RPGs that I'm considering playing...

[Magical CC]

So:

VC:CotP- mixed response. Maybe I'll like it, maybe I won't?

EOIII- Those that have played it like it. I'll have to import it though (Argh!), unless EOIII gets an Untold Version? (I'm kinda hoping that it does actually)

Solotarbo- Nobody on here has played it apparently... So, no idea.

TWEWY- Positive comments from all. Another positive is that I DON'T HAVE TO IMPORT!!!

The Last Story- Positive reviews, but I don't own the console. Maybe I can get this at a later date...?

GS:TLA- The best Golden Sun apparently. I can get this and GS:TBS for a ridiculously low price online.

Those are sensible words. Yeah, if you dont own the console then there is no hurry to get TLS. Just remember that it's worth playing. If you can get GS and TWEWY cheap and easy then by all means, get them.

[Tangerine]

Feather o'er the battlefield, UNTO ME THY POWER YIELD!

I personally enjoyed the DS Valkyrie Profile a lot (I hear the 2nd one is the bad one in the series), though nothing beats the original of course.

Really? I remember 2 getting some hate from VP purists when it was released because of how different it is, but it seems to have settled. I mean, 2 is different, but it is definitely a solid game with high production values. The voice acting is much better, the graphics are among the best on the PS2 (probably second to FF12, as far as RPGs go), the music is great and the battle system is fun. My main complaint with it, again, is that it -can- be broken. It's not inherently broken like CotP, but if you know what you're doing things can get stupid pretty quickly. It's kind of unbalanced in the sense that magic users are much worse than physical units later in the game as well, but a lot of RPGs have that problem. Personally, I think destructible monster parts was a fantastic addition to the series and added a layer of strategy to the battle system; probably my favorite change in VP2.

[Irony]

Those are sensible words. Yeah, if you dont own the console then there is no hurry to get TLS. Just remember that it's worth playing. If you can get GS and TWEWY cheap and easy then by all means, get them.

I think I can get all of them for under 20 quid in my currency (which I'm not naming). So, yeah, price isn't that big a deciding factor actually (Though I think Soltarabo is the cheapest one I can get). It's just which one will I enjoy the most. :)

Edit: Apart from TLS- which is really. Really. Expensive.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Fantasia

[Espinosa]

I do wish I could play VP2 and see how it is for myself since some of my friends have said they enjoyed it.

CotP did seem like a valid tactic game at the time I played it, with good music (much of it was reused from the first game iirc, but I honestly can't remember what it was like atm), a dark story with many different paths, main characters that... don't come very close to the wonderful Lenneth Valkyrie for sure (but then who does?). At times, it was challenging, namely in deciding who to sacrifice and when, saving some people, and doing all that while overkilling enemies for bigger prizes (I forget what term the game coined for this objective). My favourite two aspects of it were definitely the gameplay (comboing was fun in the original VP and it was just as fun here) and also the really memorable character battle utterances (much like in VP1, I'd memorise them and them repeat them while being outside or something, and chuckle to myself - they're so cheesy and so it's good fun). I wasn't disappointed with the game one bit. I generally don't care about the graphics much, unless the game looks like Earthbound or Dragon Quest or something, where I start to feel I'm not actually in control of the characters that move about and hit stuff but am reading a combination of numbers or letters presented with some sort of narrative and in some sort of universe.

CotP was sorta breakable, as you say, but so was the original, with both games having characters that were way better than others. I feel that CotP encouraged the utilisation of more units, too, while for me a playthrough in VP1 is basically always Lenneth + Lawfer + 1str Mage + Arngrim/2nd Mage, and occasionally a gimmicky bow user to spice up consecutive replays of the game.

[Tangerine]

I do wish I could play VP2 and see how it is for myself since some of my friends have said they enjoyed it.

CotP did seem like a valid tactic game at the time I played it, with good music (much of it was reused from the first game iirc, but I honestly can't remember what it was like atm), a dark story with many different paths, main characters that... don't come very close to the wonderful Lenneth Valkyrie for sure (but then who does?). At times, it was challenging, namely in deciding who to sacrifice and when, saving some people, and doing all that while overkilling enemies for bigger prizes (I forget what term the game coined for this objective). My favourite two aspects of it were definitely the gameplay (comboing was fun in the original VP and it was just as fun here) and also the really memorable character battle utterances (much like in VP1, I'd memorise them and them repeat them while being outside or something, and chuckle to myself - they're so cheesy and so it's good fun). I wasn't disappointed with the game one bit. I generally don't care about the graphics much, unless the game looks like Earthbound or Dragon Quest or something, where I start to feel I'm not actually in control of the characters that move about and hit stuff but am reading a combination of numbers or letters presented with some sort of narrative and in some sort of universe.

CotP was sorta breakable, as you say, but so was the original, with both games having characters that were way better than others. I feel that CotP encouraged the utilisation of more units, too, while for me a playthrough in VP1 is basically always Lenneth + Lawfer + 1str Mage + Arngrim/2nd Mage, and occasionally a gimmicky bow user to spice up consecutive replays of the game.

Yeah, some of the tunes are just remixed VP1 tracks. The sin meter is what you're talking about, and that combined with plumes are ultimately what break the game. If you fill a sin meter for a battle, the snowball effect begins, where the next battle immediately after filling a sin meter is too easy, making that battle's sin meter easy to fill and so on. I guess the game could be difficult if you go in with a Fire Emblem mindset and have reservations about using your plumes and fail several sin meters (again, a difficulty snowball), but otherwise it's extremely hard to lose.

VP2 doesn't have the same issues you're describing, so hopefully you can give it a shot at some point. You don't just have to reincarnate one or two people at the end of a chapter like VP1, it encourages you to reincarnate (I forget what term they actually use lol, I was to say 'soul release?') over the course of the game because they typically give you items you can only get from them when they're released. So leveling up and improving the characters you get is generally the way to go if you want to get their special items or power up other members of your team.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Tangerine

[ENS]

magic users are much worse than physical units

Thanks for the advice, but I'll still use Lezard. XD

The biggest problem of VP2 is that doesn't have handmade backgrounds. It feels a lot, and also handmade backgrounds are beautiful per se.

Edited May 29, 2015 by ENS

[Irony]

I'm necroposting, but ah well.

I made a decision after a month or so. I'm going to get Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Though I won't be getting Golden Sun 1 (I have played it before, and I completed it. My copy's save function didn't work though, so I lost all my data.) Instead, I will try and find a 100% completed password, which I'll transfer to TLA.

[Philranger]

I'm necroposting, but ah well.

I made a decision after a month or so. I'm going to get Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Though I won't be getting Golden Sun 1 (I have played it before, and I completed it. My copy's save function didn't work though, so I lost all my data.) Instead, I will try and find a 100% completed password, which I'll transfer to TLA.

No idea if the download still works but this is a Golden Sun password generator.

http://home.earthlink.net/~paul3/goldensun.html

should enable you to get a password with all the Djinni and some decent equipment (you'll honestly replace all that stuff as soon they join your party, endgame GS1 equipment is pretty much midgame GS2 equipment). I used it when I lost my original copy of GS1.