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Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!

Rascyc posted:

Not that anyone in the west played Terranigma until many years later, heh.
Well, nobody in America, at least. I dunno why they don't just port the dam (sic) thing, they already have a (sort of acceptable) script from the EU release.

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Bongo Bill
Jan 17, 2012

Al Cu Ad Solte posted:

Unrelated question: Can anyone recommend a fantasy rpg with an actual sense of adventure? It's probably the only reason why I'm still muscling through Eschalon; travelling the world, slowly finding out more about the story, meeting new people. Skyrim fits the bill sort of, but everything's so congested together in the world and the copy-pasted dungeons really take away the sense of discovery.

Dragon Age almost hit sweet spot as well, though there was so much backtracking and visiting the same location the feeling started to fade. Not that it was a bad thing, obviously that wasn't the dev's focus.

Skies of Arcadia is the most adventuresome RPG I've ever played, though you'll have to play it on a Gamecube or Dreamcast (unless the faint rumors that it's Sega's next choice for an upgraded digital rerelease have any merit).

Practically anything in the Dragon Quest series will fit the bill. The low fidelity of the experience compared to your examples - particularly of the older ones - might enhance or diminish the sense of adventure, according to your ~imagination~.

There's also the Spiderweb Software games. Those are pretty questy.

Stelas
Sep 6, 2010

Al Cu Ad Solte posted:

Unrelated question: Can anyone recommend a fantasy rpg with an actual sense of adventure? It's probably the only reason why I'm still muscling through Eschalon; travelling the world, slowly finding out more about the story, meeting new people. Skyrim fits the bill sort of, but everything's so congested together in the world and the copy-pasted dungeons really take away the sense of discovery.

Seconding Spiderweb Software. If you want a nice gung-ho painless introduction, try the Avernum remake (Avernum: Escape from the Pit) on Steam.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

The White Dragon posted:

Well, nobody in America, at least. I dunno why they don't just port the dam (sic) thing, they already have a (sort of acceptable) script from the EU release.

It's pretty likely it was due to content. Terranigma has some stuff which would have attracted quite a bit of attention, especially because 1995-1996 would be right when the arguments over content in video games were getting pretty heated.

Illusion of Gaia skated by through some censorship and some obscurity but Terrangima arguably has more controversial content than Russian Roulette and self-immolating pigs.

Polite Tim
Sep 3, 2007
'insert witty Family Guy/ Futurama/ Simpsons/ Little fucking Britian etc quote here'

Ciaphas posted:

I'm not sure if I want to start playing Ni No Kuni again. I absolutely loved the style, music, themes, art, everything... but the gameplay itself became kind of :geno: after a while. I got through some volcano dungeon or another, then pretty much just stopped playing because I could see the repetitively grindy writing on the wall.

Shame, really. I like being told a story in my games and I really wanted to find out whether poor Oliver got what he wanted out of the whole mess :unsmith:

I hate to say this, but Ni no Kuni's story is fairly cookie cutter. It promises great things but never goes through with it and just dumps some generic exposition about the world and Oliver's connection to the sages and Shadar right at the end. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is great if you can handle a little grinding, but you don't need to to complete it. It's just that I went straight from Ni no Kuni to Tales of Graces f, which I think has a much more interesting story and less one dimensional characters.

Levantine
Feb 14, 2005

GUNDAM!!!

Bongo Bill posted:

Skies of Arcadia is the most adventuresome RPG I've ever played, though you'll have to play it on a Gamecube or Dreamcast (unless the faint rumors that it's Sega's next choice for an upgraded digital rerelease have any merit).


I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment about Skies of Arcadia. I check about every two weeks to see if there is more news about the rumored HD remake but I'm beginning to lose hope. The GC version will play on older Wii's though so it's not a total loss.

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

Al Cu Ad Solte posted:

Unrelated question: Can anyone recommend a fantasy rpg with an actual sense of adventure? It's probably the only reason why I'm still muscling through Eschalon; travelling the world, slowly finding out more about the story, meeting new people. Skyrim fits the bill sort of, but everything's so congested together in the world and the copy-pasted dungeons really take away the sense of discovery.

