What game are you wasting time on?

[Deuce Traveler]

I'm over 12 hours into the orignal Drakensang, but I'm thinking about dropping the game. By all rights, I should like it. The game is based on a tabletop CRPG that I am interested in learning about, and on the surface it looks like it was heavily influenced by Baldur's Gate with Real Time With Pause combat. But the story seems very vanilla to me, and the combat encounters is weak as your party heals back up after each battle. It's beginning to feel more of a dull chore than a game, and I am considering dropping it for something else.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

First Drakensang has more chicks though.

 

[deuxhero]

K, so, playing Saints Row III. Just started. Question: If you eliminate a "gang operation" is there a way to stop the gang from infinitely coming after you?

Hide in a shop you own. You could also save and reload. By mid game you'll be able to buy special phone numbers that will clear your wanted meter (one for police, one for gangs) but have a long cooldown.
It doesn't matter though because 3 is shit.

 

[Modron]

Been a few years since I played SRtT but couldn't you just outrun them for a while and they would give up especially if they have no line of sight to refresh the antagonism ie leave their territories to increase your odds of lowering your threat.

 

[tindrli]

I finally obtained decent laptop, and im thinking to start Divinity OS. i wonder, any good starting class suggestion??

 

[Deuce Traveler]

First Drakensang has more chicks though.

That's the only redeeming quality. There is a lot of running back and forth in the game, so taking off the armor and watching them run from the 3rd person character view gave me a few more hours of play before I got bored again. Then a nude patch gave another two more hours of fun watching my two amazons (Rhulana and initial), elf (Gwendala) and wizard/thief (Gladys) run around town. But even that became too boring after awhile. But really, I'm bored with this.

Moving onto Blackguards which seems a lot more fun with the same tabletop rules.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

First Drakensang has more chicks though.

Disagree, RoT has an entire level where you kill amazon womyn.

First one wins.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Quake - Scourge of Armagon is pretty cool addon. More ammunition + gatling laser. I really like the levels here, even more than original.
Tried 2nd addon for almost hour - Dissolution of Ethernity - wasn't that impressive in term of levels

And thanks for remind me about Dungeon Hack, pretty entertaining for few hours from time to time.

Dig out Sin + Wages of Sin. Damn guns are so precise and aiming is little awkward. With patch SiN Ressurected it's pretty enjoyable so far. Really like interactive elements, some variety in the missions (that espionage mission in the laboratory, ugh).

Plus - I managed to run some old forgotten cRPG from my first days with PC gaming, named Gorasul - Legacy of the Dragon (yeah, I was late to the party). Surely it's not that impressive but still enjoyable. Might LP it before launching real madness called Planet Alcatraz.

 

[Gregz]

I finally obtained decent laptop, and im thinking to start Divinity OS. i wonder, any good starting class suggestion??

ranger and fire mage were pretty fun on my 1st and only playthrough.

 

[Perkel]

finally monster hunter on PSP clicked with me. I had to first finish Dark Souls to click with MH combat:

it is Monster Hunter 3rd for PSP precisely played on PC with PPSSPP.

 

[Wulfstand]

Am currently playing Earthbound, and I'm having a blast. Sure, the game gets on my nerves now and then with its at times ridiculous amount of random encounters, but then again this is my first jrpg. I enjoy its weird, eerie sense of humor, as well as its overall almost childishly-surreal vibe.

Anyone care to recommend any games that give a similar vibe? I'd head directly towards Persona 3 if I didn't have this strong memory of the ps2 emulator being a bitch to set-up.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Am currently playing Earthbound, and I'm having a blast. Sure, the game gets on my nerves now and then with its at times ridiculous amount of random encounters, but then again this is my first jrpg. I enjoy its weird, eerie sense of humor, as well as its overall almost childishly-surreal vibe.

Anyone care to recommend any games that give a similar vibe?

The recent Citizens of Earth RPG is supposed to be an homage to Earthbound. I haven't played it myself yet tho', and I have heard conflicting things about it. http://store.steampowered.com/app/258910/ As far as games in a similar vein are concerned, Magical Starsign for the DS is pretty nice. Surreal, childish and also fairly mature-themed at the same time. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure is very humorous and fun, but it's oriented more towards girls than boys I guess.

SMT games are a different story. Their mechanics are more complex, but they don't have Earthbound's humor or anything particularly childish about them. I'd recommend SMT: Nocturne over and instead any of the Persona games though.

If you're looking for general JRPG recommendations, that depends on what you value more, unique/deep/innovative mechanics or JRPG-ish story and atmosphere. Most JRPGs tend to do one of these things in an interesting way, but not both. One good recent storyfag JRPG is Trails in the Sky, also available on Steam.

 

[Wulfstand]

Snip.

Thanks, man. I'm mainly interested in setting, artstyle, characters and plot mainly in most games. Neither 'Citizens' nor 'Trails in the sky' seem all that appealing for me, from what I've seen. I was tempted to try Lisa a few days ago, but then after watching a few clips I found its grimdark-twist really tiresome. SMT and Persona look really interesting though, I might just try fiddling about with the emulator sometime soon.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Snip.

Thanks, man. I'm mainly interested in setting, artstyle, characters and plot mainly in most games. Neither 'Citizens' nor 'Trails in the sky' seem all that appealing for me, from what I've seen. I was tempted to try Lisa a few days ago, but then after watching a few clips I found its grimdark-twist really tiresome. SMT and Persona look really interesting though, I might just try fiddling about with the emulator sometime soon.

