MOTHER OF THE MAGICAL GIRLS
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Post by SIFR on Sept 20, 2014 17:21:26 GMT -8
So, my friend just posted a Facebook status about the current quality of mechanics and storytelling versus the quality of imagery, and how it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a game that's as rich in mechanics and story as it is in graphics. She's an old school gamer who's completing her masters in creative writing this year, and loved games like Final Fantasy 6, Tales of Vesperia, and other games from around that time period.
I'm probably going to recommend Xenoblade, but I'd like to hear your recommendations as well! Also, we can get a healthy discussion going about today's state of gaming versus that of even ten or twenty years ago.
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Post by katya on Sept 20, 2014 18:38:10 GMT -8
...I'm not sure FF6 and ToV are from the same time period, bro.
Is she specifically looking at current/next-gen jrpgs? The golden age for jrpgs is definitely over, but if she'll count Bioware and other western games, it's not so bad for rpers. I'd say the real problem is that it's just so damn expensive to make a game. Story-based games seem to have shifted towards a pseudo visual-novel format (see: dangan ronpa, ace attorney, zero escape), and I feel like mechanics are in an odd spot since shooters are in vogue.
If she hasn't played Suikoden, she should.
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Post by ROGUE on Sept 20, 2014 21:59:16 GMT -8
...I'm not sure FF6 and ToV are from the same time period, bro. Is she specifically looking at current/next-gen jrpgs? The golden age for jrpgs is definitely over, but if she'll count Bioware and other western games, it's not so bad for rpers. I'd say the real problem is that it's just so damn expensive to make a game. Story-based games seem to have shifted towards a pseudo visual-novel format (see: dangan ronpa, ace attorney, zero escape), and I feel like mechanics are in an odd spot since shooters are in vogue. If she hasn't played Suikoden, she should. This is pretty on point, especially the last part, I'm okay with shooters. I loved bioshock but when you contrast bioshock as a shooter to something like.. Battle Field, I notice a lack of depth in the latter. As far as games are concerned though, I love anything Bethesda.
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Post by Starry Neko on Sept 21, 2014 1:06:05 GMT -8
I can only recommend Tales of Symphonia personally- story wise. I love it to death. No game has ever made a lasting impact on me since then. The fact of the matter is not a lot of games hit that 'beautiful graphics' and 'beautiful story' because it is so ridiculous expensive. There are some more western games that have had both lately- but not too many.
Story doesn't equal too much game wise since if it's fun to blow crap up...well it's fun to blow crap up and you'll want to do that. I love story and lore, but it's not always common because of..all kinds of reasons. Someone recommended the Ar tonelico series, but I don't know anything about it to recommend it or anything. The music is pretty nice from what I heard.
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Post by xoxo ❤ on Sept 21, 2014 5:39:57 GMT -8
neeeerrrrrrds
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Post by provaud on Sept 21, 2014 10:18:54 GMT -8
I mean I could be that guy and say Tales of Xillia, but to be honest as an individual I didn't really feel Xillia too much I can think of a bunch of great rpgs and jrpgs with wonderful stories, but all of em are a little older because like Katya said the golden age of Jrpgs has ended. The best semi-not really recent title that I can come up with is honestly
Ni-no-Kuni, because even though I didn't enjoy the gameplay the story is definitely ballin.
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Post by GMOT on Sept 21, 2014 10:57:49 GMT -8
rune factory all besides tides of destiny that shit is just fun maybe not the best story or the best mechanics but yeah
if you want story and turn based combat nostalgia for the ds is a great game, mechanics are really simple, graphics aren't bad for a 09, or 10 ds game. the plot is amazing. they really cram in a lot in a little tiny game.
all tales of games are pretty golden.
if you wanna try western, i'd definitely go with bioware (particularly dragon age: origins and maybe da:2 considering that da:i is coming out soon.)
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Post by provaud on Sept 21, 2014 12:12:28 GMT -8
Also The World Ends With You. Especially TWEWY.
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Post by the guru on Sept 22, 2014 8:21:55 GMT -8
Shin Megami Tensei. Any Shin Megami Tensei game. It doesn't matter which subseries. They're all good. Best JRPG series of all time, and imo the only one that's still producing high quality stuff today. If she prefers old-school systems, I'd suggest Nocturne, which is the third game in the SMT mainline series. It's a standalone story, so she won't have to play any other ones to understand it.