If you have a PSP, give The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky a try. There's a Let's Play of it running in the subforum at the moment if you want to get an idea of what it's like.

Al Cu Ad Solte
Nov 30, 2005
Searching for
a righteous cause

Bongo Bill posted:

Skies of Arcadia is the most adventuresome RPG I've ever played, though you'll have to play it on a Gamecube or Dreamcast (unless the faint rumors that it's Sega's next choice for an upgraded digital rerelease have any merit).

Practically anything in the Dragon Quest series will fit the bill. The low fidelity of the experience compared to your examples - particularly of the older ones - might enhance or diminish the sense of adventure, according to your ~imagination~.

There's also the Spiderweb Software games. Those are pretty questy.

I've played and loved Skies of Arcadia. Could never get into the Dragon Quest games due to the grind. I hate grind. Hate hate hate.

Stelas posted:

Seconding Spiderweb Software. If you want a nice gung-ho painless introduction, try the Avernum remake (Avernum: Escape from the Pit) on Steam.

I'll hafta give this one a shot. Never bothered with the Spiderweb games since all of them seemed like remakes of remakes of remakes?

Neddy Seagoon posted:

If you have a PSP, give The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky a try. There's a Let's Play of it running in the subforum at the moment if you want to get an idea of what it's like.

No PSP unfortunately(?)

Wendell
May 11, 2003

Al Cu Ad Solte posted:

I've played and loved Skies of Arcadia. Could never get into the Dragon Quest games due to the grind. I hate grind. Hate hate hate.

This is such an oddly common complaint. There ain't no grind, bro! Unless you're playing the NES originals you're good to go.

BadAstronaut
Sep 15, 2004

Is the Tales Of series anything like Dragon Quest? That's my favourite JRPG series and I prefer it even to anything in the final fantasy series. I'm going for a Dragon Quest 7 remake for 3DS in English but until then I'm going to play whatever I can find on my recently purchased PSP. Is Breath of Fire worth the time? Grandia? Or should I get through the PSP version of Final Fantasy IV at last? Nice to have all the options that this system opens up.

Thuryl
Mar 14, 2007

My postillion has been struck by lightning.

Al Cu Ad Solte posted:

I'll hafta give this one a shot. Never bothered with the Spiderweb games since all of them seemed like remakes of remakes of remakes?

It's pretty much just the Exile/Avernum series that keeps getting remade all the time, since that's generally been their most reliable seller and remaking a game takes less work than making a new one from scratch. The Geneforge series is its own thing and so is Avadon. There are free demos available for all of their games, usually consisting of about the first 10-20% of the game, so there's not much risk involved in trying a couple of promising-looking games out and seeing if you like them.

nessin
Feb 7, 2010

Al Cu Ad Solte posted:


I'll hafta give this one a shot. Never bothered with the Spiderweb games since all of them seemed like remakes of remakes of remakes?


There are several remakes, but it's because their are something like 13(Maybe 10 and I'm bad at counting/remember which were remakes?) base games made over years and years.

DACK FAYDEN
Feb 25, 2013

Bear Witness

Wendell posted:

This is such an oddly common complaint. There ain't no grind, bro! Unless you're playing the NES originals you're good to go.
I think there are a few grindy spots. Off the top of my head, I was underleveled before Kandar 2 and the Pyramid in the DQ3 GBC port, and in 7 I got brick-walled by the fight right before wolf-boy joins (where you can't use magic) and the evil cloud thing in the temple when your party was split up.

Ended up solving all of those with some grinding. While not too much, it was still grinding. There may have been easier ways!

Ciaphas
Nov 20, 2005

> BEWARE, COWARD :ovr:


Polite Tim posted:

I hate to say this, but Ni no Kuni's story is fairly cookie cutter. It promises great things but never goes through with it and just dumps some generic exposition about the world and Oliver's connection to the sages and Shadar right at the end. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is great if you can handle a little grinding, but you don't need to to complete it. It's just that I went straight from Ni no Kuni to Tales of Graces f, which I think has a much more interesting story and less one dimensional characters.

