Into the HooD; Without a Lucardetuv

Aion

Time-Traveller
For Christmas, my Uncle decided to take pity on the me who no longer plays games by giving me a 360.

The story goes like this: someone asked him to repair a 360. He did so, but by the time it was repaired, the guy told him he was getting a new one for Christmas. So, my Uncle said it was still dead and gave it to me. Result!

It had no HDD inside or extras, so I've had to order all the cables and whatnot. So far, I've ordered a RGB cable (SDTV), VGA cable (monitor), control pad, 8GB memory card (in the good old days, they be 8MB...), audio PC thing and Lost Odyssey + Star Ocean 4.

Now, as I wait to test out my monitor in HD and ****, I've discovered a problem: there isn't very much on the 360 of interest. All I see are shooters. The JRPG genre is seemingly dead, and Valk Chronicles is a PS3 exclusive. This makes me sad.

Eternal Sonata looks and sounds like a JRPG for those annoying, screaming brats I'd like knowing more than to punch in the face.
Last Remnant? Not only does it look generic, JOHNNY 'INOCHANGEMYVOICE' BOSCH VOICES THE LEAD. NO!
Infinite Undiscovery? Its read-up is interesting enough, and its trailer actually caught my eye, but it's supposed to be as average as Remnant.
Resonance of Faye I was going to buy, after getting a Shadow Hearts vibe from its intro. But it lacking a story and being super-hard/not very fun looking seem to make that a no-no, too.
And don't even ask about FFXIII. If there's a JRPG I'd need paying to play, FFXIII is it. Everything I've ever seen or read about it tell me I'd hate it, with passion.

The only 360 JRPG, out of the TINY selection that I want to play is LO. I'm only even ordering SO4 because of how utterly retarded this scene is:

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Tales of Vesperia is meant to be the bestest JRPG on the 360. So, naturally, it's impossible to get and - even though I lent him a rare game - a certain someone is refusing to lend me his copy. :(

Outside of RPGs, the ONLY game to catch my eye so far is Red Dead: Redemption...

...so, yeah: what should I buy, and how should one insert a HDD into a 360, and stuff?
 
AironicallyHuman said:
Tales of Vesperia is meant to be the bestest JRPG on the 360. So, naturally, it's impossible to get and - even though I lent him a rare game - a certain someone is refusing to lend me his copy. :(
Oh dear god do we need the platinum collection over here.

Your current games might be ****/flop keep the ones that actually sell in print; or put nearly everything up for download like the PSP does.
 
Does it need to be Japanese? I'm sure Mass Effect will serve you fine. It has all that stuff you enjoy, like; characters, world-building and music.

Being a western fan, and a supporter of Rockstar in general, I love(d) RDR. It's a great game but I'm not completely sure if your the type of person who gets the mileage out of a Grand Theft Auto game. And you can't screw the whores due to morals, yo.

I haven't played Fable, but maybe that?
 
JRPG and Western RPG are treated as almost seperate genres for a reason. They play/read nothing like each other.
MMORPGs are all the same, the differnce there is aesthetic, and how the real money is involved.

In very general terms:
Recent Western RPGs have tended to have too much action (the video game genre) and not enough turn based or strategy elements.
Japanese ones have more adventure and simulation (game genres) elements and can be overly cinematic, and lack of customisation especialy of equipment. The tons of moe I see as a good point.

Mechanics wise:
Western = You (fully customisable) + some NPCs you met (fixed classes+ fixed character)
or party (fully customisable)
Can chose skills and stats on levelup as you wish.

JRPG= group of core fixed characters often all fixed class w/ some customisation (e.g Tales, later final fantasy)
or
pick and mix from fixed classes (e.g clasic final fantasy)
Or
hybrid of both; some fixed main characters, with others from class (Disgaea)
Skills and stats growth determined by class/specific character.


Recently I've tended to JRPGs only, extensive action elements are a turn off. I like having some games you can play at relaxed pace/ half asleep.

Also getting a 360 shortly, good game sugestions (not boody FPSs) apreciated.
 
