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Are there any good western rpgs on PS2?
- Thread starter Doom_Bringer
- Start date
RevenantKioku
PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS oh god i am drowning in them
ferricide said:
I'm not even bored of the Square style and I know I'll be plopping down $50 the day SMT3 hits shelves here. I don't think I'm more excited about anything else, cept maybe Donkey Konga.
Stupid responses in this thread, sorry.
Now, it WAS done in Japan, but Wizardry for the PS2 closely follows the game rules of the classic (Western) Wizardry titles and is a FANTASTIC game. One of my favorites on the PS2. Drakan is also quite nice, but it's more of an action RPG than anything else, to be honest. And it's pretty light on the RPG mechanics, even then. I really enjoyed Summoner & Summoner 2 as well, but most don't, and Wizardry easily outclasses them. That, and Summoner 2 also is more of an action RPG than anything else (though not the first one, strangely.)
Now, it WAS done in Japan, but Wizardry for the PS2 closely follows the game rules of the classic (Western) Wizardry titles and is a FANTASTIC game. One of my favorites on the PS2. Drakan is also quite nice, but it's more of an action RPG than anything else, to be honest. And it's pretty light on the RPG mechanics, even then. I really enjoyed Summoner & Summoner 2 as well, but most don't, and Wizardry easily outclasses them. That, and Summoner 2 also is more of an action RPG than anything else (though not the first one, strangely.)
Haha, like 3 people already beat me to the "Are there any good western RPGs?" in general... I kid, I kid. I heard that the Champions of Norrath/Dark Alliance games were alright.
Oh yeah, I've looked all over for the Fallout games, but haven't been able to find them. Where (in store, pref. not online) can I get them?
Oh yeah, I've looked all over for the Fallout games, but haven't been able to find them. Where (in store, pref. not online) can I get them?
Here's all of the ones I know of, along with some short impressions & GameRankings scores:
Available Now
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Action/RPG) :: A D&D-based (3rd edition ruleset) hack & slash title from Snowblind. It's pretty much a Diablo clone, right down to the isometric view, and three pre-made character classes (Human Ranger, Dwarven Warrior, & Elven Sorceress). It has 2-player co-op play, a bunch of unlockables, multiple difficulties, the works. It's a very fun game, and a (once) great showcase for the PS2 graphically. (85.0% on GameRankings)
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (Action/RPG) :: Direct sequel to the above, but isn't developed by Snowblind any longer, and instead in-house by Black Isle Studios. You won't be able to carry over your characters, but instead choose from 5 new pre-made ones, and there's also a new item creation system available now. Haven't played it myself, but I hear it's not as good as the first. (80.9% on GameRankings)
Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest (Action/RPG) :: Another Diablo-clone (or more accurately, Dark Alliance-clone
) from Snowblind, this time set in the EverQuest universe. Runs on a beefed-up version of the Dark Alliance engine, and offers more character classes, a higher level cap, 4-player co-op, as well as (borked) online play. The half-assed online system, unbalanced loot drops, and character balancing problems keep it from being as good as it could be. (84.9% on GameRankings)
Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse (Action/RPG) :: Another Diablo-style hack & slash (noticing a pattern?), this time with a time limit ('till the rise of the "Big Bad"), a few nifty economy systems, and an entire soundtrack of butt-rock. Unfortunately it fails at pretty much everything: there are only 3 kinds of quests, which you will be doing repeatedly (say a couple hundred times each), NPCs with a whopping 1 line of dialogue, and some of the worst random (...and buggy!) dungeons known to man. Avoid. At all costs. (47.0% at GameRankings)
Deus Ex: The Conspiracy (FPS/RPG) :: A First Person Shooter/RPG hybrid of sorts. Revolves around a skill-based experience system, allowing you to customize your character to the style of play you want (focus on hacking, weaponry, etc). The game offers many different routes through most of it's challenges, ranging from brute force to stealthy entry. It's a PC-port, so it has it's ups & downs -- streamlined interface & inventory system (works surprisingly well considering how complex it originally was), downgraded visuals, areas have been shrunk, & fairly frequent load times -- but it's mostly handled really well. Despite these issues, it's a really good port, and a great title. (82.8% on GameRankings)
