Games you wish would receive more love

[Rapier]

Rabi-Ribi looked like an absolutely fanservicey game with pure eyecandy and nothing more, but after watching videos of it and actually playing to see what it is about it became one of my favorite Metroidvanias. The gameplay is standard for a platform game like Megaman and Metroid with Bullet Hell elements that become more visible during the boss fights, which feel like you're playing a 2D platformer version of Touhou from the sheer absurdity and flashiness of their moves, while still maintaining the fairness in the fights. That, the open-world explorative non-linear level design and the OST captivated me to play for over 60 hours, and I still have to beat its alternative difficulties and modes.

The Zero Escape series, brought to Steam in a collection containing the first two games, is one that I hoped would become more famous because it still runs the risk of never being continued. It is a miracle that the third game in the series was released ("life is simply unfair, don't you think?" indeed). Anyway, it is a Visual Novel whose gameplay revolves about solving puzzles in locked rooms to Seek A Way Out(TM) of them and proggress through the story.

As is typical of VNs, it is text heavy and story heavy (I took 60+ hours on each game, but half of it was because of the puzzles, which aren't really hard but require your time and attention), with 5 (iirc) alternate endings for the first game and 9 routes for the second, which depend on the choices you make during the game. Its OST does an excellent job fitting in the setting and mood, akin to OSTs like Silent Hill's, like these few songs (DON'T read the Youtube comments). This is one of my favorite Escape Room songs (again, don't read youtube comments).

Which are yours?

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by Rapier

[Jedi]

The Trails games in general, because of their huge interconnected plot, vast worldbuilding, great characters, awesome RPG gameplay that rewards you for knowing how it works, and is freeform enough to do your own strats. 

I  could literally go on and on, about why Trails in the Sky FC, SC, 3rd are all awesome, why I find Zero No Kiseki awesome so far, what I adore about the duo of Trails of Cold Steel games currently and my sheer anticipation for Cold Steel III which has characters from Sky coming in along with Zero/AO, with even more continuations on all their stories.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/251150/The_Legend_of_Heroes_Trails_in_the_Sky/ 

However you do not want to play SC & 3rd without FC, Cold Steel is even a hard recommendation without playing Sky as some characters make their re-appearence and some plot threads introduced in 3rd continue into it, but its probably the other most standalone game in the series, however Cold Steel 2 is not. As Zero & AO are going on and SC/3rd events are blatantly referenced. 

Ogre Battle, both March of the Black Queen & 64 are very under apperciated as well, for their almost RTS tactical RPG style with more traditional styled automatic battles, where you need to setup your battalion right to win the day, with tons of unit types, a very unique gameplay style and decent stories to boot, I will be forever sad that they decided to do Tactics Ogre instead of continuing the gameplay style of the Battle games.

[Randoman]

Dillon's Rolling Western and its sequel come to mind. With it being quite a unique take on the tower defense genre and taking a lot of different elements from different game genres, to me the game felt like its own genre in itself. The fast paced gameplay during Grock Invasions and really having be smart about managing time and money really well made for a really exciting, challenging, and fun game overall.

...yeah, maybe I talk about Dillon's Rolling Western a bit too much.

The Gradius series also comes to mind as well. The challenge in the series definitely isn't lacking and the freedom you have in how you choose to power up and what upgrades to work on first is a really neat mechanic.

I'll admit, the "you lose all powers when you die" rule makes things pretty brutal, but at least in Gradius Galaxies, they did a good job at designing levels so being able to repower up when you die is much easier. Granted, I've only played Gradius 1-3 and Galaxies, so I can't speak for how well all the other Gradius games made it be able to power up after dying.

[DragonFlames]

7th Dragon III Code:VFD is one such game for me. I rarely ever find people who also played it, so it's hard to share opinions and stuff about the game.

The Trails series is obvious as the JRPG series with possibly the best world buidling ever done in any game ever, gorgeous graphics, incredible soundtrack, though incredible doesn't cut it for how amazing it is, gameplay and battle dynamics that makes it feel like a turn based Tales game (which is a good thing, mind you)... yeah I love them, though admittedly, I have only really played the two Cold Steel games as I can't seem to find the others and my PC is too slow to even handle most emulated DS games, so that's out of the question as well.
Though I think it's a good thing that this franchise has more of a niche status. We've seen time and again how franchises suddenly got large and lost most of their charm and soul to corporate greed, and I don't really want it to happen to the The Legend of Heroes series as well.

[Slumber]

I'll second the Zero Escape series, which is one of my big ones.

I'll go with two that I'd want sequels of to iron out the issues.

Dragon's Dogma

The game got plenty of love, but Capcom's weird standards of "It must sell 2 million copies to become a franchise!" have the IP hanging in limbo. IIRC, it sold close to 2 mil during its initial run, and it very likely finally crossed 2 mil when its PC rerelease came out(They're releasing the PC version for PS4 and Xbone, too), so I'm sure a sequel is in talks... but the game's nearly 6 years old now. If it ever gets a proper sequel, it will probably be 7-10 years old.

If it had just gotten a bit more love during its initial run, we'd likely have a sequel or two by now. Which I really want. Dragon's Dogma has a lot of problems, and could really be fleshed out a lot more, but its combat system and boss fight/monster encounters are hands down the best in its genre. Things like the Pawn system being full-fledged co-op would be absolutely amazing. Simply put, it's a game with a metric ton of potential, and it's a shame it'll take so long to ever see it realized.

