THE ULTIMATE RPG PROJECT

Double post, but who cares.

YS 2 - THE FINAL CHAPTER COMPLETED

Let me just first say...

BEST GAME YET!

...with the conclusion out of the way, let me talk about the reasons why.

I'm choosing to see this game together with Ys 1, as they were meant to be. But first, I'll talk about the differences between Ys 1 and 2.

Ys 2 introduces a harder battle-system, complete with magic. Yet, you only get one "real" battle-spell, which is a simple fireball-spell. The others have other uses, and are all very useful. Especially useful is the Teleport-spell, which allows you to travel between certain rest-areas in the game.

Now, this is important. Because the world of Ys 2 is much bigger than Ys 1, and much more interesting to explore. Many more interesting areas, ways of exploration and many monsters.

And BTW monsters, Ys 2 introduces something that's very special at this point in RPG history. When you get a certain spell, you can talk to monsters, and you learn that all of them are named. This becomes very important later, and it lifts the game up from so many other run-of-the-mill ARPGs.

Items and puzzles are not changed much, and Ys 2 plays much like Ys 1. Though for DS-players, I greatly recommend using the Standard Controls, as the monsters are not so easy that they'll allow you to use Touch-Screen Controls as they did in Ys 1. Dungeons are greatly more complex and bosses are even harder, which fits nicely with how it follows after Ys 2. Also, most of the puzzles are quite inventive, considering its age.

Music has not changed much either, though that only means that the new tracks are just as high quality as they were in Ys 1.

And now, what I consider the most important part. In my review of Ys 1, I said it felt more like a fantasy novel than an RPG. And this goes double for Ys 2. What started out as such a simple, almost cliché beginning, turns into a great and truly captivating story with well-thought out characters that really help drive the story.

Talking about the story for Ys 2 is a big spoiler for Ys 1, so I will not go into detail. However, Ys 2 does the same as Ys 1 with a good cast of interesting and well-fleshed out NPCs and builds upon it a great world. At the end where all the loose ends from Ys 1 and 2 were tied together, I was truly amazed by all the subtle lead-ups, the quiet symbolism and the truly high-quality background plot that had been building up all around me without me noticing. Suddenly, it all reached a tremendous apex, leading to a truly magnificent conclusion.

I could go on about how this game confused me, amazed me, saddened me, angered me and filled me with a happy feeling of content and satisfaction...but I won't. Instead, I will note that the subtle and quite emotional story-telling fits beautifully in with the Action-RPG gameplay. The fast and thrilling pace that I complimented Ys 1 on is never lost, and not once is satisfactory gameplay sacrificed at the hands of storytelling. This is a rare mix that in my experience few modern games manage to produce.

...I feel I should criticize Ys 1&2 on repetitive combat, hard-to-find equipment and a confusing final dungeon with lots of back-tracking, but...

...in the end, I just can't. I'm not a professional game-reviewer, I don't have to.

I think I might even give the Steam-version a go some day, so that I can see it all in even greater graphical splendour.

FINAL SCORE: 10/10

im at about the penultimate boss if ys1, and id just like to say...

...the final dungeon in ys 1 is awesome.

it has a nice, active feel to it, with multiple characters appearing and moving about and helping you as you progress. also, kickass music and relatively fun boss fights in comparison to the mine's boss.

finished ys1!

final boss was painful >.< my thumbs...

edited 16th Feb '13 10:05:39 AM by Tarsen

Final Fantasy I and II finally arrived. I'm kind late however I'm going to continue the project right now . After Final Fantasy I, I'll probably go to Ys I and II and then, back to Final Fantasy II.

EDIT: Just got the ship. PSP version graphics are much better and the sprites are quiet larger. The orchestral music is glorious and the battles flows fast. Only problem is that it's too easy.

edited 21st Feb '13 8:48:14 AM by Steendy

I'm just before the final dungeon, clocking in about 13 hours... what short game. Fortunately, I have 4 bonus dungeons ahead of me.

EDIT: Done with the game. Is anyone still alive?

edited 26th Feb '13 8:41:43 AM by Steendy

Can I please move on to FFII? DQII and Bard's Tale are boring my mind out of my skull.

Of course... Don't know why you are still playing them if it's that boring. The only game left for me from 1987 is Ys, I've skipped Bard's Tale too (Well, I tried)

edited 26th Feb '13 5:39:29 PM by Steendy

Well, because I was waiting for you to finish 1987. Besides, DQII was supposed to be a good game (at least, judging by its popularity), so I wanted to finish it.

But thanks, then I'll proceed to FFII! See you in 1988!

edited 26th Feb '13 9:42:21 PM by Lemurian

It is a good game, better than the first if you ask me. Only problem is that it gets tiring towards the middle-end.