Drakan: The Ancients' Gate (Action/RPG) :: Second in the series (the original, Order of the Flame, is only on PC), but it offers a pretty good recap to the events from the first game. Basically focuses around the now cliche "joined souls" storyline, where a human & dragon share a life (& experience) meter. Play focuses both on ground melee combat, as well as flight combat with other dragons, catapults, & the like; and because you share an experience meter, there's no penalty to which you choose. RPG elements are a little lite, with a level cap of a low 12, but they're simply in place to determine the speciality (melee, magic, or ranged) of your character. Magic system is also done in a "draw the rune" manner (similar to Arx Fatalis), where you have to input directional commands to cast the appropriate spells. All in all, I'd say it's a great title, and quite possibly my favorite Western RPG on the system. (80.3% on GameRankings)
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (Action/RPG) :: A very RPG-lite take on Fallout, running on a heavily modified Dark Alliance engine (tweaked to handle lock-on, strafing, guns, etc). Haven't played it myself, so I can't say much else about it. Maybe someone else can fill you in... (63.5% on GameRankings)
Future Tactics: The Uprising (Strategy/RPG) :: Know absolutely nothing about this one, sorry. :\ (63.2% on GameRankings)
Gladius (Strategy/RPG) :: This is a gladiator-themed Strategy/RPG from LucasArts, and is (as far as I've seen) all arena-based. The battle system has a lot of action-oriented portions, with timed button presses to determine your accuracy, damage dealt, and so on. You're able to recruit new gladiators/warriors -- everything from shapeshifters (into animals) to long-range fighters -- enter tournaments for prizes, money, and fame/trophies to move up in the ranks. It also has two seperate storylines to follow, each with different characters and battles. Apparently the PS2 version is the one to avoid, due to long loadtimes, lack of blood (I believe only XBox has that, strangely..), and some graphical downgrades. But no matter which version you check out, it's a very deep Strategy/RPG overall, and pretty much the only one you're going to get from an American developer anytime soon. (75.1% on GameRankings)
Legion: The Legend of Excalibur (Action/RTS/RPG) :: Major hybrid action going on here, combining an Action/RPG with RTS-style troop commands, multiple troop groupings, etc. Follows the story of King Arthur & Guinevere through a mission-based campaign around 13 levels long. The storyline & presentation (especially the CG scenes) are top-notch, but unfortunately, that's all that is... Graphics, AI, combat, voice acting, and mission structure all range from mediocre to flat-out horrible. Missions are also horribly balanced, with the 2nd being the hardest in the game, and next to impossible to finish. Just about everything went wrong here, which is really sad, as the game originally showed a lot of promise. Avoid. (53.9% on GameRankings)
Shifters (Action/RPG) :: To sum this one up: another stinker from 3DO. They basically took the storyline, world, and characters from their own Warriors of Might & Magic (another horrible game; see below), threw in shape-shifting, then called it a day. Sure, they tweaked the game engine, tightened up the control, and made the gameplay pacing a little more solid... but is that even close to enough? ...Nope. It still sucks. Avoid. (45.8% on GameRankings)
Summoner (RPG) :: A (near) launch title from Volition Inc., and like many early titles, Summoner's biggest sufferings are lack of time. There's a lot of great ideas here, but you can just tell a lot of them had to be trimmed back. An example, towns are simply huge (say, 5-6 times the size of your typically "large" RPG town), but there's only one or two places you can actually enter -- if that. The game is also very, very unpolished, with some of the longest (and frequent!) load times on the PS2, very blocky visuals, and quite a few glitches. But even with it's problems, there's a very large world to explore, filled with a lot of well designed locales, a really good storyline, and a very.. um.. unique battle system (like Vagrant Story's: real-time leading up to the encounter, then turn-based while attacking, with a similar chain/combo system); and as the title implies, it revolves around calling summoned beasts into battle, which then act as another playable character. So problems aside, there's quite a bit to like here, and it's at the very least an "average-to-good" game, IMO. (70.5% on GameRankings)
