/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.5188507]

How are Wild Arms 1 & 2? I played them both for a few hours when I was a kid but something about them turned me off and made me never want to continue. I think it was the transition from 2D sprites to hideous 3D models in battle. Anyway, I'm running out of old JRPGs to play and I'm willing to give them a shot.

[Anonymous No.5188525]

They're really not that good. Pretty unremarkable, except in its setting, which still isn't enough to warrant playing them.

I'm sure you're not running out of JRPGs, though. What are some of your favorites? Maybe the boyz of /vr/ can hook you up.

[Anonymous No.5188528]

>>5188507
I loved the 3D models in battle. As for the game, it's ok, a bit bland. Wild Arms 1 came out at a time when Suikoden was the only real RPG on the playstation with any kind of fame just before the FFVII explosion happened. This and Suikoden were really the only way for a lot of PS players to get their RPG fix for a while.

[Anonymous No.5188549]

>>5188525
>They're really not that good. Pretty unremarkable
That's what I assumed all these years. I was looking for something to keep me busy while I wait for the Grandia remasters and it was either these or Koudelka. I also want to start the Phantasy Star games at some point but I don't have the motivation right now. There aren't too many old JRPG games I can think of that I haven't already played, but I played through all the SaGa games a couple years ago and since then it's been hard to find games that aren't a disappointment compared to them.
>>5188528
I remember the first time I played it was right after watching my friend play FFVII at his house. My mom couldn't afford to get me a new game so I had to settle for renting Wild Arms. It was a huge disappointment.

[Anonymous No.5188550]

>>5188507
WA1 is best described as slow and cute, with a weird amount of story similiarities to FF7. I probably wouldn't recommend it to someone.

WA2 is one of the unsung greats though. Fresh tropes. Unique character mechanics. Multiple environment interaction mechanics per character. Both secret characters and mechanics to unlock for a fantastic amount of sidecontent. Lavos-bucket type superbosses.

The games have no relation either so you can jump into WA2 right away.

[Anonymous No.5188553]

I completed the first game recently, I thought it was bog-standard but it actually ended up charming me by the end, I couldn't tell you why tho

I tried WA2 recently but I got discouraged after reading that the translation was worse than the first game

[Anonymous No.5188574]

Under it's average appearance, WA1 is fucking great. There are lots of surprises, upsets, mistakes, characters have flaws, but they grow stronger, relations are well done without relying on some tired clichés (not too much at least), NPCs are likable and you might become attached to some despite some rough beginings, there are a metric ton of optional quests that reward smart play.
Oh and yeah, intros (yes there are 2 intros) and soundtrack are fucking fantastic, even more if you have the western spaghetti vibe.

[Anonymous No.5188595]

>>5188507
I like Wild Arms, it just feels like a classic JRPG in all the right ways
I also smoked a lot of weed while playing it and gave all the spells names that made me giggle

Never really gave 2 much of a chance though

[Anonymous No.5188632]

They're fine, but honestly the non-retro entries of 3 and 5 are better.

[Anonymous No.5188641]

>>5188549
haha, I really need to dive into post SNES SaGa myself but I could see how this would cause you to be "let down" by JRPGs since then. I'd recommend playing some WRPG or older PC RPGs if you wanna change it up in a genre you seem pretty tired/tapped out of.

[Anonymous No.5188687]

1 is great, the games get progressively worse. They never got the message that what made WA great was the sparse use of ARMs and western stuff.

[Anonymous No.5188720]

>>5188550
>WA1 is best described as slow and cute, with a weird amount of story similiarities to FF7.
Explain.

Also WA1 is great how dare you

[Anonymous No.5188721]

>>5188574
Also Cecilia is a great female MC (if a little Mary Sue-ish)

[Anonymous No.5188727]

>>5188687
3 is my favorite precisely because it's the most western setting and everyone uses a gun.

[Anonymous No.5188736]

>>5188721
She makes crucial mistakes, so I can't put her in the mary sue case.
The hair event (and her dialog at that time) really made me awe at how such small and simple things could do for a character.

[Anonymous No.5188746]

>>5188727
3 sucks, it's basically anime COD.

[Anonymous No.5188748]

>>5188746
That is a terribly inaccurate comparison.

[Anonymous No.5188749]

OP here I've decided to go ahead and play them. This is now a Wild Arms thread.

