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Radiant Historia |OT|: Change the Past to Save the Future

Volcynika

Member
I don't think an Ensenda center is anywhere near where I live (I hope). I get my stuff sent to my parents' pouse because if it gets sent to my apartment office, they close at 6pm, and I'm lucky to even get back from work before they close, since I get off no earlier than 5:30pm. I wish they were open until at least like 7 or something.
 
ooh, complained too soon. delivered! didn't know it was going to come with a music CD, too!

and it's not a recycle symbol cutout ds case, either.
 
Phatcorns said:
What's so bad about it?

Eco case on the bottom:
2ez3bdg.jpg
 

Phatcorns

Member
I guess I just don't understand what's so bad about them is all. They are a little lighter and have a big whole in them, but they are still functional right? Guess that's why I'm not a big collector.
 
Phatcorns said:
I guess I just don't understand what's so bad about them is all. They are a little lighter and have a big whole in them, but they are still functional right? Guess that's why I'm not a big collector.

As a collector (or really just someone that's really, really anal), it's very easy to damage the covers when the cases have big gaping holes in them like that. It's even worse on the 360 where the discs themselves can actually be damaged because of that. I'm just glad the PS3 and PSP don't do this.
 
I don't like them because a lot of ds cases (including my new RH case) are hard-ish to open. You have to use a relatively high amount of force to open it. With the increased opening pressure, I also put pressure on the face of the case. The holes can cause the art insert and clear plastic outside to bend/warp

it's just being anal, I know, but that's my issue with them anyway.

As for the disc based cases, I don't nearly mind the holes on the manual side as much as I worry about the holes right under the disc.
 

Phatcorns

Member
Yeah, makes sense for sure. It's funny because I doubt they do it for environmental reasons, I think it's just because it's cheaper.
 

esserius

Banned
As long as the extras are nice, the case is kind of inconsequential. A flimsy artbook irks me more than a flimsy case, particularly since replacement cases are really easy to get, if it is a genuinely big issue.

p.s. Am I a bad person for only buying physical copies of games for the extras anymore? Heck, I often buy games on GoG just for the artwork.
 

branny

Member
esserius said:
p.s. Am I a bad person for only buying physical copies of games for the extras anymore? Heck, I often buy games on GoG just for the artwork.

No, if that's something that makes you happy you shouldn't apologize for it. :)


I dunno when my copy is coming from Amazon or when I'll get around to playing it.
 

Instro

Member
Hm, this looks pretty cool. Ive been in need of a new DS RPG, although I should probably finish Golden Sun first. I like time travel though, so I just might have to pick this one up.
 

Yuterald

Member
I picked it up with my Ys Chronicles today so I'll probably dig into it a bit later. I'll post some impressions if anyone cares. =)
 

Zerokku

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
So it appears none of the gamestops in arizona got this game in today. In fact we won't be getting it in till wednesday or thursday.

ffs. Been looking forward to this one a ton.
 

Emitan

Member
Londa said:
Just bought the game, but haven't tried it yet.

Has anyone tried it yet? Do you like it so far?
No one's given impressions on the NA release. I'm hoping this means it's so good they don't want to put it down!
 

Londa

Banned
Billychu said:
No one's given impressions on the NA release. I'm hoping this means it's so good they don't want to put it down!

Well my first impression is the music CD is kind of emo. I have only listened to four tracks. I hope there is some happy town music somewhere.
 

Yuterald

Member
Well, I played it for nearly two hours in one sitting and it's really, really fucking awesome! I guess I'll try and break it down in some categories for a quick impression.

Combat: For one, there are no random encounters. This is an event/trigger based RPG where you see and must initiate the enemy on the field to launch a battle. At the start of the game the main character gets a sword swipe field action that lets the player get an advantage on the battle, which is always welcome.

Combat is also extremely fast yet simple and engaging. Players have the usual attack, skill, defend, item commands, but they implemented a really interesting push and change subsystems into the combat. Push allows the player to basically group up enemies to deal more damage. Enemies spawn on a 3x3 grid, basically a back, middle, and front row. So far I have learned a push forward, left, and pull skill that allows my characters to group up multiple enemies to deal extra damage.

What's even cooler is that the play has the option to CHANGE your turn with another ally or even an enemy. This provides a chance for the player to unleash devastating combos on the enemies. You can basically exchange turns with enemies so that they go first which can allow you to say take 6 turns in a row instead of 3. However, by doing this the player enters a state called BAROQUE where you take more damage. What's cool is that by having your characters in this state they can use those 6 turns and basically push & pull every enemy on the screen in one shot while throwing in spells and other special skills. The higher the combo the more EXP, money, etc. you receive after battle too. It's hard to explain, but once you try it the battles will instantly click.

Equipment is weapon, armor, and 3 accessories. Skills so far seemed to be learned at level up so I am not sure how much customization there is in the game.

