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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 10:02:19 GMT -5
For AC: Armored Core: Nexus. While it might not be the best AC game, it's definitely the one I'd recommend first to people getting into the series, for several reasons:
- It was the first AC with proper dual analog support.
- The difficulty and learning curve are moderate for the series, as opposed to brutally punishing like in Last Raven.
- It's a standalone title. Many other ACs expect that you have played a previous iteration to completion and have a save file to transfer.
- There is a second disc full of revamped missions taken from the PS1 Armored Cores, so you'll get a good overview of the series' origins.
Also, I couldn't find a credit for it, but I'm pretty sure they got David Hayter to say the title at the start in his Snake voice.
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Post by zerker on Jul 28, 2014 15:16:35 GMT -5
For this series, I would be quick to recommend Seiken Densetsu 3 (SFC), because the story and battle systems are not keen on wasting your time. Except for the second half of the game, where you are eternally under-levelled unless you grind at every area. Or at least it was like that for me
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Post by dooz on Jul 29, 2014 17:58:13 GMT -5
Next: Koei sim-strategy games (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, etc). Easily, my favorite of the series is Romance of the Three Kingdoms X, though I'm sure die-hard fans dislike it for the reasons that I love it. That game took the nation-building simulation formula that made all of the previous games and combined it with a true role-playing experience that they were building up to in VII and VIII. In VII, they began to let you choose to play as different officers, rather than just rulers, and it added a new dynamic to the core gameplay that had been rehashed again and again since the first game (And there are hundreds of officers to choose from). As fun at that core gameplay is, it was a breath of fresh air. Since just being an officer doesn't allow you as much freedom in building a nation, some smaller role-playing elements were included, to keep things fresh. VIII ramped up the role-playing even more and allowed you to personalize your controlling officer even more. For some reason, in IX, they decided to turn the game into a sort of Age of Empires strategy game, which I wasn't a big fan of (And they continued that form of gameplay in XI and sort of in XII), but Romance of the Three Kingdoms X really turned the games into a simulation-strategy role-playing game, with nearly complete freedom in controlling your officer/ruler. If you were a free officer (Not serving any ruler), you could form your own band of warriors and take quests, only serving the people. You could form your own territory and try to unite China, yourself. You could offer to serve other rulers and work your way through the ranks, and maybe even be proclaimed the ruler yourself, should they happen to die. You can marry (And have kids, in the PUK version, and continue the game as the child, should you die). You can step down from your office at any time, should you grow bored of your post's duties. You can depose the emperor and proclaim yourself the emperor or China, or offer to serve and protect the emperor from the pretenders to the throne. It's a very fun and very open game. I've poured hundreds of hours into Romance of the Three Kingdoms X, in the US PS2 version, and the fan-translated Chinese PC version, with its Power-Up Kit expansion pack, which includes tons of new scenarios and even more officers. It's not only my favorite Romance of the Three Kingdoms game, it's my favorite game ever. That being said, Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons is really good too, but I didn't play it anywhere near as much. I really hope Uncharted Waters 3 and 4 get translated some day, because Online is just an embarrassment, when compared to the original games. NEXT UP: SUIKODEN!!!
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Post by nightdreamer on Jul 29, 2014 21:03:22 GMT -5
Suikoden II and it's not even a close competition. While the other games also had very good writing -- 3 and 5 especially -- 2 is my pick for the series most flawless. It's the first Suikoden game where the story gets very good; think Final Fantasy Tactics but with better handling and more nuanced writing of multiple characters, plus themes of loyalty, love, betrayal, revenge, and greed for political clout. The fast pacing makes it even better, as you could actually finish this game in two days, and it's easy to get suckered into doing that because the story picks up VERY EARLY (like, 5 minutes in, and almost relentless at maintaining that momentum). Plus, the combat is actually very good too; it plays about as fast as Lufia 2's, but with a more varied attack animation. I actually think Suikoden 2 is the only Suiko game that did the combat and the pacing right because the subsequent games take a little long to start, and the combat is made complex to its detriment. I wish I could say Suikoden 5 is as good but its load times are so bad I haven't even beaten the game. NEXT UP: Might and Magic (either vanilla or Heroes of series) EDIT: btw, dooz, I was almost going to pick Uncharted Waters 1 or 2 until I realise it wouldn't be fair, as I've never played a single Ro3K or Nobunaga's Ambition. Would you say that these games are hard to learn, as these games look really daunting to me at first glance. I do agree with the love for Uncharted Waters though; it's literally a game you could spend entire years playing because (at least from part 2 onward) there are a lot of characters to play as and it's very open-world for a game that came out on 16-bit, and without the bloat that hampers most open world games now. I also really dug Yoko Kanno's compositions, and they sound fantastic arranged.
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Post by Weasel on Jul 29, 2014 21:09:35 GMT -5
Heroes of Might & Magic 3, as this was the last of New World Computing's HoMM games before 3DO folded and Ubisoft bought the series rights. It's easy to get into, and there are TONS of really good campaign missions, especially if you get the "complete" version from GOG.com. If campaign isn't your thing, the random map generator is really good as well. Best of all, it doesn't run like crap, and is free of the not-goodness of the Ubi entries. Nowhere will HoMM3 ask you to buy DLC, unlock things, or sign in to your uPlay account to gain access to online features.
Next up: Shin Megami Tensei.
