Xbox 360 rpgs

[Tomato Convenience Store]

I've been considering just keeping the game and doing the installs. Does it really make that big of a difference? I keep reading mixed things on gamefaqs, and it's hard to trust them on a "console" issue because xbox fanboys will say "ALL THE TECHNICAL ISSUES ARE ENTIRELY GONE 100% AFTER THE INSTALL!!!", while the PS3 fanboys will hang around to say the exact opposite. Of course I wouldn't expect it to do miracles, but I can live with a few technical issues. It's tough to gauge because all the benefits of installing are unique to each individual game. Also, there's always the chance that the ps3 version doesn't solve the issues either and I would have waited all that time for nothing (also preordered the game for $40...good deal).

So yeah, how would you describe the frame rate/texture pop-ins after the install as if playing the game fresh, and NOT comparing it to how it plays it off the disc? Thanks d00d.

[LionheartUK]

After install it still slows down and it still pops in with texture issues and it still has all the loading screens... But it does cut them down a bit especially the loading screens,But in all honesty it really stops this game being a great game and i have no idea why Square didn't delay it for a few months to polish these issues out,No wonder it's got all these childish spoilt reviewers all butthurt.

If you like the jrpg genre then you will more than likely appreciate this game but if you don't or are not that bothered by the jrpg genre then i wouldn't bother with this game.

IGN just gave it a 5/10 and gametrailers just gave it an 8/10 it really is a mixed bag if you either like it or hate it.

Still i'm enjoying it a hell of a lot more than infinite undiscovery which i couldn't even finish.

[Tomato Convenience Store]

Yeah I saw both of those reviews...the IGN review was pretty brutal but seems to be the harshest review I've read so far. I agreed with gametrailers 100% on their reviews for Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia, so hopefully they got this one right too haha (they generally seem to be the most favorable when reviewing RPGs, so I also have to be consider the score may be a bit biased/inflated). Fuck it, I'm gonna still play it. The difference between $40 and what I could sell it for if it sucks would probably be about how much it would cost to rent.

I still can't understand how they could release it with so many technical issues. The gametrailers and gamespot reviews both said it's a great game if you can get over these issues, the IGN guy seemed to be nitpicking a bit more (complaining about having to start an hour boss fight over if you died, and no auto-save feature, for example).

[LionheartUK]

The guy who did the IGN review was probably butthurt because he forgot to save the game (you can save anywhere even on the map) and died to a boss and had to do it all again.

Obviously a halo fan boy that got given the job of reviewing a genre he hates.

The game is good and the reviews imo are way too harsh but like i said i won't be trusting reviews anymore i'll make my own mind up in future and i also thought LO was a superb game but that was not getting the kind of scores i thought it deserved.

Let's face it every reviewer in the west these days is too busy wanting shoot em ups and rpgs that are like fallout etc to give a damn about Jrpgs.

Tales of vesperia is supposed to be an awesome game but it's not even got a publisher in EU yet so it's looking like i'll never get to play this one :?

[Tomato Convenience Store]

Ok, so the game came a day early. I'm a couple of hours into it and I can say that the framerate is still pretty bad even after the install. At least this isn't a very action oriented game or else it would be unplayable. While it doesn't hinder the gameplay, it just looks bad and detracts from the experience. Texture pop-ins however aren't as bad as I thought they would be so far, but are still a detriment. They're basically on the same level as Mass Effect (so I can live with them). Also, loading times are really quick but happen a bit too often. Again, I can totally live with that though.

However, the animations are also terrible. They are totally last gen, and the animation bothers me more than the slowdown. The lip synching doesn't look natural either. From watching the trailers it seems like there could be "higher priority cinematics" where the animations and lip synching are done much better, cause the trailers look pretty awesome for the most part. It just sucks cause it's not likely that the animations are going to be fixed for the ps3 version.

As for the gameplay, I've barely scratched the surface, but during my battles there's this total "FUCK YEAH!!" feeling. I *just* got the ability to create unions as well. I honestly don't quite know what I'm doing yet, there's a pretty steep learning curve.

