Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

(08-22-2016, 01:51 PM)Shonumi Wrote: [ -> ]It's like $25-$30 for the PS1 Greatest Hits version on eBay in the USA. I guess the PAL version was rarer? I like to have the originals for PS1 games, unless it's something crazy expensive (looking at you, Valkyrie Profile...)

You lucky Americans. I suppose it was. I agree, owning the games physically feels better.

The Greatest Hits version doesn't have any art on the CD's though like this.

Quote:It's not obnoxious in the Bravely series, unlike in other games. You can go wrong with chibi styles pretty quickly, but Default really grew on me. It's mainly just the 4 heroes you control that look like that. Everyone else has non-chibi proportions, and the character designs for NPCs are quite charming actually. There's a brief CGI video that plays in Second done in a 3D anime style (think a Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts opening), and it just looks... weird, probably because it looks nothing like the game

Heh, CGI rarely resembles the actual game. I can't wait to actually be able to play games at that level of fidelity. Good global illumination etc would be a nice step towards it.

Quote:I bought Tales of Zestiria last year, and I still haven't been able to finish it. I dunno, it was just so mediocre in terms of plot, character dev. and gameplay. And the final boss requires some hit-stun gimmick that I can't figure out. Why can't I just hit him until he dies?

Ouch that doesn't bode well. Got it on Steam and was about to start this one.

Quote:I mentioned that I beat Threads of Fate for the PS1, right? Great little gem. Quirky, but it's a solid game from the people who brought us Brave Fencer Musashi. I think I need to clear out my GBA backlog though (Sword of Mana, Yggdra Union, Fire Emblem, and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones).

Threads of Fate is amazing. Played it when I was young, but never beat it. Same for Musashi. These are the hidden gems.

Quote:Yeah, when I played Dragon Warrior I, I was all like "Awesome! No directions or instructions; this is like an open-world design in an NES game! Let's go exploring and see what we can do!" I can appreciate the freedom that game gives you, but it quickly becomes a drag when some of your objectives as literally invisible (basically tap A here on this tile that looks exactly like every other tile). It's not such a problem today; I just looked up strategy guides and maps on my phone. But back in the 80s and 90s, I guess you really, really needed Nintendo Power in those days.

Lol that's what's impressive about the old days and the guides my dad made. I have no idea how he figured out these things.

I've been meaning to start getting into the Fire Emblem series, but there's so many games!

Garteal Wrote:The Greatest Hits version doesn't have any art on the CD's though like this.

Those look pretty nice actually! There doesn't seem to be a major price difference on eBay for the so-called "black label" and the Greatest Hits. Think I'll go for a black label if I can then

Garteal Wrote:Heh, CGI rarely resembles the actual game. I can't wait to actually be able to play games at that level of fidelity. Good global illumination etc would be a nice step towards it.

I remember playing Star Ocean 4 (first time owning an HDTV) and I was blown away by the style. I think, however, most games need to do more than just reach that level of graphics. One thing that kind of bothers me is that some games don't have a lot of animation in their character models (outside of battle) and I remember some of the gestures and movements looking stiff. It kind of made me feel like I was just playing with 3D dolls in a way.

Another thing that bothers me (particularly in the video I linked to) is the lips on models. I dunno, they seem overly (or rather oddly?) emphasized on some models. Too much bishonen and bishoujo for me, like they're always ready to kiss or something. Other games avoided both problems entirely. I think the past few Final Fantasy games did that quite well. Here's hoping FF15 goes in the right direction.

Garteal Wrote:Ouch that doesn't bode well. Got it on Steam and was about to start this one.

It's not a bad game, it's just too much of an average game for me to finish at the moment. The battle system is okay, but most times I just found myself using that fusion ability where you and another teammate join as one (and become more than a little OP). Sucks that you don't get to select a large number of attacks when you go into battle (you get like 4 slots, like the old Tales of games, plus some extras for other teammates + fusion modes, I think). It's a far cry from Xillia, which finally let you go crazy with 16 mappable moves, or even Vesperia and Abyss with 8.

