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Exhuminator wrote:

prfsnl_gmr wrote:Another From Software FPARPG (Eternal Ring or Shadow Tower Abyss)

Help me decide!!!

The decision is clear to me.

I tried so hard. I spent an hour tonight trying to get my PS2 to output through component video cables, but I just wouldn’t do it. (I think my cables are busted...if that’s possible. The were aciting strangely before I moved, and now I get no video signal through them apparently...) I tried it with regular video cables, but it looked so bad. Shadow Tower Abyss is one of the best looking PS2 games, and it deserves better than that. It’s otherwise ready to go...I just have to get some new cables first.

my neighborhood lost power for a couple of hours last night so I ended up sitting in the dark playing LTTP. I finished up the Ice Palace and decided to go off exploring the overworld looking for some more power-ups and stuff. I cannot for the life of me remember where there's an easy access portal back to the dark world now. Hmm.

BogusMeatFactory wrote:I just started playing The Shroud of the Avatar, created by Richard "Lord British" Garriott and writing by Margaret Weiss.

With a name like that and considering its creator, is it in any way related to the Ultima universe?

prfsnl_gmr wrote:I spent an hour tonight trying to get my PS2 to output through component video cables, but I just wouldn’t do it.

Very unfortunate. I hope you can get the component output working, because you're right that Shadow Tower Abyss is a gorgeous PS2 game. To play it as a blurry badly scaled mess would be a travesty. You probably already know this, but just in case, changing a setting in your PS2 can increase component cable compatiblity...



Go to the PS2 configuration menu.
Scroll down to the setting which reads: Component Video Out.
Select Y Cb/Pb Cr/Pr instead of RGB.
Press X.

If that doesn't fix your problem, well, it could be a few other things.

I'm glad that you played through Shadow Tower before attempting Abyss. There's plot stuff and callbacks in Abyss that will make more sense because of that.

Ack wrote:

BogusMeatFactory wrote:I just started playing The Shroud of the Avatar, created by Richard "Lord British" Garriott and writing by Margaret Weiss.

With a name like that and considering its creator, is it in any way related to the Ultima universe?

Yes and no. You are an avatar, it has some places with the same name, it has the ahnk and the virtues and Britannia and takes place after, "The cataclysm" that is, I assume is ultima online.... but it is technically not in the universe.

Playing more, I see so many nods to ultima. The overworld is just classic ultima and it was so naive to not think so. I just got into one of the major cities and I am LOST! Even though there is a map. I've entered the merchants district, found a monetary to the virtues and hung out with monks, learned about the city's issues and what I need to do, but I am engrossed with talking to npcs. There was an instance where I was talking to a guard and they were talking about the theories of love and I had to go afk. When I came back, some little girl npc walked by and the guard was like, "Hey isn't that [INSERT GIRLS NAME]" and chased her. NPCs have their routines and sleep and get pissed off if you wake them up.

It has its flaws and the bugs I have encountered deal with npcs. Sometimes I input a question and do not get a response and the dialog box closes... sometimes I complete a quest and it doesn't think I did. There is jank but there is so much old school ultima feel that pulls from the entire series with modern design. I am enchanted but so many people don't seem to agree and I don't entirely understand why.

Exhuminator wrote:If that doesn't fix your problem, well, it could be a few other things.

I'm glad that you played through Shadow Tower before attempting Abyss. There's plot stuff and callbacks in Abyss that will make more sense because of that.

I have been attempting to squeeze better resolution out of my PS2 for years. I tried everything, and no luck.

I will overcome, however. I ordered a PS2 HDMI converter today, and should have it by Thursday.

PS2 looks so good on a CRT tho.

EDIT: Have you seen this? https://youtu.be/brMW6KFue-I

SuperDerpBro wrote:PS2 looks so good on a CRT tho.

EDIT: Have you seen this? https://youtu.be/brMW6KFue-I

I know! I’ve always had it hooked up to one. My 150 lb. HD CRT is unplugged until my basement game room is established, however, and I want to play Shadow Tower Abyss right now!

So pumped for my girl 2B in Soul Caliber 6.

http://www.siliconera.com/2018/10/30/so ... -automata/

Getting to the point in Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut where it starts getting a fair bit harder, or at the very least the game is assuming I will play a character other than the main character which is a FOOLISH assumption on its part

Gotta say though I am not a fan of the bosses who have ONE weakness, block/don't stagger to basically all other attacks, and that one weakness is on ONE member of your party, but because you can't change party members mid-fight you gotta either wait to die or restart the game to actually get a good try at it Xp

I think I'm pretty comfortable at this point saying that this is far from my favorite Tales game, but it's also far from my least favorite. The story is alright but pretty predictable so far. Phantasia didn't really feel quite as ANIME as this did, at least on a character development level. Perhaps Stahn will be a better character later, but he is 100% the archetypal happy-go-lucky wants to do good shonen protagonist so far and he's really not grabbing me. None of the characters are bad so far, but none are terribly interesting. The CC battle system is also confusing at the best of times, and I just really have not clicked with it on on a mechanical level. I'm gonna try and stick it out, but the game isn't really wowing me so far. The Phantasia remake on PSP is still a much higher game on my Best Tales Games list than this at this point and time.