What Video Games Are You Playing Right Now?

[Darklord Rooke]

12 hours ago, Jun Inoue said:

it's made me remember this pretty cool video about Mother's Basement explaining why the world-building in the Trails sub-sub-franchise is so insanely good companies like Bethesda can only dream of ever approaching it. 

Bethesda emphasises exploration and character freedom, they're not great at (nor are they well known for) the world building part. Oblivion especially was terrible at world design, it was just a lifeless, generic, medieval world. But (luckily for Bethesda) that's not what people play the game for.

[Jun Inoue]

1 hour ago, Rooke said:

Bethesda emphasises exploration and character freedom, they're not great at (nor are they well known for) the world building part. Oblivion especially was terrible at world design, it was just a lifeless, generic, medieval world. But (luckily for Bethesda) that's not what people play the game for.

Pretty much, but you can still take most points from the video, since it draws a few comparisons of AAA titles and "indie" ones. How Bethesda and many companies put so many resources into making stunning worlds that they end up forgetting they should also make those worlds interesting and feel alive. It says Bethesda, but you can put so many names instead.

Maybe we should also consider it as one of the biggest differences between RPGs and JRPGs.

[Riku]

Decided to stop being stubborn and started to play Sora no Kiseki/Trails in the Sky FC. At first I wanted to wait to have the level in japanese to play the Evolution versions on Vita, but because it won't be before a few years, after thinking a little, I thought I could just play the Evolution versions as second playthhoughs.

The only thing I still don't want to do is play Sen no Kiseki/Trails of Cold Steel before Zero and Ao no Kiseki.

So yeah, in the end waiting would be better to do everything in one go. But I don't know, right now I just want to play Trails in the Sky, so I play it.

[Jun Inoue]

48 minutes ago, Riku said:

Decided to stop being stubborn and started to play Sora no Kiseki/Trails in the Sky FC. At first I wanted to wait to have the level in japanese to play the Evolution versions on Vita, but because it won't be before a few years, after thinking a little, I thought I could just play the Evolution versions as second playthhoughs.

The only thing I still don't want to do is play Sen no Kiseki/Trails of Cold Steel before Zero and Ao no Kiseki.

So yeah, in the end waiting would be better to do everything in one go. But I don't know, right now I just want to play Trails in the Sky, so I play it.

The Trails in the Sky in particular aren't too short, so you'll be spending a bit of time on them anyway, probably ;o

[Vokoca]

Soon... soon...

*HEAVY BREATHING*

[Lucius]

^ Very tempting. But, I must persevere for now to not prioritize my life on getting a PS4 ASAP for the sake of P5. 

That being said...

Just finished Persona 4 Golden on the "Good End", not "True End". I made a mistake clicking on the wrong option near the end, but honestly, by the time I found out that I had accidentally missed out on the bonus dungeon because I didn't rescue a certain character, I kinda just got fed up with this walkthrough I'm following on Gamefaq and just picked whatever, leaving the 'True End' for the NG+ I'm immediately doing right now, just minutes after I had completed the game.

I still picked the "Easy" difficulty (as opposed to "Very Easy" previously) with the extra money option turned on in the difficulty because I really don't want to grind through those dungeons while having to at the same time grind through a story I already know about already. I left the "damage dealt" and "damage received" as "Normal" though, same with the "exp earned", so this shouldn't be too easy. Not gonna bother with Hardcore Risette Fan trophy because that just looks like a pain in the ass.

As for my verdict of the game... eh, it's still a little too soon to say, especially when I haven't got the "True Ending Experience". Some threads are still hanging loose, so I'd have to reserve my judgment for now. I'd say that it's quite a solid story, but visual novels still got it beat in terms of the writing (specifically G-senjou, Umineko, and even euphoria - yes, even euphoria has a better story, IMO). I think the main factor weighing it down for me lies in its triteness. A lot of people praised the game for not being as dark as the previous games, and thus being more 'realistic', but I felt like it's the same ol', same ol', a story riddled with familiar anime tropes of friendship and determination, thrown in with a sprinkle of eldritch abomination.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I do like the story. The emotional plot-twist leading to the Bad End did tug on my heartstrings, and the antagonist mastermind was indeed quite a character (albeit being a somewhat predictable copy of a certain famous DC Comics villain, among other 'trolls' like him), but I just felt like the story lacked that push, particularly with the villain. It felt... meh, like I've seen it before. When the antagonist revealed his true motives, it felt rather lackluster because it's such an overused villain archetype today. That being said, this game was released on the PS2 back then, so it's not exactly fair to judge it compared to today's stories.