Anarchy Reigns

Another really janky(Way more than DD), actually kinda bad game. It's a fairly standard beat 'em up that's a pseudo-sequel to MadWorld(Which I would have argued never should have gotten any sort of sequel in the first place) when you play is single player. But, it's actually an amazing online party game. The game has a lot of balance issues, but there's a lot of stuff to do on every map, every character(Well, except the sisters) plays really differently, and it can actually become a game with a reasonably high skill ceiling as a multiplayer versus beat 'em up. It also has some fun game types that keep the brawling from becoming repetitive too quickly. A sequel to iron out the problems, add a bit more depth to the combat, and a proper netcode could have been amazing. I revisited it with a bunch of friends when it was on PS+ two or so years ago, and it was a blast that we all played every night for about a week straight. Eventually the problems I mentioned became too much to deal with and we stopped again.

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by Slumber

[Von Ithipathachai]

I really wish Megami Tensei I + II would get more love.  They're very important to the rest of SMT, but you'd be very hard-pressed to find even hardcore mainline fans who've played those games.  The fact that Kyūyaku Megami Tensei (a collection of both games with major gameplay improvements) has been fan-translated for a while now makes it hurt worse.

Lagrange Point and Earthbound Beginnings are two other old RPGs that I wish would get more attention.

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, DragonFlames said:

7th Dragon III Code:VFD is one such game for me. I rarely ever find people who also played it, so it's hard to share opinions and stuff about the game.

Bruh, this game was great. I've had the game since last year and you're the first person i've seen that has the game besides me. It's one of my favorite games on the 3DS. The game does have a really slow start, and there's not much of character development, since it's one of those JRPGs where you determine the names and classes of your party. However, once it starts to pick up, it gets really good. There are random encounters, but there's a bar in the top-right corner that will let you know when a random encounter is about to happen. The game also has time travel, and holy shit, does it travel far into both the past and the future. 

Spoiler

I'd never thought i'd ever play a game where i'd travel to the ancient civilization of Atlantis in 10,000 BC, and then later travel to Eden, which is actually the ruins of Atlantis in 7200 AD

One of the things i didn't like about this game was the fact that you could only hold 15 of each item, but that's just a small nitpick in a great game. This game is actually the 3rd game in the 7th Dragon series but the other 2 games are Japan-only and it's made in a way where you don't need to play the first two games to play this one. Overall, 7th Dragon III: Code VFD gets an 8/10 in my book.

Another game i like that needs more love is Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven. The game was made by XSEED, the same people behind the Rune Factory series (a.k.a fantasy anime Harvest Moon). Lord of Magna is a real time strategy game.....kinda. It's turn based, but you get to position your self and move around. Basically, think Xenoblade Chronicles, but if it was turn-based, while still being able to position yourself in front or behind the enemy. Each character has a radius they can move around in, and their turn doesn't end until they attack/use an item, or you wait. The story is that the main character (default name is Luchs but you can change if it you want) runs an inn. Except no one aside from his childhood friends visit the inn. Like, ever. One day, as he's exploring a cave, an earthquake happens and he discovers a large crystal with a girl trapped inside. Over the course of the game, he finds more of these girls and tries to get himself a harem find out the mystery behind them. The plot is very anime but the game is actually legitimately good. I actually haven't finished it though. I stopped right before the final battle because the Switch and Breath of the Wild came and devoured many hours of my life. This game is on the 3DS.

I also need to talk about the KEMCO JRPGs. You'll find most of these on Play Store (don't know about the App Store) and i admidattly haven't played all of them. In fact, there are too many. But the ones i have played are Infinite Dunamis, Journey to Kreisa, Antiquia Lost, Asdivine Cross, Asdivine Hearts, and i'm currently playing through Asdivine Hearts 2. Infinite Dunamis and Journey to Kresia are available on the 3DS eShop as well. For being mobile games, these games (the ones i've played anyway) are actually really good. At least in the ones i've played, you'll notice that some mechanics carry over from game to game. One thing i like about these games is that, there are three endings: bad, neutral, and true. The bad ending only happens if you lose during the final battle. Instead of getting a game over, the game's ending will play out as if the heroes lost. The true ending is only gotten after doing something specific (but obvious) in New Game+. Some games will skip the New Game+ part and just have you redo the "final fight" but with the option to proceed to the true end, which usually expands the story a bit more before the true climax. The Asdivine games in particular have multiple endings, depending on character relationships. The games (with the exception of the ones on 3DS) do have in-app purchases, but none are ever needed to play the game. The only downside is, unless you buy the premium version of the game, you'll be getting ads....unless you shut off your wifi and mobile data. That actually stops the ads in the free versions. Regarding the games i've played, i'd give them anywhere between 7.5 to 8/10.

I've legit never seen anyone talk about Liberation Maiden. It's an all-range shooter in the vein of StarFox's all-range missions. I never beat it, because i got stuck on the final boss, but it's a good game, albiet short. It's on the 3DS. There's a sequel though......it's Japan-only.......on the PSVita.

Then there's the Legend of Dark Witch. This basically one of many Mega Man spiritual successor and it's pretty decent. 8/10. There's a sequel that i've never played. Both are on the 3DS.

The Azure Striker Gunvolt series. I'm gonna put this in a spoiler tag, since i have a lot to talk about.

Spoiler

While the Gunvolt games did put Inti Creates (the same people behind Mega Man Zero) in the spotlight, i feel that not enough people talk about it. Granted, the games are much more popular in Japan (there exist drama CDs and a side-story that is currently being written, both of which expand on the worldbuliding and, in the case of the drama CDs, character development, some 4-komas, and even some live concerts), but over here in the West, they are well known but still somewhat niche, at least compared to other indie game games such as Shovel Knight and Shantae. Oh, i suppose i have to explain how the game works. The game is essentially a spiritual successor to the Mega Man Zero franchise. You play as Gunvolt, and the way he works is that, you shoot out darts from his gun. The darts themselves don't do much which is where his lightning comes in. The darts essentially act as lightning rods, drawing in the lightning towards the enemies hit by the darts. It boils down to a flashy lock-on mechanic but it's done in a way where it never feels repetitive. This attack, also known as the Flashfield, isn't just for attacking. It can also be used as a shield to block explosives, and also to gently glide down. Besides that, he's got special skills and he gets more as he levels up. He's also got an ability called Prevasion, which is one of the most broken defensive abilities i've ever seen...in theory. As long as you have EP, all damage taken is negated. And Gunvolt is able to recharge his EP whenever he wants, with no limit to how often he can do it.

