Final Fantasy Tactics Clones: Hoshigami Remix, Luminous Arc, and Jeanne D'Arc... [Archive]

heybtbm

07-14-2007, 05:03 PM

With the all the new games coming out recently, I've recently been letting new DS and PSP RPG releases pass me by. It's too much to keep up with and I simply don't have the time to play them all. However...my favorite genre, Strategy RPG's, are slowly trickling out in handheld form. Besides the eagerly awaited Disgaea Portable and Final Fantasy Tactics coming out this Fall for the PSP, the little DS has two excellent SRPG's that most people don't even know exist.

Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth - Remix was released two weeks ago and is superb. The name "Hoshigami" may strike fear into most SRPG fans, but the original (ridiculous) menu system and crushing difficulty have been fixed (but are still there as options). This game is so much better on a handheld. I've put about 5 hours into this game in the past few days and I'm really impressed. This game has a definite "Tactics Ogre" feel to it. Tactics Ogre: Knights of Lodis and FF Tactics Advance were my two favorite GBA games...so I may be a little biased.

http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/5650/hoshigamiremix20ep6.jpg

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9169/hoshigamiremix2cb3.jpg

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/9725/93841920070706screen005tx0.jpg

On August 14th, Atlus is releasing Luminous Arc. Another SRPG for the DS. I've got it pre-ordered and paid for. Looking forward to this one too.

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/3125/93496920070530screen004po0.jpg

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/908/e32007luminousarcscreenzw7.jpg

courtesi96

07-14-2007, 08:41 PM

Are you sure Hoshigami is good? All I've seen so far are bad reviews

FoxyGamer

07-14-2007, 09:32 PM

hey... I liked the original Hoshigami <3

hezeuschrist

07-15-2007, 11:33 AM

Excellent, now I can get rid of the PSOne version of Hoshigami.

PDorr3

07-15-2007, 02:39 PM

I almost bought hoshigami on ds but then I remember that I had a psx copy of the game at home that I bought a long time ago and never played. It didnt seem too bad, but to me the battles went on way too long for me to consider buying it on the ds. I also read that halfway through the game that melee attacks become interior to magic, and that if you wish to succeed later in the game you must build your characters around magic only, which infact sealed the deal off for me not buying the game on ds.

Luminous arc however looks interesting, I am always up for a good SRPG but I am gonna wait for peoples impressions first.

Xexyz

07-15-2007, 03:33 PM

heybtbm

07-15-2007, 08:52 PM

I bought Hoshigami Remix, and am kind of mixed on it. I'm a big SRPG nut, but this one's just not grabbing me. The EXTREMELY complex and annoying Coinfeigm level up system is just plain confusing, and since Coins are this games Magic system, I'm probably going to be S.O.L. soon when I reach Chapter 3. Also, the elemental relationship is confusing as well. Sure, the rock, paper, scissors strong/weak relationship is cut and dry, but there's supportive relationships in regards to the elements that sit side by side to them...

Also, if you want good equipment and coins, you're going to want to perform 5-6 hit Sessions, which are frustrating and almost impossible to pull off on maps that don't have wide flat open areas (pretty much no maps save some Tower floors are like this).

I tried reading the Coinfeigm FAQ for the PSX version on Gamefaqs but... it's just too confusing.

There's a helpful thread going on right now at Gamefaqs about leveling up coinfeigms. I was able to level up all of my level 1's to level 2's and even a few 3's. The only challenge is to find the proper seals that will level up your coinfeigms "AOE" stat. Going through the towers are great places to find them. You can level up everything to level 2 with just the seals found at the coin shops. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it...but I can see what they meant about steep learning curve. It's still the most fun I've had on my DS in a long time.

pragmatic insanester

07-17-2007, 04:43 AM

the new art style looks TERRIBLE. it went from a charming FFT look to another KAWAII DESU NE ^_^ type of garbage.

heybtbm

08-23-2007, 01:54 PM

I realize the gamer world is currently mesmerized by Bioshock, but did anyone pick up Luminous Arc last week or Jeanne D'Arc yesterday? I have both, but need to finish the last two battles in Hoshigami before I start either. I think I'll be digging into Jeanne D'Arc first. It looks pretty good...

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/080/934454_20070322_screen002.jpg

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/191/934454_20070711_screen008.jpg

s1lence

08-23-2007, 02:17 PM

Jeanne D'Arc looks really good, but like you I've been playing Bioshock.