Summoner II (Action/RPG) :: A direct sequel (of sorts) to the first title, but with a real-time battle system, and smaller, more focused areas (and in result, much shorter load times!). This time around you're basically playing (what's perceived as..) the "evil" side of the Summoner world; putting you in the role of a young queen destined to be the "Goddess Reborn." Like the hero of the first game, she has summoning powers, but instead of calling them into battle, she makes a pact to transform into the creatures instead. There's also now a real-time battle system, so no need to chain attacks to do any decent damage, as you now just hack away with simple combo attacks. Improvement? I guess that'd depend on your preference, but I think it's a more solid engine than the prequel offered, and a lot more engaging. It's just an all-around better title than the first, and makes me hope for an even better Summoner III. (77.2% on GameRankings)
The Legend of Alon D'ar (RPG) :: Hmm, what to say here? It sucks? Sure, it has 2-player co-op play, a huge load-time-less world, but pretty much everything else falters. The storyline is cliche as hell (a man with a mark on his hand must save the land... yadda yadda...), the battle system is crap (I think it's trying to be like the Final Fantasy ATB, but just ends up being the slowest, most strategy-less battle system ever), and the entire game is a series of fetch quests. I kid you not. That is seriously the only type of quest in this game. An NPC wants acorns, fair enough -- ...wait, 25 you say? Yeah, you'll be getting those throughout the entire game. Acorns, scrolls, horns... I don't even care anymore! Find your own shit. And why am I finding acorns this person wants on the other side of the world? I think that about says it all... Avoid! (43.0% on GameRankings)
Warriors of Might & Magic (Action/RPG) :: Taking the role of Aileron (probably spelled that wrong, but who cares?), your sister forces you to wear the "Mask of the Accused" and banishes you down into her dungeon. Find a bone, use it as a weapon, break out of prison, seek revenge... Yeah, winning concept. But even putting that aside, the combat is a clunky, unresponsive mess, the graphics are barely above PSOne quality, the camera, world design, and anything resembling a quality Action/RPG is missing here. Seriously 3DO, why do you even bother sometimes? Oh wait, they don't anymore. (50.9% on GameRankings)
Coming Soon
Champions: Return to Arms
Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
The Bard's Tale
X-Men Legends
Surprisingly, each of these games look to be coming along very well so far, and most are out within the next few months (Champions is the only '05 title). Worth reading up on a few of them, especially The Bard's Tale. It sounds awesome.
Ack, this ended up a lot longer than I wanted it to.. Well, I hope I didn't ramble too much, and that it was at least helpful.
Available Now
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Action/RPG) :: A D&D-based (3rd edition ruleset) hack & slash title from Snowblind. It's pretty much a Diablo clone, right down to the isometric view, and three pre-made character classes (Human Ranger, Dwarven Warrior, & Elven Sorceress). It has 2-player co-op play, a bunch of unlockables, multiple difficulties, the works. It's a very fun game, and a (once) great showcase for the PS2 graphically. (85.0% on GameRankings)
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (Action/RPG) :: Direct sequel to the above, but isn't developed by Snowblind any longer, and instead in-house by Black Isle Studios. You won't be able to carry over your characters, but instead choose from 5 new pre-made ones, and there's also a new item creation system available now. Haven't played it myself, but I hear it's not as good as the first. (80.9% on GameRankings)
Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest (Action/RPG) :: Another Diablo-clone (or more accurately, Dark Alliance-clone
) from Snowblind, this time set in the EverQuest universe. Runs on a beefed-up version of the Dark Alliance engine, and offers more character classes, a higher level cap, 4-player co-op, as well as (borked) online play. The half-assed online system, unbalanced loot drops, and character balancing problems keep it from being as good as it could be. (84.9% on GameRankings)Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse (Action/RPG) :: Another Diablo-style hack & slash (noticing a pattern?), this time with a time limit ('till the rise of the "Big Bad"), a few nifty economy systems, and an entire soundtrack of butt-rock. Unfortunately it fails at pretty much everything: there are only 3 kinds of quests, which you will be doing repeatedly (say a couple hundred times each), NPCs with a whopping 1 line of dialogue, and some of the worst random (...and buggy!) dungeons known to man. Avoid. At all costs. (47.0% at GameRankings)
Deus Ex: The Conspiracy (FPS/RPG) :: A First Person Shooter/RPG hybrid of sorts. Revolves around a skill-based experience system, allowing you to customize your character to the style of play you want (focus on hacking, weaponry, etc). The game offers many different routes through most of it's challenges, ranging from brute force to stealthy entry. It's a PC-port, so it has it's ups & downs -- streamlined interface & inventory system (works surprisingly well considering how complex it originally was), downgraded visuals, areas have been shrunk, & fairly frequent load times -- but it's mostly handled really well. Despite these issues, it's a really good port, and a great title. (82.8% on GameRankings)
