Very likely I'll be done with this in about a week though, so I was wondering: can anyone recommend any good medieval fantasy games with a similar vibe?
Something smaller-scale, something dark, something focused on single-character advancement. Not a bunch of epic battles, or travelling between kingdoms, or a party of characters. I'm probably just looking for a dungeon crawler (I keep getting the urge to go through Vagrant Story again).
The King's Field games (specifically the PS2 one) and Shadow Tower come to mind of course. I was just looking into Eternal Ring, which look like it might be alright.
I've never been all that interested in medieval fantasy before until I experienced the darker and slightly less-bombastic style of Dark/Demon's Souls, so it's not something I've looked into before.
Any suggestions?

I'm afraid that the likes of Vagrant Story, Demon's Souls & Dark Souls are a rarity. Single playable character RPGs are unfortunately, very rare indeed. The Witcher series may be for you, though, you only play as Geralt throughout, yes there's other people on your side, but they're normally off doing their own thing and join you temporarily. I have these games in my backlog myself but the bit I played of the first one was pretty darn good (a bit janky though).

How about Baroque for PS2? That has some very interesting parts to it, like the more times you die, the more the mysterious storyline unfolds to you. The game seems to be set in a hellish, dark place where you do nothing but dungeon crawling. No other party members at all either, game looked really atmospheric to me and Sting make some very interesting RPGs, like From Software do. And there's also Drakengard 2 , where it seems to be like you do a lot of dungeon crawling and knowing Cavia, the story will be really good (and incredibly atmospheric). That, and the fact that the combat looked waaaay better than Drakengard 1's means you'll probably like it more than the first.

Again, other games in my big backlog, lol. They just came to me now.

Valve engineer just let the cat out of the bag:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=506899

The console is being called "Steambox" for now. No idea if that will be the final name for it, or not. This will be a console which hooks up to the digital Steam store.. This will be great for those of us who do not play PC games too much. I'll finally be able to play STALKER and Last Remnant.

The interesting part is that it will be using Linux OS instead of Windows (since Gabe Newell views Windows 8 as a disaster, lol). Supposedly Valve are also working on Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality projects too. Let's see what happens at E3!

I can see Square-Enix/Eidos trying to grab an IP or two. Obsidian's South Park game being one of them. Supposedly Del Toro is taking his horror game (inSane) to a "big company".

Already got the game on pre-order for PS3. We should create a Dojo clan for those of us who get it (Axm, Segata, Riku and if anybody else is? Tuffty?)

Still bargain bin material.

Well, Anarchy Reigns came today and it's really fun. £15 from Zavvi for fellow UK folks, who pre-ordered (free delivery). Now that's cheap.

It's basically MadWorld 2 mixed with God Hand and Power Stone (multiplayer is absolutely chaotic). No one else playing/getting this?

^Knowing Orange and his OCD ways, he'd have to collect every last bit of Gungriffon media under the sun and review them all in one video!

I'd love it. Means my 360 and PS3 are relevant for another year

To be fair though, they will still be relevant even if they shove the new consoles on the shelves as fast as possible (as in before the end of the year). I think the support for 360 and PS3 won't die down right away, just look at what happened to the PS2 and Xbox; they had plenty of great games really late into their life. I certainly won't be rushing out to buy the consoles right away anyway since I'm broke. #-o

At this point? Who really cares? Series has jumped the shark anyway.

Personally, I'm going to play the game with the mindset that it's like the AC!D series (non-canon but takes pieces from the original canon into the storyline). More excited for this than I am for the next "proper" Metal Gear.

I was lucky enough to play Virtual On in my local arcade back in the day. Absolutely loved it. A real classic arcade gem. May have to borrow my brother's 360 to play these...

Same as Spokane and Samanosuke; I was only 13 when I signed up back in '03. It was also my first ever PC. Ah, those were the days. I used to look forward to posting on here after high school. Like SEF, can't believe it's been 10 years for some of us and we used to joke about staying on here so long and yet here we all are.

What's wrong with us all, seriously? lol.

Top 3 Nintendo DS games whose Japan-only status still bothers the hell out of me :
#2 .) Nanashi no Game

Just a heads up, there's actually a fan translation (100% complete) out now for Nanashi no Game. I know you're not into those nowadays, but it's out there if you ever change your mind.

#1 .) Front Mission 2089: Border of Madness

Again, thankfully there will be a fan translation for that, hopefully. That is, if the Front Mission Translation Project manage to get through Front Mission: Alternative okay.

On the topic, here's some of my choices I'd like to have gotten localized:

Soma Bringer (DS):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJjVzcZ-KY

A Monolith Soft game for the DS created by the Xenoblade team. It's an Action RPG with a very fun looking battle system and involving storyline. Great presentation for the DS too. The game looked really neat overall. I do realise there's a fan translation out there (99% complete) but it would be nice to be able to play it fully localized.

