Lulz.
That’s how every Saturn game is labeled in Japan. Japanese on one spine, English on the other. I don’t know why they did that but I really appreciate it.
5 Likes
So I kinda just went on a clicking spree and picked up a bunch of games. I didn’t spend a lot though since I had some unused coins, all the games but DQ1-3 were on sale or the games were very cheap to begin with.
Got DQ1-3
MetaGal: Mega Man love letter. BUT YOURE A GIRL!
Yodanji: a Yokai based Rouge-Like. I mainly bought it because it looked incredibly traditional. I hate Rogue-Likes/Lites these days try to just shove it with another genre. Fucking irritates the shit out of me.
GatoRoboto: Cat in a Mech suit.
Neferarious : “reverse” adventure game where you play the villain through multiple game genres trying to defeat the heroes. The art style is incredibly charming and oozes personality. Plus the premise seems neat. There was a game similar to it on the 3DS eShop but I can’t remember the name of it right now. Incredibly fun though.
3 Likes
There are some butthurt mofos out there over the Switch DQI-III releases being based on the mobile ports and not the NES originals.
Like I get it. Mobile RPG ports have a bad rep but the visuals for these games are not bad. Much better than some of the Final Fantasy mobile ports that’s for sure. This seems to be the biggest point of contention from what I gather. These ports have something over the NES games. Auto save is freaking awesome. Want to save in the NES DQI? March your anus back to the king from wherever you are and pray to God you don’t die on the way back. Yeah, you gotta do that in this version but you have more than one save option, which is freaking awesome.
No menu is needed to use stairs. I didn’t play DQ until 1996 and even then fact that you had to stop and select stairs on the menu seemed highly outdated to me.
The updated translations are very welcomed. Half the fun of exploring a town is talking to townsfolk and finding out what new retro speak they are going to lay on me. I got to my second town after a bit of grinding, talking to a bard expecting him to perform a mid evil jam and this dude lats out a guitar riff. Made me chuckle.
Stuart ia the DQ buff so he can probably tell if the music is midi or orchestral. Either way, I’m fine with the arrangements I’m hearing in DQ.
2 Likes
DQ is the reason I am into RPGs. To tell you what kind of fossil I am, I got a free copy of Dragon Warrior with a subscription to Nintendo Power. Yeah I started playing Dragon Quest when it was localized as Dragon Warrior. It was a wrap for me and my brother. Then I got Dragon Warrior 2, Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star 2, etc.
Side note: I didn’t get play Phantasy Star 1 until much later. I tried to find it for my Mastergear converter for Game Gear but that was the one Master System title no one would part with. When did play it, I was surprised at how modern it was. Phantasy Star 1 does not get enough credit IMO. It smokes the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games of the same era. It’s an 8-bit RPG that smokes most 16-bit ones.
5 Likes
What’s your favorite RPG or JRPG?
3 Likes
The mobile ports are great. For the reasons you listed and more the mobile versions in a lot of ways are superior and the “definitive” version of certain titles.
Graphics overhaul? Nice.
Non-Butchered translations? Nice.
Auto-Save? Nice.
Not having a menu option for fucking stairs? Nice.
Cleaner UI’s? Nice.
Better AI and not as intense difficulty curve? Nice.
Adding features and mechanics that were removed from localizations? Nice.
So much more!
Same. The chronicles of Spanky from my childhood will be remembered.
1 Like
Speaking of RPGs, SaGa Scarlet Grace is set be released December 3rd. Until then, I’ll buy Romancing SaGa 2. The series is good overall.
Of all time? I would need time to think about that. I’ve played and completed a ton of them. Not sure I could single out just one. I maybe able to narrow it done by console or generation.
My favorite RPGs are from the SNES era. FF6 and Chrono Trigger are definitely up there.
1 Like
FF6 is the technically superior game but I always preferred FF4. I cannot begin to remember how many times I finished that one.
4 Likes
Idk if I could ever answer this, tbh. I could probably name my favorite title from X l series or what my favorite series is over all. But I could never name my #1 favorite.
I can name some of my favorites off the top of my head though. These are in no order btw.