So far the game hasn't been difficult, but I am only 2 hours in so I have no idea how much harder it's going to get. But as I said, battles are really fast and it's really fun grouping enemies together and completely decimating them.

Music: Yoko Shimomura rarely misses the mark and so far the music in Historia is really good. Put those head phones on and hook up some external speakers because the soundtrack is pretty bad ass so far. Thankfully the game has a good battle track as well. No complaints so far in this department.

Story The story is direct and gets to the point immediately. It's basically about two waring nations over fertile land in a world that is basically fading to sand. Main character is cool and serious. It definitely seems like a more mature title, no annoying kid characters or whiny allies, etc. Pacing of the game so far is quick, as I mentioned, you gain access to the White Chronicle extremely early and decision points are thrown at you within 2 hours of play.

What's really cool is that there seems to be a degree of dungeon/environment backtracking, which I did not expect. As you progress through different plot points through the White Chronicle the main character is granted field abilities that allow the player to access treasure chests or areas in various history points that were previously inaccessible.

For example I ran though an area one time and there was a cave with a treasure chest in it that had big metal boxes blocking my way. I proceeded with the game a bit and was granted an ability that let me push and pull boxes. I ran back to that spot and used my new found ability to access the chest. Pretty fucking cool! To what extent this is used I have no clue, but I hope to see more of it! =)

I guess that's it so far for impressions, I really like the look of the game too. Art style is nice, character portraits are good, translation/text seems fine, camera angle in towns and dungeons are good. Overall, there hasn't been anything really bad to say about it. =)
 

Sallokin

Member
I'm pretty impressed with the whole package so far. I'm really digging the piano selections bonus disk that came with the game as well. Glad the art I voted for ended up winning ^_^
 
rainking187 said:
Eco case on the bottom:
2ez3bdg.jpg

Weird, my Mario vs DK came in the normal case. Golden Sun came in the new one. It really sucks for me having to import every game, as the cover can get damaged or warped in shipping. Already happened twice so now I need to tell every seller to put a piece of cardboard covering it :/
 
Good old 1 hour impressions =)

Liked

+ Great music track. Subtle yet rich.
+ Shit goes down right away! A modern jrpg that does that is getting rarer each year T_T
+ Fun combat system that shows potential to be pretty in depth later.
++ You learn new shit like every level or 2! Not sure if that continues on in later game, but getting new moves at early levels is always a plus.
+ premise is pretty interesting. Your a freaking spy!
+ Love the main character's design. Just looks like a medieval secret agent.
+ Lovely sprite animations.

Errr
- The footstep sound just sounds weird. It's a tad too loud and hurts the awesome soundtrack.
- No Options! Can't change dialog speed or mess with the audio to address my issue ^.
- MC walking animation looks pretty wack.
- No ability to quick save. Sure I could put my ds to sleep mode, but for some reason DS was always easier to turn off accidentally compare to psp.

Undecided

= Character development. Sure the MC will probably grow throughout the game, but somehow I feel that the time travelling aspect will hurt character growth of other folks.

= Limits of time travel. Sure it's apparently not 'all powerful' and has it's 'limits', but you do seem pretty damn powerful being able to go in and out of time. Can't wait to see the real limits and consequences that happen because of you dicking around with history.

About it so far for me. Will play more after classes or so. Promising stuff.
 

Luigi87

Member
Just put an order for this down. Returned an unopened copy of Metroid: Other M I got for $20 to contribute to it (didn't plan to play that anytime soon anyhow).

... Hopefully it shall be mine tomorrow.
 

Yuterald

Member
I just got access to bombs! I can now blow up rocks! So cool, I guess there will be a constant flow of field tools to help you solve problems/access chests, etc.

Make sure to talk to everyone in the first town as well because there seem to be sidequests that add to the White Chronicle at certain points in the history. I really, really like this games structure and design. The game seems designed to make the player fully explore every option and see and do everything in one playthrough. I can't see there being any one-time items/events or anything which is really nice.
 

BluWacky

Member
Yuterald said:
Make sure to talk to everyone in the first town as well because there seem to be sidequests that add to the White Chronicle at certain points in the history. I really, really like this games structure and design. The game seems designed to make the player fully explore every option and see and do everything in one playthrough. I can't see there being any one-time items/events or anything which is really nice.

I believe it's confirmed that there's nothing missable on your first playthrough should you choose to try and 100% it first time round.

Still no news from Videogamesplus in Canada, bah humbug. Bring me Radiant Historia, dammit!
 

Oxx

Member
VG+ have shipped my copy. So now I have 3 DS RPGs out there somewhere. Which one will arrive first?
 
Phatcorns said:
I guess I just don't understand what's so bad about them is all. They are a little lighter and have a big whole in them, but they are still functional right? Guess that's why I'm not a big collector.

