General Games Discussion

[M99]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-09/sony-s-obsession-with-blockbusters-is-stirring-unrest-within-playstation-empire

- The Last Of Us remake in development
- New Uncharted in development
- Days Gone 2 not happening

This shit is wild, Sony is getting complacent. They were gonna do a UC1 remake and then switched to TLOU because its easier...

[RealGunner]

why the need at all? PS4 remaster can easily be scaled and textured to ps5 lol. They really are getting complacent after PS4's success

New uncharted was never in doubt. But i won't be surprised if it's based on Nathan's daughter with Nathan playing the Sam role.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

I don't think complacency is the word, it definitely seems devoid of leadership or planning tho.

It's very worrying to me, some of the best PS4 games weren't big massive blockbusters even if they had them too.

[Harmonica]

PC RDR2 true price still at 40€ (on sale), I guess people are still buying it, will probably pick it after it drops below 30€. Flight Simulator also still selling at 70€, but I don't think that will drop anytime soon. Only two games I would currently like to get.

[Lord Spencer]

#61(S)(A)

Game: SaGa Frontier 2.
Year: 1999, 2000.
Genre: JRPG.
Publisher: Squaresoft.
Developer: Squaresoft.



Seeing the recent remaster of SaGa Frontier anyone might think that it's obviously both a better game and a more regarded title. That can also seem the case if you consider the vast amount of love for the first game compared to a relative indifference to the second.

Having played both, I can see why the first game may have more of a cult following. It's an uneven and poorly designed game, but it had a lot of ambition (that I think it failed to even remotely meet).

In contrast, SaGa Frontier 2 is a significant departure that tones down the most ambitious and non-linear aspects of the first game but offers a tighter and better-designed experience. In my opinion, it is the far superior game and is unfortunately forgotten to some degree compared to other Square games.

"I shall bestow upon you my name, and the name of my ancestors: Gustave. Become a great man. A man who will not disgrace our name"

The world of SaGa Frontier 2 is a fantasy realm that is loosely inspired by late-medieval Europe but with some clear magical elements called "Animas". In this world, every "natural" thing has its own Anima, humans included, which allows the casting of magic. Tools are created to better harness the Anima, but there are also ancient artifacts with infinite Anima's, called Quells.

Not having the multiple storylines of the first game does not mean that SaGa Frontier 2 abandons the experimental storytelling that is typical for the SaGa franchise. Indeed, while the game nominally has two intertwining stories, they unravel over several scenarios that you can play in a loose order.

The first scenario involves the rise of Gustavw, a banished prince who has the rare distinction of not having any Anima in his body. This scenario covers not only the rise of Gustavw but also the entire political movements in the game's world.

The second scenario covers the more humble but traditional adventures of Wil Knights, a Digger who tries to find the magical Quells in ancient ruins. Wil eventually encounters a powerful sentient Quell called The Egg, which threatens the peace of the entire world.

Both scenarios are to through multiple chapters spanning nearly 100 years, and starring multiple protagonists. You can pick these chapters in any order as they are revealed in the chapter-selection map. However, I think the best way to experience the story is to try and do it chronologically, which means you end up jumping through the two main storylines often.

In theory, this approach allows the game to tell a deep and intriguing story through multiple perspectives. However, in practice, this means you spend less time with characters, and some are introduced suddenly and not allowed to have any depth. In fact, the entire middle of the game suffers from lacking the impetus of the beginning or the resolution of the end.

This is a darn shame because the story in SaGa Frontier 2 is otherwise would have been very good, but the way it is being told reduces the focus on the narrative and eventually brings the whole thing down a notch.

"Soon, many Animas will disappear from the face of the earth. They will desperately fight for themselves and their families. They believe that, if I gain the throne, those things that have been lost will not have been in vain"

Typically, the SaGa games are not known to depend on their narrative brilliance (which was significantly lacking in the first SaGa Frontier) and to depend more on their gameplay and weird leveling-up system.

