What are you playing?

[Himu]

I hate long-ass dungeons with no save points.

Black Omen is the worst dungeon of all time.

[tiesto]

Well, yesterday I beat the Cave of the Seven Stars. I used Item Creation to make a sword for Ratix/Roddick that heals me for 1/2 the damage i do, and grinded another 10 levels. I found out that it's pretty easy to run from every enemy in the cave, so I did that and made it to the end in 40 minutes. The final battle was tough and I had to go through all my Resurrection Mists and spamming the shit out of items, but I beat it. So now I just have to fight the final boss, which should be a snooze fest at this level (I'm like 2x the level I usually beat him on the SFC version at, with all the best shit from the Seven Stars cave on top of that.

[MMaRsu]

Unfortunately not looking forward to too many modern jrpgs. J-games are up their ass with tutorials these days. Got a goddamn cat blocking your ability to do stuff in Persona and even Animal Crossing has a week + tutorial. Shit drives me crazy with this "we want to build up to unlocking things rather than just let you swim immediately" crap. I'm old. I don't have time for a game to get good after 20 hours when you finally fucking decide to unlock the "real" game. Fuck FFXIII for starting that stupid shit.

This is what happens when you have to appeal to westerners.

Having never played a Persona game before 5, this never really bothered me. I figured if the game is structured this way im not gonna get annoyed about it. I knew beforehand it was going to be a huge timesink.

[demi]

I've never really played Mario RPGS. I got the first Mario and Luigi with my GBA SP back in the day and didn't care for it. It put me off Mario RPG's for the longest. On a random lark I tried out Paper Mario 64. Loved it, but the emulation is spotty. I haven't beaten it because of that. I've ordered a Paper Mario from Ebay. I'll play that after I beat FFVII.

You never played SMRPG SNES?

M&L is prob one of the best games, the series went on a downhill slope after that. IF you didnt like M&L you won't like the others. If you enjoy PM64 you will squirt all over your racing chair when you play Thousand Year Door

[Himu]

Unfortunately not looking forward to too many modern jrpgs. J-games are up their ass with tutorials these days. Got a goddamn cat blocking your ability to do stuff in Persona and even Animal Crossing has a week + tutorial. Shit drives me crazy with this "we want to build up to unlocking things rather than just let you swim immediately" crap. I'm old. I don't have time for a game to get good after 20 hours when you finally fucking decide to unlock the "real" game. Fuck FFXIII for starting that stupid shit.

This is what happens when you have to appeal to westerners.

Having never played a Persona game before 5, this never really bothered me. I figured if the game is structured this way im not gonna get annoyed about it. I knew beforehand it was going to be a huge timesink.

Persona 3 you can do start the gameplay loop almost immediately. Persona 4, intro is 4 hours long but you're open from there. That cat impedes progress for the longest.

I've never really played Mario RPGS. I got the first Mario and Luigi with my GBA SP back in the day and didn't care for it. It put me off Mario RPG's for the longest. On a random lark I tried out Paper Mario 64. Loved it, but the emulation is spotty. I haven't beaten it because of that. I've ordered a Paper Mario from Ebay. I'll play that after I beat FFVII.

You never played SMRPG SNES?

M&L is prob one of the best games, the series went on a downhill slope after that. IF you didnt like M&L you won't like the others. If you enjoy PM64 you will squirt all over your racing chair when you play Thousand Year Door

I mean, I hear great things about Bowser's Inside Story. Super Mario RPG is actually the first rpg i ever saw or heard of. My friend got it for his birthday and we played a bit. I tried it on SNES classic and really liked what I played but didn't invest time in it. How long is it? Might be able to beat it by the time I get Paper Mario because holy fuck is FFVII snoresville right now.

Also I don't just enjoy Paper Mario. I adore everything about it. I was so mad the emulator glitched on me. I need to best the game! It's so good.

[demi]

What didn't you like about M&L? The gameplay doesnt change much across the series. 3 is a step up after the awful M&L2 but after that it didn't do much to fix itself in the 3DS entries

[Himu]

I mean, I didn't like the tone. It was too over the top silly like they were trying too hard. I beat a boss that was a soda carbonated over 100 years and then sold it. and went back to Aria of Sorrow and Zero Mission.

