DC RPGs

Post by **pixel** » Sat Jun 29, 2002 5:42 pm

i just bought a DC for the homegrown apps and emulation, but now I think I'm gonna buy some actually DC games. I know about Shenmue and'll probably buy it. But the other three "main RPGs" seem to Skies of Arcadia, Grandia II, and Timestalkers. I was curious what these games play like, and which is the highest of highest quality (You know, storyline & plot, character development). Graphics are no concern, just as long as it's a good RPG.

kaze · Post by **kaze** » Sat Jun 29, 2002 6:44 pm

time stalkersis ok, grandia 2 has an unrivaled battle system, but skies of arcadis has the best story. grandia 2's is kinda cliched.

DCemuN00B · Post by **DCemuN00B** » Sat Jun 29, 2002 11:47 pm

Grandia II was VERY linear, but INSANE battle system. Highly reccomend it.

liltimmyw · Post by **liltimmyw** » Sat Jun 29, 2002 11:53 pm

PSO, although its online play has been ruined by cheaters

autobotguy · Post by **autobotguy** » Sun Jun 30, 2002 12:57 am

a person i know bought time stalkers for 5bucks and gave it to me cuz he hated it, i played it for a lil over an hour but thought it was shit. i havent played the other 2, also evolution is another rpg out but i dont know much about it, i bought it, but i haven played it yet...

crazyrom · Post by **crazyrom** » Sun Jun 30, 2002 1:05 am

if you like rpg games you should get silver its a kool game

drunkensailor · Post by **drunkensailor** » Sun Jun 30, 2002 4:13 am

if u like rpg's get sylver,grandia 2,skies of arcadia and record of lodoss war

also must haves r sonic adventure and shenmue 1 and shenmue 2

SaSSO · Post by **SaSSO** » Sun Jun 30, 2002 2:52 pm

Well Evolution was a pretty good RPG, the story is good but it is virtually nonexistant- like every time they tell the story it is pretty good but they hardly tell it. I would recommend it though if you can get it for cheap.

Time Stalkers is ok, its not great and gets kind of monotonous after a while. Its not as bad as all the reviews go, but its not great either. I haven't beaten it yet but the story so far is pretty good if a little bland.

Skies of Arcadia is my favorite RPG of all time. It is a great game with a fun story and colorful cast of characters. It is a must buy if you are into RPGs.

Grandia 2 was another great game. Its right up there with Skies. I really didn't have a problem with the story, it had some nice plot twists in it. Get this one too if you can como across it, it is a lot of fun to play.

Record of Lodoss War is another great from what I hear. It has a Diablo feel to it from what I have seen.

If you can get online, get Phantasy Star Online ver. 2 and play on the japanese servers. It is a really addictive RPG.

So thats my review of the RPGs worth mentioning (or what I could remember lol). Hop it was useful.

Post by **pixel** » Sun Jun 30, 2002 4:20 pm

thank you very much! about pso, i have cable, and there is NO way i am going to pay in the range of $100

for a modem. Sorry, but that's a little too extreme for my taste. i guess Skies, silver, and Grandia it is!

thanks again

iam · Post by **iam** » Sun Jun 30, 2002 4:24 pm

Grandia 2 is my personal favorite, primarily because of the battle system. Unlike other RPG's, I actually looked for battle's to strengthen my character. Whereas in older RPG's and some newer ones the random battle system makes me despise battles...they're just so annoying. But Grandia 2 has a good solution to this problem. I'd highly recommend it.

Evolution & Evolution 2 are horrible games in my opinion. The most repeditive thing ever. The dungeons...ewww. 30 floors that looe almost exactly the same...some have even more floors than that, maybe even twice or three times as much...haven't played the game in a long time. The only way I found that fun was to GS it, and I personally hate GSing RPG's, especially PSO...I'd never let my GS touch that.

PSO is an excellent game to play online with people, avoid hackers and cheaters at all costs if you do play this online though. Offline it's rather dull however.

My two cents(200 posts).

Sultan of Saturn · Post by **Sultan of Saturn** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 12:13 am

In terms of rpgs for the Dreamcast that I have played, this is what I have got to say:

Record of Lodoss War - It is a really cool game that has a strong similarity to Diablo but simply with better graphics. The story is pretty good, but you aren't constantly getting bombarded with the story.