It is then good to know that the Turn-Based battle system in SaGa Frontier 2 is really good. The many characters you control each have different weapons and magic specialties, which allows them to tap into a variety of special moves. These moves are either physical or magical in nature and use a different resource accordingly, which naturally recovers during the battle

The main twist in the battle system is the Life Points resource. At the beginning of each round, a character can consume one LP to fully recover their health. This means that a character with 10 LP points theoretically has 10 health bars to use in the course of a dungeon, and knowing when to use LP healing vs traditional healing is a key strategy.

A strategy that is required to win against the game's tougher enemies, which will task you to fully utilize the game's various systems. From LP healing to combining specials and using "roles" which give passive benefits.

For those apprehensive about the random nature of leveling up in SaGa games, rest assured that it is more uniform and much easier to do in this game, which has much fewer stats to worry about. In fact, I never felt under-leveled at any point in the game.

That is, I never felt under-leveled until the final dungeon which is GROSSLY unbalanced, introducing a nearly insurmountable difficulty spike that may require an extra five hours of grinding to overcome. Worse, you may lock yourself from an efficient grinding opportunity and risking extending that process for five more hours.


I'm the number one Digger in the world. I'm Tycoon William!!""

Besides the regular party battle mode, there are also a number of big strategic battles in key moments in the game as well as a duel battle mode.

The big battles are limited in number and only offer an occasional twist, but duel battles are much more frequent.

In duels, one party member faces against one enemy and they can choose a combination of four moves based on their equipment (it is worth noting that the elements of the equipment you wear unlock spell casting capabilities). Picking the correct sequence of equipment causes you to either use a special move you learned or learn a new special move provided you meet the rough level requirements. This makes dueling the best way to learn special moves (which are shared across all characters).

The relative ease of unlocking moves is a massive improvement over the other SaGa games and fixes some of the problems of the series.

Outside of battle, it is worth noting that many of the chapters are simple narrative "cut-scenes". However, some chapters (which can be created) simply give you access to cities in order to shop, which is a little bit more complicated than it seems.

You see, money is really scarce and it disappears when a protagonist is no longer use, but you can convert most of the tools you get to chips, which can then be converted to money. This is an overly convoluted system that also has some positive side effects (that I didn't discover), but it adds a layer of activity outside of battles.

"Be careful. Or then, you might be consumed by the power of the Quell..."

If there is one thing you have heard about SaGa Frontier 2 then it must be its amazing 2D graphics, because they are truly some of the best graphical work on the PS1.

While character design and sprite work is great and works well in establishing the game's style, it is without a doubt the hand-painted watercolor backgrounds that take the cake. These are some sublime backgrounds, and the way the characters seamlessly navigate through them makes for a truly beautiful game.

It gives the game a storybook style that is fresh and still looks great despite the time. Sure, there are some minor complaints. Enemy models are very few, and I wish the characters had portraits. Yet, that is not nearly enough to detract from the absolute majesty of the game's graphics.

A majesty that may not be fully matched by the music, but is actually perfectly complemented by it. This is one of Masashi Hamauzu's first soundtracks for Square, and in it, you can see the classical compositions and styles he is now famous for.

This can be seen in the German titles of the game's music, which is instrumentally very classical but also has some mysterious and fantastical elements in it as well. At times, you may feel that some tracks repeat a tad too often. However, I would say that those tracks repeat at points that generate the same feeling and that the music in the game is used as a narrative element very clearly.

In Conclusion:

Despite being a huge step-up from the disappointing SaGa Frontier, this game never fully escapes the trappings of the SaGa series. It has some clear narrative weaknesses due to its non-linear and experimental storytelling and it suffers from a particularly egregious end-game difficulty spike.

Yet, despite those flaws, SaGa Frontier 2 still emerges as a game I am mostly glad I played. The battle system is really fun when it clicks, and the narrative has some strong bones even if it is not fully fleshed out.

Mostly, I won't ever forget how the game looks, and I will be reminded of its every time I listen to the game's beautiful soundtrack. It's a fun storybook even if the final chapter nearly got me to chuck into the nearest blaze.

