JP only, but there's a new port of an older Japanese Wizardry game. Original title was Wizardry Gaiden: The Five Trials. (ウィザードリィ外伝 五つの試練) I never touched this one, but IIRC these were the one with the RPGMaker like scenario editor that was really popular (for the subgrenre/niche) in Japan.
Looks like there's a mobile port as well, but it's JP only right now.
Looks very similar to the Wizardry Renaissance titles(Town of Forsaken Spirits/Labyrinth of Lost Souls/Wizardry DS).
JP only, but there's a new port of an older Japanese Wizardry game. Original title was Wizardry Gaiden: The Five Trials. (ウィザードリィ外伝 五つの試練) I never touched this one, but IIRC these were the one with the RPGMaker like scenario editor that was really popular (for the subgrenre/niche) in Japan.
Looks like there's a mobile port as well, but it's JP only right now.
Looks very similar to the Wizardry Renaissance titles(Town of Forsaken Spirits/Labyrinth of Lost Souls/Wizardry DS).
Very similar yeah. That art style is considered part of the Wizardry "brand" if that makes sense, and bringing things back to that was part of the Wizardry Renaissance project, which covered games from 2009-2014.
Contrast Wizardry Xth's art style for example (this is the game that would eventually become both Generation Xth aka Operation Abyss and Class of Heroes)
Xth was 2005, and 5 Trials was 2006.
Also, refreshing my memory of the Wizardry Renaissance stuff (on the wiki pages I wrote, no less, heh) made me notice...
A new Wizardry game is due out next year. World Wide release, too, apparently.
It's mobile, so we'll see if it has gacha (it absolutely will) and stamina nonsense and the like. Apparently it's going to have full 3D character models which uh... to be frank, I could play Wizardry with a Microsoft Excel or command line client and be perfectly happy, so not quite certain where they're going with that.
Guess you gotta be able to see your waifu to spend stupid amounts of money on rolling on a 0.1% chance of getting said waifus.
Publisher does mobile games, developers are a new team it sounds like. Looking into it... the Disgaea mobile game is by them? Not sure if that's good or bad.
Ah, and Drecom is who owns the Wizardry IP now, apparently.
JP only, but there's a new port of an older Japanese Wizardry game. Original title was Wizardry Gaiden: The Five Trials. (ウィザードリィ外伝 五つの試練) I never touched this one, but IIRC these were the one with the RPGMaker like scenario editor that was really popular (for the subgrenre/niche) in Japan.
Looks like there's a mobile port as well, but it's JP only right now.
Looks very similar to the Wizardry Renaissance titles(Town of Forsaken Spirits/Labyrinth of Lost Souls/Wizardry DS).
Very similar yeah. That art style is considered part of the Wizardry "brand" if that makes sense, and bringing things back to that was part of the Wizardry Renaissance project, which covered games from 2009-2014.
Contrast Wizardry Xth's art style for example (this is the game that would eventually become both Generation Xth aka Operation Abyss and Class of Heroes)
Xth was 2005, and 5 Trials was 2006.
Also, refreshing my memory of the Wizardry Renaissance stuff (on the wiki pages I wrote, no less, heh) made me notice...
A new Wizardry game is due out next year. World Wide release, too, apparently.
It's mobile, so we'll see if it has gacha (it absolutely will) and stamina nonsense and the like. Apparently it's going to have full 3D character models which uh... to be frank, I could play Wizardry with a Microsoft Excel or command line client and be perfectly happy, so not quite certain where they're going with that.
Guess you gotta be able to see your waifu to spend stupid amounts of money on rolling on a 0.1% chance of getting said waifus.
Publisher does mobile games, developers are a new team it sounds like. Looking into it... the Disgaea mobile game is by them? Not sure if that's good or bad.
Ah, and Drecom is who owns the Wizardry IP now, apparently.
I picked up Dungeon Encounters over the holiday. It's a game for a certain kind of person. If you are that kind of person, you might like it?
I'm about 70% through the promised 100 floor dungeon. It's gone through a few cycles of having things that are really aggravating, then giving you upgrades that alleviate the problem. Sometimes they even give you the solution before you find the problem!
You do have to want to step on all or most of the tiles in the dungeon, though. If you don't feel like stepping on every square, you're gonna have a bad time.
It has some DLC. Nothing earth shattering, except the Artifact Gem one; IIRC you can't farm Artifact Gems until postgame(?) and most of them come from bosses or one time only chests. Some are free but time limited.
Assorted Rare Items of the Gods set, $3
3x Hand of God, Tears of the Phoenix, Elixir, Fruit of the Star Tree. IIRC these are just endgame heal items.