But even on its own without comparing to other stories, the villain's motives just feel like they weren't really explored that much. I was expecting something more epic, like a battle of wits, as if it came out of something like Death Note between L and Kira. Instead, what we got was a single dungeon and two disappointing boss battles that never really did much for the story other than wrap the 'mystery' up. There's not a lot of reflection on what the villain said about their foolish ideals (it's briefly mentioned again, very briefly, but that's it). He's just an end-boss to conclude the mystery.

I understand that the charm of the game is the slice of life portion, the whole "hanging out with your friends and develop a bond with them" and stuff, but that kind of story never did much for me (maybe because I don't actually have friends  ). Still, to throw in someone as twisted as the antagonist, you're practically baiting me with unrealistic expectations of something greater than it really was, and it just didn't live up to those expectations. He felt like an unnecessary villain, in fact, that conflicted with the light-hearted tone of the story without adding any meaningful insight into said light-hearted tone. The Accomplice Ending actually felt more interesting to me than the actual ending of the story, since it felt like a more engaging psychological story I would like to see.

But like I said, I don't hate the story. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother doing it all over again in a NG+ just to get another waifu (I picked Chie for my first playthrough, of course). I could have just reloaded to my last save and pick the correct option to see the True End (and watch the Extended Ending on YouTube). So yes, I did enjoy most portions of the game, with emphasis on "most". The non-party social links are actually pretty well-written and encompass the 'realism' people praised this game for more than the main story itself (which is pretty much a generic whodunnit). You got people like a black widow of Death, a nurse facing adultery, etc. All pretty interesting side stories that kept me engaged for the most part.

I'm gonna play NG+ as I watch the anime adaptation of the game, just to spice things up a little. I don't think Marie appears in that anime though, so I might have to also watch Persona Golden The Animation too if I want to synchronize my experience of the game with the anime. I did something similar with visual novels that had an anime adaptation like Clannad and Umineko; it's a weird habit of mine, just to keep myself from getting bored.

With that said, however, it looks like Cold Steel will have to be put off for a little longer till I truly beat this game.

[Fred the Barber]

18 minutes ago, Lucius said:

A whole lot of stuff about Persona 4

Persona 4's strength is definitely the characters, not the story, so I'm pretty much with you on the "I like it, but..." assessment. Persona 3 has a much more interesting story.

[Lucius]

3 minutes ago, Fred the Barber said:

Persona 4's strength is definitely the characters, not the story, so I'm pretty much with you on the "I like it, but..." assessment. Persona 3 has a much more interesting story.

Given that though, the characters are good enough that I would consider buying Dancing All Night just to hang out with them more, even though I don't even like dancing/rhythm games at all.

[Fred the Barber]

1 minute ago, Lucius said:

Given that though, the characters are good enough that I would consider buying Dancing All Night just to hang out with them more, even though I don't even like dancing/rhythm games at all.

Having played P4DAN, I can confirm that it's worth it just to hear all the amazing remixes. The new character it introduces is all right, too.

[Eclipsed]

Finished Prologue of Cold Steel II

It was annoying-ish to have to go through that combat tutorial segment with solo Rean, Trails combat in general is really, really not optimized for solo or 1v1s... I remember going up against the Radiant Blademaster in the first game, a very hyped up battle, and yet all that happens is a wet noodle fight where you whack each other back and forth 50x until you win or run out of potions and die, it's hilarious. The staleness is equivalent to you using Caterpie and spamming Tackle on a maxDEF  Mega Steelix. 

Anyways, pretty decent introduction. Finally got the mandatory Rean x Elise hot spring pep talk scene with a touch of Princess Alfie's usual envy-teasing, yum

But man, why did they have to finally let Elise be in your party, only to damsel in distress and take her away ;-;

[Kurisu-Chan]

9 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

Persona 4's strength is definitely the characters, not the story, so I'm pretty much with you on the "I like it, but..." assessment. Persona 3 has a much more interesting story.

