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The R P G discussion thread
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| read 86 reaction(s) |
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@ 06-01-2005 07:21 andro | 
42,248 posts
| No, I don't mean rocket propelled grenades so all you anarchists can put your weapons down 
Meanwhile, all you gamers can pick your weapons up - by RPG I do of course mean Role Play Games. From Pokemon to Dungeon Siege, World of Warcraft to Final Fantasy, this thread is dedicated to them all.
Which RPGs do you play? Are some better or worse than others? Do you have any tips that might make playing the games a little easier for others who are just starting out with them?
I'll try to throw a "RPG Spotlight" in this thread every so often to highlight one that I enjoy a lot, and everyone else is welcome to do the same.
Let battle commence! |
| Showing posts 1-25 of 86 | Page 1 of 4 |
| Discussion |
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 0  @ 06-01-2005 08:12 andro |
42,248 posts
| Time to get the ball rolling with my first RPG Spotlight!
This morning I'll be taking a look at an RPG that is often overlooked
Wizardry 8
This game is the 8th and final chapter of the Wizardry series, which lasted from the original Wizardry in 1981 to its climax in late 2001 with the release of Wizardry 8
The Dark Savant has run off with a device of unimaginable power! What can YOU do to stop him in his quest to rule over the universe? The time of The Ascension is at hand!
This game has three different starting points, depending on how you finished Wizardry 7 (and you can import your old characters from 7 to 8 if you like). Though if you didn't play Wizardry 7, there is a fourth starting point that new players can start from, and you won't miss out on any of the storyline thanks to the in depth intro movies for new players.
Some of the best features about this game fall into the very advanced monster AI (they'll hunt you as well as you hunting them) and the sheer versatility of the characters and strategies that you can develop as the game progresses. The game is HUGE and you can choose your own playing style as much as you like. Characters aren't limited to a single profession - if your Fighter suddenly wants to explore his Zen side then you can switch his profession to a Monk and keep all the skills the character has already learned.
Every character also has a personality and voice that you can change as often as you like, and they'll talk back to you throughout the game. Some of the things the characters come out with can be hilarious, such as when my Bishop was ressurected after being killed in a particularly tough boss battle the first thing he said was "And a big HELLO from all your dead relatives!" in his rather aggressive Bronx accent.
Though every game has its down points, and Wizardry 8's biggest disappointment is in the graphics. The graphics engine is nowhere near as advanced as advanced as the ones used in other RPGs, and while all the spells look amazing with some really cool dynamic lighting effects the environments and some of the monsters look a little tacky. Considering when this game was released, the developers could have done a lot better.
Is the game worth it? My opinion is a resounding yes. Overall, few other RPGs tell such a great story and let you experiment with your strategies to this extent.
For those interested in giving the game a try, a playable demo can be downloded from FilePlanet
The final part of this spotlight focuses on something that most current players have serious issues with. The Samurai profession.
Fearless. Quick. Strong. Devoted. All words used to describe the awesome Samurai class. Masters of Wizardry and the Sword - a very fierce combination indeed. A well-trained Samurai can dish out an insane number of attacks, with a chance to make an instant kill on each hit that penetrates the enemy's armour, as well as cast powerful spells from the Mage spellbook. Nothing like watching your Samurai toss out a high-level Freeze All spell, scorching them with a Nuclear Blast, instantly killing a few with Asphyxiation and then waltzing up to the incapacitated, half-dead enemies to deliver the finishing blow with your trusty blade.
The main problem that players have with this powerful profession is that they neglect one aspect of him and focus too much on the other. For a powerful melee attacker, you're much better off using a plain Fighter and for just the spells, you'll find that a Mage is far more effective (and easier to level up). So why is it better to put all that effort into carefully building a perfect Samurai instead of going for one of the more vanilla professions? Here are a few reasons.
The Samurai are fearless. There's nothing more annoying than one of your best attackers coweing behind everyone just because they've been hit by a spell that causes fear, and the Samirai are totally immune to these spells and any of the other side effects that can be caused by them (such as unconsciousness or insanity). Note that the Samurai aren't immune to the other side effects, they just won't suffer from them if fear is the primary side effect).