Final: 8/10

Pros:

• Very good battle system when it clicks
  
• Excellent Graphics
  
• Very good music
  
• Ambitious and interesting story
  

Cons:

• The experimental style doesn't flesh out the characters
  
• An extremely bad difficulty spike at the end
  

"Tips"
1-Try and play the chapters chronologically.
2-At the end, make sure to have a safe save slot in case you want to grind at a safer location.
3-Convert your unwanted tools to Chips frequently.
4-After every chapter, check if the cities of Gruguel and Westsomething are available.
5-You can convert tools to chips in Gruguel.
6-You can fight the Megalith beast in Westsomething which helps unlock AOE specials.
7-There are some unbeatable enemies that you must flee from after surviving a couple of rounds.
8-Specialize your characters depending on their natural WP and SP points as well as their strongest weapons and elements.

"Next Game"

I am so glad I decided to play SaGa Frontier 2 despite my bad experience with the first game. It turned out to be a really fun game with some unique elements that I may not see in any other game now or in the future.

Going back to reviewing the regular Retro Sanctuary list, I don't expect Klonoa at #68 to be as unique of a game, but I hope I have a lot of fun playing it. Before that, I will first write a report about the 10 or so games I played in the Addendum list.

Stay Tuned

[M99]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDlUtPTQEOk

[Babun]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDlUtPTQEOk

Holy shit, they've taken the horror of 7 with the action gameplay from 4 and combined them
I've played every single RE installment so far. This one is a must for me.

[Firenze]

Nier Replicant this week. Not quite a remake, but more substantial than a remaster...with a lot of cut/new content apparently.

Haven't played a game since Cyberpunk so I'm looking forward to it. Not sold on Resident Evil Village, but I may play that...

honestly the only two games I'm interested in are Elden Ring (pls give new info soon) and Breath of the Wild 2, doesnt seem likely I'll be able to pick up a PS5 until 2022 with how things are ffs. But whatever, nothing on it I wanna play.

How's gaming going for the rest of you? Hard to believe E3 is less than 2 months away, digital only and no Sony but..still kinda interested.

[RealGunner]

Looking forward to Nier replicant too. Not sure when i'll get it though.

Other than that it's just Demons Soul and Elden Ring for PS5. Nothing else looks interesting tbh

[Thimmy]

Nier Replicant will be the first game I play this year, other than the rare FIFA 18 match with a childhood friend who still refuses to play the newer FIFAs

Can't say I'm very hyped for the PS5 at this point. I don't even know when I'll be able to get one, and it's fine. I'm not going to buy one off some scalper, so I'll just wait until whenever it is that it will be available in a local store.

Cyberpunk has been put on halt for now. I'll probably just start over from the beginning when I eventually do get a PS5.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

There's games i want to play, but i also don't want to play them until i get a PS5 and there's still no stock lol.

[Babun]

I had fun with the Mass Effect trilogy. Contrary to the common assumption, I liked the 3rd one the most. My question, what is the most mass effect like game?
If I venture into middle ages, which Dragon Age game is the best?

[M99]

I had fun with the Mass Effect trilogy. Contrary to the common assumption, I liked the 3rd one the most. My question, what is the most mass effect like game?
If I venture into middle ages, which Dragon Age game is the best?

Dragon Age Origins by far. Origins+Awakening is a fantastic RPG.

And wow, how did you finish the trilogy in a week? Did you do all the DLC, loyalty quests, side quests etc?

Also I would say Outer Worlds is kinda Mass Effect ish. Its like Mass Effect+Fallout New Vegas but a diet version of both those games.

Also if you never played Star Wars KOTOR there's that. Mass Effect is pretty much its spiritual successor. And DA is Baldur's Gate spiritual successor.

[Babun]

I had fun with the Mass Effect trilogy. Contrary to the common assumption, I liked the 3rd one the most. My question, what is the most mass effect like game?
If I venture into middle ages, which Dragon Age game is the best?