Is Graces f genuinely fun/worth playing? I picked it up at... some point then more or less forgot I had it. :v:

(oh god my steam habits are transiting to physical disks oh nooooooo)

Rascyc
Jan 23, 2008

Dissatisfied Puppy

Al Cu Ad Solte posted:

Unrelated question: Can anyone recommend a fantasy rpg with an actual sense of adventure? It's probably the only reason why I'm still muscling through Eschalon; travelling the world, slowly finding out more about the story, meeting new people. Skyrim fits the bill sort of, but everything's so congested together in the world and the copy-pasted dungeons really take away the sense of discovery.
Do some research on Divinity 2 - Dragon Knight Saga and see if it fits your bill. It's fake open world (in other words, all hand crafted but a lot of content), but it's pretty much one grand adventure with some cutesy dialog and a lot of Diablo-esque killing.

Ciaphas posted:

Is Graces f genuinely fun/worth playing? I picked it up at... some point then more or less forgot I had it. :v:

(oh god my steam habits are transiting to physical disks oh nooooooo)
Graces F has the best gameplay of all the Tales games. Its setting/story seem to bore a lot of people in my experience though, but the combat is so good you should just ignore it. Just settle in for a pretty bad introduction if you have low tolerances to anime - it's a child arc that intentionally limits what you can do in combat; just control the purple haired girl to make it a little better.

Admiral H. Curtiss
May 11, 2010

I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.
Graces f has a dumb plot but the best battle system. Extremely fun anytime you're in battle.

Namnesor
Jun 29, 2005

Dante's allowance - $100

Ciaphas posted:

Is Graces f genuinely fun/worth playing? I picked it up at... some point then more or less forgot I had it. :v:

(oh god my steam habits are transiting to physical disks oh nooooooo)

Graces f is fun as hell, but the story is pants-on-head retarded. That game is very much carried by its battle system, and it's carried very well.

Cardiovorax
Jun 5, 2011

I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

nessin posted:

There are several remakes, but it's because their are something like 13(Maybe 10 and I'm bad at counting/remember which were remakes?) base games made over years and years.
Exile 1, Geneforge 1, Nethergate, Avadon... The rest is either sequels or remakes - and the sequels kinda don't count because they all run on the same engine and have the same gameplay. They're more like episodes of one larger game, really.

Rascyc posted:

Do some research on Divinity 2 - Dragon Knight Saga and see if it fits your bill. It's fake open world (in other words, all hand crafted but a lot of content), but it's pretty much one grand adventure with some cutesy dialog and a lot of Diablo-esque killing.
Just be aware that the whole "turning into a dragon" thing is kinda extraneous and badly integrated. It's more like two games packaged as one, while you're a dragon ground enemies are simply invisible and untouchable.

Ciaphas
Nov 20, 2005

> BEWARE, COWARD :ovr:


Alright, guess I'll give Graces f a try. Hell, it's already sitting there. Anything I should know in gameplay terms going in besides that the childhood section is probably easy and boring?

Namnesor
Jun 29, 2005

Dante's allowance - $100

Ciaphas posted:

Alright, guess I'll give Graces f a try. Hell, it's already sitting there. Anything I should know in gameplay terms going in besides that the childhood section is probably easy and boring?

Always be using the Eleth Mixer. Also don't get too attached to Asbel for battling, the other characters are really fun to play as, too.

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry

BadAstronaut posted:

Is the Tales Of series anything like Dragon Quest? That's my favourite JRPG series and I prefer it even to anything in the final fantasy series.
Not really, to be honest. The Tales series' main claim to fame is its battle system, which is unlike any other JRPG series that I can think of at the moment. It's been continuously refined with every entry and I would say is the main attraction. It's hard to describe, so you might want to look up some youtube videos, but it's basically a fast-paced non-menu based fighting game approach where you try to combo enemies with a plethora of skills and attacks. That's a gross simplification, but it's decidedly different from anything turn-based at least.

It has the most anime of anime plots with some of the most nonsensical terminology and justifications for why poo poo happens. Most of the time I don't think it takes itself too seriously, but it's again decidedly different from something as simple and straightforward as Dragon Quest. Certainly more comparable to Final Fantasy. I don't think they're aggressively bad but hardly anyone considers them a strong point for the series.