[Anonymous No.5188752]

What is this thread? Wild Arms 1 is great, fuck you all.

[Anonymous No.5188756]

>>5188749
watch the 2nd intro, it has a lot if crucial info

[Anonymous No.5188760]

that fucking intro is great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq8EKttSu3I

[Anonymous No.5188791]

I'd consider Wild ARMs to be as good as Earthbound if only because there's pretty much no other JRPG like it.

[Anonymous No.5188793]

>>5188736
I guess the main sticking point I remember is her convincing the giant robot to help them. That seemed somewhat unrelated to her character, but she was given that role.

But it once again reinforces the idea that she is undoubtedly the main character of WA1.

[Anonymous No.5188795]

>>5188752
Pretty sure 2/3 of the thread is praising wild arms bruv

[Anonymous No.5188796]

>>5188507
Horrid translations

[Anonymous No.5188803]

>>5188795
It should be 3/3, fuck you all.

[Anonymous No.5188805]

>>5188803

[Anonymous No.5188806]

>>5188803
Can't argue that the in-battle graphics are pretty shit

[Anonymous No.5188856]

>>5188720
MC discovers he's lab-made and completely shuts down, forcing the female MC to enter his psyche and pull him out.

Badguy is obsessed with alien creature he calls "mother". Ends up fusing together with her to form the final boss.

Also, nature's selfdefense Weapons are roaming the worldmap as optional bosses, and at some point you go into space. Both games also mixes swords, guns and magic into one setting.

(and WA1 was released the month before FF7 btw)

[Anonymous No.5188861]

i wish ACF wasn't such a lame remake of 1

[Anonymous No.5188948]

Michiko Naruke is my favorite video game composer ever. She's got such a grandiose, sweeping style. Whenever a new Smash game is announced these days, I get more hyped to see which tracks she contributes than the actual game. She almost single-handedly carries the Wild Arms series thorough the music.

[Anonymous No.5188976]

>>5188720
How is it great though?

[Anonymous No.5188990]

>>5188687
This picture is the only thing I even remember about Wild Arms.

[Anonymous No.5189015]

>>5188550
Still one of my favourite video game intros of all time
https://youtu.be/0XHmbknr0Qo

[Anonymous No.5189018]

>>5188948
I wonder how many tracks she did for pic related.

[Anonymous No.5189024]

I still don't know how you're supposed to pronounce Elw

[Anonymous No.5189029]

>>5188856
Thanks for the spoiler, asshole. Now I don't feel like playing WA1 and FF7 anymore.

[Anonymous No.5189031]

Wild Arms 2 had everything that was good in lufia 2 and took all of it farther.
The puzzles and dungeons aren't just Link to the past ripoffs, each level has a unique look to them the tools in the game are all utilized creatively for solutions
Each character has a unique way of using attacks and growing stronger, as well as a FF6 summoning equipment feature, and a skill point tree on top of that. It's a lot of different features to take in on top of the battle system, but the game compensates for that with some really forgiving grinding.
It lets you jump right into the game and brute force it if you have to, but then it rewards you for picking up on the different game mechanics.

Camera work is probably my favorite. It uses a rotating camera like in Grandia, but it takes a page from Isometric RPGs where there's a lot more to climb around and explore. The game also limits the camera angles to 8 directions and keeps everything more grid based and blocky so you can't get as lost as easily as you would in Grandia.

The only thing it really suffers from is it's translation which gives it a few Castlevania II moments where you can't find the next objective without a walkthrough. There's a lot of missable stuff anyway, so a spoiler free walkthrough is recommended.

[Anonymous No.5189052]

>>5189031
can you get the general jist or is it beyond fucked?
I dont know if I should leave it for later when I get the motivation back to pick up my jap studies again
I cant learn japanese

[Anonymous No.5189092]

>>5189031
Thanks this actually makes it sound pretty nice. I'm pretty eager to play it now.

[Anonymous No.5189115]

Zed
or
Liz & Ard

which one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7dO2edfy00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2saPr88Omho

[Anonymous No.5189120]

>>5189115
Liz & Ard. no contest.

[Anonymous No.5189162]

>>5189052
I beat the game quite recently and there's nothing wrong with the translation, or any particular confusion with directives. This isn't BOF.

Worldmap locations aren't really visible though, so if you're not thorough you'll have trouble.

