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Valkyria Chronicles is unique. Haven't played a game like it before and haven't since. It throws out RNGesus and replaces it with what you know from shooter games. To be honest, I wish all turn-/squad-based RPGs adopted the same formula, but they won't, because it's expensive in terms of art budget.

Well, if you can get a hold of Gladius, check it out too. There's also a DS game called Advanced Wars.. but it lacks some of the depth as well as character details (being a DS game).

edit: You know, Bioware in their heyday had this vibe somewhat going for it too. If you upped the difficulty (or just weren't good), it'd force you to pause and go into tactical mode and really think out of getting out of sticky situations one step at a time. I loved that stuff.

Hell, even Mass Effect, a very real time game, could pull off the feel on Insanity levels... depending on how good the Map was.
 
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Another night spent with Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1, it's 7.30am here.. damn, I have the sequels, so there's going to be many sleepless nights.. :rolleyes:

Just 11h played this time, and I just can't stop playing.
 
Really digging the sea battles, the bounties on the other hand
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I'm still surprised by Seven: The Days Long Gone. It's like the first Witcher game but taking place 1000 years in the future but imagine Geralt (of Witcher) was replaced by Garret (of Thief). It also has bigger open world vibes like Satellite Reign rather than the smallish open world areas of Vizma in Witcher. However, like Witcher prior to Enhanced Edition, Seven: The Days Long Gone is quite rough (experienced 3 crashes already). I doubt it will ever get polished like Enhanced Edition did. That said, it's not like it needs new voice overs like Witcher did either. I haven't had any saves corrupted either so even after a crash or weirdness in a quest, just load a save and it is all better.
 
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Really digging the sea battles, the bounties on the other handView attachment 112736View attachment 112737View attachment 112738
The sea is fantastic in Odyssey! Just stick to pirates unless in an actual mission to sink either Athenian or Spartan ships. There are lots of pirates, and no bounty with them.

Even with those sink “X” ships missions, many times the bounty holder is another ship. Seek out that ship and sink it too!
 
The sea is fantastic in Odyssey! Just stick to pirates unless in an actual mission to sink either Athenian or Spartan ships. There are lots of pirates, and no bounty with them.

Even with those sink “X” ships missions, many times the bounty holder is another ship. Seek out that ship and sink it too!

Real life acquaintance keeps raving about it. I'm gonna have to get it, I guess. I've avoided AC since AC2 (really liked the first setting though and wish they'd remaster it with all that they've learned).
 
I will try Gris today, and I want to play it immediately after downloading it. I watched its trailer, and I can say that soundtracks and atmosphere is just breathtaking.
 
The big flame throwers are the easiest of the bosses to kill. Keep your distance, hit their tanks, and they go boom. The weakspots on the other bosses (especially the LMG guys) are difficult to hit to the point it almost isn't worth even aiming for it.
Like this, you mean :peace:

 
Like this, you mean :peace:

Yes but you only want to do that to red, purple, and big bosses. You do not want to do that to the yellow ones because they'll charge at you and take you with them. Yellow: aim for the head.
 
@stuartb04 dayum... PL of 627... I'm *very* close to cracking the PL 600 mark, so long if RNGezus lets me...

Here's a small update.
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@stuartb04 dayum... PL of 627... I'm *very* close to cracking the PL 600 mark, so long if RNGezus lets me...

i mainly solo aswell.
RNG has been kind lately.

The new forge helps the boost in light but i recommend being 610 to have better chance.
but it can be done at 600 with a good team. it is tough.
 
@stuartb04 didn't have the Black Armory Season Pass coz I'm not that hardcore yet. Also, power limit of 650 is open for those who do not own the season pass. Don't forget I've come this far after only playing the game not even 2 months since D2 base game was free for the taking.
 
@stuartb04 didn't have the Black Armory Season Pass coz I'm not that hardcore yet. Also, power limit of 650 is open for those who do not own the season pass. Don't forget I've come this far after only playing the game not even 2 months since D2 base game was free for the taking.

although the passes are quite expensive and get some stick i reckon they are worth it.

yea you have done well in 2 months considering rng.

played last night and got the last titan armor exotic that i needed.

Now to level up the warlock i started.
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@stuartb04 congrats on getting the exotic helmet man. ;) for me my exotic armor list got at least another 5 more.
 
Definitely JRPG but instead of being completely menu based, they let you move to select your targets which is neat...but still JRPG.


My problem with JRPG is that setting doesn't mean anything in terms of combat. Think Jagged Alliance: a defending unit might be behind a wall so odds of hit are low and if a hit occurs, it will be weak because the bullet had to go through material to hit the defending unit. An attacking unit can be buffed, for example, if they're prone with a sniper with a bipod on it. Not only that, being prone means they're a really tiny cross section so they're unlikely to get hit but if they do get it, it will be bad. And if that weren't enough, add in the fact that this prone sniper is 200m away from the enemy whom has a rifle with an effective range of 70m; the prone sniper has huge attack capabilities and huge defense capabilities but balanced out by having low movement capabilities (take a lot of action points to turn, get up, and prep their gun to run. By removing setting (as all JRPGs do), none of these important figures are accounted for. There's very little in terms of strategy so it fundamentally becomes worshiping RNGesus. You can't use logic to stack the deck in your favor.


