What are you currently playing?

[Bedinsis]

Picked up a bit of Hollow Knight again. Defeated the Traitor Lord, finished the Colosseum's final stage and two stages of the Grey Prince, after upgrading the nail to its highest level.

I've basically not paid any attention to the plot, but some late stage developments led to the game feeling like a downer. I'm talking about how the nail master asks me to strike him down after doing his last work and how the bug that helped me out in the fight against the Traitor Lord died. Though I've defeated the Grey Prince enough that Bretta picked up on Zote not being all he claims to be, so she left on new adventures, which was a bit encouraging.

 

[meiam]

So I have now close to 40 hours clocked in for Tactics Ogre Reborn, and boy I have lots to say about this game. Be prepared, because I am gonna make a lot of comparison to FFT.

The story in TOR involves so many expositions, it's hard to keep track. There are many political betrayals, conspiracy to form a new rule, and of course band of heroes to save the world. While this was also the main plot of FFT, I just feel FFT did so much better job. Companions that join you doesn't really seem to talk during cutscenes beyond when they are first introduced.

I like the class system in TOR more than FFT, because they are relatively easy level up and do not need to grind. They are also easy to swap. But some of the cooler-claases are unlocked in mid-game, and there are also unique classes that are exclusive to certain characters

I still think elevation is a really annoying feature during battles. Don't get me wrong I like when it's use for my advantage, but there are some maps where it's used against you. And these maps seem to pop up quite often. Classes have different elevations they can and can't climb, and this makes moving them around in a group really annoying. Yes, FFT had elevations too, but not to this extent.

Still whenever skills and abilities come to work together, I get to witness some insane damage numbers

Tactics ogre was really a trial run for FFT. Storywise its a mess because there's too many factions at play, a lot of which is just there to tie to pointlessly tie to the previous game. Its also really front loaded for no reason, the first mission is about assassinating some guy from a faction that's completely unimportant until the last chapter.

I've never had to grind in FFT so I'm not quite sure why you'd find the need for it, at most I'd do a couple of random battle right at the beginning to get out of the starting 2 class and get to the more fun one, but after that its pretty smooth sailing (aside from the two battle that can fuck you over, but those aren't grind related). TBH, neither of the last two remake of tactics ogre I find had an interesting class system. Reborn doesn't really let the class bring anything over from previous class, so every player say berseker will be pretty much the same without any of the cool skill combination FFT allow for.

Otherwise the biggest issue with TOR I had was that most battle were just about killing the one leader on the other side and that's pretty easy since you can just focus fire him, so to get around that they just give them a ton of units, which tend to force you even more into focus firing the main guy.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Tactics ogre was really a trial run for FFT. Storywise its a mess because there's too many factions at play, a lot of which is just there to tie to pointlessly tie to the previous game. Its also really front loaded for no reason, the first mission is about assassinating some guy from a faction that's completely unimportant until the last chapter.

I've never had to grind in FFT so I'm not quite sure why you'd find the need for it, at most I'd do a couple of random battle right at the beginning to get out of the starting 2 class and get to the more fun one, but after that its pretty smooth sailing (aside from the two battle that can fuck you over, but those aren't grind related). TBH, neither of the last two remake of tactics ogre I find had an interesting class system. Reborn doesn't really let the class bring anything over from previous class, so every player say berseker will be pretty much the same without any of the cool skill combination FFT allow for.

Otherwise the biggest issue with TOR I had was that most battle were just about killing the one leader on the other side and that's pretty easy since you can just focus fire him, so to get around that they just give them a ton of units, which tend to force you even more into focus firing the main guy.

First off, I did not know about TO being a prototype for FFT. I just thought they had lots of similarities.

Yes, FFT can be completed w/o grinding, but I always found basic jobs weren’t enough and I needed those advanced classes, and I had to invest quite some time. The upside was the more time I invested in those classes, the more powerful they got. I guess for TOR that has been sacrificed for the simplicity of the classes.

Also, I hate how magics can get blocked by units, or how I can't move a unit to certain space because other units are blocking the way.