Well, it looks like it's the only the 4 of us now (Me,Lemurian,Tarsen and Razgriz). If you are not on this list, prove me wrong by posting your progress

Now, I'm deciding between Ys I or Final Fantasy II. What you think?

ys1.

Definitely Ys 1.

Well... It seems like everyone is starting FF 2 so I'll leave Ys for later (Everyone already played it). Enter the chat and let's play FF 2 together (Actually I think I'll play both of them at the same time)

Well, okay. But only if you promise to check it out.

THE DOUBLE POST BUMP!

FINAL FANTASY II - COMPLETE

Well, what to say? The sequel to the wonder that was Final Fantasy is one of the less favoured games in the grand series. Is this because FFII is so bad, or because the others are so good?

...kind of a mix of both.

Storywise, FFII is decent. The background plot is active, but not particularly deep. Though, the endgame twists are among the most inventive of what we've experienced so far, but the ending is not particularly strong. The characters are also not very strong. A main party with changing party-members brings some variety to the story-telling, and enables several powerful scenes. However, the characters themselves have very little personality. Of course, it's some more personality than most RPG-characters at this point in time, but it's nowhere near, say, Ys.

Now...the gameplay. Probably the thing that most gamers remember from this game is the very strange levelling-system; weapon skills, magic spells, hit points, evasion, magic points...everything has to be levelled separately from 1. Now, this is innovative and leaves you open to specialize the characters the way you want, but it's not very convenient, and a lot of spells require a LOT of grinding before they become useful.

The difficulty requires a special mention. Unless you powergame, overlevel or exploit the fact that the best way of training is to have the party-members attack eachother, the difficulty spikes and sudden introductions of certain killer monsters will provide several nasty surprises. The game loves dousing you with different volatile status effects. The difficulty carries over to most bosses, and particularly the Final Boss is an absolute nightmare...unless you use a special weapon that makes the battle a joke.

The music does not have the best tracks in the Final Fantasy-series, but it still has some underrated gems, like the Overworld-theme and the Final Dungeon theme. The areas are well-designed and wonderfully varied, which is an area where the Final Fantasy-series at this point in time is leaps and bounds in front of the other series.

Also, the GBA-remake gets a special mention for introducing a special post-game feature that expands upon then original story. I'm going to start playing that now.

In summary, Final Fantasy II is a game that suffers from certain design flaws that can both make the game difficult and clunky...or exploited to the point of hilariousness. On all other areas, however, it's a good game and a decent entry in the series.

Score: 7.5/10

Now then, time for the rest of 1988. I'm playing Dragon Quest III on the SNES and I'll also be watching a Let's Play of Wasteland.

edited 11th Mar '13 11:58:39 AM by Lemurian

I'm on a boat! This time in Dragon Quest 3. Having tons of fun with this game.

How about everyone else? What are you playing and how is it going? This topic and the chat are so quiet, I'm feeling lonely.

i have recently been distracted (no surprise there) with fallout new vegas and skyrim.

but i have gotten back to one game in particular: ys 2.

i have access to ff2...but i find it hard to get into it. so im still at the start.

*opens an old, creaky door, dusts away the cobwebs, wipes the dust of a podium and clears his throat*

Makai Toshi SaGa - The Final Fantasy Legend COMPLETED

Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be in 1988, finishing Dragon Quest III (awesome game, BTW). But I wanted a break from playing the same game for a while (as you know, I've got serious game ADD). So, I decided to take this one out for a spin. Just on a whim. Y'know, try something new.

...took me about a week to finish. Not surprising, considering it's a Gameboy game and, y'know, savestates.

Anyway! Game completed! And this one was a real treat!

Let me just say right away that this is a very special game.

The setting is a Tower. A Tower in the Centre of the World, which connects the world of mortals with Paradise. By scaling the tower, you can visit strange and mystical worlds, and many have tried to reach the top of the tower, but to no avail. Meanwhile, dreadful Fiends terrorize the worlds that the Tower connects, lead by the evil Archfiend Ashura.

You play a group of heroes that start out on Floor One (and World 1) and scale the tower. Along the way, you have to defeat the Fiends and liberate the worlds under their thrall to get the Spheres that are necessary to unlock the doors blocking your passage up the tower.

So let's get adventuring!

The gameplay is pretty complicated. You form a four character party from three different species: humans, mutants and monsters. Humans get to wear lots of equipment and can boost their stats with items. Monsters can change shapes by eating the flesh of other monsters (which randomly drops after battle). And mutants steal random magical skills off of monsters and can cast magic. Oh, and humans and mutants come in both male and female variants.

