I need an RPG........

[Star Ocean 3 0]

Get it.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Ah, I see... I didn't realize you could get them fast enought o actually dodge the damn thing.

 

There's a manga for it? Ooo... GIMME. NOW.

 

Yep. You still have to be careful though. Occasionally you will still fry one of your own guys. It is probably best to wait a turn before using strong fire magic. That way your close-combat characters will have already moved and you don't have to have them run all the way up to the enemy and then run away again in one turn.

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159...4653016-3495333

 

That's Volume 1. The first five are out in English, with the 6th coming out next month. The only downside is that long times between release dates.

 

Though the official company line is it was up to the player, I'm leaning towards we'll be seeing Jowy and Riou again. If I remember the lore of the True Runes correctly, all the True Runes holders (the final ones) would be there when the final battle happens. Besides, those who hold the True Runes life spans increase dramatically, so Jowy and Riou will probably be kicking for Suikoden V (assuming V will be apart of the Nation Islands).

 

This actual hurts your argument. As the Bright Shield & Black Sword Runes are not True Runes, they are simply two parts of a True Rune. That's why their holders are fated to fight each other. Because they only way they can unite them and gain the power of the True Rune of the Beginning is by killing the other guy and taking his rune. Both Riou & Jowy will age. If all the True Runes must be present at the final battle, then the Rune of the Beginning must be united before then.

 

Some people get this confused because of the situation with the Gate Rune. But that was a True Rune that was split into two halves, so both halves retain the powers of the True Rune. The Black Sword & Bright Shield Runes are only components that make up a True Rune when they come together.

 

Hm... Didn't think about Hugo's father. I wonder who exactly he is, because he's supposed to be a prominant character and actually if I'm not mistaken, many people guess that's who was being talked about and not Jowy.

 

I still think its Jowy though.

 

Lucia is always protecting Jowy throughout the latter half of II. Jowy is also the only one there that is around her age. Something seems up between those two, although his character certainly becomes less noble if he was cheating on Jillia the whole time. Luca makes no sense (everybody hates him), but would certainly make for an interesting plot-point down the road. We know its not Sasarai.

 

Watch it be someone like Culgan just to piss everybody off.

[Guest OSIcon]

Blink and you miss him in Vector. Yeah, he DOES die. Or at least was in Vector.

 

Although, you could make the case that Duncan and Bannon are the same guy (hey, why use that EXACT sprite for Duncan).

 

Yea, I know he is in Vector before you sail to Crescent Island to search for the Espers. I figured he died, but they never say exactly when or how. Was he (along with The Narshe Elder and the rest of the Returners) killed in Vector after the Empire ended their charade of helping the group out? Or did he die later? That's what has always bugged me....Bannon was a pretty important non-playable character (well, almost non-playable) in the first half of the game yet they don't even mention how he dies.

 

The problem with the WOR is that it pretty much was in ruins and yet everyone who had been a hero from the year previous actually got on with their lives.

 

Um... Excuse me? Hello. I wouldn't be just wasting my damn time for a year and living a shallow existance. I would be trying to find a way to get rid of Kefka. I think that's everyone's problem.

 

Yea....I can see that. Though I think at least some of the characters have reasons and motivation for not going right after Kefka. Some just don't want to fight anymore (Setzer and Terra). Others need to get rid of personal demons before they feel ready to take out Kefka (Cyan and Locke). Then there are others (Relm, Gau, Strago, Mog) who really aren't in any position to go after Kefka on their own or even go to find the others. Of course, there are guys like Edgar and Sabin who are seemingly doing nothing for an entire year.

 

Cinematics over anything else. Its a bad trend that is getting to the point that some games *coughxenocoughsagacough* are just blantantly being a movie with game filled in. To RPG companies these days, it seems like they don't want to actually make a game.

 

Agreed.

 

I don't have nearly as much time as I would like to play games these days. Which makes finding time to play RPG's with LONG cinematic sequences nearly impossible. I usually have an hour here and there to play. Which means that if I am lucky, I get a half an hour or so of action and 30 minutes of dialogue, cinematics, ect. to sit through. That is barely time enough to even get to a save point and at most, just time enough to get through one small area. When I play a game (RPG's included), I want to play for an hour....not watch for a half an hour and play for the other half.

