A Game Journal Reborn

[Yggdrasil]

Really tired of seeing people giving examples and comparing virtually every game with Dark Souls. My mind just goes; "What about Demon's Souls? That game did a bunch of things first over Dark Souls and arguably better. Way better if you ask me at least."

I get that people have a boner over Dark Souls and I like that game a lot too, but geez man. Geez.

[Klutz64]

The thing that bothered me with Lost Odyssey was that battles were both long and horribly frequent.

At least with Persona 2 you could just spam fusion spells and have the battle over in at most 2 turns.

The battles were also only rewarding for a brief period of time, since experience in the game scales with your level.

[Dice]

Lost Odyssey's "storybook" segments are like the coolest thing ever [for that game].

Argh.  It makes me said.  IIRC, XSeed said The Last Story became their 'most successful' title... Especially with TitS: FC (and one day: SC) in existence.  D:

[Aeolus]

I just want to say out-loud here first that I LOVE dices review format posts here in the journal.

Next I want to say I'm having a mistwalker break-down! LoL

I'm about to finish Shadow Hearts ( I think) so the next title to pluck from the shelf need be considered. I never played either Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey and while both may be shooting myself in the foot considering Xillia is coming next month, I can't help but be pretty enticed. The alternative option to either is maybe just focusing on polishing off a few non-rpgs I've picked up and possibly (finally) giving Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter a shot. I've been waiting a long time to try a Mistwalker title though, and considering the amount of new stuff coming this fall I think it best I get to either or.

Blue Dragon seems way more tailored to my personal taste in terms of aesthetics but it seems most I've read leads me to believe Lost Odyssey is a way better experience. I know little about either. What I do know...

-I'm in the mood for a traditional epic RPG and both seem to fit the bill.
- I love how bright and vibrant Blue Dragon appears to be but the fact that people say the story sucks scares me.
- I'm enticed by that fact that I've read Lost Odyssey reminds them of Final Fantasy. One quote a quick search turned up within the forum here was "LO reminds me of the FF6 sequel I wanted since FF7 was announced". That is a bold and grand statement that severely pulls me in the Odyssey direction.
- I know Blue Dragon has an overworld map. I like this.
- I know Blue Dragon has a class system. I like this.
- I know nothing else of Lost Odyssey at all.

So if anyone has any words of wisdom they care to offer, I'm all ears.

Blue Dragon is FFV with a Dragon Ball GT plot and this is where Uematsu really started to get into his midlife crisis rock phase.

Lost Odyssey is FFIV but with immortals, even more railroading, and ballin' storybook segments written by some longtime manga writer who's name and work I can't recall off the top of my head.

And The Last Story has been described as Final Gears of Fantasy War and I need to get around to playing through it sometime.

[Darilon]

Finished Far Cry 3.
Wasn't a big fan of the story near the end but the game was really fun overall. I will probably play the Co-op missions soon.

Dragon's Crown.
Beat the game on normal mode. I actually found Red Dragon harder than Ancient Dragon. Think I might take a break before trying some other classes/higher difficulty modes.

Atelier Rorona Plus

The game is really fun. I like the addition of the mini assignments, they give you something to aim towards. Currently up to Assignment 2. Yay for not having to revisit each area every few days in case there is a new scene!

[MeshGearFox]

I have TLO and TLS but I've yet to play either. TLO looks legitimately interesting to my tastes. TLS... does not but I just got it because <something something new jack swing>.

Started playing Vesperia. Initial couple obsevations:

- First shot of the game proper is centered squarely on Repede's butt. GOTY right there, folks.
- Load times seem less than TotA. Feels p. silky.
- Antialiasing looks gross on cel shading :( Antialising looks gross in general. SR2 has some slight antialiasing and it's just bleh.
- Colors looked weird in the cutscenes. Are they compressed or do I have the color settings on my 360 messed up?
- "Take it easy with the water sports, old man." OH GOD I JUST READ THAT WRONG A LOT.
- ... I feel like playing Chrono Cross now.