But I was also 18 at the time and overly serious in my media consumption. You have to remember at this time Matsuno and Kazuma Kaneko were my gaming gods (still are). I love the charm of Paper Mario. I'm willing to give M&L another shot as I'm pretty sure the tone is part and parcel the same.

Apparently Super Mario RPG is 20 hours. I'll start that tonight then. Fuck FFVII.

[Himu]

I went back and watched where the soda thing happened.



It's still dumb and over the top. I still don't like that tone. It's like it's trying to be funny rather than actually being funny.

The gameplay iirc was fantastic, but that shit was too much for me.

[Bebpo]

I still gotta play 64 at some point. Loved SMRPG, Thousand Year Door and liked M&L, didn't like M&L2 and that sidescroller Wii one was zzzzzzzzzz and bailed early on. But 64 seems legit and I should give it a play through.

[Himu]

Started SMRPG. Is good. Not as fun as Paper so far but few things really are.

[Thirty-Ought-Six]

Divinity 2 doesn't mess around in act 2. I was feeling pretty good after surviving the end of act 1 battles, but now I randomly wander across characters who can easily wipe out my whole team singlehanded.

[paprikastaude]

Paper Mario 1 and 2 and M&L3 are the best. SMRPG is good. Rest is whatever.

[Great Rumbler]

[Himu]

I'm playing on an HD TV but Mario RPG looks like Doo Doo in a way I can't explain.

[Positive Touch]

every game that used prerendered sprites looks like asswaste

[tiesto]

every game that used prerendered sprites looks like asswaste

Treasure Hunter G had its moments

[Himu]

Amazes me we still haven't gotten that and other Square games of that era like Live A Live.

[Bebpo]

Got to the final dungeon in Torna. Until the end point I was doing all the sidequests and sorta enjoying them, but once they force them on you for a half dozen hours to progress, they became a chore and I started skipping every sidequest cutscene and just going to the next marker and checking them off until I hit lvl.4 and not bothering with the rest.

They basically made a 5 hour DLC game and then padded it with an area from XB2 and a billion mmo quests to make it 20 hours. Bleh.

Will finish it tomorrow. My favorite part is probably just the music, but even then it feels like a pretty small soundtrack.

Also the story so far hasn't really added much to the XB2 plot. I thought Torna would be more about Shin and his transition and maybe the ending will be idk. Pretty much every character besides Shin is zzz. Laura is so boring as a MC I'm playing as Adel the whole game.

[paprikastaude]

6 hours of Nioh 2 quarantine

The new weapons I chose (Tonfa and Odachi) are great but are also starting to lose their luster after such a long session - might need to change it up a bit. I'm really liking the new mechanics, I think the betas helped quite a bit to really feel them right away. The snake boss is still shit though, thank god I remembered the patterns.

[MMaRsu]

Are those new
? They are also in Nioh 1 (Tonfa and Odachi)

[paprikastaude]

Only in the later DLC, which I didn't have.

[MMaRsu]

Only in the later DLC, which I didn't have.

Ahh I see. I recently bought it on Steam and started with the Odachi. Yeah they werent there on PS4 when the game first came out for sure.

[RyoonZ]

Resident Evil 3 Remake. I never played the original so I don't know the difference. Compared to Resident Evil 2 Remake, it's much easier and streamlined.

[Let's Cyber]

P5 Royal is legit

 

You're still locked on rails during certain parts, like the beginning of Madarame's storyline, but they've loosened restrictions at night early on a little. There are new activities available at the coffee shop in increase social stats so it doesn't feel like you're wasting so many nights in the early game.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Haven't seen a lot of the new girl yet but you do get a new confidant after Kamoshida.  There was a few small changes in Kamoshida's palace, a new type of collectible and slight changes to the boss fight. Also you regen ammo for guns after every fight now, so it much less restrictive.

[close]

  From what I understand, a bulk of the new content is later on but there have been quite a few little tweaks here and there.

I doubt this would win over someone who didn't enjoy vanilla but I'm liking it a lot so far.

[Himu]

You're still locked on rails during certain parts, like the beginning of Madarame's storyline, but they've loosened restrictions at night early on a little.

I'll give it another shot then.

[Himu]

Super Mario RPG is really good. I went in with low expectations and the the Sewers dungeon had more depth (what little there is) and pathways than any dungeon in FFVII.