Xexyz

08-23-2007, 04:52 PM

Luminous Arc is a bit... disappointing. As one would expect from a heavily story based SRPG, there's no customizable characters. That's fine and dandy with me, because you get a nice variety of units for your disposal. What I don't like is the cookie cutter storyline. Also, all battles take the same strategy. The enemies rush you on every turn, and since the maps are small, fights will be over quickly. The short length of battles is a good thing, but the ganging up aspect leaves for little strategy, and it's easy to abuse the enemy AI and make battles one sided.

Challenge is there, so long as you don't go back to the old battles to level up. Enemies will be at a much higher level than you should you decide to play this way, offering a fair bit of challenge.

Jeanne D'Arc looks to be the real winner of these three.

P.S.- I got the hang of the Coingfeim system... so long and tedious. I pretty much gave up halfway into Chapter 4. Sure, at first it's fun to blast enemies with maxed out Lvl. 4 elemental spells with an AOE of 25, but soon you'll come to realize that even these spells will do very little damage to the enemy units, especially the magic biased ones.

heybtbm

08-23-2007, 08:04 PM

P.S. - I got the hang of the Coingfeim system... such a long and tedious system. I pretty much gave up halfway into Chapter 4. Sure, it's fun at first to blast enemies with maxed out Lvl. 4 elemental spells with an AOE of 25, but soon you'll come to realize that even these spells will do very little damage to the enemy units, especially the magic biased ones.

Yeah, Hoshigami battles can be slow, plodding, tedious work (and very little fun). Especially when the enemies have 20 solid turns in a row before your team gets one. The enemies have so many hit points by Chapter 6 that it takes several turns (of your whole team) to kill just one. Even so, my team is leveled up enough as to hardly take any damage...but what good is it when a battle takes 1 1/2 hours to finish?

Daria

08-23-2007, 08:11 PM

You know it's kind of funny that this thread is called "Final Fantasy Tactics" clones when FFT is a clone of Ogre Tactics.

That said I'm kinda bored of all the Tactics games available now. When Disgaea first came out I was loving all the attention the genre was suddenly receiving, but now it seems every other game published by NISA or Atlus is a SRPG. And then there were all the spin-offs jumping on the bandwagon. Suikoden Tatics, Onimusha Tactics... give me a break.

Anyway if you check out the Jean D'Arc website you can sign up for a free demo disk.

misfits859

08-24-2007, 07:22 AM

I've played the first few battles of Jeanne D'Arc and, story-wise and graphically, it appears that a nice effort has been put forth. Can't tell so much about the fun factor yet but it looks like it's gonna be a winner.

Nate Nanjo

08-24-2007, 08:55 AM

You know it's kind of funny that this thread is called "Final Fantasy Tactics" clones when FFT is a clone of Ogre Tactics.

But, at least you get a chance to revive your characters. I mean Denim dies in Ogre Tactics thats it.

I really enjoyed Luminous Arc, however it wasn't that long. Although chapter 14 was not fun.

Want to play Jeanne D'Arc, it looks good. However, I sold my PSP towards a 360.

WanganRunner

08-24-2007, 09:40 AM

Simply from a collecting standpoint, all three of these will likely be rare to semi-rare in the future.

In terms of just buying them to play, I think I'd go for Jeanne first.

Xexyz

08-24-2007, 11:41 AM

I really enjoyed Luminous Arc, however it wasn't that long. Although chapter 14 was not fun.

Yeah, Chapter 14 is where I'm stuck at right now. It's the first time I've been forced to level grind on previous battles. The thing that really irritates me about this game, is the lack of strategy. High ground means nothing in this game, and you'll never be able to flank an enemy with archers. You can shoot right through your allies and it wont hurt them, because there's no arrows, just an animation of your unit shooting, and then a magical hit on the enemy you targeted. Also, the lack of attack range for archers and attack/healing spells is pretty disappointing too.

Nate Nanjo

08-24-2007, 01:51 PM

Yeah, Chapter 14 is where I'm stuck at right now. It's the first time I've been forced to level grind on previous battles. The thing that really irritates me about this game, is the lack of strategy. High ground means nothing in this game, and you'll never be able to flank an enemy with archers. You can shoot right through your allies and it wont hurt them, because there's no arrows, just an animation of your unit shooting, and then a magical hit on the enemy you targeted. Also, the lack of attack range for archers and attack/healing spells is pretty disappointing too.

It came down to Lucia vs Vanessa for me. I got lucky and got pass the battle.

