Xenosaga II

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

I mentioned this a couple of months ago and people were a tad skeptical that it was being released in Europe (finally). Well only another 28 days to wait and it's out in the shops. Comes with a mini movie (if you call 5 hours mini) of the events in X1 so you know whats going on. Dont expect it to be released with a huge fanfaire so you may have to look around a bit(PS2).

 

Some other stuff to look out for.

 

Lost in Blue - A charming little game about two young adults stranded together on an island. Survive, escape and interact with your companion. The ending depends on your relationship and what you managed to accomplish and how you managed to escape (DS)

 

Fire Emblem Path of Radiance. The GBA game gets a GC make over. All the elements are there, only this time in more detail. It's tough in places but worth it. The extra bells and whistles do make it slower to play than on the GBA though. Some of them can be turned off for increased speed.

 

On a similiar note, Fire Emblem Sacred Stones finally makes it over to these shores. (GBA).

[mkreku]

Fire Emblem Path of Radiance. The GBA game gets a GC make over. All the elements are there, only this time in more detail. It's tough in places but worth it. The extra bells and whistles do make it slower to play than on the GBA though. Some of them can be turned off for increased speed.

 

On a similiar note, Fire Emblem Sacred Stones finally makes it over to these shores. (GBA).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice to see Fire Emblem on the Gamecube! Now all I have to do is convince my friend who has a Gamecube to buy it so I can leech from him.

 

I did play the original Fire Emblem on the GBA. During the course of the game I managed to get half of my game companions killed so when I finally reached the last battle it was impossible to complete. That annoyed me.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

The death system in FireEmblem is a love/hate thing.

 

The GC version is probably easier than the GBA one, although stones is even easier if you take advantage of the leveling areas. It does remove the issue you had though, since it's possible to level up a new replacement relatively easily, where as that was a difficult thing to do in the first GBA release.

[Guest Fishboot]

I have to admit I find the perma-death pretty boring, because it forces you to play in this really annoying MMORPG-style where you "pull" small groups of enemies at a time and then methodically slaughter them without genuinely endangering any of your units. I wouldn't even get in fights where my units would die if they were double-criticalled - anything riskier than shooting fish in a barrell was right out. Nethack has the same effect on me.

 

I also really wish the support system was less stupid. I tend to just ignore it, as hammered with insufferable anime cliches as it is. Stand units next to each other? It's so inorganic and straightjacketed. I'd prefer that units gain support with each other just by being deployed in the same battles or similar.

 

Te be positive, the strategy gameplay and character design are very good.

Edited October 7, 2005 by Fishboot

[Nartwak]

Don't be a jackass Fishboot. It's your own sensibilities that force you to play the game safe.

 

Lost in Blue looks like a load of fun. Too bad I don't have a DS or the monies to puchase one. I love survival games.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Like I said , love/hate thing. Lots of people restart whenever someone dies, but its not as bad as some people make it out as long as you pay attention to the triangles and dont send flying units out unsupported as they become archer fodder. That said sometimes sending a flying unit will allow you to block a reinforcement point so its worth the risk.

 

There are so many reserve characters, that even with loses its pretty hard to get to the point where you cant continue.

 

Supports show the developing relationship of units that fight side by side over a long period of time. It's only artificial if your doing it for no other reason than to get a support otherwise its quite natural since the units are side by side anyway. When I first played I tended to keep people together according to how the story was playing out so got a lot of supports without even realising it.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Anyone who likes FireEmblem in principle but not the perma death bit, might like to check out Advance Wars. Personally I think it lacks the character of Fire Emblem and I never get attached to the units in the same way since you build them and they dont carry over. The CO's have a lot of character too, and there are probably more unit types and strategies.

[Guest Fishboot]

It's your own sensibilities that force you to play the game safe.

 

It's hard to force yourself to play inefficiently when supreme caution is the best strategy on all offensive and most defensive maps. It's not a role-playing game; I'm in it for the gameplay, not the immersion, and I want to win that gameplay . X-Com is mostly the same way, although luckily I didn't see through it when I originally played it so it still became a classic in my mind. For the defensive maps in FE where you have to move quickly you usually have one or two characters that have pulled away from the mean in terms of stats that can be sent out unreinforced without risk (aside from methodically checking every enemy unit on the board in case they have a *slayer weapon - they really need to put floating text over those guys) like a well-developed General.

 

As to support, I've played an entire game of the first GBA FE and only gotten C-supports even on the main characters you're forced to use in nearly every fight. I don't go out of my way to memorize who supports who or micromanage who is standing where as I work through a map, though.

 

 

 

I played a bit of Advance Wars, but it was a little dry for me.

Edited October 7, 2005 by Fishboot

[Musopticon?]

Advance Wars was so dry. So was the fantsy version for java mobiles. I usually like that kind of gameplay, micro-tactics and rock-paper-scissors-gameplay, but Advance Wars just reeked of "first try" and was boring. A pity.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Advance Wars was pretty easy but the lure of a perfect 300 kept me going for gameplay reasons for a while. Just picked up Advance Wars DS just now, swapped it for an extra copy of Nintendogs that got ordered by mistake.

 

There are a bunch of new features but nothing that radically alters the gameplay by the look of it and most of the units are the same.

[Haitoku]

Congratulations!

 

 

It's a good game indeed.

 

Just keep and open mind, and try to get angry when you see the graphic and battle changes (It's miles ahead of XS1/XG deathblow fest system). Unfortunately, the music for most dungeons leaves a lot to be desired... The Movie Scenes music is wonderful, but for some reason Ms. Yuki didn't do that In-game tunes... =(

 

 

XSE3 by the end of 06' Btw. ^_^d

[Oerwinde]

I bought Xenosaga 2 a couple months ago and started playing it and realized I had completely forgot what had happened at the end of Xenosaga 1, so I started replaying it and got to the end boss of that giant gnosis mothership thing, where that guy turns into the gnosis and remembered how much of a pain in the ass that freaking boss was. Then I got Suikoden 4 in the mail and started playing that. I should get back to it.

[Calax]

yeah... usually in these games I get stuck at some point in the arc... it gets psycotic how powerful the bad guys get..

[Judge Hades]

I like perma death.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

I like perma death.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Somehow that dosnt suprise me.