Dragon Age Origins by far. Origins+Awakening is a fantastic RPG.

And wow, how did you finish the trilogy in a week? Did you do all the DLC, loyalty quests, side quests etc?

Also I would say Outer Worlds is kinda Mass Effect ish. Its like Mass Effect+Fallout New Vegas but a diet version of both those games.

Also if you never played Star Wars KOTOR there's that. Mass Effect is pretty much its spiritual successor. And DA is Baldur's Gate spiritual successor.

I didn't do all of the side quests, the FPS parts were very easy for me. Tali vas Normandy was my "Romance" in the end, I lost Garrus in the second one when I assigned him as the head of the second squad (that majourly pissed me off). In the third one, I managed to complete most of the missions (even the Leviathans, they were underwhelming), lost Ashley and Mordin, had to annihilate the Geths (pissed me off, Legion and Tali were my favourites in the 2nd). I was disappointed Miranda wasn't a squadmate in the 3rd installement. She was my favourite in the 2nd.
I played all 3 within 2 weekends (2 Saturdays, 2 Sundays) and some in the evening after work. I can't go out after 9p.m. in Hamburg anyways..
Never played KOTOR because Star Wars universe doesn't appeal to me. Outer Worlds sounds like the game I'd play out of the bunch. I'm going back to DA: Origins first. Playing space sagas one after another spoils the fun. DA: Origins will be the break I think

What I liked the most about Mass Effect trilogy was infiltrator snipers are totally OP when you know how to use them ( I just happed to choose infiltrator in the first and kept him throughout the saves). My entire loadout in the 3rd were maxed out Black Widow and Paladin pistol as a sidearm.

[Pedram]

I had fun with the Mass Effect trilogy. Contrary to the common assumption, I liked the 3rd one the most. My question, what is the most mass effect like game?
If I venture into middle ages, which Dragon Age game is the best?

Dragon Age Origins by far. Origins+Awakening is a fantastic RPG.

And wow, how did you finish the trilogy in a week? Did you do all the DLC, loyalty quests, side quests etc?

Also I would say Outer Worlds is kinda Mass Effect ish. Its like Mass Effect+Fallout New Vegas but a diet version of both those games.

Also if you never played Star Wars KOTOR there's that. Mass Effect is pretty much its spiritual successor. And DA is Baldur's Gate spiritual successor.

I lost Garrus

How could you smh

[M99]

Dragon Age Origins by far. Origins+Awakening is a fantastic RPG.

And wow, how did you finish the trilogy in a week? Did you do all the DLC, loyalty quests, side quests etc?

Also I would say Outer Worlds is kinda Mass Effect ish. Its like Mass Effect+Fallout New Vegas but a diet version of both those games.

Also if you never played Star Wars KOTOR there's that. Mass Effect is pretty much its spiritual successor. And DA is Baldur's Gate spiritual successor.

I lost Garrus

How could you smh

I guess he didn't do his loyalty quest From what I remember any loyal squad member should survive when made leader of the secondary team.

[Babun]

I lost Garrus

How could you smh

I guess he didn't do his loyalty quest From what I remember any loyal squad member should survive when made leader of the secondary team.

Nope, I played his loyality mission where he shot someone with a sniper rifle while I was distracting. Was it that one? In the 3rd one, the blue chick rocks with her singularity. She was my "Miranda" in the 3rd one.

[Pedram]

Nope, I played his loyality mission where he shot someone with a sniper rifle while I was distracting. Was it that one? In the 3rd one, the blue chick rocks with her singularity. She was my "Miranda" in the 3rd one.

That's impossible since Garrus loyalty mission is the only one that can't be "failed". he basically agrees with your judgement one way or another.

Edit: nvm you can mess up his loyalty if you don't move out the way at the end.

[Babun]

Nope, I played his loyality mission where he shot someone with a sniper rifle while I was distracting. Was it that one? In the 3rd one, the blue chick rocks with her singularity. She was my "Miranda" in the 3rd one.