Artifact Gem Assortment, $3
20x Artifact Gem. These are for farming special abilities (equipping other class's abilities) and are limited in game. Some from bosses some from one time chests, etc. 20x is a pretty big head start.
Live the Posh Hunter Life! Luxury Furniture Set, $3
A bunch of stat boosting furniture and some gems. I don't remember how the furniture system works in the game, think it gives your party members small stat boosts?
You Can Be a Veteran Hunter Too! Weapon Set, FREE, Time Limited Jan 6th to Feb 16th (likely pay afterwards)
Broadsword, Seasoned Katana(L), Morning Star, Lance, Moon Jamadhar, Wisp Rod, Spirit Staff, Raider's Bow; Some weapons from the mid point of the game I believe.
Equipment (Weapons & Armor) Gem Assortment, $3
Sword Gem, Blade Gem, Heavy Weapon Gem. Long Staff Gem, Special Gem, Staff Gem, Bow Gem, Shield Gem, Hat Gem, Helmet Gem, Light Armor Gem, Heavy Armor Gem, Inner Gem, Accessory Gem x10; Unnamed Gem x20; These are gems used in this game's version of the trap points for getting equipment. These drop at random in game and are farmable.
Local Specialties of Misrid! Foodstuffs for Any Occasion, FREE, Time Limited Jan 6th to Feb 16th
Assorted foodstuffs, again I don't remember how food worked in this game.
First Collaboration: YOMIWOSAKUHANA Characters (aka Undernaughts: Labyrinth of Yomi), FREE, Time Limited Jan 6th to Feb 16th
A bunch of character art for your characters based on the other game.
Spicy (Special) Gem Assortment, $3
Incremental Gem and Enhancement Gem x10, Intensification Gem x5; Again available in game, farmable later in the game I believe. These you can use to either get multiple drops, fight stronger bosses at the farming points (and thus get better drops), get gear that is pre-upgraded, etc etc.
What? The DLC? That's been a thing for a long while with JRPGs from the smaller or medium size studios. Heck, even Disgaea has some of it.
The game has a Digital Deluxe, it was added after the initial game launch. Looking at it, it's $5 more than the base game and comes with the "Perfect Gems Set," which is unavailable to buy otherwise. The Japanese name for this DLC is "A Pile of Loot! Speedrun! Perfect Jewelry Set."
Which has...
Rare gems:
Divine Weapon Gem x5 (I have no idea what this one is)
Gold Gem x5
Silver Gem x10
Copper Gem x15
Incremental Gem x10
Intensification Gem x5
Enhancement Gem x10
Looking on the wiki I still have no idea what a Divine Weapon Gem does. Gold/Silver/Copper are enemy strengthening gems (fight stronger enemies get better gear). Incremental and Intensification might be the +1 and +2 item drop gems, Enhancement makes the drops come pre-upgraded, up to +10.
Ah, but since it's the same DLC I can see that it's... 神器のジェム. "Artifact Gem" or "Sacred Treasure Gem." Which was previous translated as... "Artifact Gem." It's the one that allows you to get equippable skills. There are 34 of them in the game (drops from bosses / rare chests / etc) per newgame+ lap.
Extra has a new optional playable character that heavily uses Artifacts as their gimmick, being able to equip 10 of them at the same time, which makes this make a little bit more sense I guess.
20 each of
Unnamed Gem, Sword Gem, Blade Gem, Heavy Weapon Gem, Long Staff Gem, Special Gem, Staff Gem, Bow Gem (all the basic weapon gems)
Unnamed are available in the in game store for an infinite amount, the others drop off of monsters fairly frequently.
15 each of
Shield Gem, Hat Gem, Helmet Gem, Light Armor Gem, Heavy Armor Gem, Inner Gem, Accessory Gem
And some gems that are meant to just be sold for gold:
Large Gem, 2 Small Gems, 5 Gemstones
Looking at the JP Wiki, there will be 5 Collab DLCs. We have the first Undernaughts DLC. There will be a second one coming up. Then, if we get all of them, we'll get a Demon Gaze 2 portrait pack, a portrait pack based on two of Experiences Horror Games, and a portrait pack based on the Demon Gaze manga.
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
It's still an unpleasant trend that JRPGs could do without, even SMT's been plagued by this crap.
Also, I started playing Touhou Labyrinth, and even though it's not first-person, I've enjoyed it a lot more than I expected, especially the rampant cameos. There's nothing GREAT about it, but it's consistently fun.
I dunno if it's a gridder, (edit: it's not, bummer) but the next game in the Moero Chronicles series is being ported to the Switch and localized as "Seven Pirates H."
Amongst other things, they're doing another game with the Mon-yu art style, except this time the monsters are going to be cute too. (Mon-yu's player characters are all cute while the monsters are all done by the Stranger of Sword City artist.)
