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[Video Games] What are you playing? (Omikron Edition)

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by RC Cola, Jan 18, 2022.

  1. larsv8

    larsv8 Contributing Member

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    If you try it, let me know how it is.

    Seems like my kind of game.
     
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  2. Xerobull

    Xerobull You son of a b!tch! I'm in!

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    Will do.
     
  3. Drexlerfan22

    Drexlerfan22 Contributing Member

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    Oh for god's sake, @RC Cola ... I sorta wish I'd seen this closer to when you posted it, but haven't been on the board much lately.

    Gotta ask, when did you get into Another Eden? Because I got into it about a month after it came out. While I agree it's a good game, I finally extricated myself from it for several months right after I finished the CC Collab (which by the way, is not permanent, it's "limited to 5 years", though I guess that's so long that it might as well be). And while I just fell off the wagon and started playing it a bit more just a few days ago... gah. One should not advertise for gachas, they all end up being soul-crushing eventually, it's just a matter of time. I started Genshin after and got off it before AE. I think playing more than one gacha at once might actually be detrimental to one's health...

    If anything I feel like I started it back up to grab some of the new power-creep in hopes of beating some of those super-bosses that give you the 100% crit weapons. I like the challenging fights but just was not quite getting those.

    FWIW if you only started recently, I can at least heartily say that the end of the main story, and the end of IDA3 were just chef's kiss. If you're in it for the narratives, I recommend doing those before you jump off it.

    But ya, anyway, besides playing just a little of AE, I'm mostly into Fire Emblem: Three Houses right now. I'm just after the "timeskip". Somehow I never played a FE game before now, despite always being interested. Good times. Playing a bit of Risk of Rain 2 with friends on the side also. Planning to keep the JRPG going after with FF7 remake, maybe try some Ys 8 (another series I never tried before), and eventually get to Elden Ring, hopefully around the time they're dropping DLC for it.
     
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  4. Yung-T

    Yung-T Member

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    Currently having a blast with Tales of Arise and Dragon Quest XI, if you haven't played these yet.
    Also Persona 5 is a great one that I need to pick up again.

    Something a bit older but with a nice remaster recently is Tales of Vesperia, one of my favourite JRPGs of the 360/PS3 era.
     
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  5. Drexlerfan22

    Drexlerfan22 Contributing Member

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    LOVE Vesperia. Played on 360, then years later installed custom firmware on an old phat PS3 to play the fan translation of the expanded Japanese version, then bought the remake and did it all again. Very good times.

    I did buy DQ11 & Arise on sale, so yup, they be on the docket. P5, I think maybe eventually, though I did finally try P3 after years of insistence from my brother, and fell off it a bit less than halfway through. Just seemed too transparently like a giant checklist to fill out, at least to my brain.

    Which do you think is better between DQ11 & Arise? And if you ever played any Ys, what do you think of that?
     
  6. RC Cola

    RC Cola Contributing Member

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    I'm 95% sure I originally played it shortly after it was released, but it didn't click with me for some reason, so I ditched it pretty quickly (don't think I even made it to the first boss or anything like that). I picked it back up again last December, a couple weeks or so after the CC collab started.

    I already managed to complete all of the main stories as well as most of the side stories. Did a bit of the current Mythos storyline, but I decided I'd rather let them finish it before playing it at my own pace. Honestly, I didn't care for the main story additions following the first part. They were OK, but I didn't enjoy them as much. Maybe because I didn't know what to expect going into part 1, but I had higher expectations for the subsequent parts. That said, the side stories can be very good, including IDA3 like you mentioned.

    Agreed about how gacha's inevitably end up. I'm not really actively playing AE either (though in its defense, I've already completed most of the content I like), and I also haven't played Genshin Impact in a long time (I think I ditched it shortly after my OP...like you said, can only really do 1 gacha at a time). I like these games despite their gacha mechanics, but they really drag down the experience at times. I know funding these projects would likely be impossible otherwise, but Another Eden (and Genshin) would be *so* much better without gacha mechanics (including their impact on game design). I'd still argue that these games are generally playable and fun to play without paying a penny (not always true for some gacha games), but that doesn't mean it's all good. I think these games have a lot of interesting gameplay mechanics that would be great to fully explore, but you'd either have to pay money and/or heavily (and I mean *heavily*) grind things out in order to do that. I'm used to grinding, but at this scale, it really isn't fun. And games should be fun. That's part of the problem with the Play-to-Earn/blockchain gaming concept IMO.