Lightning Strike. Ever seen a character manage to get in EIGHT attacks with a single swing? With the right sword, the Samurai does this. The damage done increases dramatically and since each hit has a chance to kill instantly, the kill counter will be going up VERY quickly indeed. It may not happen as often as you'd like it to, but as long as you keep on increasing your Samurai's Speed with every level-up, you'll be seeing quite a lot of it.
Sword Skill Bonus. The Samurai gets a 25% bonus to whatever skill he has in the sword area, making them much better at using them than the other professions. The vast majority of the best weapons in the game are swords as well, and the Samurai can use all except 2 of them (one can only be used by a Ranger, the other can only be used by a Mook Fighter). With that many swords lying around that you can use, the skill bonus is a great way to be able to use all of them without having to pump your sword skill every time you level up.
It takes a lot of effort to get a Samurai proficient in both his above average fighting skills and his magic skills (and the spells he learns come from the Mage spellbook - the collection of the deadliest spells in the game). Do you have the patience to make a true master, or will you have a Fighter and Mage doing the work that one could do easily? | | 0 @ 06-01-2005 08:36 ignacio | 14,843 posts
| The only Rpg game that I can remmber is Earthbound, found on snes. I'ts so awesome  | | 0 @ 06-01-2005 08:44 ignacio | 14,843 posts
| I guess Pokemon destroyed Rpg. It was okay for the first two games, but then it just went downhill from there
Fable was a good Rpg game | | 0 @ 06-01-2005 09:06 dakondakblade | 
10,180 posts
| Final Fantasy 7!!!!!!!!! BEst RPG MADEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! O r Chrono Trigger... | | 0 @ 06-01-2005 09:34 andro |
42,248 posts
| Pokemon didn't destroy the RPG genre... I think it just made it a little more accessible. Think about it - in the last 10 years since the release of the first Pokemon game, other RPG developers have been forced to keep the spirit of adventure and making things enjoyable while making sure it's as easy to play as possible.
Plus, as the younger generation chases after Pokemon and then moves on, they'll start to look at the other RPGs out there. How can that be a bad thing? | | 0 @ 06-01-2005 10:15 Fairy_Strange | 318 posts
| I play Diablo. But does that count as a RPG?? That is like the only video game I really play though. | | 0 @ 06-01-2005 11:32 andro |
42,248 posts
| Yeah - Diablo is an action RPG  | | 0 @ 06-01-2005 12:08 Dekar | 36,095 posts
| My first RPG ever played and to this day, one of the most challenging, Final Fantasy for the N.E.S.
Also, for S.N.E.S. lovers out there, check out Lufia and Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals. You may recognise my username in there somewhere. | | 0 @ 19-01-2005 05:40 LowBrass | 703 posts
| My roomates and I at college have dubbed this quarter the RPG quarter: we're trying to play nothing but rpgs. To date, we haven't been to successful, what with the realease of Resident Evil 4 and whatnot. But right now, we've got people playing FF7, Knights Of the Old Republic 2, Kingdom Hearts, and soon to be playing Jade Empire (as soon as it comes out). It's amazing we get any schoolwork done... | | 0 @ 19-01-2005 23:08 andro |
42,248 posts
| Onto the next of my RPG Spotlights!
Today, we'll be taking a look at Skies of Arcadia on the Sega Dreamcast, also rereleased as Skies of Arcadia Legends on the Nintendo GameCube
This game was released at a period of time when other RPGs, such as the Final Fantasy games, were focusing on more existential angst. What many players wanted was a return to free spirited adventure, and Skies of Arcadia offered just that.
You immediately take on the roles of Vyse and his friend Aika on a routine raid of a Valuan airship when - surprise surprise - you find that they're holding a mysterious stranger hostage. Who is she? And what do the Valuans want with her?
Again, the game itself is huge. 2 discs, in fact. And it holds a number of unique features which I've yet to see in any other game.
First, the phased battle system. The most noticeable thing you'll see during battle is a large spirit bar which increases round by round. Regular attacking and defending options don't have any effect on it, though there is also a focus command which lets any of your characters sit the round out and double the spirit they add to the bar during that round (though they can still be attacked and take damage). The spirit bar acts like a communal mana pool. All spells and special moves (which I'll discuss later) have a spirit cost rather than a mana cost - and since the spirit pool is shared it's far easier to get spells and special attacks done quickly.