-- edit --

Also did some more Sweet Lily Dreams in the Jekyll world. WTH up wit some of the paintings in that house? I should probably go back to town and see if I can make some furnitures/scrolls.

Also I should probably get back to Suikoden 3.

WHY ARE SOLT AND PEPPOR IN VESPERIA IS THIS SOME JAPAN THING.

WHY IS CUMORE'S CODPIECE?

--- edit ---

Up to Deiden Hold. Repede's model appears to have a wiener.

Combat feels kind of stiff to me, especially the way it doesn't retarget after you free run, also the AI doesn't seem very good at, uh, maintaining pressure. Estelle doesn't seem to even attack ever?

--- edit ---

Yeeeep Repede def'nitly got a thang. NEXT GEN GRAPHICS FOLKS.

Who did the music for this anyway? It sounds Arc the Lad 2ish as heck. Wait it's Sakuraba? It doesn't sound like Sakuraba.

[Annubis]

Estelle doesn't seem to even attack ever?

Just go and change her strategy.

[MeshGearFox]

Estelle doesn't seem to even attack ever?

Just go and change her strategy.

How do I do this? I could only find the thing for setting overall party strategy.

[Annubis]

Estelle doesn't seem to even attack ever?

Just go and change her strategy.

How do I do this? I could only find the thing for setting overall party strategy.

Look for this menu

[Dice]

I have TLO and TLS but I've yet to play either. TLO looks legitimately interesting to my tastes. TLS... does not but I just got it because <something something new jack swing>.

Started playing Vesperia. Initial couple obsevations:

- First shot of the game proper is centered squarely on Repede's butt. GOTY right there, folks.
- Load times seem less than TotA. Feels p. silky.
- Antialiasing looks gross on cel shading :( Antialising looks gross in general. SR2 has some slight antialiasing and it's just bleh.
- Colors looked weird in the cutscenes. Are they compressed or do I have the color settings on my 360 messed up?

WHY ARE SOLT AND PEPPOR IN VESPERIA IS THIS SOME JAPAN THING.

Up to Deiden Hold. Repede's model appears to have a wiener.

Combat feels kind of stiff to me, especially the way it doesn't retarget after you free run, also the AI doesn't seem very good at, uh, maintaining pressure. Estelle doesn't seem to even attack ever?


Yeeeep Repede def'nitly got a thang. NEXT GEN GRAPHICS FOLKS.

Who did the music for this anyway? It sounds Arc the Lad 2ish as heck. Wait it's Sakuraba? It doesn't sound like Sakuraba.

Music: Sakuraba and Hibiki Aoyama (first time I heard of the latter)

You're looking too hard for/at doggy dick (I never noticed; might be extra dog fuzz, not sure they'd animate a full dick unless they just went "bulge" route).

Combat is stiff at first (I noticed this too), but unlocking more skills really loosens it up.  If you want really fluid combat I recommend (as many others have for this) Tales of Graces.  Still; Vesperia keeps things fresh by adding the Limit Break thingy on the left later on and the "instant-kill" attacks that happen when you wear an enemy down (all taught later on)

Yeah, my mind was all on Solt and Peppor too.  They do add a third Stooge later though (though less of a complete retard) and they play a sort-of interesting part in the story later on.

AI for Estelle is pretty....special.  Yeah she ain't the hottest healer/attacker, but I find she does the job otherwise.  Heals, occasional spells, and the rest of the melee-ers do their shit, you're good to go.  But healers are always interesting in Tales games; you can really get along just fine without them for most of the game and just rely on items and cooking instead.

Vesperia's colours are probably the most vibrant in the series... I'm surprised you think it looks bad unless the plug ain't in too well.  And, speaking for myself, I liked the cel shaded look more than Xillia's attempts at adding [pixelated] "textures" instead. x(

Finished Far Cry 3.
Wasn't a big fan of the story near the end but the game was really fun overall. I will probably play the Co-op missions soon.

Dragon's Crown.
Beat the game on normal mode. I actually found Red Dragon harder than Ancient Dragon. Think I might take a break before trying some other classes/higher difficulty modes.