[Tomato Convenience Store]

ok, this game is pretty awesome. In some sections the framerate isn't as bad as it was in the beginning but it still kind of sucks. The combat is a blast, but I'm still not quite sure what I'm doing haha

[LionheartUK]

The texture pop in and the slowdown issues are wierd i played for about 4 hours or so last night and it wasn't happening much in a certain area on a certain quest even with many monsters on screen :? (no spoilers here :p ) it is worse in certain areas of the game i just wish SE could of polished this game out before release as it would of improved it's scores.

On another note SE announced 4 DLC packs 3 of which are free and offer more guild quests and new areas to explore available on marketplace in december...

[Tomato Convenience Store]

jesus, there's already a ton of stuff to do in this game. I just wish there was SOME way they could fix the framerate with a patch.

[PirateMuffins]

I'm about two hours into it and the framerates only dropped in a couple of places, i've got it installed aswell, i can put up with the texture pop up and constant load screens but can imagine being annoyed by them if i didn't have it installed, as for the game itself i'm enjoying it, combats good although i don't understand how most of it even works graphics are beautiful in places and soundtrack isn't half bad apart from the music during battles, good to see free dlc coming for the game aswell.

[Tomato Convenience Store]

Yeah so I'm close to beating the game but I need to level up cause I got creamed from the last boss haha. There are a bunch of pros and cons, and the frustrating thing is if they kept this game in development and released it when it was finished it could probably be the best next gen JRPG...there are so many *little* things they could've done better that really add up. It's not a AAA game that just "has a bad frame rate", overall the presentation is atrocious, save for the prerendered cutscenes. (I don't know how to describe the two different types of cutscenes. There are the cinematic ones you see in the trailers, which are awesome, and the "everyone stand around and talk with goofy animation" cutscenes...I can try to find some vids on youtube for comparison)

Basically, the game is unpolished in almost every aspect. The battles are just entirely lacking in cinematic quality. There are these really epic battles near the end of the game that could have been so much better. Instead of showing reinforcements run in while everythings going crazy, they just pop-in...it could've made a good moment great (if you saw what I'm talking about you'll know what I mean). Also, if there's a large monster like a dragon mixed in with smaller people, sometimes the fight moves to INSIDE the dragon, it just looks shitty when this happens.

The battle system IS fun but there are a few flaws. You give general, not specific commands to your unions though you can see what moves the individual characters will do. This hasn't really hurt me personally, but I'm not able to be entirely efficient. Say I have 2 healers in my party - 1 uses herbs (from inventory -> $$$) and 1 uses healing magic (costs action points which regenerate and are free)...almost always the computer selects the character with the herbs and the next character uses their magic anyways to finish healing me, but the spell would have entirely healed my party to begin with without using the herbs. To add insult to injury, my AP points were entirely full. My *goal* of healing my party was met, but herbs are a resource that can run out and the higher level "item arts" take a decent amount of herbs. On top of that, you're not always given the option to heal. However I can say that there was only one time that personally screwed me over...my strategy is to have balanced unions with 2 healers minimum and to always play it safe. I just wish it were more clear on WHY certain moves are available when they are (I think it has something to do with the morale bar, but not entirely sure). I don't mind the fact that not every move is available at certain times, but I want to know WHY and WHEN they'll be availabe. The combat system would also be 100 times better if you could set AI tendencies for individual characters and unions. I really think that's all they needed to implement. It'll still be a little flawed, but it could make a good combat system great.

What I really like about the combat system is the whole "deadlock/flank" aspect. When two opposing unions fight each other they're in "deadlock" mode and can't disengage to attack another union or else they'll get some defensive penalties. If you get attacked while in deadlock, it's a flank attack which has extra offensive bonuses. Also, while I'm not entirely clear how the whole "union placement" works on the map, it still effects the gameplay a bit, ESPECIALLY in larger battles. Sometimes knowing which unions to use to attack/heal in a turn makes a difference. Say, for example, I'm in a boss fight with 4 unions: 1's dead, 2 is low on health, 3 has full health and 4 is low on health and is the only party that's able to revive union 1, but is deadlocked on the boss. If 4 leaves to save 1, the boss could attack 2 and kill them...instead I send 3 to deadlock him and prevent him from attacking anyone else. The combat system shines in situations like this.