It's far more engaging as well. For example magic is a massive resource for power, but the flower points you have are so miniscule unless you pump into magic stat upon level up. Thankfully flower point items are easy to come by. For what I figured would be babby's first rpg (and I'm fine with that as it's a Mario RPG) it is far more engaging than many modern games.

[demi]

Sounds right to me. Some of the events and fights are pretty nice. Have fun

[Himu]

Sounds right to me. Some of the events and fights are pretty nice. Have fun

I'm also impressed by the pacing. It goes from place to place at a constant beat. Its pacing is even more speedy than Chrono Trigger.

[demi]

There's lots of hidden easter eggs and secret items and such too. You have to make sure you fight Culex : )

[Himu]

There's lots of hidden easter eggs and secret items and such too. You have to make sure you fight Culex : )

Is that the Ruby weapon of the game?

[demi]

Yeah but it's not as difficult. It's just a fun easter egg / nod. You'l see if you don't spoil yourself

[nachobro]

super mario rpg has one of the best soundtracks of all time as well

spoiler (click to show/hide)

the cake is moving!

[close]

[Nintex]

AC: Odyssey

Ok, I thought it before but now I must really be nearly done. Map almost filled out including the entire sea, just a bit of Messina left.
Just about 3 cultists left alive, my dumb little brother, the ghost of Cosmos and one unknown.

Most if not all Epic ships sunk, I have so many sails now and a Legendary Ship
Pillaged most of the map too, killed nearly all mercenaries with loot worth killing for.

No more Yellow/Gold quest icons, only blue/grey ones and just a few that remain.

Level 62 with all sorts of EPIC gear. 
So many stories, so many experiences, such a beautiful game... 
... if I had actually finished it last year it might've been GOTY.

[BisMarckie]

I played MGS 2 for the first time with watching all the cutscenes and codecs since the HD remaster came out.

Man, say what you want about Kojima‘s chops as a writer, but that game nails what it’s going for. One of these games where you wish you could experience it for the first time again. I am pretty sure I would be way more appreciative of this post-modern clusterfuck of a game than I was as a 17 year old.

[Nintex]

I played MGS 2 for the first time with watching all the cutscenes and codecs since the HD remaster came out.

Man, say what you want about Kojima‘s chops as a writer, but that game nails what it’s going for. One of these games where you wish you could experience it for the first time again. I am pretty sure I would be way more appreciative of this post-modern clusterfuck of a game than I was as a 17 year old.

The great thing about Metal Gear Solid is that it allowed Hideo Kojima to create weird shit but still forced him to confine it to military and political fan fiction.
I think Death Stranding didn't work out so well because all those constraints were removed and he could just do whatever.

After the intro of MGS2 you can pretty much sense that he was already 'done' with just making a sneaky shootbang game and decided to fuck with your mind.
Then in MGS3 he could hide a love story in a James Bond cold war drama and flesh out the backstory a bit.

[Beezy]

I've always loved action jrpgs and the Ys games in general, but Ys 8 is quickly becoming one of my favorites ever. Currently making my way through Baja Tower in chapter 5. The soundtrack just keeps getting better and better also. I feel like Ys isn't brought up enough during videogame music discussions or maybe I just didn't pay attention until I started playing these games.

[demi]

How much did your cock thicken when the literal start of the game goes from



to




(please don't thicken your cock to Ricotta, thanks)

[Beezy]

I never get tired of hearing Deadly Temptation

[Bebpo]

I like a few tracks but Ys8 was the first Falcom game in a while where the music felt like it was getting noticeably worse.

...then CS4 happened ;_;

I hear YsIX is solid, so I still kinda wanna try it to see if maybe it's more my jam. VIII is too blah blah blah talky and fillery for my tastes.

[Beezy]

I've been reading your gaming impressions for over a decade, Bebpo. I'm used to you not liking good things.

[demi]

LOL right

Still remember Bebpo giving C- to ShadowHearts 3. Eat shit bitch game kicks ass

[Himu]

haven't played an Ys since III. Gotta catch up.

[Bebpo]

SH3 definitely sucks compared to 1 & 2. Suck it demi.

I've been reading your gaming impressions for over a decade, Bebpo. I'm used to you not liking good things.

lol, hey more power to you if you're enjoying. A lot of people seem to like it too.

