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Post by Xeogred on Apr 19, 2019 22:49:52 GMT -5
I guess that really is it. I love the first half of Berserk (which is an obvious big influence on Souls, there's even a Guts inspired sword in there!), but then between all the breaks the author takes the series arguably starts shifting into high fantasy later on with more magic and fairy stuff, a bigger cast and kids/comedy, a striking tonal shift and for the worst to me. At this point I don't see myself ever reading more or finishing it. I liked when Guts was the only main character and everything was good up through the Second Eclipse/Conviction Arc. Guess that's my survival horror bias coming through too... add a dose of darkness to the whole fantasy package and there's a higher chance I'm in!
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Post by Ex on Apr 20, 2019 0:49:06 GMT -5
I love the first half of Berserk Maybe you oughta check this out sometime: Full English fan translation: www.romhacking.net/translations/2837/It's on my list of stuff to play. The list that is ludicrously long and scoffs at the normal human lifespan. PS There's also this, but too new for HRG.
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Post by toei on Apr 20, 2019 1:22:57 GMT -5
And isn't that the sequel to a Dreamcast game, too?
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Post by Ex on Apr 20, 2019 1:29:14 GMT -5
And isn't that the sequel to a Dreamcast game, too? I'm not sure if it's a direct sequel. But yeah, there's also the Dreamcast game.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2019 4:08:15 GMT -5
Speaking of Bioware, as a big KOTOR fan I was never able to get into Mass Effect. Not sure why, it's been awhile. I just remember the elevator rides with your party members being almost as awkward and boring as their real life counterparts. Never tried Dragon Age. For the record, I'd always take dark fantasy over high fantasy and I do believe Oblivion is the weakest main series TES game out of the last three. I was a huge Morrowind fan and I purchased Oblivion for the PC as soon as it came out. Nowadays people make fun of the NPCs' faces and their ridiculous lines of dialog, but they also were pretty mediocre back then. Character faces never looked good in a TES game without mods, it's just the way it is. The main quest was pretty boring and repetitive stuff, too. However, it was actually pretty good as a sandbox RPG where you get to explore and create your own adventures. Just don't talk to people and don't try to save the world and it's actually pretty fun. Also, the assassination quests for the Dark Brotherhood were excellent - much better than the main quest, not even close. That said, Oblivion doesn't hold a candle to the exotic/alien fantasy setting from Morrowind. It's probably a 7/10. In my experience with Vanillaware games, they have gorgeous graphics but thin and repetitive gameplay. Well, I can only speak for Muramasa. I have tried Odin Sphere, but found the gameplay rather clunky and slow. Apparently the PS4 version is a big improvement though.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 20, 2019 7:47:30 GMT -5
The elevators and loading times for ME1 are indeed brutal. I think the PS3 version is maybe a little better, but I don't know. Since you're bigger on PC, have you tried that version? For both ME1 and ME2, the loading times are way better from what I've seen. They actually redid a lot of the UI for ME1 as well to work better with mouse/keyboard. I still prefer controllers for third person though. I played KOTOR for the first time more recently actually, somewhere in the last ~5 years. I think it held up real nicely but I still like ME1 way more personally. Where I rank Obsidian's KOTOR2 remains to be seen though, I played that one back in the day and absolutely loved it (so yeah I played them out of order, was still a teen with little money and options back then). Nobody does dialogue choices and writing quite like Obsidian(Ex having played Fallout NV recently could probably agree?)... I have KOTOR2 on Steam with the Restoration Mod that adds in some lost content or something, so I'll have to replay it someday. Maybe this year after the ME Trilogy! I bought Muramasa awhile ago I think from you guys recommending it, but I'm pretty skeptical since I don't think I've loved anything from Vanillaware yet. Odin Sphere I played a lot of, but I hated the grind and seed/leveling system, along with the repetition of redoing all the levels with more characters again and again. The PS4 version looked nice but was shockingly pricey when it came out and more recently I just decided I'm not interested enough to give that one a chance, I've got plenty of other games to play heh.
