As much as I love DQVIII, I will admit that the combat system in FFXII has permanently spoiled me. RPG's that still use random battles are getting tougher for me to stick with.Originally Posted by Kid Fenris
DQVIII was the ultimate old-school RPG. A fitting end to the "random battle" system of old. Now let's move on. The latest generation of consoles doesn't need separation between the overworld and the battle segments. It should be one seemless shift from walking around to fighting enemies.
"One of the ways I gauge a DS game is by recharges. "...Tycho (Penny Arcade)
They are all pretty good, but I'd do them in this order:
Dragon Quest 8, Final Fantasy 12, Rogue Galaxy.
I finished DQ8 and FF12 and I'm almost done with Rogue Galaxy. Was playing it yesterday in fact!
RG is super cliched and the dungeons go on forever and ever and it suffers from Dark Cloud 2's "WAY TOO MANY THINGS TO DO" problem. I have a feeling Squeenix reigned them in when they made DQ8 because there was only 4 optional things in the game and they weren't that difficult (Mini medal, Casino, Alchemy Pot, and Monster arena). Dark Cloud 2 had way too many extra things like photo taking, inventing, fishing, mini golf, character recruitment, city building, fish tournaments, bonus medals, ect.
Rogue Galaxy is a mix, it has the normal game plus you can go on monster hunts, level up your hunter rank, participate in the bug fighting tournament (you have to catch the bugs yourself!), use a magic frog to combine weapons that you have to max out first, and there's even a factory you can use to make new items that will be available to buy in the shops. I haven't even touched the bug fighting or factory, there's really no reason for it other than to pad out the game.
The battle system is pretty neat though, and I love how the enemies just appear like a random battle right on the map and you fight them and then you can just continue moving as the exp tally screen appears.
edit: I forgot the big part of Rogue Galaxy. There's no magic at all, so that means no healing spells. All healing is done using potions. Luckily the basic potion recovers 50% health and there is no shortage of them in chests and off enemies. All of the potions are really cheap in the shops too. It's a good thing because you will be chugging these things like energy drinks constantly. Even normal battles end up using one or two 50% pots. The "entire party gets 100% health" pots are easy to get as well but i save them for bosses.
Last edited by Overbite; 12-12-2007 at 06:21 PM.
Yes. The demo is not representative of the actual game. Forget everything you saw. Totally different experience.
Agreed. I remember playing the demo, which I specifically had purchased DQVIII for. I put it down after about 10 minutes in disgust, thinking that the Final Fantasy series was sliding even further downhill (and then proceeded to pick up DQVIII and spend well over 75 hours playing it). The final version of the game, which I tried reluctantly at first, ended up being a very addicting experience. I hope that more games take heed of the advances in RPG combat that FFXII introduced to the genre, though I'm still a fan of well-done turn based RPGs, too.
Hmh. I´d recommend Dragon Quest VIII. It has beautyfull graphics, orchestrated sound and good humoristic elements.
Final Fantasy XII is okay too, but it just does not feel like Final Fantasy. FF XII is more of a dungeon-crawler, the storyline is pretty simplistic compared to it´s predecessors, and characters are boring and lack personality. But the graphics are great, and the game can be fun. Just be aware that it is 90% fighting and 10% story.
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