Amentep

I picked up KoA again...but I think I'm going to have to bow out. There's not much interesting going on and I feel like I'm just running around to a variety of points people point me to and killing monsters and repeating.

I loved replaying Chrono Trigger. I think I beat it about every three months. That said I've replayed Persona 3 and 4 a few times (although I still haven't finished P3 PSP).

I thought Tales of Vesperia was okay; I enjoyed playing it but once I finished it I didn't think I'd ever play it again. I might give Graces f a try.

Yeah the connection between the end of ME2 and where 3 picks up is just off. They never actually explain why Shepard is grounded (almost court martialed!) in ME3 assuming, I guess, the player played the downloadable content

When you say Megaten game, do you mean that it's mechanics are similar to the Persona games or is it actually part of the series? The mechanics are nothing like the Persona games (since its a puzzle game). However the main character, Vincent, appears in the Persona 3 PSP game and the demons/gods stuff is related to the MegaTen games as I understand it.

Catherine / Katherine is the Atlus game? It's tangentially a MegaTen game; not really a role-playing game but a platform/puzzle game. Also I'm stuck on one of the puzzles so I can't say how good the game is until I can get past it. EDIT:...and beat to the punch by a gazillion other posters.

I loved Suikoden I and II, but really hated Suikoden III. Skipped the series since then. I haven't played a Final Fantasy game since X-2; the MMORPGs sort of broke me of the need to try each game and subsequently none of the games have seemed all that interesting to me. In fact most of the Square/Enix oeuvre has been lacking to me; I haven't liked the new versions of the Star Ocean series, the Final Fantasy Tactics "sequels" or the Valkyrie Profile sequels (truly a crashing disappointment for me). I've never actually liked a Dragon Quest game; they seem like they'd be very much what I'd like as old school style JRPGs but I find them kinda bland. :/ The disappointment in the follow-ups for FFT makes me think I shouldn't hold out hope for a good Tactics Ogre follow up (although I suppose I should try to finish the remake at some point). Similarly the Breath of Fire series seems to have went off the rails to me after BoF2. Most of the NIS strategy games are a little TOO detail oriented for me; I got tired of having to earn experience and level up my characters, my characters' armor, my characters' weapons, my characters' magic spells and so on. And I really wanted to like Phantom Brave. As I mentioned in the other thread, I still have a soft spot for the MegaTen series and really enjoyed Persona 3 and 4. Looking forward to an anouncement on 5 and may buy a vita just to play Persona 4: The Golden. I loved Xenogears but throught Xenosaga to be dreadful. Sega destroyed the Shining series with their last editions; I was a huge fan of their earlier entries but the modern games seemed to be poorly thought out action games and not terribly fun or interesting. For whatever reason I haven't been able to get into the Fire Emblem series. I did like Nier, but never beat it as I found the combat a little too repetitive for me. Actually that may be part of my problem with a lot of JRPGs is my appreciation for grinding out levels has decreased over the years... I love the concept of Etrian Odyssey series - old school, Wizardry style games - but I have yet finish any of them.

They're JRPGs. Valkyria Chronicles is nothing like them, though. Dawn of War 2 has more RPG elements in multiplayer. The only customization VC has is what gun you equip them with and what upgrades you've researched. Hmmm, my memory of Valkria Chronicle was that there was more elements to the game than just the gun like a skill or class type or something but...I didn't like the game and played it only briefly some time ago so I'll chalk it up to being old and forgetful...

Weird; while they share a lot of similarities in themes and demons, I've tended to enjoy their stories personally (I particularly liked the Supernatural Detective stuff in the Raidou Kuzunoha series or the High School sim aspect of Persona 3 or Persona 4)

So Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Disgaea, La Pucelle Tactics, Phantom Brave, Rhapsody a Musical Adventure, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodoss, Shining Force 1, Shining Force II, Shining Force CD, Fire Emblem, Brigandine, et al are not JRPGs? Given that most of the early JRPGs mirrored games like Wizardry or Phantasie or other western RPGs do JRPGs really exist?

I actually don't get the appeal of Dark Souls to be honest. I mean it has its moments, but I suck at being patient in games I guess. I suppose I should get back to it; I only touched the surface. Looking over some of the other JRPG recommendations, I also didn't think Valkryia Chronicles was that good or well any Dragon Quest game. I did really like Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger. And Xenogears and Chrono Cross and Vagrant Story. I also liked Breath of Fire 1 & 2 (but 2 has one of the worst translations I've ever seen in a JRPG). And Valkyrie Profile and Final Fantasy Tactics. And Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. I liked Persona 1 & 2 at the time they came out, but I don't think their battle system has aged very well having played the recent PSP editions; I think I vastly prefer the battle system of Personal 3 & 4. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and the two Raidou Kuzunoha Devil Summoner games I enjoyed as well.

*snicker* I kid, I kid... I would probably like FPS if I wasn't old and my reaction time wasn't crap most games move so fast as to give me motion sickness I used to love Japanese Role-Playing Games but a lot of the recent ones haven't had the charms of the older games (also a lot of them got kinda over complex for me). I also have to confess as I get older I've grown to prefer creating my own characters which isn't something most JRPGs do. That said I still have a soft spot for the MegaTen games...

While I understand why it was hated, I liked Alien: Resurrection better than Alien3 (and better than ME3) The best part was that smug e-mail afterwards. "lol i beat u" when he actually had to resort to a gunship blowing away the floor. Worst BioWare villain ever, beating out even Melissan (the earliest example of BioWare cutscene retardedness). It was just...lame.

That would at least guarantee some of the greatest funky helmets in the history of mankind at our disposal!

I had that handgun that had the explosive adhesive rounds modded up to have a largish capacity and had Kai Ling strung up like a christmas tree with exploding adhesive proximity mines as ornaments. So suddenly finding that the end result of me facing an opponent who has half-a-dozen proximity mines exploding on their body was me losing a fight was a bit disappointing. I also gave up on my second play through of ME3 this weekend.

Seems a bit...silly as a plan.

I have to admit I couldn't help but wonder how much EA is to blame (or not blame). I never did understand multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 - other than the generic push for online play that companies seems to long for. But it seems to me if they wanted to do that sort of thing they'd have made a new game in the setting instead of shoe-horning it into a game that started as a single player experience.

Isn't Bambam using the wrong hand, though? Nimoy always used the right hand

Soul Calibur has been in development hell for some time. Sammo Hung was originally scheduled to direct it back in 2001. The rights eventually ended with another company which has so far not managed to do anything with them (thankfully as I seem to recall their take on the series was horrible).

Sadly I can't talk and exercise. I end up sitting on the equipment or slowing my walk and thinking more about the conversation than what I'm doing...

I liked Nier - I think it may be the last Square-Enix game I really liked (I just wish the combat had been better). But it had an interesting setting and characters and really tried, i think. Atlus' SMT games are always must buys for me and have been for years; but I also like a lot of the non-Atlus games they choose for localization as well.

I pretty much haven't liked Square-Enix's resurrection/sequels to titles of recent years. I hated the sequels to Final Fantasy Tactics and Valkyrie Profile, two PS1 favorites, so wouldn't expect to like a Vagrant Story 2 (and wasn't VS done by Yasumi Matsuno whose no longer at Square-Enix so any sequel would be devoid of his input?)

Laying groundwork for and properly motivating the ending is one thing; the end actually being a satisfactory conclusion is another altogether.

I wished they'd followed up on Vagrant's Story at the time (but its been so long since I played it, I only have the vaguest memories of it anymore).