[Anonymous No.5189181]

>>5188507
>play as kid
>game has credits like 20% into the story
>"well that was a short game"
>turn off before credits end
>play again as an adult
>80% of the game was left after those oddly placed credits

[Anonymous No.5189192]

>>5189181
lol hadn't you ever watched a movie before

I feel like you're just making a joke on purpose here

[Anonymous No.5189194]

Reminder every Wild Arms starts with Tony and ends with Ragu o Ragula.

[Anonymous No.5189216]

>>5189181
no, that really happened I was just retarded

[Anonymous No.5189217]

>>5189216
meant for
>>5189192

[Anonymous No.5189224]

>>5189029
/This was a Wild ARMs thread.

>>5189031
is the translation really just flat out terrible? I can slog a lot of mechanics for rewarding/missable content but if the story is flat iyt bad and unreadable it'll be a massive waste of time I feel.

[Anonymous No.5189287]

>>5189052
>>5189224
The translation is fine for it's era, there's one or two typos in the directions.

Locations on the world map have to be found through dowsing, and there are one or two times where they game will tell you to search east instead of west.

[Anonymous No.5189709]

You can name your spells penis
Thats all I remember

[Anonymous No.5189729]

>>5189287
>there are one or two times where they game will tell you to search east instead of west.
First rule of exploration club is to go where you're told to last of all, so unless you're given directions to backtrack it shouldn't cause any problem.

[Anonymous No.5190021]

>>5189031
Its weird really. There's some parts of the translation that got through unscathed but other parts are total messes. I figure the interactions with Liz and Ard was some sort of Japanese word game that just couldn't really be translated into english well.

[Anonymous No.5190118]

>>5189015
Mexican anime?

[Anonymous No.5190960]

>>5189729
That doesn't work with the dowsing mechanic. Dowsing was a neat idea the game had to make secret locations a little more difficult to fine, but it absolutely didn't turn out well. Since the landmark doesn't show up on the world map until you dowse for it, you're never sure if you're looking in the wrong place or if you just barely missed the location when you were dowsing.

[Anonymous No.5191378]

Other than the translation feeling dry as a bone, how's the remake of WA1?

[Anonymous No.5191448]

>>5191378
I liked it for what it was.

[Anonymous No.5191503]

>>5191378
It doesn't really improve on anything that was already there and basically goes too far on a bunch of other stuff and hams it right up.

[Anonymous No.5191820]

>>5188948
I still can't believe how a PS1 game got a lot of songs in it.

[Anonymous No.5192412]

booted up WA2 because of this thread, try to document any thoughts if I go further but I do really enjoy environmental dungeon design, I missed that after playing WA1 so many years ago. I also enjoy the easy to understand Mana/ARM system.

[Anonymous No.5192996]

>>5188749
About ten hours into it. It's actually a pretty nice little RPG. It reminds me a lot of Golden Sun. I really like the spell system especially.

[Anonymous No.5193023]

Why won't Sony re-release Alter Code F anywhere? I'm fucking livid. That game is expensive as fuck.

[Anonymous No.5193167]

finished all prologue sections (Lillia was fun - mostly because encounters were nonentities) but my main gripe could be this font all game..

[Anonymous No.5193708]

>>5189031
>>5190021
The translation is largely fine, but they pretty much had no editor so it's a mess. And yeah, Liz and Ard have similar nonsensical lines in Japanese because they're aliens

[Anonymous No.5193716]

>>5193167
It's your emulators fault. Use an accurate one like Xebra instead.

[Anonymous No.5193735]

The worst part of WA1 is how long it takes to save the game because the save menu is so slow

[Anonymous No.5193740]

>>5193167
>>5193716
yeah I'm pretty sure that font is supposed to have a drop shadow

[Anonymous No.5193746]

>>5193708
Liz makes perfect sense he's just speaking in traditional japanese poetry forms and he's pretty much direct translated which works because there's really no play on words or anything there.

[Anonymous No.5193753]

>>5193746
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kigo

a good place to start in case anyone actually cares about
>what did Liz mean by this
and isn't just looking to turn their brain off in the face of cognitive dissonance and meme their way out of everything

[Anonymous No.5193810]

>>5188507
Played them as a kid and they were okay, never felt the desire to play them again as a manchild.
The OST is pretty nice though, have a listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7jOKDQOeZc

[Anonymous No.5193831]

>>5188528
I played both a year ago. Wild Arms is definitely in my top 5 PS1 games, it just oozes charm for me. Suikoden I consider a slow mess that has some interesting ideas. (Need to play 2 for both series) Didn't help I played Suikoden right after Wild Arms, it felt SO slow to control after sprinting everyplace in WA.

