Im tempted to play Lunar, but according to some the series were originally pretty cookie cutter until Working Desings "reworked" the localizations and basically everyone remembers them fondly because they were good enough for the time. The releases are a bit confusing, Lunar has releases in the Sega CD, Saturn, PS1 and PSP, some say you should play the first one in PS1 and play the second one in SegaCD because the storyine was changed or something, nobody really talks about the PSP version, wich not be a good sing. I dunno how I should play these.
Star Ocean was fantranslated on the SNES, there are also remakes on the PSP like in Lunar, I did try First Departure some time ago, the voice acting was beyond awful and I never tried it again, so Im more inclined to just play the original game. The sequel was released in PS1 and was later ported to PSP, but I remember reading here (I think) that despite having a new script correcting mistakes from the original, some story sections suffered from censorship. I assume the voice acting is not better than the first remake.
And finally Phantasy star: the first game has a retranslation patch that fixes the shoddy localization, but it still remains pretty barebones compared to classics that came later, the rest of the games are also translated but people are really polarized when it comes to 2 and 3, 4 is reagarded as a classic, but I dont know if I should sit for 3 games just to play 4, specially when 2 seems to be infamous for its high level encounter, Im already playing the Breath of fire games in order and Im not that inclined to play the PS games in the same way for the time being, I could die from early RPG overload and I should pace out my doses.
TL;DR: should I play the psp remakes of Lunar and Star Ocean? and should I play the Phantasy Star games in order or just skip to 4?
No, go play the PSX version of Valkyrie Profile instead. You'll have to emulate it, it glitches out on the PSP and the PSP port is shit.
Gabriel Ross
well that sucks, I was planning on getting an eboot for VP, does it crash the game or is it just graphical glitches?
Jack Adams
start with 7th saga
James Clark
Game won't load past the first cutscene. You can use an eboot if you are willing to transfer the save from an emulator. It's only the first fucking scene.
Michael Myers
oh so its like musashi in that you can just skip the cutscene?
Jaxson Hall
Yeah if you have a save. There have been reports of it also freezing up after the first boss (the Vampire), so play through til after the first dungeon, then transfer the save. For anyone interested, the reason why nobody likes the actual PSP port of Valkyrie Profile is because it runs off the Japanese 1.0 version, and the US PSX release was based off the 1.2, which fixed a ton of bugs and added a lot of quality of life changes (can change anyone's equipment, not just the party's, can add XP to anyone, not just the party), in addition, the port stretches and blurs all the great details the game originally had.
Austin Watson
it gives me a weird feeling knowing theres tons of SNES and GBA rpgs that are still untranslated
Parker Scott
I know a guy who swears up and down that the Sega CD version of Lunar was fantastic, and while i don't have his confidence, i do suggest playing the original over any ports, especially for something like Lunar which has been slapped back and forth so hard it starts to deform. I'd also suggest playing Star Ocean 2; i haven't touched the remake yet but i think the original is one of the best games on the PS1 for a variety of terrible reasons.
Sebastian Ramirez
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Jayden Adams
thats an intriguing way of phrasing a recommendation user
Ryan Hall
Since this thread is more or less a Tri-Ace thread, I've been playing Exist Archive and it's actually fairly good, although I'm only a few hours in. The character graphics are shit but the environmental and enemy designs are nice. Plot seems to be essentially "Anime Stereotype Profile", a bunch of angsty teenagers with attitude get Einherjar'd by a robotic space god who jams his soul in their pussies.
Grayson Thompson
Speaking of Paper Mario some autists just released a modding tool for the N64 game that has an included Pro Mode that adds a bunch of challenges and new areas
Christian Gonzalez
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Zachary Rogers
Sega CD lunar 1 and PSX Lunar 1 are very different to the point of almost being different games, but they're both alright.
PSX Lunar 2 is a straight up remake of Lunar 2 with the magic experience/leveling system gutted and more anime tiddies added. Most of the audio is straight ripped from the segaCD version, but they added annoying battle quotes!
IMO: Lunar 1 (Silver Star Story/Complete): Play Either Lunar 2 (Eternal Blue): Sega CD
Andrew Lee
Ignore those people and don't believe anything they say ever again.
If you're just starting out, the PS1 versions might be better since they're more accessible, what with they're lack of random encounters and all, but the Sega CD versions are great too. They're almost like completely different games, honestly. Whichever version you go with, be sure to use these patches first. romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=23436.0 They undo all of the changes Working Designs made to the gameplay, but sadly not the translation.
Yeah, the original version on the SNES is better in my opinion. First Departure isn't terrible(IIRC, you can turn the voice acting off) but it doesn't capture the same feeling that the original had.
Again I'd go with the original over the PSP remake for similar reasons.
You can just go straight to 4, unless you're really autistic about playing a series in release order(the others are good if you're into very primitive JRPGs, though. 4>1>>>>>2>3) All of the PS games play very differently and they're not closely connected story-wise. The games don't evolve with each entry as much as they each try experimenting with the basic JRPG gameplay, laid down by Dragon Quest, in different ways. Also, if you can handle the high encounter rate in Breath of Fire II, you can probably handle the encounter rate in Phantasy Star II as well. Neither come anywhere near the level of Shin Megami Tensei 1's encounter rate.