Radiata Stories (PS2)
Ni No Kuni (PS4)
Lost Odyssey (360)
Blue Drago (360)
Eternal Sonata (PS3)
Child of Light (Various Consoles)
Earth Bound (SNES)
Super Paper Mario (Wii)
Chrono Trigger (DS version)
DQ8 (3DS)
Dragon Quest Monsters 2 (GBC)
Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (Nintendo DS)
Legend of Legaia (PSX)
Final Fantasy 4 (PSP Version with After Years)
Final Fantasy 9 (PSX)
Final Fantasy X (International ver.)
Final Fantasy X-2 (International ver.)
Project X Zone 2 (3DS)
Golden Sun (GBA)
Golden Sun The Lost Age (GBA)
Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga (3DS)
Mario and Luigi Bowsers Inside Story (3DS)
Star Ocean Second Story (PSX)
Vanguard Bandits (very obscure PSX SRPG)
Kingdom Hearts 2 (Final Mix ver.)
Brave Fencer Musashi (PSX)
Jade Cocoon (PSX)
Digimon World 2 (PSX)
Digimon World Dawn/Dusk (DS)
DBZ Attack of the Saiyans (DS)
Breath of Fire II (SNES)
Breath of Fire IV (PSX)
Lufia II (SNES)
4 Likes
Honestly the way people talk about 7 being over rated is exactly how I feel about 6. I just do not like that game very much, no where near as much as other people seem to. 4 is one of my favorites tho.
4 Likes
For me, FFVI is a tale of two games. The World of Balance which I find exceptional and The World of Ruin just seemed to drag. It is the reason I prefer FFIV. Both games have great characters. While IV builds throughout the game to a climax, VI peaks early and drags on for too long. I remember I had gotten to a point in which I’d start my game over at the conclusion of the WoB.
My main issue with VI is that it has such a big but overall uninteresting cast. Pretty much every character bores me to tears.
OST slaps tho.
1 Like
Yea I’m not to big on most of VIs characters either which is what I love about 4. I really like it’s cast over all. My only real complaints woth 4 when it comes to characters is a mostly unwillingness to commit to killing so much of its cast. Palim and Porums sacrifice was amazing back in the Day only to be undone. Not a HUGE deal, but does impact the narratives weight a bit since they do it so much, almost start to feel Dragonball-ish.
2 Likes
The not wanting to commit to death and Kain’s constant flip flopping are my only complaints.
The twins went out like a boss
Yang definitely went out like the a champ.
Cid went out like a boss too.
Even that spoony bard, Edward has a great moment.
Tellah was the only one that died.
Rydia and Kain’s made sense since they were ambiguous. The others should have died tho.
3 Likes
Yea Rydia and Kain where fine. I never thought for a second they killed a child lol.
Rydia is one of my favorite FF characters.
3 Likes
Same. She’s such a bad ass. She’s one of the reasons why summoners are one of my favorite FF/JRPG classes.
3 Likes
LOTO is at level 10 in Dragon Quest and I’m at a place where I can do some good grinding for cash/exp. I went to this one town and saw a dude laying in the inn saying something about puff-puff. I go over to the pool and ask for a puff-puff, completely forgetting about what that is since I read og Dragon Ball. Screen goea black and puff puff puff puff puff city. I’m left staring at the screen, knowing full well this was cut in the NES version.
3 Likes
haha, it’s funny to me how I’m so far on the opposite end of how that experience left an impression— I also got Dragon Warrior for free, “thanks” to my Nintendo Power subscription at the time…and I despised it. 
One good thing I could say about it was the music; I enjoyed that at least…and I like some of the enemy creature designs in that series…but yeah that was my first introduction to “turn-based combat” in video games, and I thought it was some sort of awful joke…like an April Fools’ gag, y’know. Actually I can’t remember if my old friend back then had it too by way of being a NP subscriber, but we had some good laughs about what a strange, incredibly unappealing thing the turn-based style of combat is.
Fast forward to Phantasy Star—naturally I didn’t care about that franchise until it became “PSO” on Dreamcast and dropped the usual turn-based combat.
sheeeeittttt, back to more Marvel… I got a level 51 Hulk that is an absolute monster at this point, and of course Blade has recently joined the squad… this is delicious, as Bison would say.