where fluidity is a huge factor (as an example, with Tales I can pretty much traverse from Eternia up through current games as well as back down just fine, while some of the earlier ones like Phantasia and Destiny PS1 I find a bit harder to adjust to due to the earliest ones understandably not being as fluid as later entries). Still planning to play them in order though I suppose. On that note, I've heard that the opening for BoF IV was left untranslated and unsubtitled (normally I don't mind but it sounds like actual dialogue is being said as opposed to song lyrics or something). Does the game have any other instances like that, and if so, is there a patch or something that translates those scenes?

>>1892017
Well, there was the PS1 version of Phantasia, although even then it's kind of dated.

Luckily Destiny has a PS2 version, but unluckily the fan translation is quite slow.

As for BoF, it's just the opening. All the dialogue in the game is translated, the only downside being that a few scenes were, for whatever reason, cut from the US release. You can easily find them online, but they might spoil you as to the game's events.

>>1892067
Okay, thanks for the help. And yeah, Phantasia PS1 wasn't too annoying to get into (barring having to play on semi-auto for about 8-10 hours until you can get the technical ring) since the melee combat at least felt it had some degree of fluidity to it and was a good start towards the degree of it Eternia used later. And yeah, waiting for the Destiny DC translation here since I've heard a lot of good stuff about that as far as remakes go.

>>1892067
Tales in general is quite slow to be translated, really. Every project seems to either be slow or get cancelled for one reason or another.

>>1892076
No problem. Expect the first game to be quite average. The second game mainly stands out in an improved story and refined gameplay, but 3 and 4 are where it starts innovating. Have fun.

>>1892067
>the only downside being that a few scenes were, for whatever reason, cut from the US release.

honestly they weren't big loses. They actually did a real good job of it to the point where you would never had noticed if you didn't have someone tell you online

and they where just stupid sex jokes that served no purpose anyways

>>1892145
There was one other scene, actually. You could generally tell what Fou-Lu did anyway, but still with all the other horrible things that happen in the game you wonder why they bothered cutting it.

>>1892145
Their purpose was probably to get a laugh.

If they put it in the game, it had a purpose, whether you liked that purpose or not is a different matter.

>>1886361
I slightly regret selling it recently. Legend of Mana looks and sounds good, but I wasn't feeling the battle system, and the storybook thing wasn't drawing me in.

Maybe sometime in the future I'll have to give it another chance. Once it's even pricier, lol. Or emulated.

>>1890250
No no, I thought this through.

Peco would just be sleeping since that's ALL he fucking does.

Rei would be cheering on Ryu since he can appreciate a fine piece of ass.

Garr would be embarrassed and go outside and crack his knuckles or something. Like really loudly so he couldn't hear anything.

The only unaccounted factor is Momo, who would probably stare intently and take notes.

>>1892278
sounds abooty right

>>1892178
>but still with all the other horrible things that happen in the game you wonder why they bothered cutting it.

well that's really the only instance of intense graphic violence. All the other INCREDIBLY horrible things are just alluded to described

>>1892257

Im just saying it's not a big deal and Id rather we get the game at the end of the day so Im not gonna cause a stink over not having a 1 second accidental boob grope.

It's too much energy and Id rather spend that on instances that actually require it.

>>1891958
I actually haven't finished BoF 4. Every time I try, some ridiculous shit always comes up. Now I'm afraid if I finally man up and try it again, world war 3 will break out.

>>1892386
Not really. You see pretty much exactly what's done to Elena, you basically see the aftermath of multiple nukes and see them use someone as the fuel for a hex, and you definitely see the results of that.

Just because it's gorier than most of it doesn't mean it's the only graphic part.

>>1892468
You must be like the unluckiest guy in the world.

>>1892468
For example?

>>1883290
>I can't be the only one who thinks the Neo Geo was a goldmine for good 2D fighting games.

>Also, has anybody else ever noticed there seem to be more fighting games on the Neo Geo Pocket Color than RPGs and platformers?

That's pretty much what you sound like. No offense. The PlayStation was a bit of a JRPG system.

>>1892634
He probably just felt like getting a thread started about this stuff. Nothing to be ashamed about, although he should have been more upfront.

>>1891704
It had more content including a massive basement, a better translation, and Ghosh's awesome duck, but it was slow as molasses, lacked a lot of the neat town stuff, didn't have the visuals and music of the PlayStation game, and I just didn't like it nearly as much. It felt like Pokemon, while Azure Dreams had that surreal look to it, especially the whole "tower levels floating in a psychedelic void" thing.

