[Retr0gamer]

Stayed up until 4 am last night only to be hit with final Boss difficulty spike syndrome in Xenoblade. Oh well at least levelling up makes a huge difference in this game so only think I have two levels to gain and there's tonnes of quests to level on.

Originally Posted by funky penguin

I noticed the Ys series on PSN a while ago, are they any good? Which is the best to start with?

They're all absolutely superb action RPGs. Blindingly fast paced and so much fun. Best to start with Ys Oath in Felghana or Ys Seven. Oath in Felghana is considered the absolute pinnacle of action RPGs by many. Ys Origins is worth picking up as well although the first game is a little obtuse, so much so they included a walkthrough with it.

[Retr0gamer]

So the final boss in Xenoblade is completed. I'm glad I took time to do some quests beforehand because there's a load of massive high level areas I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

Seems the team could go through the whole game without having a totally off the wall bananas ending like Xenogears and Xenosaga had. The big difference here though is that the ending in Xenoblade was deeply satisfying.

Overall it's got an amazing story, brilliant battle system and a huge and beautiful world to explore. In particular I loved the characters and how maturely they were handled. For example Shulk has visions of the future and people dying and throughout the game he tries to save them. However he can't save everyone. In your usual JRPG the character would do a Squall or Sephiroth and have some existential breakdown, which I've always found a bit silly and shatters the suspension of disbelief that they have real emotions. Shulk just gets on with it like any normal person as do the rest of the cast.

I really loved this game and I'd say that other than Dark Souls it's the best RPG of this console generation.

[Fergus_]

I picked up Dragon Quest IX from gamestop today, will give it a whack later on.

[penev10]

Originally Posted by Retr0gamer

So the final boss in Xenoblade is completed. I'm glad I took time to do some quests beforehand because there's a load of massive high level areas I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

Seems the team could go through the whole game without having a totally off the wall bananas ending like Xenogears and Xenosaga had. The big difference here though is that the ending in Xenoblade was deeply satisfying.

Overall it's got an amazing story, brilliant battle system and a huge and beautiful world to explore. In particular I loved the characters and how maturely they were handled. For example Shulk has visions of the future and people dying and throughout the game he tries to save them. However he can't save everyone. In your usual JRPG the character would do a Squall or Sephiroth and have some existential breakdown, which I've always found a bit silly and shatters the suspension of disbelief that they have real emotions. Shulk just gets on with it like any normal person as do the rest of the cast.

I really loved this game and I'd say that other than Dark Souls it's the best RPG of this console generation.

Must go back to Xenoblade, have heard nothing but gushing reports. Got about 30% through I reckon (area after the jungle, islands I think) but got bored.

The combat is engaging but became a rote of cooldown maintenance and in the chaos I didn't really feel I could impart much strategy. I tried other character combinations but the other characters felt very specialised and vulnerable. I'm sure I just haven't got "it" yet.

[manicmonoliths]

Recently finished Baten Kaitos Origins, so glad I decided to import it, it's a fantastic game. Improves on everything from the original, especially the voice acting. Combat is very different, much more fast paced and challenging, you get a great sense of achievement from pulling off a long combo. There are some annoying aspects, one part of the main story involves a lot of back tracking through a very tedious area and a lot of the side quests are glorified fetch quests. Difficulty can spike on occassion but nothing too frustrating though. Music is great as you'd expect from the first game and the vast bulk of it is new music, not that there's anything wrong with the remixed tracks from the original.

I'd highly recommend it to fans of the first game. Don't think we see many RPGs of this type these days. I'd also recommend the first game to those who haven't played it. The story of the prequel is much more meaningful if you're familiar with the story of the first game.

I really wish this series had more fans and sales. It'd be great to see another game in the series, but given that this game in particular was a major flop in the US, it seems unlikely. Monolith Soft seem to be gaining popularity after Xenoblade, so maybe there's a chance. Tri-Cresendo who were co-developers for Baten Kaitos don't seem to have done much since except Eternal Sonata which I personally found poor, could never really get past the annoying characters and repetitive combat.

[Retr0gamer]

I really loved the original Baiten Kaitos but it was a very long burner. It took me a while to fully understand the battle system and it only got interesting once your deck really expanded. Once it did though it was an amazing battle system.

[jaxdasher]

Playing Yakuza 4 at the moment, more of an RPG brawler like Shenmue but more adult. Love it.

[Retr0gamer]

Yakuza is defo an RPG, it just hides it very well. Sure it has random battles!

[jaxdasher]

Ive been looking up and down for Resonance of Fate. Anyone can help?

[megaten]

You should be able to get it off any popular site fairly cheaply.

[penev10]

Go to the last boss in Devil Survivor 2 last night. Disappointed that I'll definitely have to grind now if I want to beat the game as it's one of those marathon, keep-moving-the-goal-posts type battles that requires high HP/MP rather than any particular strategy.

It's a shame as I'd managed not to grind up until now, relying on adapting my party set-up for each battle. The grinding opportunities in the game are horrible as well. There are permanently available "Free Battles" but they always contain weaker enemies which give you feck all XP.

Starting to regret taking the hardest route now as I've a feeling this might've been a better choice for NG+.

[Sieghardt]

Playing Phantasy Star Online 2 right now, utterly amazing game, the combat is really good, better than nearly every action game I've played except Bayonetta and there's some brilliant ideas like the emergency interrupt events that I think will be copied by a lot of other games in the future

[elekid]

Originally Posted by Retr0gamer

I really loved this game and I'd say that other than Dark Souls it's the best RPG of this console generation.

Just finished Xenoblade and I couldn't agree more. I loved everything about it, especially the characters and the massive world. 140 hour of gameplay as well, I think I've been playing it for the last month and a half or so!

[Retr0gamer]

Back playing DQ9 again and loving it. Really like Dragon Quests storytelling where every town is it's own self contained drama.

[seraphimvc]

finished xenoblade and Last story lately. Two of the best jrpg I've played since ages!!

Personally i think xenoblade is chattered to younger players, alot of teenagers chattered elements in the game that i don't quite like them lol

Last story is more 'mature' and truly is the FF successor albeit i bet sagakuchi missed the old graphics team. The voice acting is horrible but luckily Zeal and Celista's voices are fine. I also suspect that the translation of the dialogue was hugely altered from the original. The modern english usage is really bothering me the whole game.

God damn i am so glad i have wii