That's impossible since Garrus loyalty mission is the only one that can't be "failed". he basically agrees with your judgement one way or another.

Edit: nvm you can mess up his loyalty if you don't move out the way at the end.

I didn't get out of his way.. I think you played through multiple times
Is Mass Effect Andromeda worth it? There's lots of complaints on steam.

[Harmonica]

Damn, the real Baldur's Gate still getting massive patches:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/81909/patch-2-6-launches-today#latest

Patch 2.6 Launches Today!

Major Update Arrives for Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, and Icewind Dale Enhanced Editions!

We just launched Patch 2.6 for Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Siege of Dragonspear and Icewind Dale Enhanced Editions.

This massive patch upgrades the games to 64-bit systems, fixes hundreds of bugs, and adds brand new portraits & voice sets to customize your heroes— including two sets from the legendary Mark Meer (voice of Commander Shepherd in Mass Effect)!

Huge thanks to our heroic community for their tireless adventuring in beta builds for this mammoth patch. Thank You!


Patch Highlights

- Upgrade to 64-Bit
A much needed upgrade for modern machines— this improves system compatibility

- 7 New Character Voice Sets
New player voice sets, including two from the legendary Mark Meer reprising his roles as Alveus Malcanter and Baeloth Barrityl

- 11 New Character Portraits
New character portraits to customize your hero’s look

- Hundreds of Bug Fixes
Includes scores of fixes to spells and hero abilities

- Improved Pathfinding | Smoother party movement and navigation

- New Localizations

- Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Added French text localization (beta)

- Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
Added French (beta), Italian, German, Ukrainian and Polish text localizations

- Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
Added Brazilian Portuguese and Chinese (Simplified) text localizations

[M99]

.@jasonschreier confirms that Aspyr Media (of all studios!) is working on a KOTOR remake in our new interview. We hope you enjoy the full discussion! https://t.co/vv0bljO35B https://t.co/IJdIIGY0aU

— Ben Hanson (@yozetty) April 20, 2021

[Warrior]

Kotor remake will be great. With the gameplay of FF7R please.

Another one would be Third Age

[Harmonica]

Kotor with RTwP would be a dream.

[Lord Spencer]

#68

Game: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile.
Year: 1997, 1998.
Genre: 2D Platformer.
Publisher: Namco.
Developer: Namco.



Klonoa is different from the other mascots introduced in the late 90s in that Namco balanced the edgy style of the era with a classical Japanese focus on cuteness and personality. That saved the character from being as dated and cringy as some of the other B-Tier mascots of the time.

However, an arguably more drastic departure was Namco's insistence on remaining within the tried and true 2D Platformer genre instead of going for the 3D trend. That ultimately worked for the game's favor, as is this is a really very good 2D platformer at its core, with the added bonus of having a nice story and some good graphics.

"How dare you go through my tower without ever saying hello!"

Surprisingly, the story plays a big part in this 2D platformer. Starring the mascot, Klonoa, a furry anthropomorphic amalgamation of different animals. At the beginning of the game, Klonoa finds that the happy dreams of his world are being corrupted by nightmares, which we soon find out is the work of the evil Ghadius.

Being a brave hero, Klonoa goes ahead to save his world, accompanied by the ring spirit Huepow who helps him fight enemies and traverse the landscape.

In their adventure, they meet members of the land's different tribes and solve their problems, and they are introduced to some likable characters. The dialogue is not extensive, and the story is not particularly amazing. However, the game is not shy at providing dramatic moments and ultimately getting you to care about these characters in the same way you would in a Saturday night cartoon.

For the genre, Klonoa didn't have to include any level of storytelling. Yet, in choosing to tell an engaging, if basic story, fully loaded with dialogue segments and impressive CGI scenes, Klonoa is heads and shoulders above other Platformers in the era in its story department.

"I can't allow you to save the world with your silly "Song of Rebirth""

I am not surprised to learn that Hideo Yoshizawa, the director of this game, was also the director of the NES Ninja Gaiden games. In interviews, he says that the rhythm of movement is very important to him, and that holds true in Klonoa. Basic movement is clean, fast, and precise. What is more amazing though, is that the game's central gimmick doesn't slow things down at all.

