Did they improve the combat mechanics in Suikoden 5 over 3? I remember renting it a while ago and without a manual the game seemed really similar to 3 with the fighting.
I thought Shadow Hearts 1 was average, not terrible. But on the other hand, I don’t think it enhances the experience of SH2, which certainly was better, all that much.
I played SH2 first, and in retrospect I didn’t really miss all that much from the plot. The synopsis is maybe a paragraph.
… OK, enough synopsis, now you go on to SH2 and can start collecting gay soft porn trading cards (whose idea was that???), add the Tsarevna of Russia to your party, etc. etc. etc.
Suikoden III was sadly bland, although it has some interesting storytelling techniques - wrapping three separate narratives eventually into an overarching whole (well, there are six total, but three main ones), and if you collect all 100-some characters you get a little coda where you get to play the main antagonists through some behind-the-scenes bits, including a reprise of all of the forced-loss battles you ran into during the main game, only now you’re on the winning side. That was neat. As was the theatre. The previous games in the series, on PS1, were better in many respects, particularly Suikoden II.
I haven’t played V, and IV, while I ultimately enjoyed it enough to finish it, is not exactly a top-list candidate for someone new to the majority of the PS2’s RPG offerings.
Shadow Hearts is great, but admittedly hard to find. There are some really cool areas and plotlines in it, and it’s not quite as wacky as later games in the series. It particularly reminded me of a less grindy, less anime Shin Megami Tensei game - semi-modern setting (albeit not in Japan), weird occult forces. The village of cannibals is a particularly warm memory.
Great, thank you. I ordered it just now, and hopefully it will pan out. I’ll say again that Shadow Hearts 1 caused me to give up on the series for a long time, whereas 2 was a lot of fun and I’m glad I caved to qt3 recommendations. Suikoden III had the same effect, except you’re the first one I’ve heard recommend that I take a second look if that game did nothing for me.
Grandia 3. Short story, Final Fantasy style, typical JRPG. But this game has the sweetest RPG battle mechanics in the whole wide world. I can’t write it up now 'cos I’m falling asleep, but basically it’s the “active time battle” thing from older FF’s, with ways to maniplulate turn order or delay.
There is a Grandia 2, which I really like, but I’ve heard that the PS2 port sucks. (I played it on the Dreamcast.) There is no story relationships with the Grandia’s, so just play 3. (Then play Grandia 1, which is PSX based.)
… Wow. I think I just had a “were we playing the same game?” moment. I enjoyed Suikoden 3 a lot more than Doug did, both in terms of storytelling and gameplay. Suikoden 3 had an OK plot - earlier parts were enhanced by the multiple POV structure that others have discussed further upthread, but the last third just fell apart - and several particularly interesting characters. Storytelling-wise, where it really shone was conveying the feel of the world, from social structures to the interactions between different nations and ethnic groups, and bringing across a sense of wonder and joy at exploring new towns. Sure, there were wizards who were hundreds of years old, talking duck people, and dragons – but for all that, the world felt [I]real.
[/I]I also really enjoyed the gameplay of 3. The different parties played very distinctly to me: the smash-and-bash of Chris and her knights was worlds away from the careful use of each party member’s runes when playing as Geddoe. The army battles were simple, but worked very well as a storytelling device - the characters were meant to be skilful field commanders, and you got to actually play out those exploits! - and letting dozens of heroes, plus red-shirt soldiers, take the field in a trimmed-down version of the RPG battle system, instead of 102 of the 108 sitting on benches, made the game feel much more epic. Last but not least, it averted annoyances such as “why are elite champions starting broke and at level 1?”
I’m not very far into Suikoden 5; maybe 10-15 hours in. So far, it outdoes 3 on the storytelling front; it’s more conventional, with only one POV, a teenaged royal hero, but better executed - the characters are drawn more vividly and the set-pieces make me feel as though I’m there. However, gameplay-wise, it feels like a big step back. The encounter rate is far too high for my liking, yet most of the random mobs at this stage are trash (compare FFIV DS, where even the trash mobs were challenging), and the army battles are fast, hectic “click” (okay, mash)-fests where all you see of the characters is their portraits attached to faceless brigades of mooks.
I gotta disagree with you on this. This last month I just played 17 hours of Grandia III and had to give up due to the frequency of completely irritating cutscenes. It had the doe-eyed innocent girl with the annoying voice and all the other stereotypical anime standards. The best character is his mother and she left the party about 6 hours into the game. And you never could get away from the cutscenes and just enjoy the battles unless you skipped the movies and had no idea what was going on. It even had my favorite JRPG problem: a long cutscene finishes and you are finally given control of your character. You move the equivalent of three feet in the game and another cutscene starts. Fuck that.
That said, the battle system is wonderful but it does seem like every battle takes just a bit too long. I didn’t notice it at first but as the game progressed I kept wishing for speedier battles or fewer battles. I never grew tired of combat in Grandia 1 so I don’t know if it was tweaked differently or if I just liked it so much since it was new.
I could tolerate Grandia 2, but I thought 3 was weak.
No way. 3 was a blast thanks to its battles. 2 was fun only because of its campiness and such. The evil pope, Millenia, Tio… all those ridiculous characters were a lot of fun.
I seem to remember Grandia 2’s battle moved a bit quicker than 3. But my recollection is hazy because I’ve been playing so many SMT games. I should play 1 this year…
I really liked Grandia 1, and 2’s was fun as well. I really should get around to playing 3 at some point. The problem is that I played through 1 and 2 in Japanese, and I really wanted to do the same with 3, but I never did get around to modding my PS2 to disable region locking…
Stupid console publishers.
Ok, so I have Persona 3/FES and Persona 4 sitting on my shelf. Which to play first?
Both are very much worth playing, but if you go with 4 first it’s going to be a bit difficult going back to 3 after some of the changes. If you think you are only going to ever have time for one, then start up 4, but otherwise start with 3.
Start with P3. As someone who is just now starting the Megaten series with P3 I can vouch that it has very few rough edges. It’s phenomenal.
P3 is one of the best RPGs ever made. I would start there, finish it, wait a year, then play P4.
Is it safe to monkey around with the other SMT games during the year off?
Not if you value your soul. These games are profoundly heretical…
But if you’re one of those freethinkers we hear tell of, what the hell (er, heck). The other SMT games have essentially nothing to do with Persona in terms of style and story, and share only some demon fusion elements and enemy models.
I think you can’t go wrong with any of them, but be sure to get both Digital Devil Saga I and II together if you get either of them, as they are essentially a single story in two games.
I’ve been playing through Digital Devil Saga 1 the last couple of weeks and it’s a great game. It’s a bit on the difficult side and several times I’ve almost had my party wiped by a random group of monsters because I wasn’t paying attention to elemental strengths and weaknesses.
Just want to second this, although DDS 1 is rare now I believe or at least it was when I finally found it about a year ago.
Re: P4 vs P3, personality I think the story of P4 is more interesting and so far I think it is easier for someone new to the SMT series to get started with then P3. Still, P3 is pretty accessible compared to previous SMT games.
Darn out-of-print games. DDS is easy enough to find, but DDS2 is running $60 or more. Fingers crossed for a reprint cuz I’m not shelling out. There seems to be some hope considering they just reprinted DDS in July.