That being said, there is a catch. You can't attack and Prevade at the same time (well, you can shoot the darts but they barely do damage). In addition, even if you Prevade, getting hit resets your score and that's where this game's main challenge comes in. The way the scoring system works is that, you'll keep gaining points for every point of damage you deal. HOWEVER, getting hit even just once will reset your score to zero. So it takes quick reflexes and knowing what you're doing to keep up a high score. Using skills or checkpoints will save your score, however, the counter will reset to zero. To explain it simply, say you have 1300 Kudos (the name of the points). If you use a skill or pass a checkpoint, those 1300 Kudos are saved and will be factored into your total score at the end. However, your Kudos count will reset to zero, meaning that 1300 is your max until you build up your Kudos again. It'll be easier to understand if you see it in action. Should you die in a level, assuming it wasn't from an insta-kill, there is a chance for you to be revived by Anthem, activated by Gunvolt's friend, Lumen/Joule (she goes by both names, technically). Anthem basically makes Gunvolt's EP infinite, as well as giving him infinite air dashes and air jumps. However, it's not a win button. Anthem!Gunvolt can still die if he's attacked while attacking. While Anthem is active, you'll get this sweet techno J-Pop song playing in the background and these songs are actually pretty good. They'll also play if you get 1000 Kudos while in a mission. The second game in the series introduces Copen, Gunvolt's rival, as a playable character. Copen is essentially Mega Man, being able to copy the abilities of the bosses he kills. He also has his own version of Anthem, activated by his robot companion, Lola.

The setting of both games is in the near future where people called Adepts have begun appearing. Gunvolt and Joule are Adepts and Adepts are essentially X-Men mutants on steroids. Like, there's one Adept with ice powers so cold, they are below absolute zero. There's another Adept who is capable of taking real objects and digitizing them and vice versa. Copen isn't an Adept but he's got tech that lets him recreate their abilities. He's also racist towards Adepts (though, like X-Men, there is discrimination against Adepts, so it's not like Copen's the only one). Both games have a bad and good ending.

The Azure Striker Gunvolt series is actually my third favorite video game series of all time and more people need to play it. Both games are on the 3DS, the first game is on Steam. There's also a physical dual pack called the Striker Pack for the 3DS, and the digital version of the Striker Pack will make it's way onto the Switch on August 30th. The Switch version will contain some new content and all the DLC from the 2nd game.

I'd rate both games a 9/10.

Oh yeah, those tehcno J-Pop songs i mentioned, i'll link you to three playlists, so you can listen to them (each game has it's own set of songs but the second game has two sets, one for Joule and one for Lola. Both sets in the second game are the same song, but Lola's version is more..robotic, i guess. Give these songs a listen, they're all really good).

Azure Phosphorescence (Azure Striker Gunvolt)

Into the Blue (Azure Striker Gunvolt 2)

Electro Rotation (Azure Striker Gunvolt 2)

 

Speaking of Inti Creates' games, more people need to play Blaster Master Zero. The game actually exceeded 100,000 downloads on the Switch recently. It's a reboot of the Blaster Master series and i've heard it's the first good Blaster Master game in a long time. The game has DLC as well, in the form of new characters, each with their own unique abilites. There's Gunvolt, Ekoro from Inti Creates' Gal*Gun series, Shantae, and Shovel Knight. The best thing about their DLC for this game is that, for two weeks after each character's release, they are free. Gunvolt, Ekoro, and Shantae currently cost $1.99 each but Shovel Knight is currently free. I'd give Blaster Master Zero an 8.5/10. Like the Gunvolt games, there is a bad and good ending.

One final Inti Creates game that more people need to play is Mighty Gunvolt Burst. It's essentially Mighty No.9 done right. The game features 3 characters: Beck, Gunvolt, and Ekoro. Ekoro is DLC but like in Blaster Master, every DLC character for this game will be free for 2 weeks. The best thing about this game is that you can customize literally everything about a character. Do you want the bullets to pierce through walls while going in a wave formation? Do you want the bullets to reflect off walls before exploding? Do you want to take less damage? More damage? Do you want your bullet size to be big? Small? Should the fire rate be fast? Slow? Go right ahead. You customize your character however you want (as long as you have enough CP). Each character also has unique customization options. Beck can air dash, Gunvolt can quad-jump and use his lightning, and Ekoro can hover and use Goddess' Blessing. I'd rate this game an 8.5/10.

[Dandragon]

Arc Rise Fantasia

I get it. The english voice acting is absolutely terrible. And anyone who has played it knows that the start is slower paced than a snail on top of a turtle. But if you can get past that, like I did, than I think people will find that there is a quality game underneath it all. The system they used for weapons is something I haven't seen done right in any other game, allowing a level of customization for your characters that can make each playthrough different and varied, especially when you get better at the game. The magic system is also interesting, with magic being a valuable and limited resource that leaves you questioning when it is proper to use them, instead of just being 'the way certain characters attack'. And to top it all off, I think the game can be fairly challenging to someone, at least for the first time. Bosses have strategies to them, and you need strategies to counteract them. Some of the hardest bosses in ARF aren't even at endgame. As a bonus, I think the music is nice to listen to. I don't think it deserves the bad rep that it gets just because of it's voice work, and I urge anyone reading this to try it, whether by buying the game (by some miracle) or through emulation.

