So Tales of Phantasia is the most like a traditional RPG, right? And I do think it does indeed have awesome graphics, at least as good as FF6 or Chrono Trigger?
Good thing I got a repo cart of TofP because apparently the GBA version is a rather lousy port?
Yeah, as a person who played the SFC version first, the GBA port pales in comparison. Suffers from the same problems a lot of SNES GBA ports do: lower resolution, tinny music (and worse, the landmark intro song got completely replaced). Still worth owning to have the official Western release of the game, but I'd rather play the SFC version.
Some folks swear by the PS1 version (JP only). But even when compared to the PS1, I like the SFC music better.
edit->
To answer your other questions, ToP is definitely the most like a traditional RPG of the three. I would say it has graphics that are mostly on-par with Chrono Trigger, though you can tell Chrono Trigger (and FF3) had overall better art direction. You can always watch gameplay videos to see it in action. Graphically, all three of the games you're considering are quite good IMO. For instance, the character animation and use of color in Secret of Mana is quite impressive for a 1993 SNES game.
So Tales of Phantasia is the most like a traditional RPG, right? And I do think it does indeed have awesome graphics, at least as good as FF6 or Chrono Trigger?
Good thing I got a repo cart of TofP because apparently the GBA version is a rather lousy port?
Yeah, as a person who played the SFC version first, the GBA port pales in comparison. Suffers from the same problems a lot of SNES GBA ports do: lower resolution, tinny music (and worse, the landmark intro song got completely replaced). Still worth owning to have the official Western release of the game, but I'd rather play the SFC version.
Some folks swear by the PS1 version (JP only). But even when compared to the PS1, I like the SFC music better.
You forgot sluggish battle sped. ToP GBA is nearly unplayable if you're familiar with the original version.
Best way to play it in English is the translated PSX copy though.
But yeah Estil, Tales of Phanatasia stands up there with the best of Square's releases.
I heartily recommend Illusion of Gaia. I love it for the visuals, the story line, the gameplay. It's a fun action RPG. There are also some great thematic and "historical" elements to it. I've never played Tales of Phantasia, but Secret of Mana is great. I also recommend Secret of Evermore.
I cannot, not recommend ToP enough, for so many reasons. A massive exercise in patience and frustration, with little reward. The other two (three if you include Evermore) are great!
Edit: Just beat it, the disappointment is now finalized.
Oh, and having played FFIII, Secret of Mana, and Illusion of Gaia at some point, I can say: play all three! Each is good, depending on if you're in a turn based mood or not. The other two are on my list, but I have not tried them so cannot say.
I'm leaning towards FF3 but how does the Job System work compared to FF5? Are you supposed to level up the jobs in FF3 with AP points of some sort and master/max them out?
Man, it's only been since January, but I'm pretty sure how it worked was you could level up a class but not like FFV. The only benefit to mastering a class was that it allowed you to re-chose it while a different class without spending job points. The party as a whole shares JP, and in a few situations everyone needs to change in order to be useful. I don't want to give too much away, but on the whole mastering a class isn't all that beneficial except in a situation or two where it might be useful to switch back to a healer and then switch back to a better class. It was much more straightforward than V or FFTA, since you couldn't equip a secondary class/skill.
I'm with Peko, except that I would play through Soul Blazer before playing Illusion of Gaia. They're both part of the same loose series, and it'll be harder to go back to Soul Blazer after beating Gaia, and that would be a real shame, since they're both fantastic games! If you've already beat Soul Blazer though, then disregard this
I started playing Illusion of Gaia yesterday, and was pretty put off by the linearity and the inability to backtrack when compared to other contemporary games of that genre.
Additionally the beginning of that game is SO SLOW. I mean, REALLY SLOW.
So today I started with Soul Blazer, instead, and I think it might be the better of the two.
Though I think it is interesting that it actually plays like a mashup of Crystalis and Gauntlet.
I just went back and beat IoG for the first time in close to 20 years because of this thread. Its a pretty easy game but I love it. I got all the red jewels and completed the jewelers mansion which I had never done before. I've never played Soul Blazer... maybe I'll try that one next.
I just went back and beat IoG for the first time in close to 20 years because of this thread. Its a pretty easy game but I love it. I got all the red jewels and completed the jewelers mansion which I had never done before. I've never played Soul Blazer... maybe I'll try that one next.
