Memoirs of a PAL RPG gamer. (News/releases/etc)

[Jahanzeb]

Sounds awesome man

I still need to get around to making actual progress in the first one
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Now Playing:
Sonic Generations

[Bish]

[Pagan's Mind]

How's the difficulty so far compared to EO2?

[lapzod]

So thta bit where I said i was almost finished Dragon Quest IX? I was wrong apparently. I'm still going now. But for real this time I think I'm almost done.

It's been fun. My first DQ game, and I've really enjoyed it. I'll have to get some of the earlier ones.

[Bish]

Still early days for me yet, I always find the first two stratums aren't the greatest tell, just for the fact that your characters have crappy gear and barely any skills for you to define you playstyle and test the waters.
So pretty standard stuff for me so far, but a friend who's up to the fifth stratum says "there's more grind, and less OP abilities". So I guess if you took advantage of the broken party of P/WM/DH/G/H in 2, it'll be harder, but more balanced.
Although, one thing I can comment on, the first stratum boss fight wasn't very hard, I don't think. Relatively. It's a reasonably long fight, and you'll probably need some Amritas to recover TP on your healer and mage (assuming you have them; also on a side note, a Zodiac is super helpful in the lower levels to the point that you'll find yourself going back to town to heal when they run out of TP, regardless of the status of everyone else), but it wasn't what I'd call "hard". It didn't go all out every turn, and some turns were practically freebies for you to recover and set up your (my) Hoplite's Provoke.
I do get this feeling of balance, though; the class overhaul has given me members who each have something to do each turn, or something unique they can do, even at early levels. I know in EO2, my Hexer sat there twiddling his thumbs most of the time.

Edit: Oh, some other stuff:
Increased number of shortcuts, but no mid-stratum geo poles = harder. The shortcuts are marvellous, and you have a greater sense of accomplishment when you find one (and it allows for much quicker pick up and play sessions, rather than looking around for an hour or whatever) but you need to fight your way through all the previous floors to get to the stratum boss, so no more saving at the 5th floor pole in pristine condition to take on the boss. So +hardness.

Also, stratums are 4 floors now. Considering the previous point, this is for the better, because having to fight through 5 floors without a save point would be pretty harsh, even for EO. So +easyness.

Also also, quests give EXP now, and FOEs give EXP again. +easyness.
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[OropherX]

My copy of Grim Grimoire just arrived. Played the first few mins of it and its looking to be a fun one =D
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[Jahanzeb]

^OMG Grim Grimoire, it's like Japanese Harry Potter and a really fun SRPG. Good times.
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Now Playing:
Sonic Generations

[orsonic]

I just noticed that Atelier Rorona has been delayed until the 28th.
Too many blockbuster titles to play at one time I think!
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[OropherX]

whoa whats with Aqua, shes so damn fun to use. I finished Hercules world then did the Mirage Arena (lvl1-5) for 4 hours and Aqua is now lvl28, probably 10 lvls higher than she needs to be at this point. I'm happy that this is the first time spells are actually useful in a KH game. I basically use triple blizzaga on an enemy group, go into diamond dust mode, then i use thundaga on the group and go into 'massive sword raepage tiemz' mode and destroy everything. Plus she has an awesome barrier and cartwheeling is useful. I suppose when I get bored of my triple blizzaga I'll meld it into something more awesomecore and break the game even more by grinding in mirage arena XD Oh and she spins a lot too, spinning is good. My fave move so far in the game is freeze raid, love throwing the keyblade, freezing an enemy then watching it hit them again as it comes back. Btw to those who finished it, how does the final chapter work? Do you have to start a new file or do you get to reload any of the 3 clear files? Unless theres no fighting in it, just wondering so I don't overgrind Aqua. I'm also doing this in case theres some hard post-game boss in the final chapter.
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[light487]

[lexielab]

You know, I was looking at my DLC vouchers for Valkyria Chronicles II and they both have typos in the title, which is bolded on the cards to further highlight the error. It repeatedly states: Valkyria Chronicles II Excercise VS Class F. Whoops.

Not that I'm complaining, but you'd think you could get correct spelling in the title. Okay, "but" makes it kinda a complaint, but if you could picture a tone of wry amusement instead, that'd be great.

I also see that I have to use/download the DLC before 3/3/2011, so I guess the game's on my to-play-in-the-near-future list

[Pagan's Mind]

How do you guys feel about Mana Khemia? I had a look at Gamerankings and it's averaged just 4.3 from review sites but the user ratings are much higher at 8.4.

[OropherX]

the PSP loading of Mana Khemia doesn't bother me but the textures look really muddy. I've only played up until the first save point though =p
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[admeister]

[shinhawk]

[Pagan's Mind]

Haha a little too late for that because I now have the PSP version What did they nerf exactly? Was it the limited capabilities of the PSP?