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 minutes ago, Dandragon said:

The system they used for weapons is something I haven't seen done right in any other game, allowing a level of customization for your characters that can make each playthrough different and varied, especially when you get better at the game. The magic system is also interesting, with magic being a valuable and limited resource that leaves you questioning when it is proper to use them, instead of just being 'the way certain characters attack'.

I loved the weapon system too, it was quite unique, though I didn't really experiment with it much (just the same three Benetnasch weapons for Ryfia, L'arc, and Rastan from beginning to end). And if you prefer cosmetics, the weapon system didn't punish you much for not using the most ideal of weapons.

The magic system though, while very powerful, was plagued by those very limited uses. I never used it in regular battles because at most I had 9 uses per magic level per character, and MP restoratives weren't buyable, not to mention you needed to sync magic to make it deal amazing damage, which meant burning multiple uses. I relied on healing Liquids for healing, because I didn't have enough MP for healing and attacking alike, and I'd rather use them on healing. I did like the overall system though, it was just so restrictive.

[Omegaprism]

Anybody here play those old Dungeons and Dragons arcade beat'em'ups? Something something Mystara? They epitomized arcade brawlers in the 90s in all the right ways for me. If you haven't played them, they came out together as a double pack called Chronicles of Mystara on Steam, Xbox Live, and PSN. Pretty good value and a fair amount of replay value.

However, I am here to actually talk about Vanillaware's spiritual sequel to those games, Dragon's Crown. Plagued by bad press because of its exaggerated art style (mainly the Sorceress, one of the playable characters, because she is packing a pair of zeppelins), I feel like more people were talking about the breasts debate than the rest of the game, which is a ton of fun. There are six playable characters to choose from, and they each have several skills to choose from and level up, making for a nice variety of different play styles. I'm a fan of Vanillaware's art style so I ignored the hoopla over it and dove right in, and while it has some other problems (there are only nine dungeons and the optional quests force you to revisit them several times, four-player co-op crowds the screen a bit), The core gameplay loop is compelling enough that I still play it today. While Muramasa for the Wii was my first experience with Vanillaware, Dragon's Crown was the experience that cemented them in my mind as a developer to watch for. I think this game deserves more love and less people arguing over whether the female character designs are problematic or consistent with the game's art style.

Also, if anybody reading this thread also plays, I'd love to do some online co-op.

[Ronnie]

Final Fight 3. A lot of people are aware of the first game's existence for being a legendary beat em up arcade game. However the sequel on SNES was pretty overlooked for being late into the SNES's lifespan and for having slowdown issues. However it is one of my favorite games of all time with a kick-ass soundtrack, fun combos, and nice looking sprites.

Gravity Rush series. The 2 games for Vita and PS4 are such beautiful games that feel like you're playing a Studio Ghibli movie. The soundtrack was composed by the guy who makes the One Piece OST so you know it's good. The gameplay is incredibly unique and the characters are very charming.

Senran Kagura. Underneath the tits and ass (which are great too btw), lies a really fun and addicting gameplay with wonderful music and I'd wish people would stop acting like sexuality is such a horrible thing when everyone seems to be okay with gore and violence in their video games. Why accept one but shun the other?

[SoulWeaver]

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

Then there's the Legend of Dark Witch. This basically one of many Mega Man spiritual successor and it's pretty decent. 8/10. There's a sequel that i've never played. Both are on the 3DS.

The Azure Striker Gunvolt series. I'm gonna put this in a spoiler tag, since i have a lot to talk about.

  Reveal hidden contents

While the Gunvolt games did put Inti Creates (the same people behind Mega Man Zero) in the spotlight, i feel that not enough people talk about it. Granted, the games are much more popular in Japan (there exist drama CDs and a side-story that is currently being written, both of which expand on the worldbuliding and, in the case of the drama CDs, character development, some 4-komas, and even some live concerts), but over here in the West, they are well known but still somewhat niche, at least compared to other indie game games such as Shovel Knight and Shantae. Oh, i suppose i have to explain how the game works. The game is essentially a spiritual successor to the Mega Man Zero franchise. You play as Gunvolt, and the way he works is that, you shoot out darts from his gun. The darts themselves don't do much which is where his lightning comes in. The darts essentially act as lightning rods, drawing in the lightning towards the enemies hit by the darts. It boils down to a flashy lock-on mechanic but it's done in a way where it never feels repetitive. This attack, also known as the Flashfield, isn't just for attacking. It can also be used as a shield to block explosives, and also to gently glide down. Besides that, he's got special skills and he gets more as he levels up. He's also got an ability called Prevasion, which is one of the most broken defensive abilities i've ever seen...in theory. As long as you have EP, all damage taken is negated. And Gunvolt is able to recharge his EP whenever he wants, with no limit to how often he can do it.

That being said, there is a catch. You can't attack and Prevade at the same time (well, you can shoot the darts but they barely do damage). In addition, even if you Prevade, getting hit resets your score and that's where this game's main challenge comes in. The way the scoring system works is that, you'll keep gaining points for every point of damage you deal. HOWEVER, getting hit even just once will reset your score to zero. So it takes quick reflexes and knowing what you're doing to keep up a high score. Using skills or checkpoints will save your score, however, the counter will reset to zero. To explain it simply, say you have 1300 Kudos (the name of the points). If you use a skill or pass a checkpoint, those 1300 Kudos are saved and will be factored into your total score at the end. However, your Kudos count will reset to zero, meaning that 1300 is your max until you build up your Kudos again. It'll be easier to understand if you see it in action. Should you die in a level, assuming it wasn't from an insta-kill, there is a chance for you to be revived by Anthem, activated by Gunvolt's friend, Lumen/Joule (she goes by both names, technically). Anthem basically makes Gunvolt's EP infinite, as well as giving him infinite air dashes and air jumps. However, it's not a win button. Anthem!Gunvolt can still die if he's attacked while attacking. While Anthem is active, you'll get this sweet techno J-Pop song playing in the background and these songs are actually pretty good. They'll also play if you get 1000 Kudos while in a mission. The second game in the series introduces Copen, Gunvolt's rival, as a playable character. Copen is essentially Mega Man, being able to copy the abilities of the bosses he kills. He also has his own version of Anthem, activated by his robot companion, Lola.

