Games The RPG thread

[Doraku]

I think the role that Morrigan (and Leliana) has in DA I is pretty much existed for the sake of fan service. I mean, those two are the best female characters in DA universe for me and I love them, but for some reason I don't think it is necessary for Bioware to involve them that much into the storyline of DA:I (and Leliana's part is kind of underwhelming, if what Bioware wanted is putting her in the front stage again).

Honestly though, at least companions in DA : I are more memorable compared to DA 2. Even though they are not crucial in the storyline necessarily, but guys like Dorian, Iron Bull, Sera, and Cole are generally likeable in their own ways (I love Cassandra the most though). Too bad there's a banter bug happen in PS4, because if they're bantering consistently my playthrough wouldn't be so boring.

---------- Post added at 04:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 AM ----------

and the ending is kinda underwhelming too. The buildup is really good, but the 1/3 of the game isn't as good because... some parts just do not make enough sense for me.

 

[Jammin]

I think the role that Morrigan (and Leliana) has in DA I is pretty much existed for the sake of fan service. I mean, those two are the best female characters in DA universe for me and I love them, but for some reason I don't think it is necessary for Bioware to involve them that much into the storyline of DA:I (and Leliana's part is kind of underwhelming, if what Bioware wanted is putting her in the front stage again).

Honestly though, at least companions in DA : I are more memorable compared to DA 2. Even though they are not crucial in the storyline necessarily, but guys like Dorian, Iron Bull, Sera, and Cole are generally likeable in their own ways (I love Cassandra the most though). Too bad there's a banter bug happen in PS4, because if they're bantering consistently my playthrough wouldn't be so boring.

---------- Post added at 04:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 AM ----------

and the ending is kinda underwhelming too. The buildup is really good, but the 1/3 of the game isn't as good because... some parts just do not make enough sense for me.

The one exception to that was the war table. It's too bad it was all text you didn't really have to read because some of that stuff was pretty great. Cullen's in particular.

 

[Doraku]

The one exception to that was the war table. It's too bad it was all text you didn't really have to read because some of that stuff was pretty great. Cullen's in particular.

I love Alistair's letter in the "Shadows over Denerim" mission, there's a bit that made me laugh. Shame I rarely read those letters, so I did not see some of the fun stuff written there.

 

[Shinsatsu]

So, after completing dragon age inquisition twice and trying most paths and seeing almost all there is to see, here's what I think about the whole thing:
- Inquisition is a major step forward for the series. Despite what most people including some famous reviewers say, I think that this game could easily be the best game of 2014. The huge hype was not as misleading as it was when it came to most of the triple A titles this year.
- The characters are great and well written. With blackwall, Iron Bull and Cassandra on top.
- The gameplay had some problems but it was way better than the previous titles.
- The soundtracks are really amazing!
- Fewer glitches compared to the other major titles.

What I didn't like about the game is that your previous choices (especially origins choices) don't impact the game in a major way. not really what they promised. It only appears during some dialogues and some lore texts. The keep had many choices in it that it made me believe that everything was connected even the minor details but it was only bullshit.

I also found the game pretty easy. I played all of it on Nightmare and with friendly damage activated on my second playthrough. The dragons were tricky to kill sometimes but if you plan the fight before engaging it becomes so easy you don't even pause the fight. (Iron Bull is way too overpowered).

The biggest problem for me was the tactical camera. It sucks so bad. It doesn't zoom out enough and the controls are just pathetic. After a few tries, I stopped using it and learned to play differently.

I still think that Origins is the bast Dragon age title. But that doesn't mean that this is a bad game at all. It was really fun and I enjoyed every moment of it.

how to kill any dragon:

Spoiler

Rogue (assassin tree) + Iron Bull (reaver+battlemaster+2handed weapon) + Cassandra (full tank with half templar skills) + Mage (barrier and resurrect make the fight easier and if this is Vivienne you're basically cheating)
- check the dragon's element and stock on that element resist potions.
- have regeneration potions on all chars if you have 3 potion slots.
- Give Iron Bull the best 2 handed weapon you have.
- engage with cassandra/blackwall and make the dragon turn its back on the rest of the team.
- use mark of death and switch to iron bull and target the back legs and spam the reaver dragon rage until your fingers start to hurt
- release mark of death and repeat. (the lvl23 hardest dragon got a 30k dmg from one of these )
- use super skills when the dragon is 25% HP and use cassandra's super when you feel that you might get wiped.

