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| Iggy 9088th Post
 
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
     
     
     
     
     
|  "Re(1):jrpg h-h-help!" , posted Wed 24 Mar 02:48
I need to get EoE as well. I love maso-games, what can I say.
But I don't see the point in playing it in any language without Wakamoto. Even if he's only there for a tiny sequence, it's still the glimpse of light that could brighten a full week.
As for Strange Journey, it's a very well done Megaten. It looks old (I was starting to get used to the Demon visuals in Megaten 3/Raidou) but it plays fine. The setting (tiny group of soldiers abandoned in a cold and hostile environment) quickly gets thrown out of the window when you understand your crew has an unlimited number of red shirts to die on the road. I'm also a bit tired by the writing, it sounds so generic once you've done a bunch of Megaten games...
But where the game truly shines, as always, is with its system. Not only is it a really solid Megaten game by itself, but it's also perfectly adapted to the portable console thing. You cannot save anywhere, unfortunately, but you can fusion your creeps on the spot, and that changes a lot of things.
The game is also very long, maybe too much... But the writing is boring enough so that you wouldn't feel bad about leaving the game unfinished. It's also reasonably hard.
The biggest problem of the game is that the main character is ugly. Usually, it's not a problem as you play in 1st person view... but just open the subscreen and there it is, staring at you with its empty eyes and its ugly chin.
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| Pollyanna 2888th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3):jrpg h-h-help!" , posted Wed 24 Mar 04:22
quote:
Let me guess...you're more of a Persona fan are you?
Nope. Iggy can't stand Persona.
Anyway, I second everything he says about Strange Journey and add that the soundtrack is really amazing. Great battle themes...really atmospheric. I'm sad that the writing is so mediocre though...or rather, just needlessly talky. They could tell the same story in 1/3 as many words.
As for RoF/EoE I LOVE it! It's worth buying for the soundtrack alone. I think I'm on battle theme number 22 and EVERY ONE OF THEM IS GOOD. It's hard to get more than one decent battle theme out of a game these days, but it seems like this one has an endless number of them. The soundtrack is also very high quality. Lots of orchestrated pieces.
Another plus is that the game is hilarious. When your power gauge runs out, your team becomes a bunch of cowards. The music changes, they shake with fear, they look away when they shoot, they roll their grenades miserably on the ground and they run in terror. The battle dialogues are also extremely numerous and frequently funny.
Wakamoto is always good, but Chiba Shigeru totally steals the show in this one. It isn't too much of a spoiler, so check out this scene. It'll blow your mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XGX3o0N9MY&feature=related
If that doesn't inspire you to get the game, then it's not the game for you.
Of course, the battle system is amazing...and totally ingenious. What I love about Tri-Ace's battle systems is that they go beyond anything you could possibly ask for...they come up with ideas that you couldn't even dream. I can't even compare this system to anything...hell, I can't even compare the GAME to anything.
I'm still marveling at the wealth of different battle animations, and I'm 30 hours in.
Also, the setting is really neat.
On the downside...
1) This game is specially made for me. It may not appeal to anyone else in the same way.
2) I'm not done with it yet. My opinion may sour if the plot gets unintentionally stupid instead of delightfully stupid with an interesting backstory.
3) A lot of people seem to say the graphics suck. It doesn't have a really clean high-res look, but the backgrounds and battle animations are amazing...it just takes a little getting used to.
4)The gun customization can become overly complicated. It starts out like a nice little puzzle, though.
5) It will tell you that the enemy is targeting one of your party members, then it will change at the last second and shoot someone else. This is a minor quibble, but it drives me crazy. I hate it when games lie to you. Just don't tell me!
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Iggy 9091th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6):jrpg h-h-help!" , posted Thu 25 Mar 20:23
quote:
Got Strange Journey and I'm having a good time with it. Are you really forced to fuse to make more room for new demons?
I'd say you'd better. Generally, your whole team will change every 2 hours of play or so. Especially because it's much easier to get a wider variety of demons that way.
Just keep an eye on what fusion will give you demons at your level or 1 or 2 levels higher than you, keep them, and the second you level up, have them fusion (except if they are extremely reliable demons, like the only one that has this or that skill you particularly like, of course).
And then, if you notice you made a mistake, don't hesitate to buy it back through your Pokédex.
Sometimes, if you see demon A can fusion into good things with both demons B and C, it can be good to do one fusion, then buy A again and do the other fusion immediately.
Of course, that's not the speediest way to play, but I like to take it easy and walk aimlessly through the dungeons to try to have a complete Pokédex with all my demons analysed. And it works even better on a portable game, at least to my tastes.
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| sfried 509th Post
New Red Carpet Member
| "Re(8):What "J" RPG? Don't you mean "NOMURA"?" , posted Sun 28 Mar 04:55
quote:
The turnaround for party members in SJ is crazy. On the upside, it keeps you occupied, but on the downside, demons come and go so quickly that you forget who is who. I felt like the first-person perspective further alienated me from my team. I normally build an attachment to at least a few demons in SMT games, but after 15 hours or so on SJ, they became nothing but letters and numbers.
I can't say that having a wealth of options and an engaging system is a fault of the game, it just ended up having a negative side effect on me.
Strange. I never found the fact that it was in 1st person as a way of alienating me with my demons, but perhaps because I loved Etrian Odyssey and always like to check stats and customize skill trees. Also, I tend to talk my way out of encounters than level up through fighting, and it feels very satisfying to get Macca/items just by negotiation rather than engagement, so I never found myself shorthanded.
Also, I happen to like the cast and how they're handled. You really feel the dispair as more of your crew go down.
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who follow the path of a warrior