The setting of both games is in the near future where people called Adepts have begun appearing. Gunvolt and Joule are Adepts and Adepts are essentially X-Men mutants on steroids. Like, there's one Adept with ice powers so cold, they are below absolute zero. There's another Adept who is capable of taking real objects and digitizing them and vice versa. Copen isn't an Adept but he's got tech that lets him recreate their abilities. He's also racist towards Adepts (though, like X-Men, there is discrimination against Adepts, so it's not like Copen's the only one). Both games have a bad and good ending.

The Azure Striker Gunvolt series is actually my third favorite video game series of all time and more people need to play it. Both games are on the 3DS, the first game is on Steam. There's also a physical dual pack called the Striker Pack for the 3DS, and the digital version of the Striker Pack will make it's way onto the Switch on August 30th. The Switch version will contain some new content and all the DLC from the 2nd game.

I'd rate both games a 9/10.

Oh yeah, those tehcno J-Pop songs i mentioned, i'll link you to three playlists, so you can listen to them (each game has it's own set of songs but the second game has two sets, one for Joule and one for Lola. Both sets in the second game are the same song, but Lola's version is more..robotic, i guess. Give these songs a listen, they're all really good).

Azure Phosphorescence (Azure Striker Gunvolt)

Into the Blue (Azure Striker Gunvolt 2)

Electro Rotation (Azure Striker Gunvolt 2)

 

 

GUNVOLT IS COMING TO THE SWITCH?!?!?!?!?! FREAKING HECK JUST WHEN I WAS TRYING TO SAVE MY MONEY FOR A CHANGEahem.

I actually just came from playing GV2 right now because I was trying to find out what weapon did best on Teseo so I could finish one of the Challenges because I heard there's an extra-special secret ending that only plays if you finish 80% of all the Challenges and I don't want to look it up and I stopped by here and found this thread and FREAKING GUNVOLT ON THE SWITCHahem. But yeah, I'm echoing you here, the games are AMAZING for any longtime Megaman fan, particularly those who loved the Zero series. Also, you know anywhere I could find downloads of those songs? iTunes let me down the last time I looked and that's about the only place I know to go to for such things, and as a VOCALOID fan I loved Lola's versions of the songs.

Also, Legend of Dark Witch! It's pretty much cutesy Megaman with Kirby-esque graphics, but it's still a fun game(it IS Megaman, after all). The sequel's…eh, depends on how much you loved the original. You're guaranteed to see every one of the original game's bosses somewhere in the game(Blad, Klinsy, and that one fairy whose name escapes me return for another round as bosses, Papelne and Ai run shops, and Sora is an alternate playable who is broken as crap), and then new bosses(There's a drunk cat-lady, for example, which is amusing) and things, but it can kind of fall flat compared to the original depending on how you look at it. On a separate note, when I was digging around the eShop trying to see if there was a third game I found a spinoff by the same company featuring Ai. Don't remember what it's called, though.

Alright, enough freaking out about Megaman, might as well state my own games.

First off, Custom Robo. We only got two of the five games worldwide, and I've only played the DS one, but it was pretty awesome, and my brother and I are trying to find the GameCube one so we can try that. The battles are kind of like Megaman meets Metroid meets…I don't know what else but other things. Also HAIL MARV'S THEME.

Second, Legend of Dragoon. I never played this one, but I watched my brother play it and it was something else - the game takes up four discs of data on the original Playstation, so there's lots of playtime involved, and the game features one of only two video game females my brother has been willing to call waifu material(the other being Samus, so…), so that's impressive as he isn't generally that kind of guy. Obviously the graphics look awful nowadays as it's on the OG Playstation, but at the time they weren't half bad. The game is also amazing to make fun of - I immediately nicknamed one of the main enemies Sephiroth because there's a moment where he holds a guy aloft with only a sword through his chest plus has silver hair, and spent like half the game memeing about certain characters, from shouting "PUT IT AWAY ALBERT" whenever the prince guy tried to flirt with the girl he likes to "Get in the Party, Miranda!" whenever a certain non-plot-important character tried to say anything in a cutscene to calling the city of robots "Aperture Town" in honor of Portal. Overall, the game's great, and it set up pretty much perfectly for a sequel that was planned but mysteriously cancelled so RIP LoD.

[DragonFlames]

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

Bruh, this game was great. I've had the game since last year and you're the first person i've seen that has the game besides me. It's one of my favorite games on the 3DS. The game does have a really slow start, and there's not much of character development, since it's one of those JRPGs where you determine the names and classes of your party. However, once it starts to pick up, it gets really good. There are random encounters, but there's a bar in the top-right corner that will let you know when a random encounter is about to happen. The game also has time travel, and holy shit, does it travel far into both the past and the future. 

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I'd never thought i'd ever play a game where i'd travel to the ancient civilization of Atlantis in 10,000 BC, and then later travel to Eden, which is actually the ruins of Atlantis in 7200 AD

One of the things i didn't like about this game was the fact that you could only hold 15 of each item, but that's just a small nitpick in a great game. This game is actually the 3rd game in the 7th Dragon series but the other 2 games are Japan-only and it's made in a way where you don't need to play the first two games to play this one. Overall, 7th Dragon III: Code VFD gets an 8/10 in my book.

