The lesser roleplaying game thread

[Mik]

Obviously this thread won't be for your Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, Fallout, or Elder Scrolls needs, but I figured that it might be a good idea to have a thread for all of the smaller RPGs that people might be interested in. We seem to have a lot of RPG fans on this board, which is good.

Here are the two main on my radar that might not be super big hits right off the bat. I've mentioned both in other threads:

Dragon's Dogma.

Look at this:
http://kotaku.com/5805750/dragons-dogma-gameplay-footage-is-everything-you-wished-monster-hunter-was

Looks like one of the coolest battles I've seen in a game just about ever. Out early 2012. I think one of the main features of this game will be the huge monster/boss battles. I always enjoy those and I like the way they did it here.

Also...

Kingdoms of Amalur

http://kotaku.com/5809135/kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-looks-like-fable-for-grown+ups

Looks like Kotaku got this one right. Looks just like Fable in terms of color scheme and gameplay, but hopefully loses all of Fable's very bad habits, such as shitty endings and lack of solid quests.

Anyway, this could be a good spring board thread to point out RPGs that others might not be aware of. Outside of NCAA football and a few other minor games, that's all I play so I'm interested to hear.

 

[Mik]

Changed this from a Dragon's Dogma thread to this. Please add other games/suggestions.

 

[Black Lushus]

Have you played Monster Hunter Tri yet? (assuming you have a Wii) Fantastic game, however if you're not in to grinding, you may be turned off to it.

 

[Mik]

Just read up on it and it looks like I would enjoy it but I only have a 360, unfortunately.

 

[vivisectvi]

Mik, you should get a PS3, I want to play games with you.

Also: did anyone ever play Sacred 2? I picked it up on a recommendation, brand new, for $20. I haven't really gotten into it yet.. seems very Diablo'ish.

 

[Kageho]

Sacred 2 is alright. Its got technical bugs, character class fixation (mostly female based), lack of some character customization, but its a good game overall. If you don't have an RPG title up for grabs, and for $20, its okay. I'll warn you now, it isn't going to wow you though.

I'm holding off my money for Disgaea 4. ...yes, I'm a glutton for insane numbers, grinding till the cows come home, and being able to torture my own subordinates.

Dragon's Dogma looks like a Monster Hunterish game. I'm all for that as long as it doesn't require massive grinding. There's a difference between grinding to barely make a dent and grinding to make massive amounts of insane numbers. Its looking like it might be a good game.

Kingdoms of Amalur looks like a Fable clone graphically because its got a comic book artist overseeing the graphics. From what I've seen of the gameplay, magic actually looks like it'll be fun and I love that, and if the storyline is good, I'll be a happy man. Could be the surprise of 2012.

The only other game that I'm looking at is Tales of Xillia, but its Bamco doing it, so God knows when we'll get it.

 

[vivisectvi]

Honestly, every RPG I play or buy up until November 11th is just tiding me over until Skyrim.

The character classes in Sacred 2.. no kidding. I thought it was bizarre that you couldn't at least choose the gender of your character.

 

[Mik]

http://kotaku.com/5817877/these-dragons-dogma-screens-will-slay-your-eyes/

REALLY looking forward to this.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Mik, you should get a PS3, I want to play games with you.

pause

 

[vivisectvi]

How's the weather under that bridge?

 

[Mik]

Pre-ordered Dark Souls from Amazon today. Comes out in a few weeks.

Looks insanely good. Anyone else going to be playing this?

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Souls-Collectors-Xbox-360/dp/B00542ZR4I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315511253&sr=8-2

 

[Mik]

This game looks EPIC. Some of these monster battles look like they will blow me away. I love fighting giant creatures... I don't trust Capcom, really, but this looks so good.

http://kotaku.com/5840547/stab-giant-animals-in-the-face-in-dragons-dogma

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

Has anyone tried the fairly new PS3 RPG Record of Agarest War? It looks interesting, and I'm thinking about picking it up.

 

[Thoth]

Has anyone tried the fairly new PS3 RPG Record of Agarest War? It looks interesting, and I'm thinking about picking it up.

Wait, Record of Agarest War or Record of Agarest War Zero? Because the former is, like, 2 years old.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

Has anyone tried the fairly new PS3 RPG Record of Agarest War? It looks interesting, and I'm thinking about picking it up.