Atelier Rorona Plus

The game is really fun. I like the addition of the mini assignments, they give you something to aim towards. Currently up to Assignment 2. Yay for not having to revisit each area every few days in case there is a new scene!

Far Cry was a ton of fun and I didn't know why.  I liked how reviews said the "scenery was repetitive"......  WELL SHIT SON, I DUNNO IF IT'S JUST CUZ I LIVE IN CANADA, BUT THE DAY I WANNA STOP SEEING TROPICAL ISLAND SCENERY I'LL LET YOU KNOW, MMMKAY?
I hated the dark caves in that game, and shark attacks.  Shit I loved getting scared by the game, actually.

And yeah, I agree.  I find the Red Dragon a way bigger pain in the ass than the final boss;  but I did spend a lot more time preparing for one than the other.

[Annubis]

But healers are always interesting in Tales games

The character which I won't name that uses a bow can actually be a great healer while being one of the best damage dealer.

[MeshGearFox]

Vesperia's colours are probably the most vibrant in the series... I'm surprised you think it looks bad unless the plug ain't in too well.

Aww naw I mean I'm getting a lot of weird visual artifacts from 360 games in general. I think I had the 360 configured wrong for my display is all. I had the Reference Mode? set to Standard, which is for TVs, and since I'm using a monitor that was probably screwing up the contrast.

You're looking too hard for/at doggy dick (I never noticed; might be extra dog fuzz, not sure they'd animate a full dick unless they just went "bulge" route).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlVR6yfoAuU&feature=player_detailpage#t=378

You might need to zoom in but it's definitely there and the camera is focused right at it. It's a lot more noticeable on the largish monitor that's right in front of my face.

Anyway I don't really mind the stiffness I just need to quit being so terrible at the combat I guess. I mean the pacing of it feels like it wants me to not be so button mashy like I could do in ToS.

---

@ Klyde - See, I need to try SH:C again. The last time I played it I was in highschool and only had a rather poor CRT TV, which made the text unreadable. I got a better CRT TV when I moved away to college eight years ago, so I think it might be adequate for SHC. Or I could get a component to HDMI/VGA/??? converter and hook it up to the monitor.

[Klyde Chroma]

Vesperia's battle system was one of best gameplay progressions I have ever experienced in an RPG. Or at least in a Tales game...

It truly goes from outright clunky to combo-tastically-slick by the end. This made me truly feel there was a far greater relevance to becoming stronger than simply seeing bigger numbers. Most Tales games pull this off, but Vesperia nailed it for me.

After pouring over your suggestions and seeing (for years) all this talk of the "dream segments" it appears LO is probably gonna be my next move. BD deinately looks to be more up my alley, but I sort of feel like I know exactly what to expect from BD (which by no means seems bad) but LO certainly has me far more curious. Playing and enjoying BD won't quell my curiosity in any way really and in truth either title looks like I can't go wrong.

But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Presently enjoying end-game Shadow Hearts. Now THIS is some wonky narrative folks. I really like the explanation of what "God" is, discussed with the inclusion of his precise distance from earth! LoL

[Der Jermeister]

The thing that bothered me with Lost Odyssey was that battles were both long and horribly frequent.

At least with Persona 2 you could just spam fusion spells and have the battle over in at most 2 turns.

Too bad you have to use a guide to actually find fusion spells. Sorry, to me that's a sign of shitty game design.

[Starmongoose]

The thing that bothered me with Lost Odyssey was that battles were both long and horribly frequent.

At least with Persona 2 you could just spam fusion spells and have the battle over in at most 2 turns.

Too bad you have to use a guide to actually find fusion spells. Sorry, to me that's a sign of shitty game design.

I never used a guide?

The really basic fusion spell Fire/Water/Earth or whatever it was, was always plentiful. You could use that a majority of the game, or you could get Maya to Dimensional Vortex everything.

Besdies, I said "at least" - meaning, the game had a problem regarding battles but at least it had this thing going for it. I wasn't calling it the gold standard.