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Hexatona
JESEUS MIMLLION SPOLERS
3702
>Romancing SaGa 2

Is that the one that was remade as Minstrel Song, or was that 3?

God I love Romancing Saga Minstrel Song. It's probably the most playable SaGa game they ever made. (Having said that, I have not played Saga Frontier 2 yet)

That intro song? *pacha 'just right' meme* The Art Style? Like a glorious painting. Lots of cool characters? Totes. Not unlimited SaGa? You know it.

I will admit, the first time I played the game I made it unwinnable. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing to be able to make your game have unwinnable states anymore. Generally, I'm against them. I think the temptation is there to use "challenge" as a crutch to excuse poor playtesting.

But, the theme of the SaGa series has always been make a maze that take one minute to make but two minutes to solve. It's never been a story driven series at it's core, but one of mastering mechanics, and using the resources available to make a game out of. The maximum RPG for your Dollar you can get.

In a way, the SaGa games are refreshing in that they usually try something novel, and that you will, almost guaranteed, miss half the game on your blind playthroughs. It's a "playground chat" kind of series - there's always some trick, or little find your friend might know, and you didn't - and you can share.

I've got the first SaGa frontier game on my PSP. I know that if you listen to what the game tells you, you will die. I'm playing Amelia. I don't know what the hell is going on, but that's okay. The music is awesome, the combat is fun, and I want to explore.
iddalai
RPG Maker 2k/2k3 for life, baby!!
1194
Saga Minstrel Song is a remake of Romancing SaGa 1.

author=Hexatona
(Having said that, I have not played Saga Frontier 2 yet)


I love SaGa games, I hated Saga Frontier 2, it's one of the worst games I've ever played, ever. Got some nice music and background graphics though...
So many awful game design choices.
whoops stupid post lol
Hexatona
JESEUS MIMLLION SPOLERS
3702
>So many awful game design choices.

I think that's a hallmark of SaGa in general. (hehehe)

I think the thing that takes the most getting used to is the whole degrading weapons thing. In most RPGs, your weapons are a given, and items you get on top of those are usually for emergencies. In SaGa game, you have to play accountant as well - "Do these monster cost more to kill then they are worth?"

And in Romancing Saga - the more enemies you fight, the harder the game gets. You're actually better served avoiding almost all fights until you're ready to proceed the sidequests. The game makes you plan.
Romancing SaGa 1 was remade as Minstrel Song. 2 was ported/remade for mobile which is the version I'm playing. 3 has never been revisited afaik. The music and art style is nice in MS and that's what got me to try the game out!


I think the SaGa series goes beyond playground chat. There's issues with how enemies scale compared to players who don't know any better. Experimenting can be helpful except that it'll trigger said scaling, the game's feedback to the player is poor at best, and there's just too much RNG to really account for (rng dependent turn order is the devil's lettuce). I can see the intent of the designer but it really isn't handled that well. RPGs have done it better since before Dragon Warrior. They really wanted to pump that 1:2 design:completion ratio


e: im the slowest poster
iddalai
RPG Maker 2k/2k3 for life, baby!!
1194
author=Hexatona
>So many awful game design choices.

I think that's a hallmark of SaGa in general. (hehehe)

I think the thing that takes the most getting used to is the whole degrading weapons thing. In most RPGs, your weapons are a given, and items you get on top of those are usually for emergencies. In SaGa game, you have to play accountant as well - "Do these monster cost more to kill then they are worth?"

And in Romancing Saga - the more enemies you fight, the harder the game gets. You're actually better served avoiding almost all fights until you're ready to proceed the sidequests. The game makes you plan.


I agree, but Saga Frontier 2 takes it too far, you'll understand when you try it out.
author=Hex
I think the thing that takes the most getting used to is the whole degrading weapons thing. In most RPGs, your weapons are a given, and items you get on top of those are usually for emergencies. In SaGa game, you have to play accountant as well - "Do these monster cost more to kill then they are worth?"

Degrading weapons in RPGs isn't really a new concept, though!

author=Hex
And in Romancing Saga - the more enemies you fight, the harder the game gets. You're actually better served avoiding almost all fights until you're ready to proceed the sidequests. The game makes you plan.

People say this a lot, but I think it's sort of exaggerated. The enemies don't scale that quickly, and many areas have a 'cap' where enemies stop scaling, so you can explore them at appropriate levels of strength,.
Hexatona
JESEUS MIMLLION SPOLERS
3702
It's somewhat exaggerated perhaps, but on my first play through I was grinding fights in Valhalland, trying to save up (JP?)points and gain levels. Pretty soon every monster was like a boss battle (at least for someone as unprepared as I) and I was hardly gaining ground. I basically went through the vast majority of Event Tiers before I even left Valhalland (as Albert).