[mrpookles]

I know there's already been plenty of love for Nier in here, but I'm in love with this game. Starts off a bit slowly, but after a few hours it really picks up. It definitely has its faults, but the positives are too good.

Is it worth getting all 4 endings?

[tallkid123]

[OropherX]

Finished Kingdom Hearts birth by sleep and saw the 'Blank Spot' secret ending. Now I wish I didn't watch that secret ending because I'm just dying to play KH3 now even though I know its 3-4 years off and the birth by sleep final mix will tease an fmv sequence of it <_< Overall birth by sleep is my favourite in the franchise, I liked the characters and story to the point of feeling that Sora and Riku's adventures is the side story and birth by sleep is the real deal. What I find most remarkable is how well Nomura ties all these games together. Its cohesive for me, doesn't seem to be the case for the palgn reviewer =P For example just from watching Blank Spot you can tell what will happen at the end of re:coded, the purpose of that game and what it will lead to in KH3 (have no idea what KH 3D is going to be about). I read somewhere that Nomura states that the Xehanort arc of the franchise will end soon. Really I wouldn't mind if at that point the whole series ends because everything is starting to feel more and more complete each passing game which reveals more backstory. I liked BbS the most because the disney worlds were so short. I don't know how disney will be addressed later on... a lot of them except pocohantas has been done already and now disney is just filled with 3D films....... oh damn don't tell me this is the reason for pushing the franchise over to the Nintendo 3DS =/ Also Aqua moved up as my #1 fave JRPG chick ^_^ But yeah really felt for the characters of this game, much more than the previous ones.
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[Pagan's Mind]

[light487]

(I actually wrote this in another thread and then realised how long it was and that it turned into a mini-review.. lol.. so moved the bulk of the text over here.)

Played "ArcaniA: A Gothic Tale" (It's actually been titled "Gothic 4" but apparently it is nothing like the previous ones; having never played a "gothic" game, I wouldn't know..) for around 12 hours on Sunday. I really like it a lot.. It's not quite an RPG and it is reasonably linear but with lots of exploration and ability to just go for a "stroll" through the wilderness at any time. I say stroll.. but of course the further you stray from the path, the more hostile creatures you tend to encounter. This exploration does have its rewards though because there are often hidden chest or unmarked caves/mines scattered all of the reasonably large map.

The storyline is refreshing enough that it's not completely cliche`d.. but if you've played one medieval fantasy game you've played them all to some extent, story-wise. The story is engaging and I find myself listening to the dialogue rather than skipping through it to get it over with. Unfortunately, the dialogue choices available aren't really important in any real sense. They serve more of a pause in the dialogue rather than a way to choose one path or another. There was one point when I could make a choice but in the end it didn't matter which choice I made because it still lead to the same outcome.

The sound and visuals of the game are not photorealistic but are detailed and varied enough to give the appearance of a real, living and breathing world. The lighting is perhaps the best part of this and the only other game I have seen with such good outdoor weather and lighting effects is Red Dead Redemption. So while you are outside, it is like playing RDR but in a medieval world with trees, grass and mountains and all the things that go along with that. When you venture indoors, the visuals are equally as impressive with different cave/mine/dungeons having different lighting that reflects the mood and atmosphere of the area.

Real-time lighting is ever present in both the indoors and outdoors, including weapons and magic that glow the appropriate colours etc. Everything in the game, except for grass on the ground, occludes lightsources and creates shadows. During the twilight stages of the gametime, when there is a light mist in the air, there are those really nice sun-beams.. and it is made especially nice when the sun comes through a thicket of bushes. On the flip-side, travelling through the forest at night can get spooky and you start to get a real sense of dread as the trees cast their ominous shadows.

The combat is perhaps a little too easy but it is very enjoyable and satisfying at the same time. You can use melee weapons of a wide variety, bows/crossbows, and magic.. you're not limited to one or the other but of course your skill points need to be put somewhere and as you only get 3 skills points per level and there are more than 3 skill trees, you will need to make a choice to at least partially specialise in one fighting style or another. I personally have gone around 75% into ranged weapons and 25% into melee. I find the bow to be a very effective tool in softening up the enemy and then a good sword to finish them off when they get close enough to swing at. I have died once and nearly died a few times playing on Normal difficulty, so it is far from being a complete push over but you do tend to get into a fighting style that works for you and makes it seem easy. That is a good thing though rather than a bad thing.. challenge for the sake of challenge can be annoying.

Anyway, as I said.. really enjoying it a lot.. grab the demo and give it a whirl.. but unfortunately the demo doesn't really show off the storyline because it is basically the beginning section of the game that starts the story.. like the introduction chapter of a book.
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[the_spensa]

[Cyph]

Thanks for the Gothic 4 impressions light487. I was thinking of picking this up but was unsure. I think I'm still unsure

[mrpookles]

[light487]