Project Hacker (DS)

http://i.imgur.com/X68ziSE.jpg

No videos up on YouTube for it, but the game was basically a point and click adventure game developed by RED Entertainment (Gungrave, Bonk’s Adventure). The game would include solving crimes with puzzles and hacking. I saw footage of it a long time ago was hoping it would get an English release, alas, no such luck.

Night of the Sacrifice (Wii)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTrOjEAuTSI

Of all the horror games released for the Wii, this was the one I wanted the most. The game has the same gameplay style as Ju-On and the other horror titles (Wiimote used as the flashlight for First Person horror scares) except this time, the human characters have a very cartoon look to them, whereas the monsters and "zombies" look really graphic and realistic. It made for a very interesting artistic pairing. Just watch the trailer and see what you think. Game looked scarier to me than the other (more generic) horror games (and was way more interesting looking on the aesthetics side of things).

Oh, and the first Growlanser for PSP, of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz5ZXB4pUOs

Also, I'm still miffed off about the ASH cancellation by Nintendo. I have no idea why Nintendo of Europe just didn't pick up Treehouse's (NOA's) translation and just release it over here instead? At least that way, it would be out there, for everybody to play. They even ESRB'd the damn game! It always interested me more than The Last Story, because you know, I love my Strategy RPG games and all.

Wow. Colour me surprised. Really surprised. I'm so getting this, we need to support risks like this. I think Namco Bandai deserve praise for releasing this.

Yes!

http://www.abload.de/img/xlms2ei2ju7.gif

Well I'll be getting it immediately.
Not out of crazy excitement or anything; it just looks okay to me. I'll be getting it more so because stuff like this needs to be supported. It's still irritating that we never got NamcoXCapcom.

I do kind of take issue with this one though. Whereas NamcoXCapcom was like a big love note to knucklehead videogame fans, mainly featuring characters from the 80s and 90s (with some more modern ones too), this one just looks like a cash-in on the more recent generations. Pretty much everyone in there is from last gen or this gen.
Kind of annoying when the main company I'd want to get it for is Namco, but all of the characters they're contributing are from more recent fighting games and RPGs that I don't generally play, like .Hack or Soul Caliber.
NamcoXCapcom had it right; they included Hiromi from Burning Force, Kissy from Baraduke, Valkyrie from Legend of Valkyrie, Gil from Tower of Druaga, Kagekiyo from the Genji and Heike Clans, Taizo from Dig Dug, Wonder Momo, Bravoman, etc, alongside characters from Tekken, Klonoa, Soul Caliber, and the Tales series.
Hell, even Capcom contributed greats like Strider and the Unknown Soldiers from Forgotten Worlds.

The lack of any of those characters feels like one big cop-out in this one. And even worse, it's a HUGE missed opportunity for Sega. Almost none of their contributions are anything you could call "classic" yet. It's all modern stuff. And they couldn't even find it in their hearts to include anyone from Ryu ga Gotoku.

So I'll get this.
But I'll do so with a chip on my shoulder.

Totally agree with you. The roster is the most disappointing part of it for me too. But hey, it has classic Dante! And Tron Bonne & Nemesis! Still though, could be a lot better.

Hey Ryudo, will this be your first Strategy RPG? If so, welcome. :beerchug:
I predict lots of angry posts. A lot of Strategy RPGs I've played are super hard, will be interesting to see if it's accessible or difficult...

There's a photo doing the rounds at the moment regarding Japanese 3DS games, supposedly this is leaked from a secret press conference from a while back:

http://i.imgur.com/pMFPiv1.jpg

Project X Zone became true. Oh man, but if we get Time Travelers, EX Troopers and Bravely Default all released in US and EU too. \:D/

@Segata: Aksys will probably pick it up. They're really into those niche Japanese adventure games (Virtue's Last Reward, 999, Hakuouki, Jake Hunter). I agree with you Orange, that's the one I want the most too! But if all of those games come to fruition (via E3 announcements, I'd guess) then the 3DS will be absolutely amazing in 2013.

I just want a good reason to get a Vita now (only Gravity Rush and Soul Sacrifice catch my eye)...hopefully E3 will yield lots of announcements.

I heard alittle about it, if I'm not mistaken theres a pc version that had lots of mods.

No, you're thinking of another game. This is Elminage:

http://img11.nnm.ru/5/7/b/9/6/7c80e95a6fd05c4d71258d93010.jpg

http://gbatemp.net/pix/259932/CheatersNeverWin..jpg

http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/files/2012/10/elminage-original-psp-e1349471251342.png

http://webguyunlimited.com/pixelperfectgaming/wp-content/gallery/elminage_original_screenshots/elminage_original_screenshot_03.jpg

Looks better than Versus XIII!

Well, yeah, there's that too.

