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360 JRPG's Star Ocean vs Tales of Vesperia

WavechaserWavechaser Registered User regular
edited August 2009 in Games and Technology
Recommendations anyone? I'm a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, and I feel like jumping into a new RPG. Unfortunately, I don't have the patience to wait another 1,000 years for the next Final Fantasy installment to be released.

I saw these two games reviewed on IGN and they both got pretty solid ratings. Anyone here able to narrow my search down here a bit, or maybe even suggest another RPG that blows these two out of the water?

Wavechaser on
«13

Posts

  • gjaustingjaustin Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Lost Odyssey is pretty much a Final Fantasy game. Plus it has some seriously awesome short stories, that'll either make you tear up or prove you have no soul. The story itself is pretty good until the last disc, where it kind of just falls apart.

    Blue Dragon also isn't too bad. It's combat system uses the class system of FFV with the combat timing of FFX. The plot is rather silly, but not bad if you don't take it seriously. Make sure to download the Extra Hard DLC (it's free) first though. You'll want to play through the game on Hard, since on the regular difficulty it's probably the easiest JRPG I've ever played.


    I haven't played Star Ocean or Tales of Vesperia yet (though I intend to), so I can't give you any input on those.

    gjaustin on
  • ZerokkuZerokku Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    If you like the turn based JRPG's, which judging from you saying you're a Final Fantasy fan I assume you are -

    Blue Dragon
    Lost Odyssey

    Made by mistwalker, a company that includes a fair bit of former square talent including Sakaguchi and Uematsu. Blue dragon is a pretty simple and charming game, with a fun job system. Lost Odyssey was simply amazing, Probably one of the best JRPG's this gen.

    If you're looking for more of an ARPG, then out of those two I would Recommend Vesparia. SO4 has some great combat, but a terrible terrible story. Vesparia is probably the superior game over all.

    Zerokku on
  • projectmayhemprojectmayhem Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I havent played well, either of these 2 games. But I have played a few of the Tales games and they are some of the best most enjoyable rpgs.

    projectmayhem on
  • LunkerLunker Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    What I played of Lost Odyssey made it feel like a next-gen version of something between FFX and FFIV. It's kind of reaffirmed that console JRPGs just aren't for me anymore, but if you like the genre it looks to be a suitable FF replacement. Blue Dragon is also really good if you have any love for Dragon Quest games.

    Lunker on
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  • WavechaserWavechaser Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Yeah, so far i'm leaning toward Tales and Odyssey.

    And I'm not sure what it was exactly, but after playing a 2 minute demo of Blue Dragon a while back, I absolutely refused to purchase the game.

    Wavechaser on
  • gjaustingjaustin Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Wavechaser wrote: »
    Yeah, so far i'm leaning toward Tales and Odyssey.

    And I'm not sure what it was exactly, but after playing a 2 minute demo of Blue Dragon a while back, I absolutely refused to purchase the game.


    It was probably Shu yelling "I'll never give up!". That or Marumaru talking.

    (I haven't played the demo, so I'm only guessing at the contents)

    gjaustin on
  • ZerokkuZerokku Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Wavechaser wrote: »
    Yeah, so far i'm leaning toward Tales and Odyssey.

    And I'm not sure what it was exactly, but after playing a 2 minute demo of Blue Dragon a while back, I absolutely refused to purchase the game.

    To be fair, plenty of us thought the demo was fucking terrible and still ended up enjoying the game. It can be found for pretty cheap now (Bargain bin title now if I remember) so you could always grab it from a gamestop and if you don't care for it return it.

    Zerokku on
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2009
    Vesperia.

    Star Ocean 4 is terrible.

    If you can put up with sappy JRPG stories, then I'd also suggest Lost Odyssey. The first half of the game is great. Second half is just average.

    Sheep on
  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I thought Star Ocean was utter fucking crap. I maybe made about 7-8 hours into it, and can't stand it.

    Tales of Vesperia, on the other hand, I really liked. Played it for way too long and still haven't gotten around to finishing it.

    That said, if you hate yourself, I'll be glad to sell you Star Ocean.

    Edit - Yeah, Lost Odyssey was a lot of fun. I really liked that game. And have yet to finish it as well.

    firewaterword on
    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Wavechaser wrote: »
    Yeah, so far i'm leaning toward Tales and Odyssey.

    And I'm not sure what it was exactly, but after playing a 2 minute demo of Blue Dragon a while back, I absolutely refused to purchase the game.

    You're doing yourself a disservice then. But I will fight people to the death about Blue Dragon.

    I place all of my internet cred on that game.

    urahonky on
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Star Ocean 4 (which I purchased 3 days ago) has the weirdest graphics engine EVER.

