The RPG Thread

Blackwulf_sl said:

My fondest RPG memories come from very old games like Wizardry, Bard's Tale, Ultima, etc.

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Yes to that whole paragraph.

I've tried, tried really hard to like jrpgs. There are bits that are good and so many bits that are just bad. Bad without any upside. Bad because of lazy programming, or bad because of tradition.

Anyway, my wish list has a few things I've been eyeing: aarklash legacy, serpent in the staglands, blackguards, and Malevolence: the sword of ahkranox

aarklash is mediocre. not horrible, but too short. gets SUPER repetitive, and ends on a massive cliffhanger, leaving it very unsatisfying.
Divinity:OS is amazing, and by far the best successor to Ultima. honestly I even started playing Divine Divinity and was impressed.
I have lords of Xulima.. but have not had actually had time to get to it.
Got bored with Pillars halfway.

Sunless sea, darkest dungeons also on the to do list.
Might and magic:X was fantastic if you missed that too btw.
Both grimrocks as well of course.

Noodlemod_sl said:

Wondering what I should play after beating dragon age. Thinking about the Witcher 3, tales of graces f, lightning returns, valkyria chronicles. The problem is I want to be able to beat it before fallout 3 comes out, so I think that takes the Witcher right out.

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I know I'm in the minority here but I really enjoyed Graces f. The story is as bad as people claim, but the battle system is addictive as fuck. Each character has 100-150 titles and each title has an assortment of 5 bonuses that can be grinded out when the title is equipped. The bonuses range from flat stat boosts to xp modifiers to passive skills to active skill modifiers, and the titles themselves are unlocked by performing certain tasks. I thought it made the grinding really fun.

It's also got a staggering amount of content. Story does indeed suck, though

I'd pick Lightning Returns out of those three choices. Wish they'd release it on PC, I don't have my PS3 anymore and I'd like to play it again once this fall's glut of games is done.

Valkyria Chronicles is a good game too. I just found it really frustrating to play a SRPG that rewards you the most for playing the game like a fucking idiot with no strategy at all. Granted, it's not necessary to get an S rank on every (or even any) mission, but it still bugged the shit out of me. Other than that it's a solid game, if a bit anime-silly in the story department.

Graces f is just terrible. Play Xillia 1&2 on PS3 or get Zestiria on PC if you want a Tales game.

I did the entirety of witcher in less than 2 weeks - its possible to do it before Fallout imo and its the bettr out of those choices by far - I 2nd what Vorph said - Graces was a pile of shit.

Graces f probably has the best battle system of the PS3 Tales games, pretty garbage characters/story though. I'd go for Valkyria Chronicles out of that list, wait for Lightning Returns to come out on PC this fall.

Noodlemod_sl said:

Well I already have LR, just trying to build the courage to beat it

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Ahh right, well I still mostly say wait as I'm sure the game will obviously look a lot better and can always get those sweet Steam sales.

Noodlemod_sl said:

I have limited time, around 6 to 12 hours per week where I can play. I have a 6month old so the games take a back seat. Feel like the Witcher will take me awhile.

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Well, did you power through DAI? If you avoid all the side stuff and collections witcher3 wouldn't be much worse. It's definitely longer but if DAIs side content didn't pull you into the triple digit hours then w3 won't be too bad either.

Oh witcher3 will be fine then. The game is perfect in every way and if you're not a completionist it's not that much longer than DAI. I'd even say it's easier to play in smaller sessions than DAI.

Personally I don't get why you'd be excited about open world games if you avoid the side stuff but since you do, then W3 has a much richer main storyline.

Regarding Tales of Zestiria
Played it for roughly 8-10 hours. It is a slow starting game. Hints at lots of battle tactics, but take a while before you get skills to do everything, but that is Tales. Tutorials until the end.

Story seems decent, but I'd place it at around Xillia levels so far (without having finished Xillia 1 (40 hours in) or played the sequel). Both Abyss and Vesperia were better in terms of start and characters. Granted it might change later on, as said, it is slow to start. I have just cleansed the second city, and still don't know much of anything regarding the bigger story.

There is a fast travel system that lets you scroll between previously visited save points, so can't scroll on the world map, but from a visual standpoint (dungeons excluded) it looks like I have been to around 5% of the world map so far. Unless it ramps up quickly, I think the how long to beat stuff is fairly accurate with 50+ hours for main + extras.

Preview verdict: If you enjoy tales games, you can safely buy it. (NOTE: There appears to be a few slowdowns in frames at some odd times (PS4 version). Like when encountering a "dangerous encounter" with 2+ mob packs at once, it lags for a second or two before the battle starts. Not sure if it intended or not since I haven't noticed much lag in the actual game/battles.)

Divinity OS comes to Ps4 on the 27th !

Are you ready ?

Droigan_sl said:

Regarding Tales of Zestiria

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I can't believe all the retards over on Steam crying about a fucking JRPG being locked at 30fps. The combat might not be turn-based, but it still doesn't matter in the slightest.

anybody have try Age of Decadence ?

I'll probably buy it next week

Pretty excited about the new Tales game, but I'm gonna start and finish Xillia 2 before I get it. ToX 1 was good but possibly my least favorite Tales (I've played Abyss, Vesperia, Graces f, Symphonia, Xillia, with Abyss probably being my favorite) so I kinda wanna beat ToX2 while I can still force myself to give it a chance.