Drakan: The Ancients' Gate (Action/RPG) :: Second in the series (the original, Order of the Flame, is only on PC), but it offers a pretty good recap to the events from the first game. Basically focuses around the now cliche "joined souls" storyline, where a human & dragon share a life (& experience) meter. Play focuses both on ground melee combat, as well as flight combat with other dragons, catapults, & the like; and because you share an experience meter, there's no penalty to which you choose. RPG elements are a little lite, with a level cap of a low 12, but they're simply in place to determine the speciality (melee, magic, or ranged) of your character. Magic system is also done in a "draw the rune" manner (similar to Arx Fatalis), where you have to input directional commands to cast the appropriate spells. All in all, I'd say it's a great title, and quite possibly my favorite Western RPG on the system. (80.3% on GameRankings)
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (Action/RPG) :: A very RPG-lite take on Fallout, running on a heavily modified Dark Alliance engine (tweaked to handle lock-on, strafing, guns, etc). Haven't played it myself, so I can't say much else about it. Maybe someone else can fill you in... (63.5% on GameRankings)
Future Tactics: The Uprising (Strategy/RPG) :: Know absolutely nothing about this one, sorry. :\ (63.2% on GameRankings)
Gladius (Strategy/RPG) :: This is a gladiator-themed Strategy/RPG from LucasArts, and is (as far as I've seen) all arena-based. The battle system has a lot of action-oriented portions, with timed button presses to determine your accuracy, damage dealt, and so on. You're able to recruit new gladiators/warriors -- everything from shapeshifters (into animals) to long-range fighters -- enter tournaments for prizes, money, and fame/trophies to move up in the ranks. It also has two seperate storylines to follow, each with different characters and battles. Apparently the PS2 version is the one to avoid, due to long loadtimes, lack of blood (I believe only XBox has that, strangely..), and some graphical downgrades. But no matter which version you check out, it's a very deep Strategy/RPG overall, and pretty much the only one you're going to get from an American developer anytime soon.
(75.1% on GameRankings)Legion: The Legend of Excalibur (Action/RTS/RPG) :: Major hybrid action going on here, combining an Action/RPG with RTS-style troop commands, multiple troop groupings, etc. Follows the story of King Arthur & Guinevere through a mission-based campaign around 13 levels long. The storyline & presentation (especially the CG scenes) are top-notch, but unfortunately, that's all that is... Graphics, AI, combat, voice acting, and mission structure all range from mediocre to flat-out horrible. Missions are also horribly balanced, with the 2nd being the hardest in the game, and next to impossible to finish. Just about everything went wrong here, which is really sad, as the game originally showed a lot of promise. Avoid. (53.9% on GameRankings)
Shifters (Action/RPG) :: To sum this one up: another stinker from 3DO. They basically took the storyline, world, and characters from their own Warriors of Might & Magic (another horrible game; see below), threw in shape-shifting, then called it a day. Sure, they tweaked the game engine, tightened up the control, and made the gameplay pacing a little more solid... but is that even close to enough? ...Nope. It still sucks. Avoid. (45.8% on GameRankings)
Summoner (RPG) :: A (near) launch title from Volition Inc., and like many early titles, Summoner's biggest sufferings are lack of time. There's a lot of great ideas here, but you can just tell a lot of them had to be trimmed back. An example, towns are simply huge (say, 5-6 times the size of your typically "large" RPG town), but there's only one or two places you can actually enter -- if that. The game is also very, very unpolished, with some of the longest (and frequent!) load times on the PS2, very blocky visuals, and quite a few glitches. But even with it's problems, there's a very large world to explore, filled with a lot of well designed locales, a really good storyline, and a very.. um.. unique battle system (like Vagrant Story's: real-time leading up to the encounter, then turn-based while attacking, with a similar chain/combo system); and as the title implies, it revolves around calling summoned beasts into battle, which then act as another playable character. So problems aside, there's quite a bit to like here, and it's at the very least an "average-to-good" game, IMO. (70.5% on GameRankings)