To simplify things, I played with an all-human female human team because the random skills with mutants were hard to control and figuring out how Monsters transformed was very complicated (involving charts and formulas and stuff). But I hear that playing with the other races can be very rewarding, and is probably fun once you get the hang of things.

Because this really is a game where you start having fun when you get the hang of it. Sure, it can be hard figuring out if the weapon you're using is utilizing Agility or Strength to calculate damage and the monsters love to suddenly overwhelm you with superior numbers and beat the crap out of you. But when you learn how to get stronger, what weapons to use and what strategy to use to get around, it becomes really, really fun!

I talked about the setting before, and the world of The Final Fantasy Legend (a title added for the North American launch to build hype; it really has nothing to do with Final Fantasy) is surprisingly rich in personality and emotion despite the heavy graphical limitations. The dialogue is very well written when it wants to be, the short cutscenes can get very emotional and even the An Adventurer Is You Player Characters are just brimming with personality (which surprised me, because I expected them to be blank slates). The worlds you visit (four main worlds a few sideworlds) are all very distinct and have their own "feel" to them, and travelling from a standard fantasy setting to a post-apocalyptic modern world with hoverbikes makes sure that the game never feels stale (well, except from the necessary grinding breaks). The storytelling and atmosphere through-out the game is just incredible, and the ending is really something.

All of this is helped by an absolutely excellent soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu himself. From catchy overworld-themes, heart-wrenching sad themes, the imposing boss battle themes and the mysterious and boding Tower-theme, it's an absolute feast for the ears to everyone who's got a soft spot for the Gameboy sound-chip.

(Do I hear a spot of Final Fantasy VII in the opening there?)

It's not perfect. The gameplay is very complicated and hard to figure out (even with a guide). The Fire Emblem-like weapon degradation is annoying and makes grinding tiresome. The difficulty-spikes will screw you over more than once, and I can guarantee you're going to find yourself reloading an older savestate. It's also a somewhat "one-track" game: grind, progress, grind, progress. Oh, and if you know the right tricks, you can do a lot of "cheap" moves like one-shot the final bosses or use the final, super-powerful weapons a lot more times than they're used to.

But if you can get past that, The Final Fantasy Legend can give you a great adventure with plenty of exciting challenges and emotional highs and lows, all accompanied by a unique atmosphere.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

I'll return to Dragon Quest III now. I'm almost done with it, and I'll post my thoughts soon. Otherwise, I just finished watching a Let's Play of Wasteland (another fun, but complicated game) and I'm watching a Let's Play of Might And Magic 2: Gates To Another World (also complicated, but not as fun-looking). I've also got a Let's Play of Ultima IV and V (and VI) waiting. Once I'm done with DQIII, I'll probably try out Wizardry V on the SNES. Oh, and if anyone wants to recommend me a version of Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (SNES, Playstation or Windows), please do.

...

...and yeah, if it turns out I'm now all alone on this project, I'm still gonna keep going. I'm having way to much fun to stop. But please, if anyone new are reading this and want to join me in 1988/89, don't hesitate to ask.

oh, sorry, forgot about this.

been kind of distracted with learning japanese so ive been dragging my feet on finishing ys2 and dq3. totally giving up on ff2 though. its...incredibly boring.

Ah, okay, gotcha. Good to hear you're still with me.

Anyways.

DRAGON QUEST III - SOSHITE DENSETSU E... COMPLETE

...where does one even start with this game? It's not only one of the greatest JRPGs of its time, but overall games of the period. A well-crafted setting, an excellent soundtrack, flawless gameplay, stunning graphics and one of the most breathtaking reveals thus far in terms of sheer scale.

Let us start from the beginning.

You play the child of the legendary hero Ortega, and on your 16th birthday, you are sent out on a quest to defeat the evil Baramos, who's plotting to destroy the world. You assemble a four-person team of valiant warriors of many different classes (of both genders), and leave on an epic adventure.

The in-game overarching story is, in my eyes, the weakest part of the game. The above paragraph is pretty much the whole game. The whole plot is at any time "defeat the evil overlord", even though your main antagonist is never shown actually doing anything. In fact, the king who gives you the quest notes that not a lot of people are aware of Baramos' existence, which means that the whole "we have to save the world!" never really kicks in before you're basically knocking on his front door.

But, because of this convenient throne-sitting, you are free to explore the great world of DQIII, which really makes up for it. The world is chock full of adventure, dungeons, interesting stories, beautiful new areas and lots and lots of characters.

I started playing DQIII around the same time I finished FFII, and the two games really could not be more different. While FFII was always keeping the overarching plot first and foremost, DQIII's main plot prefers to take the back seat. And while I said FFII's characters felt emotionless and same-y, every single NPC in DQIII is positively brimming with characterization and carries its personal history on its sleeve. Time and time again, I found myself fascinated by the NPCs thoughts and own experiences and the towns and villages really felt alive (even the dead ones).