>>1892647
Pretty much this. In general the PS1 version was better polished, although missing a few of the things in the jap version.

>>1892523
You think that's bad, every time I tried to play Super Paper Mario, something bad always happened on no less than eight different occasions. The final time I attempted to play, eventually my ceiling fan fell, and the force of it shook the bookcase enough to fall over and hit me in the head. I passed out and came to at the hospital. I'm literally afraid of playing that game now, not only is it sub-par, the damn thing is cursed.

>>1892663
Maybe you need the perfect conditions to play certain games. Like a black magic curse-proof game room.

>>1892663
It must be the work of an enemy stand

>>1892653
I'm not sure "better polished" is the term I'd use. If anything, I'd think the GBC game was better polished. But that was part of the problem. While the GBC game was cleaned up and focused with a ton of colorful Pokemon styled monster sprites and a battle screen (which I think was a REALLY bad idea), the PlayStation game had a lot of experimental, questionable, and completely pointless stuff, and while the town added a lot of flavor, it has very little effect on your adventuring.

It's been forever since I played the GBC game, but I know that in the PlayStation game, you can get stuck at the top of the tower if you come back after clearing it and don't have any way to transport yourself home.

>>1892678
Isn't it fucking always? Gimme a fucking break...

>>1892673
>>1892678
I'm a different anon from the Breath of Fire 4 guy.

>>1892685
Still seems like it applies pretty well to you.

Vagrant story isnt that good IMO.

>>1885038
Is this a translation patch for the PS2 ToD?
How the fuck? I thought that wasn't done yet.

>>1892980
It's Radiant Mythology, man.

>>1892987
Oh, those dumpster Tales mixers.

>>1892978
Alright.

>>1892992
They get better as they go.

The real issue is that none of the non-menu dialogue after the first game is translated or even planned to be.

>>1883290
PS1 is untouchable when it comes to JRPGs. We even had a few of the SNES classics ported as the cherry on top.

The sole reason I bought a PSP was to replay some of the old classics on the PlayStation Network. The only UMDs I own for it are the FF4 port and the FFT port.

>>1893175
It's a shame more older games don't get rereleases. Mostly it's just the ones that are well known.

>>1883290

PSX rpgs were fantastic. I wish more of them would get PSP/3DS ports, or at least some digital releases. PSN is still missing so many...

>>1893273
>PSN is still missing so many...

It really is. We only got (more or less) 30 out of 200 RPGs released in the west.

Granted, a good amount of those are crap, but there's also amazing games like Azure Dreams, Brave Fencer Musashi, Breath of Fire III, Brigandine, Chocobo's Dungeon, the Deception series, Diablo, Digimon World, Dragon Quest VII, Harvest Moon, Jade Cocoon, Koudelka, Legend of Legaia, the Lunar series, the Mega Man Legends (+Tron Bonne) series, SaGa Frontier I and II, Suikoden II, Tales of Destiny and Eternia, Thousand Arms, Valkyrie Profile, the Vandal Hearts series, the X-Com series (if you can even count them as RPGs), and much more.

>>1893293
My nigga, you have got-tier taste

>>1893293
Koudelka wasn't even good though.

>>1893686
Not as good as the sequels, I agree, but that atmosphere...

>>1892980
Nope. Destiny DC is going to take at least a few more years. Hopefully with Absolute Zero at the helm with a good PS2 debugger things are going to be faster than previously.

>>1892992
As far as I've heard, RM2 and especially RM3 are pretty good. Mainly just the first one (the only one the west saw) that has some rather notable issues.

>>1893271
I agree. There's some pretty decent ones still missing from the PSN (of both the PS1 and PS2 variety) that deserve to be up there, and even with some that did get later ports to the PSP, Sony refused to clear them for the US. Like Tales of Eternia PSP, with the fact that it's not on the PSN either keeping prices for the original pretty high these days. Cheapest I see it for is about $90 these days, and it's clean up to $120 at some places around here.

>>1893293
I still don't get why Breath of Fire III was left off there. I mean, IV's on the PSN, but not its predecessor. I estimate that it having had a PSP release in Japan and Europe was a factor in not putting it up, but perhaps there's more to it than that.
>Dragon Quest VII
Fucking Square-Enix won't even put VIII up there. Granted, Dragon Quest VIII isn't exactly hard to find, but it just strikes me as dumb that they wouldn't at least get the really popular entry up there. And with VII being rather pricy ($40-50 where I live) and reasonably hard to find, it could certainly benefit from a PSN port and might even show Square-Enix some decent interest in the game.