Spells in the game are learned and used unusually too. When casting a spell, the spirit cost is deducted from the spirit bar to cast, along with one mana point from the caster. Regardless of how powerful the spell is, it'll only use up one mana point. Learning spells is unusual in itself, in that instead of being able to pick a new spell every time the character levels up, there are separate experience level systems for both physical stats and spell realms. Every battle gives you some experience points in both the physical and magical realms. You can influence where the magic experience points go by changing the colour of your weapon (to learn green spells quicker, make the character's weapon green etc.). Changing the weapon colours can also give you an advantage over the monsters you fight, for instance red type monsters take extra damage when hit by purple weapons. You can change the colour of your weapon at any time (even during combat) without having to spend a turn digging into your inventory to pull out a new weapon and leaving yourself in the firing line.
Now onto weapons themselves. Every playable character uses a specific type of weapon, for example Vyse can only use swords, Aika can only use boomerangs, and Fina can only use her pet Cupil (there are more characters in the game, but I won't ruin the surprises for you). You can buy/find new and more powerful weapons as the game goes on for most characters, but for Cupil you can never get rid of him. Cupil is the weakest weapon in the game for the most part, but since its user (Fina) is really there as a pure spellcaster you won't need to use him much. Cupil stays the same, but depending on what you feed it he may be able to morph into different attack modes to increase its damage causing potential (and if you can feed him all 30 Chams and 3 Abirik Chams in the game then he suddenly becomes the most powerful weapon in the game - WTF?!!)
Next up, special moves. You have to teach every character all their special moves from scratch, and again, there's a unique way of doing it. There are items called Moonberries scattered across the game world, and when you find enough of them you can use them to teach one character one of their special moves. The most useful one I've found is Fina's ultimate special move, which is the ultimate in healing abilities. Even if Fina is the last one standing with only one hitpoint left, she can ressurect and restore everyone back to full health for a fair cost of only 18 spirit points (and give you a very impressive cinematic sequence into the bargain)
Are you fed up with fighting on foot? Take to the skies in ship battles and let the cannons speak for themselves! This is a very impressive feature of the game, and a lot of the biggest boss battles take place in the air with you fighting from your ship. You give each character orders to do different things (though stronger characters do more damage when firing cannons), and you can even cast your spells during ship battles as well. You spend a lot of time flying around in your ship, and there are even some ship dungeons as well where you can move in full three dimensions. No need to worry about your way being blocked when you can just increase altitude and fly right over it!
Now, onto the features of the game which I found disappointing. Time to take another look at the spells - there are only 36 spells in the entire game and the majority are just the same spell that have been pumped up a bit and given slightly different graphics. Characters are very limited in the classes of weapons they can use, and there's only one strategy that really works for each character (no chance of you suddenly wanting to turn your best fighter into a tough spellcaster or vice versa, though every character is able to learn every spell if you have the patience)
The soundtrack is amazing and very diverse, but that's pretty much all you'll hear. Aside from the occasional character sound effect, you never hear them speak. All the dialogue is in text only. They put this game on 2 discs - I think it would have been worth putting it onto a third for some real dialogue instead of just reading with the occasional "Oooooh!", "Hey!" or "Hahaha!" sound effect.
The "Legends" rerelease on the GameCube wasn't all that much better. Only on the one disc, with a few mediocre extra features. Plus they downsampled the soundtrack and the detail level in some of the animations, which made it rather of a disappointment as far as special edition rereleases go.
