Etrian Odyssey rocks hardcore.
As mentioneed earlier,
NMN2 Expansion looks pretty close to a Turn based feel to it, espcecially with the enhanced party control inferface
Drakensang is the one I’m really excited about…the sequel to Realm of Arkania series(sp?)
I havent seen it yet, but Escape from Paradise City is one Im watching out for releasing later this month. They also just released the demo which Im downloading now :)
Etrian Odyssey is definitely in my queue to play. I’ve heard nothing but awesome about it.
Pretty much. With an abundance of lame ass cut scenes being the fastest way to the JRPG jail. Do not pass Cid, do not collect 200 gil.
I just got it a few weeks ago. It lives up to its hype. Fantastic game…but VERY hard. I scoffed at people who said that…I was wrong. And yet somehow it doesn’t frustrate. Pretty nifty little game.
Well, Grimoire is supposed to be coming out this winter ;)
Yeah, right before Duke Nukem Forever. ;)
It’s not anywhere nearly a turn-based game as say, ToEE, but I love it all the same. The new AI polish and quick-button to turn all the party AI off are welcome improvements. Community AI mods should bring it up to an even higher level. That said, it’s still a real-time game based on a turn-based system. Resolution is all behind the scenes, with a minimal of UI information (log and action queue bar) telling you what it did and what it plans to do.
I think it’s funny that so many liked Bioshock (and other shooters) but criticize JRPG gameplay, because at a higher level, I find the experiences similar: do a lot of essentially meaningless tasks to get the next dollop of movie. I guess it comes down to how much you like the mechanics. (I find JRPGs vary a lot; sometimes I like the mechanics, sometimes not. But they seem to typically be very linear.)
The difference is that I find the combat in Bioshock to be entertaining, and the combat in JRPGs to be tedious. While it’s true that both games consist of mostly combat, that point sets them pretty far apart.
It looks very nice and with the final closed beta about to start, it should be pretty close.
There are already impressions out there if you look around but I wouldn’t bother to post impressions here because I just can’t be bothered with the constant wailing about viral marketers and similar stuff.
I prefer my game to be mostly exploration, with a nice big dose of killing stuff when I feel like it. I liked how in the first Guild Wars title, I could avoid fights by getting a run through zones I didn’t enjoy. I liked how in Oblivion I could just cast invisibility and walk right past monsters to the goal. I liked how in Arcanum, I could take my chatty little gnome fellow and talk many bad guys out of fighting me. Heck, I even convinced the final boss to not be such a dick!
While I appreciate how much easier it is to tell a story in a linear game, I hate that my replay value is essentially zero. I’ll take a weaker story and at least an attempt at free will over a rail road plot any day.
I just got back into chess after several years of zero interest, so I’ve got a feeling that my hankering for a turn based RPG is just an outgrowth of that. Plus, who doesn’t want to scream out “Ruy Lopez, bitch!” and whack something with a big sword?
I am looking forward to Eschalon and that other one being virally marketed…Age of Decadence. ; P (i Keed)
Anything that hooks me up with the gameplay/combat and does not try to outdo itself by cramming in too much bloat, I am signing up for.
NWN2: MOTB has a pretty cool plot and it offers quite a bit of replayability due to powers (feats), characters, and endings that vary based on your choices during the game (which in turn affect your character’s alignment). Also, it’s suitably EPIC. :D
And my girlfriend never believed me when I told her bigger was better. I should have said it was EPIC!
I think that’s a situation where you need to show, not tell.
Wow. I agree. The game looks incredibly cool to me right now. Maybe I’m just getting old, however. In fact, I hope I can remember it exists by the time it comes out.
Sigh.
No, you misunderstood her. She never believed you when you said it WAS bigger.
On point, FFXII is still somewhat linear, but feels like it has a lot of exploration. There are often multiple paths to getting to a goal and there are plenty of sidequests. But I do wish a Japanese RPG would come out that reminded me of Gothic 3 or Oblivion in terms of open exploration.
Ever play Steambot Chronicles? (Or Metal Saga, for that matter?)
It’s not new (US release was canceled apparently), but dfinn (bud of mine from another forum) was crazy about The Fall:
Probably more trouble than you want to go to to get a game, but just thought it might interest you. :) (And I’ve known dfinn many years - he’s not a marketing drone, he just is enthusiastic about games that are well below the radar, esp. anything that’s of the squad level turn-based RPG/strategy category).
While most of us PSP fans consider D&D Tactics inferior to the jRPG PSP titles (Jeanne D’Arc, FF Tactics: War of the Lions), it is at least, not a jRPG RPG, though you probably mean PC games I reckon.