 

That's why I tend to play a lot more light RPG's these days. Mario and Luigi, Paper Mario 2, ect. are all more along the lines of what I want out of an RPG: good action, decent story, and things keep moving. I just played Skies of Arcadia last summer and loved it for that reason. It had more cinematics than the Mario games, but still no where near the amount you get today.

 

This is why I'll tout Tales of Symphonia as the best RPG since the new school ones started. Its about style. The FMVs aren't meaningless yet not long to bore you to death, the game still ranks in as a long game (assuming you DO more than just blitz through), the battles are fun, the characters are well-built and there is plenty of reasons to play and play again. Its pretty much this generations Chrono Trigger.

 

Tales of Symphonia is on my "To Play" list once school gets out. I've watched one of my roommates play it and it looks to be a game I'd really enjoy given the time to play it. The battle system especially looks fun.

 

Ok, how about I put, "limitations in what FFVI's system could do"? Geezus. Did I say it didn't have good graphics? No. Did I say it had a weak script? No. There's just a limit to what you can do on a SNES.

 

I understand what you are saying now. I just took your first quote for face value.

 

I agree with your point, though it is unfortunate. Especially because of the snowball effect VII had on the later Final Fantasy games and RPG's in general. I can understand why VII was more "style over substance" in terms of graphics and cinematics taking precedent over story and gameplay. After the Playstation (and later PS2) hardware was all figured out, they could have returned to focusing more on improving gameplay and the stories. Maybe they did to an extent, but not that much.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Yeah why does Blockbuster suck so hard?

 

I used to be able to get any game I want there but these days they don't have shit. The only RPG you guys mentinoned that's there is Dragon Quarter.

Its because Blockbuster only brings out the games from the big companies. Many of the RPGs don't come from the big companies anymore, hence Blockbuster doesn't carry them.

 

For anything older than the second gen systems, you'd need to purchase in order to find out if you like them or not, you probably won't find them for rentale.

 

P.S.

Get Dragon Quarter. You'll love it for being unique and difficult (unless you know how to cheat, well not cheat but learn how to use the system to your advantage).

Edited April 16, 2005 by Lightning Flik

[Special K 0]

Just bought Growlanser Generations. It's two PS2 games in one, Growlanser II & III

I'm playing II now. fairly interesting, lots to do. It has a fun and unique combat system. While it's billed as a strat RPG, it's almost more like Grandia's system than anything else. Things move in real time, with pauses to select your characters actions from a menu. It has one of the most versatile yet simple magic systems I've ever seen. Let's say you cast generic attack spell, you can pick from different levels of the spell, then split it any way you want. Cast a level 7 fire spell and pump five into the boss while giving two to a near-death minion.

It has a very nice learning curve, and an excellent level of difficulty (hard, but you'll eventually be able to pull any difficult missions off with a little planning and patience) Having read reviews, it seems that Growlanser III has an excellent story, but not quite as good gameplay.

Either way, I may end up spending 40 hours or more on number 2, it has a ton of different endings, and a major plot branch halfway through.

Very user-friendly to cinematics haters as well,You can skip spell effects at the press of a button, turn off the annoying dialogue, and battles aren't too terribly long at all.

[JJ Johnson 0]

Sometimes I think I need a rocket propelled grenade too, but then a handgun works just fine.

[AndrewTS 0]

I saw in Play that Dragon Quest VIII is confirmed for a U.S. release (PS2, BTW). Slated for November for now (that's just retailers' estimate though. I'm STILL waiting on my GBA Mega Man Anniversary Collection, bastiches).

 

No, it won't be called Dragon Warrior VIII. It'll be called Dragon Quest VIII here too. I guess Squeenix decided to keep a common name across shores, like they started to do with Final Fantasy VII.

 

It'll be interesting to see how it performs with Squeenix's full marketing might behind it, but damnit--as if keeping straight what games belonged to which series weren't confusing enough already.

 

Throw together some random titles including the names Saga, Dragon, Legend, Fantasy, etc. and it's hard for all but the most in-the-know RPG players to keep on top of.