The famous Persona 3 vs Persona 4, why can't we agree that both are amazing?

[Fred the Barber]

2 hours ago, Kurisu-Chan said:

The famous Persona 3 vs Persona 4, why can't we agree that both are amazing?

We do agree! They are both amazing, but have quite different strengths.

[Kurisu-Chan]

5 minutes ago, Fred the Barber said:

We do agree! They are both amazing, but have quite different strengths.

I still think Persona 3 is more coherent with the atlus metaverse than persona 4, but both games are amazing. 

[Lucius]

Well, I got burnt out playing the NG+ of Persona 4 Golden. I had thought I could make it through the game again on a second playthrough, even though I have to grind through the same mediocre story with those same dungeons again, I just suddenly got fed up out of nowhere yesterday for some reason, just feeling very exhausted from playing through the game. Ironically, replaying Pokemon games wouldn't give me that same kind of fatigue, even though I'm really sick of those Pokegames as well.

I think the main reason that got me so bored was the repetitive routine of the game in a replay. There's an 'optimal' way of playing it; you have to catch bugs, fish for guardians, complete the same quests, etc. There's no variety in the replay because I've already done almost everything that could be done (minus that one bonus dungeon and the 'secret boss', the latter of which I have to work my ass off to unlock), and having to follow the same exact routine all over again several hours per day isn't my idea of fun. I simply can't stand routines, not just in video games, and it really doesn't help that there's no additional flavors of bug-catching or fishing or side quests or shadow-grinding in NG+.

I guess I'll just have to miss out on both the 'True Ending' and the 'Extended Ending' for now. I really don't want to spoil myself by watching both endings on YouTube because it would feel so cheap. I think I'll just reserve that experience for the (very) distant future, when I'm not so bored of the game anymore. This is the second game on Vita I've dropped without completing it in its entirety (Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth being the first). Not looking so good for my $300 purchase.

I really don't feel like buying Trails of Cold Steel now either, considering the experiences I've had with Vita games so far, particularly the experience I've had with JRPGs. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do with my Vita for now, even though I just bought it only a month ago. I'm not sure "regret" is the correct term to describe my feelings about buying the Vita, just, "meh". If there is regret, it's regret not having to complete P4G during my first playthrough, when everything still felt fresh to me and not so 'routine'. I mean, I really dedicated myself to completing everything during that first playthrough (albeit having an epic fail), so it's kinda a shame that it all ends up like this, incomplete.

Maybe I should just get back to visual novels. Less work, and more variety. Then again, I'm just really exhausted from putting in hundreds of hours into Persona, so I might just take a break for now and see how it goes.

[Kurisu-Chan]

Time for Persona 3 then. 

[Darklord Rooke]

2 hours ago, Lucius said:

I think the main reason that got me so bored was the repetitive routine of the game in a replay. There's an 'optimal' way of playing it; you have to catch bugs, fish for guardians, complete the same quests, etc. There's no variety in the replay because I've already done almost everything that could be done (minus that one bonus dungeon and the 'secret boss', the latter of which I have to work my ass off to unlock), and having to follow the same exact routine all over again several hours per day isn't my idea of fun. I simply can't stand routines, not just in video games, and it really doesn't help that there's no additional flavors of bug-catching or fishing or side quests or shadow-grinding in NG+.

Most modern JRPGs have to work on the 'gameplay' section of the game.

Exceptions exist, of course.

[Lucius]

43 minutes ago, Kurisu-Chan said:

Time for Persona 3 then. 

I don't own a PS2. 

 

9 minutes ago, Rooke said:

Most modern JRPGs have to work on the 'gameplay' section of the game.

Agreed, but I'd say Western RPGs aren't that far off either, albeit being slightly better than JRPGs in terms of variety. Comparing a JRPG like Persona 4 and a Western RPG like Mass Effect 3, I'd say both games face the problem of having the same story in NG+, particularly with ME3's notorious "three-colored ending". The one advantage ME3 has over P4G is that it offers a wider range of dialogues, especially due to the option of having gender options, something P4G would've been interesting to have (imagine a female romance option with Kanji or Yosuke). It doesn't help that ME3 never slapped a game mode called "NG+" on the main menu, even though carrying over stats from a prior playthrough is available. The fact that JRPGs blatantly placed such a option on the main menu but not adding any more variety in NG+ than WRPGs, it's kinda embarrassing.