Storywise, it's not something you'll find yourself engrossed in. It does alright, gets you from point A to point B with some interesting bits in between, but it won't win any awards. Don't get too attached to some characters in your party. Some of them (not going to spoil it for you) are literally not important to the story after a certain part (because they're not with your party, like ever again...) Some of the personalities fall flat. Zaveid and Rose are cool, Liliah's alright, everyone else is I don't care. When you play it, you'll see what I'm talking about when I say Rose should have been the main character. She totally has more going for her than Sorey.

Final complaint, there are a crap-ton of options. From upgrading weapons, to skills, to adding bonuses in battle, to pulling off "Secret artes" and comboing arts... It's actually pretty overwhelming. The game only spares a few fleeting moments of "on-screen" dialog boxes that tries to explain a lot without really being helpful. I know the whole trend these days is to not provide printed manuals, but really, for all the genres out there, RPGs are probably the one type of game that require manuals of some sort. At least give me a downloadable PDF. That doesn't use any paper, and I can look at it on my phone...

Alright... I'm done ranting *sigh*

Garteal Wrote:Threads of Fate is amazing. Played it when I was young, but never beat it. Same for Musashi. These are the hidden gems.

I would always go to Target stores and head straight for Electronics to play the demos. One day (waaay back, in like 2000), I happened to play this demo. I thought the game was cool, so I told myself to never forget the title so I could buy it later some. Got it last year from Game Stop (with an old gift card, so it was basically free).

Garteal Wrote:I've been meaning to start getting into the Fire Emblem series, but there's so many games!

For my last birthday, I got Awakening. Still haven't played it. It's still sealed. My backlog prevents me from even touching it until next year, probably...

Just got Dragon Quest heroes. Not a traditional DQ game, buts it's still pretty fun and has some interesting mechanics.

(08-23-2016, 12:23 PM)Shonumi Wrote: [ -> ]It's not a bad game, it's just too much of an average game for me to finish at the moment. The battle system is okay, but most times I just found myself using that fusion ability where you and another teammate join as one (and become more than a little OP). Sucks that you don't get to select a large number of attacks when you go into battle (you get like 4 slots, like the old Tales of games, plus some extras for other teammates + fusion modes, I think). It's a far cry from Xillia, which finally let you go crazy with 16 mappable moves, or even Vesperia and Abyss with 8.

Ooh then as someone who's basically going from Symphonia -> Abyss -> Zestiria, it should be pretty amazing actually.

Quote:Storywise, it's not something you'll find yourself engrossed in. It does alright, gets you from point A to point B with some interesting bits in between, but it won't win any awards.

D-did you just describe every rpg in existence? ;p

Quote:Don't get too attached to some characters in your party. Some of them (not going to spoil it for you) are literally not important to the story after a certain part (because they're not with your party, like ever again...) Some of the personalities fall flat. Zaveid and Rose are cool, Liliah's alright, everyone else is I don't care. When you play it, you'll see what I'm talking about when I say Rose should have been the main character. She totally has more going for her than Sorey.

Heh, I'll come back to this one. It'd be nice to compare my experience to yours.

Quote:Final complaint, there are a crap-ton of options. From upgrading weapons, to skills, to adding bonuses in battle, to pulling off "Secret artes" and comboing arts... It's actually pretty overwhelming. The game only spares a few fleeting moments of "on-screen" dialog boxes that tries to explain a lot without really being helpful. I know the whole trend these days is to not provide printed manuals, but really, for all the genres out there, RPGs are probably the one type of game that require manuals of some sort. At least give me a downloadable PDF. That doesn't use any paper, and I can look at it on my phone...

That actually sounds pretty nice. I mean they actually spent some time in increasing the (re)playability in some way.
But I rarely ever make use of these kinda content, even if I try to (like the gem crafting in Xenoblade). But if it's implemented nicely then who knows.