>>1893293
>Thousand Arms
gross

>>1893893
It's interesting at least to see Atlus' dating mechanics develop.

>>1893893
agreed

>>1893893
I was actually surprised when I found out how many people dislike the game here on 4chan, I loved Thousand Arms as a kid.
I probably should replay the game one of these days, just to see if it's all nostalgia or not.

>>1893982
I can see why people like it, but I disliked the battle system, and found the protagonist to be an unlikable cunt.

>>1893982
I played Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Secret of Mana, and Ogre Battle as a kid.
Games like Thousand Arms and Beyond the Beyond were a slap in the face.

>>1893987
The only ones of those I even see the appeal of are Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. And Beyond the Beyond was at least average, which is better than the others.

>>1894010
Beyond the Beyond was fucking terrible. Consistently bad writing, one of the original "Heres an overpowered char who turns into weak shit after 10 minutes" perpetrators, and god-awful random battle rate.

>>1894018
Right, and secret of mana is so much better. Most overblown generic action RPG I've ever seen.

And Ogre Battle was pretty much the most pretentious thing I've seen out of the SNES library.

>>1894039
>generic action RPG

Compared to what, exactly?
The earlier Seiken Densetsu titles that were never localized?
Illusion of Gaia?
There has to be an actual selection of things to compare something to before it can be considered generic. If you'd like to weigh it against today's action titles, I suggest a different board.

>>1894039
What does pretentious even mean in regards to Ogre Battle?
The only thing I can think of that could even remotely be applied to that is how Matsuno named shit, which was more of a product of not understanding romanic languages in the least more than anything. He most likely named things after what he thought sounded funny.

Aside from that, the game is full of pretty standard high fantasy creatures and locales, and the systems in the game were brand new and didn't even have anything to emulate, so those are out.

It sounds like you're just flinging out empty terminology because you have no legitimate criticism, and most likely didn't even play the games.

>>1894046
Soul Blazer existed before Illusion of Gaia did, and was far better. Than both Illusion and Secret of Mana. Hell, SD1 was a thousand times better than Secret of Mana. It was such a massive step down.

Don't assume I'm automatically comparing it against modern games. Even for the time it wasn't that impressive, at least in my eyes.

And yes, it has been outdone since then, but I am aware what board I am posting on. That was not the point I was trying to make.

>>1894052
I did play the games. I tried, extensively, to like them.

The writing is so full of itself it isn't even funny. It's constantly trying too hard to be a masterpiece and it never even approaches it. So yes, I would much rather play Beyond the Beyond, in all the average mediocrity, than suffer through that game again.

>>1894062
not the person youre arguing with but
did anyone legitimately play ogre battle or ogre battle 64 for the story? those games, especially the first one had real bad translation issues, but it didnt really matter since they were so gameplay intensive

>>1894069
I play RPGs for more than just the battle system.

I understand there is an important element of gameplay to consider, but if that aspect of the game is as unenjoyable as I found it, I would by no means have been able to enjoy the rest of it while suffering through that.

Besides that, the gameplay was...okay, I will admit. It had an element of depth, but at times it felt clunky and unbalanced. Nothing I would rave about.

>>1894075
I can't really think of any JRPG I would rave about in the gameplay department until the PS1 era.
Story-wise, either now that I think about it. Chrono Trigger gets a lot of hype over its story, but it wasn't anything terribly special. Best music on the SNES, though.

>>1894089
No, it really wasn't the most amazing story in the world. Moreso, it was just a lot of silly fun. It had dark moments, but no more than your standard RPG.

>>1894091
I really miss goofball moments in JRPGs that weren't completely awful like most Tales games.
I think the prevalence of animated cutscenes (thanks a lot, FF7) has completely ruined the average JRPG's ability to sell a quirky moment without it being shit on by a terrible voice actor or weird animation.
The only time I've seen it work out well is Jansen, in Lost Odyssey.

>>1894095
>completely awful like most Tales games

Well...

I disagree but I respect your opinion. Cheers.

Also Lost Odyssey was pretty alright.

>>1894105
By all means, link me one thing that you think is legitimately humorous from a Tales game. Maybe I missed something.