    It can show super large areas and has barely any loading times and can output some high resolution textures from time to time but on the other hand EVERYTHING is shiny. And good god the metal! I'm in a mothership right now and I can barely see any details because EVERYTHING IS SHINY and has the same textures D:

    And yeah Blue Dragon is pretty fucking sweet.

    Klyka on
    SC2 EU ID Klyka.110
    lTDyp.jpg
  • KaseiusKaseius Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I'd rank the ones I played as

    Lost Odyssey
    Tales of Vesperia
    Star Ocean 4
    Blue Dragon
    The Last Remnant

    Odyssey and Vesperia are in my top RPGs of all time -- I fuckin' loved 'em. SO4 was enjoyable but not great, same with Blue Dragon. I really liked Blue Dragon though, it was what I went in expecting -- a JRPG; I went on an adventure with a kid and his friends and that was that. Good stuff.

    Last Remnant, I liked but it had a lot of problems that made it difficult. Extremely hard to suggest to someone.

    Kaseius on
    www.youtube.com/user/kaseius -- Let's Plays
  • WavechaserWavechaser Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Well i'm glad I checked here, the reviews gave star ocean an 8.0, so i'm glad I won't make the mistake of grabbing that game.

    Wavechaser on
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Kaseius wrote: »

    Last Remnant, I liked but it had a lot of problems that made it difficult. Extremely hard to suggest to someone.

    NOT ace, Dave!

    Klyka on
    SC2 EU ID Klyka.110
    lTDyp.jpg
  • AshtonDragonAshtonDragon AKA The Nix Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Okay, I'm going to start out by saying that I'm a big fan of Star Ocean. Hell, my username comes from Star Ocean 2. I also loved SO4 (the 360 one). It has some problems but overall I found that combat was fun, and the story was decent and visually it was great. I would recommend it, except...

    Tales of Vesperia was incredible. Easily my favorite 360 game right now. Great gameplay, great characters, decent story. Was visually amazing, as well. Probably one of my favorite RPGs of all time, up there with FF6 and SO2.

    AshtonDragon on
  • KaseiusKaseius Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Klyka wrote: »
    Kaseius wrote: »

    Last Remnant, I liked but it had a lot of problems that made it difficult. Extremely hard to suggest to someone.

    NOT ace, Dave!

    Let's Play Last Remnant. Do it.

    Kaseius on
    www.youtube.com/user/kaseius -- Let's Plays
  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Wavechaser wrote: »
    Well i'm glad I checked here, the reviews gave star ocean an 8.0, so i'm glad I won't make the mistake of grabbing that game.

    8.0 is bad?

    urahonky on
  • AshtonDragonAshtonDragon AKA The Nix Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    urahonky wrote: »
    Wavechaser wrote: »
    Well i'm glad I checked here, the reviews gave star ocean an 8.0, so i'm glad I won't make the mistake of grabbing that game.

    8.0 is bad?

    I think he's saying that 8.0 is good, but the comments he has gotten here make the game seem significantly worse than that.

    AshtonDragon on
  • WavechaserWavechaser Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I think you missed the point. 8.0 is good, so I was considering picking the game up. Only after sifting through the comments here on the game was I able to make the decision not to pick it up. I trust everyone here more than I do IGN reviews.

    Edit: What AshtonDragon said.

    Wavechaser on
  • GyralGyral Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    The gameplay for Star Ocean is fun but man do you have to wade through the BS story and characters to get to that fun. Also, like Klyka said, holy crap does this game have some shiny surfaces.

    TOV is a pretty damn well put together JRPG that does it's best to not choke you to death on the standard tripe that kills lesser games in the genre.

    Gyral on
    25t9pjnmqicf.jpg
  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Wavechaser wrote: »
    I think you missed the point. 8.0 is good, so I was considering picking the game up. Only after sifting through the comments here on the game was I able to make the decision not to pick it up. I trust everyone here more than I do IGN reviews.

    Edit: What AshtonDragon said.

    Ah sorry. I'm just so used to people saying "OLOL IT GOT LESS THAN A 90 SO IT OBVIOUSLY SUCKS" around here. :P Carry on.

    urahonky on
  • Vincent GraysonVincent Grayson Frederick, MDRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Gyral wrote: »
    The gameplay for Star Ocean is fun but man do you have to wade through the BS story and characters to get to that fun. Also, like Klyka said, holy crap does this game have some shiny surfaces.

    TOV is a pretty damn well put together JRPG that does it's best to not choke you to death on the standard tripe that kills lesser games in the genre.

