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Post by toei on Feb 3, 2022 11:46:01 GMT -5
I played a little over an hour of FF8 last night. With a game like that, it's too early to say much. Only impressions so far: -The game looks as good as a PSX game could possibly look in 1998, at least when in town. There's a trick early on when you're walking out of the infirmary with Quistis where the camera rotates and the in-game graphics transition almost seamlessly to a brief FMV look at the Garden. It's very impressive. I understand why Xeogred likes pre-rendered backgrounds so much when I see a game like that, even if they feel a bit more artificial to me, and I don't like the little bits of loading whenever you go between screens. -Encounter rate is kind of high. I have to see what a real, full-length dungeon will be like, though, as the Fire Cave was tiny. -I like the starting point. About to pass an exam to be a mercenary, the Garden setting, etc., it's all pretty promising. -Why is it that first town music in RPGs is always the most nostalgic thing in the world? I probably would've never fallen into the genre as hard as I did if it wasn't for that.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 3, 2022 19:37:08 GMT -5
I was going to mention earlier when you said you'd give it a 5 hour test, that yeah I want to say FF8 has a rather strong first disc all around. And it doesn't dip in quality like some of us say about FF9, though rather the further you get into FF8 the weirder the plot gets. PE2 also had one of those pre-rendered -> real time FMV playing in the background as you walk around, in the very beginning of the game before the first level. Felt kind of like they were pulling from RE2's intro before the police station leading up into that level. It wouldn't surprise me, but I definitely think there's some shared tech between PE1, PE2, and FF8... especially PE2/FF8. Looks like it could literally be the same engine. Which works for me since yeah, some of the best looking stuff on the system.
EDIT: Wait, shouldn't this be in the February thread now? Hah, they're really overlapping... I was going to say I could probably continue playing PE2 and Threads of Fate for that theme too. I'm over whatever sickness I had and feeling great now, so I'll get back to them tonight or this weekend.
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Post by Ex on Feb 3, 2022 22:32:51 GMT -5
Encounter rate is kind of high. That combined with the drawn out battle system might be a deal breaker. I'm interested in what you think of the combat mechanics.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 3, 2022 23:12:35 GMT -5
I think how drawn out you want the Draw mechanic depends on the player in ways. I'd always want to immediately stock up characters to 99 of whatever spell they came across, so that was on me. A reminder, enemies in FF8 actually scale with your level. So grinding, maxing out stockpiles of magic, etc, kind of makes it harder. But also not really because FF8 is like FF6-FF7 and incredible easy. You can often just Attack your way through most battles. It does have some really tough side super bosses though.
I think I dig the card minigame in this one more than FF9's Tetra take on it.
So good:
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Post by Sarge on Feb 4, 2022 2:00:43 GMT -5
Well, junctioning is what gives you an advantage, not levels... although I think even those do help, even if enemies level up with you, because they likely don't scale quite as quickly even with additional levels. But I haven't taken a deep dive into the mechanics.
I made a ton of progress in Terranigma. I know why the "run around the world" stuff doesn't bug me, and it's because it reminds me so much of Dragon Warrior III (right down to the real world stuff), and it just works for me. Even though pinging back and forth can get old if you're in a long session. Unfortunately, the game doesn't sport the amazing Return spell to warp to towns - I think pretty much any RPG should have that.
Oh, and last night, I cheated my way through the Bloody Mary fight. Didn't like that, so I came back in with a couple more levels, which helped slightly, but I noted something the first time. Turns out that you do have a ring that can hurt her pretty well, and that's the Elec Ring. I stocked up on those, with each one doing 50-60 damage, and I literally ended the battle without having her move. Hilariously easy, and no grinding! That fight is a huge brick wall if you try to do it the "normal" way, because you have to grind up (and use your holy element rod) to do chunks of damage.
Anyway, I'm all the way up to Yunkou, about to invade the castle nearby. Pretty close to getting the airplane.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 4, 2022 18:48:10 GMT -5
It was rough jumping back into PE2 after being away from it for like a week, especially with this ramped up difficulty in the second disc. But I'm loving this underground laboratory... another thing that seems like they were obviously leaning even more into RE with this sequel.
I picked up some Black ID Card near the beginning of the game and was finally able to use it here to open up a huge armory. So that's awesome. I finally had to run from some annoying fight with another invisible monster, but after discovering this armory I went back and unloaded on him with a new shotgun and ammo for days.
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Post by toei on Feb 4, 2022 19:00:07 GMT -5
It was rough jumping back into PE2 after being away from it for like a week, especially with this ramped up difficulty in the second disc. But I'm loving this underground laboratory... another thing that seems like they were obviously leaning even more into RE with this sequel.
I picked up some Black ID Card near the beginning of the game and was finally able to use it here to open up a huge armory. So that's awesome. I finally had to run from some annoying fight with another invisible monster, but after discovering this armory I went back and unloaded on him with a new shotgun and ammo for days.
Yeah, the beginning of Disc 2 with the dogs and all the bosses/mini-bosses is the roughest part of the game. Once you're in the lab proper, the game's flow is more like it was in the motel for the most part, except the monsters are a little more specific and may require a bit more adaptation. I actually didn't get the Card, but you still had a bunch of stuff you can buy in that same room so I was fine. I know I've said it before, but the lead writer for Parasite Eve 2 also wrote the first Resident Evil.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 4, 2022 19:43:38 GMT -5
It was rough jumping back into PE2 after being away from it for like a week, especially with this ramped up difficulty in the second disc. But I'm loving this underground laboratory... another thing that seems like they were obviously leaning even more into RE with this sequel.
I picked up some Black ID Card near the beginning of the game and was finally able to use it here to open up a huge armory. So that's awesome. I finally had to run from some annoying fight with another invisible monster, but after discovering this armory I went back and unloaded on him with a new shotgun and ammo for days.
Yeah, the beginning of Disc 2 with the dogs and all the bosses/mini-bosses is the roughest part of the game. Once you're in the lab proper, the game's flow is more like it was in the motel for the most part, except the monsters are a little more specific and may require a bit more adaptation. I actually didn't get the Card, but you still had a bunch of stuff you can buy in that same room so I was fine. I know I've said it before, but the lead writer for Parasite Eve 2 also wrote the first Resident Evil. Forgot that detail at the end there. Very cool. It definitely flows like one, I can see what you mean about the story for this kind of "staying the course" and maybe sticks to being smaller in scope, in a good way. That's how I prefer RE usually too. Isolated scenarios with minimal characters. Nothing too Hollywood like RE6, or where PE1 was going in the end with all of NY or the whole Earth in danger, lmao.
Hopefully I'm over the hurdle then, because yeah that giant mutant dog boss in the mining area was brutal and emptied my inventory quite a bit. It was annoying that the dog thing had two forms you had to fight immediately in one go, so it was just a really long single battle. Thank goodness there's that digital shop in the lab.
I swear, those Gremlin enemies are the most annoying when they swarm you or you're in a very small room. Maybe I should try a shotgun against them and see if that spreadshot helps... now that I have buckshot ammo to spare.
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Post by toei on Feb 4, 2022 20:13:41 GMT -5
Pro-tip - try stunning or paralyzing them
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 4, 2022 21:21:23 GMT -5
"Check for occupants before opening [Flood Gate]. Let the rats, roaches, and spiders drown, but first... Count their legs, enter the total, and raise the lever." 18 apparently... actually kind of a nasty puzzle to think about. Mmm, rat feet and bug legs.
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