>>1894108
Not even going to. It's probably a difference in sense of humor, and if you've already played enough to make up your mind on this, there isn't much of anything I'm going to be able to do to change your mind on that.

>>1894046
You have your information wrong on that. SD1 was localized as Final Fantasy Adventure, and was the only game before Secret.

>>1893830
It's amazing they don't put most of these games on PSN. They'd have a huge opportunity for a profit.

>>1894198
I expect in some cases it's an issue of who exactly owns the rights to the game/series in question these days, along with some companies just not seeing much of a point in putting their older, less popular games up there (I've heard technical and porting issues might also be a big factor in why more PS2 JRPGs aren't up there). And in some cases, the game's on there in Japan, but not in the west for whatever reason (like Brave Fencer Musashi).

>>1894217
It's a shame really. There's literally no negative to releasing games like that over here. It isn't like they're lacking anything to do so.

>>1894095
I remember LoD had it's share of silly. But half of that may have been the translation.

Remember Star Ocean 2?

Come feel the old feelings with me again, /vr/.

http://youtu.be/boRCmchdgP0

>>1894069
>>1894062
It's been a while but I don't remember Ogre Battle 64's story being all that bad.

>>1894980
Most of Matsuno's games have a pretty bad habit of trying to sell a grey moral structure, but filling them with absolutely retarded illogical characters who fly all the way to one side, detracting from the characters with brains.
Still, I love his games because SRPGs have infinitely more depth than turn based RPGs and the customization that comes with the class system is amazing.

>>1895254
Pretty much this, for the story. It did a really bad job at it.

There are other RPGs that just do it a lot better.

>>1895271
Same guy, but I'll disagree with that.
There have only been a few RPGs that have universally grey morals, and even in the ones that actually sell realistic villains with reasonable backstories (Suikoden 2, Xenogears), there always seems to be some ultimate force of pure evil that shits on that concept.

Now, this might be because I've read too much decent fiction, but the plots of RPGs have never been executed particularly well.
Even in a game like Planescape, the dialogue carried the game, whereas the plot itself was pretty standard and not terribly interesting.

>>1895278
Most people who have high standards for video game stories haven't read anything past the Harry Potter level. The only time writing has truly been on a world class level is in Lost Odyssey, in the dream sequences.
Turns out, Japan hired a guy overseas to write it for them.

>>1895343
>Turns out, Japan hired a guy overseas to write it for them.
I thought that guy just translated them?

>>1895359
Translating from Japanese is such a pain in the ass that you effectively need to re-write the entire thing to convey the same emotional depth in another language.
Hence why a Harvard professor was hired to do so.

>>1895278
That's because not necessarily is everything grey. There are people who do try to do the right thing, and other people who follow their own beliefs are what cause that morality. But there are also people and things that don't -care- about doing the right thing. There are people who do not give a shit about that.

Also there was already an argument about literature versus RPGs a few days ago on another thread, can we not get that shitstorm started again please?

>>1895278
>>1895343
Nice blatant bias. Harry Potter is popular for a reason, it's because it's well written. A lot of RPGs have good writing, stop acting like your opinion on the way they're written is the only one that has any merit.

>>1895381
Rewriting it doesn't change the actual story. The story is the same, it's just the way it was written that's different. It's still just a translation, no matter how well written it was.

>>1895395
>Harry Potter is popular for a reason, it's because it's well written.
>he thinks popularity is an indication of quality and not the result of millions of dollars worth of advertising and engineered hype

>>1895403
Don't give me that garbage. It was popular before the crowds came flocking, and it was because it was good. Whether it remained that way is debatable, but it was a well written story.

>>1895435
>Don't give me that garbage. It was popular before the crowds came flocking, and it was because it was good.

it was popular because it was targeted to a wide audience.

Cast a wide enough net and of course you'll get fish

>>1895442
No, it was targeted at kids, you jackass. The earlier books went for kids, and it became popular among other age groups because it was good.

The writer knew how to create a story, and people liked it. The same goes for any story.

>>1895449
>No, it was targeted at kids, you jackass.

cuz kids are so few in number and don't account for a huge percentage of consumed media. Oh wait.

>>1895451
>"it was targeted at a wide audience"
>you get corrected that it was targeted at kids
>"oh there are a lot of kids"

Eat a dick, you backpedaling faggot.

>>1895457

Im not back pedaling you dweeb, kids are largest consumers of disposable media out there.

Im not even arguing whether or not the book is good, Im just saying why it's popular. Not my fault you only ever read from the kids section of the library

>>1895487
But you completely contradicted yourself.

You can't say it's a wide audience and then say it's exactly one audience, no matter how big that fucking audience is.

>>1895487
>>1895449
Reading became a lot more popular for a whole age group because Harry Potter. It's not some literary masterpiece, but it is very readable and relatable.

>>1895497

didn't deny that at all. But they marketed the fuck out of it. Any quality is purely incidental. Reading was popular thanks to Goosebumps too for a while back in the 90s

>>1895497
>>1895507
I think the point is that it doesn't need to be a masterpiece to be good. The same goes for any book or game or pretty much anything that exists, but people act like something needs to be absolutely perfect to have any kind of quality behind it.

>>1895518

my point was that it doesn't need to be good to be popular

>>1895525
And you're absolutely right. But the flipside is true as well, which is what I think was at the core of the argument.

>>1895528

I think any quality in the case of HP was incidental though. They say it as something they could market to hell and back and that's why it got where it was

Twilight has had comparable success as well

>>1895395
>Rewriting it doesn't change the actual story. The story is the same, it's just the way it was written that's different. It's still just a translation, no matter how well written it was.

The stories have themes that can be explained in 1 sentence. The way it's written is EVERYTHING. This applies to any form of storytelling.

>>1895525
>SAO
This shit confuses me every day. How can people like this crap so much? Why? There's literally nothing new or good about it and there are even shows/games right now about the same thing that are way better, and yet SAO gets all the popularity. It makes no goddamn sense.

>>1895343
I never said anything negative about Harry Potter.
I simply implied that it was on a child's reading level, which it is.
There's nothing wrong with that, but many of the more adult premises featured in many RPGs steal from novels that the vast majority of Harry Potter readers would never touch.
It's hard to explain the correlation between 1984 and a video game's story when one of the party's involved hasn't read 1984.

>>1895686

I got one episode in turned it off and then rewatched Log Horizon to get the taste out of my mouth

so hype for season 2

>>1895687
>decide to read Harry Potter
>it's interesting
>an old man takes gifted children into his school in order to teach them to use their gifts in a world that wouldn't understand them
>another old man plots to have magic users take what he believes is their rightful place and dominate the regular humans

waaaaaaaaait a minute

>>1895686
Honestly I think it was primarily due to the advertising it got beforehand, heck I was looking forward to it before it started airing too, that and I'm sure if legitimate streaming services didn't exist like they do today it wouldn't be as popular.

>>1893293
Oh shit, I didn't expect anyone to even mention Vandal Hearts.

Fuck that second game and fuck that new one.

Wild Arms 2 is still my favorite JRPG of all time. Fantastic cast, amazing music, fun puzzles, and just all around fun, even if it was pretty easy.

>>1893293
Suikoden 2 was rated for the ESRB a few months back leading some people to think it's coming to PSN, but it still hasn't gone up. Also Harvest Moon has been up there for awhile.

>>1896162
I really like Wild Arms 2 apart from the translation at times.

Speaking of Wild Arms and the PSN, someone didn't even bother to categorize the second game properly on there. The first Wild Arms is in the RPG section where you'd expect it to be, but the second is absent from there. It's over in the action section instead. Makes me wonder if that's the case for any other PS1 RPGs on the system.

Hey OP it wasn't a gold mine back then it was the norm.

>>1896324
It really wasn't.

I mean, just take a look at the N64's extensive RPG Library.

Go ahead. Please, take your time. I'll wait.

>>1895709
So who's Cyclops?

>>1896207
What section was it in?

>>1896425

Harry. Presumably

>>1896425
I think the better question is who's wolverine.

>>1896475
Last I checked, Wild Arms 2 was over in the Action game section. When they were having the games up in a flash sale a while back I went looking. Found Wild Arms 1 in the RPG section easily, but could not find Wild Arms 2 there. Had to resort to looking it up manually. After the fact I got curious and went to try to find what exactly they'd decided to categorize it under instead. I recall it being in the action game section instead (might have been the adventure section though if I'm wrong; both of those are pretty close on the menu). Anyhow, they didn't have it in the right spot. Not sure if they've since rectified their mistake.

>>1896594

Nevel or however the fuck ya spell that

>>1896207
The thing about WA2 is that its translation itself was fine, accuracy-wise. It just didn't seem to be editted at all half the time. The result was some very awkward and clunky dialogue that, while accurate, sounded like English was the cast's second language.