Summoner II (Action/RPG) :: A direct sequel (of sorts) to the first title, but with a real-time battle system, and smaller, more focused areas (and in result, much shorter load times!). This time around you're basically playing (what's perceived as..) the "evil" side of the Summoner world; putting you in the role of a young queen destined to be the "Goddess Reborn." Like the hero of the first game, she has summoning powers, but instead of calling them into battle, she makes a pact to transform into the creatures instead. There's also now a real-time battle system, so no need to chain attacks to do any decent damage, as you now just hack away with simple combo attacks. Improvement? I guess that'd depend on your preference, but I think it's a more solid engine than the prequel offered, and a lot more engaging. It's just an all-around better title than the first, and makes me hope for an even better Summoner III. (77.2% on GameRankings)
The Legend of Alon D'ar (RPG) :: Hmm, what to say here? It sucks? Sure, it has 2-player co-op play, a huge load-time-less world, but pretty much everything else falters. The storyline is cliche as hell (a man with a mark on his hand must save the land... yadda yadda...), the battle system is crap (I think it's trying to be like the Final Fantasy ATB, but just ends up being the slowest, most strategy-less battle system ever), and the entire game is a series of fetch quests. I kid you not. That is seriously the only type of quest in this game. An NPC wants acorns, fair enough -- ...wait, 25 you say? Yeah, you'll be getting those throughout the entire game. Acorns, scrolls, horns... I don't even care anymore! Find your own shit. And why am I finding acorns this person wants on the other side of the world? I think that about says it all... Avoid! (43.0% on GameRankings)
Warriors of Might & Magic (Action/RPG) :: Taking the role of Aileron (probably spelled that wrong, but who cares?), your sister forces you to wear the "Mask of the Accused" and banishes you down into her dungeon. Find a bone, use it as a weapon, break out of prison, seek revenge... Yeah, winning concept. But even putting that aside, the combat is a clunky, unresponsive mess, the graphics are barely above PSOne quality, the camera, world design, and anything resembling a quality Action/RPG is missing here. Seriously 3DO, why do you even bother sometimes? Oh wait, they don't anymore.
(50.9% on GameRankings)Coming Soon
Champions: Return to Arms
Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
The Bard's Tale
X-Men Legends
Surprisingly, each of these games look to be coming along very well so far, and most are out within the next few months (Champions is the only '05 title). Worth reading up on a few of them, especially The Bard's Tale. It sounds awesome.
Ack, this ended up a lot longer than I wanted it to.. Well, I hope I didn't ramble too much, and that it was at least helpful.
yeah, it was a great post. reminds me that the only western RPGs i like on the PS2 are, as i suspected, BGScott said:Ack, this ended up a lot longer than I wanted it to.. Well, I hope I didn't ramble too much, and that it was at least helpful.
A and CoN ... worth noting that CoN's story and chracters are way too ridiculous to take seriously. I AM TEH SEXY VAMPIRE LADY!!! BLAAAGH!!still a fun game, though, even if the online turned out to be teh broken.
Korranator
Member
Gladius rocks. If Disgaea was never released then it would be the best SRPG on the PS2.
Forgot an upcoming game in the previous post:
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Figures that Doom_Bringer would disappear...
I apologize if this ends up a little skimpy, as I haven't played a few of them, but here goes:
Available Now ~ GBA
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Action/RPG) :: Pretty much a scaled down rendition of the console title. It shares the same isometric view, much of the same locales, quests, storyline arc, etc. It also has the same 3 character classes, only now with just a single race available (a Human male), with palete swaps for each class. While much of the game is unchanged, there are some noteworthy tweaks done to certain quests (ie: instead of going into the crypt to destroy the undead, they nix that level altogether and have them appear in town), but none of them really alter the flow of the game too heavily. Overall, it's remarkably faithful to the original, and a rather well-made rendition of the console title. Definitely worth checking out. (73.8% on GameRankings)
Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku (Action/RPG) :: Hmm, well, it has the storyline going for it... That's about the only thing I can give it credit for, to be honest. Graphically, it's rather bland, soundwise, same deal... Gameplay? Ugh. Webfoot threw in the worst collision detection ever, a severe lack of diagonal movement, and a 3-4 hour long quest, at least a half hour of which you'll spend getting your ass handed to you by random wildlife. Hopefully that says enough. Avoid. (56.1% on GameRankings)
Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku II (Action/RPG) :: With how my experience went with the first game, I haven't given this one a shot yet. I've heard that it's a much better game, though, for what it's worth. (77.1% on GameRankings)
Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder (Strategy/RPG) :: Haven't played this one either, but I do know a little bit about it. For one, it's a port of the old SNES/PC/SEGA CD/etc game, though honestly I don't know which version they used (or if there's any differences between them). It's also a hybrid of sorts, combining the classic "block-by-block" first person exploration (think Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, etc), with a Strategy/RPG battle engine. (53.6% on GameRankings)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (RPG) :: Don't really know anything about this one, outside of reports of an apparently unavoidable bug preventing people from finishing it... That probably says enough right there, eh? (48.7% on GameRankings)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Action/RPG) :: Haven't had the chance to play too much of this one, but it's in the same style as The Two Towers (see below), a Diablo-clone set in Middle Earth. It's quite improved over the previous game, with more varied challenges for each of the Fellowship, more character skills available to pump your skill points into, and a beefed up game engine (better effects & handles more enemies on screen with no slowdown, but unfortunately animation and sprites haven't changed much...). It also offers connectivity with the GameCube title to transfer your experience points earned in the GBA game to your character in the GC rendition, but I don't know how useful that is. Overall, it's pretty much just a more polished, beefed up version of The Two Towers, which is enough for me. (78.7% on GameRankings)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Action/RPG) :: Another Diablo-clone, this time set in Middle Earth (yay?). Even the HUD seems to be ripped straight out of Diablo, with two colored orbs on both sides of an experience meter (mana & health). You're able to pick from 5 of the Fellowship, each with their own strengths in combat, but unfortunately each one goes through the same situations as the next. Much like the console game, you'll follow a few events from the first movie, and eventually move onto events from The Two Towers. There's also two player link-up play available, but I haven't been able to check that out, but the game engine has slowdown in single player, so I could see it becoming a larger problem here. Overall, I think it's a solid hack & slash title, and with the save anywhere feature, it's a great on-the-go game. (76.8% on GameRankings)
Coming Soon ~ GBA
Dragonball Z: Buu's Fury
Pirate Battle
Spiral Stone (may have been cancelled?)
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Available Now ~ GC
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Action/RPG) :: Port of the PS2 title (see my previous post). It's taken a few hits to the graphics, like aliasing and the framerate, but that's (probably) mostly due to the engine being built solely around the PlayStation 2 architecture. From what I've heard, it's also apparently received some balancing tweaks for a couple bosses, but I haven't seen any evidence to support that. (78.4% on GameRankings)
Future Tactics: The Uprising (Strategy/RPG) :: Again, I don't really know anything about this game... Sorry. (63.4% on GameRankings)
Gladius (Strategy/RPG) :: With the Cube version, you can probably expect a few graphical enhancements, and undoubtedly better load times. But that's about it. Blood is (as far as I know) still absent in this version, and there's no goofy connectivity extras thrown on top or anything, so it's the same title (content-wise) as on PS2. (78.7% on GameRankings)
Summoner: A Goddess Reborn (Action/RPG) :: Another port, again from the PlayStation 2 version. Changes are minimal, dropping the number from the title (as the original wasn't on GameCube, can't be confusing the masses now!), and a redone character model for the main character. Her clothing design & facial model have received drastic changes, and her face now makes her look like some slutty cheerleader (...maybe that's the look they were going for?). Outside of that, I believe it's otherwise a direct port. (73.6% on GameRankings)
Coming Soon ~ GC
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
I think that's all of them. And again, I apologize if that was too skimpy. :\
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Thanks. Ended up taking forever to type up, and go over it to make sure I didn't miss anything... and yet I still did, as I left Gladius off at first. Whoops!ferricide said:
Figures that Doom_Bringer would disappear...
I should have known you'd ask that.jarrod said:So Scott... what western RPGs do GC & GBA have?
