Video Game Discussion Thread

[VidKid369]

Hey, guys! Sorry if I'm BUMP'ing the wrong threads! Haha. I thought this one was pretty pertinent.

I recently started up a new game file in Star Ocean The Second Story for the first PlayStation. I like love this game and I think about it often. I decided to play thru Claude's storyline or scenario first lol.

What I love about this game is it features a lot of food items. I love the Item Creation I think that's what this game is known for. Do you guys like, enjoy this game too? I love the cooking contest à la Iron Chef. (I know Suikoden II does this as well.) I just love getting lost in mini-games and features like item creation. RPGs are known for stuff like this. I love it even more than the actual storyline.

This's the first Star Ocean game I ever played. I know about the SNES game but I don't think it was ever released in America I was always waiting around for it... But this installment I actually love.

Anyway, I play RPGs daily so I can't wait to dive into it later this afternoon I can only really play for 2 hours max. lol everyday.

[Mauron]

BUMP whatever you feel like.

Star Ocean II was fun. I beat it at least once.

I know the original is available on PSP as Star Ocean: The First Departure.

[Acacia Sgt]

When it comes to Star Ocean, I only have Till the End of Time. Liked the game, been wishing I could play the others.

However, for the first two I'd need a PSP, fourth game is on Steam I believe but I don't think my laptop could handle it.

[VidKid369]

Ok! I'm trying to get through reading the thread too as well.

I've been playing Star Ocean The Second Story since I was young I always wind up playing Claude's scenario over and over lol.

I'm currently playing through my entire library of RPGs just for fun! I'm trying to get more involved with gaming, in general. Now I'm writing about it more. I'm so happy my PlayStation 2 still works and my physical copy still works. I always find myself going back to Star Ocean 2 and having a good time. I have Star Ocean Till the End of Time but I always want to beat the earlier games if I can. I'm really picky-and-choosy about that I've noticed for some reason.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Dude, Star Ocean: The Second Story is amazing. It's my favorite of the Star Ocean series. And it's probably one of the best jRPGs on the PSX. The storyline can drag in parts, but all the Skills and branching character paths make it super fun.

My order:
Star Ocean II: The Second Story (aka Second Evolution) >
Star Ocean III: Til the End of Time >
Star Ocean I: First Departure >
Star Ocean IV: The Last Hope

I haven't played the GBA sequel to The Second Story since it was never ported to English (although I bet there's a English translation ROM hack out there), a game called Star Ocean: Eternal Sphere. It reunited the cast from the Second Story, though, which is always a plus since Claude and Rena are my favs.

I also haven't played Star Ocean V: Integrity and Faithfulness, so I excluded it from the list. Darn you PS4 exclusives! Reviews for it were luke-warm, though.

EDIT:

Oh, and I played the mobile gatcha Star Ocean game, Star Ocean: Amnesis. I thought it was way too grindy and non-friendly for F2P, and the storyline was pretty boring for the first few months after launch. Eventually I gave up on it. I dunno if it's improved at all, but I stuck with it for about 4 or 5 months post-launch and I just couldn't endure it any longer.

[Acacia Sgt]

Oh, right, I also tried Anamnesis.

Only for about a month. I'll be honest, games like those that require daily play and stuff just become a chore to me eventually. Stops being fun and I'm like, "Why even bother to continue if it becomes more tiresome than its worth".

Game itself was fun to play, though. At least, I found it fun to.

[VidKid369]

Well the one Star Ocean game I've always wanted to play was the Super Famicom one I saw a blurb for it in Nintendo Power and was waiting with bated breath but it never made it across the Pacific.

I forgot I also have Star Ocean The Last Hope -International- for PlayStation 3 I bought like two years ago I haven't played it yet though since I think my PS3's going haywire lol. I'm planning a re-purchase of the console though too.

Oh wow, I totally think Star Ocean The Second Story is such a good RPG too I constantly re-play it I love everything about it: Talent, Emotional Points, Private Actions, Item Creation, food competitions lol, it has a lot of features detailed in the game. I can get quite lost in an RPG if it has a really very fun mini-game lol. I actually don't pay much attention to the storyline in this one but I still read every line and I talk to every NPC. I notice this game has a lot of conversations. I like RPGs with a lot of text and text-heavy, lol.

Claude is definitely one of my faves and I like Celine. Mostly because she's able to make alcohol for the party, haha, lol early in the game when you're strapped for cash.

The PS1 definitely has a lot of good JRPGs. Between the first PlayStation and the Super Nintendo I feel almost set. lol

[VidKid369]

Hey, guys! I've been meaning to post this for the past few days. But, I was thinking about how I really like and enjoy a lot of RPGs by Working Designs. I've always loved the company after they did LUNAR and most of my time is devoted to LUNAR anyway but I've been playing the rest of their games collecting dust in my collection and I have fun with them just as much. For example, I'm playing Alundra right now and I love like the writing? I dunno if it has anything to do with me originally being from California or anything like that but?

I was thinking that the bulk, a majority of my childhood was impacted by two people: Ted Woolsey and Victor Ireland. I've always loved LUNAR ever since I was younger. And I thoroughly enjoyed games like Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana all for the Super NES.

I think the majority of the Squaresoft games are in a league of their own.

But I do have a special place in my heart for all of the Working Designs games I have too. Does anyone have any input on what I'm talking about here? I just love the text, and the dialogue and how the characters exchange interactions a lot. I know WD gets flack for their 'Surfer lingo' but I find that absolutely normal where I'm from.