Star Ocean 4 is such a terrible game, I can't believe I put forty hours into that garbage. Also yeah, Tales of Vesperia is one of the best JRPGs this gen, but that's honestly not saying much. Don't buy FF:XIII, Eternal Sonata is... okay-ish from what I remember, but it's been three years since I played it, plot was wafer thin. The Last Remnant, I wanted that game to be good, I really did, I played it for two hours and before I registered an achievement on my account deleted the save data. Lost Odyssey is really great, but most people won't like it because it's turn based, but it really has a great story, the peak is the third disc.

Also some other good games that aren't JRPGs: Fallout 3/New Vegas, Bayonetta, Dead Space and Dead Rising.

Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 are good too, but I'm conflicted whether to suggest them to Aion because I have rousing suspicions he'll turn into a Tali fan.
 
Jayme said:
And you can't screw the whores due to morals, yo.

The video review I watched on YT suggested you could either choose to save or kidnap/rape 3D bitches as you please. (Optional raping seemed to be one of its biggest selling points.)

GTA got old shortly after its PS2 debut, with me. It was fun and all having so much to explore and do... but it's just the same recycled dullness over and over, once the wow factor vanishes. And real world settings just don't do it for fantasy/medieval peeps like me.

Red Dead: Redemption's western setting adds LOTS to my interest level. I've always liked the feel of the few western flicks I've watched, as well as the only known western anime in existence. A world where men kill each other every day, as if its nothing, and women are forced to use their wiles to outwit the manly men--it gets me off. Plus, games with settings where the internet doesn't make the world seem so small = easier to get into/like.

Western RPGs are scary to me because of the amount of freedom offered. I like my games to offer lots of side stuff and all the rest, but being given freedom to the point the playable character has no personality and there isn't one story path pushing the gameplay along pushes me away, rather than pulling me in.

FFVII got me into gaming proper, and that's how I like my games to this day: with lots of cut-scenes, characters with memorable personalities, and good old-fashioned turn-based combat. And that's why, out of the small amount available, LO for all of £8 screamed 'BUY ME!!!' more so than Square's attempts at ruining what was the pinnacle of JRPG excellence.

...Would Last Remnant and/or Infinite by worth picking up due to the lack of options, for £10ish each, or should I just leave both be?

Feel free to rec games like Maes Effect and whatnot, telling me about them. The last game I completed was Persona 4 and I know sweet **** all about what's cool, these days, and I only ever bothered reading up about JRPGs at the best of times. Pretend Google doesn't exist and educate me.

PS: Anyone wanna lend me Vesperia since Fabio is intent on using and abusing me? Cheers!
 
Until I played Oblivion I felt the same way about Western RPGs. Once I'd got into the game I found that the freedom was not intimidating but liberating. I still think you should give Fallout 3 a shot, especially since the Game of the Year Edition (includes all the downloadable content) can be had for £15. It's not like it doesn't have a central narrative, though you'll probably spend much longer on the multitude of side quests.

There's no raping in RDR that I can recall. There is, however, an achievement for hogtying a woman, leaving her on the train tracks, and hanging around to watch her meet a grisly end. That could prove to be a therapeutic way for you to indulge your misogyny.
 
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fabricatedlunatic said:
Until I played Oblivion I felt the same way about Western RPGs. Once I'd got into the game I found that the freedom was not intimidating but liberating. I still think you should give Fallout 3 a shot, especially since the Game of the Year Edition (includes all the downloadable content) can be had for £15. It's not like it doesn't have a central narrative, though you'll probably spend much longer on the multitude of side quests.
Wouldn't touch Oblivion's port with a barge pole here.
That game needed the hell modding out of it to make it interesting. Way too easy otherwise, and you end up tottaly overpowered to the point there's no chalenge fairly quickly.

It's freedom sacrificing the narative that's the problem. I don't give a crap about my character in that, nor any of the supporting cast.
 
/shrug

I found unmodded Oblivion interesting enough to lose 100 hours to it. That said, it could have used a greater variety of dungeon designs...

And I don't remember the last time I played a JRPG with a truly great story. Probably Suikoden V, and that was over four years ago, though Lost Odyssey has its moments as well.
 
It's a shooter but... Mushihimesama Futari?

Play on the harder difficulty settings for chuckles.

