RPG Progress Report

[BoneSnapDeez]

Awwwwwwwww I looooove Gurumin. So cute and charming. Fantastic music. I love the simplistic dungeon-crawling approach. The game is never truly difficult, but the challenge does increase later on. And as I recall, it' not easy to accumulate a surplus of cash so you have to be choosy about what power-ups and items to buy.

But yeah, the camera is rough. Worst aspect by far. Shoulda just been a 2D game.

[Exhuminator]

Fantastic music.

Now this I can get behind. Gurumin did indeed have a great whimsical OST from what I heard.

I just started playing Valhalla Knights on PSP. This one received piss reviews. I don't have my hopes up. But then again, my tastes rarely coincide with popular opinion, so who knows.

Nope, it's poop.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I'm kinda indiscriminate when it comes to ARPGs, but something about the "look" of those games always turned me away. I don't own a single installment, despite the fact that they exist on three consoles I own and are relatively cheap.

I thought the same thing about Kingdom of Paradise but I ran across a $2 copy the other day and bought it.

[Exhuminator]

but something about the "look" of those games always turned me away. I don't own a single installment, despite the fact that they exist on three consoles I own and are relatively cheap.

I own Valhalla Knights 1, 2 (Battle Stance version), and 3... because I'm retarded and I collect games just because "maybe someday I'll like these". Valhalla Knights 2 and 3 might be okay, but the original game got boring tremendously quickly.

I thought the same thing about Kingdom of Paradise

I put a couple hours into that one a few years ago. I thought it had a cool combat system and I appreciated the oriental aesthetic. Unfortunately the difficulty balancing is uneven, and it doesn't take long before you end up in a really WTF boss fight a few hours in. I ran out of patience and moved on. It's not a terrible game or anything though.

So tonight I was considering another RPG to play on my PSP. I flipped a coin between Tactics Ogre: LUCT and Grandia. I ended up with Grandia. I put an hour and a half into Grandia after that. Definitely a bygone era JRPG and oozing with charm, but admittedly wandering around town on a scavenger hunt wasn't the funnest way to start the game. I'm sure things get more interesting soon, but after that hour and a half I was still just talking to people in town... no dungeons or fighting yet. I'll pick it up back up tomorrow.

[laurenhiya21]

I just started playing Valhalla Knights on PSP. This one received piss reviews. I don't have my hopes up. But then again, my tastes rarely coincide with popular opinion, so who knows.

Nope, it's poop.

You're not the only one who thought it was poop. Don't remember how long I tried to play it for, but I definitely couldn't stand it for long. Only thing I liked about it was that I didn't spend any money on it.

[darsparx]

I'm kinda indiscriminate when it comes to ARPGs, but something about the "look" of those games always turned me away. I don't own a single installment, despite the fact that they exist on three consoles I own and are relatively cheap.

I thought the same thing about Kingdom of Paradise but I ran across a $2 copy the other day and bought it.

Wouldn't of happend to of been at walmart or target? I think I bought the same game from one of the two for the same price XD Which is in the same bin as AC/DC Rockband Track Pack, and a few other "odd" games they are just trying to get rid of that usually sit for a long time in that spot...

[Exhuminator]

I just started playing Valhalla Knights on PSP. This one received piss reviews. I don't have my hopes up. But then again, my tastes rarely coincide with popular opinion, so who knows.

Nope, it's poop.

You're not the only one who thought it was poop. Don't remember how long I tried to play it for, but I definitely couldn't stand it for long. Only thing I liked about it was that I didn't spend any money on it.

The dungeon areas were so incredibly bland and the combat was utterly boring. It's like how in the world did the Valhalla Knights devs not realize this? The only more-boring PSP ARPG I've played was Warriors of the Lost Empire. If you haven't played it, trust me, it's not worth the effort.

[pierrot]

So tonight I was considering another RPG to play on my PSP. I flipped a coin between Tactics Ogre: LUCT and Grandia. I ended up with Grandia. I put an hour and a half into Grandia after that. Definitely a bygone era JRPG and oozing with charm, but admittedly wandering around town on a scavenger hunt wasn't the funnest way to start the game. I'm sure things get more interesting soon, but after that hour and a half I was still just talking to people in town... no dungeons or fighting yet. I'll pick it up back up tomorrow.

