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Post by Ex on Jan 10, 2019 14:39:42 GMT -5
Next month our Club Retro will be about English Fan Translations in regard to video games. I figured we could use a thread to discuss fan trans we're considering playing, or recommend others check out. (Of course this conversation can extend beyond just next month's Club Retro. This thread can be a catch all discussion on the subject in general.)
Personally speaking here there are hundreds of EFTs out there, trying to narrow down the selection to just a few beatable in a month is daunting. So just going off the first five that pop in my mind (which I haven't beaten before), I have long been interested in these:
Bahamut Lagoon
Live a Live
Suguro Quest
Wonder Project J
Wonder Project J2Are they worth the effort? Should they be avoided? What about you... what games are you considering playing? Would you like some recommendations?
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Post by toei on Jan 10, 2019 14:45:54 GMT -5
Bahamut Lagoon - Good story, beautiful late-SNES Square graphics, nice setting. Good gameplay concept - a SRPG where each "unit" is a party, and it switches to a round of turn-based RPG battle when you engage an enemy unit. But it's way too easy, so it's not that engaging to actually play. I stuck with it for the story.
Live-A-Live - Yes. Each chapter takes place in a different time, often very inspired by certain movies. They vary a lot, too - the spaceship chapter only has something like two fights, maybe one, for several hours worth, while the '90s wrestling tournament chapter is all battles. They play out in a grid-based, mini-SRPG system that's pretty fun. Everything eventually comes together in the final two chapters. Recommended.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Jan 10, 2019 15:04:19 GMT -5
Ex you would like Emerald Dragon dawg.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 10, 2019 15:21:47 GMT -5
Some that come to mind:
Holy Umbrella: Dondera's Wild! - Pretty solid exploratory action game for Super Famicom. I liked it a lot when I played it back when the patch released.
For the Frog the Bell Tolls - Really cool adventure game posing as an action-RPG. It uses the Link's Awakening engine (or more specifically, LA used it).
Treasure of the Rudras - Splendid traditional RPG with multiple protagonists that join up in the end. Possibly the first 16-bit RPG I'd completed in some time. Another SFC game.
Moon Crystal - A neat, Prince of Persia-ish action game, although with much more responsive controls, on NES.
Magical Pop'n - Another Super Famicom gem with mild exploration elements.
Cosmo Police Galivan - Somewhat Metroid-ish Famicom game. I liked it, although like many earlier titles, it can be a little rougher in spots.
Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru Gaiden - Surprisingly fun game from Westone. Plays a bit like Dragon Quest mixed with Zelda II.
Sylvan Tale - We mentioned this one before. Fun ARPG.
King Colossus - Mega Drive ARPG that gets better once you get weapons that don't feel like using a toothpick. Felt very Ys-like in some ways, although there's no bump combat.
Really obvious ones are Seiken Densetsu 3, Final Fantasy III, Mother 3, and Front Mission: Gun Hazard.
I know there are a lot more really good games, but these are ones that I saw to completion.
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Post by toei on Jan 10, 2019 15:29:59 GMT -5
I've played through a ton of fan-translations. Will post about it later.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 10, 2019 16:38:50 GMT -5
I will say that I've tended to bounce off of both Live-A-Live and Bahamut Lagoon. The latter because I don't usually cotton to SRPGs (I like them more in theory than in practice!), and the former I actually did put some time into, particularly the ninja scenario, but got stone-walled at the boss of that story.
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Post by Ex on Jan 10, 2019 21:54:00 GMT -5
Bahamut Lagoon / Live-A-Live Thanks for the information, definitely have a better idea about these now. Ex you would like Emerald Dragon dawg. I will check it out! Treasure of the Rudras / King Colossus / Seiken Densetsu 3 I'm interested in all of these. Many years ago I played Rudras, but quit due to problems with the translation, but that was before V2.0 came out. I've never played King Colossus, but I'm always willing to give an action-RPG a chance. As for Seiken Densetsu 3, I've put a little bit of time into it in the past, but not much. I'm well aware it is considered highly by many. I've played through a ton of fan-translations. Will post about it later. Looking forward to your insights. - Well as we can see, there are a LOT of choices for next month. Any games you all are considering trying for the first time? Or at least beating for the first time? |
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 10, 2019 22:32:35 GMT -5
Sarge has convinced me in the past to prioritize Treasure of the Rudras. It seems awesome, I just hope I can get over the weird magic system and split party thing (usually not a fan of that)... I have sampled it a bit before like a decade ago.
I don't know anyone else or new here that hasn't seen us and now myself praise Gun Hazard, so yeah. That's an essential one.
And although toei hates Seiken Densetsu 3, mechanically/combat wise it's pretty much my favorite retro ARPG ever. Downright 11/10 SNES graphics and pixel art with an S rank OST that's HUGE in size too, there's like 10 boss themes. Not many JRPG's did that back then. It's interestingly non-linear in chunks as well, but I can see it being tough for newcomers. Some bosses are pretty hard and it might not always be obvious where to go. Awesome selection of a small pool of characters you can choose from the start to form a party of 3, with the game having 3 main branching paths depending on your lead character, then two points in the story where you get to upgrade to another Class. So the replay value is through the roof. I think I played Lise, Carlie, and Hawk my last run. I might like Lise more than Duran, her story arc was amazing.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 11, 2019 1:07:47 GMT -5
There are a lot of games I'm interested in playing as well, for sure. There are several Famicom RPGs that I'd love to plow through, like Chaos World or Silva Saga, although I might go its sequel on SNES, and I'll probably wait for the upcoming polished patch for Chaos World. There's also my aborted playthrough of Mystic Ark that I should get back to. I mean, I've got 25-30 hours into it. It'd be a shame to not finish it. I'd like to finish Alcahest, since it's not that long and I like what I've played of it. The Heracles games got brought up for Data East month, and they'd be good candidates as well.
Come to think of it, I also had a deep run into FEDA. For those that don't know, it's basically the SNES version of Shining Force. Same gameplay style, same character designer.
Other than that, I had a run into Xak III as well, but lost it when a certain Turbo Duo game wiped out my entire save memory. Whee. Shapeshifter, you suck.
Oh, and this should go without saying, but the SFC remake of Dragon Quest III well worth playing.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 11, 2019 13:38:37 GMT -5
In the interest of mixing things up, I'd also like to recommend Monster World IV. While it has received an official English release now, the old translation is still just fine, and the game is well worth your time, especially if you enjoy the other games in the series or the Shantae games.
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