What RPG are you playing right now?

[Sarge]

I'll weigh in on the two Exhuminator didn't earlier. Twilight of the Spirits is a bit like Shining Force in 3D form. And not like Shining Force III, as there are no grids involved. I have no idea if it aged well or not, but I enjoyed the heck out of it when it released.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant is one of my favorite PS2 RPGs, and a dark horse candidate for best traditional RPG on the system. It's not as deadly serious as the first game, but it definitely has its moments. But it thrives on an odd mix of comedy and creepiness, and it does so very, very well. If you're tired of JRPGs with the exact same tropey tone, give this one a go.

[Exhuminator]

The only thing I want to add about Covenant, is it's basically part three of a four part series. Shadow Hearts really starts with Koudelka, a (underrated) PS1 JRPG by Sacnoth. Then Shadow Hearts comes along with plenty of significant ties to Koudelka in its story, and Covenant continues the story keeping Yuri in the mix. Shadow Hearts 3 (really the fourth in the overall story) probably breaks away the most from the overarching plot line.

Not that someone can't enjoy Covenant on its own, of course.

[Xeogred]

I've known about that, though Koudelka sounds wildly different with a weird mixture of JRPG combat with RE styled gameplay or something, and was some pet project by the Secret of Mana composer? The whole thing just sounds weird, but I've been very interested in it for awhile. Wish it wasn't so pricey, as it looks like a gamble purchase because of how obtuse it looks. Probably very hit or miss.

Generally I definitely try to do release date order, but I guess I won't be too picky here. I dug Shadow Hearts, but maybe going through Covenant will boost my interest in hitting up the original again to get through it all.

The music from what I've heard from both the first two Shadow Hearts seems amazing too, quality Mitsuda. Seems better than Xenosaga 1's score, which I think there has to be a story for with how lackluster and lacking it is for Mitsuda in terms of content, feels like he maybe just had one month to come up with some music. The entire game has literally no BGM whatsoever for dungeons, and ONE battle theme for the whole game, until the last boss. It's a complete mystery and makes no sense how weird it is, but I'm guessing budget issues and timing.

I read tons of great things about Twilight of the Spirits this year or something, so that's new to the backlog. I was shocked when I looked up videos, it looks amazingly cool and visually impressive. So maybe I'll be kicking myself for staying away from the Arc the Lad series after 3, I really didn't like that one (how the story progressed by always taking up "jobs" was super boring and lame, and I disliked all the aesthetic changes from the first two). The second PS2 one also sounds pretty mixed and apparently plays different than Twilight. Looks dirt cheap though so I'll probably grab it sometime.

[Sarge]

You mention Arc the Lad 3, did you play the second one? One of my favorite games out there.

EDIT: For anyone interested, don't confuse TotS with End of Darkness, which might be a passable action-RPG. I never went far enough in to find out, but I wasn't impressed.

[Xeogred]

Oh yeah, and I 100%'d the first one so I put like 20 hours into it when you could be done with 10. I sadly didn't beat 2 though, but clocked in a ton of time and did a lot with the monster arena. Getting your entire party back from Arc 1 to join forces with the new team was fascinating. I love when SRPG's go nuts like that and you have a literal army to utilize. The music was amazing, the cool modernized yet there's still magic/fantasy world was great and super 90's, the faster paced combat was more to my liking compared to FFT, and an SRPG that lets you walk around towns/dungeons? I can't praise Arc 2 enough.

It's basically why I didn't like 3 because it was a huge downgrade in every single way. lol

On a random note I've been meaning to check out the anime sometime, wonder if it's good...

[Sarge]

Yeah, I pushed through the third game. It wasn't as good, but oddly enough I still ended up enjoying it. It's a really, really easy game, though. Especially if you're trying to do all the missions.

[Xeogred]

Yeah, I pushed through the third game. It wasn't as good, but oddly enough I still ended up enjoying it. It's a really, really easy game, though. Especially if you're trying to do all the missions.

Did it ever evolve from "do job missions on the job board for the story to progress, except not really"? I put in like 10 hours I think.

[Sarge]

There are story missions, but most of the character building comes from the optional missions. It does eventually gain an overarching plot, but I can't remember it right now.

[REPO Man]

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 for Vita.

[Westane]

So I just called it quits on Breath of Fire III. Closing in on 20 hours and still not caring...

The next game on my list is Tomba 2 but AFTER THAT is Star Ocean: Second Story (PS1 version). Star Ocean 3 is one of my personal favorite RPG's but I thought 4 was boring as all hell. This'll be my first time playing Second Story.