I'm really trying to see the appeal in IoG versus any of the other games mentioned.
On the one hand, I do appreciate the power-up-via-extermination mechanic, where you aren't "grinding" per se, but you're being rewarded for figuring out how to completely clear rooms.
On the other hand, herbs are a seemingly extremely limited resource. (whereas in Soul Blazer, while you can only carry one at a time, you can replenish it as many times as you like)
The alternate character play is interesting, for sure, though.
But I can't say that I'm a fan of the use of historical names/cultures all sort of just thrown together.
That aspect of the setting feels really sloppy, and I think they would have been better to just make up names.
I probably would have had a much higher opinion of it, if the first half hour of the game wasn't such a ridiculous slog.
(my expectations going into it were something more like Secret of Mana, where you are "really playing" the game pretty quickly -- or the prequel, Soul Blazer, where you are playing the game almost immediately)
Add to that, numerous instances of accidentally advancing the plot when I wanted to explore, and it didn't leave me with a high opinion.
I'm definitely going to revisit it when I finish Soul Blazer, though, to try and give it a fair shake.
So now that I'm almost done with Tales of Phantasia, what should I do next (I do have Tales of Symphonia but I'd prefer to stick with 8-bit/16-bit)?
* Dragon Warrior/Quest 4
* Final Fantasy 3 (the real one, not FF6 with the funny name)
* Phantasy Star 2
* Illusion of Gaia
* Secret of Mana
This is tougher to gauge.
I've never played Dragon Quest IV.
Final Fantasy III for Famicom was a spiritual experience for me, but then again I played it in the mid-to-late 90's when it was still super secret stuff to the majority of gamers
The story isn't much at all, but without spoiling too much, there is a really memorable halfway point to the game.
(Like was mentioned, the job system is straightforward in FF3 - You literally can just swap job classes, but you can't bring over any bonus effects from other classes like you can in FF5. Imagine FF1, but you can change your White Mage to a Warrior if you want and back. This does provide strategy for boss fights, but each job class has to be leveled up separately. The end game being if you max out all your job classes, you get awarded the famous 'Onion Knight' job class, which is uber. I have also completed the DS version of the game, which is also available on Steam or imported on PSP. In those releases, they offer an optional superboss to really put that uber class to work.)
Phantasy Star 2 didn't age well graphically, but it does have a few jRPG firsts and the story is memorable. A few of the characters ~might~ stick with you by the end as well.
Illusion of Gaia is honestly a better choice than most of these, but Secret of Mana is still the best choice for the reasons I mentioned before. There may only be ~30,000 copies out there, but a lot of them found their way to our favorite video game rental stores (and our hearts) in the 90's-- well before Chrono Trigger came out
Comments
So Tales of Phantasia is the most like a traditional RPG, right? And I do think it does indeed have awesome graphics, at least as good as FF6 or Chrono Trigger?
Good thing I got a repo cart of TofP because apparently the GBA version is a rather lousy port?
Yeah, as a person who played the SFC version first, the GBA port pales in comparison. Suffers from the same problems a lot of SNES GBA ports do: lower resolution, tinny music (and worse, the landmark intro song got completely replaced). Still worth owning to have the official Western release of the game, but I'd rather play the SFC version.
Some folks swear by the PS1 version (JP only). But even when compared to the PS1, I like the SFC music better.
edit->
To answer your other questions, ToP is definitely the most like a traditional RPG of the three. I would say it has graphics that are mostly on-par with Chrono Trigger, though you can tell Chrono Trigger (and FF3) had overall better art direction. You can always watch gameplay videos to see it in action. Graphically, all three of the games you're considering are quite good IMO. For instance, the character animation and use of color in Secret of Mana is quite impressive for a 1993 SNES game.
So Tales of Phantasia is the most like a traditional RPG, right? And I do think it does indeed have awesome graphics, at least as good as FF6 or Chrono Trigger?
Good thing I got a repo cart of TofP because apparently the GBA version is a rather lousy port?
Yeah, as a person who played the SFC version first, the GBA port pales in comparison. Suffers from the same problems a lot of SNES GBA ports do: lower resolution, tinny music (and worse, the landmark intro song got completely replaced). Still worth owning to have the official Western release of the game, but I'd rather play the SFC version.
Some folks swear by the PS1 version (JP only). But even when compared to the PS1, I like the SFC music better.