I believe Experience typically has always let you choose between cutesy avatars and atmosphere-appropriate avatars. I guess this means the only options will be cutesy avatars this time?
I believe Experience typically has always let you choose between cutesy avatars and atmosphere-appropriate avatars. I guess this means the only options will be cutesy avatars this time?
Yes, Monyu only does the cutesy, Etrian Odyssey style avatars. There's a reason for this, if I'm reading the poorly machine translated wiki.
Monyu's player characters are all the fairies that are mentioned in Savior of Sapphire Wings, it takes place in the fairy land apparently?
Didn't realize this was a thread! Just completed Undernauts' post credits stuff and the extra test at the end. It was enjoyable and my second game like this. Took about 40 hours all told with a decent amount of grinding (maybe 3-4 hours all added up?) Art was nifty for the enemies. Environments were meh, story was cool.
I think we all love the visual of the heroes charging into a dungeon, ready to face whatever lies in wait. There are many things to consider when you are putting together your dungeon. These include, but are not limited to:
One complaint my friend gave me about modern DRPGs is that the existence of mini maps has ruined them. Basically dungeon design is now created so the mini map looks cool -- "Hey it's symmetrical" or "hey it looks like a skull" or "hey the traps are in a pattern" -- instead of actually representing, you know, a dungeon.
I think we all love the visual of the heroes charging into a dungeon, ready to face whatever lies in wait. There are many things to consider when you are putting together your dungeon. These include, but are not limited to:
One complaint my friend gave me about modern DRPGs is that the existence of mini maps has ruined them. Basically dungeon design is now created so the mini map looks cool -- "Hey it's symmetrical" or "hey it looks like a skull" or "hey the traps are in a pattern" -- instead of actually representing, you know, a dungeon.
That's always stuck with me.
Dungeons have always focused on being interesting over being practical, in pretty much every genre. Actually well-designed dungeons would be a miserable experience to explore, assuming the first trap doesn't kill half of your party.
I think we all love the visual of the heroes charging into a dungeon, ready to face whatever lies in wait. There are many things to consider when you are putting together your dungeon. These include, but are not limited to:
One complaint my friend gave me about modern DRPGs is that the existence of mini maps has ruined them. Basically dungeon design is now created so the mini map looks cool -- "Hey it's symmetrical" or "hey it looks like a skull" or "hey the traps are in a pattern" -- instead of actually representing, you know, a dungeon.
That's always stuck with me.
Modern? The original Legend of Zelda did this, your friend is making stuff up.
I've been on vacation all week and spent a good chunk of it playing through Might and Magic 3 the first time.
I'm a bit surprised at how easy it ended up being. I usually expect classic games like this to be brutal, but M&M3 practically begs you to break it.
The Might and Magic games (at least the ones I actually played) aren't particularly hardcore. Less methodical exploration, more slaughtering hordes of enemies that cheerfully throw themselves at you.
It was interesting to see the formula that worked so decently in the 2D, turn-based game completely break down in the 3D, real-time Might and Magic 6, which I've nicknamed Kite and Magic 6. Did the games after that figure out how to work out the problem of how to handle potentially dozens of enemies converging on you at once?
I rolled into Might and Magic 4+5=World of Xeen and now those are done. While pretty similar games, Xeen added some interesting improvements to 3 (i.e. a plot). I think I ended up liking 3 more. It had a more coherent world map design and better dungeons. The plan is to eventually play all the way through 10, but I'm going to need a break before I move onto 6.
The Might and Magic games (at least the ones I actually played) aren't particularly hardcore. Less methodical exploration, more slaughtering hordes of enemies that cheerfully throw themselves at you.
It was interesting to see the formula that worked so decently in the 2D, turn-based game completely break down in the 3D, real-time Might and Magic 6, which I've nicknamed Kite and Magic 6. Did the games after that figure out how to work out the problem of how to handle potentially dozens of enemies converging on you at once?
Not really no. More ranged units in the later game, but it was a lot of kite kite kite.
League of Legends: Sorakanmyworld
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Class of Heroes 3 never came out; the localization was complete, but Gaijinworks collapsed before they could release it. Bummer.
Class of Heroes got a remaster in 2018, so the franchise isn't dead, I guess, which gives me hope because it was a fun series. Still didn't get the remaster in the US, but, it's early yet, who knows?
But even more hope is... this weird little number:
It's Class of Heroes 4. Kinda? The name for the CoH series in Japanese is "剣と魔法と学園モノ" - Swords, Magic, and School Stuff -- whereas this one is "剣と魔法と学園クエスト" -- Swords, Magic, and School Quests. The big twist in 3 (maybe 2? Or 3.5?) was that your school wasn't the only one, and the others had weird classes you could pick from instead of the standard Wizardry ones. This one has 4 schools. Class of Heroes 4, eh?