Shulk?

Supposedly the director of Baten Kaitos is working on a 3DS title? It could be a spiritual successor to it? Maybe?

And why do you think it'll have multiplayer aspects?

Saw this on NeoGAF, found it funny:

MEANWHILE AT SQUARE JAPAN:

So GungHo (Ragnarok developer, also owner of developers Acquire [Tenchu series, Way of the Samurai series] & Game Arts [Grandia, Lunar, Dokuro, Gungriffon]) has just bought Grasshopper Manufacture.

GungHo Online Entertainment BRINGS ON SUDA51 Development Studio, Grasshopper Manufacture

Japanese Publisher Bolsters In-house Development Talent as Innovative Team Led by Legendary Game Designer, Goichi Suda, Joins Stellar Lineup Alongside Game Arts, Acquire, and GRAVITY

TOKYO, JAPAN (January 30, 2013) – GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc. (GOE) today announced it has acquired game development studio GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE INC., founded and led by legendary designer Goichi Suda (SUDA51). SUDA51 and his team join GOE and will continue to work as GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE, similar to the relationship GOE has with its other leading development studios including GRAVITY, Game Arts, and Acquire. Titles already in development at the studio before the acquisition will not be affected by the deal and will continue under their current publishing terms.

GungHo Online Entertainment is an established Japanese publisher of networked multiplatform titles including mobile, and is best noted for its wildly popular Ragnarok Online series as well as the blockbuster iOS/Android game, Puzzle & Dragons, which has seen over 7 million downloads. Since its formation, the company’s vision has been to work closely with its content partners to build, grow, and sustain interactive entertainment properties with a strong online component across PC, browser, mobile, console, and handheld platforms. Its lineup includes MMORPGs such as Ragnarok Online as well as a wide range of console and handheld games including Ragnarok DS, Ragnarok Odyssey and Dokuro. GRASSHOPPER becomes the fourth prominent studio to become part of GOE’s fold, joining Ragnarok developer GRAVITY, Lunar and Grandia creator Game Arts, and Tenchu developer Acquire. GOE titles are published and supported in North America by its US subsidiary, GungHo Online Entertainment America led by Jun Iwasaki.

“We believe the strength of a publisher lies in its creative talent so with the addition of GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE and SUDA51 we are adding some of the most innovative talent in today’s gaming world to our stellar family of independently-operated studios,” said Kazuki Morishita, President and CEO of GungHo Online Entertainment. “SUDA51 projects are known to put a unique spin on every game so coupled with our proven ability to support development with AAA resources including a tailored online experience, we believe gamers will benefit from this collaboration.”

Founded by SUDA51, GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE INC. is well known for creating imaginative titles such as killer7, the No More Heroes series and most recently, Lollipop Chainsaw. The developer has released nearly 30 titles internationally and in Japan and has a devoted following among gamers. Under SUDA51’s leadership, the studio aspires to create games that challenge the norms with a spark of inspiration akin to the rebellious and artistic spirit of punk rock music.

“By joining GungHo Online Entertainment, we are aligning ourselves with a strong, established publishing force that will support our vision to further create inspired new games that appeal players across the world,” said GRASSHOPPER Founder and Managing Director, Goichi Suda. “The GRASSHOPPER team and I have many new ideas to share with our fans as we move forward so this union with GOE will help us realize our future plans.”

More information on upcoming GRASSHOPPER projects will be revealed in the coming months.

http://gematsu.com/2013/01/grasshopper-manufacture-joins-gungho-group

I guess the one positive thing about this is that Suda might be given more freedom now, instead of being a businessman and worrying about finances and publishing deals as much. The reason I say this is because he might reconsider releasing The Silver Case now. Damn, I want that game so much.

I know what game it is and didn't cheat, for what it's worth. Soul of Darkness; I played it when I first got my 3DS and it is a really good Castlevania style game.

Basically it's Serial Killers: The TV Series. It's getting into Twin Peaks territory now though, very strange.

Ryudo wrote: the most overrated game in history.

Hahahaha. Oh wait, you were serious?

^Which is easily one of the best FPS games I have ever played. Then again, I do think he explained that it was because it (and FPS games in general) gave him motion sickness.

He also hates Nier. Tut tut, Ryudo, tut tut.

Nintendo will help Japanese third parties by bringing their titles overseas

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=510916

Somehow this image doesn't seem so far fetched now:

Crusaders of Might and Magic



Hint: It's a CD-i game and also a PC game.

Rising Zan. I love the game too, btw. I first played it back in my PSX days.



Hint: Cavia.

Yeah, Ashley is a bitch. ME2 has the best cast in the series though, imo. And the best locations too. Oh, and the best enemies. ME1 has ME2 beat with the antagonist though (Saren is the best villain in the series).