Is this game worth it? If you have a lot of patience and enjoy deep storylines with lots of exciting adventuring, then definitely | | 0 @ 23-01-2005 17:27 Dagor | 
33,241 posts
| hmmm I need a wise man to tell me something about the window with the computer behind it
*performs mind magic*
*casts spell to call upon Phil and let him appear*
ahh, blast, either the spell didn't work or Phil isn't a wise man | | 0 @ 26-01-2005 17:45 Dagor |
33,241 posts
| Do you know what really sucks!? You play for 3 hours ... has killed most of the foes in arnika ... you leave arnika, french sounding guy gets killed ... you think, okay, let's head back to arnika, have a rest and buy some resurrection powder ... you're back, you have rested in the temple ... you see that you miss a few bucks so you should see antone to sell some weapons ... you're just leaving the temple and a bunch of savant guards appear and you THINK, ah well i can handle them as well, only 6 of them and you've got a lay brother to help you ... and your mage get's killed as well! with just 2 tiny strokes ... so now you have 2 dead people and not enough money ... AND YOU DIDNT SAVE THE GAME ONCE!!! | | 0 @ 07-02-2005 00:27 VicarInAtutu | 73 posts
| Random Battles-Yawn
Bring On Zelda. | | 0 @ 07-02-2005 00:29 hobbitongurl | 4,053 posts
| I used to be in a LOTR one..the manager always got mad at me, so i left..I was a horrible member.. | | 0 @ 15-03-2005 02:41 BoxerG4sho | 22 posts
| hmmm try some mmorpgs i like em but really they take alot of time right now im playin 0
played FF11 for 1 year 2 months and worldofwarcraft for 2 months but im done since i got my job and ect lol | | 0 @ 04-04-2005 19:55 raekuul | 9 posts
| Pretty much anything made with the OHRRPGCE (Official Hamster Republic Role-Playing Game Creation Engine), along with the Colora Series that I'm working on with said engine. | | 0 @ 08-04-2005 06:32 dakondakblade |
10,180 posts
| dude... Final Fnatasy Advents CHildren is AMAZING!!!! (movie) My Japaneses friend managed to get a copy from Japan.. adn it friggin kicks arse! Except the one he got is in japaneses sooo.. Im having a little trouble reading the text.... but its isawesome none the less | | 0 @ 17-11-2005 01:50 Tyrannical_King | 
5,163 posts
| WoW > all | | 0 @ 17-11-2005 09:19 Dekar | 36,095 posts
| I have WoW, but I haven't started playing it yet. I bought a 60-day game card too so I can start any time I want, but my computer's been a bit buggy lately so I'm waiting until I feel like it to clean it up and get started. | | 0 @ 17-11-2005 10:09 FoNT | 1,940 posts
| pokemon blue was great. pokemon gold improved on it. i didnt play any of the other ones so i wouldnt know what to say. so much fun collecting and trading, trying to get all 150 - and then cheating to turn that 150 into 151 with mew 
diablo, well....that game ate a year and a half of my life. but i guess that for what it was, it was pretty awesome.
wow....i played it for a bit, but it takes too much time and commitment to get into it. everyone says "the game begins at level 60", so for all of us with a short attention span, the game never begins. go figure. also, its much too expensive. much much much too expensive. you should pay for time you play, not for time period. with discounts for huge amounts of time.
zelda OoT - best rpg ive ever played. best replay value of any adventure game in my opinion. the series went downhill with majora's mask and, well, windwaker was ok......but that's all i can say about it. too cartoony for me.
and those are the main rpgs ive played. | | 0 @ 17-11-2005 10:11 DannyB | 14,044 posts
| I have Celbi on my gold version <3 | | 0 @ 17-11-2005 10:14 FoNT | 1,940 posts
| i was never bothered to get all 251 on gold. (ok, lets all give it up for bad sentence structure! woohooo!) i tried to get the 3 legendary dogs for a while, but gave up cos it was so damn boring.
the only sparkly pokemon i ever got was pidgey.
i had a few level 100's, but i put much more effort into blue. | | 0 @ 17-11-2005 10:16 DannyB | 14,044 posts
| I have the legendary dogs, because I cheat and clone myself master balls. And clone Poke'mon. I have lvl 2 Suicine muahha | | 0 @ 17-11-2005 10:58 andro |
42,248 posts
| Heh - I got Pokemon Emerald emulated on my PC. How do you think your legendary dogs would stand up to the combined might of Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi and Deoxys?
* offtopic :
Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Latios and Latias all suck btw
| | 0 @ 17-11-2005 11:04 random_guy | 7,534 posts
| I still have the pokemon games, and I thought only 10 year olds played them...I have quite a few good ones, but I haven't played them for awhile. |
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