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While the Gunvolt games did put Inti Creates (the same people behind Mega Man Zero) in the spotlight, i feel that not enough people talk about it. Granted, the games are much more popular in Japan (there exist drama CDs and a side-story that is currently being written, both of which expand on the worldbuliding and, in the case of the drama CDs, character development, some 4-komas, and even some live concerts), but over here in the West, they are well known but still somewhat niche, at least compared to other indie game games such as Shovel Knight and Shantae. Oh, i suppose i have to explain how the game works. The game is essentially a spiritual successor to the Mega Man Zero franchise. You play as Gunvolt, and the way he works is that, you shoot out darts from his gun. The darts themselves don't do much which is where his lightning comes in. The darts essentially act as lightning rods, drawing in the lightning towards the enemies hit by the darts. It boils down to a flashy lock-on mechanic but it's done in a way where it never feels repetitive. This attack, also known as the Flashfield, isn't just for attacking. It can also be used as a shield to block explosives, and also to gently glide down. Besides that, he's got special skills and he gets more as he levels up. He's also got an ability called Prevasion, which is one of the most broken defensive abilities i've ever seen...in theory. As long as you have EP, all damage taken is negated. And Gunvolt is able to recharge his EP whenever he wants, with no limit to how often he can do it.

That being said, there is a catch. You can't attack and Prevade at the same time (well, you can shoot the darts but they barely do damage). In addition, even if you Prevade, getting hit resets your score and that's where this game's main challenge comes in. The way the scoring system works is that, you'll keep gaining points for every point of damage you deal. HOWEVER, getting hit even just once will reset your score to zero. So it takes quick reflexes and knowing what you're doing to keep up a high score. Using skills or checkpoints will save your score, however, the counter will reset to zero. To explain it simply, say you have 1300 Kudos (the name of the points). If you use a skill or pass a checkpoint, those 1300 Kudos are saved and will be factored into your total score at the end. However, your Kudos count will reset to zero, meaning that 1300 is your max until you build up your Kudos again. It'll be easier to understand if you see it in action. Should you die in a level, assuming it wasn't from an insta-kill, there is a chance for you to be revived by Anthem, activated by Gunvolt's friend, Lumen/Joule (she goes by both names, technically). Anthem basically makes Gunvolt's EP infinite, as well as giving him infinite air dashes and air jumps. However, it's not a win button. Anthem!Gunvolt can still die if he's attacked while attacking. While Anthem is active, you'll get this sweet techno J-Pop song playing in the background and these songs are actually pretty good. They'll also play if you get 1000 Kudos while in a mission. The second game in the series introduces Copen, Gunvolt's rival, as a playable character. Copen is essentially Mega Man, being able to copy the abilities of the bosses he kills. He also has his own version of Anthem, activated by his robot companion, Lola.

The setting of both games is in the near future where people called Adepts have begun appearing. Gunvolt and Joule are Adepts and Adepts are essentially X-Men mutants on steroids. Like, there's one Adept with ice powers so cold, they are below absolute zero. There's another Adept who is capable of taking real objects and digitizing them and vice versa. Copen isn't an Adept but he's got tech that lets him recreate their abilities. He's also racist towards Adepts (though, like X-Men, there is discrimination against Adepts, so it's not like Copen's the only one). Both games have a bad and good ending.

The Azure Striker Gunvolt series is actually my third favorite video game series of all time and more people need to play it. Both games are on the 3DS, the first game is on Steam. There's also a physical dual pack called the Striker Pack for the 3DS, and the digital version of the Striker Pack will make it's way onto the Switch on August 30th. The Switch version will contain some new content and all the DLC from the 2nd game.

I'd rate both games a 9/10.

Oh yeah, those tehcno J-Pop songs i mentioned, i'll link you to three playlists, so you can listen to them (each game has it's own set of songs but the second game has two sets, one for Joule and one for Lola. Both sets in the second game are the same song, but Lola's version is more..robotic, i guess. Give these songs a listen, they're all really good).

Azure Phosphorescence (Azure Striker Gunvolt)

Into the Blue (Azure Striker Gunvolt 2)

Electro Rotation (Azure Striker Gunvolt 2)

 

True, the 15 item limit does get stressful in later parts, especially when you fight certain bosses that throw a lot of status effects at you and you can only fully protect yourself against a maximum of two of them.

Hypnos is my nightmare because of that. Although her battle theme was the greatest piece of music I have ever heard in a video game, so she's also my favourite boss

I loved the fact that you created your own party from the ground up. It almost felt like an Etrian Odyssey spin-off because of it, the bar that shows when the next random battle will happen and their very own F.O.E.s, which are sometimes the most brutal things to fight.

Especially the Tower Dragons in Eden and the ones that can petrify your entire team with one attack in the final dungeon

I would love to play the older games as well. I hope they'll translate them someday.

[Armagon]

21 minutes ago, SoulWeaver said:

Also, you know anywhere I could find downloads of those songs? iTunes let me down the last time I looked and that's about the only place I know to go to for such things, and as a VOCALOID fan I loved Lola's versions of the songs.

The only way to download them is via Youtube to MP3. 

21 minutes ago, SoulWeaver said:

Also, Legend of Dark Witch! It's pretty much cutesy Megaman with Kirby-esque graphics, but it's still a fun game(it IS Megaman, after all). The sequel's…eh, depends on how much you loved the original. You're guaranteed to see every one of the original game's bosses somewhere in the game(Blad, Klinsy, and that one fairy whose name escapes me return for another round as bosses, Papelne and Ai run shops, and Sora is an alternate playable who is broken as crap), and then new bosses(There's a drunk cat-lady, for example, which is amusing) and things, but it can kind of fall flat compared to the original depending on how you look at it. On a separate note, when I was digging around the eShop trying to see if there was a third game I found a spinoff by the same company featuring Ai. Don't remember what it's called, though.