Some of the VAs are kinda pain to listen to. I'm starting to see why even with WOTL, VA in FFT was kept to minimum

The funny thing is, I can't stop playing this game. It's strangly addictive for me .Like I said a few pages ago, TOR gets close enough to scratch my itch for FFT. But I really wish FFT would get a pc port already

 

[Piscian]

Im maybe 10 hours into Blue Dragon.

I have kinda mixed feelings about it. I can see the concerns about it being "samie". This very much feels like a game that should have come out a generation earlier. It feels like a Dreamcast or Xbox game.

Its a difficult RPG to play knowing that Persona exists. Its biggest weakness is that, at least so far, its a classic JRPG where you don't have a lot of agency. Youre just kinda along for the ride. Each character has a few equipment slots and a few job classes to choose from. As you earn skills in each job class you can mix and match skills, but this lacks even the depth of materia swapping in FFVII.

Its also incredibly easy. It feels like even trivial grinding is more than enough to face at least the first 5 bosses. They try to make combat a little interesting by allowing you to bait 3 or more groups of monsters into one big battle which then nets you bonuses in XP and SP between leveling your character and job ranks.

The games major strength oddly is its sound tracks which is shockingly good. I don't even care for game sound tracks typically but this basically takes all the bangers from early FF games and vastly improves on them, the combat celebration, open world march, all that stuff is just awesome. The boss music however is essentially the One-punch man theme song. Im a fan, but I could see it annoying people. Theres an awesome devee dance song that actually has me looking up the mp3 soundtrack. The game music here Im seriously saying would appeal music enthusiasts outside of the genre.

Unfortunately going back to the Persona comparison, theres literally nothing to do in game outside of moving the story forward and leveling your characters. When I was 16 this game woulda been the bees knees, but Persona style games with minigames and social interaction games have really spoiled me.

Still a solid game, the story is pretty compelling in that Saturday morning cartoon way. Like Id happily play this all day while eating cocoa puffs and trying not to fret about homework. Thats what RPGS are here to do I suppose. Distract us from the near constant existential dread forever creeping in at the edges.

 

[Piscian]

Blue Dragon OST

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I'm right after this song in-game

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[NerfedFalcon]

The games major strength oddly is its sound tracks which is shockingly good. I don't even care for game sound tracks typically but this basically takes all the bangers from early FF games and vastly improves on them, the combat celebration, open world march, all that stuff is just awesome. The boss music however is essentially the One-punch man theme song. Im a fan, but I could see it annoying people. Theres an awesome devee dance song that actually has me looking up the mp3 soundtrack. The game music here Im seriously saying would appeal music enthusiasts outside of the genre.

The only thing I know about this game is that the boss theme was sung by the singer from the band 'Deep Purple', because the file name of that song in a freeware joke game from 2008 is 'jesus christ the guy from deep purple sang this'.

 

[bluegate]

I had to check, and sure as shit, Elden Ring is basically the only game I've played in over a year. It was November 2nd, 2022 when I posted that I'd started the game. Not surprised; I know I've not played much else since I started it, just surprised it's been over a year, and I still haven't beaten it. I just cracked 120 hours, and given my playtime allowance is about an hour or two a day a couple days a week, not sure how that stacks up insofar as my gamer creds. I don't care either way, just putting it out there.

Anyway, just beat Morgott in Leyendell, a fight I've been dreading forever, but apparently the Mimic Tear IS easy mode, because working together, we got him down to about half health when I took an errant blow that threw me back, and while I was collecting myself to rejoin the fight, Mimic Tear finished him off. Now, before I give him ALL the credit, I should note we're both using the Bloodhound Fang, so played my part in the inexorable bleed build up that probably took a nice chunk out of that last half, but damned if it was emasculating to whiff my last shot since Morgott was already in his death animation from the Mimic Tear's last shot.

TL;DR? The Mimic Tear is my best friend, in real life and fantasy.

Did you know that at one point there might have been a quest related to getting the Mimic Tear rather than just picking it up behind a Stonesword door?


My Lord Host, Great Lord Host...

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

27 hours into Cyberpunk, and I've been completely absorbed in it. It's a shame that the launch of this game will forever mar its reputation, ...

