PartridgeSenpai wrote:I don't exactly understand all of the keywords because they're Kanji clusters which I think the game has made itself (I can't find them in any dictionary)[...].
Keywords? 大晶霊? It would literally be 'great crystal spirits,' but it's referring to the summon spirits.
Oh, yes! Thank you! I fought Undine today, actually, so I was able to sort of suss that that word meant summon spirit. It's the deduction via context my teachers talk about! I was so proud of me Xp . Undine VERY nearly killed me though, talking of her. I didn't really go into the battle/dungeon with the recovery items I should've, so it was only down to last minute pattern deduction of her attacks that let all four of my guys actually live through that battle.
Also, I would've never guessed that meant accuracy. Thank you, again!
Congrats. It's always a nice feeling when something clicks.
I had a feeling you hadn't seen Undine yet. I remember that she was pretty tough.
PartridgeSenpai wrote:Oh, yes! Thank you! I fought Undine today, actually, so I was able to sort of suss that that word meant summon spirit. It's the deduction via context my teachers talk about! I was so proud of me Xp . Undine VERY nearly killed me though, talking of her. I didn't really go into the battle/dungeon with the recovery items I should've, so it was only down to last minute pattern deduction of her attacks that let all four of my guys actually live through that battle.
Also, I would've never guessed that meant accuracy. Thank you, again!
Congrats. It's always a nice feeling when something clicks.
I had a feeling you hadn't seen Undine yet. I remember that she was pretty tough.
Undine feels like a real skill-check at that point in the game. The general encounters are fairly tough if you don't block and lunge strategically, but not undoable. The huge amount of poison present in Undine's dungeon, though, that stuff really takes a toll, especially since it's the first dungeon you get to that doesn't have a camping spot in the middle. Then Undine is just like "LEARN TO BLOCK OR DIE, FOOL," and just destroys you if you aren't prepared. I'm just glad that series has apparently always been so kind with save points, so even if you fluff up a little you aren't completely boned. Excited to see how hard it gets from here, for sure.
Playing this Tales game, though, it's kinda weird to see just how prevalent the "global pilgrimage to save the world" trope is in the series. Especially if it's done via the method of visiting summon-spirit shrines to get their help after fighting them. I guess it's to Namco's credit, though, that they manage to keep the story interesting through so many iterations of that plot-line.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
So I'm finally getting around to doing the DLC for The Witcher 3. My current quest is to give a garrulous rogue the time of his life. Only problem is he's now a ghost. The solution? Possession. Of Geralt.
So now I get the experience of having Geralt's deadpan in one moment (I'm using the Polish voices) and then the same VA suddenly switches to the not-as-refined-as-he-thinks-he-is party animal persona. It's amazing.
This DLC is already worth it.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
IrishNinja wrote:i'm on day 4, chapter 4 of yakuza 5! that's kinda RPG-like, rite
for real, too many rainy-day JRPG's in my baclkoggery right now. i could fall into a 10 year purgatory and not finish them all.
I've heard that Yakuza is somewhat of a brawler. Is that description accurate? I've always sort of assumed that it's more or less an Asian-focused GTA, kinda like (what I assume) Sleeping Dogs is.
ehh i think the marketing for 1 left people thinking "asian-focused GTA", yeah, but it's a brawler with RPG stats, if that helps! you cant go around just fucking everything up or doing whatever like a GTA game, you're doing what that character might be into/working as - in 5, that ranges from driving taxis, to hunting bears, to j-pop rhythm games, to baseball...there's a lotta minigames too.
IrishNinja wrote:i'm on day 4, chapter 4 of yakuza 5! that's kinda RPG-like, rite
for real, too many rainy-day JRPG's in my baclkoggery right now. i could fall into a 10 year purgatory and not finish them all.