At first I completely ignored the 'Sneak' and 'Hide' skills - but they are actually the most useful skills int the game. Not only can you avoid monsters with them, but using them (and any other skill) gets you those same JP points, and you just have to visit an inn the replenish their use.

Weapons, and Skills are way more important than levels in that game. Took me several play attempts (and a guide) to really understand how to play the game, since it was just so outside my zone to have to think about these things.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=Pizza
I also bought Dark Souls considering it was on sale for really cheap. Probably a terrible idea, given my history of anger management problems and my less-than-great skill level when it comes to most games. Figured I should at least try to see what everyone likes about it, though.

Good luck, man! Since Dark Souls isn't very beginner-friendly, here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Take your time and be patient. The levels and enemies are designed to destroy anyone who tries to rush the game. If you can only manage one or two swipes at an enemy, that's perfectly normal.

2. Never. Ever. EVER let your Stamina run out in the middle of a fight. Stamina is how you attack, block, dodge, and otherwise survive.

3. Don't go into any area with more souls than you're prepared to lose.

4. Your starting class is not nearly as important as the game makes it out to be. Your weapons are far, far more important.

5. I would shy away from Miracles and Sorcery for a first timer. They require a little more complicated stat and equip loadout and meticulous preparation than a series beginner should be expected to do.

6. That being said, Pyromancy is super easy to use and upgrade. If you want to go for some form of magic, go for Pyromancy.

7. Reviving to human lets you summon other players/NPCs into your world, but leaves you open to invasion. If you don't want to bother with other people at all, don't revive to human.

8. Carry a bow with you. They're pretty good at inflicting damage if you have good Strength/Dexterity, but the biggest draw is to aim at singular targets and pull one at a time. Fighting mobs will usually get you killed.

9. Any melee weapon, except for the broken straight sword, can carry you through the game. You won't suddenly beat a boss by finding a "better" weapon.

10. A comfortable weapon moveset is far more important to you than the damage output.

11. It's your first time with the series. Scrub it up as much as you want. Turtle behind a shield, don't worry about "proper duel etiquette", don't feel shy about leaving an area to go back to it later, and most importantly, don't feel bad about summoning a friend to help you with a particularly tough area. If anyone tries to lecture you about, "honor" or, "the proper way to play DS," tell them to piss off. Survivability is the name of the game for a first-timer. Above all else, you must survive.
#1 is important, but it's also important to take #1 and throw it in the trash can when appropriate. There's time where being slow and methodological will just give you more chances to die. Ignoring and running past shit is totally viable, especially on repeat runs.

#4 is half-right. Pick Pyromancer because it starts with better weapons than the others (aka a pryomancy flame which is an excellent clutch weapon for people new to the series and isn't available otherwise until a few hours into the game).

For #7 I'd suggest immediate suicide after reviving to improve bonfires or w/e barring trying to summon help. Otherwise you're gonna get invaded by min/maxers and likely just cost you progress as you get curbstomped. DS1's PVP matching algorithm is basically garbage for newbies and exploited by PVPers.

Here's some of my own super dark souls 1 protips:

- Resistance and Luck are garbage stats. Don't invest in them.

- You can upgrade your gear which gives good returns. Make sure you try to stay on top of this.

- The starting hub area lets you access four areas. Your intended first place is up some stairs to a bridge structure. You can go to the other areas (a cemetery that leads to the Catacombs and New Londo) but you aren't intended to go to either anytime soon. New Londo does have a merchant right by the entrance you can safely visit though.

- You can get a good starting sword by shooting the tail of the dragon that appears on the bridge early in the game. You'll know it when you see it*. There's a safe place under the bridge you can shoot at it from. Bring a ton of arrows and snype that thing and it'll automatically be added to your inventory. It uses rare and expensive upgrade materials and it doesn't scale well so don't invest in it but it's a great starter sword.

*
It's in Undead Burg after the Tauros Demon boss.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Tried out Nox after getting it for free through Origin.

It's... Okay. The plot is something out of a Saturday morning cartoon and I have no idea why it couldn't be anything that actually fits in with the game's world.

I'm currently playing a conjurer class and favoring the bow, though it feels as if the game works against that playstyle with the way the fog of war is set-up and all the small corridors dungeons have.

Overall... There's not a lot that stands out as being bad but I feel as if something is missing to keep me engaged with it. It kind of makes me want to try out Diablo 1 and 2, really.
iddalai
RPG Maker 2k/2k3 for life, baby!!
1194
You never tried Diablo 1 or 2?