Wait, Record of Agarest War or Record of Agarest War Zero? Because the former is, like, 2 years old.

Whoops, I meant Zero.

 

[Kageho]

Zero is exactly like the original, only betterly done. Supposedly. I haven't gotten it yet. I plan on it though.

 

[FLAM]

Pre-ordered Dark Souls from Amazon today. Comes out in a few weeks.

Looks insanely good. Anyone else going to be playing this?

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Souls-Collectors-Xbox-360/dp/B00542ZR4I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315511253&sr=8-2

I will eventually but not anytime soon. I finally started playing Demon's Souls after putting it off for over a year. I'm at the 45 hour mark. Have no idea how close I am to the end. It's such a great game though.

 

[LPM]

I hate Demon's Souls so much. I can't believe I let my buddies con me into buying it for 70 bucks or whatever. You can't even give it away now.

 

[Mik]

That's what I'm worried about. People either love it or hate it. And I never played the first one. This is to be more of the same.

The kotaku reviewer died 12 times during the tutorial alone. I hope it doesn't wear me down.

 

[Mik]

This game just looks so cruel. Healing respawns all enemies. Enemies that can kill you in one shot right from the beginning? Just nuts.

http://kotaku.com/5842968/dark-souls-my-first-24-hours-in-hell

 

[FLAM]

Haha yikes. That sounds brutal. Definitely avoid carrying a lot of souls when you play it. Use them up to level up and buy necessary stuff as often as you can. Because dying and losing them all is the worst feeling. That's made me quit the first game for months at a time.

I finally finished Demon's Souls yesterday. 60+ hours at around level 84. Two years of playing on and off. I used a really cheap tactic to beat the second to last boss, but I don't feel to bad about it. Didn't feel like grinding another week to be able to tackle him. So relieved. Great game, but yeah, I'm done. Never even thought I'd end up beating this.

 

[Mik]

Reviews for Dark Souls are all stellar. Will be getting it tomorrow - can't wait.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

I'm gonna take a pass. Games that are so brutally hard have little appeal to me. Though, Mega Man 9 is so damned hard in places, it makes me laugh. When my friend's father passed away last week, after thethe funeral, he and I spent a better part of the afternoon playing MM9 and laughing about the absurd difficulty.

 

[Angle-plex]

I'm thinking of getting Dark Souls, but I'm not sure if I'll like it or not. Def sounds like a love or hate game.

 

[Mik]

Game is breaking me a little bit. I'm about 2 and 1/2 hours in and haven't gotten very far at all. I've died on the Undead Burg (the first area pretty much!) about 35 times already... only even MADE it to the boss once. Getting a little frustrated.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

I was at Gamestop the other afternoon when an angry parent returned her "spoiled son's" copy of Dark Souls with the reasoning that "it wasn't what he thought it would be". Im surprised the clerk let her return it, and swap it for Rage.

 

[Mik]

The makers of the game are such dicks.

I selected pyromancer so I can rock dual fire spells/axe. Sounded cool and a break from my traditional warrior. Oh wait, what's that? You need a catalyst to do magic? So I'm a neutered warrior for the first few hours? SWEET.

They also did the TOTAL DICK MOVE of making one of the beginning game perks look so much better than the rest (continually regenerate HP little by little)... surprise, surprise: it doesn't actually do that! They just wanted people to pick a worthless perk! Assholes!

All that said: I want to play so bad right now. It's that "one more mission" syndrome, except now it's "one more try, I think I got a little further that time."

 

[Mik]

Anybody else get Dark Souls?

I still haven't gotten very far because I haven't had large blocks of time to commit to it. I'm only really carving out small chunks at a time... very difficult, but very good.

 

[muzzington]

It sounds so intriguing that I might spring for it next week.

I wonder if there's (m)any "Hitler plays Dark Souls" vids on YouTube yet.

 

[Kageho]

I bought Dark Souls, but I haven't had a good stretch to play it. I've played maybe like 20 minutes of actual game. It was at this point I realized I'm not playing a RPG, but a fantasy action game that would require me to have more than just 20 minutes to play. Come Tuesday or Wednesday I'm giving this baby my full attention and love.

What class is everyone else playing? I'm kinda undecided. I just went in with whatever the first class is, but I'm not sure I want to continue with that class.