For my own part I do like the series a lot. I'm not sure where I'd rank them against Dragon Quest, but I certainly enjoy them more than Final Fantasy. The only problem is that because the series has continuously updated its battle system, it's very hard to go back to earlier entries after playing later ones. Tales of Symphonia is probably the most egregious after one has played Abyss and Vesperia.

Cardiovorax
Jun 5, 2011

I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.
If you think of Tales games as JRPGs with Devil May Cry gameplay, you're not too far off the mark. They're pretty great if you like JRPGs but just can't stand how slow-paced the turn based combat is.

DACK FAYDEN
Feb 25, 2013

Bear Witness

Nate RFB posted:

The Tales series' main claim to fame is its battle system, which is unlike any other JRPG series that I can think of at the moment.
Eternal Sonata is like turn-based Tales? I just wanted to namedrop that awful/awesome game. Total shame about its awful parts, because there were parts of it (like the scenery) that are just so incredible :(

babypolis
Nov 4, 2009

DACK FAYDEN posted:

I think there are a few grindy spots. Off the top of my head, I was underleveled before Kandar 2 and the Pyramid in the DQ3 GBC port, and in 7 I got brick-walled by the fight right before wolf-boy joins (where you can't use magic) and the evil cloud thing in the temple when your party was split up.

Ended up solving all of those with some grinding. While not too much, it was still grinding. There may have been easier ways!

God I still have nightmares about the roadblocks in DQ 7. The temple is just all around horrible. Other fights that stick with me was that Huge Thorny Plant boss and some rear end in a top hat Cloud guy that summoned smaller clouds that spammed aoe attacks. Part of the problem was that the game just took away party members away forever with little warning so I lost all my mages and support and ended up with a party of beatstick wolfboy, hero with a bunch of random worthless masteries like Pirate and Sheperd and an useless grandpa.

Forest Thief Pud
Dec 26, 2011

BadAstronaut posted:

Is the Tales Of series anything like Dragon Quest? That's my favourite JRPG series and I prefer it even to anything in the final fantasy series. I'm going for a Dragon Quest 7 remake for 3DS in English but until then I'm going to play whatever I can find on my recently purchased PSP. Is Breath of Fire worth the time? Grandia? Or should I get through the PSP version of Final Fantasy IV at last? Nice to have all the options that this system opens up.

As was said previously, the Tales games have a very action heavy battle system that does try to improve itself with later entries, with most of the plots featuring some form of stupid. Also, since you specifically mentioned the PSP and 3DS, there's the fact that three of the games released on those systems got an English translation in some form, which include: a crossover game that was mediocre and had two other games in Japan that really ran with the concept, a PSP port of Eternia for Europe that I've heard about having a game-killing bug about halfway to 2/3rds into the game, and the 3DS version of Abyss which has one of the worst plots and main leads of the series.

As for the others, the Breath of Fire games are more in line with your basic turn based RPGs, with it's main gimmick being dragon transformations by the main character. BoF3 makes it one of the stars of the show with the Dragon Gene system, allowing you to pick from different genes you've found to come with different types of dragons, but it does have some of the dumbest forced mini-games in a JRPG. BoF4 has a simpler dragon system, but it's got a really fun battle system. You have access to whoever is in your party during battles, but you only select three to fight for a turn while the others wait in the wings and can follow up with unique support abilities they've learned. The game also really wants you to aim for combos with your characters turns, getting extra hits if you use the same element type, or getting a fusion magic by going from one element to a the other in the element cycle. BoF4's also got a pretty interesting plot when it finally gets going, and some pretty cool allies that join later to make up for the boring ones you start with. BoF3 got a EU release for the PSP, while BoF4 got a PSN release here in the states.