Sounds like you're playing it about the same way I did. I can't call the game crap, but if you're like me, once you figure out how cookbook the battle system is, and hit the "big" plot reveal about a third of the way into the game, you'll probably lose interest in it. I muscled through the rest of the game purely on grit and will, but it was not particularly entertaining for me.

I also did not think Gurumin was an especially great game. I beat the PSP version, but it was a pretty uneventful 10-20 hours, and perhaps some of the Where the Wild Things Are undertones aside, it felt like a bit of a waste of time. The original PC version is quite a bit different in terms of gameplay, though. It intrigues me, but I don't really care enough to try it.


Back on the topic of Game Arts RPGs, I finished Lunar: The Silver Star on the Sega CD, and thought it was pretty great--one of the better 16bit RPGs I've ever played--due in no small part to the presentation. Of course, the colors are quite drab in places, but the graphics are quite nice, regardless. It's nice to see more of GA's great cutsene work on the console, and the sound design was top notch. The story isn't exceptionally interesting, but I liked some of the characters well enough, and the dialogue was fairly well done. It's no masterpiece, but I liked it, which was a bit of a surprise to me. Also surprising is how bad Silver Star Story Complete feels to me. I threw it in after finishing TSS, just to see how it had been updated, and I don't like it: particularly in how slow the combat is, and how long it takes to get into and out of the battle screens. There don't seem to be any random battles on the world map, so grinding for money seems a lot more difficult, and I hate how they redesigned Fiedee, and changed his voice actor. The voice actors in general don't seem as good, although there is considerably more voiced dialogue. This is a small gripe, but the change of Alex's harp to an ocarina is dumb, and I hate it.

[Sarge]

I beat Grandia back in the day, and really enjoyed it. And I just picked it up on PSN so I have the option of playing it on the Vita. That's a good use of $2, right?

Lunar: Eternal Blue is where it's at, though. Play that one on Sega CD instead of PSX; it's better there, despite the lack of FMV sequences.

[Exhuminator]

once you figure out how cookbook the battle system is, and hit the "big" plot reveal about a third of the way into the game, you'll probably lose interest in it

That's a bit of a worry for me. I had a friend many years back who was playing through Grandia, and I recall he quit about 2/3rds through. I remember him saying something like, "The game's just so formulaic, town, dungeon, town, dungeon, it's just boring now." (Now that to me sounds like the Dragon Quest formula, so I have nothing against that.) What does concern me is that HLTB says this game averages 43 hours, and I wonder if I'd run out of steam before then. I really wish JRPGs would average 20 hours on average, but that's rather rare. After about 20 hours I start to get tired of an RPG unless it's really, really good.

I also did not think Gurumin was an especially great game. I beat the PSP version, but it was a pretty uneventful 10-20 hours, it felt like a bit of a waste of time.

Well sorry for your loss, but I'm glad to read you say that, so that I don't regret quitting playing it after only 2 hours.

I finished Lunar: The Silver Star on the Sega CD, and thought it was pretty great

I beat the PS1 version of that, and I thought it was "OK", like 7.5/10 territory for me. The battle system was boring, but the world building was solid, and the amount of NPC dialogue really impressed me. It's one of those RPGs where every time any little plot event happens, every single NPC in the entire game world's dialogue would change. I spent so much time just warping around the world talking to everyone just to see what they'd say.

Also surprising is how bad Silver Star Story Complete feels to me. I threw it in after finishing TSS, just to see how it had been updated, and I don't like it

Yeah that was one of my concerns when I chose which version to play. I think the PS1 version had more bromides with better artwork? At least that's one positive.

And I just picked it up on PSN so I have the option of playing it on the Vita. That's a good use of $2, right?

Huh, that's funny. I just loaded up one of my PSPs with a bunch of PS1 games (that's actually how I was playing Grandia). I'm thinking about playing Arc the Lad though, because it's supposed to be a short SRPG with SNES influences. I love how well the PSP handles PS1 games, hell the thing's worth owning just for that alone.