Jagged Alliance is probably the best example simply because their systems allow for so much variety. The more common type is that seen in Shadowrun, Wasteland, XCOM, and Xenonauts:
1) use cover (and deny your enemy cover by flanking or explosives)
2) stack your units in preparation to storm a room
3) use the turn counter so once you make your move, you have plenty of availble units with turns to inflict serious pain before the enemy can respond
4) take the high ground so you can see what they're doing before they know where you are
5) study enemy types and patterns (e.g. typical groups). For example, those reptilian infiltrators in XCOM like to land on high points on a map and overwatch. Having a sniper up high with the ability to attack targets in another friendly units line of sight can translate to quickly wiping them out when they don't have a chance to respond. They're also weakly armored and not very evasive so even a heavy with two shots can take out two visible infiltrators by itself.

All of these things can stack the deck in your favor before a shot is even fired. JRPGs distinctly lack these things. Because of their reliance on RNGesus, they're more like gambling and grinding (because literally the only way to stack the deck in your favor is to be leveled higher) games than actual strategy games.

I saw many of my family members playing a "game" where they rolled 10 six-sided dice over and over and over again until all came up the same number. How is this fun to anyone? It's fundamentally what JRPG combat is. The dice are just hidden. Yeah, sure, some might try to complicate things with defense types and attack styles but fundamentally all that does is add a spreadsheet to your dice rolls. Every gamer needs more Excel in their life...said no one...ever. EVE Online addicts don't count because they're obsessive to an unhealthy degree.


TL;DR: JRPGs made sense in the 80s and early 90s simply because of technological limitations. Today? No, just no.

Agreed on all points except the Excel bit. It's ironic how one of my top 5 games (all platforms) is a JRPG (Chrono Trigger).

Well, if you can get a hold of Gladius, check it out too. There's also a DS game called Advanced Wars.. but it lacks some of the depth as well as character details (being a DS game).

Advanced Wars is almost sublime. And pretty hard iirc.

Also check out Fire Emblem on the DS btw. Turn based RPG strategy and also quite good. It's an old series in Japan but few games made it to the west.
 
Definitely JRPG but instead of being completely menu based, they let you move to select your targets which is neat...but still JRPG.


My problem with JRPG is that setting doesn't mean anything in terms of combat. Think Jagged Alliance: a defending unit might be behind a wall so odds of hit are low and if a hit occurs, it will be weak because the bullet had to go through material to hit the defending unit. An attacking unit can be buffed, for example, if they're prone with a sniper with a bipod on it. Not only that, being prone means they're a really tiny cross section so they're unlikely to get hit but if they do get it, it will be bad. And if that weren't enough, add in the fact that this prone sniper is 200m away from the enemy whom has a rifle with an effective range of 70m; the prone sniper has huge attack capabilities and huge defense capabilities but balanced out by having low movement capabilities (take a lot of action points to turn, get up, and prep their gun to run. By removing setting (as all JRPGs do), none of these important figures are accounted for. There's very little in terms of strategy so it fundamentally becomes worshiping RNGesus. You can't use logic to stack the deck in your favor.


Jagged Alliance is probably the best example simply because their systems allow for so much variety. The more common type is that seen in Shadowrun, Wasteland, XCOM, and Xenonauts:
1) use cover (and deny your enemy cover by flanking or explosives)
2) stack your units in preparation to storm a room
3) use the turn counter so once you make your move, you have plenty of availble units with turns to inflict serious pain before the enemy can respond
4) take the high ground so you can see what they're doing before they know where you are
5) study enemy types and patterns (e.g. typical groups). For example, those reptilian infiltrators in XCOM like to land on high points on a map and overwatch. Having a sniper up high with the ability to attack targets in another friendly units line of sight can translate to quickly wiping them out when they don't have a chance to respond. They're also weakly armored and not very evasive so even a heavy with two shots can take out two visible infiltrators by itself.

All of these things can stack the deck in your favor before a shot is even fired. JRPGs distinctly lack these things. Because of their reliance on RNGesus, they're more like gambling and grinding (because literally the only way to stack the deck in your favor is to be leveled higher) games than actual strategy games.

I saw many of my family members playing a "game" where they rolled 10 six-sided dice over and over and over again until all came up the same number. How is this fun to anyone? It's fundamentally what JRPG combat is. The dice are just hidden. Yeah, sure, some might try to complicate things with defense types and attack styles but fundamentally all that does is add a spreadsheet to your dice rolls. Every gamer needs more Excel in their life...said no one...ever. EVE Online addicts don't count because they're obsessive to an unhealthy degree.