Grandia is a pretty generic adventure plot, and you can pretty much see a lot of the major plot developments coming from a mile away. It's also got some very hit or miss voice acting, but I think it's main leads are pretty serviceable for the time it was made. The game is also railroads you in terms of area progression and party composition. Combat is turn based, but action is dictated by the IP bar on the bottom right, when it reaches COM, you select a action, and wait for it to go to ACT before they actually perform the action. Everything can have their bar affected by getting attacked, or outright canceled if attacked hard enough. It also can be very grind heavy, since each of the weapons types a character can equip can gain levels along with the four spell elements. If I'm sounding a bit harsh here, it's more I'm trying to give a basic description without trying to gush about the game, since I fully admit I have nostalgia goggles firmly in place for that game. It's available on PSN if it sounds interesting to you though.

I'd also say do some digging around Youtbe and watch some videos of gameplay for each of them to get a better idea if you'd think you'd like them or not. Hope these have helped you out a bit.

Forest Thief Pud fucked around with this message at 19:54 on May 26, 2013

BadAstronaut
Sep 15, 2004

Thanks for all the replies guys. Sounds like Tales of is not for me. What's the closest thing on PSP or DS to Dragon Quest? I like the really simple way things are done in these games, where you don't need to know a ton about the game, you don't need to micro manage inventory and skills, and can just have a great time in a fantasy world with fun combat and straightforward character development. I'm just not a huge fan of some of these incredibly complex RPG mechanics.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Things have just gotten too fancy and complicated. :(

Forest Thief Pud
Dec 26, 2011

BadAstronaut posted:

What's the closest thing on PSP or DS to Dragon Quest? I like the really simple way things are done in these games, where you don't need to know a ton about the game, you don't need to micro manage inventory and skills, and can just have a great time in a fantasy world with fun combat and straightforward character development. I'm just not a huge fan of some of these incredibly complex RPG mechanics.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Things have just gotten too fancy and complicated. :(

Nostalgia for the DS seems like a really good fit. It's a really simple game that really tries to capture the feeling of older JRPGs, and it's only really gimmicky thing is the occasional airship battles.

It's a shame that the PS1 Lunar games aren't up on PSN as PS1 classics, since they're also very simple, straightforward games. The first game got another port/remake on the PSP, but I have no idea on how good that version actually is, and I've heard nothing but abysmal things about Dragon Song on the DS, so avoid that like the plague.

The first two Wild Arms games are up on PSN though, and they're also pretty straight forward and simple to get a grasp on. I'd say they're worth at least looking into, though I don't know how much the ARMs will actually turn you off.

Beyond that, just do some digging around, since you've got plenty of options available to you with those two systems. It might help to look into videos of the games as well, since seeing something in motion will probably give you a better idea if it's for you or not.

MechaX
Nov 19, 2011

"Let's be positive! Let's start a fire!"
Since now I'm in the phase of "I have a lot of pocket money, but really should not spend it," I have been going through my backlog in lieu of getting anything new. Too bad my backlog happens to be 99% JRPGs. Plus, I need to play something, because studying for the Bar Exam for the beginning part of the day will drive me insane without some form of entertainment. So I have a couple of routes here...

I can work through the Phantasy Star Collection that I picked up off of PSN. I have never actually played any Phantasy Star game before, so it should be a... unique experience. However, sequel OCD mandates that I must play all games in a series, so I can't just skip straight to IV. I am... somewhere in Phantasy Star 1, but I pick it up every few months and there is just a 15 minute period where I'm scrambling through guides being like "where in the gently caress was I?"

I do have both Baten Kaitos games. I didn't play them when I was younger because friends and popular game media despised all things relating to using Cards in combat. First game seemed alright, despite the absolutely horrendous voice acting. I have about two hours under this one, but I just lost interest for some reason. The story just didn't really grab me.

Ni no Kuni fell to the side for the same reason; story just wasn't that engaging for me at the moment.

I also own Wild Arms 1, 2, 3, and 5. I only finished 2, which was apparently the worst in the series next to 4. WA5 had a good battle system, but man did that main character get really, really annoying. I don't even remember how much of WA3 I have played.