You could also specify your criteria for what you're looking for and make a thread in JRPG Discussion. Pretty sure myself and others could recommend you something, as long as you're specific enough

If you're looking for interesting mechanics as well as some degree of non-linearity and challenge, you might also want to give FF XIII-2 (not the original XIII!) a try. See MicoSelva's thread in the Playground for more impressions. Story-wise it's too convoluted and not really comparable to Earthbound or other good JRPGs though.

Re: SMT and Persona, if you can't get the PS2 emulator to run, do try Devil Survivor and/or Strange Journey for the DS, depending on whether you prefer isometric or first person.

 

[Abu Antar]

I just beat Hatoful Boyfriend for the first time. That was interesting. I need to see more. All other endings, here I come!

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I just beat Hatoful Boyfriend for the first time. That was interesting. I need to see more. All other endings, here I come!

Never before has this smiley been more appropriate.

Spoiler

 

[Abu Antar]

I just beat Hatoful Boyfriend for the first time. That was interesting. I need to see more. All other endings, here I come!

Never before has this smiley been more appropriate.

Spoiler

I was thinking about using that, but this is more fitting:

 

[CryptRat]

Snip.

Thanks, man. I'm mainly interested in setting, artstyle, characters and plot mainly in most games. Neither 'Citizens' nor 'Trails in the sky' seem all that appealing for me, from what I've seen. I was tempted to try Lisa a few days ago, but then after watching a few clips I found its grimdark-twist really tiresome. SMT and Persona look really interesting though, I might just try fiddling about with the emulator sometime soon.

Earthbound has a sequel : Mother 3 on GBA. You can get a fan translation here : http://www.romhacking.net/translations/2020/
No game I have played has a similar vibe.

But as you said if you're looking for a weird atmosphere you can play the SMT series and one good choice is SMT : Nocturne.
You can probably also take a look at the Shadow Hearts series (2 & 3 have much humor, 1 a little less, and the humor is often good).

 

[Ivan]

Finished it again with a new character. Consider myself "finished"

Some thoughts:

Demon Souls features a hub from which you're able to tackle 5 worlds, each containing 3 "levels" with their own bosses, themes, and enemies. This system really shines after the first playthrough because each world yields different item drops from fallen enemies or loot scattered around (souls, crafting materials, healing items, etc). Thus, knowing which worlds contains which items and special weapons makes all the difference when trying out a new character.

Probably the best game ever released for the PS3. While certainly not as long as Dark Souls, DeS doesn't suffer from a whimpering endgame and feels more refined. All in all, Demon Souls is a must play.






Edit:

Question, I'm borrowing my neighbor's PS3 and I was wondering if Dragon's Dogma is worth a go? If so, should I go with the Dark Arisen edition or the vanilla version?

 

[Xorazm]

Finished it again with a new character. Consider myself "finished"

Some thoughts:

Demon Souls features a hub from which you're able to tackle 5 worlds, each containing 3 "levels" with their own bosses, themes, and enemies. This system really shines after the first playthrough because each world yields different item drops from fallen enemies or loot scattered around (souls, crafting materials, healing items, etc). Thus, knowing which worlds contains which items and special weapons makes all the difference when trying out a new character.

Probably the best game ever released for the PS3. While certainly not as long as Dark Souls, DeS doesn't suffer from a whimpering endgame and feels more refined. All in all, Demon Souls is a must play.

Edit:

Question, I'm borrowing my neighbor's PS3 and I was wondering if Dragon's Dogma is worth a go? If so, should I go with the Dark Arisen edition or the vanilla version?

Go with Dark Arisen - it gives you a lot more fast travel options than the vanilla version, which is one of the primary complaints people had when the game was released (since monsters respawn in identical locations it eventually makes transversing the map a drag).

Agree on Demon's Souls. It's a shame that its spiritual forebear ends up soaking up a lot of the attention, because even though Dark Souls deserves a lot of the attention it got it tends to overshadow how incredibly innovative and daring Demon's Souls was when it came out. The very definition of a sleeper hit since it took so long for players to even make sense out of the thing, being so dense, dark and difficult. It's a stupendous achievement and the game design finally ascended to the proper place it deserves, which tends to overshadow what a chance the devs originally took in making Demon's Souls in the first place.

 

[Ivan]

Am I correct in thinking that they have similar combat systems (i.e. stamina based). Or is it more of a spectacle-action game (e.g., DMC, GoW)? Is death a constant factor? I'm not looking for a casual experience. Still worth a $20? Thanks.

 

[Zed]

Started playing Desu Exu: Director's Cut (courtesy of Scrooge, thx).

The yellow color filter is gone, and that's a huge improvement already.
I've heard they changed bosses and added some new content too.

 

[pippin]

They toned down the yellow tint and integrated Missing Link into the main game. Can't remember other specifics, but I think they added more options in boss fights. You can hack turrets instead of just shooting everything, things of that nature.

 

[Sykar]

Tactics is a cheesefest. You're better off with the far more polished but maybe not as "exciting" Sword Coast Stratagems.

Tactics > SCS because it caused so much butthurt.

More like laughter at a terrible mod introducing moronic unbelievable crap like Deva summoning priests in the very first dungeon, thieves getting ranged stun attacks in said dungeon and other such nonsense.

that moment when you get instakilled by an alien camper as soon as you leave the skyranger

Nothing beats getting the entire team getting blown up on the first turn when the alien gets a first shot before you could move anybody and the alien had a Blaster Launcher.
Close second would be Ethereals mind controlling one of your soldier with said Blaster Launcher.

 

[Trodat]

Started playing Dragon Age: Origins, never finished it when it was released.