The story is pretty good too, not great but it drives the game along. The one thing I can agree on in the IGN review is that it needed a few more cinematic sequences. It just seems to be a bit disjointed at times, but the 2nd disc gets much better. There are some pretty good characters too. My favorite are Emma and David. Rush is pretty cheesy but you get used to him.

The music is awesome, I wish there were some more orchestral pieces but there's a good variety and a lot of quality. Totally fitting for a AAA rpg IMO.

So yeah, if you didn't feel like reading all that crap I'll summarize and add a few more points haha:

Pros:

- Great Pre-rendered cutscenes
- Great Music
- Good but flawed battle system that tries something new and somewhat succeeds
- Good challenge, the game does not fuck around
- An absolutely enormous game, tons of side quests, guild quests, union leaders to find, weapons to create, components to collect. If you like grinding and spending time trying to get totally epic weapons, you'll probably love this game if you can get over the "cons"

Cons:

- Terrible framerate, bad but manageable "pop-in" (even after install)
- Really bad, "early last gen" looking animations
- Overall bad presentation
- A little short on the number of pre-rendered cutscenes, story can seem disjointed at times
- Not enough types of enemies, too many recycled cookie-cutter models
- Not entirely clear why some moves are and aren't available for each turn. I don't mind that this happens, but I want to know why it happens it when the moves will be available next.
- Could have been totally awesome with a bit more time

To be even shorter: Wait for the ps3 and PC version if you can. Hopefully they can up the ante on the presentation.

[Tomato Convenience Store]

Beat it tonight, overall it's a pretty solid game...I'll rate it right below lost odyssey as the third best JRPG on the 360 (I'd give it around a 7.5 if I were to give it a score). If they didn't rush the game out I think it definitely had a chance to be the best. As bad as the tech issues are, the absolute WORST thing is thinking how much better the game could have been with more time.

Anyways, I found a somewhat manageable solution to the frame rate dips. This worked for me at least, I set my 360 settings to 480p and just used the zoom function on my TV to restore the "aspect ratio". The frame rate was noticeably better, so I'd recommend doing this on top of installing it. The QTEs actually become pretty tough haha.

Anyways, on another note, japanese developers need to stop with the cheesy vocal songs in their games.

[Tomato Convenience Store]

Star Ocean 4 comes out in a few days. The battle system looks pretty awesome. Never played a SO game before but thankfully this is a prequel to everything, so hopefully I shouldn't be too lost.

IGN gave it an 8.0, GI gave is a 7.0/7.5. They all said the RPG gameplay and customization is really solid, but there are some weaknesses in the pacing/story, and presentation.

Personally I really wish more next gen games had a larger focus on their stories. Bioshock's really the only game this gen that I can say has a strong story, maybe Mass Effect too. Other than that, Lost Odyssey has its moments, ToV's and TLR's story were so-so, MGS4 made a mockery of itself, and Halo 3 was a totally missed opportunity.

[My Best Day is Gone]

Star Ocean is a lot like the Tales series... and it shares the same storyline problems too. But if you're looking for a game for the game play then chances are you'll have a lot of fun with Star Ocean 4.

If you're looking to play the others in the series... here let me save you trouble : Play 1 and 2... do not play 3... ok it has the game play but the story and dungeon design... heck any map design in the game at all are all pretty dull in comparison to the first two games.

[Tomato Convenience Store]

Yeah I'll probably pick up SO4 down the line, I'm playing some XBLA games and looking to get my last achievement in Mass Effect. I heard the same about the stories in the Star Ocean games being pretty bad, especially the "twist" in SO3.

[AnimeGamer183]

Dude, Star Ocean 3 is superb game, and the story is great. The plot twist is a bit of shocker, but it goes perfect for the Sci-Fi setting that the game is in. I can understand why alot of the RPGers may knock it cause of that. But it fit in perfectly to me, and I also dont understand how it could possibly bring the game down, on contrary it makes it much more interesting.