RPG Progress Report

[Exhuminator]

I figure VP2 was just a bit too late to the party, like a lot of those awesome SNES JRPG's that we never got. At least we got VP2. I'll probably play that one someday since it's affordable, unlike the first game (and I don't want to play the PSP version).

Well, I finished the first VP before playing VP2. I thought that VP was a very good, though slightly flawed, PS1 JRPG. It's worth playing for sure, but not worth its crazy nowadays price. That said, so far VP2 has fixed all the annoyances I didn't like about VP, and is the better game thus far.

[Xeogred]

I just looked up videos for 2... the music seems god tier as well. *checks* YES! Motoi Sakuraba.

The one thing that seems really appealing to these games is the darker stories, from things I've heard about the first at least. Is the second game still pretty cool with weird death/Norse mythology going on?

Checking 2 out just looks like a super serious take on Tales... probably destroys them all.

[Exhuminator]

Is the second game still pretty cool with weird death/Norse mythology going on?

Yes VP2 is steeped in Norse mythology and is very serious and dark. I like that. However the plot has been easier to follow in VP2 than it was for VP, for me anyway.

I should mention that VP2 takes place before VP, it's a prequel. So you don't have to have played VP just to have a clue as to what's going on in VP2.

[Xeogred]

Even better. Might order that soon, though my PS2 JRPG backlog is stacking up.

[Exhuminator]

Above all else, if you haven't played SMT:Nocturne, make sure that sucka is at the tippity top of that stack.

[MrPopo]

Above all else, if you haven't played SMT:Nocturne, make sure that sucka is at the tippity top of that stack.

True Demon Route or bust.

[Sarge]

Oh, man, Valkyrie Profile 2. Yeah, no question, it's one of the most beautiful games on the system. I don't quite know how they coaxed that much out of the PS2. It's got a little bit different bent, given that your recruits really don't have as complex a backstory as the original (if at all), but it puts more emphasis on the main plot as well, so it's just a tradeoff.

Strangely, I don't think about it that often, but that's because I played it... 2006, huh? Yeah, that was ten years ago. I find I don't replay later releases like I used to in the NES/SNES era, and I'm sure that's tied directly to my having significantly less entertainment options at that age.

And yes, the music is the tippity-top. Motoi can phone it in sometimes, but he didn't with this one at all. I listened to the soundtrack to this for a good long while.

[TSTR]

Phantasy Star Generation 1 Update:

CRUSHED IT

Gonna drop thoughts in the Games Beaten thread. Thanks for picking this one out for me, y'all!

[Exhuminator]

given that your recruits really don't have as complex a backstory as the original

Einherjar don't get animated cutscenes for their history this time, but in the menu you can read their backstory as an individual synopsis. I'm just pointing this out, because so many reviewers seemed to be oblivious to this fact.

[Sarge]

Yeah, they had stories, they were just pushed into the background. Which, of course, makes it a very optional thing whether you experience it or not. Kinda like a lot of WRPGs. I just played through Dragon Age: Inquisition, and I must admit I stopped reading all the Codex entries pretty early on, even though they've built up some considerable lore in that series.

EDIT: Also, if I say something wrong or stupid about the game, we'll attribute that to failing memory and JRPG overload since then.