Evolution - It is all about dungeon exploring and finding artifacts to payoff your family debt and become a great adventurer. Your search for Evolutia, the greatest of all cyframes, will result in discovering something worth more than money. It is a cute game with a good battle system, and it took me about 40 hours to beat the game. There is a "continuation" after beating the game but it is a lot of the same stuff...dungeon exploring.

Evolution 2 - Picks up right after Evolution 1. You go to some other town as you are now a quite famous explorer. I think the graphics are a bit better. If you like Evolution 1, you will probably like this one as well (I just started playing it not too long ago).

Phantasy Star Online (ver. 1 or 2) - This game goes down as arguably the prettiest Dreamcast rpg. It doesn't have the traditional rpg feel that Skies of Arcadia has or Grandia 2 as it is more action oriented; but like a good fighting game like Capcom vs. SNK where the more you play the more you get out of it (like in C vs S you get points which can get you extra characters, outfits, stages, etc.), you've got different character classes and there are so many neat weapons/skill to wield in order to try to find out what happened to the colony of Pioneer 1. The Guild Quests provide you with missions where you earn money and learn more about some of the other characters on Pioneer 1 and 2. I've put in over 60 hours in the first version; and there is still so much play still left in this game, I have yet to touch PSO ver. 2. I've never played online before, but I am still happy playing it.

Grandia 2- This was one great rpg. The voice acting was great, and the story had some interesting twists and turns that takes you for one great ride. Playing the game, I didn't want to stop even when it was into the really late hours of the night, and you really grow attached to the characters. The only other game that I have played where I felt as attached to the characters while playing was Final Fantasy VII. It is a must buy for the Dreamcast.

Shenmue - I wouldn't consider this an "rpg" based upon traditional context but rather an adventure set in the real world. It is a multi-episode saga where you play the role of Ryo as you try to avenge the death of your father while trying to find out the cause of his death. There are some cool fighting elements in this game (the 100 man fight was incredible), and you get the feeling of actually interacting in a real world as you can talk to store owners, busy business people, friends, etc. The story has been slammed for being linear and borring due to having to complete certain tasks and earning money in a job, but I don't really buy into that . The graphics are great, and I thought that the game was simply amazing. I've got Shenmue 2; and although I only played a little bit of it, the action picks up almost instantly.

Skies of Arcadia - Although I have only played a couple of minutes of this game ( I like to keep my game genre's in rotation so that I don't get bored with too many rpgs, survival horror, fighting, etc.), you get thrown right into the action very quickly. The start reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy VII. Before you get to have a taste of the story, you first have to fight. I think it is a very good element of gaming as it is a great element of movies. All of the reviews I have read have been phenomenal, and my procrastination for not having played this game has nothing to do with the quality of the game but rather my shortage of time to devote to gaming.

Silver- I have only played some of the demo, but after having played some of that I am not really impressed. I thought that the graphics looked a bit lame. The story appears rather sound, but I have come to expect a certain level of quality in graphics for the Dreamcast and I don't think that Silver fills that requirement adequately.

Elemental Gimmick Gear- It is an interesting story of a guy who wakes up after having slept for a very long time inside an egg looking device simply known as the title of the game. The world you awaken to appears to be in not necessarily trouble but rather run down. After playing some hours of this game, I eventually got stuck. The graphics are not really anything to write home about, but the art is nice and some of the fighting scenes are very nicely done in 3D (which I think should have been how the game appeared). It is definitely a budget title at $5 at Electronics Boutique, but I have seen some stinky movies in the theatre for more than that and the theatre won't give you your money back but you could always return the game if you think it sucks.

Hope this helps.

Jeeba Jabba · Post by **Jeeba Jabba** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 10:23 am

kaioshade wrote:time stalkersis ok, grandia 2 has an unrivaled battle system, but skies of arcadis has the best story. grandia 2's is kinda cliched.

Time Stalkers and a complement do NOT belong in the same sentence.

Post by **pixel** » Mon Jul 01, 2002 11:00 am

THANKS sultan!

cube_b3 · Post by **cube_b3** » Tue Jul 02, 2002 12:23 pm

man this post is good it's intresting

i like grandia the battle's r good u c the battle's will be hard if u avoid battle cauz when u fi8 2 much then u get 2 strong;)

any skies r awesome

Gmc · Post by **Gmc** » Tue Jul 02, 2002 4:43 pm

I preferd Skies Of Arcadia compared to Grandia 2. There both good games.