Sounds like they're making two of the races (Dwarf and Felpurr) a preorder bonus (?wtf?) or free early bird DLC? Or maybe they're cameo characters from Class of Heroes 3? I hope it's the latter, I don't like the idea of DLC races.
Gameplay seems to be a... cross between DRPG and SRPG? You're in a DRPG but moving like in an SRPG? And it looks real time based? Interesting.
The Might and Magic games (at least the ones I actually played) aren't particularly hardcore. Less methodical exploration, more slaughtering hordes of enemies that cheerfully throw themselves at you.
It was interesting to see the formula that worked so decently in the 2D, turn-based game completely break down in the 3D, real-time Might and Magic 6, which I've nicknamed Kite and Magic 6. Did the games after that figure out how to work out the problem of how to handle potentially dozens of enemies converging on you at once?
MM6-8 might be different beasts from what came before, but man if they weren't fun. I played them for the first time last year and must've spent like 50 hours in MM6, the mix of "first person Diablo to clean up droves of mooks, switch to turn based when shit hits the fan" made me real bummed out after I felt done with them that it was pretty much a genre unto its own and we've seen little like them since.
I think we all love the visual of the heroes charging into a dungeon, ready to face whatever lies in wait. There are many things to consider when you are putting together your dungeon. These include, but are not limited to:
One complaint my friend gave me about modern DRPGs is that the existence of mini maps has ruined them. Basically dungeon design is now created so the mini map looks cool -- "Hey it's symmetrical" or "hey it looks like a skull" or "hey the traps are in a pattern" -- instead of actually representing, you know, a dungeon.
That's always stuck with me.
Dungeons have always focused on being interesting over being practical, in pretty much every genre. Actually well-designed dungeons would be a miserable experience to explore, assuming the first trap doesn't kill half of your party.
I don't have a problem with symmetrical maps, some buildings are actually designed to be somewhat symmetrical. Now of course it doesn't make a lot of sense for it to be shaped like something, or spell out WERDNA etc.
As far as practicality, I feel like Bethesda's games often do a good job of straddling the line between dungeon and real place. Skyrim: catacombs, room where bodies might've been prepared for burial, storage room, room of worship, innermost treasure keep. Fallout: normal office building including lobbies and restrooms, where some rooms and doors are collapsed creating natural mazelike layouts, but you can see how it was once functional.
The Baldur's Gate series was similar in trying to create a sense of a real place wherever possible.
I like dungeons like that, and that's what bugs me about many Japanese grid-based games, as I've posted several times in this thread:
Elminage Gothic garbage mess I complained about in this thread before:
Logically designed fort from M&MX:
On the subject of awful maps that don't even pretend to be functional, CRPG Addict is currently trying to play through Wizardry 4 again after having rightfully given up on it 10 years ago.
It was supposedly the hardest game ever of its time, "for expert players only," and sold badly as a result of this (as well as for sticking to the same damn wireframe style years after it should've updated).
On this map, every mine can kill you and you can't see them until you step on them. Trial and error and reloading, one step at a time.
This map is just utter nonsense.
Also in this game you don't even choose your class or level up traditionally, but at breakpoints as you ascend the dungeon, so it's strictly a puzzle challenge that doesn't even pretend to be about role playing at all.
To get out of the very first room you have to happen to choose to summon a specific kind of monster, and you have to run in circles until a combat starts, and hope the monster is dumb enough to randomly cast the spell to reveal secret doors while in combat. You can't cast this spell yourself, you have to be lucky to even start playing the game.
Thieves can steal items from you which are critical for finishing the game and necessitate a reload.
I haven't looked into it too much, but at least one ending if not multiple hinge on doing something very specific that is barely hinted at:
Four of the dungeon maps have sections of walls that form letters, D I N K. Assuming you even interpret each of them as a letter, which it's totally possible to miss that. One of the worst monsters you can summon is called a Dink, and just based on this alone you are meant to realize that you have to travel to where you can summon one, get him, keep him safe for a long trek to endgame content, where he will suddenly have a 20% chance per round of killing an endgame boss who can only be killed this way. Yes it's very possible the Dink will just refuse to do the only thing he was meant to do, leading you to think you guessed wrong and stop pursuing that line of thinking. There is nothing in the game that says "the maps spell out the boss's bane!" or any kind of secondary hint. Like maybe you logically rearrange the letters to spell the word "kind" and think this is supposed to be your clue to be kind to someone. It's utterly ridiculous.