Aside from that, you get through most of the game without problems. Also, having your HP/MP restored every level up, helps a lot.

meancode

08-26-2007, 12:13 AM

Jeanne D'Arc is absolutely stunning. I am really amazed. It is a definite buy for an RPG fan.

heybtbm

08-26-2007, 11:07 AM

Jeanne D'Arc is absolutely stunning. I am really amazed. It is a definite buy for an RPG fan.

Nice. I plan on starting it today.

I finally finished Hoshigami Remix last night. Most of the battles in Chapter 6 (the final chapter) require level 4 coinfeigms just to keep the battles down to under two hours. Some of the enemies have 9999 hit points and when my characters (all ~ level 60-70) only do 100 points of damage per turn...you know it's going to be a long battle. Fortunately, a few level 4 coinfeigms will make short work of the 9999 hit point enemies in 3 turns. Anyway, I'm glad it's done. On to Jeanne D'Arc.

FantasiaWHT

08-26-2007, 01:23 PM

You know it's kind of funny that this thread is called "Final Fantasy Tactics" clones when FFT is a clone of Ogre Tactics.

*cough* Shining Force *cough*

Aside from that, for the first time I'm slightly regretting not having a PSP, heh. No interest in Hoshigami (hated the first one... it's funny, when it first came out I had to choose between it and Sayuki. My best friend picked Hoshigami and I got Sayuki. Never regretted it for a minute!) and it sounds like Luminous Arc isn't all that and a bag of chips.

Daria

08-26-2007, 02:36 PM

*cough* Shining Force *cough*

FFT/TO isn't anything like Shining Force, besides they're both SRPGs. Shining Force isn't isometic, has town roaming, a unique menu system, and set characters as opposed to generic troop types. Hell, I'd like all thse games better if they played like Shining Force.

FantasiaWHT

08-26-2007, 05:11 PM

Eh, fair enough. I guess my mind glossed over the idea of "clones"- I was just looking at the timeline.

Damaramu

08-26-2007, 07:32 PM

FFT/TO isn't anything like Shining Force, besides they're both SRPGs. Shining Force isn't isometic, has town roaming, a unique menu system, and set characters as opposed to generic troop types. Hell, I'd like all thse games better if they played like Shining Force.

QFT. I would love to see a true Shining Force game on the DS......please make this happen SEGA!!!! :monkey:

FantasiaWHT

08-27-2007, 09:33 AM

QFT. I would love to see a true Shining Force game on the DS......please make this happen SEGA!!!! :monkey:

Never gonna happen... has Sonic Team turned around at all from utterly destroying every good franchise they ever had? (Sonic, Shining ____, Phantasy Star)

Although if it does, I gotta say I'd buy a copy even if every review gave it 1 star heh

heybtbm

08-27-2007, 09:50 AM

I started Jeanne D'Arc last night, and wow...excellent so far. The presentation, gameplay and overall graphics/sound are A+. After playing it for 2 hours I think I can say it's the best PSP game I've played in some time (possibly ever).

It's a shame that the PSP hasn't taken off the way the DS has. The DS could never even come close to having a handheld game of this quality. Previous to this I've been of the mindset that DS games can look and sound great, but it's still a handheld game, so some concessions must be made. You kind of accept the mediocrity. After a while you don't even realize what you're missing. Then you put in one of theses A-list PSP games and you're reminded that "handheld" doesn't have to be synonymous with "concessions" at all.

It's just unfortunate Sony screwed up the PSP marketing so bad and let the DS kick its ass. One thing is for sure, I can't wait for Nintendo's next handheld...it will be incredible.

Daria

08-27-2007, 10:01 AM

Eh, fair enough. I guess my mind glossed over the idea of "clones"- I was just looking at the timeline.

In which case Shining Force came out the same year as a very similar NES release by Enix called "Just Breed". Both games feature the "flat" battle boards, town roaming, set characters etc... and Just breed even introduces the monster "lairs" that respawn enemies, a similar mechanic Shining Force uses in Shining Force Gaiden. Obviously a late release NES title, a really good SRPG that any Shining fan should try.

FantasiaWHT

08-27-2007, 02:49 PM

In which case Shining Force came out the same year as a very similar NES release by Enix called "Just Breed". Both games feature the "flat" battle boards, town roaming, set characters etc... and Just breed even introduces the monster "lairs" that respawn enemies, a similar mechanic Shining Force uses in Shining Force Gaiden. Obviously a late release NES title, a really good SRPG that any Shining fan should try.

Sounds interesting! Too bad it's japan-only =/