I don't think Ys games should be 30+ hours with tower defense missions -_-

[Bebpo]

Finished XB2: Torna the Golden Country

Maaaaaan, I'm so torn on this this and XB2 in general. There is stuff the games absolutely nail like the cutscene direction in the main drama/action cutscenes, the music, the sense exploration of giant areas littered with secrets to discover, some cool mech designs for the tiny role of the mecha. Jin is an cool interesting anti-hero.

But the gameplay is tedious, the sub-systems are not so good, the UI is awful (why are there 3 different start menus still!), the cast in both XB2 (poppy!) and Torna generally are zzz/sucky. Even Addam (Adel in the JP version) is somehow an even more zero charisma character than Rex was. And the grind stuff, it was better in Torna until it's totally not better.

If it wasn't for the sense of exploration in the countries, I'd say XB2 & Torna are better as anime movies where you just watch all the main voiced cutscenes on youtube than actually spending the 100 hours or so playing them. Feels like such a waste that they make all these cool cutscenes and great areas to explore but the game never reaches the potential of being a good rpg within them. XB1 was actually a fun game + fun exploration + great story + good cast. It also didn't have insane grind lock points unless you wanted to do all the sidequests (optional).

And coming right after Xenoblade X which was also a mess of unused potential with an amazing open world, pretty good battle system, cool mechs, but then totally blows the story/characters and has all the stupid progression grind that XB2 has. So that's two very mixed bag rpgs in a row after XB1 got pretty much everything right. Really disappointing.

I really hope XB3 or XBX Ep2, whatever is their next game nails a good balance of everything again and gets them past this weird sorta slump they've been in for a decade.

[BlueTsunami]

Started up a replay of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter emulated through my laptop. Apparently it can be easily rendered through OpenGL even on my laptop.

[Nintex]

With the way the series has progressed I'm expecting Xenoblade 3 to be a dating simulator with loot.

[tiesto]

I've always loved action jrpgs and the Ys games in general, but Ys 8 is quickly becoming one of my favorites ever. Currently making my way through Baja Tower in chapter 5. The soundtrack just keeps getting better and better also. I feel like Ys isn't brought up enough during videogame music discussions or maybe I just didn't pay attention until I started playing these games.

I remember the first time I heard of Ys, was EGM salivating over the Turbo CD Ys Book I and II, and they specifically were mentioning how fantastic the music was (this was one of the first big CD-ROM games released in America). The series has some awesome standouts, and the Trails games (except for the original Sky) have some big tunes too. I was lucky enough to see a performance by Falcom Sound Team JDK (their in house band) at TGS 2018.

[tiesto]

SH3 definitely sucks compared to 1 & 2. Suck it demi.

I've been reading your gaming impressions for over a decade, Bebpo. I'm used to you not liking good things.

lol, hey more power to you if you're enjoying. A lot of people seem to like it too.

I don't think Ys games should be 30+ hours with tower defense missions -_-

I admit the pacing in the Dana sections was kinda dull, I didn't really get emotionally absorbed in her story... it's obvious they're letting their work on Trails rub off a bit on Ys - the 'every NPC has new dialogue after a big event', more story-heavy scenes... when this doesn't work as well in that particular series. I like Ys more of course when it's short, succinct games filled with balls-to-the-wall action. That being said, the polish and the combat of 8 was so fun. Didn't like 7 or Celceta as much as some of the earlier Ys games though... my favorites are 4: Dawn of Ys (for the oldskool 'run into enemies' style), Origin, and Oath in Felghana.

[Himu]

The mini games in Super Mario RPG

[Bebpo]

SH3 definitely sucks compared to 1 & 2. Suck it demi.

I've been reading your gaming impressions for over a decade, Bebpo. I'm used to you not liking good things.

lol, hey more power to you if you're enjoying. A lot of people seem to like it too.

I don't think Ys games should be 30+ hours with tower defense missions -_-

I admit the pacing in the Dana sections was kinda dull, I didn't really get emotionally absorbed in her story... it's obvious they're letting their work on Trails rub off a bit on Ys - the 'every NPC has new dialogue after a big event', more story-heavy scenes... when this doesn't work as well in that particular series. I like Ys more of course when it's short, succinct games filled with balls-to-the-wall action. That being said, the polish and the combat of 8 was so fun. Didn't like 7 or Celceta as much as some of the earlier Ys games though... my favorites are 4: Dawn of Ys (for the oldskool 'run into enemies' style), Origin, and Oath in Felghana.