 

[Hunt]

Full OST Trailer Xenoblade Chronicle X (released on 25/12)

The first Half is Epic

 

[Jammin]

So, after completing dragon age inquisition twice and trying most paths and seeing almost all there is to see, here's what I think about the whole thing:
- Inquisition is a major step forward for the series. Despite what most people including some famous reviewers say, I think that this game could easily be the best game of 2014. The huge hype was not as misleading as it was when it came to most of the triple A titles this year.
- The characters are great and well written. With blackwall, Iron Bull and Cassandra on top.
- The gameplay had some problems but it was way better than the previous titles.
- The soundtracks are really amazing!
- Fewer glitches compared to the other major titles.

What I didn't like about the game is that your previous choices (especially origins choices) don't impact the game in a major way. not really what they promised. It only appears during some dialogues and some lore texts. The keep had many choices in it that it made me believe that everything was connected even the minor details but it was only bullshit.

I also found the game pretty easy. I played all of it on Nightmare and with friendly damage activated on my second playthrough. The dragons were tricky to kill sometimes but if you plan the fight before engaging it becomes so easy you don't even pause the fight. (Iron Bull is way too overpowered).

The biggest problem for me was the tactical camera. It sucks so bad. It doesn't zoom out enough and the controls are just pathetic. After a few tries, I stopped using it and learned to play differently.

I still think that Origins is the bast Dragon age title. But that doesn't mean that this is a bad game at all. It was really fun and I enjoyed every moment of it.

how to kill any dragon:

Spoiler

Rogue (assassin tree) + Iron Bull (reaver+battlemaster+2handed weapon) + Cassandra (full tank with half templar skills) + Mage (barrier and resurrect make the fight easier and if this is Vivienne you're basically cheating)
- check the dragon's element and stock on that element resist potions.
- have regeneration potions on all chars if you have 3 potion slots.
- Give Iron Bull the best 2 handed weapon you have.
- engage with cassandra/blackwall and make the dragon turn its back on the rest of the team.
- use mark of death and switch to iron bull and target the back legs and spam the reaver dragon rage until your fingers start to hurt
- release mark of death and repeat. (the lvl23 hardest dragon got a 30k dmg from one of these )
- use super skills when the dragon is 25% HP and use cassandra's super when you feel that you might get wiped.

I'm with you on almost all points.

Though I'd say my biggest problem wasn't the tactical camera so much as the 3rd act of the story. After letting everything from my two play throughs soak in a bit, I really do think that part of the game was kinda lousy. It's like they ran out of time and had to rap it all up prematurely.

The only other thing that really bothered me was the way the two romances I played through (Cassandra & Josephine) were done. They seemed like they were going for a period romance novel motif for both of them and that just didn't work for me; at least not as a part of this story. In fact of all the Bioware romance arcs I can remember (SWTOR, KOTOR, Mass Effect, and previous Dragon Age games) I'd say Inquisition is tied with Dragon Age 2 for having romance I liked the least.

-----------------------------------

Even with that though I'd agree that it should be in the Game of the Year conversation. It may not have been perfect but it still did an incredible amount of things extremely well.

I'm glad I don't have to pick a favorite RPG of this year though because I'd never be able to choose between Dragon Age Inquisition and Child of Light.

 

[Shinsatsu]

I'm with you on almost all points.

Though I'd say my biggest problem wasn't the tactical camera so much as the 3rd act of the story. After letting everything from my two play throughs soak in a bit, I really do think that part of the game was kinda lousy. It's like they ran out of time and had to rap it all up prematurely.

The only other thing that really bothered me was the way the two romances I played through (Cassandra & Josephine) were done. They seemed like they were going for a period romance novel motif for both of them and that just didn't work for me; at least not as a part of this story. In fact of all the Bioware romance arcs I can remember (SWTOR, KOTOR, Mass Effect, and previous Dragon Age games) I'd say Inquisition is tied with Dragon Age 2 for having romance I liked the least.

-----------------------------------

Even with that though I'd agree that it should be in the Game of the Year conversation. It may not have been perfect but it still did an incredible amount of things extremely well.

I'm glad I don't have to pick a favorite RPG of this year though because I'd never be able to choose between Dragon Age Inquisition and Child of Light.

I romanced Cassandra. I agree that they did an average job when it came to this. Most people think that the non-straight options are more interesting but I'm not interested.
Yes, the final act ended so fast. I was waiting for a more dramatic ending. something like Origins was what I was wishing for but it didn't happen. But after reminding myself of DA2, I was OK with it.

The Witcher will definitely be better than DAI they should be really glad that it won't be released during the same year.