[Kurisu-Chan]

Mh...Emulation?

 

[Lucius]

8 minutes ago, Kurisu-Chan said:

Mh...Emulation?

 

I've tried that, after hearing how great P3 FES was. But P3 FES on an emulator is utterly broken, so it's a no-go.

Still, if the PS4 has the backward compatibility for it, that's another reason to buy the console.

[Kurisu-Chan]

Nope, sorry, no backward compability for ps4, you can just have the right to buy old games for 20 $. 

[Lucius]

7 minutes ago, Kurisu-Chan said:

Nope, sorry, no backward compability for ps4, you can just have the right to buy old games for 20 $. 

Yeah, I thought I heard something like that. I doubt Persona 3 would be one of those exclusive games you could buy for the PS4 either. Oh well. There's always Persona 5.

[Kurisu-Chan]

15 minutes ago, Lucius said:

Yeah, I thought I heard something like that. I doubt Persona 3 would be one of those exclusive games you could buy for the PS4 either. Oh well. There's always Persona 5.

There's no backward compatibility, unless you pay 15-20$ per game. 

Which is sad, i think you would enjoy P3 story more. 

[Vokoca]

5 hours ago, Lucius said:

I've tried that, after hearing how great P3 FES was. But P3 FES on an emulator is utterly broken, so it's a no-go.

Who told you that lie? It's widely accepted that The Answer, which is the additional thing P3:FES has, is easily the worst part of the entire game and isn't even worth playing. If you have a Vita you're much better off with P3P, or just use an emulator on that one.

Speaking of Persona, here are my thoughts on Persona 5 after spending around 27 hours in it. I won't even go over how good the polish and style is because we all know that from the trailers - what we don't really know from the trailers however is how much better the gameplay is. First of all, I tend to be extremely slow when it comes to progress in RPGs, which also means I usually spend more time in the dungeons - so if these aren't fun, there is a good chance I won't finish the game. This happened to me with Persona 3 (tried both FES and P3P) - after spending around 80 hours on the game and going through 100+ floors of the repetitive Tartarus, I just couldn't go on anymore. I beat Persona 4 twice, as it was just a little bit better about that, but it still wasn't anywhere near ideal. Fortunately, this is where the main difference in Persona 5 comes in - the equivalent of the Tartarus/TV World is relegated to an optional dungeon, while the main dungeons are all their own complex areas. They're so different, in fact, that the gameplay is completely different from the optional (Mementos) dungeon as well. In the main dungeons, stealth is key - and as such the levels were hand-crafted to give you plenty of covers and platforms to traverse. What's more, from the two main dungeons I finished so far, they both had their very unique gameplay mechanics - and they were both very different in design and structure as well. Forget the randomly generated hallways, these are full-fledged levels with distinct areas, unique mechanics and puzzles - although the randomly generated dungeon is always there for you as well, if you just feel like leveling up and working through the optional content.

The battle system also has many little changes to it that make it much more entertaining and tactical. I won't go into details here to avoid any spoilers, but let's just say that there is much more to it than in P3/P4. The rest of the game - that is the everyday life - is mostly the same, just with slight differences to match the different tone of the story. The story is the part I can't really judge much yet, but so far I am loving the dark tone, and enjoying the characters a lot as well - to be honest I wasn't so thrilled about them from the PVs, but so far I was proven wrong every single time, they've been great so far.

[Lucius]

2 minutes ago, Vokoca said:

but so far I am loving the dark tone, and enjoying the characters a lot as well - to be honest I wasn't so thrilled about them from the PVs, but so far I was proven wrong every single time, they've been great so far.

Oh yeees, finally. Persona's returned to its dark roots.[/edgyaf]

Don't think I'll be buying P3P considering the terrible things I heard about the port. I mean, even you said that it was bad enough that it put you off. 

[Kurisu-Chan]

41 minutes ago, Lucius said:

Oh yeees, finally. Persona's returned to its dark roots.[/edgyaf]

Don't think I'll be buying P3P considering the terrible things I heard about the port. I mean, even you said that it was bad enough that it put you off. 

Who even said that? it's commonly accepted that FeMC > MaleMC.