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Post by GARDEN on Sept 22, 2014 11:45:45 GMT -8
Psychonauts is a good one. I only have about three hours put in because I'm waiting to get a game controller for my computer lmao.
Legend of Fae is a cute indie one that has fun mechanics and a cute story.
Valdis Story: Abyssal City has an interesting story-line but absurdly difficult game play.
Divinity: Original Sin is based off old school western games. The story line is great, it has a huge emphasis on role playing, combat is turn-based but with spells each affecting each other in different ways. There's no quest indicator. You do as you want, pretty much, but it's not a sandbox like Skyrim.
The Harvest Moon games are cute, slow games. They don't have a strong story-line but that's because they focus a lot more on relationships. I'd recommend ones like Friends of Mineral Town and More Friends of Mineral Town because they have more events between villagers than latter games.
For actual Japanese games.
I've played a little bit of Knights in the Nightmare, but the combat style is super interesting and pretty fun. I don't have much to say in the way of story because I simply haven't gotten far enough.
Radiant Historia is suppose to be a good one.
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is beautiful.
Last Story for the wii is also suppose to be excellent.
I can't comment on the state of games. I'm not the pickiest gamer and I haven't played most JRPG's.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2014 12:19:31 GMT -8
hmmm everyone is listing console games. how about an mmorpg? as far as a free to play game goes, vindictus has the most beautiful graphics i've ever seen and the game play is really unique and fun (or annoying, sometimes). it's not point and click and spam hotkeys, it's more like actual action?? it does get repetitive and the rng is teerrrible but once you get into it, it's pretty good. the story is incomplete and ongoing but it's goooooood
as for other single player games; not a jrpg but -- assassin's creed? don't judge me the story really gets me going, even though ubihard makes terrible terrible decisions. the end of revelations had me sobbing also mirror's edge because i will never be able to play it due to motion sickness
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Post by katya on Sept 22, 2014 17:44:06 GMT -8
Divinity: Original Sin should be played co-op for the BESTEST experience.
If you're willing to go really hipster, try War of Genesis III (and WoGIII part 2). It probably helps if you speak Korean, but I had a Chinese copy. As far as I know, it's not out in English, so this is probably a pointless recc anyway, but imo very few videogames (or stories in general) come close to WoG. If you can play it, it shouldn't be missed.
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Post by provaud on Sept 23, 2014 5:29:45 GMT -8
Shin Megami Tensei. Any Shin Megami Tensei game. It doesn't matter which subseries. They're all good. Best JRPG series of all time, and imo the only one that's still producing high quality stuff today. If she prefers old-school systems, I'd suggest Nocturne, which is the third game in the SMT mainline series. It's a standalone story, so she won't have to play any other ones to understand it. Shin Megami games are amazing, if you decide to play SMT IV I sincerely hope you don't like useful world maps
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Post by KOI KOI on Sept 23, 2014 7:18:09 GMT -8
In terms of MMORPG's, Archeage takes the cake. I haven't had this much fun since the 90's when runescape was the big wow (mostly because you had to choose between that and maplestory QQ). The tutorial is pretty long but after the very beginning you can honestly do whatever you want. It's pretty sandboxy outside of the main quest and you build up from there. There's a pretty expansive crafting system so profession are just as important as just PVE or PVPing. And, unlike other games, you're reputation sticks with your name. It's really fun but if you do play I'd recommend playing with a friend or making some in game.
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Post by GARDEN on Sept 23, 2014 9:09:16 GMT -8
In terms of MMORPG's, Archeage takes the cake. I haven't had this much fun since the 90's when runescape was the big wow (mostly because you had to choose between that and maplestory QQ). The tutorial is pretty long but after the very beginning you can honestly do whatever you want. It's pretty sandboxy outside of the main quest and you build up from there. There's a pretty expansive crafting system so profession are just as important as just PVE or PVPing. And, unlike other games, you're reputation sticks with your name. It's really fun but if you do play I'd recommend playing with a friend or making some in game. I really enjoy Archeage, but it's sandbox features are very limited to non-subscribers. The game is F2P but has a subscription model. Labor points take a very long time to regenerate. And you have to have labor points to do anything outside of kill things, really. Subscribers get twice the amount as well as regenerate them offline. Where as a regular player only gets about 5 per minute and don't regenerate them offline. I haven't been very impressed by the story line. The combat feels pretty solid, though. It's nothing brand new, but it introduces combos and I don't mind point and click. You can run around while you do things, anyways.
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