[Anonymous No.5193923]

>>5193810
This is my favorite track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTCs0dywPUE

[Anonymous No.5194257]

>>5193831
> didn't figure out how to run in Suikoden

[Anonymous No.5194273]

>>5194257
It still is much worse to control since you can only move in 4 directions, almost on a grid, in comparison to diagonal movement in WA

[Anonymous No.5194276]

>>5193810
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi3u07zxwqk
this my fav

[Anonymous No.5194672]

>>5193716
lol I spent some time getting used to Xebra and even got the img mounted and playing with great sound quality and it did fix the text! But the sprite of Ashley itself now carries garbage graphics around, displacing him in any 3D environment. And from what I understand the point of Xebra is no video plugins..

caught the cat, but bad recommendation friend.

[Anonymous No.5194708]

>>5194672
doesn't psxfin work fine with wa2?

[Anonymous No.5195585]

>>5194708
Son, the game of finding an emulator, and configuration/troubleshooting is the biggest motivation killer to starting a new game. Anyway, ignoring my post whining like a fag I finally got it working, and Xebra seems like a really nice emulator to use from now on. Will continue on.

[Anonymous No.5195776]

>>5188507
You should play them for the "translations" alone... is what I could say. But these games are worth more than that.

WA games in general are respectful of the players time. Battle speeds are more than decent. Puzzles range from laughably simple to acceptable mindbenders. The OSTs are hot. And not particularly handholdy. Like, things you read on bookshelves or here from NPCs are often pretty darn relevant be it immediately or for things coming later on. Like, these games have the worst World Map ever. First of all you have to find/buy one. Secondly its not an on-screen mini-map but press Select to view. And thirdly it shows only places you've been to already. You're expected to find new towns/areas on your own via dialogue general direction finding. Especially in WA2 where places literally aren't displayed on the overworld until you've discovered them.

WA1 is short the most basic of them all but never not a good starting point. Its also where a ton of repeat terms/things that come in later games start from.

WA2 is just bananas story-wise. The puzzles ramp up, and battle system gets more fleshed out. Unlike the first game, this one has more than a couple of standout, unforgettable moments too. Its good stuff.

[Anonymous No.5196548]

>>5195776
Posts like this do make me wanna explore the jrpg wasteland. I like that he fav plays every time I load the game lol.

[Anonymous No.5196572]

>>5195585
psxfin is the ease of use emulator.
ePSXe is the 'the two dozen games it actually can run I get to upscale!' emulator.
mednafen is the 'I don't need an interface and I'm just gonna play single disc games' emulator.

[Anonymous No.5196675]

>>5196572
single disc? fucking disgusting for psone. Never even heard of psxfin, I'm an oldfag so I've just used ePSXe pretty consistently to run Resident Evils and standard fair JRPG. The upscaling is nice though, be honest. Sound is garbo.

Xebra seems like it does it shit well, being a moonrune emulator is quaint too. Which games does ePSXe really struggle with? Beside fine details like that font issue.

[Anonymous No.5196735]

>>5196572
I remember 15 years ago using ePSXe to play almost everything from Persona to Gallop Racer to Monster Rancher, and they all worked perfect. Did anything change since then?

[Anonymous No.5196749]

For all people who liked WA1: What do you think about Alter Code F?

[Anonymous No.5196791]

>>5196749
it's terrible

[Anonymous No.5196812]

>>5196749
worse than the original

[Anonymous No.5197150]

>>5196791
>>5196812
Care to elaborate why? I'm honestly asking, I haven't played it.

[Anonymous No.5197305]

>>5197150
seconding this. reading this thread made me want to replay WA1, but having Calamity Jane in the party sounds interesting.

[Anonymous No.5197326]

>>5197150
>>5197305
It's basically got a bunch of really cheesy low budget anime type scenes that recreate moments from the original game while explicitly spelling out everything that's happening just in case anyone couldn't follow along in the first game or couldn't figure out exactly explicitly what's up with Rudy

you get Jane and Emma and Zed in your party but it turns out they're all sort of a chore to have around and switch in and out of your party, and were generally much more enjoyable as characters who were off doing their own thing and occasionally helping the main trio out as a sort of temporary not going to fight with you buddy.