Also in this game you don't even choose your class or level up traditionally, but at breakpoints as you ascend the dungeon, so it's strictly a puzzle challenge that doesn't even pretend to be about role playing at all.
To get out of the very first room you have to happen to choose to summon a specific kind of monster, and you have to run in circles until a combat starts, and hope the monster is dumb enough to randomly cast the spell to reveal secret doors while in combat. You can't cast this spell yourself, you have to be lucky to even start playing the game.
Thieves can steal items from you which are critical for finishing the game and necessitate a reload.
I haven't looked into it too much, but at least one ending if not multiple hinge on doing something very specific that is barely hinted at:
Four of the dungeon maps have sections of walls that form letters, D I N K. Assuming you even interpret each of them as a letter, which it's totally possible to miss that. One of the worst monsters you can summon is called a Dink, and just based on this alone you are meant to realize that you have to travel to where you can summon one, get him, keep him safe for a long trek to endgame content, where he will suddenly have a 20% chance per round of killing an endgame boss who can only be killed this way. Yes it's very possible the Dink will just refuse to do the only thing he was meant to do, leading you to think you guessed wrong and stop pursuing that line of thinking. There is nothing in the game that says "the maps spell out the boss's bane!" or any kind of secondary hint. Like maybe you logically rearrange the letters to spell the word "kind" and think this is supposed to be your clue to be kind to someone. It's utterly ridiculous.
I believe the best ending involved such madness as ending up on floor negative two and walking out into the middle of the sky, that is, invisible bridges. That if you stepped off the wrong spot, you'd fall down to your death.
Also, the game had a time limit in the form of a limited number of turns. So even if you figured all this stuff out, if you didn't figure it out fast enough, and didn't luck out with the RNG, you'd still lose.
There's a reason Wizardry 4 was never remade, heh.
Did we already cover that thieves will randomly steal key items from your inventory? The good news is at least you can get the key item back, where you originally found it
Edit: did some reading today. Apparently there's an oracle you can bump into in the dungeon, who will sell you clues. Most of the clues are just nonsense. Mixed in with the nonsense are "the answer is carved in stone, it is right before your nose!" And "everyone has a weakness, what's his?" From that, you're supposed to work out that there are sections of wall in the dungeon map on four separate floors that spell out DINK and that that is what you need to defeat the otherwise unkillable Hawkwind.
Class of Heroes 3 never came out; the localization was complete, but Gaijinworks collapsed before they could release it. Bummer.
Class of Heroes got a remaster in 2018, so the franchise isn't dead, I guess, which gives me hope because it was a fun series. Still didn't get the remaster in the US, but, it's early yet, who knows?
But even more hope is... this weird little number:
It's Class of Heroes 4. Kinda? The name for the CoH series in Japanese is "剣と魔法と学園モノ" - Swords, Magic, and School Stuff -- whereas this one is "剣と魔法と学園クエスト" -- Swords, Magic, and School Quests. The big twist in 3 (maybe 2? Or 3.5?) was that your school wasn't the only one, and the others had weird classes you could pick from instead of the standard Wizardry ones. This one has 4 schools. Class of Heroes 4, eh?
Sounds like they're making two of the races (Dwarf and Felpurr) a preorder bonus (?wtf?) or free early bird DLC? Or maybe they're cameo characters from Class of Heroes 3? I hope it's the latter, I don't like the idea of DLC races.
Gameplay seems to be a... cross between DRPG and SRPG? You're in a DRPG but moving like in an SRPG? And it looks real time based? Interesting.
Class of Heroes 3 never came out; the localization was complete, but Gaijinworks collapsed before they could release it. Bummer.
Class of Heroes got a remaster in 2018, so the franchise isn't dead, I guess, which gives me hope because it was a fun series. Still didn't get the remaster in the US, but, it's early yet, who knows?
But even more hope is... this weird little number:
It's Class of Heroes 4. Kinda? The name for the CoH series in Japanese is "剣と魔法と学園モノ" - Swords, Magic, and School Stuff -- whereas this one is "剣と魔法と学園クエスト" -- Swords, Magic, and School Quests. The big twist in 3 (maybe 2? Or 3.5?) was that your school wasn't the only one, and the others had weird classes you could pick from instead of the standard Wizardry ones. This one has 4 schools. Class of Heroes 4, eh?
Sounds like they're making two of the races (Dwarf and Felpurr) a preorder bonus (?wtf?) or free early bird DLC? Or maybe they're cameo characters from Class of Heroes 3? I hope it's the latter, I don't like the idea of DLC races.
Gameplay seems to be a... cross between DRPG and SRPG? You're in a DRPG but moving like in an SRPG? And it looks real time based? Interesting.