    I've been too busy to play much of anything lately (except Life Simulator 2022 with its Russia/Ukraine expansion). If I can find some time in the next few months, I'd like to give some time to Elden Ring. Otherwise, I'll probably go through my never-ending backlog. I picked up this game recently when it was on sale:

    I've also had my eyes on this game:
     
  7. RC Cola

    RC Cola Contributing Member

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    Oh I forgot that I'm a Atlus fanboy, so I probably need to squeeze in time for this too in the near future:


    I still need to play SMT5 too, but haven't bothered to get a Switch. I've been waiting, thinking they'll either release a new Switch and/or SMT5 will be released on other platforms.

    Honestly, I'm a little burnt out on the SMT/Persona formula, but pretty sure I'd still enjoy these games.
     
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  8. Drexlerfan22

    Drexlerfan22 Contributing Member

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    Yeah, I mean I don't know that it will really ever go this far, but I worry a bit about a future where a majority, or at least a large portion, of AAA games might end up being some flavor of F2P / "live-game" / microtransaction-focused. It just sucks the fun out. I suppose the bright side is, that I have such an enormous backlog, realistically I probably have games for the rest of my life, even if I never bought another one.

    That's the funny thing is that I feel like in my younger days, I would love everything about the SMT/Persona games, but I only actually dipped into P3 recently, as mentioned in a previous post. And now older me is annoyed at how much of a big checklist P3 feels like (might be triggering my Genshin PTSD), and how the dungeons are are all basically identical other than the textures. So despite owning a bunch of SMT games, now I wonder if I missed the boat on actually being able to enjoy them.

    These days, I'm much more into traditional console JRPGs with no microtrasactions and that aren't collectathons, and...
    ...yes! I watch for the updates on Vampire Survivors and play them all as they come out. That newest 3-part weapon evolution is dope. Did everyone else manage to kill the reaper at the end also? That was a bit of a project!
     
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  9. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    Sounds like the most depressing game ever.
     
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  10. RC Cola

    RC Cola Contributing Member

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    I don't think it is that far-fetched to be honest. There's definitely a lot of interest in "live-service" games at the very least. I'm not super opposed to that in theory, especially if that allows for things not possible otherwise, but in practice, I'm not sure it will really be worth it. Then you throw in F2P and microtransactions. Can't say I'm super excited for all of that...and I'm just hoping they don't throw in NFTs/blockchain gaming into this too.

    Having said that, the tools for game development are getting so good, I'd like to think you'll always have non-AAA games that follow more traditional game design.

    Yeah, your P3 mention reminded me about Soul Hackers 2 and SMT5.

    It's been a long time since I actually played P3, though to your point, it is definitely pretty grindy and repetitive in a lot of ways (especially the dungeons, as you mentioned). It is probably the worst in the aspects you mentioned. I wasn't hugely bothered by this at the time since the rest of the game impressed me so much, but I'm not going to pretend like it was perfect. IIRC, I do recall feeling pretty "meh" about the additional FES story content, which seemed like a big grind with little payoff IMO.

    I absolutely love the core battle mechanics of SMT/Persona, so I can overlook some flaws with the gameplay. But it can be a bit much at times. P4 and P5 do a better job of making each dungeon feel more unique, though you'll still have the same general grind in other aspects of the gameplay (though they did add a few convenience features). Honestly, while I kinda liked the social aspects of the game at the time, it kinda bores me now. It was novel at the time, but I don't really need another student simulator. I started using guides at some point as I didn't really care about that stuff (I just wanted to advance the story and get to the next dungeon). I'm definitely in the camp that want Persona 6 to ditch that mechanic and go with something else. P1 and and especially P2 were more traditional in their JRPG mechanics, so its not like this is core to Persona as an IP (even if it lines up with the franchise achieving semi-mainstream success). I might even be tempted to just wait for the anime release and deal with that vs going through more of the same with the next Persona game.

    SMT3: Nocturne also drops most of that stuff. Unique dungeons with puzzles and whatnot. There's a bonus dungeon of sorts that is pretty tedious IIRC, but you don't *have* to visit it much IIRC (unless you want the "true" ending). I'm assuming SMT4 (never played it) and SMT5 are similar in that regard (though possibly with a bit more Persona influence). Digital Devil Saga games are kind Final Fantasy-like and cinematic rich (as opposed to SMT3), and IIRC you don't really have to worry about collecting Pokemo...I mean demons/personas with them.

    Never played Soul Hackers 1 and haven't paid enough attention to what they've shown for SH2, but I'm guessing it is more like these side SMT games vs a copy of the Persona formula.
     
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  11. RC Cola

    RC Cola Contributing Member

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    I'm a sucker for depressing indie games...like this one too:
     
  12. Drexlerfan22

    Drexlerfan22 Contributing Member

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    Thanks for this info. Maybe the SMT games aren’t lost to me after all, and I just chanced on the worst possible entry point for my current headspace.

