Vestaria Saga - SRPG series from the FE creator - second game out now

[Endemic]

Patch 1.12 is out. Another bug fix and a balance change: https://ci-en.net/creator/11872/article?mode=detail&page=1

 

[LESS T_T]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1811600/view/3120438463696104869

Official Title Change: Vestaria Saga II: The Sacred Sword of Silvanister

 

[Endemic]

VS2 is in closed beta testing now; translation seems pretty good so far, though there are some bugs and glitches that need to be fixed before release. I'd venture a September release date would be realistic.

 

[LESS T_T]

Well, July 28.

 

[Thac0]

This looks quite a bit more appealing than the initial game, I will keep my eyes peeled for a bundle of both games when game 2 releases.

 

[Jinn]

This looks quite a bit more appealing than the initial game

Why is that? It looks nearly the same. I mean, I'm a fan of the first one, but I'm curious why you'd say that.

 

[Thac0]

This looks quite a bit more appealing than the initial game

Why is that? It looks nearly the same. I mean, I'm a fan of the first one, but I'm curious why you'd say that.

Mostly a visual thing. Somehow the first game looks a lot cheaper to me than the second one. Maybe it is the resolution upgrade?

 

[Jinn]

Mostly a visual thing. Somehow the first game looks a lot cheaper to me than the second one. Maybe it is the resolution upgrade?

I detect very little difference in the visuals myself. If you're that concerned about it being cheaply made, don't look into where a great bulk of the assets come from! All silly reasons to avoid a great game created by legend of the genre though, imo.

 

[Endemic]

Well, July 28.

I stand corrected. I was being conservative because its a longer game than the original, both in gameplay terms and script length.

 

[Endemic]

I'll have to be vague because of the NDA, but there are a lot of plot threads and worldbuilding in Vestaria 2 (compared to VS1) so I'm curious as to where the story goes in 3. Gameplay-wise the changes from v1.0 of VS2 are overall an improvement, although the difficulty dropped a bit as a result.

 

[Nazrim Eldrak]

worldbuilding in Vestaria 2

Do you mean there are more battle areas and even areas which can be missed due to consequences?

 

[Endemic]

worldbuilding in Vestaria 2

Do you mean there are more battle areas and even areas which can be missed due to consequences?

I was strictly referring to story. There are more maps and more interesting objectives, the amount of hidden\obscure items\events is probably the same per map as VS1. The new unit classes are fun, and mage knights make a welcome return after being absent in the first game.

 

[AdamReith]

Played through VS1 without saving until I got murdered by that random lvl 17 grand guard in the city siege.

These fire emblem games are a blast when you learn how to play them. So much tension in every level.

Now I just need to learn to check enemy levels, not just their equipped weapon.

So glad we are getting the sequel to this as well, it's a pity there's no way to play the classic FE games with the excellent mouse interface of VS.

 

[jungl]

The classic ones are storyfag games disguised as tactic games. You have to do battles like the developer wants or you miss out on loot, xp etc. New ones are self insert fag snooze simulators where the protagonist is overpowered you have to use them. its always been a shit srpg franchise up there with SRW.

 

[Endemic]

Played through VS1 without saving until I got murdered by that random lvl 17 grand guard in the city siege.

Chapter 5? That's when shit gets real and you need an actual plan rather than winging it.

 

[AdamReith]

Played through VS1 without saving until I got murdered by that random lvl 17 grand guard in the city siege.

Chapter 5? That's when shit gets real and you need an actual plan rather than winging it.

Yep.

Spoiler

 

[Endemic]

Well, unlike Berwick, crits in Vestaria don't bypass defence - it's just damage x2. So you can tank Matagroth with the Iron Duke.

 

[AdamReith]

I just ran around the lazy cunt this time. Arigato for the advice though, Iron Duke does seem pretty powerful.

Tackling Jimsund now, I do love how he filled the city with bad asses and not just generic trash to mow down.

Definitely a huge step up in difficulty to everything else so far though. Though getting an enemy down to 5hp only for him to trigger ambush on your next attack and one shot your dude from full hp is always hilarious.

 

[Endemic]

You're fighting Vilweiss' mercenary company as opposed to common bandits, so it makes sense, but perhaps the jump in difficulty is a bit sudden for newcomers. When I played it blind, the sniper\archer fire combined with the drawbridges were more of an issue. Your army doesn't really have any good ranged weapons at this point.

Spoiler

On a side note, I recall reading that Marlena almost decapitating a 10 year old in the middle of the battle (before realising Nina is defenceless) tricked a lot of players who actually thought Nina would die if she walked that way.

Good thing she's scripted to miss

 

[AdamReith]

Man, got through everything and then got Kaga'd by the time limit.

Absolutely, hitting those snipers is a real shock to the system. Really it feels like everything leading up to the siege is a tutorial.

Still, that's FE I guess, part of the fun is figuring out the best way to approach a map. But as levels go this one has a lot of nasty surprises waiting for you that you don't really have a perfect answer for.

Spoiler

Marlena trying to kill Nina caught me off guard, I thought it was another reload at first! Very funny.

Jimsund is rediculous, huge range on nim (his spellbook) and you have nothing with decent resistance to fight him with. You can't avoid him like you can the fat knight. At first I thought the eagle knights would counter him but I guess they aren't really pegasus knights when it comes to resistance.

Gonna take a break and come back to it next weekend. Hopefully I can get good enough to make it through so I'll be ready for the second game.

 

[Endemic]

He doesn't move IIRC, so if you send everyone the southern route across the bridges you can walk past on the southern end of the rampart (stopping in the 3 tiles outside his range if necessary). Aslanne and friends are all about the offensive skills, they're not meant to be taking any hits (well, maybe Yaeri if you get lucky with the RNG on Aegis).

Oh, I forgot to mention, talking to the lost girl with one of your female units nets her ring (which negates critical hits).

 

[AdamReith]

Oh, interesting. So it's designed in such a way where you need to take on a powerful mage or a powerful knight. I like that a lot. I get to decide in what manner I get to die horribly. :D

Yeah, I'm just surprised that eagle knights aren't identical to pegasus knights. Didn't Kaga want to use pegasus knights at first but had to change for legal reasons, or am I thinking of a different game?

Nice tip on the ring, love all these little details you can only learn of by chance.

 

[Endemic]

Yeah, I'm just surprised that eagle knights aren't identical to pegasus knights. Didn't Kaga want to use pegasus knights at first but had to change for legal reasons, or am I thinking of a different game?

There was an attempt by Intelligent Systems in 2001 to trademark pegasus knights, which apparently was valid for 20 years in Japan. It doesn't seem to be directly mentioned in the lawsuit over TRS though: https://web.archive.org/web/20030303181412/http://www.translan.com/jucc/precedent-2002-11-14d.html

But I think in the case of VS it was to save money\hassle getting custom assets. Eagle knights are already included in SRPG Studio.

As for the legal case, Nintendo probably spent more on lawyers than they won in the courts, and that was only on the unfair competition charge after taking it to Japan's highest court in Tokyo.

 

[spekkio]

Well, it looks like Kaga sure does like his siege maps. I'm playing TearRingSaga ATM and first ~15 maps were piss-easy. When suddenly, Map #18:

https://www.fireemblemwod.com/trs/guia/map_18.htm



Not THAT hard, just much harder than anything before.

 

[AdamReith]

War, war never changes.