[PS2] In need of an RPG

Originally Posted by CelticWhisper

Overall the game's regarded by many WA fans to be the best of the WA series, and if you can forgive the less-than-stellar translation, there's a lot to like about it.

...what. Most people I know of think it's the worst or second worst. First time I've heard of this.

Anyways, throwing out nods to Tales of the Abyss and Suikoden V.

Stay away from Shadow Hearts III and Grandia III. They're gameplay games, not story games.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Sepharite

I just started Dragon Quest VIII and Abyss. Abyss seems alright, the battle system is kinda like Star Ocean which I loved. The story seems interesting enough at the start -- very mysterious =O

You should be glad to know that the gameplay does get better and that the story delivers on its promises.

Originally Posted by Sepharite

Dragon Quest is fucking gorgeous O_O I spent 3 hours playing the game basically wandering the world map. I'm shallow like that. But it seems good so far. The story isn't very engaging. I think it's basically going to towns and helping solve that mystery, get the next clue, move onto the next area. I could be horribly wrong. Also, I hate that you can only save in the church and can only heal at the inn. I'm guessing the other DQ games are like this? It adds to the challenge, but it keeps me at the edge of my seat when I'm at critical and I want to get the hell out of there.

Also of note is that if you die, you just get sent back to the church with half your money gone, so dying isn't AS big a deal as in other games (where you game over).


Regarding Wild ARMs 2, I find it to be the worst in the series myself, but not bad by any means. 4 is the best, I think, with 3 following right behind.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana thrives on its characters, mostly. I didn't find shop synthesis that great, except that it gave you good scenes with the characters.

Atelier Iris 2 improves on the original in every way EXCEPT characters, which is why a lot of people don't like it, I think. They did take out shop synthesis, but instead you get better normal synthesis. Personally, I find that a winning trade.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Xellos

Better, yeah, but also easier...too easy, to be honest. You could change those items that all characters can equip into godly overpowered items with like +3 million hits or something stupid like that. All you had to do was use item x that has x rating into item y, and it would get that stat. It was only a matter of time before all your items had all the best stats.

Dont get me wrong here, I agree that it was better by a longshot, but it was just a bit too easy to get what you wanted. In the first one it took stupid amounts of time with that crappy card combo system. It was basically a endless trial and error system, but it at least took effort.

Personally, I liked the idea of being able to chain the properties from items to other items. That kind of twinking is really fun. It's not really that that makes the game easy though. Even without twinking and with keeping levels as low as possible, the game is a complete joke. The bosses die way too quickly and have pathetic damage. And then there's Break spam that just destroys them even more.

I mean, I agree the game is way too easy, but that's not really the reason why. The main reason is that bosses are just not durable enough and have really terrible damage.

The final boss is an exception to this, of course.

Random note: Atelier Iris 3 modified that system a bit. You can only get properties on equippable stuff (weapons/armor/accessories) and can only have 1 property (2 on weapons) at a time. Kind of a middle ground, I suppose. It's still pretty easy to get what you want on an item anyways. Not sure I like it more or less though.

It's also a harder game! (Still easy.)

Originally Posted by Xellos

While I'm at it, love your avatar. This world needs more Misha love.

There can never be enough!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Xellos

I wouldn't even call the final boss hard. There wasn't anything hard as I recall. At least it wasn't totally anti-climax like the first Atelier Iris. I really don't know WHAT was with the last boss in that game, but my Lita litterally one shotted him, and she wasn't even in overpowered mode.

The final boss of AI2 can actually overkill all your front-line characters at once if you're not careful (Crimson Split's resistance busts + Crimson Split's second stage). Of course, with the amount of broken you get in the game it's pretty easy to stop that from happening/recover from it.

As for AI1, that's because broken Lita is broooken. I think if that boss gets some turns he has some accurate instant death which could screw you over? Can't remember, it's been awhile since I played that game. I need to replay it.

I was speaking idiomatically.