As always, RPGWatch with the Turn-Based RPG reviews which Codex ignores: "Stranger of Sword City"

[an Administrator]

Well, this thread went to Polish action games quickly.

Be grateful that it didn't become a thread about PoE.

 

[aweigh]

Because asking for a non-grindy isometric RPG that isn't a twitcher or a saturday morning cartoon is such a ginormous ordeal to imagine, I'm sure there are literally zero wRPGs that even come close to such a request, right. Are there any jRPGs that offer the same kind of experience as the basic template of an average western RPG?

Elminage

 

[an Administrator]

He said isometric

 

[aweigh]

Sweet Home for the NES

 

[Jasede]

Holee shit that looks awesome. Thanks aweigh!
When I last checked on this there was no translation yet.

 

[CryptRat]

Sweet Home is awesome.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Holy balls. The spriting for the monsters is amazing.

 

[Jasede]

Yeah, even many SNES RPGs didn't bother animating their monsters in random encounters. The game is pretty as fuck.

 

[Hobo Elf]

and etrian suckasy suck

but at the sametime the japs have shin megami tensei constant wizardy copies and 7th-dragon

We might need a Possibly Retarded tag here.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

I, literally, wasn't able to read it in order to make any conclusion either way. That doesn't dispute your conclusion, of course, just your reasoning.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

.

Could you link me to this Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, this seems to be the one that might be what I'm looking for, but no-one ever linked it.

 

[an Administrator]

http://www.emuparadise.mobi/redirec...Os/Shin_Megami_Tensei_-_Nocturne_(USA)/151226

 

[Walden]

jrpg crpg, who cares both have flaws and for the most part suck eggs. the japs-faps have stupid shit like final dankasy fail souls and etrian suckasy suck while the retardners have elders crow failout and ass effext 12 and 3. but at the sametime the japs have shin megami tensei constant wizardy copies and 7th-dragon while the west is tahnkful to get might and magic underrail and shadowrun both contries have shit arrgg pgs while both get gud ones. also anyone who thinks tht there are't much jrpgs with alot of grinding is a fucking pucking fool who uses emulators to play select games and dosent have an acutal console or handheld.

 

[Great Deceiver]

jrpg crpg, who cares both have flaws and for the most part suck eggs. the japs-faps have stupid shit like final dankasy fail souls and etrian suckasy suck while the retardners have elders crow failout and ass effext 12 and 3. but at the sametime the japs have shin megami tensei constant wizardy copies and 7th-dragon while the west is tahnkful to get might and magic underrail and shadowrun both contries have shit arrgg pgs while both get gud ones. also anyone who thinks tht there are't much jrpgs with alot of grinding is a fucking pucking fool who uses emulators to play select games and dosent have an acutal console or handheld.

sup Drog

 

[Celerity]

So why the fuck is this guy calling blobbers story faggotry again? How many blobbers even HAVE a story at all, and no here is some evil dude go kill him doesn't count? Aside from SoSC, I can't think of any. The entire genre is based off its combat mechanics and either they suck and you bot through the same 5% of the game because it's the only part of it that gives any XP and loot (SoSC again) or it requires some amount of actual tactics (Xulima, Gothic...)

 

[Zeriel]

Jesus fucking christ, we have two threads about this great game, and both threads have been absolutely derailed for pages. Fuck this gay earth.

 

[Celerity]

I dunno what the fuck is going on here, but I think it's telling that the SoSC thread is about other, greater blobbers and even Mr. Sperg About Every Mother Fucking Dungeon Crawler just doesn't give any fucks.

aweigh

 

[Celerity]

Speaking of aweigh

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/aweigh-is-a-hillary-supporter.113147/

Don't worry, we still love you. You just gotta go back over the WALL!

 

[Hobo Elf]

Please, lettuce keep /pol/ out of the aryan pure crawler threads. Let the /pol/posters duke it out in the threads dedicated to the games / companies that are so awful that people actively avoid talking about their games in their respective threads, i.e InEptile, Obsidian, BioWare etc. We're above that in this sub. We actually have good games to discuss.

 

[Celerity]

I don't think Sword City fits that definition. Which is why the main thread is about good dungeon crawlers instead.

 

[aweigh]

the thing about SoSC is that it is good... just good enough to remind you that there are other also-japanese, also-turn-bashed, and also-Wiz-cloned 'crawlers competing with it already.

