Dragon Quest VIII

Picked this one up on a used-games sale for 5 bucks and decided to put it in, named the protagonist "Gohan" haha. So far very enjoyable. The artstyle is great and I like how it does little details like the Hero actually grabbing books from shelves when reading them, pretty fancy. Combat so far isn't too complex, though I assume it will get more interesting later-on. I already like Psych Up and Intimidate, the latter allowing you to semi control how big or small you want random-encounters to be. Fun game!

Pirated this not long ago. Was planning on this or Suikoden 5 after FF12 and Shadow Hearts 3.

So far I can recommend it. I'm very happy about how 'gameplay focused' it is, the story isn't that complicated or gets in the way, there's a few cutscenes at the start but unlike some other RPGs I've played that take literal hours to get going, you're in the overworld completely free after like 5 minutes, ready to explore and have fun. Very refreshing.

Great game. One of my favorite PS2 RPGs.

Can you give me any notes or things to keep in mind/ a look out for?

I always heard DQ8 was considered the best.

Watched my brother play it for months.

Played 11 to 100% so I know I like the system.

Beat the first boss. Found out that Hero is immune to curse, so I had Yangus defend and use items to heal, while Hero did Psych Up to Tension50 and then attack. The boss was completely shut down by this, very cool to see!

Started today but couldn't get into it. Way too similar to DQ11 but lacking things like a visible skill tree or respec.

I think I might also be exhausted from JRPGs for now. I've played like 3 in a row and don't feel like starting from zero again right now. Need to play some action games for a while.

I can fully understand that sentiment, it's a very intense genre to play and I tend to save them for a rainy day. What action-game are you going to play, Astral?

Don't have my Switch yet. Recent lockdown prevented me from picking it up.

I'll have to have a look through my stuff. Might go with something I haven't played much or completed like Wild Guns Reloaded.

>notes
Honestly it’s been so long since I’ve played it that I don’t remember many specifics. I just remember liking boomerangs.

The 3ds version is better imo, being able to see enemies on the world map.
Kinda ugly though.

>boomerangs
If they're anything like in DQ11, they'll be good early game but crap later. They hit all enemies which makes them really good early. DQ11 had Erik with Divide which made them good forever. Don't know if 8 has anything like that.

The biggest thing I dislike about the game so far is the save-system. It's okay, but having to go to a church to save means I can't really just play whenever I want, but have to play my sessions more carefully, meaning I don't play nearly as much as I'd like.

Do you have Zoom yet? In DQ11 it teleported you to a save point.

It should be under the hero's non-weapon skill category. But I'd check a guide to be safe.

Needs points in a special skilltree I haven't invested in, going to dive into that a bit further!

>Suikoden V

If you do get around to trying this, please let me know what you think of it. I played S1 and S2, but didn't find them to be too great combat-wise (though to be fair I didn't use all of the playable characters. In the first two games you can recruit 108 characters, though I think about half of them were playable, but that's still a quite high number).

>One of my favorite PS2 RPGs

Got any recommendations for turn based games? I feel a bit disappointed on the fact that no RPG I've completed so far is better than FFV. Hopefully FF XII fixes this (doesn't have to be better than V, as long as it's great on its own merits), but would love to see if there's a quality non-FF game out there.

>3DS version is better

There is a 3DS version? Then I might pick up this game. I'm debating on whether to get Bravely Default (seen people say that it's just like Final Fantasy V, perhaps even better than it, but from what little I've read about it that doesn't seem to be the case. Then again, if that one is at least better than FF VI, I'd check it out) or this game. If I do end up picking DQ8, it would be my very first game in the series. Played a bit of one game that has the 'Akira Toriyama artstyle' (think it was Blue Dragon) but couldn't get into it. Hopefully this can keep me hooked.

>Suikoden V
Played it a few hours. So many unskippable scenes it's ridiculous.