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Post by dooz on Jul 29, 2014 23:25:27 GMT -5
EDIT: btw, dooz, I was almost going to pick Uncharted Waters 1 or 2 until I realise it wouldn't be fair, as I've never played a single Ro3K or Nobunaga's Ambition. Would you say that these games are hard to learn, as these games look really daunting to me at first glance. I do agree with the love for Uncharted Waters though; it's literally a game you could spend entire years playing because (at least from part 2 onward) there are a lot of characters to play as and it's very open-world for a game that came out on 16-bit, and without the bloat that hampers most open world games now. I also really dug Yoko Kanno's compositions, and they sound fantastic arranged. Really, it depends on what game that you play, when it comes to the difficulty of picking one up. The older ROTTK and NA games can be less intuitive, more often than not. I've found that the more modern Nobunaga games are still generally more "hardcore" and less forgiving as well. If you're looking for a more classic ROTTK game, but is not too difficult to pick up, I'd go with VI for the Playstation, as that was the last game that was made before they started to really change some gameplay aspects from the original series. I mean, I learned how to play it as a kid, so it shouldn't be too hard (Then again, I liked Aerobiz, too). IV, for SNES, wasn't too difficult to understand either, and has a more classic strategy-simulation feel to it. VIII, for PS2, took that classic strat/sim gameplay and added some cool RPG elements to it, which I think makes it easier to wrap your head around, but isn't the classic ROTTK experience. Really, I think that X, for PS2, would be the easiest to pick up, simply because a lot of people seem to have trouble with working with lots of numbers in games, anymore, and although you still have to work with a lot of numbers, it's all presented in an easier to digest format, but this game is even less like the classic games. IX, XI, and XII; I don't even want to talk about them. Those are not good games. So, I can't easily answer your question, but I'm hoping that my answer was still helpful.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2014 3:06:14 GMT -5
No contest, the best Shin Megami Tensei is SMT III: Nocturne. Most of us should be pretty familiar with this game and what makes it so awesome. It's got the strongest tactical element of any traditional JRPG I've played, the difficulty level is hard but fair, grinding isn't the solution to every tough spot, and it's remarkably free of all the BS, hand-holding and faffing about that normally permeates the genre. Press Turn is the best specialized battle mechanic to be implemented in any JRPG, and it was idiotic to see them dumb it down for the later Persona games. The story and characters aren't much to speak of, but the Dyson Sphere Tokyo setting is incredibly evocative and cool.
I still liked the Digital Devil Saga games, though it sucked how they undid pretty much everything that made Nocturne work so perfectly, all in the name of pandering to the Final Fantasy crowd.
Next: Shinobi.
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Post by nightdreamer on Jul 30, 2014 3:35:11 GMT -5
No contest, the best Shin Megami Tensei is SMT III: Nocturne. Most of us should be pretty familiar with this game and what makes it so awesome. It's got the strongest tactical element of any traditional JRPG I've played, the difficulty level is hard but fair, grinding isn't the solution to every tough spot, and it's remarkably free of all the BS, hand-holding and faffing about that normally permeates the genre. Press Turn is the best specialized battle mechanic to be implemented in any JRPG, and it was idiotic to see them dumb it down for the later Persona games. The story and characters aren't much to speak of, but the Dyson Sphere Tokyo setting is incredibly evocative and cool. I still liked the Digital Devil Saga games, though it sucked how they undid pretty much everything that made Nocturne work so perfectly, all in the name of pandering to the Final Fantasy crowd. Next: Shinobi. Shinobi's been done. Pick a different series.
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Post by lanceboyle94 on Jul 30, 2014 4:18:43 GMT -5
...ahhh, man, I missed the KOEI one. Was gonna say Aerobiz Supersonic, which to this day is still the only KOEI sim I actually played.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2014 4:22:19 GMT -5
Shinobi's been done. Pick a different series. Dang, missed it. Second choice is Star Wars: Dark Forces/Jedi Knight.
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Post by zerker on Jul 30, 2014 17:41:04 GMT -5
I'd say Star Wars: Dark Forces. It's more focused than the following games, and I just had more fun playing it. Plus no Sith duels Force Powers and lightsabers were cool back in the day, but playing again recently (be it Mysteries of the Sith mind you) I found that they aren't weren't really that great in an FPS. Next: Alien(s) (and/or Predator) licensed games.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2014 17:53:27 GMT -5
Alien vs. Predator by Capcom, the greatest Final Fight-style beat-em-up to ever exist for my money. The Predators play very true to form, the human characters are actually awesome by virtue of being cyborg marines, and the entire game's just a real thrill ride from start to finish. Last level maybe gets a bit TOO lengthy, but it's worth playing to the end. I hear that the first person shooter based off of AvP is also quite good, but I've never played.
Next up: Who here's familiar with the Hitman series?
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Post by zerker on Jul 30, 2014 18:33:14 GMT -5
It's really too bad that one never got a home port...
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Post by Tarsier on Jul 30, 2014 20:30:10 GMT -5
For Hitman, 1 I don't know anything about it, 2 and Contracts are pretty much puzzle games, and Absolution I don't know anything about. Blood Money, the fourth game, is probably the most fun, letting you play with a few of your guns to make them do whatever you want them to be good at. Besides that, you have a lot more options for killing your targets, and can replay earlier levels with your endgame superguns to try other tactics.
Next, Deus Ex.
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Post by Weasel on Jul 30, 2014 21:51:05 GMT -5
For a newcomer to the Deus Ex series, I would actually recommend Human Revolution first. Aside from a few random namedrops, you really don't need any familiarity with the rest of the series. The interface and RPG elements have been tightened up considerably compared to the first game, and there is a lot less frustration early on in regards to not being able to hit targets with the starting skill set. I'd recommend starting with DX:HR Director's Cut, then the original game, then completely ignoring Invisible War and The Fall.
Next: Phantasy Star.
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