I apologize if this ends up a little skimpy, as I haven't played a few of them, but here goes:
Available Now ~ GBA
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Action/RPG) :: Pretty much a scaled down rendition of the console title. It shares the same isometric view, much of the same locales, quests, storyline arc, etc. It also has the same 3 character classes, only now with just a single race available (a Human male), with palete swaps for each class. While much of the game is unchanged, there are some noteworthy tweaks done to certain quests (ie: instead of going into the crypt to destroy the undead, they nix that level altogether and have them appear in town), but none of them really alter the flow of the game too heavily. Overall, it's remarkably faithful to the original, and a rather well-made rendition of the console title. Definitely worth checking out. (73.8% on GameRankings)
Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku (Action/RPG) :: Hmm, well, it has the storyline going for it... That's about the only thing I can give it credit for, to be honest. Graphically, it's rather bland, soundwise, same deal... Gameplay? Ugh. Webfoot threw in the worst collision detection ever, a severe lack of diagonal movement, and a 3-4 hour long quest, at least a half hour of which you'll spend getting your ass handed to you by random wildlife. Hopefully that says enough. Avoid. (56.1% on GameRankings)
Dragonball Z: The Legacy of Goku II (Action/RPG) :: With how my experience went with the first game, I haven't given this one a shot yet. I've heard that it's a much better game, though, for what it's worth. (77.1% on GameRankings)
Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder (Strategy/RPG) :: Haven't played this one either, but I do know a little bit about it. For one, it's a port of the old SNES/PC/SEGA CD/etc game, though honestly I don't know which version they used (or if there's any differences between them). It's also a hybrid of sorts, combining the classic "block-by-block" first person exploration (think Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, etc), with a Strategy/RPG battle engine. (53.6% on GameRankings)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (RPG) :: Don't really know anything about this one, outside of reports of an apparently unavoidable bug preventing people from finishing it... That probably says enough right there, eh? (48.7% on GameRankings)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Action/RPG) :: Haven't had the chance to play too much of this one, but it's in the same style as The Two Towers (see below), a Diablo-clone set in Middle Earth. It's quite improved over the previous game, with more varied challenges for each of the Fellowship, more character skills available to pump your skill points into, and a beefed up game engine (better effects & handles more enemies on screen with no slowdown, but unfortunately animation and sprites haven't changed much...). It also offers connectivity with the GameCube title to transfer your experience points earned in the GBA game to your character in the GC rendition, but I don't know how useful that is. Overall, it's pretty much just a more polished, beefed up version of The Two Towers, which is enough for me. (78.7% on GameRankings)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Action/RPG) :: Another Diablo-clone, this time set in Middle Earth (yay?). Even the HUD seems to be ripped straight out of Diablo, with two colored orbs on both sides of an experience meter (mana & health). You're able to pick from 5 of the Fellowship, each with their own strengths in combat, but unfortunately each one goes through the same situations as the next. Much like the console game, you'll follow a few events from the first movie, and eventually move onto events from The Two Towers. There's also two player link-up play available, but I haven't been able to check that out, but the game engine has slowdown in single player, so I could see it becoming a larger problem here. Overall, I think it's a solid hack & slash title, and with the save anywhere feature, it's a great on-the-go game. (76.8% on GameRankings)
Coming Soon ~ GBA
Dragonball Z: Buu's Fury
Pirate Battle
Spiral Stone (may have been cancelled?)
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Available Now ~ GC
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Action/RPG) :: Port of the PS2 title (see my previous post). It's taken a few hits to the graphics, like aliasing and the framerate, but that's (probably) mostly due to the engine being built solely around the PlayStation 2 architecture. From what I've heard, it's also apparently received some balancing tweaks for a couple bosses, but I haven't seen any evidence to support that. (78.4% on GameRankings)
Future Tactics: The Uprising (Strategy/RPG) :: Again, I don't really know anything about this game... Sorry. (63.4% on GameRankings)
Gladius (Strategy/RPG) :: With the Cube version, you can probably expect a few graphical enhancements, and undoubtedly better load times. But that's about it. Blood is (as far as I know) still absent in this version, and there's no goofy connectivity extras thrown on top or anything, so it's the same title (content-wise) as on PS2. (78.7% on GameRankings)
Summoner: A Goddess Reborn (Action/RPG) :: Another port, again from the PlayStation 2 version. Changes are minimal, dropping the number from the title (as the original wasn't on GameCube, can't be confusing the masses now!), and a redone character model for the main character. Her clothing design & facial model have received drastic changes, and her face now makes her look like some slutty cheerleader (...maybe that's the look they were going for?). Outside of that, I believe it's otherwise a direct port. (73.6% on GameRankings)
Coming Soon ~ GC
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
I think that's all of them. And again, I apologize if that was too skimpy. :\
I just didn't include it as it's not exactly Western, despite the style... But yeah, if anybody wants an old-school style dungeon crawl, Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land is fan-freaking-tastic. Pick it up!Mejilan said:
SpiderJerusalem
Banned
I bought Wizardry because I liked the art in it and ended up liking it a lot.
Haven't played very many on Scott's list really, even though I have a few of them. =/
Haven't played very many on Scott's list really, even though I have a few of them. =/
Templar Wizard
Member
Deus Ex on Ps2
but if you want one of the best ever RPG's, including the jap games, go Planescape:Torment on PC.
but if you want one of the best ever RPG's, including the jap games, go Planescape:Torment on PC.