First Post!!!!!! in a while
Sorry I haven’t been doing much with the site in a while. Not a whole lot interesting has been going on, so I haven’t been as tempted to post as usual.
For those of you who haven’t been following the threads at SoSZ: Lady Wu and Starscream have been posting info about UserJoy’s PC RPG series, Huan Xiang San Guo Zhi, in Chinese. It’s been translated into Japanese as Gensou Sangokushi and probably would have the English title of Fantasia Sango. Basically, it’s a fantasy game set in a loose mockup of the Three Kingdoms world, with all kinds of magic, humor, deep plot, and other crazy stuff.Pictures of the game are in the threads, but some of this stuff just looks great (credit to Lady Wu for the screengrab):
The portraits are sometimes a bit simplistic, but they always look great, and the backgrounds are beautifully crafted as well. Music is always fitting, and I even found myself humming some of the music after playing through the demos (links in the threads above). Actual gameplay itself is mouse-driven RPG, with some storyline-based decisions that seem to affect optional battles and affection levels (similar to Star Ocean or Suikoden series). Character leveling is done partially along a set path but is somewhat customizable by the player. Combat is very fast-paced and looks great, and rewards you for making attacks in swift succession.
I think I’ll eventually pick up the Japanese version of the second game. Japanese PC games are way too expensive: The second is $70 (though it comes with two soundtracks, a movie disc, and a set of postcards!, and the first is still around $100! By contrast, you can already import the Chinese version of the second for $30.
Other than these games, I’ve been finishing up Suikoden V. Near the end of the game, you have a (hidden) option to either pick up a mysterious (and pretty powerful) character, or pick up a character who has been involved in the plot but can’t be used in combat. The first time around, I chose the mysterious character (Eresh), and I really enjoyed doing the dungeon as it reveals a bit about what might have happened long ago in pre-Falena history as well as some about Jeane herself (an enigma since the first game, really). This time around, I chose the plot-related character (name withheld, spoilers and all). I have to say, I’m even more impressed with the plot-related character, just in terms of how much he changes everyone’s reaction in the castle and how much he himself changes. Much, much better than the “redeemed” character in Suikoden IV. Jeez, that guy was a jerk even in the end.
After S5, I plan to play through Ogre Battle 64, which one of my roommates brought to scool. I’m unlikely to get another chance to play it without paying a lot of money, so I’ll take advantage of his generosity in bringing it. I haven’t played it in 7 years or so, but I remember it being a pretty fun game.