I've heard that Yakuza is somewhat of a brawler. Is that description accurate? I've always sort of assumed that it's more or less an Asian-focused GTA, kinda like (what I assume) Sleeping Dogs is.
ehh i think the marketing for 1 left people thinking "asian-focused GTA", yeah, but it's a brawler with RPG stats, if that helps! you cant go around just fucking everything up or doing whatever like a GTA game, you're doing what that character might be into/working as - in 5, that ranges from driving taxis, to hunting bears, to j-pop rhythm games, to baseball...there's a lotta minigames too.
fuck, i love yakuza.
Cool! I only ask because I recently picked up the HD remake pack of 1 & 2 on PS3 (only available in Japan), and now that's much higher on my hit list of stuff to go through. Thanks!
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
The story is really starting to unfold now. I suppose if you're upset about things like spoilers in this game, you should really stop reading now.
Seriously.
Are you still reading? Good God, man, I told you to stop. Well, can't say I didn't warn you. Anyway, do you remember the drugged-out cult based around hallucinogenic plants that grow in the swamp which I mentioned as one of the three major factions in the game? Well, it turns out they actually weren't totally wrong about their being a sleeping supernatural being getting into contact with them via drug use. Only the Sleeper isn't a god...more the other direction. Like south of Heaven. Like WAY south.
The cult leader takes a massive trip one some fluid from a critter in a mine, there is a big flashy light parade sorta like the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and then everyone hallucinates an orc inside an orc graveyard. You then get sent in to investigate, only to discover your invasion party has been slaughtered by orcs, and the one guy who makes it through goes crazy and attacks you. When you get back, the cult leader dies, many of the cultists and their templar soldiers realize they've been worshiping a demon the whole time, but the second in command refuses to give in and breaks off in a splinter group.
Since the fact that a demon is now involved freaks everyone out, they then send you on a world tour to gather up several rune stones at key locations, which some of the mages stuck in the prison can use to blow away the magic dome. Of the five rune stones, I've now collected four, and each has served as its own miniquest, complete with respawning groups of monsters that I had previously killed. Finding one rune stone involved me slaughtering a troll again and then getting jumped by a horde of goblins, while another involved me pulling skeletons out of a tomb so I could then use a magic spell to kill a zombie inside. It's been fun, but the final area I have to visit is one that I had previously not explored. I look forward to finding what horrors are contained within.
I also discovered a sidequest by exploring a lone tower on the eastern coast which fed into an underground cavern full of skeletons and some kind of lich. Within that cavern I discovered a book, which led to more books in other locations, each one appearing in the world when I read the last. When I finally got through to the end and wound up back at the beginning, the final book actually proved to serve as a trick, summoning two liches and numerous skeletons into the caverns again. I was forced to pull the skeletons back into the tunnels so I could hinder their maneuverability and trap them on the walls before finally rushing in and slaughtering the liches. Magic is good, but Ack leads. Swords for everyone!
I've also managed to successfully master two-handed combat, which means that I can only further enhance my melee combat prowess by finding better weapons. Otherwise I'm maxed out. From now on, I think my leveling is going to mainly focus on picking up archery. I'll finally give range attacks a shot and see what comes of it.
It's about the same though weighted in Risen's favor, I'd say. Gothic is a bit rougher technically; there are some issues with graphical glitches as well as easily accessible exploits, and there is one major issue that I've encountered which I vehemently do not like. Hey, it was the company's first game, and there were some obvious growing pains and lessons to be learned(controls for instance). Beyond that, they're pretty much the same game in nearly every way.
I haven't played WRPGs in awhile but have been thinking about getting back into 'em..... Maybe this winter. So tempting now with all the D&D stuff on GOG.com. I don't have time for the massive open world titles these days, but some of the retro stuff is more manageable.
I didn't realize until now that Piranha Bytes has developed nothing but the Gothic and Risen games.
Ack wrote:Beyond that, they're pretty much the same game in nearly every way.
But how does the atmosphere compare between the two? I mean I thought Risen was a tropical island pirates kinda thing, versus Gothic with its darker Baltic flair? Or are they more similar than that?