    Even your abortive Pokemon reference really resonated, I’m just like yeah, I don’t feel like making sure I get them all, yet to get the ability configs you want you’re forced into some min-maxing. It just felt like work at some point. I’m okay with a grind, but I want it to feel… more optional?

    Whereas with P3 it feels like the grind *is the game*. Or at least the combat part of it. The school simulator side felt like a different game entirely. Unlike, say, Laser Squad getting married to Microprose’s strategy layer to form the original X-Com. Sure, those two could be, and originally were, separate games… but they were joined together in a super-cohesive way. P3 I’m just like wait, so I talk to some guy on the track team more and that makes a particular class of demon stronger? Like… okay…
     
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  13. Yung-T

    Yung-T Member

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    Imo start with Tales of Arise, it takes JRPGs to a next-gen feel when it comes to level design, graphics and story, also a lot of quality of life stuff and fast-paced combat that makes it a blast to play.

    DQ XI is a more traditional jrpg experience (which also is great), but I think the game is around 70-80hrs long and has a ton of text plus turn-based combat, so it takes more dedication than Arise.

    Regarding Ys, I started Ys VIII a while back but stopped after an enemy I couldn't beat.
    But til that point, it had great story and combat, graphics are a bit outdated tho.
     
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  14. Yung-T

    Yung-T Member

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    Not entirely related to Atlus, but I started Blue Reflection II this week, game has a lot of charme and some of the social events+school and turn-based formula of Persona.
     
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  15. RC Cola

    RC Cola Contributing Member

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    Yep. I think P4 and P5 do a little better job with some of that stuff (P4 dungeons still fairly meh IIRC though), and they do add a few convenience features to reduce the grind a bit, though I do want to be clear that it is still roughly the same formula. The basic battle mechanics are generally the same, and you'll likely always be juggling different personas (and upgrading/fusing them) in order to get the "perfect" team. You can probably just lower the difficulty so you don't have to grind so much, though if you want to get every persona and/or maximize your potential (including fighting optional bosses I guess?), you'll be working with those mechanics a LOT. And this is true for pretty much all SMT games. These tend to be 100+ hour games, and that usually involves spending a lot of time with these same basic mechanics.

    Atlus managed to create a core gameplay mechanic that they could use for nearly all of their games, dating back to PS2 days. This also allows them to re-use all their assets (though they have "HDed" them in newer releases). I happen to like these mechanics (as long as I get a break in-between play sessions), but if you don't like that gameplay, you *probably* won't like most of the games. Atlus basically keeps this stuff mostly the same, then spend their time creating different styles (thematically/artistically/musically), creating strong narratives, creating complimentary gameplay mechanics (like Persona's school stuff), etc. Actually they're kinda re-using their narrative structure too (at least in Persona), and they probably need to advance in that area for future releases (even though I'm a sucker for the basics).

    I am excluding a lot of their side games, including the fighting games and mobile games (e.g., Persona Q). These end up being developed by other studios typically, so their gameplay is a little more fresh (though I've not played most of them). Devil Summoner: Raidou also has a different take on gameplay which is pretty fun IMO.

    Thanks for the mention, I'll try to check it out at some point.

    As I mentioned earlier, I'm not super interested in the school/social gameplay of Persona, and I think a lot of games just blindly copy that, thinking that's what people want (and maybe some do). It worked well enough in Persona, but I mostly liked the character development and narrative in general, which just happened to involve a school setting (and thus, warrants some school-related gameplay). Glancing at reviews, it sounds like Blue Reflection II made sure to focus on the right stuff (strong characters/narrative), so I'm thinking I'll probably like it too.
     
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  16. RC Cola

    RC Cola Contributing Member

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    Since we just talked about games going F2P, live service, etc., I just wanted to give kudos to Hello Games and how they've developed No Man's Sky. We have yet another free update just revealed:

    Not every game can be made this way, but it does give me hope about how things *could* be done. If you're going to go with a "Live Service" game that continually evolves over time, then I think this is a good model to follow.

    Though maybe it could have had a bit more content at launch, I admit.
     
  17. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    I'm pretty excited to finally play this with all the updates - seems like they have a lot of good will moving forward for making things right with this game.
     
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  18. larsv8

    larsv8 Contributing Member

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    Charming diablo style shooter in cyber punk setting

    The theme / ambiance is really well done. Actually feels like a real place.

     
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  19. percicles

    percicles Contributing Member

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    I am Malenia. Blade of Miquella. And I have never known defeat.
     
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  20. Ubiquitin

    Ubiquitin Contributing Member
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    I am the Fire Giant. I rage quit after a few hours because F that fight.
     

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