You forgot sluggish battle sped. ToP GBA is nearly unplayable if you're familiar with the original version.
Best way to play it in English is the translated PSX copy though.
But yeah Estil, Tales of Phanatasia stands up there with the best of Square's releases.
Edit: Just beat it, the disappointment is now finalized.
* Dragon Warrior/Quest 4
* Final Fantasy 3 (the real one, not FF6 with the funny name)
* Phantasy Star 2
* Illusion of Gaia
* Secret of Mana
Originally posted by: Brock Landers
Paladins Quest or Secret of the Stars. No ulterior motives here!
Back off Paladin's Quest, I'm almost done with it .
Paladins Quest or Secret of the Stars. No ulterior motives here!
Back off Paladin's Quest, I'm almost done with it .
Awesome
I'm with Peko, except that I would play through Soul Blazer before playing Illusion of Gaia. They're both part of the same loose series, and it'll be harder to go back to Soul Blazer after beating Gaia, and that would be a real shame, since they're both fantastic games! If you've already beat Soul Blazer though, then disregard this
I started playing Illusion of Gaia yesterday, and was pretty put off by the linearity and the inability to backtrack when compared to other contemporary games of that genre.
Additionally the beginning of that game is SO SLOW. I mean, REALLY SLOW.
So today I started with Soul Blazer, instead, and I think it might be the better of the two.
Though I think it is interesting that it actually plays like a mashup of Crystalis and Gauntlet.
I just went back and beat IoG for the first time in close to 20 years because of this thread. Its a pretty easy game but I love it. I got all the red jewels and completed the jewelers mansion which I had never done before. I've never played Soul Blazer... maybe I'll try that one next.
I'm really trying to see the appeal in IoG versus any of the other games mentioned.
On the one hand, I do appreciate the power-up-via-extermination mechanic, where you aren't "grinding" per se, but you're being rewarded for figuring out how to completely clear rooms.
On the other hand, herbs are a seemingly extremely limited resource. (whereas in Soul Blazer, while you can only carry one at a time, you can replenish it as many times as you like)
The alternate character play is interesting, for sure, though.
But I can't say that I'm a fan of the use of historical names/cultures all sort of just thrown together.
That aspect of the setting feels really sloppy, and I think they would have been better to just make up names.
I probably would have had a much higher opinion of it, if the first half hour of the game wasn't such a ridiculous slog.
(my expectations going into it were something more like Secret of Mana, where you are "really playing" the game pretty quickly -- or the prequel, Soul Blazer, where you are playing the game almost immediately)
Add to that, numerous instances of accidentally advancing the plot when I wanted to explore, and it didn't leave me with a high opinion.
I'm definitely going to revisit it when I finish Soul Blazer, though, to try and give it a fair shake.
So now that I'm almost done with Tales of Phantasia, what should I do next (I do have Tales of Symphonia but I'd prefer to stick with 8-bit/16-bit)?
* Dragon Warrior/Quest 4
* Final Fantasy 3 (the real one, not FF6 with the funny name)
* Phantasy Star 2
* Illusion of Gaia
* Secret of Mana
This is tougher to gauge.
I've never played Dragon Quest IV.
Final Fantasy III for Famicom was a spiritual experience for me, but then again I played it in the mid-to-late 90's when it was still super secret stuff to the majority of gamers
The story isn't much at all, but without spoiling too much, there is a really memorable halfway point to the game.
(Like was mentioned, the job system is straightforward in FF3 - You literally can just swap job classes, but you can't bring over any bonus effects from other classes like you can in FF5. Imagine FF1, but you can change your White Mage to a Warrior if you want and back. This does provide strategy for boss fights, but each job class has to be leveled up separately. The end game being if you max out all your job classes, you get awarded the famous 'Onion Knight' job class, which is uber. I have also completed the DS version of the game, which is also available on Steam or imported on PSP. In those releases, they offer an optional superboss to really put that uber class to work.)
Phantasy Star 2 didn't age well graphically, but it does have a few jRPG firsts and the story is memorable. A few of the characters ~might~ stick with you by the end as well.
Illusion of Gaia is honestly a better choice than most of these, but Secret of Mana is still the best choice for the reasons I mentioned before. There may only be ~30,000 copies out there, but a lot of them found their way to our favorite video game rental stores (and our hearts) in the 90's-- well before Chrono Trigger came out