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Post by toei on Aug 31, 2021 18:40:11 GMT -5
There really aren't many SRPGs 10 hours or under. Don't know about other types of strategy games. Arc the Lad 1 definitely counts. Others include Monstania on the SNES, which I remember being really short (just a few hours) and pretty good, though its short length made it feel slight at the time, and Tenchi Muyou (also on the NES) I think was very short.
In general, my recommendations would be, as usual, Growlanser IV (my personal favorite SRPG, and IMO, a masterpiece), aka Wayfarers of Time (PSP), the Langrisser series in general, and Super Robot Taisen Maou Kishin: The Elemental Lords on SNES.
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Post by Ex on Aug 31, 2021 20:44:55 GMT -5
I'm definitely going with fallout tactics first. Ex has yet to let me down. It's an outstanding SRPG, but it's not short... between 30-60 hours depending on what you do. (I did everything so I put 60 hours into it.) Fallout Tactics is very interesting in that it allows the player to choose a RTS or TBC style. I strongly recommend TBC. Growlanser IV (my personal favorite SRPG, and IMO, a masterpiece), aka Wayfarers of Time (PSP) I considered this, but HLTB says 50-80 hours... a bit much for me right now.* I will check it out someday though.
*I'm in the middle of two modern WRPGs currently.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 31, 2021 21:21:59 GMT -5
Yes, Growlanser IV was fantastic. Highly, highly recommended. My final time was 45h24m.
Monstania is a good rec, I should pick that back up. I think Rhapsody, which is a sorta RPG, sorta SRPG game, is pretty short as well. And it gave us this ridiculous musical number...
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Post by Xeogred on Aug 31, 2021 21:57:42 GMT -5
Growlanser 2-3 seem shorter? Maybe I'll give those a look since it's been nice discovering that the PS2 did have good RPG's all these years later. (the transition from SNES/PSX RPG's to the PS2 was not easy... I had some strong biases to get over)
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Post by Sarge on Aug 31, 2021 22:18:24 GMT -5
Growlanser 2 is a pure SRPG, whereas G3 adds some RPG elements. They're not as strong/polished as in G4, though. I have yet to finish G3 after losing ten hours of progress to a lost save. Might be time to rectify that. I did beat G2, and had a lot of fun with it. And indeed, it's a pretty short game overall - I think I finished in under 20 hours as well.
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Post by toei on Sept 1, 2021 0:03:30 GMT -5
IMO Growlanser 2 is the weakest of those three, and it's the only game in the series that's all battles and menu-based towns, so it's not representative of the series overall. But it's still above-average, no doubt. I don't remember how long 3 is, but I do think it's a little shorter than 4, and it's a lot closer. It's a very good game, but 4 is just better, longer or not. I really think the series peaked there (though 1 wasn't translated, so I don't now how good it is).
Rhapsody suuuuuuuuuucks.
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Post by Ex on Sept 1, 2021 9:24:27 GMT -5
I tried playing through the PS1 version of Rhapsody back in 2007. It has some charm but the gameplay wasn't engaging and the difficulty was nonexistent. I didn't put much time into it. I distinctly recall the English dub for the singing parts was atrocious.
I've been interested in the Growlanser games primarily due to the inclusion of Satoshi Urushihara's artwork. Sounds like the game design itself of the series holds up too. It is annoying that the first game still remains untranslated. Growlanser VI: Precarious World remains untranslated as well. However, Growlanser V: Heritage of War was officially English localized, anybody play that one?
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Post by Sarge on Sept 1, 2021 10:17:36 GMT -5
I've played a bit. I don't think it was received as well. Don't know if it was the move to 3D, people not caring about PS2 anymore, or just not being up to snuff.
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Post by toei on Sept 1, 2021 11:15:32 GMT -5
Yeah, Growlanser V seems to have a lower reputation among series fans. I don't think it's just the 3D. I'd read a review years ago that claim the writing was heavily dumbed down. I still wanted to play it, as the gameplay still seemed good at first glance. There was even an addition to the battle system I thought was really cool, but I'm not sure of the details as I only briefly tried it years ago... I think on top of the real-time order giving, you could actually take control of a character directly.
Rhapsody is an endless series of overlong battles that are completely unengaging because none of the monsters can hurt you, and all the dungeons are copy-pasted pre-rendered hallways and rooms. I hated that game. Also, controversial opinion: 30 year old women singing awful children's cartoon songs in goofy little girl voices for several minutes at a time is not charming at all.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 1, 2021 13:16:19 GMT -5
Are the Growlanser games all self contained? Since IV sounds like the winning one here, but I typically prefer to play what I own first usually. Maybe I'll jump to III.
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