TL;DR: JRPGs made sense in the 80s and early 90s simply because of technological limitations. Today? No, just no.

Dunno man.. JRPGs aren't unique in this. Consider any ARPG, they basically do the same thing, up to and including RNG loot tables, map generation, monster suffixes. Whether I play Grim Dawn, Diablo, it all just means you're walking past some scenery slaying monsters, setting is just atmosphere. Yes you can move about but its a very minor factor in the whole thing, its mostly a vehicle to go from one monster pack to another and the whole point is getting strong enough to not be forced to move and dodge everything. Spreadsheets in gaming are bread and butter, even paper D&D has it, even combined with RNG, except now you roll a D20 (with a ton of modifiers, I admit).

Comparing Wasteland or Shadowrun to a JRPG... those are mostly turn based tactical games with a hint of RPG in them along a rather fixed progression path. But the emphasis is clearly on the tactical aspect. You can bring shitty gear and still win with good positioning and tactics, mostly. RPG elements are everywhere in gaming. And so are spreadsheets. The strength of the JRPG is its presentation along with the typical style, plus repetitive, grindy nature of combat and lengthy progression curve. But, within that grind there do tend to be lots of little gameplay/mechanic surprises, or combinations of monster spawns that will really challenge you, or straight up weirdness galore.

RNG can be great if its done right. I'm replaying Diablo 2 atm, and I think its a good example, and a good reminder of what makes a game strong even when its so very simple. In this game, even the different map layouts, the way they're generated, each offer different tactical options. Using walls or corridors, open space, escape routes, etc. It really struck me when I entered the Sewers in Act 3. Its a random map, but you can still take away knowledge because it always generates long paths along the edges of it and a maze of bridges and dead ends in the center. Go through the middle and you're stuck going in circles for a half hour. Go along the edge and you're done in five minutes.

I'm not seeing your point as far as technological limitations go. Old games were never burdened much by it and neither are new ones. Old games turned some limitations into actual gameplay elements, too, simply because that was the scope they were built on. JRPG is just a specific type of game with an emphasis you may not like, but is not that radically different from many non-J RPGs.
 
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And so are spreadsheets.
Well yes, to the developer but not to the player. Games shouldn't be so terribly designed that they encourage players try to rebuild the game's action tables.


Still playing Seven: The Days Long Gone. I still don't get why it is called that.

Got my 12 TB Seagate Exos drive. Going to copy my 5.2 TB game collection to it tonight. Best case scenario I estimated it would take 7.33 hours.
 
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OK - I'm sold on Book of Demons :)

Opening movie starts by entering the 'Archive of Awesome' :roll:


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Not playing anything right now because I'm copying my game library from a 6 TB to a 12 TB hard drive. I did 600 GB worth of GOG, Origin, Battle.net, and uPlay yesterday. It has been copying the remaining 4.8ish TB of Steam since before I went to bed. 58% remaining now (1.1 million files, 1.75 TB). Can't play anything until it is done. :C

Edit: MOAR GAMES
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Back to Seven! :D


Edit: Finished Seven: The Days Long Gone. The title now makes some sense (as it should) and, well, the game thoroughly impresses. It is rough around the edges (lost track of the number of crashes and typos) but it's worth plowing through the bugs to see it through. The stealth mechanics are really good and combat is passible, albeit perhaps too easy. I found that I killed very few people throughout the game (mostly because bodies can't be moved only dissolved for a costly price) except for bandits and mandatory boss fights. That said there's plenty of monsters around that force you to stay combat ready because they can't be backstabbed (although they can be drop-attacked from above). The game also doesn't have traditional RPG skills and levels: you have a skill chip with specific slots for active and passive skills coupled with up to three upgrades for each slot. It's a simple system that makes sense and is flexible. The lore and setting is top-notch too. It's post apocalyptic but not in the sense that Fallout is post apocalyptic. They're hyper advanced because it takes place in the distant future but at the same time, they're not because so much was lost between now and then.

Fantastic game overall and they've also announced they're releasing a free expansion soon. I can't wait for it.

Steam says I played 50.4 hours but it feels like it was a lot longer than that in a good way.



Next up: Battle Royale Tycoon. That last word is the key. It apparently is like a Prison Architect-stylized battle arena management simulator. Like any game of the genre, it can be fantastically good or fantastically bad. Only one way to find out...
 
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I used to be that edgy Warlock right? now... I have "ascended". XDD
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Battle Royale Tycoon is more like RollerCoaster Tycoon than anything else--all the way down to the queue lines. Fundamentally, the game has little content is relatively shallow because of it. It has potential but who knows if it will ever realize that potential.


Edit: Welp, it crashed (looks like memory leak). It looks like it came out a week ago so...yeah...

I'm thinking Zombie Army Trilogy now...
 
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