RPG Progress Report

[prfsnl_gmr]

Speaking of first-person, dungeon crawlers...I am 24 hours into King's Field IV. It is still great. I am level 45 now, and I suspect that I am about 3/4 of the way through the game. (I murdered every last one of the Widda - including their queen in a ridiculously easy boss fight - and I am now progressing through the great graveyard.) I also found a necklace that shows me secret doors and will speed up my progress going forward. Accordingly, I suspect that I will polish this one off this week.

[Exhuminator]

Accordingly, I suspect that I will polish this one off this week.

Awesome man, looking forward to that review.

I checked my HLTB and it looks like I spent 33hrs beating it. Granted I spent a lot of time just wandering around looking for secrets and hidden doors.

[Exhuminator]

You could also be in the same spot as me regarding JRPGs. I burn out on them much faster than I used to. But even now, I've got some that I never finished, or dropped halfway through.

I suspect this is it to an extent. I know that there are plenty of JRPGs I haven't played yet, that I will enjoy from start to finish. Just a matter of finding them. So I'm less inclined to push myself to finish a JRPG that I'm only partially enjoying.

I want to be clear that I don't think VP2 is a bad game. I'd rate it a 7.5/10 right now. It's got a lot of good ideas and its audio/visual stuff is top notch, but VP2's got some really bad ideas that weigh it down too. A bit more than I feel like dealing with at present.

I think I'm going to start Covenant up tonight. Either that or Persona 3 FES.

[Ack]

I know that there are plenty of JRPGs I haven't played yet, that I will enjoy from start to finish. Just a matter of finding them.

Hell, much as I love the genre, I have plenty of RPGs of all stripes that I haven't played yet. But I find some kind of enjoyment out of most of them, so I plan to keep on playing.

[MrPopo]

I've also found a runebag and numerous little rune stones scattered throughout. I have no idea what to do with them at this time, though perhaps they correspond to a note I pulled off the corpse of a little gremlin bastard. Something about magic spells. The gremlin could shoot fireballs. Maybe I could shoot fireballs too?

Have you ever played Dungeon Master? You are correct that these runes are used for casting magic. You need to assemble the appropriate magic word to cast a spell.

[Ack]

I've also found a runebag and numerous little rune stones scattered throughout. I have no idea what to do with them at this time, though perhaps they correspond to a note I pulled off the corpse of a little gremlin bastard. Something about magic spells. The gremlin could shoot fireballs. Maybe I could shoot fireballs too?

Have you ever played Dungeon Master? You are correct that these runes are used for casting magic. You need to assemble the appropriate magic word to cast a spell.

Like I said, plenty of RPGs that I haven't played yet. Nope, never played Dungeon Master, though it has a SNES port so I have to get to it eventually.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I checked my HLTB and it looks like I spent 33hrs beating it. Granted I spent a lot of time just wandering around looking for secrets and hidden doors.

Sadly, I have spent a lot of time leaving the game paused while I do other things.

[Sarge]

I find these days that I start tiring of almost any of them about the time I hit the 20 hour mark... which is about where you're at. Of course, VP2 doesn't do itself any favors with the pacing.

The longest I've ever spent with an RPG? Probably Xenoblade, with Dragon Warrior VII as a runner-up. Both 100-hour monstrosities. Both dragged on at places, DW more at the start and very, very end, and Xenoblade for the entire time I was trying to make sure all the timed quests were completed before moving on. Which is like a 20-30 hour chunk of the game...

I don't think it's just length, though. There are quite a few older RPGs that I will put down because there's nothing to really set it apart from other stuff I've played, and I'll only give it like an hour before moving on. This is true for a lot of translated JRPGs for SNES, for better or worse.

[Exhuminator]

Of course, VP2 doesn't do itself any favors with the pacing.

VP2's wonky pacing and inconveniently designed navigation elements ruin it for me. Tri-ACE are always their own worst enemy. I enjoyed VP1 more than this one.

The longest I've ever spent with an RPG?

Yeah, I've only spent over 100 hours on two JRPGs; FFXII and Etrian Odyssey Untold. One was because I loved it so much, the other was out of pure spite.

This is true for a lot of translated JRPGs for SNES, for better or worse.

I'm okay with comfort food, as long as it's consistently well tasting comfort food.

[Sarge]

I'm okay with comfort food, as long as it's consistently well tasting comfort food.

Oh, I am too, of course. But as you say, it has to be consistently well-executed. Too many JRPGs are pretty generic in nature, though, and it certainly keeps me from giving them a serious look.

Of course, I'm also the person that played through Star Odyssey, and still, for some reason, have a strange fascination for Secret of the Stars, although it's always quickly put to rest every time I try to play it again. Just... don't judge me, a'ight?