    Pretty much this. I sank over 70 hours into SO4 and still didn't finish all the content, and the combat is a fucking blast (moreso than ToV, IMO)....but the story and characters are pretty awful.

    ToV is good overall, but the combat isn't as polished as SO4's.

    Vincent Grayson on
  • AshtonDragonAshtonDragon AKA The Nix Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I'm not going to defend most of the characters in SO4, but Bacchus was awesome. I loved that guy.

    AshtonDragon on
  • spamfilterspamfilter Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I think I just like turnbased games more than I like the action JRPG.

    I liked both Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, I liked Last Remnant quite a bit, and I've recently started Enchanted Arms and found myself liking it as well, one the other hand I couldn't finish either Vesperia or Infinite Undiscovery, and hence haven't even bothered to pick up SO.

    So is FFXIII going to be turnbased? If not I'm probably going to pass on it as well.

    spamfilter on
  • Vincent GraysonVincent Grayson Frederick, MDRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    spamfilter wrote: »
    I think I just like turnbased games more than I like the action JRPG.

    I liked both Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, I liked Last Remnant quite a bit, and I've recently started Enchanted Arms and found myself liking it as well, one the other hand I couldn't finish either Vesperia or Infinite Undiscovery, and hence haven't even bothered to pick up SO.

    So is FFXIII going to be turnbased? If not I'm probably going to pass on it as well.

    FFXIII will have the same kind of semi-turnbased thing that FF games have had since FF4, only faster.

    Vincent Grayson on
  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Which makes me excited. In the pants.

    Which means I get an erection thinking about it.

    urahonky on
  • StollsStolls Brave Corporate Logo Chicago, ILRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    SO4 was pretty damn fun to play, and I enjoyed the battle system a lot. However, its story, characters, and pretty much everything but the gameplay made me want to beat my head against a wall until the pain stopped. I have rarely seen its equal in pure, unrepentant stupidity.

    Never did get around to Vesperia, though. The demo kicked my ass and sort of soured me on it, though I'm told the full game's a bit more merciful.

    Stolls on
    kstolls on Twitch, streaming weekends at 9pm CST!
    Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
    Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
  • GyralGyral Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Stolls wrote: »
    SO4 was pretty damn fun to play, and I enjoyed the battle system a lot. However, its story, characters, and pretty much everything but the gameplay made me want to beat my head against a wall until the pain stopped. I have rarely seen its equal in pure, unrepentant stupidity.

    Never did get around to Vesperia, though. The demo kicked my ass and sort of soured me on it, though I'm told the full game's a bit more merciful.

    Did you ever play Infinite Undiscovery? Made by the same people and pretty much the same issues - great, fun gameplay, but god damn did the story and cast make me want to rip my eyes out.

    Gyral on
    25t9pjnmqicf.jpg
  • GanluanGanluan Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I'm normally pretty tolerate of cheesy storylines, but Star Ocean 4's story just got more and more stupid as it went along. It had a few good moments though, and there is a ton of stuff to do. The combat is fun as well.

    That said, I still think Tales of Vesperia is the best JRPG for any next-gen console. Lost Odyssey was also great, but is aimed more at people who like their JRPGs a bit more oldschool (i.e. turn-based combat, etc).

    Ganluan on
  • StollsStolls Brave Corporate Logo Chicago, ILRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Gyral wrote: »
    Stolls wrote: »
    SO4 was pretty damn fun to play, and I enjoyed the battle system a lot. However, its story, characters, and pretty much everything but the gameplay made me want to beat my head against a wall until the pain stopped. I have rarely seen its equal in pure, unrepentant stupidity.

    Never did get around to Vesperia, though. The demo kicked my ass and sort of soured me on it, though I'm told the full game's a bit more merciful.

    Did you ever play Infinite Undiscovery? Made by the same people and pretty much the same issues - great, fun gameplay, but god damn did the story and cast make me want to rip my eyes out.

    The dinner dance.

    The dinner dance. D:

    Thing is, I'm usually really tolerant of RPG silliness as a rule. Tales of Symphonia is one of my favorite games of all time, somehow. Hell, Star Ocean 2 was pretty badass. To really throw me off, the story has to do more than go through the motions. It has to actively try to suck, which is basically what IU and SO4 do.

    Maybe I'll check out ToV after all, since it's getting mostly positives here.

    Stolls on
    kstolls on Twitch, streaming weekends at 9pm CST!
    Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
    Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Gyral wrote: »
    Stolls wrote: »
    SO4 was pretty damn fun to play, and I enjoyed the battle system a lot. However, its story, characters, and pretty much everything but the gameplay made me want to beat my head against a wall until the pain stopped. I have rarely seen its equal in pure, unrepentant stupidity.