I cheated and gave myself level 99. Status effects still wouldn't trigger on basic enemies. Characters started hitting multiple times in a single attack, some even jumping to another enemy in the same turn. This is without any special modifier. Just stats.

I read somewhere that Silence was useless against tougher casters. What's the point then? Here, have a spell that can't do what it's supposed to do. But have insanely strong physical attacks that cost nothing.

>108 characters
I doubt they're all unique.
I know that in V there are weapon classes. So a character will do better or worse depending on their position in the formation.

No interest in playing it further.

>turn based recommendations
Most I've played boil down to highest damage number simulators with trash status effects. I like Shadow Hearts 2 and 3.

>3DS
There 2 new characters, enemies on field, worse graphics, DLC that isn't available anymore, and I read about censorship but forgot the details.

>Blue Dragon
I completed this 100%. I think there's a topic here with my thoughts.

>Suikoden V
I like the story and lore in the game but the combat is a complete mess(though it has some good ideas). The game is overall the easiest thing I’ve ever played, some characters wipe the floor with the entire rest of the roster, physical attacks are insanely powerful, all of these characters yet there’s no post game, etc.

>108 characters
V also has this, but a huge number of the optional characters can only be recruited in a certain time frame. I tried to get some of them after beating the game and couldn’t recruit any of them. If you play it, use a guide.

>turn based RPGs
Almost anything SMT related(Persona 5 is great, but there’s a ton of story) and Shadow Hearts. Lost Odyssey was pretty good.

Got a bit further along, Jessica joined the party and ... she's pretty trash so far, probably has to be leveled. Game is pretty brutal if you don't grind, the second boss (kalamary) wasn't that easy at level 9, was a pretty tense fight using Psych Up with Yangus and defend/Heal with Gohan.

Birdman:

>unskippable cutscenes

Not entirely surprising. Most fans like the series because of the lore. Then again, devs should've had the foresight to give players the option to skip a scene they might have watched hundreds of times already.

Then again, I'm not sure if this specific game is one of those types that let you skip cutscenes after you've beaten the game at least once.

>hitting multiple times in a single attack at high levels

Sounds like the first two games. Doesn't seem like they've learned or tried to improve the combat, seems like their focus was indeed the story.

Also, if the EXP mechanics work as they do in Suikoden II, you could've easily hit level 99, but that required some knowledge. You could sometimes even recruit a character at Lv 99. That was obviously not intended.

Let me guess, being at max level allowed you to counter physical attacks constantly?

>highest damage number simulators with trash status effects

Have you played the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games yet? If I'm not mistaken, there's no 'trading' involved, so you can get anyone. At least, that was the case for the GBA and IIRC the DS games. There was one game on 3DS I couldn't finish, and in one of the missions you had to beat down someone that was 30 or so levels above what's expected for you to be at the time, and I'm pretty sure the fight wasn't possible unless you used status effects and probably fixed damage moves. The mission wasn't even classified as a very hard one, so take that as you will.

>Shadow Hearts

Heard of these games before, but didn't pay them any attention. Will look into them.

>Blue Dragon

You mean the one for 7th gen consoles, right? Sorry, I should've specified that I played an NDS title, and it was an Action RPG.

Infinity:

>like the story and lore

As I did with the PS1 games. But nowadays, I find myself caring less and less for video game stories (that said, Ace Attorney and Ghost Trick are two exceptions).

>easiest thing you've ever played

Being relatively underleveled means that the levels gained will be higher (hence why it's possible to achieve level 99 in the second game, and mind you, that was halfway into the game). But yes, physicals being strong sounds like a very 'Suikoden' thing.

>optional characters could only be recruited in a certain time frame

As is the case with Suikoden II (...again). But in this case, only a handful of them had this condition.

>if you play it, use a guide

I think one of the worst aspects in the PS1 games was the war minigame, where some of your characters could permanently die. Thing is, the war battles were RNG. I've had a 100% healthy unit be almost completely annihilated by another unit who was almost dead. And if you wanted to get the best ending, everyone had to be alive.