Final Boss:-

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Max Takeshi said:
It's a shooter but... Mushihimesama Futari?

Play on the harder difficulty settings for chuckles.

Final Boss:-
That's not the final boss, they didn't get to the final boss.
This is,
from about 3 minutes where they kill that puny easy (compared to Spiritual Larsa) one.

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Dificulty doesn't affect how hard bosses patterns are that much, it mostly gives them more health. Not sure if you can get the TLB on low difficulty though, often can't score enough to unlock it due to less bullets.

Why do think I'm getting a 360.
Platinum ed is about £20
 
Reaper gI said:
It's freedom sacrificing the narative that's the problem. I don't give a crap about my character in that, nor any of the supporting cast.
I love free-roaming RPGs like Oblivion and Fallout 3 because you get to decide who your character is, how they act and what they do. If you don't give a damn about a blank canvas character, who is therefore a product of your own imagination, that's not a problem with the game.

I often get annoyed with linearity in games which have the potential to be free-form now. Despite enjoying both, I find RDR and GTA both suffer from this. I've even lost a bit of faith in Fallout 3, as my best character is now stuck in The Pitt due to me sulking about having to pick sides.
I'm not stealing someone's baby (Hey, Wernher... I ain't gonna be your bitch) but nor do I particularly want to massacre the slaves I had been trying to help.
Since I can't let both sides live, I'm beginning to think that killing *everybody* is the only fair and Chaotic Neutral thing to do.

No-one recommended Dragon Age yet? It's more of a linear RPG, so might suit your tastes better while giving you a big dose of fantasy (although it hardly has the most original story).
 
Reaper gI said:
That's not the final boss, they didn't get to the final boss.
This is,

I know that, I just used it as an example. That's also the Black Label final boss (the easier one), Version 1.5's is completely different. She doesn't let you take off her energy when you use a bomb, and you can only hit her when she's shooting at you, use a bomb and she turns invincible. It is... silly.

The boss patterns are different on lower difficulties, not as many bullets. The true final battles are also only unlocked if you don't use a continue during the pre-final battle.

The strangest thing, though, is that from an actual level point of view, Maniac mode is actually harder than either God or Ultra (depending on which version you play).

Get the game, it's very good indeed.
 
Max Takeshi said:
Reaper gI said:
That's not the final boss, they didn't get to the final boss.
This is,

I know that, I just used it as an example. That's also the Black Label final boss (the easier one), Version 1.5's is completely different. She doesn't let you take off her energy when you use a bomb, and you can only hit her when she's shooting at you, use a bomb and she turns invincible. It is... silly.

The boss patterns are different on lower difficulties, not as many bullets. The true final battles are also only unlocked if you don't use a continue during the pre-final battle.

The strangest thing, though, is that from an actual level point of view, Maniac mode is actually harder than either God or Ultra (depending on which version you play).

Get the game, it's very good indeed.
The Black label arange modes do tend to be easier. DDP:DOJ White label is much harder than Black.*

That TLB (the Black Label one) is still immortal during bomb etc.
The final pattern is quite a lot worse than the non-Black Label one (or DDP:DOJ or DDP:DFK's)

Quite looking forward to being able to play Pink Sweets as well. Having not touched it or Ibara before.


*For first loop at least, and learning Whites ura loop is hard due to limited resources (lives), and you can't contine in the final level.
 
Question: Are there any good strategy games on the 360; like C&C?

I loved C&C, as a kid. It's too bad RA3 looks like donkey ****. Japanese robots, in my war games?
 
Reaper gI said:
That TLB (the Black Label one) is still immortal during bomb etc.

Not during the first section of the battle.

*Shrugs* It's all opinion but the Black Label boss I found a lot easier due to the game giving the player far more slowdown (first section expecially).

Deathsmiles is better anyway, and that's due out next month.

Thank you for the discussion, I don't really know anyone else who knows about the game.
 
AironicallyHuman said:
Red Dead: Redemption's western setting adds LOTS to my interest level. I've always liked the feel of the few western flicks I've watched, as well as the only known western anime in existence. A world where men kill each other every day, as if its nothing, and women are forced to use their wiles to outwit the manly men--it gets me off. Plus, games with settings where the internet doesn't make the world seem so small = easier to get into/like.