    Never did get around to Vesperia, though. The demo kicked my ass and sort of soured me on it, though I'm told the full game's a bit more merciful.

    Did you ever play Infinite Undiscovery? Made by the same people and pretty much the same issues - great, fun gameplay, but god damn did the story and cast make me want to rip my eyes out.

    Once I finally beat it. I never, EVER looked back.

    urahonky on
  • Vincent GraysonVincent Grayson Frederick, MDRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Gyral wrote: »
    Stolls wrote: »
    SO4 was pretty damn fun to play, and I enjoyed the battle system a lot. However, its story, characters, and pretty much everything but the gameplay made me want to beat my head against a wall until the pain stopped. I have rarely seen its equal in pure, unrepentant stupidity.

    Never did get around to Vesperia, though. The demo kicked my ass and sort of soured me on it, though I'm told the full game's a bit more merciful.

    Did you ever play Infinite Undiscovery? Made by the same people and pretty much the same issues - great, fun gameplay, but god damn did the story and cast make me want to rip my eyes out.

    I did, for maybe an hour or two tops. The gameplay wasn't even close to impressive enough for me to tolerate everything else. SO4's iteration of their battle system is probably my favorite among the more actiony RPGs (basically Tales and SO), so I could tolerate some silliness to enjoy the combat.

    But SO4 is both less awful in story/characters, and more fun in gameplay than IU. Although there's a part of me that still wants to give it another chance some day. Maybe once I can find it in a bargain bin for $10.

    Vincent Grayson on
  • KaseiusKaseius Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    urahonky wrote: »
    Which makes me excited. In the pants.

    Which means I get an erection thinking about it.

    I'm not following you here.

    Could you clarify on this statement for me?

    Kaseius on
    www.youtube.com/user/kaseius -- Let's Plays
  • LaonarLaonar Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Gyral wrote: »
    Stolls wrote: »
    SO4 was pretty damn fun to play, and I enjoyed the battle system a lot. However, its story, characters, and pretty much everything but the gameplay made me want to beat my head against a wall until the pain stopped. I have rarely seen its equal in pure, unrepentant stupidity.

    Never did get around to Vesperia, though. The demo kicked my ass and sort of soured me on it, though I'm told the full game's a bit more merciful.

    Did you ever play Infinite Undiscovery? Made by the same people and pretty much the same issues - great, fun gameplay, but god damn did the story and cast make me want to rip my eyes out.

    This so hard, so freaking hard. I loved SO4, the storyline was not that bad, I think it was the awful awful characters and voice acting that makes it so horrible. The combat was a ton of fun and I liked the skill system it had in place. I think the best part for me was getting to the mini scenes that upped your rankings with characters.

    Laonar on
  • GyralGyral Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Kaseius wrote: »
    urahonky wrote: »
    Which makes me excited. In the pants.

    Which means I get an erection thinking about it.

    I'm not following you here.

    Could you clarify on this statement for me?

    I think this leads to a private discussion that urahonky and his fiance must have. Unless, of course, she uses new videogame purchases as foreplay. If so, marry that woman as fast as you fucking can.

    Gyral on
    25t9pjnmqicf.jpg
  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Kaseius wrote: »
    urahonky wrote: »
    Which makes me excited. In the pants.

    Which means I get an erection thinking about it.

    I'm not following you here.

    Could you clarify on this statement for me?

    Me penis get har.... You know what. Listen to what Gyral said. :P

    urahonky on
  • firewaterwordfirewaterword Satchitananda Pais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I should stay out of here. Thinking about having paid full price for SO4 makes me ill. It was truly shit from a butt. The combat was OK I guess. But that's like saying the in-flight snacks on the Hindenburg were OK.

    The thing that stings the most is that I have great memories of playing SO2 way back when on PS1. God I loved that game.

    firewaterword on
    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
  • HyperAquaBlastHyperAquaBlast Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Tales of Vesperia!

    Its fun, all the characters are cool, the gameplay is top notch, very very beautiful and its fun. Plus it has a dog who smokes a pipe.

    He smokes it because he loves you.

    HyperAquaBlast on
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  • ParadisoParadiso Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Lost Odyssey, for realz.

    The typical complaints about its flaws aside it was a really fun experience. Highly recommended.

    Paradiso on
  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Tales of Vesperia was quite nice. The demo is horrible, though. The story is rather cliche and whatnot but the characters are likable enough and the gameplay was fun.

    Avoid Star Ocean 4. I couldn't even get more than a few hours into it, the voice acting was just so bad and I couldn't find anything in what I'd played already to make me want to continue with the torture of having to sit through more of the dreadful story.

    Dehumanized on
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