I know Skyrim isn't HRG ready yet, but I'll just say that applies to that one as well haha. I loved Skyrim's world, I guess the increase in tech and details helps, but I love snowy mountains and such. The dwarf temples looked like something straight out of Thief in this one too. That's all I'll say on this one, it did have a great setting I enjoyed, fun combat, and a stellar Jeremy Soule score.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2019 14:33:11 GMT -5
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion - Horrendous, I played it on the 360 so that's probably the worst version, but it had constant sluggish loading out in the main field and every single random dungeon/cave looked exactly the same. This game looks like pure dooky on the eyes thesedays too. The era of BROWN. I'll just stop there, nothing good to say about my time with this. Oblivion has aged pretty poorly (mods help) but it's one of the brighter and more colorful Elder Scrolls games honestly. I don't think "brown" when I think Oblivion unless the 360 version was really THAT bad. I'd never play a Bethesda game on a console. That way lies madness. I've really, really tried to like Dragon Age and I've tried to like Mass Effect. I put in a concerted effort to enjoy these games. They just don't do anything for me. I think I probably just don't like Bioware's way of doing things. I always find the writing and characters hokey and it's always paired with gameplay that I can only generously describe as boring. I've never clicked with these games like other people have and as time marches on it becomes more and more unlikely that I will. I don't need to say anything about Demon's Souls. I'm basically a Miyazaki slut at this point.
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Post by Ex on Apr 20, 2019 14:46:28 GMT -5
That's one that I will have to give a second chance to. It seems to be popular around here. I think it was around 2008 or so when I played the first KOTOR. I remember getting bored with it early on, something about cleaning out maintenance shafts full of small hostile aliens. Which was basically just a fancy way of having low level characters cleaning rats out of the sewer. The gameplay just wasn't exciting me at all. But I am SURE this game gets much better eventually, and KOTOR 2 was super well received. I've got these via GOG, so someday I'll give them a second chance. I can say installing the 360 version to the hard drive speeds up the loading quite a bit at least. You never get away from the dead eye staring during cutscenes though. I can acquiesce to that judgement. I've never finished a TES game yet. I've played Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion. I think it's more of a failing on my behalf to engage with the real campaign and take their stories seriously. So I end up just goofing around and getting bored quickly enough. Apparently the PS4 version is a big improvement though. Yeah that's Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, which is the same thing I was talking about when I mentioned the Vita version.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2019 15:46:51 GMT -5
The gameplay just wasn't exciting me at all. But I am SURE this game gets much better eventually, and KOTOR 2 was super well received. I've got these via GOG, so someday I'll give them a second chance. Yeah, the first planet is a bit of a slog, but the game opens up after that. KOTOR 2 is Planescape: Torment meets Star Wars. And compared to its predecessor, it's also what the Empire Strikes Back is to Episode IV. I still own physical copies of both and I think it's pretty hilarious how two games from 2003 and -04 were shipped in a regular DVD-like case - no big box - containing 4 CDs each. For the record, I've played them back then as well as in recent years and still enjoyed them. The Restoration Mod was fun, but some stuff was very unbalanced - the Assassin Droids factory - so I recommend playing it vanilla first. Well, I did beat the main quest in the last three games and while the story in Morrowind was quite original and a lot of thought obviously went into it, I only remember how the main quest in Oblivion entailed portals to hell and something about dragons in Skyrim. The elevators and loading times for ME1 are indeed brutal. I think the PS3 version is maybe a little better, but I don't know. Since you're bigger on PC, have you tried that version? Yeah, that's the one I played. I'm definitely going to give it another shot eventually, but it's not a series I'm hurting to play.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Apr 22, 2019 20:10:30 GMT -5
Muramasa = god-tier.
It utterly murders every other Vanillaware game, and is one of the best Wii & 7th gen titles, period.
Slick smooth side-scrolling ARPG bliss. Gorgeous graphics and a wild story rooted in ancient religious beliefs. Combat is so fast and fluid and it's one of the only non-fighting games that uses up to jump and doesn't feel awkward and shitty.
It is, I suppose, a bit padded in the same way Ys Origin is (two main characters to play as, multiple difficulties), but that's no big deal.
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