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Post by Ex on Jan 28, 2022 11:53:34 GMT -5
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 28, 2022 22:10:27 GMT -5
Super tempted to make this like an HRG team playthrough and play FF8 again myself... but I'm skeptical if toei and Ex will see it through to the end. 
But I know toei and I have pretty different tastes in RPG's sometimes. Maybe it'll blow him away.
Even I have failed to fully replay FF8 with like at least two attempts over the years. But I don't let it take away how much I liked it the first time and still put it above some other FF's, like FF9.
Aesthetically I think it's pretty stellar. I think the character models in the field and in battle are still maybe two different things, but it aligns super closely. Playing the Parasite Eve's again, I love how they remind me so much of FF8's looks and vibes. So I know some of you here like those PE's a lot and might dig that aspect with FF8. People in FF8 actually look like real humans, proportions and all! Unlike FF7 and FF9. lol
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Post by Ex on Jan 28, 2022 22:21:02 GMT -5
I intend to play FF8 this year, but I don't know about this month. I'm still in the middle of Dark Souls, and only about halfway-ish through it. I'm presently at 30 hours invested (still amazes me paulofthewest beat DS in 26 hours!). Since I plan to do the DLC that puts me at sinking 60+ hours in most likely:
So trying to pair that time investment with this one:
In the same month won't work for me. I don't have that level of free time for video gaming lately.
There are however, considerably shorter PS1 RPGs I am interested in playing this month.  I went ahead and loaded them on a PSP for easy access. |
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 28, 2022 22:39:34 GMT -5
Yeah, don't want to double up on two huge games.
Here's what I'm leaning more towards :
The beginning is a painful slog, but at least I know that now and can maybe power through it to get to the good stuff. I don't even know if I made it to a single battle the first time I played it.  |
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Post by Ex on Jan 28, 2022 22:42:29 GMT -5
I'd definitely be interested in your opinion. I too plan to play through Grandia someday... but I too was dissuaded by the terrible beginning.
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Post by toei on Jan 29, 2022 7:52:48 GMT -5
I found Grandia overrated. To me it was a 6/10 at best. Grandia 2 really improved on the gameplay, even if the writing was way below-average. But then again, I kind of think all of Game Arts/Studio Alex's RPGs were overrated; even the Sega CD Lunar games weren't really on par with the other 16-bit classics for me, and again, it was the writing. Looking into it, the original Lunar games and Grandia 2 were written by Kei Shigema, who, ironically, was a full-time writer rather than a game designer moonlighting as one. He runs a scenario company for video games and has also written over a dozen novels, though they all seem to be novelizations related to various franchises, which I guess is the least "prestigious" form of fiction. Maybe I just don't like his writing, but Grandia 2 in particular has me inclined to believe he sucks. And now I'm worried because I just found out he also wrote Way of the Samurai 2 & 3, which I was really looking forward to. Maybe that's why a lot of fans of the first game were hating on the sequels?
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 29, 2022 10:37:09 GMT -5
Could be the case. That's one thing I certainly hope is WAY better in Grandia 1... the characters/story. 2's was abysmally bad. But the gameplay rocked and that was the early 2000's when I had way less gaming options as a younger lad, so you took what you could get and stuck with it usually. I'm not one to regret things I liked in the past after a point, but Grandia 2 is definitely one of those games I wonder about. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't hook me in nowadays with so much other stuff to play and way more ARPG's like them out there. But who knows, maybe in 2022 it's still great in ways.
Guess there's also Front Mission 3 and doing Emma's storyline that I mentioned recently. I've always heard it's easier and has more "filler", so it's longer, than Alisa's. These are reasons why I played Alisa's campaign first but then I ended up loving the game enough that I wanted to play both.
Other than that I'm not sure. FF8 with you guys... maybe try Legend of Dragoon again? lol, even as a kid I kind of fell off that one after awhile. Mainly because the attack combo gimmick and the transformations made the battles feel 10x longer than they needed to be. I did love that games atmosphere though.
I think I want to max out my option at like 40 hours, since I still have my own plans to play some long games this year.
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Post by paulofthewest on Jan 29, 2022 19:15:40 GMT -5
I'm going with Suikoden. I always meant to the play that one, but never go around to it. I'm about 2 hours in and enjoying it so far, although it is on the simple side of things.
If we are going to do a group FF8 thing, I'm in. Otherwise Grandia or Front Mission.
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 29, 2022 19:21:50 GMT -5
I'm going with Suikoden. I always meant to the play that one, but never go around to it. I'm about 2 hours in and enjoying it so far, although it is on the simple side of things. If we are going to do a group FF8 thing, I'm in. Otherwise Grandia or Front Mission. Excellent choice. The first Suikoden should only take you about 20 hours or so to complete as well. No fluff! |
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Post by toei on Jan 29, 2022 20:14:14 GMT -5
The first Suikoden has great pacing too, the battles go by super quickly thanks to the fact that multiple characters' attack animations play out simultaneously (no idea why everyone didn't steal that idea afterwards, it's great), the dungeons are short and sweet, and the story nice and concise. I like it a lot. Xeogred ...are you calling Grandia 2 a action RPG? Cause it's not a action RPG. Also, the first game's story IS better. There aren't many RPGs from that era with stories worse than Grandia 2, honestly. But is it WAY better? I don't know. I finished Disc 1 of Legend of Dragoon years ago. I was moderately into it, and did plan to continue it, but I didn't. I doubt I still have that save, though. |
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I went ahead and loaded them on a PSP for easy access.