Besides that, I only have random PSN titles (Grandia I and FFIX, both of which I already finished, and Legend of Mana), and random PS2 titles that I know I'm not going to get back to anytime soon (Rogue Galaxy). For people that are familiar with Phantasy Star, Baten Kaitos, and Wild Arms, what game(s) would be pretty good to go through at this stage? I'm just as much of a fan of the adventure approach to RPGs, but I just don't think I'm in the right mindset to really appreciate them at the moment (which is why I'm side-lining Ni no Kuni at the moment). Something more akin to a focused story would probably work the best for me right now.

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



MechaX posted:

I can work through the Phantasy Star Collection that I picked up off of PSN. I have never actually played any Phantasy Star game before, so it should be a... unique experience. However, sequel OCD mandates that I must play all games in a series, so I can't just skip straight to IV. I am... somewhere in Phantasy Star 1, but I pick it up every few months and there is just a 15 minute period where I'm scrambling through guides being like "where in the gently caress was I?"
I really don't recommend playing III.

Biggus Duckus
Feb 13, 2012

Does Xenogears pass the test of time? I had it as a kid but never made it very far (got stuck in some caverns and ran out of robot fuel), and I don't think I ever really grasped the mechanics correctly at the time. Should I get it on PSN?

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry

Biggus Duckus posted:

Does Xenogears pass the test of time? I had it as a kid but never made it very far (got stuck in some caverns and ran out of robot fuel), and I don't think I ever really grasped the mechanics correctly at the time. Should I get it on PSN?
I think it's certainly worth playing. It's a very ambitious game that somehow manages to both fascinating at face value and somewhat hilarious when you step back and look at all of the homages/parodies/references it has. It's a weird sort of experience where as a kid I thought the plot was the Deepest poo poo Ever, and as an adult it became sort of amusing and yet endearing. It's got plenty of frustrating parts to be sure, but I think the good far outweighs the bad. I used to replay it religiously, though I haven't done so in a few years.

And while it's not exactly on the same level as Chrono Cross in my opinion, it's one of Yasunori Mitsuda's best soundtracks.

Thuryl
Mar 14, 2007

My postillion has been struck by lightning.

Zereth posted:

I really don't recommend playing III.

Or at least save it until after IV. Phantasy Star III is pretty much a generic 16-bit JRPG with some innovative but wonky mechanics, and a plot and setting that are only tenuously connected to the rest of the series. It's not unplayably awful (if anything it's more playable than the first two games, just because of the lower difficulty), but you won't miss much if you skip it.

Gwyrgyn Blood
Dec 17, 2002

I would consider PS3 to be unplayable awful honestly. It's super duper slow and tedious and there's almost no actual story going on anywhere in the game. I do have a soft spot for some of the music and enemy designs, but I can't really say much else nice about it.

Might be worth a glance if you were playing in an emulator and could run in turbo mode through most of the game. Actually though, there was a rerelease of the game somewhere that actually had a built in turbo movement speed and lower enemy encounter rate that made the game a lot more tolerable. I'm not sure if that was in the Collection pack or not though.

babypolis
Nov 4, 2009

I havent played the sequel but the first Baten Kaitos is a pretty good game. It has some really beautiful prerendered backgrounds and the battle system is really unique and fun. It's a card battle game but dont let it fool you, the deck building aspect is pretty simple and the game is all about speed and quick thinking. It plays more like a very fast paced game of Uno than magic, you have to build combos usind ascending or descending chains of numbers. Late game you will find yourself playing a constant battle agaisnt the speed of your own characters while you try to make combos except every card you have has like 4 different numbers and they are all moving around and you have 10 cards and oh god why does this goddamn claw lady attack so fast?

SpazmasterX
Jul 13, 2006

Wrong about everything XIV related
~fartz~

Biggus Duckus posted:

Does Xenogears pass the test of time? I had it as a kid but never made it very far (got stuck in some caverns and ran out of robot fuel), and I don't think I ever really grasped the mechanics correctly at the time. Should I get it on PSN?

I still replay it about once a year. Even if you can't really grasp the story, the gameplay itself is fun as hell.

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!

Biggus Duckus posted:

Does Xenogears pass the test of time? I had it as a kid but never made it very far (got stuck in some caverns and ran out of robot fuel), and I don't think I ever really grasped the mechanics correctly at the time. Should I get it on PSN?

