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Post by Sarge on Sept 10, 2021 16:23:57 GMT -5
That's a tricky transition to make, honestly.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 10, 2021 16:37:27 GMT -5
It's better than Suikoden Tactics. I can give it that.
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Post by Ex on Sept 10, 2021 16:40:04 GMT -5
XeogredWhat do you like about this game so far, and not like about it, specifically? I'll be very interested in your opinion. I know Sarge and toei liked it, and I do own a copy myself.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 10, 2021 16:52:17 GMT -5
It just seems really, really basic. The story/characters are kind of cheesy. Not terrible but not great, some laugh out loud moments. I've only been able to control up to 2 units in battles so far. I guess it's still early on but I don't know if I see it getting too complex. There's a lot of walking around some of the town areas and talking to NPC's multiple times over to progress the story. It's been more of that than combat so far.
I think Arc the Lad 2 had the coolest setting too. Very Trigun-esque. But I'm not getting that here.
I'm kind of missing a more traditional grid based system here too. Combat is something like Parasite Eve in a way I guess.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 10, 2021 18:12:37 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, you're early for sure. You'll at least have four at a time at some point, and I think a couple more than that. It's been a while, so I don't remember the max.
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Post by toei on Sept 10, 2021 20:16:18 GMT -5
As I said before, it's not really a SRPG, it's a traditional RPG with a SRPG-ish battle system. The fights are simple and quick, and they aren't the focus. You'll never control large parties. You will walk around towns. The storyline is pretty great overall (though one side is better than the other), but that's subjective of course.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 10, 2021 20:53:06 GMT -5
The fights are simple and quick, and they aren't the focus. You'll never control large parties. You will walk around towns.
Gameplay is more important to me.
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Post by Ex on Sept 10, 2021 20:58:38 GMT -5
Sounds like the appeal of Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is its plot and exploratory aspects outside combat. SRPGs that offer town exploration are definitely rare. That said, Xeogred if you are looking for some SMT-based strategy stuff, all of these HRG compliant:
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 10, 2021 21:05:21 GMT -5
Those are very tempting...
But yeah, I loved the non-combat stuff in Arc the Lad 2. I'll give Twilight more time, it's solid enough so far.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 11, 2021 22:41:17 GMT -5
Finished Monstania. I really enjoyed this one. It isn't a long game, or a complex one, but it is fun. No pretentions here at being something more grand.
Anyway, the control scheme is much more rogue-like, where you can pass turns, and enemies move only when you do. You can use that to your advantage, much like you can in games like Brandish. While none of the game is terribly difficult, there are a few spots where you might put yourself in a spot to have to retry a battle. You get equipment along the way after battles, but not too much or often. It is important to equip stuff right away, though, because your levels and equipment are acquired linearly. No grinding here. Most items are acquired the same way. I actually didn't use any items until the final battle, which sounds absurd, but careful AP management makes that very doable.
There are a couple of branching paths, too, so for a game this short, you can make some different choices and get a slightly different path. It's not that much, but you get different items through those routes. I didn't experience them, but looked them up when I hit some choices that seemed to affect the game, and was surprised they actually did.
The game looks really nice. The isometric view is what you'd expect, but I just like how the colors pop. It's a bright game that feels very cheery. And I'm already on record as enjoying the soundtrack quite a bit. Iwadare did good work here.
The translation itself is okay. There are some spots where it reads a little rough or truncated, and a few misspellings in spots. It's enough to get through, certainly, and it doesn't detract too much, but it also feels like an early-ish SNES translation, for good or ill. Just a touch more polish and it'd be perfect.
In the end, this is a snack SRPG. This does much of what Alcahest does in the ARPG space - get in and out in about four hours. But it doesn't mess around, always pushing forward with the pacing, and that's a real bright spot for this one. 8/10.
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