RPG Progress Report

[Xeogred]

Evermore is a weird one in the mix between SoM and SD3. The combat feels a little smoother, maybe because it's only you and your dog so things run faster. And the weird mixing magic system in that one is pretty cool. But some of the weapons are awkward, from a bone to a bazooka, and the hit detection seems wonkier. I can't even remember the dog doing anything.

Still a big fan, but there's a huge divide between that and SoM for me.

[MrPopo]

The dog was a distraction for enemies until his final form, when he suddenly contributes to fights.

The concept behind Evermore's magic system was interesting but I think it fell a little flat in execution. I think the problem was they kept the SoM leveling system. It was a right pain to level up your magic because of needing to buy tons of consumables, and there were a lot of times that you had to deal with limited access to consumables for no good reason. Like, basic damage spells would be hard to get materials for because the game was being a bitch at the time.

[BoneSnapDeez]

A little more progress is PSOBB. Soon I'll be fighting the boss of the caves. I'm around level 33 or so.

I really appreciate the way the camera is handled in this game. A single button press instantly flips it directly behind your character. Is this kind of thing common? I mainly stick to 2D.

[Sarge]

It was very common before second sticks were the standard. And even then, a lot of games give a button to recenter the camera behind you. It's useful stuff when you don't want to swing the camera around with the analogs, and even more useful when the rotation speed is really slow.

I would assume that the Dreamcast version had the same control setup. It's been a long time since I booted it up, though!

[Ack]

Drakkhen

The sorcerer Xen is officially a liability now. I marched into the desert to find out how tough the enemies are there, and the very first foe I faced immediately broke his shield and coat. I had to crawl my way back through successive fights to reequip him and then start my preparations for his leveling. I've set Ack, Fast, and Noise to either Defense options or to cast Heal Minor if Xen needs it, but...well, these AI commands are really more like guidelines. Occasionally Noise will heal Xen, but he was killed at least once during my slow grind. Even on the defensive, Ack and Fast get more kills and earn more experience than Xen, who really struggled at the start of the evening.

Thankfully he managed to gain a level, which has eased some of the issues. But he still misses a ludicrous amount of the time. I need him to get to level 8 at the minimum. I hope that will be enough to stop his top-tier armor from being destroyed, though he's got at least one piece that is weaker and currently not replaceable. Damn it, why does the game have to intentionally gimp the casters this way?

Anyway, my future in Drakkhen appears to be full of more grinding. Hopefully Xen will reach level 8 soon, and then I will give the desert another shot. It would be nice to knock out another piece of the plot. My April game has already arrived and is good to go, just as soon as I finish this one.

[Exhuminator]

Nayuta: Endless Trails




I'm about 8 hours in now, and this ARPG just keeps getting better. The gameplay complexity continues to increase (in a good way), the levels continue to grow more elaborate and engaging, and the bosses just keep getting cooler. There's a tendency towards devious action-puzzles trending as the dungeons become more elaborate, almost Zelda-esque at times. While the beginning was a bit slow for my tastes, things have really picked up speed and I'm loving this game now. I even enjoy the cooking-crafting, building the museum, and the quirky sidequests. Fun stuff, Falcom kickin' ass as usual.

Official trailer for the game, with lots of gameplay snippets:



V4.14 English translation has been great.

[PartridgeSenpai]

MoriMori Slime 3 has been really fun so far.

It took a little while to get going, but once you get to the boat combat like 2-hours in, it gets really fun. In contrast to Rocket Slime (2) (The one we got here), there's an overworld you sail around and can get into battles with AI ships there, where in RS2 you only had the story related ones, if I remember correctly.

Also, lots of on-foot bosses, which I don't recall there being any of in RS2. Though for the most part, it's really just what Enix does best: More of exactly the same great game but tweaked a little, and for a game this fun, I'm okay with that, though some might not be.

[ElkinFencer10]

I FINALLY finished Moe Chronicle on the Vita. Check out my post in the Games Beaten 2016 for my thoughts on that...interesting....dungeon crawling RPG.

[Xeogred]

Nayuta: Endless Trails




I'm about 8 hours in now, and this ARPG just keeps getting better. The gameplay complexity continues to increase (in a good way), the levels continue to grow more elaborate and engaging, and the bosses just keep getting cooler. There's a tendency towards devious action-puzzles trending as the dungeons become more elaborate, almost Zelda-esque at times. While the beginning was a bit slow for my tastes, things have really picked up speed and I'm loving this game now. I even enjoy the cooking-crafting, building the museum, and the quirky sidequests. Fun stuff, Falcom kickin' ass as usual.

Official trailer for the game, with lots of gameplay snippets:



V4.14 English translation has been great.

Aren't Falcom the Y's guys? Which worries me...

Looks pretty cool. How is PSP emulation thesedays? I don't like handhelds much, but the PSP truly does look like some kind of JRPG goldmine.

[Exhuminator]

Aren't Falcom the Y's guys? Which worries me...

Looks pretty cool. How is PSP emulation thesedays? I don't like handhelds much, but the PSP truly does look like some kind of JRPG goldmine.

Falcom are the Ys guys. Which Ys games have you played that make you worried? There are some bad Ys games, but the bad ones weren't made by Falcom themselves.

PSP emulation is going very well:

http://www.ppsspp.org/

If I didn't have hacked PSPs laying around, I'd definitely hit up PPSSPP for playing fan trans stuff. Especially since it supports upres'ing polygons internally.