It's absolutely worth playing once, but it's doubtful you'll ever want to play it again after. It's really good, just... the way the game is set up with the text scroll and everything, the second time around will always be a real drag. Well, it is for me at least.

MechaX
Nov 19, 2011

"Let's be positive! Let's start a fire!"
Thinking about Phantasy Star (I'm more leaning towards resuming the Collection or picking up Baten Kaitos 1 at this point), didn't Phantasy Star Generation 1 (PS1 remake) get a full English fantranslation? Now I'm wondering if I should just start playing that version over the original.

Thuryl
Mar 14, 2007

My postillion has been struck by lightning.

MechaX posted:

Thinking about Phantasy Star (I'm more leaning towards resuming the Collection or picking up Baten Kaitos 1 at this point), didn't Phantasy Star Generation 1 (PS1 remake) get a full English fantranslation? Now I'm wondering if I should just start playing that version over the original.

It did what now? Holy gently caress, indeed it did. I was not aware of this and you are a very cool person for telling me.

From what I've heard from people who have played PS:G1, it's still got the same plot as Phantasy Star but has a lot of extra incidental dialogue to flesh out the story and setting, which sounds like it might be what you're in the mood for right now. The gameplay has also been rejigged significantly to add a bit more complexity to combat: opinions seemed to differ on whether that's a good thing or not. Since you wanted to enjoy the original but had trouble getting into it, I'd say the remake is worth a try.

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

BadAstronaut posted:

Thanks for all the replies guys. Sounds like Tales of is not for me. What's the closest thing on PSP or DS to Dragon Quest? I like the really simple way things are done in these games, where you don't need to know a ton about the game, you don't need to micro manage inventory and skills, and can just have a great time in a fantasy world with fun combat and straightforward character development. I'm just not a huge fan of some of these incredibly complex RPG mechanics.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Things have just gotten too fancy and complicated. :(

Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light, perhaps? Also, not fantasy, but definitely try out the Mario and Luigi games for simple yet fun RPGs. Bowser's Inside Story is the better of the two DS ones, but Partners in Time isn't all that bad, either. There's obviously the DQ remakes for the DS, which are all great, but I'll assume you've played those. Crimson Gem Saga for the PSP is a pretty decent straightforward fantasy RPG for the PSP, and is probably the only original title for it that both fits your criteria and is still entertaining. Also, I'm just going to tell you to get Persona 3 Portable despite it going against your criteria in most ways. Because there's really nothing else for PSP that will and it's extremely good.

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TheMammoth
Dec 3, 2002

I'm actually a little surprised that the Wild Arms titles (particularly the first) are now available on the PSN, and how much they are still highly regarded today.

I'm not saying that I disagree, but there were a number of games released around that time, such as Wild Arms, Xenogears, Suikoden, and Unlimited SaGa, that were simply overshadowed or subsequently living in the shadow of FF7.

It's sort've difficult to imagine now just how monumental FF7 was considered to be, and I wasn't even a fan of RPGs at the time. I didn't even own a PSX. I had a Saturn. But when my friend bought FF7, I would literally go over to his house just to sit and watch him play it.

The pre-rendered backgrounds plus 3D characters, and entirely polygonal battles, represented some of the most impressive graphics of any console game on any system. Games like Wild Arms, released a few months before, were considered hold-overs at best (the original Wild Arms, or was it Suikoden, came with a FF7 demo disc just to entice people to buy it).

This same friend was an avid PSX RPG player, so he had Wild Arms, Xenogears, FF7, Suikoden, etc., but it was only FF7 that was so amazing his dad literally stepped on the CD and broke it because we were playing it too much. We went to his house one day after school and found a heel-sized chunk missing from one of the CDs. His dad said he was carrying a hammer and dropped it on the game and it broke.

So the idea that the FF series has become somewhat more maligned, in particular most installments after FF7, while people recommend Wild Arms and Xenogears, was nothing I would have expected ~10 years ago. As I said, I have little investment in nostalgic RPGs (minus the Phantasy Star IV cartridge I just realized I can't find), but I do think it's interesting how our perceptions of these things changes over time.

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