Klonoa's basic attack is to use the ring spirit and pull enemies in front of him and hold them up as inflatable projectiles. He then can throw these inflated enemies to attack or throw it downward to use as a double jump.

Here, you can imagine the game grinding to a halt every time you pull in an enemy. However, that doesn't turn out to be the case at all. The game moves at enough speed that you can continue moving as you are pulling enemies and throwing them around.

In fact, some of the more advanced moves are jumping, pulling an enemy, and throwing them down for an instant double jump. You can then chain that by pulling in another enemy and getting another jump. Basically, you can keep on moving and your basic attacking option doesn't slow things down.

Another innovation of this game is the ability to target enemies and objects in the foreground and background. This being a 2.5D Platformer, you can see enemies in the background, and you can chuck their friends at them.

This gets a lot of milage against the game's rather good bosses.

"Well, weirdos came here and messed up the castle"

You meet those bosses at the end of each "world", and each world consists of two stages. These stages are uniformly good, and they get more varied as you progress. A later stage even requires you to go to multiple parts of the stage to gather orbs or another with a more labyrinthian design.

In each stage, there are six tribe people to save, and I am not sure what purpose that serves other than the fun of doing it. Unfortunately, if you miss any tribe member to save, then you cannot repeat the stage until you beat the game.

Somehow, in what may be the game's biggest weakness, that doesn't turn out to be a big problem. After all, there are only 12 stages to play!!!

If that seems to be a short number for a PS1 game, then that's because it clearly is. I think the game should have at least 6 more stages. Others may argue that the game's length encourages replayability, but I disagree about that.

"It was a short while... But it was wonderful... My grandchild of the wind..."

The first thing you encounter with Klonao is an admittedly impressive CGI cutscene. This cutscene, like the others in the game, looks much better than other CGI scenes from the same time and is also competently directed in a way to show emotion and character.

That competency in direction shines in the game's regular graphics as well. While it is clear that sprite-based graphics would have looked much better than the 3D polygons the game uses, the solid art direction and uniform design of the game save it somewhat. Klonoa's dream-focused world looks consistent, and, well, dreamy to an extent.

Musically, the soundtrack is divided between several composers, and while the end product fits the game, you can't help but feel that it misses a solidifying vision. That doesn't keep it from having great tracks such as the soundtrack of stage 5-1.

At this point, I just remembered that this game was remade for the Wii in an expanded remake. In general, the remake is almost a reimagining of the PS1 game that keeps much of its core features while being a separate game.

One thing that remake doesn't keep is the game's cutely gibberish voice acting. Instead, it uses some seriously cringy dialogue instead. For me, the cute gibberish fits the game much more, and honestly is part of its charm.

In Conclusion:

I missed on Klonoa when I had a PS1. Maybe I was an idiot and thought it was a cute game for children. If that was the case, then I sure missed on a very good game.

A very good game that could have been great if it expanded its ideas more, and managed to include more stages.

As it is, this is a sweet and shot game that is worth the playtime for sure.

Final: 8/10

Pros:

• Decent storyi n a platformer
  
• Great control and gameplay
  
• Varied levels and fun bosses
  
• Consistent world design
  

Cons:

• Too short
  
• Doesn't fully take advantage of its gameplay mechanics
  

"Tips"
1-Explore the levels well if you want to find all the imprisoned tribe members.
2-Learn how to pull enemies and continue moving.
3-You can pull enemies in mid-air to do double jumps.


"Next Game"

I guess not all 90's mascot platformers aged like milk. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was a really good game that I enjoyed playing.

Next, to play from the Retro Sanctuary list is Future Cop LAPD at #65, a 3rd person shooter that frankly expects to have aged terribly.

Stay Tuned

[Babun]

Kotor with RTwP would be a dream.

I got the ultimate version of dragon age: origins. Which class would you recommend for a total beginner?

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