 

Flik: Interesting read, but I meant the FFVII/VI thing as a rhetorical question.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Andrew, the reason why they can use Dragon Quest is because there was an ol' pen and pencil game called Dragon Quest that had the licensing for the name. Hence, its passed so now SquareEnix will be using the original name.

 

And yes, I knew you meant it as a rhetorical question, but I decided to take it up.

[AndrewTS 0]

Right. I'd heard something of that before, but why bother changing the name when Dragon Warrior's already established? At least FFVII was still "Final Fantasy."

[Lightning Flik 0]

I think the reason they wanted it as Dragon Quest is just to keep it the same name everywhere. Simplier than people going "you know, that Dragon Quest game sounds sorta familiar to this Dragon Warrior game I played".

 

Its simplicity at its best.

 

Same reason Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest both are just banked on the name. Its easier than coming up with a different title for each game.

 

However, Dragon Quest at least has an excuse from games 1 to about 5 I think where Erik was somehow involved in each game and therefore at least gave a connection to each game. The games didn't start not having anything the same till about game 6 (although, I haven't played 6, so no idea), but I'll just 7 since it really departed from it.

 

For Final Fantasy, the connection dies at 3.

 

[The Czech Republic 0]

The FFs were EVER connected? News to me

[Lightning Flik 0]

There are minor things that do link the first three games.

 

However, it wasn't as strong as the case with Dragon Quest's first 1-3 games.

[Jingus 0]

There are a few recurring themes: chocobos, moogles, airships, Cid, summoned monsters/espers/aeons, similar magic spells, so forth & so on. But they clearly don't all take place on the same world in the same plane of reality.

 

About the World of Ruin: yeah, there were a shitload of annoying loose threads that never got tied up. Why had none of the characters found each other and banded back together a full year afterwards? Why was Narshe abandoned? What happened to all the various characters who just disappeared? HOWever, I don't think that it's that bad a problem, for one reason: having the world almost destroyed in such a manner is such a devastating event that there really would be a lot of unexplained mysteries like that afterwards. We might never know the real story about what happened to this city or that person. Kinda makes the game more realistic in some ways.

 

Great thread, everyone. Keep it up.

[Guest Coffey]

I actually remember feeling very satisfied the first time that I managed to keep Cid alive with fish in the World of Ruin.

 

Not as good as you feel when you break the curse on the Paladin Shield though.

[Highland 0]

I actually remember feeling very satisfied the first time that I managed to keep Cid alive with fish in the World of Ruin.

 

Not as good as you feel when you break the curse on the Paladin Shield though.

Yeah but having to go trough 255 battles was a pain.

Getting the Illumina was sweet, though. Fuck Ragnarok.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

I wasted so much time at the Arena trying to win stuff. For some reason I thought I could defeat that sneezing guy. I thought, maybe if I did just a bit more damage in my first hit I could get him.

 

Anyone try beating WOR with just three characters (Celes/Edgar/Setzer, the only ones you have to take before hitting Kefka's tower)?

[Jingus 0]

Oh god yes, I tried for DAYS to figure out a way to beat Chupon. I thought that if maybe I could use the Jump Shoes along with that Dragon Horn thing that made the attack more powerful and then put it on a really high-level character who had very high dexterity then maybe I could kill him in the first hit, but it never worked. Friggin arena's dumbass AI was the source of many a thrown controller for me, I was constantly enraged from losing simple little battles that I easily could've won if I were just in control of my character.

[Guest Coffey]

I've beaten Chupon. It doesn't matter when he sneezes you away, you get to keep your item. Dragoon Boots + Dragoon Horn are your friend. It's really the only shot that you have. Do a lot of damage and hope you can jump three times without getting sneezed. Takes a lot of luck.

 

Also, there's a glitch with the defense in that game. I can't remember exactly what it is because it's been so long. It's something like block and magic block are combined because of a programming error or something. So you get one of them to like 150 or something and you're pretty much unhittable. Makes the Colisseum a lot easier.

 

Getting the Illumina was sweet, though. Fuck Ragnarok.

Yeah, there's no reason to pick the materia over the sword. Get the sword, trade it at the Colisseum for Illumina, then use the Paladin Shield to teach everyone Ultima.