Well RDR is full of people with morals and codes so don't go into it expecting the main to be a typical Rockstar protagonist who grows weed in his basement. The world is three times the size of San Andreas or so I read, but it's a good game, one of my top three games of 2010.

AironicallyHuman said:
Western RPGs are scary to me because of the amount of freedom offered. I like my games to offer lots of side stuff and all the rest, but being given freedom to the point the playable character has no personality and there isn't one story path pushing the gameplay along pushes me away, rather than pulling me in.

When I first played Mass Effect I had pretty much no idea what the **** I was doing, but as you play it more you get used to it and settle yourself in, it's a decent game and it must be going for cheap, do yourself a favor and pick it up, it's at least worth trying once.


AironicallyHuman said:
...Would Last Remnant and/or Infinite by worth picking up due to the lack of options, for £10ish each, or should I just leave both be?

NO.

AironicallyHuman said:
Feel free to rec games like Maes Effect and whatnot, telling me about them. The last game I completed was Persona 4 and I know sweet **** all about what's cool, these days, and I only ever bothered reading up about JRPGs at the best of times. Pretend Google doesn't exist and educate me.

It's kind of hard to pick things for you, you seem to like things that scream edgy or are mysterious and dark. I guess you'd possibly enjoy Nier, it got a lot of attention from the "mature" JRPG fans, Alan Wake you might like as well. You'll probably also like whatever Visceral Games churns out, like Dead Space or Dante's Inferno.

AironicallyHuman said:
PS: Anyone wanna lend me Vesperia since Fabio is intent on using and abusing me? Cheers!

Bro, if you leave your house and go to the local Gamestation I'm sure you have a chance of seeing a second hand copy in the 360 section, I've seen a few where I live and everyone around here are uncultured FIFA heads.

Oh and for strategy games there's C&C3: Red Alert from what I recall as well as Civilization Revolution which is a toned down Civilization game to my understanding. There's Plants vs Zombies too but you need Xbox Live to get it so we'll take this one step at a time unless you plan to get Xbox Live.
 
Max Takeshi said:
Reaper gI said:
That TLB (the Black Label one) is still immortal during bomb etc.

Not during the first section of the battle.

*Shrugs* It's all opinion but the Black Label boss I found a lot easier due to the game giving the player far more slowdown (first section expecially).

Deathsmiles is better anyway, and that's due out next month.

Thank you for the discussion, I don't really know anyone else who knows about the game.
Deathsmiles has an easier learning curve, Mega Black Label was good fun.
Too easy, Sakura is overpowered etc. In general it's a worse game, just much better for beginers.
 
Got my monitor working with my 360. World at War isn't the best looking game, and there's a bit too much mindless shooting in overly used WW2 settings for my tastes, but it's fun blowing up **** in a tank. Looking forward to better games arriving.

C&C: RA3 (£6.50), Mass Effect (£7) and Gears of War (£8 ) were all ordered today. Along with LO and SO4, they should do me, for the time being.

Hopefully, by the time I'm bored of my cheap as chips titles, Red Dead and Dead Space will be lower in price. Dragon's Age also, since that matches my tastes better than the other sci-fi WRPGs.

Enslaved Odyssey looks like a great game, and is very much of interest to me with it lacking guns and focusing on the subtle romantic developments of its leads. Nier looks somewhat interesting, too. And Black Ops' premise reminds me of Black.
 
Playing LO--on the third disc. I've enjoyed playing my first JRPG in something like a year, but it has disappointed me with its pacing and the gap between the main story and the novel-esque, text-only dreams. Only with third disc did the story take a turn for the epic/stop drifting aimlessly.

Question: Right now, I don't have a HDD. I'll probably get one, should my 360 usage continue, but right now I'm still just getting used to it/checking to see if it's going to explode. But, the thing is, I read a Xbox Live update prevents installing games onto USB flash drives... and that would be a bad thing for me.

Does anyone know if I can attempt to download the JP Naruto voice acting without the threat of an update getting in the way of my game installing? I'm afraid to hook my 360 up to the net if it means me having to listen to my 360 sound like an engine...
 
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