>SMT

Also heard good things about these. Which one is a good starting point, or should I go for release order?

Raeng:

>probably has to be leveled

...That doesn't sound good. Hopefully there's unlockable abilities that can make a difference in battle (and they're not locked behind levels). If this is anything like DBZ Buu's Fury (you HAVE to grind to destroy a door with a number in it indicating the minimum level you're supposed to have, otherwise you can't make any progress), I might skip this.

>Let me guess, being at max level allowed you to counter physical attacks constantly?
Yeah one or two characters of the 5 I had countered a lot.

>Blue Dragon
360 exclusive. Probably on X1 too. It's turn based.

>probably has to be leveled
From what I've read in DQ some characters are better with certain weapons. I read Jessica is best with the whip. Personally I don't give a shit and will play the weapon I like.

The scythe for Yangus sounded way more interesting than the others because of the instant death stuff but that effect usually doesn't work much in DQ11. Wouldn't be surprised if the case is the same here.

>Hopefully there's unlockable abilities that can make a difference in battle (and they're not locked behind levels)
When you level up you also get skill points. You can put them into a weapon category or the character's unique category.

To note, I was able to beat the boss with sound strategy, so that's a big plus. Just that it took some tries. I can imagine a lot of players just grinded to level 15 though.

> weapon skills
Saw that too yeah, I'm mostly going for what I want to have fun with. Jessica is going "Sex-appeal" which I find hilarious. Yangus is my axe-man and Gohan my sword-wielder.

Birdman:

>Blue Dragon
I see. I guess the fact that you completed it should mean something. I will take another look at your topic.

Raeng:

>beat the boss with sound strategy

That's great to know.

I probably wouldn't play it again. It was a solid turn based RPG though.

As usual status effects barely worked. I don't know why JRPG devs bother.

There were one or two interesting setups but nothing special. Nothing to make me play it again.

>wouldn't play it again

That's fair. If I find something that interests me somewhere in your notes, I'll decide on whether to give it a shot or not.

>status effects barely worked

Now I'm wondering, is there any JRPG that handles those well? I've been thinking of any other RPG I might have played that does, but I'm drawing a blank (besides maybe the Pokemon games). At most I can think of one Harry Potter game for the GBC. Never played it myself, but I recall that someone could stack Poison on the final boss. Not sure if I'm remembering correctly, or if there were any other status effects at all. Maybe FF's Stop equivalent was a thing. And perhaps you could use it along with Poison. I think Poison was either called 'Locomotor Mortis' or 'Mucus ad Nauseam', in case you want to look for more info.

Sometimes a status or two works ok. In my experience, from what I've played, they're mostly trash.

FF12 is pretty good. Everything can usually be affected by something. I had the Nihopalao accessory. It makes any healing items do the reverse. So if you use a Remedy on an enemy, is inflicts every status that a Remedy would normally heal. Most bosses and optional Espers could be hit by something. Very few times did I come across total immunity.

But compared to western RPGs, JRPGs don't stand a chance.

I did see a recent RPG call Cris Tales, not sure where it's from, but it has a time travel mechanic. You can transport and enemy to the past or future. So you could make them old or young. There's other stuff I read like poisoning an enemy, then send them to the future where the poison stacked over time and hits them all at once or something. Not sure I understood that right. Sounds like a lot of good ideas, but also feels like it's a one trick pony. Will look into it more later.

Final Fantasy allows status effects, usually, and Pokemon is the absolute master of it. Perhaps SMT, haven't played that one. So far DQ8 seems to allow it, especially debuffs like -defence seem to work even on bosses.

Not enough to rely on or build around.

I know about Pokemon but never liked the series. Not sure about SMT. In the one I played nothing worked. But that game had other mechanics I didn't like.

Ended up dropping this game, just couldn't put myself to play it for long stretches with everything going on currently and decided to play other games. Maybe another time!