Posts
Looks very similar to the Wizardry Renaissance titles(Town of Forsaken Spirits/Labyrinth of Lost Souls/Wizardry DS).
Very similar yeah. That art style is considered part of the Wizardry "brand" if that makes sense, and bringing things back to that was part of the Wizardry Renaissance project, which covered games from 2009-2014.
Contrast Wizardry Xth's art style for example (this is the game that would eventually become both Generation Xth aka Operation Abyss and Class of Heroes)
Xth was 2005, and 5 Trials was 2006.
Also, refreshing my memory of the Wizardry Renaissance stuff (on the wiki pages I wrote, no less, heh) made me notice...
https://www.gematsu.com/2021/04/wizardry-va-launches-in-2022-teaser-trailer
https://www.dreamnews.jp/press/0000234315/
A new Wizardry game is due out next year. World Wide release, too, apparently.
It's mobile, so we'll see if it has gacha (it absolutely will) and stamina nonsense and the like. Apparently it's going to have full 3D character models which uh... to be frank, I could play Wizardry with a Microsoft Excel or command line client and be perfectly happy, so not quite certain where they're going with that.
Guess you gotta be able to see your waifu to spend stupid amounts of money on rolling on a 0.1% chance of getting said waifus.
Publisher does mobile games, developers are a new team it sounds like. Looking into it... the Disgaea mobile game is by them? Not sure if that's good or bad.
Ah, and Drecom is who owns the Wizardry IP now, apparently.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-10-29/japan-drecom-acquires-wizardry-game-series-rights-to-develop-new-title/.165728
Well, it looks... okay? Reminds me of the Wizardry MMO(which I actually tried briefly, and it was decent, also part of the Renaissance brand).
Also, I follow one of the guys who produced the PSN games, seems like a cool person:
https://twitter.com/arahawi
Looks like the Demon Gaze Asia version has been changed to be Asia (Chinese).
So uh. Where's the English version? IS there an English version?
I'm about 70% through the promised 100 floor dungeon. It's gone through a few cycles of having things that are really aggravating, then giving you upgrades that alleviate the problem. Sometimes they even give you the solution before you find the problem!
You do have to want to step on all or most of the tiles in the dungeon, though. If you don't feel like stepping on every square, you're gonna have a bad time.
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP5946-CUSA30305_00-DGEXFULLGAME0000
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/demon-gaze-extra-switch/
It has some DLC. Nothing earth shattering, except the Artifact Gem one; IIRC you can't farm Artifact Gems until postgame(?) and most of them come from bosses or one time only chests. Some are free but time limited.
Assorted Rare Items of the Gods set, $3
3x Hand of God, Tears of the Phoenix, Elixir, Fruit of the Star Tree. IIRC these are just endgame heal items.
Artifact Gem Assortment, $3
20x Artifact Gem. These are for farming special abilities (equipping other class's abilities) and are limited in game. Some from bosses some from one time chests, etc. 20x is a pretty big head start.
Live the Posh Hunter Life! Luxury Furniture Set, $3
A bunch of stat boosting furniture and some gems. I don't remember how the furniture system works in the game, think it gives your party members small stat boosts?
You Can Be a Veteran Hunter Too! Weapon Set, FREE, Time Limited Jan 6th to Feb 16th (likely pay afterwards)
Broadsword, Seasoned Katana(L), Morning Star, Lance, Moon Jamadhar, Wisp Rod, Spirit Staff, Raider's Bow; Some weapons from the mid point of the game I believe.
Equipment (Weapons & Armor) Gem Assortment, $3
Sword Gem, Blade Gem, Heavy Weapon Gem. Long Staff Gem, Special Gem, Staff Gem, Bow Gem, Shield Gem, Hat Gem, Helmet Gem, Light Armor Gem, Heavy Armor Gem, Inner Gem, Accessory Gem x10; Unnamed Gem x20; These are gems used in this game's version of the trap points for getting equipment. These drop at random in game and are farmable.
Local Specialties of Misrid! Foodstuffs for Any Occasion, FREE, Time Limited Jan 6th to Feb 16th
Assorted foodstuffs, again I don't remember how food worked in this game.
First Collaboration: YOMIWOSAKUHANA Characters (aka Undernaughts: Labyrinth of Yomi), FREE, Time Limited Jan 6th to Feb 16th
A bunch of character art for your characters based on the other game.
Spicy (Special) Gem Assortment, $3
Incremental Gem and Enhancement Gem x10, Intensification Gem x5; Again available in game, farmable later in the game I believe. These you can use to either get multiple drops, fight stronger bosses at the farming points (and thus get better drops), get gear that is pre-upgraded, etc etc.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
What? The DLC? That's been a thing for a long while with JRPGs from the smaller or medium size studios. Heck, even Disgaea has some of it.