[Jingus 0]

Meh. 255 battles is just too damn long. In that time period, I could've already taught Ultima to 2.5 people, which to me is much better than some sword that only a few people can use anyway. Sure, you combine it with the Offering and you get mega-damage, but by that point in the game you should have Ultima and Bum Rush and Atma Weapon and Gogo and so many ridiculous high-level attacks that the addition of one more just really doesn't matter that much.

 

On the other hand, if you have a Game Genie for the SNES, there's a code that gives you the Illumina right at the beginning of the game. THAT makes a lot of early battles a hell of a lot easier, lemme tell ya.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

It's easier using Shadow with his Stunner in combo with the dragon boots/horn. And a good place for the paladin shield was Cid's island. The enemies are punny and die before you kill him so it's just walking back and forth.

[Guest Coffey]

I actually broke the curse working up on "Dinosaur Island" while trying to get all of my characters to level 99. That mixed in with the Veldt and trying to get Gau to learn all of his Rage attacks. I just threw a Ribbon on whomever was holding the shield.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

That damn cursed ring pissed me off by only turning into a hero ring.

[Guest Coffey]

I actually didn't know the ring did anything. I just always assumed it was trash.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

Man, Chupon really was beatable???? Man, I think I need to play VI again, but it's tough to play through the beginning. When the game came out, I was too young to be able to buy it outright, and my parents weren't willing to drop 70 bucks or whatever on it, so I would always rent the game and play as much as possible. I'd usually get to around Zozo or so (depending on how long I rented it for) and then have to return it. Next time I rented, the save would never be there. So basically I played through the beginning game like a zillion times and got fairly sick of it.

 

I would snap up a remake, though. That would be killer.

 

This is almost a VI thread, so just for kicks here's my favorite party:

Celes - Magic and physical power, plus the awesome Runic ability

Sabin - Bum Rush was retarded powerful

Cyan - His sword abilities were cool

Edgar - CHAINSAW~

 

Edit: And just as I post, Gaming FM has the Black Mages doing "Dancing Mad" from VI. Good timing.

[Jingus 0]

My favorite party was always Sabin, Gogo, Edgar, Umaro. Fuck all that pantywaist magic shite, all you need in life is Bum Rush, Mimic, Chainsaw, and an NPC that never stops kicking ass.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Sabin-Duh

Gogo-Mimic Sabin

Edgar-Chainsaw/Drill

Cyan-Genji Glove+Offering+Two Sweet Katanas

[Guest Coffey]

I never used the Bum Rush. I gave Sabin the Genji Glove/Offering combo so that'd attack eight times with Tiger Fangs and Dragon Claw. Then I gave him the esper that worked up Vigor. He'd swing for about 8k 8 times.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

I always liked a party full of imps in the various imp armour.

[Guest Coffey]

I've actually beaten Kefka by just throwing Imp Halberds at him. They were doing 9999 damage and I had a piss load of them from Dino Island.

[AndrewTS 0]

Meh.  255 battles is just too damn long.  In that time period, I could've already taught Ultima to 2.5 people, which to me is much better than some sword that only a few people can use anyway.  Sure, you combine it with the Offering and you get mega-damage, but by that point in the game you should have Ultima and Bum Rush and Atma Weapon and Gogo and so many ridiculous high-level attacks that the addition of one more just really doesn't matter that much. 

 

On the other hand, if you have a Game Genie for the SNES, there's a code that gives you the Illumina right at the beginning of the game.  THAT makes a lot of early battles a hell of a lot easier, lemme tell ya.

As mentioned, ribbon counteracts almost all of the cursed shield's ill effects (except for the death sentence). The shield kicks ass too. So if you're building up people anyway--may as well do that, too.

 

The Ragnarok esper can get you some rare items, plus you can combine it with the Paladin Shield to learn Ultima faster. Yeah, Illumina is better overall, but it's something different to try if you happen to be replaying it.

 

I don't like Illumina sapping my MP, though. By the time you actually get Illumina, you can get Economizers and dish out more damage with magic than you do with that.

 

The Marvel Shoes are great.

 

Cid should always die. If not he just stands on his bed saying he feels better like an idiot.

 

Gogo wasn't useful for very long, though, because he couldn't upgrade his stats.