ANYBODY who is into 'crawlers enough to even know about SoSC will also either:

- already know about the superior Elminage and Wizardry Empire games
- and/or be told about them when he/she goes posting about SoSC

Heck, the person will probably also get recommendations about recent non-japanese 'crawlers and pseudo-crawlers which are also better than SoSC, such as LoX.

I will say however that SoSC is a great beginner's japanese Wiz-clone, and anybody who likes it will end up discovering better games in the sub-genre. It is definitely a gateway RPG.

 

[Zeriel]

Eh, tastes will be tastes I suppose. I've been playing blobbers since the 80's and I'm aware of all those titles, but I still prefer SOSC to Elminage. Elminage has some cool elements, but it frontloads so much silly bullshit. (I know it's an aesthetic complaint, but I can't take a game seriously where the first dungeon is about 50% rooms that are 4 doors surrounding a single tile. What variety of LSD was the map designer doing at the time? Did he have a dream about doors?) SOSC's got a ton of flaws in the map design department (too simple, and then when they do add more interesting aspects they only persist for a single labyrinth), but the UI is so fucking good. Really, I think that's the lesson to learn from SOSC. It's not a bad game, but it is a little casual in the map design department. Difficulty? I'm not convinced, plenty of people reach walls early on, people who later called it easy were early on having lots of problems, etc. I think its real issue is lack of end/post-game content, and most people never playing NG+. Maybe a design flaw if your game doesn't have sharp challenges until post-game, but whaddyagonnado.

I think the perfect jpn drpg would be a fusion of multiple games. I'd love to see SOSC's UI and artstyle grafted onto a game with more complicated dungeons. I suppose there's always SOSC 2...

(Here's where I worry that SOSC 2 will be even more casual, with New Interpretation providing a preview of their design process. And that's probably true.)

 

[Celerity]

The door shit is mostly there as early game disorientation. Later dungeons do much, much worse. As in people start ragequitting the instant dungeons start implementing those elements in 90% of cases.

I don't really buy the gateway argument though, it seems like a copout. Who makes a game just so they can direct people at games made by other, usually competing companies?

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Eh, I thought Elminage's design was great, at least for enemy types and various dungeon tiles. Simple but effective. The UI is super fast once you learn it (aweigh made a comment about developing muscle memory with the Elminage UI, and it's true).

You're hung up about doors? Okay. The maps are the main attraction here, they are crazy and maze-like, with each dungeon having its own unique quirks. If viewing doors is a problem for you, then I wouldn't recommend playing dungeon crawlers to begin with, since the point of them isn't exactly the graphics (see: Wizardry line "graphics").

Elminage has hundreds of hours of madness, ultra difficulty not only in combat at times but in navigating the mazes and figuring out each dungeon, and great atmosphere. I actually petitioned Ghostlight to translate all the Elminage games for PC a year ago (got 100 signatures, might have been able to get a lot more but burned out on it. 100 signatures wasn't enough.). I also asked Ghostlight if they would consider Hardcore difficulty options, such as limiting saving in some way (maybe one or two saves per dungeon level, or something) as well as Ironman modes, etc., and they pretty much said they wouldn't do that. It's kind of a shame because the teleportation spell really makes the game so much easier when you get it, and saving after every encounter takes away some of the stress and tension. Ah well, still a great game and the best pure Wiz-style dungeon crawler out there right now. Will have to continue my LP of it sometime.

 

[Zeriel]

You're hung up about doors? Okay. The maps are the main attraction here, they are crazy and maze-like, with each dungeon having its own unique quirks. If viewing doors is a problem for you, then I wouldn't recommend playing dungeon crawlers to begin with, since the point of them isn't exactly the graphics (see: Wizardry line "graphics").

I just found it bizarre. Like, what is it supposed to represent? If Elminage is just some 4 dimensional art piece crafted by aliens then it is fine and very post modern, but if it's supposed to be a real dungeon, who would construct a room a few feet across that is surrounded by 4 doors? Repeatedly? In a natural cave?

It's not really a question of difficulty and hardcore grognarding, Elminage just never clicked with me. I mean, I've finished Demise. Fucking retarded amounts of grinding and deaths and ridiculous mechanics never bothered me, but Elminage Gothic just wasn't a fit for me. Ah well, everyone has their own peculiar tastes when it comes to blobbers.