The game has a Digital Deluxe, it was added after the initial game launch. Looking at it, it's $5 more than the base game and comes with the "Perfect Gems Set," which is unavailable to buy otherwise. The Japanese name for this DLC is "A Pile of Loot! Speedrun! Perfect Jewelry Set."
Which has...
Rare gems:
Divine Weapon Gem x5 (I have no idea what this one is)
Gold Gem x5
Silver Gem x10
Copper Gem x15
Incremental Gem x10
Intensification Gem x5
Enhancement Gem x10
Looking on the wiki I still have no idea what a Divine Weapon Gem does. Gold/Silver/Copper are enemy strengthening gems (fight stronger enemies get better gear). Incremental and Intensification might be the +1 and +2 item drop gems, Enhancement makes the drops come pre-upgraded, up to +10.
Ah, but since it's the same DLC I can see that it's... 神器のジェム. "Artifact Gem" or "Sacred Treasure Gem." Which was previous translated as... "Artifact Gem." It's the one that allows you to get equippable skills. There are 34 of them in the game (drops from bosses / rare chests / etc) per newgame+ lap.
20 each of
Unnamed Gem, Sword Gem, Blade Gem, Heavy Weapon Gem, Long Staff Gem, Special Gem, Staff Gem, Bow Gem (all the basic weapon gems)
Unnamed are available in the in game store for an infinite amount, the others drop off of monsters fairly frequently.
15 each of
Shield Gem, Hat Gem, Helmet Gem, Light Armor Gem, Heavy Armor Gem, Inner Gem, Accessory Gem
And some gems that are meant to just be sold for gold:
Large Gem, 2 Small Gems, 5 Gemstones
Looking at the JP Wiki, there will be 5 Collab DLCs. We have the first Undernaughts DLC. There will be a second one coming up. Then, if we get all of them, we'll get a Demon Gaze 2 portrait pack, a portrait pack based on two of Experiences Horror Games, and a portrait pack based on the Demon Gaze manga.
Edit: Preview of the portraits here: https://www.4gamer.net/games/571/G057142/20210805096/
Also, I started playing Touhou Labyrinth, and even though it's not first-person, I've enjoyed it a lot more than I expected, especially the rampant cameos. There's nothing GREAT about it, but it's consistently fun.
Yes. “You can only get 3 of these gems on a play through, but you can pay us more money and get 10 upfront” is scummy.
The fact that it’s spreading and has been going on for a bit doesn’t make it less scummy.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
https://www.play-asia.com/seven-pirates-h-limited-edition/13/70f5ed
Mon-yu is coming Westward. Directly to Steam, too. By Aksys.
Also, it's Experience's 15th anniversary.
Amongst other things, they're doing another game with the Mon-yu art style, except this time the monsters are going to be cute too. (Mon-yu's player characters are all cute while the monsters are all done by the Stranger of Sword City artist.)
Yes, Monyu only does the cutesy, Etrian Odyssey style avatars. There's a reason for this, if I'm reading the poorly machine translated wiki.
Surprise, Demon Gaze Extra Steam release. Out today.
is there anything else in the genre with party-building and customization that engaging?
aesthetics and mapping are optional.
I'd say Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls on PS3 or Tale of the Forsaken Land on PS2.
Really wishing we had a remaster/remake of the latter.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
It was made by a tiny Atlus team who probably don't even have the rights to Wizardry anymore, I'd say it'll never happen.
One complaint my friend gave me about modern DRPGs is that the existence of mini maps has ruined them. Basically dungeon design is now created so the mini map looks cool -- "Hey it's symmetrical" or "hey it looks like a skull" or "hey the traps are in a pattern" -- instead of actually representing, you know, a dungeon.
That's always stuck with me.
i think i sold or donated Tale of The Forsaken Land in like 2010
tbh i was less patient as a teenager, did not get very far into it
Dungeons have always focused on being interesting over being practical, in pretty much every genre. Actually well-designed dungeons would be a miserable experience to explore, assuming the first trap doesn't kill half of your party.
Modern? The original Legend of Zelda did this, your friend is making stuff up.
I'm a bit surprised at how easy it ended up being. I usually expect classic games like this to be brutal, but M&M3 practically begs you to break it.
It was interesting to see the formula that worked so decently in the 2D, turn-based game completely break down in the 3D, real-time Might and Magic 6, which I've nicknamed Kite and Magic 6. Did the games after that figure out how to work out the problem of how to handle potentially dozens of enemies converging on you at once?