For some reason I thought 7 was alright. It was worse than the old ones because of the party system, but was still short and sweet enough to be fun. Celceta is when Ys started getting padded imo and 8 was even more so in that direction.

You're right that Falcom basically has been trying to merge every game series they make to be the same game. Trails/Tokyo Xanadu/Ys are all getting more similar in style and just different takes on the same formula. I personally think this is a stupid idea because the strength of Falcom was having multiple different genre/style series. Trails for the slow talky character stuff, Ys for the short quick action stuff, Xanadu for dungeon crawling. But I think they greenlighted this whole era after Trails started selling REALLY well right around Ao/Azure and CS1/2. Dunno where the future is going, like I said I still need to play YsIX and see if it's more of the same Trails-y stuff or is diverging more into its own thing that works well. I picked up a used copy of IX in Japan in November and played the intro stuff, so maybe will get back to it sometime soon and find out.

[Beezy]

I'll see how I feel by the end of the game, but I'm not bothered by anything that you two mentioned so far. The combat system is great and all 6 playable character are very different, so the short "tower defense" sections are fun for me. The NPCs in your hideout are interesting and don't speak too much imo. You don't even need to speak to them if you don't want to unless they have sidequests for you. Style switching Dana is fun to play as. I admit her own story sections aren't the best, but you can easily rush through them. Everything of importance in Ys 8 is pointed out to you on the map.

No way is 8 more padded than Celceta. As much as I liked it, I fell asleep during a couple story sections and eventually got to a point where I kept wondering how much longer would it take to get to the end of the game.

[Bebpo]

Just throwing this out there, not that longer games can't be better, but just evolution of Ys the series from howlongtobeat.com:
         
(Main story length, Main story + sidequests length, completionist length)
 
Ys VI    13 / 14.5 / 18.5
Ys Oath 11 / 13.5 / 19
Ys Origins 11.5 / 21.5 / 37 (note this is because 3 characters so 2 plays or 3 plays of the full game for completion)
Ys Seven: 22.5 / 28 / 39.5
Ys Celceta 23 / 28 / 51
Ys VIII      37.5 / 50.5 / 71
Ys IX        34 / no info / 47.5

Can't find any info on the ones before IV (which was the start of the mid-modern genre change before the party system modern version). Seven/Celceta basically doubled the length of the VI-Origins era in game time, then VIII and IX added another 33% game length.

Ys's path change in length to me is like if you took Ninja Gaiden or DMC and made them 40-50 hour games for a single run. Ys was a pure action game with rpg dressing that became an rpg with action game dressing imo.

Note that I'm a bit of a poser because I haven't played the early era Ys games prior to VI. I tried playing I but running into enemies just doesn't seem fun coming from Oath/Origins/VI or even the modern era combat.

[nachobro]

The mini games in Super Mario RPG

Midas River

playing "Which Hand" like 100 times to get Grate Guy's Casino

[paprikastaude]

Almost had my first rage moment in Nioh 2 because of some dumb giant boss, until I noticed the gimmick they want you to use.
As the story tries to be more 'epic', I don't know why they kept the weird ambient background sound. It already didn't fit the amtosphere of the the first game and is only in because Souls did it. Easily my biggest gripe.

[Himu]

Super Mario RPG continues to impress. The mines were fun af.

[paprikastaude]

I'm nearing the last levels in Nioh 2, but it's still so fun I'm starting to regret rushing through it. I might go back to do all the sidequests I've skipped.  Souls + Ninja Gaiden + Aria of Sorrow =

[Nintex]

Traveled to what is essentially the end of the greek world.
Unlocked a bunch more sidequests that I finished in one sitting.

Tommorow it seems I can finally complete this.
I'm scared to look at the hours I put into this game. 

[Great Rumbler]

Traveled to what is essentially the end of the greek world.
Unlocked a bunch more sidequests that I finished in one sitting.

Tommorow it seems I can finally complete this.
I'm scared to look at the hours I put into this game. 

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

I'm at level 42 and 54 hours, so I'd say you're pushing 75 hours at least.

[The Sceneman]

Double-dipped on Evil Within on X1 (already got all cheevs on 360) and got Evil Within 2 as they are on sale (70% off or so). I liked the first game too much and think it's the true successor to RE4. Cant wait to do AKUMA mode again as it was fuckin awesome

[MMaRsu]

Im at lvl 23 in ACO