 

[Jammin]

I romanced Cassandra. I agree that they did an average job when it came to this. Most people think that the non-straight options are more interesting but I'm not interested.
Yes, the final act ended so fast. I was waiting for a more dramatic ending. something like Origins was what I was wishing for but it didn't happen. But after reminding myself of DA2, I was OK with it.

The Witcher will definitely be better than DAI they should be really glad that it won't be released during the same year.

Yeah, it was a huge step up from Dragon Age 2; and if future Dragon Age games are going to be like this, as opposed to how Orgins was, I'm ok with that. I really do think they must have had something bigger planned and just couldn't get it finished. You build up your inquisition so much and yet at the climax it never really does anything; unlike in Origins where your army fights a huge battle; or awakening where you build up a castle and then actually get to defend it. They must have intended to do both those things.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the Witcher turns out. It's sounds and looks unbelievably amazing.

 

[Doraku]

So, after completing dragon age inquisition twice and trying most paths and seeing almost all there is to see, here's what I think about the whole thing:
- Inquisition is a major step forward for the series. Despite what most people including some famous reviewers say, I think that this game could easily be the best game of 2014. The huge hype was not as misleading as it was when it came to most of the triple A titles this year.
- The characters are great and well written. With blackwall, Iron Bull and Cassandra on top.
- The gameplay had some problems but it was way better than the previous titles.
- The soundtracks are really amazing!
- Fewer glitches compared to the other major titles.

What I didn't like about the game is that your previous choices (especially origins choices) don't impact the game in a major way. not really what they promised. It only appears during some dialogues and some lore texts. The keep had many choices in it that it made me believe that everything was connected even the minor details but it was only bullshit.

I also found the game pretty easy. I played all of it on Nightmare and with friendly damage activated on my second playthrough. The dragons were tricky to kill sometimes but if you plan the fight before engaging it becomes so easy you don't even pause the fight. (Iron Bull is way too overpowered).

The biggest problem for me was the tactical camera. It sucks so bad. It doesn't zoom out enough and the controls are just pathetic. After a few tries, I stopped using it and learned to play differently.

I still think that Origins is the bast Dragon age title. But that doesn't mean that this is a bad game at all. It was really fun and I enjoyed every moment of it.

I was pretty disappointed when decisions made in Dragon Age Keep do not affect the Inquisition story that much. Granted, it would be difficult for the developer to create multiple-universes to cover all the choices, but still I was expecting something drastic when I'm toying with DA Keep World State. I wish they fix this issue in the next game, if they realize this is actually an "issue".

Oh you like Blackwall? honestly he was one of the companions that is just "OK" to me. His banters are pretty great, but his personal quest is somewhat uninteresting, albeit it has its own surprises.

The gameplay was definitely a huge improvement of DA 2, where they were pretty much recycled every single environment. Still, I found the climax of the story is sub-par compared to Origins. The epilogue reveals the actual ending hinted in the DLC, perhaps ?

DA Inquisition is one my GOTY 2014, although it is pretty close in quality with Divinity Original Sin for RPG at least.

---

Oh and the divine election thing, as I figured out a week ago, is not a bug. It seems that dialogue is not a single factor to determine who is going to be elected as divine.

 

[zelllogan]

I'm playing "tales of graces f" right now. After tales of xillia and tales of xillia 2, I wanted to see what previous "tales of" could offer. And if I'm being unkind I could resume to one word: less. Characters are less interesting, environments are tinier, gameplay is not as good ... Still all in all, tales of graces f is still a decent jrpg. It's still entertaining but the genre desperatly needs a new franchise.

It's kinda sad that you can almost resume the PS3-PS4 era of JRPG to "tales of". Aside from Ninokuni, eternal sonata and the infamous Final Fantasy 13 offsprings, that's pretty much it. Rest were either garbage or "niche" games appealing to very few (such as disgaea, persona ...)

On ps2, there were kingdom hearts, rogue legacy, valkyrie profile silmeria, the "shadow hearts" games, suikoden 5, more decent final fantasy, dragon quest 8, star ocean till the end of time, Grandia 2 ... and that's just for the ones I played ...

 

[SharkBait]

Thats shocking, I thought Xillia was a step backwards after playing Tales of Graces F. Graces F felt better because you could add effects to weapons and all those titles that could change your characters and such. I loved the lack TP wasnt it. The action felt faster paced.

I loved the story, friendship stories always get to me and I loved the Asbel Richard thing going on.

 

[Sky]

I agree. Tales of Graces F is my favorite Tales of so far. Xillia was not good. Though I am biased thanks to the lack of a japanese audio option.
Xillia 2... I stopped playing it. The mechanics are similar and the main character became silent which is kinda a no go for this generation.