Interesting. I'm personally pretty forgiving and optimistic about most things. A game has to actually try for me to dislike it. So if i end up playing the sequel, i'd probably end up liking it.

6 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

True, the 15 item limit does get stressful in later parts, especially when you fight certain bosses that throw a lot of status effects at you and you can only fully protect yourself against a maximum of two of them.

 

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Hypnos is my nightmare because of that. Although her battle theme was the greatest piece of music I have ever heard in a video game, so she's also my favourite boss

 

Spoiler

Ah yeah, Hypnos was pretty tough. I agree that her battle theme is pretty amazing.

 

8 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Especially the Tower Dragons in Eden and the ones that can petrify your entire team with one attack in the final dungeon

Oh yeah, that reminds me, i didn't like how some status effects were handled in this game. Petrification makes sense but, if, say, your entire team gets paralyzed, you're basically just fucked. A paralyzed character can't even use items to heal themselves and if all three members are paralyzed, then you might as well restart.

[Dandragon]

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I loved the weapon system too, it was quite unique, though I didn't really experiment with it much (just the same three Benetnasch weapons for Ryfia, L'arc, and Rastan from beginning to end). And if you prefer cosmetics, the weapon system didn't punish you much for not using the most ideal of weapons.

The magic system though, while very powerful, was plagued by those very limited uses. I never used it in regular battles because at most I had 9 uses per magic level per character, and MP restoratives weren't buyable, not to mention you needed to sync magic to make it deal amazing damage, which meant burning multiple uses. I relied on healing Liquids for healing, because I didn't have enough MP for healing and attacking alike, and I'd rather use them on healing. I did like the overall system though, it was just so restrictive.

And that is exactly why I like the magic system in Arc Rise. Because of that restrictive feeling, it gives meaning to the many items you come across in your adventure compared to, say, final fantasy games, where you just cast your highest level cure spell over your entire party. It's something powerful that should be used only at the proper moment, and that is something I can appreciate.

[Pixelman]

ROMANCING SAGA 2

Something I really admire about Akitoshi Kawazu is his ability to create totally unconvential yet incredibly innovative and entertaining games. I believe Romancing SaGa 2 is his Magnum Opus. It's a game that's vastly different from its peers (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc.) yet manages to outdo them in part due to its sheer exoticness. Multiple generations, sparking, LP, magic fusion, open-ended/non-linear gameplay... I can go on. There's so much shit packed into the game I'm suprised it managed to even see the light of day. It boasts a lot of replayability for a JRPG released in 1993 and, crypticness aside, it has aged quite well IMO.

It's kinda hard to get into (and might warrant some restarts to get a full grasp on the mechanics), but when you really get into the groove, it's an extremely entertaining experience. There are flaws of course; the game feels a tad unpolished at times and the game doesn't explain certain mechanics to you (global levels). Also, it's quite unforgiving in terms of difficulty at times, especially in the earlygame, and there are many times when you might be wandering around looking for what to do next. However, I think the pros outweigh the cons, and it's easy in this day and age to look up information regarding any of the more obtuse mechanics anyways.

You can get it on your iPhone/Android for $17.99. Steep price for a mobile game, I know, but well worth the price considering what you're getting. It is a Square game, but it's the only portable Square game I haven't had trouble with.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Pixelman

[DragonFlames]

5 hours ago, Armagon said:

Oh yeah, that reminds me, i didn't like how some status effects were handled in this game. Petrification makes sense but, if, say, your entire team gets paralyzed, you're basically just fucked. A paralyzed character can't even use items to heal themselves and if all three members are paralyzed, then you might as well restart.

Yup, that's true. Some bosses (especially the penultimate boss) just LOVE to bombard you with several status effects. Get unlucky and you're screwed. Charm and Confuse are especially terrible, I find. Luckily, you can have a Duelist in the back row to heal them when you have the chance to do so.
That's another thing I love about this game. The battle system might seem simplistic at first glance, but there's actually a lot of depth to it and finding new combos to annihilate your enemies feels very satisfying.

[Sentacotus]

F-Zero that is all come on Nintendo...

[DragonFlames]

2 hours ago, LordOTaco said:

F-Zero that is all come on Nintendo...

Not to play devil's advocate, but the F-Zero games (at least the ones I've played) are notoriously difficult, so it's hard to market them towards a more casual and thus wider audience and since Mario Kart is Nintendo's biggest and to my knowledge currently only racing game franchise, I don't think we'll be seeing another F-Zero game in the near future. Which is a shame, because even though it was hard as balls, I liked the games a lot. Racing games in general are among my favourite genres along with JRPGs.

[Armagon]

8 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

The battle system might seem simplistic at first glance, but there's actually a lot of depth to it and finding new combos to annihilate your enemies feels very satisfying.

Agreed. I thought at first that it was weird how your party can contain up to nine members but you only really control the front three most of the time. But once i started activating the Dual Attacks and the Overdrives (it's been a while since i've played so i don't remember the exact names of these techniques, so let's just call them this for now), it became really satisfying pulling of all sorts of combos. For example, for dual attacks, i sometimes like to have the members in the second/third row buff the attacking members in the first row, and then have the members in the first row attack more powerfully than they could without the buff. The Overdrives are one of my favorite things in this game. I always save it for when a boss is low on health and once that happens, i activate the Overdrive and have all nine members go all out. It's super-satisfying when all nine members have their EX Gauge filled up so they can use their EX Skills. That's how i beat the final boss.

Speaking of the final boss

Spoiler

It took me like four tries because while i figured it would have more than one form, i didn't think it'd have three. The second form in particular just loves to spam status effects iirc.