What system did you play this on btw?

(08-23-2016, 01:40 PM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]Just got Dragon Quest heroes. Not a traditional DQ game, buts it's still pretty fun and has some interesting mechanics.

but
The one that's also on Steam? Oh I see it's a Koei developed game, so it's probably a hack-n-slash title. No wonder it's still €50.

(08-24-2016, 04:55 AM)Garteal Wrote: [ -> ]...
but
The one that's also on Steam? Oh I see it's a Koei developed game, so it's probably a hack-n-slash title. No wonder it's still €50.

Think Hyrule Warriors with Dragon Quest. It's pretty fun.

(08-24-2016, 05:57 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]Think Hyrule Warriors with Dragon Quest. It's pretty fun.

Uhh, you mean Dynasty Warriors?

Dat random 'but'. No idea how it came there.

But Hyrule Warriors is a Zelda-themed Dynasty Warriors. It was fun.

This. In case it passed under your radar.

(08-24-2016, 07:20 AM)Garteal Wrote: [ -> ]But Hyrule Warriors is a Zelda-themed Dynasty Warriors.

Exactly

Garteal Wrote:Ooh then as someone who's basically going from Symphonia -> Abyss -> Zestiria, it should be pretty amazing actually.

Zestiria is an upgrade from Symphonia in terms of battle, but definitely a downgrade from Abyss, at least in my opinion. At least Abyss of the 3DS allowed you to play with 8 moves, and the Field of Fonons really worked for me. Maybe when Citra becomes more stable, the 3DS version will become the definitive version to emulate (no loading times). It's okay, but believe me, chaining interesting combos of artes in Zestiria a pain. And most of the time, you'll find yourself going straight into teammate fusion and spamming the same attack. For example, Mikleo or Liliah's fusions are both OP; you can underequip all your characters for essentially the entire game (I barely bought any new armor or weapons, not even up to the final boss) as long as you can manage HP and keep everyone alive. Amazing isn't the word I'd use, even for someone coming from older Tales games.

Garteal Wrote:D-did you just describe every rpg in existence? ;p

Some games have plots that stick with you. Some journeys are memorable and timeless. Zestiria is not one of them. I literally couldn't care less about what was going on. Rose is the only redeeming point of interest. She's cool as fuck, and she's not even the MC

Garteal Wrote:That actually sounds pretty nice. I mean they actually spent some time in increasing the (re)playability in some way.
But I rarely ever make use of these kinda content, even if I try to (like the gem crafting in Xenoblade). But if it's implemented nicely then who knows.

I genuinely like stat-enhancing my items or crafting stuff. In most Star Ocean games, you have to do that to get any sort of equipment to survive post-game boss battles. I spent hours making the perfect armors in Star Ocean 3. SO3's system was very complicated, but I found myself enjoying it. And then there's Disgaea's method of enhancing items (always a blast). Zestiria's isn't on the same level of complexity, but the game didn't explain it well enough to me, so I said "forget this, I'll just hit monsters until they die..." It's not worth the time trying to figure it out on my own if it doesn't help me in battle (and as I said above, I had sub-standard armor + weapons on everyone for most of the game with no apparent difficulty...)

Garteal Wrote:What system did you play this on btw?

PS3. It's the only viable way I can play it. There's no reason for me to buy an 8th gen console. Wii U has a poor library save for Super Mario 3D World, MK8, and Xenoblade Chronicles. I'll pass and see if I can find a Wii U for cheap some day in the future. PS4 has no games I like. Xbone has no games I like (except for Halo). I don't do Steam, at all. I'm basically all about collecting older games I never had the chance to buy and increasing my 3DS library. Maybe next console gen, but this gen is flat-out boring me.

Final Fantasy Tactics
Persona 4 Golden
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VI
Seiken Densetsu 3

Best RPGS ever in my opinion.