The same goes for gameplay. DQIII keeps its trusted battle-system from the previous two games, though it is further streamlined and improved. An interesting addition in the SNES remake is the Personality-system. Every PC has a personality (described in one/two words), which decides its stat growth. This personality can be changed through the use of special books or equipped items, and helps lend some life to the otherwise blank characters.

...though, while we're on the subject of the characters, I've got to admit that I'm not a big fan of the character design. As a main element of Dragon Quest, Akira Toriyama does all the art for the monsters and characters. And while the monsters are very good, the characters are really hit-and-miss to me. Some characters (the Hero/Heroine, the Sage, the Magician and the Martial Artist) are pretty great, but others just leave me speechless. Why is the female Soldier equipped like so?◊ And why is the female Jester a blonde bombshell in a bunny suit?◊ Then again, I'm not a big fan of Toriyama's art-style in general, so I'll leave it at that.

Speaking of Dragon Quest mainstays, however: Koichi Sugiyama's work in this game is easily the best of the first three games. Listening to the magic that man can perform with the SNES's sound-chip left me at times stunned, and I was stood there for quite some time just listening to the music. The tracks fit so well with the areas they play in, and creates a wonderful and unique experience.

And I'll use that to talk about the SNES version. The SNES versions of the last two games harvested some critique from me because the music kept getting cut off so that you never could hear the full themes unless you stood still and waited for it plus the music-levels being way too low compared to the rest of the game at parts.

The SNES-version is, in lack of a better word, perfect. Unlike the remakes of the two previous games, they went all-out with this one, revamping the graphics to get the most out of the supreme graphics-card of the SNES, adding seamless animations to fighting, adding the aforementioned Personality-system and pausing the overworld music for battle and resuming it afterwards. All the different elements of the game are masterfully fitted together in a way that provides a thoroughly enjoyable JRPG experience to this day.

So, in summation, a supremely crafted JRPG showcasing some of the best elements of the Dragon Quest-series and a wonderful conclusion to the I-III trilogy. Takes some hits because of a somewhat lacking overarching plot, but the overall story and placement towards the others make up for it.

Final Score: 9/10

Now then, Wizardry V...

just finished ys2~~~

was a great game, with music that progressively got better and better as it went along, and had a satisfying ending.

final two bosses were suprisingly easy compared to the rest of the game though.

Yeah, that's a great game. Looking forward to when we get to The Oath in Felghana.

For now, though, skipping Wizardry V. It plays pretty much identical to its predecessors, requires way too much grinding right off the bat and is overall very dull. I was having fun trying to break it as much as possible with savestates, but even that loses its charm after a while. I'm gonna try to find the best version of Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes.

EDIT: Okay, so the only translated version is the Turbografx-16 version, which has atrocious voice-acting. Skipping. What's next?

...

...hoo boy.

Mother 1. Or Earthbound Zero, if you prefer. Never was able to stomach the other two Mother-games...fingers crossed this one will go better.

edited 26th May '13 2:24:00 PM by Lemurian

Just to inform you guys, I am back.

I am going to get a couple of CR Ts(one's a monitor, the other a TV).

Printed out the list to finish them off chronologically. I am still in the years 81-85. This time, I have to get a guide to speed play through them. QQ

Also, I played Wizardry online as a beta tester game. And boy did it sucked.

I've got some updates. I've been in touch with Steendy, and he's too busy to be part of the Project right now. We'll just have to press on without him. On the upside, I may have tempted another potential participant to join us, but we'll see what happens, since he's pretty busy with LPs.

As for games...skipping Mother 1/Earthbound Zero. The gameplay is frustrating me, especially the harsh inventory limits. And the story isn't really worth it, with how vague and mostly absent it is. I'll rather rewatch a LP for it.

Now, next in line is Phantasy Star 2, playing the GBA Collection-version. This might be a little bit delayed, since I'm borrowing a PS Vita and is thus playing Persona 1, which is tons of slightly complicated Shin Megami Tensei-fun.

hehe, p1 is complicated in the silliest ways.

far too many elements, far too many attack types, useless status effects, a formation system (which i dont really mind) and 2 exp pools and action-based distribution of exp coupled with arbitrary party average deciding what demons give you cards and completely random negotiation system

hah...good times...

thankfully im done with the 3rd and final playthrough of p1~

This looks like an absolute bitch to the wallet, and social life.

I'd love to join, if I had the greenbacks, or a decent PC.

I cannot help but notice that your list is missing the 1995 sci-fi/fantasy title Albion. I remembered it mostly because of its peculiar setting.