It also adds a bunch of scenes and moments that weren't in the first game and frankly didn't need to be, mostly having to do with how incredibly tragic everyone's life was, just hammed right up there when in the original game they sort of just got over it or toughed it out instead with their lingering complex sort of echoing in the background and being dealt with when it was actually appropriate

like there's actually a part where you have to go back to that first farming village with Rudy because apparently he's all sad about it this time even though it was ostensibly just a single stop on his journeys in the first game and a moment that becomes irrelevant in the face of bigger issues, but not in ACF, in ACF everyone needs closure and validation on every single thing.

Some say that less is more and ACF proves that sometimes just adding more is just awful.

[Anonymous No.5197425]

>>5196675
mednafen can run multidisc games, there's just no GUI for it. read the docs, and use F6/F8.

[Anonymous No.5197480]

>>5189024

Eee-lew

>>5188687

This...they should have kept it about a semi medieval world that was the remains of a techno paradise.

[Anonymous No.5197490]

Wild Arms is a fun, simple RPG with a great soundtrack. I love the first two and they will always have a special place in my collection

[Anonymous No.5197518]

>>5197425
lol I'm not gonna use your shitty emulator I already said I got Xebra working and that's probably more accurate then whatever you're peddling.

[Anonymous No.5198282]

>>5189024
in german/scandinavian dialects "w" is commonly pronounced as "v", which might give you a clue to how this mystical, long lived race is supposed to be pronounced...

>>5197480
gtfo with that welsh shit

[Anonymous No.5198295]

>>5197425
sure mednafen *can* run multidisc PS1 games, as long as you set it up before you start playing (if you don't you can kiss your saves goodbye).

mednafen's Saturn emulation can't handle multi disc games at all though.

[Anonymous No.5198821]

Well I'm about 15 hours into the first one and so far have been pleasantly surprised by how nice this game is. The battle graphics and animations are still bafflingly bad compared to how the rest of the game looks and the boss battles all end up being exactly the same, but it's not a big deal.

[Anonymous No.5199097]

Quick non-/vr/ question. Are the PS2 games any good? A quick look at them makes me think that they suffer from the same problem that other game series had when they made the transition into the 6th gen where they try to make them appeal to teens that liked Naruto.

[Anonymous No.5199213]

>>5199097
3 is extremely good and bares no comparison to Naruto (wut?). It is however quite longer than 1/2, and you really have to get to know the items and mechanics. There's a LOT the game doesn't tell you. A blind first playthrough will be rough, but not a bad experience. A revisit with knowledge and a good guide at hand, and the magic really shines.

[Anonymous No.5199558]

>>5189024
>>5198282
iirc the japanese writing is Eruwi with the wi being a lowercase kana signifying a sort of japanese false V that you rarely if ever see in english katakana words

it is a weird word even in the source language and isn't really how you'd normally write elf or elve in japanese characters

it's more like "Elwvi" if you rolled your tongue on the 'L' and sort of shoved that w in before the vi

[Anonymous No.5199769]

y'all need to go play XF

[Anonymous No.5200127]

>>5198282
There's not a single German word in which "w" is pronounced like "v".

[Anonymous No.5200362]

>>5200127
nobody cares about your labiodental approximants

[Anonymous No.5200569]

>>5200127
werder bremen

[Anonymous No.5200634]

>>5200127
Wir waren wortlos.
In fact, I can't find ONE German word that isn't pronounced like "v".

[Anonymous No.5200673]

>>5200127
You're a dumbass.
t. took four years of German.

[Anonymous No.5201589]

>>5199769
I did, and its easy to break. Although the early parts can pose a challenge of you are unprepared.
Levin having 3 consecutive turns is just too much.

[Anonymous No.5201602]

>>5199769
I played it and the game crashed like 30 minutes into an early battle where 80% of my turns I had to move my units over and over across a huge snakey battlefield

also: xf has some of the worst dubbing I've ever heard in any videogame period

[Anonymous No.5202129]

>>5200569
"ferder" bremen?
>>5200634
"Fir faren fortlos"?

"V wie Flügel", or what? ___:D___

>>5200673
Oh, you think those four years of German with Fräulein Schmidt make you special? You were merely taught in German. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t hear any other language until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but music!

[Anonymous No.5202172]

>german
>music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo0Hsx-yHiI