I rolled into Might and Magic 4+5=World of Xeen and now those are done. While pretty similar games, Xeen added some interesting improvements to 3 (i.e. a plot). I think I ended up liking 3 more. It had a more coherent world map design and better dungeons. The plan is to eventually play all the way through 10, but I'm going to need a break before I move onto 6.
Not really no. More ranged units in the later game, but it was a lot of kite kite kite.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Class of Heroes 3 never came out; the localization was complete, but Gaijinworks collapsed before they could release it. Bummer.
Class of Heroes got a remaster in 2018, so the franchise isn't dead, I guess, which gives me hope because it was a fun series. Still didn't get the remaster in the US, but, it's early yet, who knows?
But even more hope is... this weird little number:
It's Class of Heroes 4. Kinda? The name for the CoH series in Japanese is "剣と魔法と学園モノ" - Swords, Magic, and School Stuff -- whereas this one is "剣と魔法と学園クエスト" -- Swords, Magic, and School Quests. The big twist in 3 (maybe 2? Or 3.5?) was that your school wasn't the only one, and the others had weird classes you could pick from instead of the standard Wizardry ones. This one has 4 schools. Class of Heroes 4, eh?
https://www.gematsu.com/2022/06/acquire-announces-strategy-rpg-adventure-academia-the-fractured-continent-for-ps4-switch-and-pc
Sounds like they're making two of the races (Dwarf and Felpurr) a preorder bonus (?wtf?) or free early bird DLC? Or maybe they're cameo characters from Class of Heroes 3? I hope it's the latter, I don't like the idea of DLC races.
Gameplay seems to be a... cross between DRPG and SRPG? You're in a DRPG but moving like in an SRPG? And it looks real time based? Interesting.
Also, they announced CoH2 Remaster for Switch:
Re: the M&M difficulty, MM2 is pretty brutal.
I don't have a problem with symmetrical maps, some buildings are actually designed to be somewhat symmetrical. Now of course it doesn't make a lot of sense for it to be shaped like something, or spell out WERDNA etc.
As far as practicality, I feel like Bethesda's games often do a good job of straddling the line between dungeon and real place. Skyrim: catacombs, room where bodies might've been prepared for burial, storage room, room of worship, innermost treasure keep. Fallout: normal office building including lobbies and restrooms, where some rooms and doors are collapsed creating natural mazelike layouts, but you can see how it was once functional.
The Baldur's Gate series was similar in trying to create a sense of a real place wherever possible.
I like dungeons like that, and that's what bugs me about many Japanese grid-based games, as I've posted several times in this thread:
On the subject of awful maps that don't even pretend to be functional, CRPG Addict is currently trying to play through Wizardry 4 again after having rightfully given up on it 10 years ago.
https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2022/05/revisiting-return-of-werdna-fourth.html
It was supposedly the hardest game ever of its time, "for expert players only," and sold badly as a result of this (as well as for sticking to the same damn wireframe style years after it should've updated).
On this map, every mine can kill you and you can't see them until you step on them. Trial and error and reloading, one step at a time.
This map is just utter nonsense.
Also in this game you don't even choose your class or level up traditionally, but at breakpoints as you ascend the dungeon, so it's strictly a puzzle challenge that doesn't even pretend to be about role playing at all.
To get out of the very first room you have to happen to choose to summon a specific kind of monster, and you have to run in circles until a combat starts, and hope the monster is dumb enough to randomly cast the spell to reveal secret doors while in combat. You can't cast this spell yourself, you have to be lucky to even start playing the game.
Thieves can steal items from you which are critical for finishing the game and necessitate a reload.
I haven't looked into it too much, but at least one ending if not multiple hinge on doing something very specific that is barely hinted at:
I believe the best ending involved such madness as ending up on floor negative two and walking out into the middle of the sky, that is, invisible bridges. That if you stepped off the wrong spot, you'd fall down to your death.
Also, the game had a time limit in the form of a limited number of turns. So even if you figured all this stuff out, if you didn't figure it out fast enough, and didn't luck out with the RNG, you'd still lose.
There's a reason Wizardry 4 was never remade, heh.
Edit: did some reading today. Apparently there's an oracle you can bump into in the dungeon, who will sell you clues. Most of the clues are just nonsense. Mixed in with the nonsense are "the answer is carved in stone, it is right before your nose!" And "everyone has a weakness, what's his?" From that, you're supposed to work out that there are sections of wall in the dungeon map on four separate floors that spell out DINK and that that is what you need to defeat the otherwise unkillable Hawkwind.
Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC.
https://nisamerica.com/labyrinth-of-galleria/
Wasn't there an actual CoH4, though?
Not officially numbered, but there was a Class of Heroes 3D and a Shin Class of Heroes.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //