/vr/ - Retro Games

>>3343601
I want to like Skies but I dropped it early because the encounter rate mixed with the length of battle and amount of exploration you gotta do just made it infuriating for me.

If Sega released a PC port with the option to lower it I'd buy it in a heart beat.

>>3343605
What's more infuriating is that if you decide to run away from battles you get penalized for it by having your title go down.

It's really funny.

My fiancees two favorite retro rpgs are Skies of Arcadia and Grandia 2. I like SoA a bit myself, but we both prefer Legends. She beat SoA about 7 times now. I have only beat it on DC and GC once each.

Not much to say except the game was good. Better when you remember what it was being released along side.

Anyone have similar games to OP post?

>>3343605
Apparently the GameCube version fixed a lot of the issues, including lowering the encounter rate.

Perhaps someone here who has actually playes the GC version can comment.

>>3343676
OP here. I'm playing the GC version actually. The encounter rate can be lowered even more by equipping the white map (which is available in both versions of the game but you can manage to get it a bit earlier in the GC version by feeding the little girl's bird)

The battles are still obnoxiously long with no way to skip the animations.

It's a good game, though a tad overrated by GCNbabbies. It felt like a regression compared to the team's previous RPG, Phantasy Star IV.

>>3343690
Well, you can skip super move animations, but not spell animations, unfortunately.

The GC version is good, and the only real drawback it has compared to the DC original is the fact that the music doesn't sound as good. It's like the GC renditions of the songs are missing some instruments.

>>3343696
They had to make the music shit in order to fit the game on the retarded Cube minidisc.

How big an RPG is SoA?

The older I get, the less spare time I seem to have. 50 or 60 hours for a game is a bit much for me now.

>>3343696
>you can skip super move animations
I had no idea that was possible holy crap. That's a lot more tolerable, thanks anon.

>>3343706
It's not as big as I thought it'd be but the battles and exploration will take a huge chunk of your time away in a very annoying manner. If you want something more fast-paced I recommend Shining Force.

>>3343702
How is it being autistic? Cube disc space is about 500 megabytes bigger than Dreamcast. Music difference is most likely people outputting DPLII because they are idiots. The versions are no different for music files.

>>3343716
Dreamcast original had 2 discs, while the Cube version is just one disc, autist.

>>3343731
Not him, but quite a few GameCube games used multiple discs (Resident Evil 4 for example).

So using more than one disc shouldn't have been an issue. Perhaps the GC's discs were big enough to hold two Dreamcast discs?

>>3343748
A GD-ROM can hold ~1GB, and a GC optical disc can hold ~1.4GB. It really depends on how much data is shared between the two GD-ROM discs, as well as what kind of compression is available.

Skies of Arcadia has a hideous battle rate. In a game built entirely on exploration, I think I had an encounter once every 4 seconds of movement for a little while when I was playing the other day.

There is a White Map that you can get after you hire on some dude AND get 50 discoveries, but by that point, there's no fucking point.

I'm also having issues setting up 56k so I can get the downloadable content.

>>3343712
Shining Force on the Genesis?
I was looking into buying Shining Force 1 and 2, but they're so fucking expensive.

>>3343621
She beat Skies of Arcadia 7 times?
With the random encounters, I can't imagine replaying this game.

>>3343760
Yeah on the genesis. First one's solid. Second one throws in some stuff I'm not that fond of but hey it's still shining force.

I was disappointed when finding the black moonstone that there was never any black moon or black/dark magic.

>>3343763
Whats better on Megadrive, Shining Force or Phantasy Star?

>>3343795
Those are very different games, my friend.

I can't really say. I haven't played phantasy star yet.

>>3343792
Was that gigantic black Looper in the Dreamcast version, or only in the GC release?

>tfw Shining Force isn't that expensive and you want to buy it on Ebay but are terrified it's a reproduction

I've bought two games recently and they've been repros. FUCKING VECTORMAN. A cheap, common game, and Mickey Mania.

>>3343804
The giant looper was in the DC DLC

>>3343601
Tried playing the Gamecube port a while back. I really enjoyed what I played of it but for some reason the battle camera was giving me motion sickness. The only game that's ever done so.

>>3343706
Recently played through Legends, about 30-40 hours if you just play without going after all the extras

>>3343795

I've played both and I really struggled to get into Shining Force. It's meant to be a classic and I guess it is, but it's just painfully slow. Of course the PS games are slow, too, but.... Christ the SF battles really drag. And the storyline is very dull and generic. I'd say the PS games are better but it's a matter of taste. It's telling, though, that the PS games havea modern legacy, but Shining Force doesn't.

>>3343795
PS4 > SF2 > PS2 > PS3 >SF1

Warning: unpopular opinion?

>>3344641
>the PS games havea modern legacy, but Shining Force doesn't.
That's not entirely true. The Shining series is alive and ... well it's alive. The games are just even further away from the originals than the modern PS games are.

>>3344641
>the PS games have a modern legacy

YOU MEAN PHANTASY STAR ONLINE RIGHT?

I enjoyed what I did play of the game... until I was grinding on monsters.
I had fought fair number and hadn't saved in a while, because I assumed that of the many times before where I battled them and had no problem, this time would be no different.
But then I got into one more battle, and the same group of monsters some how got some super lucky combination of attacks (I forget the details. This was a few years ago), that literally wiped out my party with out me being able to do a damn thing about it.
I have gone to areas before out of my league, in RPGs, I have had non random battles, RNG fuck me.
I have even been dumb and gone into battles with out the proper planning.
Not once had a random encounter with enemies I know I could destroy with out a fuss any other time, screwed me out of so much hard work, until this game.
I don't think I will ever pick it up again. I don't rage at games, but this one made me want to incinerate the disk.

Skies of Arcadia is one of my favorite RPGs. It's not as great as I remember when I tried replaying it recently, but it's still really good and I've got a lot of fond memories about it. It's true that the crew doesn't do much. They do show up in one of your super moves, though, but Prophecy is pretty much always a better option.

>>3343676
The GC version does have a lower encounter rate. Random battles can still take a while due to the animations, though, and once you get enough SP to use Aika's Lambda Burst on turn 1 every battle will open with that.

>>3343762
I also played it at least 3 times. This was the GC version, though.

>>3344567
The extras are my favorite part. I really like hunting for discoveries, they are basically just collectibles but they give you more insight about the world you're exploring. More games should do this kind of thing, collectibles that aren't just boring jewels hidden in obscure places.

>>3343632
Grandia has a similar atmosphere and overall feel, in my opinion, although it's more linear and has less sidequests. Some of the non-retro Tales games also have a Discovery system similar to Skies (Graces and Zestiria and maybe others, but I'd only recommend Graces).

>>3344667
Have a cry. That's something almost every RPG will do to you from time to time, you don't hear anyone else having a sook, do ya?

>>3344678
There aren't any side quests in Skies.

>>3343601
Look at deep into Vyse's eye.
He's got his hand around both of their hands.

They're his.

>>3346085
Vyse confirmed for best JRPG protag.

Ive been meaning to play this for awhile. I have a question though

Is there any romance in this game?

>>3346082
Discoveries
Bounties
Crew members
Moonfish /piastol

Yes there are.

>>3347034
Admittedly the bounties and moonfish quests are exclusive to Legends, but the crew members and discoveries count as sidequests in my book.

>>3346981
Not a focus, it's really minor. But you get both girls because you're a fucking pirate.

>>3347135
Crew members aren't really sidequests, but I guess. The discoveries aren't either, and I can barely tolerate them because there's so many random encounters.

Fuck Legends.
As a rule if the original game is good there's no point to try to play the "expanded" version.

>>3343621
>grandia 2
She has shit taste. First will always be best.

Skies, Grandia 2, and Shining Force are some of the best Sega RPGs.

I can't really think of that many others, though.

>>3349395
Panzer Dragoon Saga and Phantasy Star IV, son.

>>3346114

>>3349370
I generally consider sidequests to be anything you can do or collect that's not necessary to finish the game, excluding things like treasure chests, but I suppose it's semantics.

Legends does improve on a few things though, like the encounter rate. Nothing wrong with Legends, it's a well-done port of a great game that was released on a console that didn't do too well. The music is a little worse but that's it.

Fucking enough with the encounter rate meme. On /v/ where it's filled with underaged posters I'd let it slide, but here too? I don't see it being ran into the ground in other RPGs, why is this such an issue? Compare it to Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, SMT, Suikoden, Breath of Fire, Wild ARMs or any other RPGs. It's not any worse or better. Also, there's also the fact that you can clear 90% of the random with Alpha Storm. It's like someone really wanted to nitpick this great game, they couldn't find anything, so they just bullshitted some mundane shit out of their ass and somehow it stuck.

>>3351312
I agree.
Some games do have obnoxious encounter ratios but that doesn't matter when you can just run away from it or battle to get exp, either way it benefits the player.

>>3351312
No-one is saying the game is bad senpai. Great games have flaws too.

The fact that the battles have a lot of unskippable animation doesn't help. FFIX has the exact same flaw and it's one of my major gripes about that game, but that doesn't mean I hate or even dislike the game. SNES RPGs have high encounter rates as well, but there's usually less padding when it comes to battle duration so battles are over quicker and it evens out.

That said, if people don't like the encounter rate, and there's a version with reduced encounter rate available, what's wrong with recommending that version?

>>3351343
I don't really give a damn if you like the game or not, it bothers me that there are people going out of limbs to look for faults. You don't see the same gripes in say, your example of FF IX. It's a meme and a shitty one. By the way, DC emulation has been a thing, unskippable scenes mean jack.

>>3351729
what DC emulator allows fast forwarding?

>>3351729
I don't agree. I've brought up FFIX's slow battles before and I've seen others do it too.

The difference is that, for Skies, there's a way to get around this issue without having to play on an emulator. That's why people bring it up so often. It's not a 'meme'.

>>3351312
If it's a meme I have not been aware of it. It is my legitimate complaint.

>>3343601
I wish this had gotten a sequel.

Also Dew Prism/Threads of Fate.

Looking through the comments, I don't remember the encounter rate bothering me when I played this on the Dreamcast.

That was a really long time ago, though. People probably just aren't really accustomed to random encounters these days. I grew up on them and I don't remember SoA standing out in that regard.

>have dying old DC
>takes about 20 minutes of spinning a working disc before it wants to read burned ones, needs to "warm up"
>never get around to finishing SoA because by the time it's warmed up I've gotten sidetracked playing something else.
That little VMU game was cool as fuck though, I'm a sucker for the novelty of carrying on the game away from home.

>>3351937

FF IX's battles being way too slow is the fucking king of JRPG complaint memes. It's the fastest way to know whether or not somebody has no idea what the fuck they're talking about.