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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   2736 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 16, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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In a similar vein to @Pasha’s thread below, what are your favorite RPG games?

Divinity Original Sin 2, Disco Elysium and TES: Oblivion stand out to me.

Disco Elysium and Planescape: Torment for narrative RPGs.

Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas and Dragon Age: Origins for regular RPGs.

The Last Sovereign and The Spirit Engine for indie shoestring-budget RPGs.

Ivalice (RIP) for MUDs.

Everything below this line is not really an RPG.

Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger for JRPGs.

Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre: The Knights of Lodis, Front Mission and Bahamut Lagoon for TRPGs.

Seiken Densetsu 3 and Terranigma for ARPGs.

I see there are a lot of tactics fans here. I'm curious if you or @guajalote have ever tried Fort Triumph? It's a relatively new game, but I've been playing it and it's a blast. A bit like Heroes of Might and Magic with an overworld component, but the writing and humor is perfect for me.

I have not, will give it a try.

No, I haven't. I tried quite a few games (FFTA, La Pucelle, Disgaea, Shadowrun Returns, Mutant: Year Zero, Invisible, Inc., Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mask), but bounced off of all of them.

MY0 was probably the most successful attempt, but I am an incorrigible hoarder of consumables items, so a game with a limited number of healing items ultimately stressed me out too much.

Modern tactical games are often obssessed with tight mechanics: situational skills and weird classes must be pruned, math must be simple, the fewer characters you have in your party, the better. I very much prefer the old-school approach with Cheesecake Factory-sized lists of abilities and classes. Yes, most of them are useless, some of them are broken, but you get a different sense of "pride and accomplishment" from finding out which is which and either blasting through the game or beating it with a gimmicky party than you get from cracking the designer's puzzle of a level, and I prefer the former to the latter.

I've been enjoying Triangle Strategy recently. Though there is very little customization or unit development in the game, the units themselves are highly varied and specialized, and on Hard you might have to resort to 'cheesy' play.

Ahh I see. I'm surprised Disgaea wasn't a hit for you since that game has a ridiculous amount of complexity, too much for me personally.

I'm sad you didn't like Fell Seal, to me that's one of the most faithful "FFT type" games I've ever played. It's definitely pared down, but I had a blast. Story was a bit weak, but oh well.

Fort Triumph is shallow on first look but the physics system is quite deep - almost every object in the environment is breakable, and there are all sorts of items and combos you can put together. Unfortunately you do lose all but one item after each Act, so you might not like that part.

Ahh I see. I'm surprised Disgaea wasn't a hit for you since that game has a ridiculous amount of complexity, too much for me personally.

That's a different kind of complexity. FFT is broad: Samurais do this, Thieves do that, Summoners do the third thing. Geomancers worry about the type of terrain, Archers worry about the height of terrain, Calculators worry about the prime factors of the height of terrain. Zodiac signs really matter when you're doing something like an SSCC, otherwise they just slightly randomize your damage. You can combine the abilities of different jobs, but when you do, you do that at your own pace.

Disgaea or Fae Tactics, which I didn't buy after reading the reviews, try to stack the mechanics: you have to worry about lots of mechanics on every one of your units.

I actually wanted to like Fell Seal, but the art style was just not my cup of tea. I know it was designed as a faithful spiritual sequel to FFT, so maybe I'll give it another chance.

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