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Post by Ex on Jan 31, 2018 1:53:37 GMT -5
And it predates twee and hipster shit, don't even let that be a concern. That's a fair point. go for the Dreamcast original. Otherwise exhaustion will have set in by the time you hit Episode II Well, I only own the GameCube version. But couldn't I just play Episode I on that version? I would think I could play through Episode I, and then just stop. Unless I love it like you do, in which case Episode II would be a boon. Yeah we've been telling you dude, I bet you'll love Suikoden. I don't know if I can recommend Suikoden II, my experience with it wasn't as ideal as others' seemed to be. Though I never beat Suikoden II, so I can't say objectively if it's good or bad. However, I did beat Suikoden, and really enjoyed it. Bone's not a guy with a lot of free time, so I think he'd appreciate how streamlined, snappy, and to the point Suikoden is. Especially the lightning speed of its battle system. You can easily beat Suikoden in under twenty hours, but it still feels like a full fledged adventure. If only more JRPGs cut the fat and stayed on point as well as Suikoden does.
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Post by dunpeal2064 on Jan 31, 2018 4:49:28 GMT -5
I think the latter half of PSO Episode II is better than the majority of Episode I personally. The biggest letdown with Episode II is that the first half of it is entirely reused. The 2nd half has new enemies and bosses, and gets really cool.
Even for solo play, I prefer the Gamecube release to DC. GC is basically Ver 3 to the DCs separate ver 1 & 2 releases (Which aren't episodes, but more akin to the Street Fighter 2 varients). You just get cooler weapons (I think rare drops/red boxes are completely absent from Ver 1), and just more content all around.
Its still fun solo, but its a game that I think gets drastically better with a partner.
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Post by toei on Jan 31, 2018 7:49:36 GMT -5
You've gotten to the heart of why I loved Suikoden, Ex. It's just so fast-paced and focused. It's always moving forward, even the dungeons are like 15 minutes long. I can't think of another turn-based RPG with that kind of momentum, though PSIV comes close. People always talk about it as a footnote to the greatness of Suikoden II, but I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Jan 31, 2018 8:29:11 GMT -5
Ex, if you just have GameCube PSO, just play both Episodes. I wasn't trying to trash Episode II -- I just personally don't like it as much. It is, however, much shorter, and doesn't require any real questing and/or grinding. Episode I requires lots of character build-up to complete the game. Episode II -- once you get to it you can just roll through the dungeons. Almost ends up feeling like bonus content. That aspect is pretty sweet.
I will play Suikoden when I have a chance.
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Post by Ex on Jan 31, 2018 10:08:08 GMT -5
Its still fun solo, but its a game that I think gets drastically better with a partner. I originally bought PSOI&II on GameCube with the intention of playing through the game split-screen with my wife. However, once we attempted to do so, we found out that the co-op mode excised all the NPC dialogue and cutscenes from the game. It was like the developers figured each player would have played through PSOI&II's entirety single player already, before ever doing the co-op mode with someone else. I found that ridiculous aspect to be extraordinarily irritating, and we decided to play something else. I can't think of another turn-based RPG with that kind of momentum, though PSIV comes close. I agree, PSIV is the closest I've seen as well. People always talk about it as a footnote to the greatness of Suikoden II, but I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more. I played Suikoden II many many years ago (after having beaten Suikoden), and it completely failed to hold my attention. After three or four hours I just quit playing it. That was the opposite of my Suikoden I experience. I will play Suikoden when I have a chance. I'm looking forward to your opinion of it when you do.
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Post by dunpeal2064 on Jan 31, 2018 10:35:07 GMT -5
Yeah, PSO does a few dumb things in multiplayer. Aside from axing all of the story, it also doesn't let you save what level you were on, and instead lets the group start at wherever the furthest point the first player has been in single player. So, if you only play in Multiplayer, you basically have to start at the Forest every run. I guess back in the day, when we were all grinding the game like crazy, it wasn't as much of an issue, but I imagine trying to just experience the core game with someone else might be irritating. All that said, its definitely still worth experiencing, though I imagine some things will be lost to time, since so much of the game (For me, at least) was about gearing up to move up to higher difficulties, and grinding for ridiculous amounts of time for rare drops. Its funny to think that I've spent over 100 hours of my life zoning in and out of one area trying to get a rare spawn to show up and drop a rare item. I have still never seen that damn thing! I also played with my (now) wife, but back when the GC port was first released. Crazy how time flies.
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Post by Ex on Jan 31, 2018 11:30:58 GMT -5
I also played with my (now) wife, but back when the GC port was first released. The funnest co-op dungeon crawls my wife and I beat were Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Dokapon Kingdom, and Soma Bringer. Soma Bringer especially is amazing, and so terribly ignored despite having a great English fan translation. (BTW We still play dungeon crawl games together, but nowadays its of the pen & paper / board game varieties.)
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Post by Sarge on Jan 31, 2018 11:40:13 GMT -5
As I've mentioned before, Suikoden II is more of a slow burn. I'd bounced off of it several times before sticking it out, and at around the ten-hour mark, the game blasts off.
I do agree, however, that the immediacy of Suikoden is very appealing. I loved how rapidly you recruit members, and how the pacing just never slows down. It's got the best qualities of top-tier SNES releases: blistering speed in both story and combat.
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Post by toei on Jan 31, 2018 17:19:25 GMT -5
I also felt Suikoden 2 had some boring, off-brand subplots at times. There was something about some generic vampire that felt out of place, and a few more situations like that. Part of it is also probably that I expected it to be so amazing and was somewhat let down.
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Post by Ex on Jan 31, 2018 21:17:20 GMT -5
I remember one of the first things Suikoden 2 has the player do, is to walk around a castle cleaning up oil spots with a rag.
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