The game would've come across so much better if they had just taken the time to have someone properly edit it to be readable. Then agian, Liz and Ard were always weird as fuck, even in Japanese they spoke mostly nonsense because they were aliens

How was Wild Arms 2 anyway? I played the first one but never tried the second.

>>1897125
i liked it. story is a bit silly but it's fun, and i love the music. the opening cutscene is pretty memorable too. also is long and quite challenging.

ashley is a shit tough

>>1897131
>is a shit

Fuck outta here

>>1897125
The only thing wrong is that it's translation is pretty wonky in parts. It's not horrible, but you'll not know who's staying what sometimes.

>>1887704
>Everyone has their Limiters removed in Shevat in order to get their 7 AP Deathblows. Except, Citan never had any. He was just faking it and holding back in fights.

U wot m8

>>1897375

Citan's a cunt. pay attention

>>1897125
It's fantastic. I think it's the best of the franchise personally. But if you're playing the English version, just be warned it's a bit weird. See >>1897323 >>1897107

>>1897375
Being badass and powerful and being a cunt are not exactly related. You can easily be both.

Does Lunar for PS1 usually have screen tearing? I can't tell if it's the game or my setup.

>>1897668
>Does Lunar for PS1 usually have screen tearing?

Not that I remember. What's your setup like

>>1897684
ps1 -> RGB SCART with sync stripper -> 15khz monitor.

I don't remember screen tearing on anything else I played previously.

>>1897107
I suppose so. Any idea if the localization team was given a time crunch that might have resulted in less time for editing, or if they brought in a new localization team compared to the first? It's not like the translation for the first game was without problems, but there it seemed more limited to names and terms meant as references not being caught rather than coming off as awkward due to not having much editing.

>>1897125
Pretty enjoyable. The translation can come across as a bit a bit odd at times though.

>>1897668
I'm pretty sure that isn't normal.

>>1898084
I remember hearing one time it had something to do with being busy with doing WA2 and Legend of the Dragoon localizations at the same time. More focus was being put on Dragoon, so WA2 got less love. But I can't find where I had read that now so I can't tell how true it may or may not be.

Personally it was probably just a rush job to get it out with minimum cost, since they probably didn't expect it to sell as much going up against something like FF8 which came out 6 months earlier, and Legend of the Dragoon coming out a few months after.

Wild Arms seems to have always been one of those under-the-radar type JRPGs.

>started WA2 again because of this thread
>picked Lilka first
>that intro
>that millenium puzzle music

god i loved this game

>>1883290
What's better, the PS1 or GBC version of Azure Dreams?

>>1898263
Pretty debatable.

The GBC is more polished but the PS1 has arguably more content, is more interesting, and in general has a lot more charm.

>>1898220
>I remember hearing one time it had something to do with being busy with doing WA2 and Legend of the Dragoon localizations at the same time.

The hilarity is that even though more effort was put on Dragoon, it's translation was still only slightly better.

>>1898263
GBC is a good port with all the main gameplay in there. However It stripped just about everything that wasn't roguelike but threw in about 100 basement floors to go through.

Basically if you just want the roguelike version get the GBC, but if you like the prospect of everything in the game (plus obviously the graphic and 3D enviroment parts of the dungeon) get the PS1.

>>1898275
*environment

The wife and I are taking turns playing Lunar:SSS. I played it as a teenager but she never played it. It has been really fun and I forgot just how much I enjoyed the Lunar games.

>>1898283
Kind of a shame the series might as well be completely dead after how bad Dragon Song was.

>>1898240
The music for the game is indeed great. That said, I only started playing the series a month or two back and have only gotten through the first two games so far. Does the music quality carry through the rest of the series?

>>1883290
Any good action RPGs?

Brave Fencer Musashi was pretty tits.

>>1898420
I recall hearing Threads of Fate (Dewprism in Europe) was pretty decent. The PS1 Tales games are pretty nice real time 2D combat JRPGs (Eternia, or Destiny II in the US, in particular is really quite fluid and fast paced); not exactly the same though. Also hear pretty decent things about Alundra. Probably more than that on the system that's just not coming to mind at the moment.

>>1898420
>>1898440
What this guy said. Threads of Fate is short, but kinda fun. Tales is good if you want action oriented combat, and Alundra was great.

Alundra 2 existed, but had nothing to do with the first, and I seriously recommend giving Dragon Valor a go, even if it isn't the best game out there.