Yeah, if i had to pick my least favorite thing about this game, it's when the bosses spam status effects. You can negate them to an extent with special rings and charms, but they only have a chance of negating that status effect. The insta-kill protection is absolutely required to fight one of the bosses in Eden.

 

[Zera]

I'd like to gush for the Pikmin series. For some reason, a lot of Nintendo fans have never touched it. As someone who has no interest in the RTS genre, I must say that the Pikmin games kick a lot of ass. The second game in particular improved literally everything from Pikmin 1 - it is as good a sequel as Sin & Punishment 2 (if you're a S&P fan, your head should be exploding right now). It is so good, in fact, it is perhaps THE best game on GameCube.

Seriously, if you haven't played Pikmin 2, grab the Wii release on the Wii U Virtual Console.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6WtboK8xKw

Edited August 7, 2017 by Zera

[Sentacotus]

2 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Not to play devil's advocate, but the F-Zero games (at least the ones I've played) are notoriously difficult, so it's hard to market them towards a more casual and thus wider audience and since Mario Kart is Nintendo's biggest and to my knowledge currently only racing game franchise, I don't think we'll be seeing another F-Zero game in the near future. Which is a shame, because even though it was hard as balls, I liked the games a lot. Racing games in general are among my favourite genres along with JRPGs.

Yeah GX is easily the hardest of the bunch.  Although I think as far as futuristic racers go its the best around.  I'd kill to see something like Fast Neo Geo Racing but with F-zero.

[henrymidfields]

+1 for F-Zero. At least when I played Maximum Velocity, there was some arbitrary rules and rubberban AI in place, but a lot of the difficulty came from the courses themselves, and less from cheap AI like Mario Kart. Those CPUs from MKGC onwards and especially the fake F-Zero DLC from MK8 can go die and rot in Bowser's dungeon. That kiddy-version courses are fucking slow and lame, and whoever thought of that idea should be caned at the triangle 50 times, then shot by a firing squad.

Edited August 16, 2017 by henrymidfields

[Reality]

seeing this talk of racing game's reminds me of the Micromachines- When I was a kid I actually played Hotwheels games, but when I got into mircomachines with V3 I was instantly converted by the higher level of polish and originality.  Most people I see talk online about the franchise seem to prefer the 4th gen genesis/snes games though. The series is having a rough time, with a so-so spirtual revival (Toybox Turbos) and the badly received Micro Machines World Series. 

The strongest games in the series went all out with "toy cars in real environments" because of the size, you might have them going through sand castles on a beach, a kitchen table where cereal boxes would be the size of buildings and food would be a serious obstacle, billiard tables, etc.  The game also didn't limit itself to simple cars, using the full range of MM toys to include levels where you might race around similarly miniature  speedboats or helicopters in bathtubs and the like. 

The modern games still keep the brilliant environments (see the hungry hippos level in MMWS) but are crippled by making the physics even more slipperey, and not focusing  of the unique micro machine race system- In the classic series you raced to get a screen length away from the the other cars, and were awarded points and then everybody was set back up at the new point of the track. It helped to prevent things like people gaining an impenetrable lead and helped empasize the close quarters aspect of the game, which kept things exciting throughout. It did have some problems on levels with big jumps or the teleporters in V3's chemistry lab levels, but It made the game's pretty unique. 

The classic developers of the series, Codemasters, are still around, and hopefully they can reclaim their past ambition and go for giant car lists (as opposed to the meagre 30ish cars in the modern games) and level design, as well as returning to the old physics and shaking off the copious Nerf license product placement.

[Water Mage]

2 minutes ago, Reality said:

seeing this talk of racing game's reminds me of the Micromachines- When I was a kid I actually played Hotwheels games, but when I got into mircomachines with V3 I was instantly converted by the higher level of polish and originality.  Most people I see talk online about the franchise seem to prefer the 4th gen genesis/snes games though. The series is having a rough time, with a so-so spirtual revival (Toybox Turbos) and the badly received Micro Machines World Series. 

The strongest games in the series went all out with "toy cars in real environments" because of the size, you might have them going through sand castles on a beach, a kitchen table where cereal boxes would be the size of buildings and food would be a serious obstacle, billiard tables, etc.  The game also didn't limit itself to simple cars, using the full range of MM toys to include levels where you might race around similarly miniature  speedboats or helicopters in bathtubs and the like. 

The modern games still keep the brilliant environments (see the hungry hippos level in MMWS) but are crippled by making the physics even more slipperey, and not focusing  of the unique micro machine race system- In the classic series you raced to get a screen length away from the the other cars, and were awarded points and then everybody was set back up at the new point of the track. It helped to prevent things like people gaining an impenetrable lead and helped empasize the close quarters aspect of the game, which kept things exciting throughout. It did have some problems on levels with big jumps or the teleporters in V3's chemistry lab levels, but It made the game's pretty unique. 

 

Ah, Micro Machines, I remember playing it a lot on N64. I loved the creativity of the stages, thought I do remember it being a little to slippery. That's why I couldn't get other people to play it me.

 

1 hour ago, henrymidfields said:

+1 for F-Zero. At least when I played Maximum Velocity, there was some arbitrary rules and rubberban AI in place, but a lot of the difficulty came from the courses themselves, and less from cheap AI like Mario Kart. Those CPUs from MKGC onwards and especially the fake F-Zero DLC from MK8 can go die and rot in Bowser's dungeon. That kiddy-version courses are fucking slow and lame, and whoever thought of that idea should be caned at the triangle 50 times, then shot by a firing squad.

What's the problem with stages? Sure, the karts are not as fast, but I always thought they got that F-Zero "feel" on the tracks pretty well. Why such animosity?