John Wright
Reading the changes for the PSX version of Lunar 1 it just makes an already easy game even more easy. The only good thing about the changes, is for the "puzzle" in that tower that didn't give you the hint in the US version as opposed to the Japanese one, so you either had to guess or get a magazine with the solution.
Cameron Garcia
How about you form your own opinions instead of parroting out what others tell you you disgusting fucking waste of a man, and always play through shit in release order so you get a better sense of appreciation for the progression of a series.
Also, play through PS1 with FM sound or I will fucking end you.
Cooper Allen
Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy. Xenosage if you're into that shit.
Noah Nguyen
Wait, the PSP port is the one that unequips everything from the characters when you change certain stuff? I don't remember if it was weapons or abilities.
Jace Robinson
Both, actually. In the US PSX version Lenneth will keep her previous skill set up and equipment if you switch from a Sword to Bow, in the original japanese and PSP version it forces you to re-equip every time (which is a pain in the ass with auto-item).
John Anderson
It unequips if you change in the middle of battle, right?
Gavin Jones
This comic is still one of my all-time favourites.
Parker White
No. Play the Mega CD versions with the un-working designs patch.
Ryder Mitchell
What are you? Some kinda faggot. This isn't Final fucking Fantasy. You can't just jump to the 7th game for "nerd" cred. :^))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Ethan Sanchez
Are you fucking serious? Right after an autist made Super Mario 64 maker and fucked up the controls.
Matthew Diaz
you dont have to sink 60 hours on a platformer to get a good reading on them, some nippon RPG´s are a pretty slow burn, it took me a full character playthrough in SaGa Frontier until the game finally clicked with me.
having a few pointers is always helpful before you dip your toes user
fag
Josiah Rivera
What are JRPGs with perma death akin to FE.
Jayden Morgan
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume Except you're the one who kills them.
Bentley Bennett
I have a game on the GBA called Lunar Legend. Is it related to Lunar at all?
Ryan Kelly
Remake of the Silver Star. It is fairly good. The Harry Potter GBA rpgs are awesome as well, somehow.
Gavin Hernandez
It's a shitty remake. It's also mega giga easymode.
Caleb Collins
True, but they do make the whole game gel together better, as everything else in the game was meant to be in relation to the things that Working Designs changed, or vice versa. Also, it's matter of principal. Working Designs admitted that they made those types of changes to the games they localized because they didn't want people to be able to rent the games and beat them by the time they had to return them, thus giving those people no reason to buy them. Even if some of the changes were for the better, Jewry was motivation for those changes and that cannot be tolerated on any level.
Austin Bennett
Star Ocean: The Second Story has some of the most deliciously awful voice acting. You only get to hear the voices in combat, but I've yet to see someone coming away from their first play session forgetting the protagonist screaming "Burn!" at the top of his lungs in some of the most shit tier audio recordings I've heard from the era
The spritework is alright, and definitely not going to compensate for the audio. The overworld is chunky PS1 low poly landscape. Gameplay is serviceable, but some cheesy shit can happen (once I had to use Rena to defeat a boss who ran out of shit to attack with but still had his full health pool. JRPG healers need to lift more) and the AI is retarded before you edit it
It's still one of my favourite PS1 games, even if you cant end up with Celine
Not sure how permadeath is handled in FE, but Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre and Romancing SaGa 2 feature permadeath. In the last one it's basically a guarantee unless you know what you're doing, since your party members essentially have "lives" and you're meant to be playing a dynasty rather than a single protagonist
There's still weird shit you likely don't know about the game, unless you've been reading the fuck out of guides. Combos and sparking alone are retardedly obtuse if you want to know how they actually work instead of just using trial and error
Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song (which is just Romancing SaGa on the PS2 here) does a much better job explaining itself, and only Unlimited SaGa does a worse job to my knowledge (which is entirely Square Enix's fault)
Which one are you on? I find 1 to be a slog now but I'm hoping I get more out of 2 (and I'm preparing myself for a more awful translation than I remember) 3 is great and I'm still in the midst of finishing 4, which I've been told is better than 3, but (and perhaps this is due to a mix of nostalgia and no proper transformations) I just cant get into it as easily as 3
Brayden Harris
There are a ton of translations to chose from, though. There is a fairly recent SNES one that is very good.
Caleb Brooks
It's a good game.
Logan Jackson
The PSP remake of Star Ocean is an interesting beast. The SNES release of the game is literally unfinished complete with absolutely useless spells, completely broken skills and enemies that don't do damage but its infinitely more beautiful than the sterile artstyle of the remake. The PSP remake is complete and all the skills are balanced to not to trivialize the game halfway through. It finished the unfinished questline from the original too. The main problem of the remake was the awful art and voice acting.
certainly not with the butchered script by Working Designs.
Aiden Nguyen
I named my character RAW DICK because of the way they all pronounced Roddick.
It would have been funnier if it didn't fit so well.