I think this year, with the expansion and updates and the recent awards and everything, the reputation of the game has swung the opposite way to this great redemption story.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I tried the Ragnarok roguelite DLC and, as expected, it was ok for a bit until I got too annoyed at having to repeat the same damn fights over and over, which I know is the whole point but I don't like that. I stopped when I encountered a Big Important Boss Fight and I actually won. The game rewarded me by making me start all over anyway but promisting to give me better rewards for every time I beat him again... ugh. Why do people like this stuff (this is a rhetorical question, I know the reasons, I just don't get it).

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

I tried the Ragnarok roguelite DLC and, as expected, it was ok for a bit until I got too annoyed at having to repeat the same damn fights over and over, which I know is the whole point but I don't like that. I stopped when I encountered a Big Important Boss Fight and I actually won. The game rewarded me by making me start all over anyway but promisting to give me better rewards for every time I beat him again... ugh. Why do people like this stuff (this is a rhetorical question, I know the reasons, I just don't get it).

But really even on story at least in Rag most enemies are damage sponges.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

But really even on story at least in Rag most enemies are damage sponges.

Yeah it's not the difficulty that turns me off (I played on default) it's the repetition, and just the fact that I don't particularly love the combat for its own sake.

It was kinda the same in Armored Core 6, which I also quit not after a failure but after a success. After beating a tough or important enemy or level and then just feeling.. now I don't wanna do this no more, it's pretty lame.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I tried the Ragnarok roguelite DLC and, as expected, it was ok for a bit until I got too annoyed at having to repeat the same damn fights over and over, which I know is the whole point but I don't like that. I stopped when I encountered a Big Important Boss Fight and I actually won. The game rewarded me by making me start all over anyway but promisting to give me better rewards for every time I beat him again... ugh. Why do people like this stuff (this is a rhetorical question, I know the reasons, I just don't get it).

Funny, I've just now been reading about the CRPG Addict playing a 1992 roguelike called Ragnarok. I was a little confused and had to google it to figure out that you were talking about God of War and not somehow DLC for a 30 year old game.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I tried the Ragnarok roguelite DLC and, as expected, it was ok for a bit until I got too annoyed at having to repeat the same damn fights over and over, which I know is the whole point but I don't like that. I stopped when I encountered a Big Important Boss Fight and I actually won. The game rewarded me by making me start all over anyway but promisting to give me better rewards for every time I beat him again... ugh. Why do people like this stuff (this is a rhetorical question, I know the reasons, I just don't get it).

Well, if we're talking about this DLC, the appeal and reason for playing it appears to be getting that Classic Kratos catharsis. Narratively the strongest aspect of these last two games was Kratos being confronted with his past and needing to come to terms with it. And the further you get into the gauntlet the deeper it dives into that. It's something that was sorely lacking in Ragnarok actually, as in that game Kratos was more a wise old sage for the other characters to get resolution rather than he himself really getting any. And while I won't say this DLC picks up all that slack, it certainly shines more of a spotlight on Kratos as a character than Ragnarok did.

Hades also was more about further interaction with the characters rather than testing one's skill to see how far you could get.

 

[BrawlMan]

feels like a Dreamcast or Xbox game.

Yeah it has age better than most 360 games that came out around that time, in terms of visuals at least. Blue Dragon was meant as a throwback to older RPGs anyway. I'm not excusing it's flaws, I'm putting that out there.

 

[Worgen]

Beat Tevi, the ending is... well, lets just say it leave some loose ends that I want filled and implies a sequel or dlc. Not that it ends on a cliff hanger, more like it ends on a 'see you next adventure' kinda thing. And damn do I want more, I really liked the gameplay, the music was fantastic, the story was pretty good and the characters were a lot of fun.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I remember when it came out general review were positive, but most in depth review were mixed/neutral. A sticking point that often came out was that mario hat throw ability-jump was always the solution to ever problem and it made the game trivial.

I don't know, all I've ever seen before now is glowing praise. I was just looking at some old threads here on the Escapist and even a couple users that still come here today listed it among their top 10 games of the decade.

 

[FakeSympathy]

So i kinda gave up on Tactics Ogre Reborn. I played few more battles after my last post, and I just can't get over how boring it has gotten. The game also loves to throw multiple tanky enemies, making the battle drag even longer.