Have case to protect potentially fragile cartridge.

Put holes right where cartridge is instead of making case smaller.
 

Emitan

Member
Haven't had much time to play because I'm desperately trying to rewrite an entire essay due tomorrow (it's not long, but I write slowly). I got through the prologue, but I think I still have more to do
now that I stopped Vlad from messing up the explosives shipment I should probably be able to go back and blow up the rocks in that cave passage, I think
. But even though I haven't played much of the game, I have been listening to the absolutely amazing CD that came with it. This music is fantastic.

EDIT: And the footstep sounds aren't really that bad, they change depending on the environment and most seem pretty quiet.
 

LProtag

Member
There's a little bit of hunting for abilities and branches that make you go, "huh, what am I supposed to do differently here?" which just turn out to be talk to a certain character and gain an ability or learn some sort of information.

And so far, a lot of the time travel seems straightforward, no real heavy thinking to figure out where I have to go to fix something. Usually you just jump into one timeline until the situation is resolved in the other timeline.

It's still fun, and maybe as the game goes on it'll become less like this, but I'm not sure.
 
Like many others, I've only put in a few hours so far, but I like what I see overall.

I agree that the footstep thing is odd, but it isn't too bad. It does detract ever so slightly from the awesome music.

I like being thrown into things fairly quickly, but I thought that the prologue was a bit stiff and awkward at times. The charm of the game is starting to grab me now, though; the story seems interesting enough. The time traveling seems straight forward to this point, though I'm hoping things branch out more for variety. I guess it would just be a missed opportunity if things stay the same for this.

Battles are great: fresh, fast, satisfying. Not sure if it's going to get old as the game progresses, but I don't think that will be the case.

The most frustrating thing in this game is talking to NPCs. You have to get the positioning just right sometimes (and forget about it if they are moving). There's a point early on in the game where there are some soldiers drinking at tables. Why it bugs me, I don't know, but you can't talk to two of them since you can't reach one side of the tables (they face a wall).

I'm getting such a SNES RPG vibe from this game, which is of course, a great thing for me.
 

Volcynika

Member
Heh. :lol at Aram with no face plus Janitor title. If I'm not busy with stuff due to it being my birthday tomorrow, may give a watch!

radianthistoria_ustream_2.jpg
 
Allan Holdsworth said:
Weird, my Mario vs DK came in the normal case.
It was the same situation for US Super Mario Galaxy 2 (even at launch some got the eco cases and some didn't). Basically they switched designs during the printing process so the first units of the first print run had the last of the older design.
 

LProtag

Member
I think I'm worrying too much about all the sidequests, like the mudslide, and I'm probably not far in to the game enough to be able to resolve some of them.

I think I'll stick to the main story for the most part from now on and come back later.
 
Elfforkusu said:
So far I've only read positive impressions, so do your worst and stop me from buying this game, GAF!

sorry, can't help you - after a couple hours in, i'm about as pleased with this as i ever expected to be. really enjoy the over-all 'low-key' feeling of the game. no over-the-top melodramatics or conflicts, & just some simple, straight-forward story-telling (&, of course, tutorials) to get you sorted & comfortable...

this's the game i was hoping it would be (& the mini-soundtrack's pretty nice, as well)...
 
Really love the game so far. I've heard it compared to Chrono Trigger a lot, but I'm getting more of a FFVI vibe from it, with the steampunk-ish first town and more somber feel.
 
InsertNameHere said:
I think I'm worrying too much about all the sidequests, like the mudslide, and I'm probably not far in to the game enough to be able to resolve some of them.

I think I'll stick to the main story for the most part from now on and come back later.

This. I have no more worries about the time travel, either. I'm satisfied with how it is being handled and like that I'm tying up some loose ends in previous timelines from hours of playtime previous. I feel like I have a good amount of freedom in what timelines to pursue.

This game will be lengthy, since you can tell how many total events there are in the timeline and I've barely put a dent in that total yet. I find myself checking the timeline itself after awhile just to see how it's shaping up.

chaostrophy said:
...but I'm getting more of a FFVI vibe from it, with the steampunk-ish first town and more somber feel.

And definitely this. There's a great atmosphere to the game.
 

Spwn

Member
chaostrophy said:
Really love the game so far. I've heard it compared to Chrono Trigger a lot, but I'm getting more of a FFVI vibe from it, with the steampunk-ish first town and more somber feel.

That's pretty much what Jeremy Parish said in Active Time Babble. My copy shipped from VPG yesterday so it'll take at least a week before I get to play the game, but I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed as CT and FFVI are some of my favorite games.
 

sfried

Member
I guess Parish was right on the money when he said FFVI, because the vibes are all over the place. Already at Ch. 2 and I kept my party to Raine and Marco mostly, because I kinda grew to like them.
 
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