The story in ToG was long and challenging, especially with the epilogue. Xillia was too easy apart from the special enemies with the weapons and way too predictable. (Not that ToG was less predictable but come on... Sophie is so adorable!!)
#TeamPascal

(Please Persona 5... Be better... )

 

[Jammin]

I'm playing "tales of graces f" right now. After tales of xillia and tales of xillia 2, I wanted to see what previous "tales of" could offer. And if I'm being unkind I could resume to one word: less. Characters are less interesting, environments are tinier, gameplay is not as good ... Still all in all, tales of graces f is still a decent jrpg. It's still entertaining but the genre desperatly needs a new franchise.

It's kinda sad that you can almost resume the PS3-PS4 era of JRPG to "tales of". Aside from Ninokuni, eternal sonata and the infamous Final Fantasy 13 offsprings, that's pretty much it. Rest were either garbage or "niche" games appealing to very few (such as disgaea, persona ...)

On ps2, there were kingdom hearts, rogue legacy, valkyrie profile silmeria, the "shadow hearts" games, suikoden 5, more decent final fantasy, dragon quest 8, star ocean till the end of time, Grandia 2 ... and that's just for the ones I played ...

The PS3 era wasn't the best for JRPG's.

Maybe it was the shift to handhelds in Japan. Maybe it was the over saturation of JRPG's in the PSOne and PS2 era. Maybe it was the financial issues the country had. Regardless the result was all the big 3rd party party JRPG publishers either shut things down, sent their games to PSP to die, were criminally mismanaged, or got greedy and jumped onto the MMO bandwagon just as the wheels fell off.

Konami had Suikoden & Vandal Hearts
Capcom had Breath of Fire
Sega had Wild Arms & Valkyria Chronicles among many others
Game Arts had Grandia & Lunar

Those all used to be pretty big names that all but died off in the PS3 era. Atlus, Bandai Namco, and Nippon Ichi are the only three to even put forth much and an effort.

 

[ibra87]

I agree. Tales of Graces F is my favorite Tales of so far. Xillia was not good. Though I am biased thanks to the lack of a japanese audio option.
Xillia 2... I stopped playing it. The mechanics are similar and the main character became silent which is kinda a no go for this generation.

The story in ToG was long and challenging, especially with the epilogue. Xillia was too easy apart from the special enemies with the weapons and way too predictable. (Not that ToG was less predictable but come on... Sophie is so adorable!!)
#TeamPascal

(Please Persona 5... Be better... )

While I agree that Graces was better than Xillia overall, I honestly enjoyed Xillia and even Xillia 2. Xillia 2 only got good towards the middle though.

 

[zelllogan]

Weird, it might be because i played xillia before graces f. Imo, graced f got a very slow start and aside from pascal, i don t see any character as charismatic as milla or as cute as elle.

Plus, the story in xillia and even more in xillia 2 is touching. I guess the love story between jude and milla and the parent relationship between ludwig and elle spoke to me more than the trio richard sophie asbel. Characters and story are imo more mature in the xillia games.

For the battle system, now that i m starting to reach the end, i m starting to see the real value of graces f. I had only one hardfight before and it was against kurt. Now i really need to block and evade. It s true that during xillia, smashing button randomly was efficient ... but still, overall, xillia is beyond dynamic.

But all in all, the 3 tales of i played are good enough to take the palm of best jrpg franchise on ps3 ...

 

[benelori]

Divinity Original Sin is a blast \o/

It makes both combat and exploration something to look forward to at the same time...which is rare

It's the first RPG that managed to distract me from the main plot (which I heard was mediocre anyway)...but having lots of fun in LAN

 

[Jammin]

Totally agreed. Larian is quickly becoming one of my favorite up and coming game studios. What they've done with Original Sin is nothing short of amazing.

Their last game Divinity Dragon Commander is a favorite of mine too.

 

[xi0]

Isn't it just a Diablo clone? Kind of had the same reaction to the Torchlight series.

 

[Shinsatsu]

Isn't it just a Diablo clone? Kind of had the same reaction to the Torchlight series.

No. It's actually very different. the Diablo clones focus on fast clicking and actuion oriented combat. Divinity Original sin has a different system, where strategy matters because the fights are turn based and on a grid. The story is kind of boring in my opinion.

 

[xi0]

Ah, well I must admit that I forgot about the particulars. A lot of people were ranting about it a couple Steam sales ago. I considered it, but decided to give my wallet a rest. It had/has a lot of hype though.