Instead, I started Alan Wake 2. I already said this in AW2 thread, but let me start by saying I never played the first game, so it was really surreal to see the game takes place in Washington State. As a local resident, I know Brightfall and Cauldron lake are fictional locations, but I can definitely see both being amalgamations of various locations here in WA. Like, we have tons of mountains, forrests, lakes, and the small towns surrounding them. The game is beautiful-looking too. It's so strange how they nailed the atmosphere here to near perfection.

The biggest mindfuck I came across so far is visiting Saga's mind place in the actual town. Like, I was just exploring the lounge, entered the private area and boom, there it is.

I love the experience so far!

 

[Worgen]

So i kinda gave up on Tactics Ogre Reborn. I played few more battles after my last post, and I just can't get over how boring it has gotten. The game also loves to throw multiple tanky enemies, making the battle drag even longer.

Instead, I started Alan Wake 2. I already said this in AW2 thread, but let me start by saying I never played the first game, so it was really surreal to see the game takes place in Washington State. As a local resident, I know Brightfall and Cauldron lake are fictional locations, but I can definitely see both being amalgamations of various locations here in WA. Like, we have tons of mountains, forrests, lakes, and the small towns surrounding them. The game is beautiful-looking too. It's so strange how they nailed the atmosphere here to near perfection.

The biggest mindfuck I came across so far is visiting Saga's mind place in the actual town. Like, I was just exploring the lounge, entered the private area and boom, there it is.

I love the experience so far!

I haven't played 2 yet, when it comes to steam. But one of the things I really liked about the first game was how much of a town in Washington the location felt like. A lot of games will have locations but even if you can run anywhere in the map, they don't really feel real, but the ones in Alan Wake really did, like you could just drive down the road and go someplace else or that there was more of the town just up that street kinda thing.

 

[meiam]

Im maybe 10 hours into Blue Dragon.

I have kinda mixed feelings about it. I can see the concerns about it being "samie". This very much feels like a game that should have come out a generation earlier. It feels like a Dreamcast or Xbox game.

Its a difficult RPG to play knowing that Persona exists. Its biggest weakness is that, at least so far, its a classic JRPG where you don't have a lot of agency. Youre just kinda along for the ride. Each character has a few equipment slots and a few job classes to choose from. As you earn skills in each job class you can mix and match skills, but this lacks even the depth of materia swapping in FFVII.

Its also incredibly easy. It feels like even trivial grinding is more than enough to face at least the first 5 bosses. They try to make combat a little interesting by allowing you to bait 3 or more groups of monsters into one big battle which then nets you bonuses in XP and SP between leveling your character and job ranks.

The games major strength oddly is its sound tracks which is shockingly good. I don't even care for game sound tracks typically but this basically takes all the bangers from early FF games and vastly improves on them, the combat celebration, open world march, all that stuff is just awesome. The boss music however is essentially the One-punch man theme song. Im a fan, but I could see it annoying people. Theres an awesome devee dance song that actually has me looking up the mp3 soundtrack. The game music here Im seriously saying would appeal music enthusiasts outside of the genre.

Unfortunately going back to the Persona comparison, theres literally nothing to do in game outside of moving the story forward and leveling your characters. When I was 16 this game woulda been the bees knees, but Persona style games with minigames and social interaction games have really spoiled me.

Still a solid game, the story is pretty compelling in that Saturday morning cartoon way. Like Id happily play this all day while eating cocoa puffs and trying not to fret about homework. Thats what RPGS are here to do I suppose. Distract us from the near constant existential dread forever creeping in at the edges.

Blue dragon was a copy right free dragon quest, your enjoyment of it is entirely dependent on how much you like that ultra classic JRPG.

But yeah the soundtrack is well known, with many interesting choice.

 

[gorfias]

Hmm, ok that sounds pretty different then the normal errors. Usually if its on Bungie's side you get an error like plum or gorilla or something. But just being disconnected from the server with no error code. It might be on your end, I would start the cmd line and type 'ping 8.8.8.8 -t' without the ' and that will just send out a constant ping to google's servers. If the game disconnects that will show if your network has any kind of a drop.

Played for about 40 min. Had to redo an entire mission. Then a countdown started for "end of mission". Not sure if it saved my progress or not. Try again later. Thanks for the advice.

I will right, it looks great and plays in ways similar to Halo. Right down to a hovering motorcycle that was terrific to drive and shoot critters from.