I'd say go with 2 and ignore 1, it's too outdated in the gameplay department.

Or try out Path of Exile, that works too.
Just got Darkest Dungeon.

I heard it was quite hard, so I thought I would give it a shot. I thought, "oh, I'm good at RPGs, this should be easy..."

Lol.
iddalai
RPG Maker 2k/2k3 for life, baby!!
1194
You poor, poor fool! :P
author=iddalai
You never tried Diablo 1 or 2?

I'd say go with 2 and ignore 1, it's too outdated in the gameplay department.

Or try out Path of Exile, that works too.

Diablo 1 is very dated, but if you can put up with it, it's still kinda fun.

Diablo 2 is my all time favorite game, but it is also dated now after The Revolution of the ARPG (2012-ish) when we got just a slew of games like Van Helsing, Torchlight II, Path of Exile, Victor Vran, Grim Dawn, Diablo III, and like a half-dozen more. I'll comment on the ones I've played:

Torchlight II is a solid game, and improves on Torchlight in pretty much every conceivable way.

Diablo III was SHIT on release for a myriad of reasons, but it has the best engine - smooth and impactful visuals, good variety in enemies, responsive controls. Now, after patch 2.4 AND the expansion (buy the expansion) it is WAY better. Oh, and start on Hard difficulty. Loot drops are good, the new Adventure Game mode is a blast, sets actually have meaningful bonuses. It still suffers from lame design decisions which just suck out the long-term fun of the game, but it is a fun and satisfying game to play now. The story and dialog is shitty and cringey as fuck, though - fucking godawful script that just leaves you rolling your eyes and yelling "stopping being such a whiny bitch!" at the screen a lot during cutscenes. Overall, this isn't so much a Diablo game as it is a WoW-like ARPG set in the Diablo universe. if that makes sense...

Path of Exile also has a solid engine, a cool storyline (I think), and neat skills. The massive passive skill tree is not as intimidating as it looks. However, my beefs with the game are 1) the currency system is confusing and a hassle to manage (though it makes sense in-story), and 2) it's really really hard to plan your character as you don't know what skills you will be getting.

Van Helsing is pretty fun, but I haven't gotten far. I've purchased all 3 during recent sales. The story is interesting so far.

I just bought Grim Dawn (currently on sale at GOG for 25% off!). I literally only watched the opening scene and poked around the starting area. I have high hopes for this game - all reports are saying it is the worthy successor to Diablo 2.
Hexatona
JESEUS MIMLLION SPOLERS
3702
GRS I'm lovin it:



Let's see... I played some more Legend of Dragoon the other night.

I neglected Shana for like forever since she was worse than useless, but now that she got her dragoon gem, I feel obligated to level her up. In a lot of ways, I prefer Rose - she also has a heal, that simultaneously damages the enemy. But, Shana's even revives, so yeah - she's ... 5 levels behind Dart. GOD I HATE IT when games won't let you remove the MC from battles. I should just kill him for now, speed things up. I mean - I understand it. Pretty much every boss gets some kind of unique "imma kill you" rush from Dart at the end. So, you have to have him in the party. I just dislike having to level up all these other people and ALSO level up their additions. I hate having people out of synch. Like when you kill garland riiiight after he just killed your black mage now live is terrible forever

Other than that, I tried to get back into my Amelia run through of Saga Frontier. For some reason the RNG hates Amelia today - she absolutely refuses to spark anything other than fist techniques, and her gun is not sparking a thing!

EDIT: I don't know why I do these things

Oh god Undyne punch the tomatoes a bit too hard now it's in a constant state of flux of being everywhere all at once! (I love it)
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Playing on the trial version of Final Fantasy XIV

welp, there goes my productivity. The game world seems pretty expansive and the community doesn't look so bad, though. I'm a Lalafell archer on the Cactaur world, currently level 8. I'm going to try to use up the 14 days I have in the trial, but right now I'm considering on a purchase since I haven't been engaged with an MMORPG in a long time.



Also everything is WAY TOO BIG! ... *snort*
That's awesome Ratty. I'm also on Cactuar. If you want you can add me as a friend, my character name is Gredge Kaos.
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
Playing Expeditions: Conquistador. The game is pretty addictive. It is tactical game with survival elements, relations, random events. Due to diplomacy, you can avoid some bloodshed. It's soothing the bitter taste, which was left from playing of Heroes VI (Tutorial missions were damn hard and taking forever).
Also, I should start with Fire Emblems. Is it recommendable to start with NES titles?