[Toreadore]

I haven't heard anyone bash WD for "surfer lingo." If anything, I've heard people say they breathed life into otherwise boring dialogue for games though it's entirely possible that when compared to WD translations, the original dialogue doesn't seem as interesting).

I also haven't heard it described as surfer lingo, though I admit I haven't interacted much with the fanbase outside of friends. Also, I'm limited to LUNAR and Vanguard Bandits so I haven't noticed anything of the sort.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

I just love the text, and the dialogue and how the characters exchange interactions a lot. I know WD gets flack for their 'Surfer lingo' but I find that absolutely normal where I'm from.

Working Designs was based out of California, so it makes sense? I remember as a kid watching the behind-the-scenes DVD of LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete and thinking that all the people seemed really nice... and for some reason I thought they were all Mormon with how articulate and kind they were. Hahaha!

I was thinking that the bulk, a majority of my childhood was impacted by two people: Ted Woolsey and Victor Ireland. I've always loved LUNAR ever since I was younger.

Too true! In fact, this got me running down a Victor Ireland rabbit hole. I had to know what he was up to these days. I didn't know that after WD closed he started Gaijinworks, which does similar localizations (although probably not on the same grandiose scale). Looks like they did a loot of Playstation Network localization; it's a shame I'm not much of a Playstation guy to have taken advantage of these non-physical releases.

[VidKid369]

Haha, I guess I browse the wrong forums sometimes lol. 😅 Usually, if anyone has anything bad to say about Working Designs's translations/localizations they say that some of the dialogue doesn't fit with the game - like why would there be a surfer-type dude in a remote village going, "Brah, the tides are rough today, bro." Sometimes they do have a lot of the female NPCs speaking in a type of typical, Californian Valley girl type of thing, "Like, I'm like totally leaving my boyfriend he's, like, sooooo cheating on me!" For example, think of how Claire speaks in Vanguard Bandits. I, myself, get a total kick out of that it reminds me of home and where I come from but a lot of gamers feel it doesn't 'fit' the atmosphere of the game if it's medieval or what-not.

I am in agreeance, I love that WD puts a lot of effort into the NPC dialogue. I have so much fun talking to every single person each and everytime just to find out what they have to say.

Yeah, I grew up in San Francisco and I'm pretty sure Redding is just up the road I always wanted to take a drive up there just to check it out.

LOL! I totally felt that they were all Morman, too!

I think after they shut down after putting out Growlanser they resurfaced in 2013 with Gaijinworks and put out a couple games like Summon Night and Class of Heroes 2. I scored a copy of Class of Heroes 2G but I didn't get Summon Night. I check their forums frequently quite a bit and it seems like there hasn't been an update in almost 4 years and a lot of the forum-goers are concerned about the future of Gaijinworks.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

I check their forums frequently quite a bit and it seems like there hasn't been an update in almost 4 years and a lot of the forum-goers are concerned about the future of Gaijinworks.

Yeah, when I was reading up on them the other day I had the same thoughts. Four years with no releases or community updates is a long time. And to be honest, the Gaijinworks localizations seem like pretty obscure games, which I wouldn't think would be big revenue generators.

I snooped in on them on LinkedIn and Victor Ireland is there. The company lists having ~12 employees, and that three of them were on LinkedIn as employees. One was Victor Ireland himself, another was a developer who lists his current employer as something that isn't Gaijinworks, and a third who does voice overs for a variety of clients and projects, only one of which is Gaijinworks.

All in all, it doesn't look good for Gaijinworks.

[VidKid369]

Yeah, I think I got Class of Heroes 2G through, by backing their Kickstarter campaign or something along those lines. I played a little bit of it though and it seems to still have some of that old Working Designs charm to say the least. But I don't think they've put anything out recently in a long time unfortunately...

Oh wow, nice detective work, super sleuth! I need to get a LinkedIn account cause I'm only on FaceBook these days lol. Yeah well word on the street is Victor had to go through some sort of surgery and some hospitalization after, and ever since then he hasn't made a single post in the community and the front page of the website hasn't seen a update... The morale of the forum members seems to be quite down, from what I have seen.

Anyway, I have continued my playthrough of Alundra today and I am enjoying everything so far. I deeply appreciate how Working Designs localized a lot, some really obscure Japanese games that I don't think would have ever seen the light of day in America so I really applaud them for doing that so some of us hardcore RPG players can play these gems. I love what I've seen of Alundra so far and it makes me want to go and play some of their other releases like Arc the Lad Collection was one I really enjoyed and want to 100% Complete now - the graphics kinda seem similar.

[Lennis]

A new action RPG has recently been announced, the name of which got my attention.  It's called Trinity Trigger.  No relation to the Chrono series, sadly, but I thought it was worth mentioning.  The plot centers around changing one's destiny.  It has quite a Secret of Mana look and feel to it.  Here's a link to the article:

https://nichegamer.com/trinity-trigger-debut-trailer-pc-version/

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

A new action RPG has recently been announced, the name of which got my attention.  It's called Trinity Trigger.  No relation to the Chrono series, sadly, but I thought it was worth mentioning.  The plot centers around changing one's destiny.  It has quite a Secret of Mana look and feel to it.

I *just* saw this on YouTube today. It looks good for sure.