However, PSO is my favourite DC RPG. Its so good online, and if you dont have a dial-up ISP, just look for a free one. You REALLY dont know what your missing! Its really good even with the cheaters (Which are declining a lot now).

gloomy andy · Post by **gloomy andy** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 4:28 am

well heres my break down of dc rpgs (seein as everyone else has suggested things!)

Shenmue - ive just finished this (finally!) its the reason i bought my dc and in my opinion its the greatest video gaming experience ever - i loved every minute of it! but i am missing 2 movies and 3 songs ... hmmm gonna have to play it again at some point! YAY!

Shenmue 2 - its sat on my desk all nice and new waiting to be played! what ive heard about it is that its better than the first (less time waiting for events to happen, bigger areas to explore, a more involved environment) I cant wait! (Unfortunatley my love affare with Ryu and all the Shenmue world may cause me to buy an Xbox (if 3 comes out on it) so i can continue to experience the wonders of the Shenmue story!)

Grandia 2 - its good, very good! The closest thing ive played to a true 'sega' rpg on the dc The battles are good (the decision to fight or not is cool) the characters are easily liked, theres LOADS of equipment to choose from and the story lines quite cool - ive still not finished this yet but im gonna get to work on it before i start shenmue2 - otherwise i'll never get it done!

TimeStalkers - i REALLY didnt like this

It coulda been great - kinda pokemonish i guess ... the leveling system is probably what annoys me the most ... i just dont get it - it doesnt really make the game fun to play - i was hoping that this would be like Dark Cloud for the ps2 but it wasnt as fun ... still tho give it a go, its not a disasterous rpg, as long as you can stomach the leveling and the battle system, and the story line ... maybe im being too harsh but i NEVER wanna play this game again - i think the problem was not so much that is was REALLY bad more that it let me down, i was very dissapointed, and lets face it there are much better rpgs out there

Skys of Arcadia - its on my list of games to get - its meant to be really good and thats all i can say about it - oh yeah and this could be the one to strip grandia2 of its 'true sega rpg' crown ... i'll have to buy it and find out

PSO & ver2 - im a little confused about this game - some ppl say its great/good offline others say the only reason to own this is to play it online - im getting version2 today (during my lunch break from the office) i wanna try it online and the adventures meant to kinda long offline but i am VERY scared of cheaters spoiling my game ... hopefully tho there are still enough nice pso players (hopefully some reside here on these boards) to introduce me to the online world

Evolution 1 & 2 - never played, but I did think about gettin them ... but theyre not meant to be that good ... i can just imagine them being timestalkerish which isnt a good thing

Record of Lodoss War - i guess u can count this as an rpg, its got stats and levels and stuff but its played more like diablo - ive gone through the opening 'training' bits and my save is waiting for me to carry on - i think its gonna be a fun action/rpg hybrid

erm i think thats about it - thats all i can think of ...

so in brief:

buy both the Shenmues!
get grandia2
get skies of arcadia (i should heed my own advice really!)
consider the implications of never actually having tried one of the first console online rpgs
try out the others
be wary of timestalkers!!!

hope this was of some help

may i close by thanking you for the oppertunity to make me not do any of my boring admin work for 20mins while i thought about and constructed this (my longest) post!!!!

liltimmyw · Post by **liltimmyw** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 12:06 pm

i love shenmue, although its too short and easy....

i need shenmue 2

Gmc · Post by **Gmc** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 4:19 pm

liltimmyw wrote:i love shenmue, although its too short and easy....

i need shenmue 2

You really dont know what your missing - IMPORT IT!

http://www.softwarefirst.com
http://www.gameplay.com

liltimmyw · Post by **liltimmyw** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 6:14 pm

thanks, once my poor ass gets some money, im gonna get it.

Synlor · Post by **Synlor** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 6:54 pm

Gmc wrote:I preferd Skies Of Arcadia compared to Grandia 2. There both good games.

However, PSO is my favourite DC RPG. Its so good online, and if you dont have a dial-up ISP, just look for a free one. You REALLY dont know what your missing! Its really good even with the cheaters (Which are declining a lot now).

there aren't any free ISPs in sioux falls, i would know, i've tried many a times.