The Shrine

Anyone else play this game? JRPG from about a year ago, the story is pretty standard but they did a lot of little tweaks that have grabbed me. real time battle system that is simple yet also requires strategy, easy item system, leveling up is very straight forward (skills are learned through weapons and items) and even though there are a few places that piss me the f off in difficulty it's been pretty addictive.

Only thing I wish is that there were more cutscenes... I'm over 10 hours into the game and I've seen ONE cutscene; everything else so far is still generated in the game engine.

Definitely worth the $30 on Amazon, it's very hard to find anywhere else though.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/revie ... s-of/39720

It's apparently the best of the Tales games. My cuz is a huge fan of the series and he adores this one

I got it when I first got my 360, got really into it, but it got put on the sideburner just cause I had so many other games ot play at the same time and I justhavent gotten back to it.

Zeus wrote:It's apparently the best of the Tales games. My cuz is a huge fan of the series and he adores this one

The one criticism I heard was that if you've played previous Tales games then it's just like those, nothing terribly new. This didn't bother me as I've never played other Tales games (didn't even know such a series existed).

Hmmm...well, I haven't played a Tales game, so it might be worth checking out.

Tessian wrote:

Zeus wrote:It's apparently the best of the Tales games. My cuz is a huge fan of the series and he adores this one

The one criticism I heard was that if you've played previous Tales games then it's just like those, nothing terribly new. This didn't bother me as I've never played other Tales games (didn't even know such a series existed).

It doesn't have to be innovative to be a great game. Use Mega Man fans and most FPS fans know that :-)

Zeus wrote:It doesn't have to be innovative to be a great game. Use Mega Man fans and most FPS fans know that :-)

Hey, don't lump Halo in with Bioshock.

The Tales series is fairly good; I have only played through Tales of Phantasia (twice, SNES version, then on GBA), but played some of the other games (I have PSX Tales of Destiny 2 as well). The highest rated and highest selling game of the series is Tales of Symphonia for PS2/GC.

SineSwiper wrote:

Zeus wrote:It doesn't have to be innovative to be a great game. Use Mega Man fans and most FPS fans know that :-)

Hey, don't lump Halo in with Bioshock.

Not sayin' there's never innovation in the FPS genre, just most of the time you're playing the same game with very slight changes. There are always exception to every rule.

Zeus wrote:Not sayin' there's never innovation in the FPS genre, just most of the time you're playing the same game with very slight changes. There are always exception to every rule.

Well, that applies to all genres, really.

SineSwiper wrote:

Zeus wrote:Not sayin' there's never innovation in the FPS genre, just most of the time you're playing the same game with very slight changes. There are always exception to every rule.

Well, that applies to all genres, really.

Except puzzle games--we've had a glut of really good puzzle games that have tried to mix up just WHAT you are doing to solve your puzzles. Recent titles have really done away with ripping off Tetris, and then you have pseudo-puzzle games, like Shadow of the Collossus (which is a puzzle/adventure hybrid) and Ico (which is a puzzle/frustration hybrid)

Okay I beat the game. Not all that bad. I was pretty sick of the combat by the end but mostly a good experience. I enjoyed the use of sketches during the credits to provide an epilogue. There was even a point where I thought, "Well what the hell happened to these characters that I haven't seen in forever?" and there was actually a sketch of 'em haha.

My only disappointment is that I wanted to buy all the skits in the end game/extras menu but it cost 1000 GRADE and I had 969 (argh). Maybe that will be my project tomorrow before work.

It took me 33 hours to plow through and that was ignoring many, many, many side quests. Which usually I never do in an RPG but it's a jRPG where I don't actually make any decions - so what few decisions I can make to ignore something I usually don't do them out of spite :P

Also - Raven is the neatest character in the game.

Were you planning on keeping it, or trading it in?

I haven't traded in a game since I was 11 so you'll get to play it when you get back :p

Yes, that's exactly what I was getting at. :)

Incidentally, I'll be brining a DSi with New Super Mario Bros, DQ4, FF4 DS and Dawn of Sorrow.

I miss having my DS. I used to play it for most of my door shifts at The Cellar. I got called the coolest bouncer in town because I was playing Phoenix Wright games as I worked lol. Here's a good idea - don't leave it next to an open window without making 100% sure it isn't going to rain cats and dogs haha.

I suppose I should really be spending my spare time during my job actually reading.

Edit: Funnily enough, I just remembered that my laptop was inches away and completely dry and I'd trade a DS for my laptop any day.