ME1 has the best Citadel, easily. ME1 has a problem with combat though, like the AI was pretty terrible in some of the side quests, where they're running around like idiots shouting out comments every two seconds. ME2 has the best side quests. Both games have great music. I also prefer the aesthetics in ME2. ME1 is vibrant and has that film grain look, ME2 is more...gloomy and dark but has lots of neon all over the place. Just depends which style you prefer, I guess. ME1 definitely has the better end game though. They're both really quite different from one another and I love both of them.

And ME3 has the best nothing. Okay, it has good multiplayer, but that's about it. Combat is good too, I suppose, but it feels less tactical than before. Seriously, I feel sorry for Wii U owners who only have access to 3. No idea why they didn't just port the whole series over to it. BioWare were lazy there.

On Chapter 13 on Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GC). Grrr, it's so hard and Astrid keeps getting one shotted. Was doing fine up until this point.

Also replaying REmake. I forgot just how scary the game can be (Crimson Heads, Lisa Trevor and Neptune) especially since I keep running out of ammo and running around like a headless chicken trying to avoid them.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/02/04/metal-gear-rising-gets-exclusive-vr-missions-on-ps3/

Metal Gear Rising Getting PS3 Exclusive VR Mission DLC

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8049/8444449697_001af9ed3a_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8084/8445538692_ff37b4c9ef_z.jpg

Axm wrote: Wow sounds like a good prospect for some answers. We havent been updated in awhile.

Somehow, the cynic in me is really doubting that we're going to get another "I think SEGA will let me make it."

I'd love to be wrong though, of course.

It's okay by me, there's so many shows that never made it over here in the 90s, even though we still got a lot and still do to this day. I'm always up for more entertainment knowledge, even if it is useless trivia.

Yeeeeah, got to admit, I really hate the art for the Tales of... series, pretty much why I steer clear of it. It was stuff like that which put me off JRPGs for so many years, tbh. That, and the fans are really noisy about how it has the best battle system ever and whatnot.

I do know that it has its fans on here though, so I'll shut up.

I'm not going to shit on a game I haven't played yet. I still plan to play it, actually. But it wasn't just the direction they took the series in that I didn't care for (much preferred the gothic horror vibe to whatever mish mash this was going for). I didn't like the the character of Dante from the trailers in the new one, he just looked like an asshole, there was simply...nothing that stood out to me that made me want to play the game, even watching all of the trailers and trying to look past all of the shit being flung at it. And if your main character isn't likeable after you've "revised" him (and hey, I know Devil May Cry isn't Shakespeare, but the original Dante was likeable) then you're going to have to do something interesting to reel me in. And it didn't do anything to grab me.

At least that's why I didn't buy it, not because I had a personal vendetta against it or anything, it was just an "eh" looking game overall.

Well then, they did a bad job at marketing the game to me.

I personally really like hybrid battle systems the most, the more experimental, the better. In a way, I'm sort of glad this game is doing as well as it is, despite how crazy the hype is behind it, the more that games like this and Xenoblade do well, the more these type of JRPGs with interesting hybrid battle systems will be made.

I tweeted a couple of times, myself too, glad to hear it went well.

I'm just saying, if you want somebody who knows futuristic sci-fi working on the project, then there's very few writers in Japan who know cyberpunk as well as him (he's written various cyberpunk novels). Just a bit of trivia for you, the game Chaos Legion is based on one of his novels.

From my perspective, there's only three or four games that I care about on it. I got Gravity Rush and Uncharted Vita both free from my PS+ subscription (not bought a Vita yet though). Only other games that I want are Falcom stuff, Phantasy Star Online 2 and Soul Sacrifice and maybe Persona 4, undecided if I should just get the PS2 version over it, or not. Vita is a bit of a porting machine.

I'd like to see more strategy and adventure games for Vita, there's plenty of action games out on it, just not enough strategy and adventure stuff. And I'd like to buy it, but it's just the cost of the system itself, the games and the memory card, which are all expensive. At least Nintendo pack in a memory card with the 3DS...

SEGA profits are up again.

Sega Q3 Results: 3 billion yen profit, Sonic 930K, FM 730K, Yakuza 5 580k

http://www.abload.de/img/segaq311suum.png

http://www.abload.de/img/segaq32mfukj.png

http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/1303_3q_pre_eigo_final_130206.pdf

I definitely think Yakuza 5 has a good chance of localization from good news like that!

New game from developer Omega Force (Trinity: Souls of Zil'Oll, Dynasty Warriors, Operation Winback)

http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/toukiden/ss/out01.jpg

http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/toukiden/ss/out02.jpg

http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/toukiden/ss/out03.jpg

http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/toukiden/ss/out04.jpg

http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/toukiden/ss/out05.jpg

http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/toukiden/ss/out06.jpg

http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/toukiden/ss/out07.jpg

Thought some of you might like the look of it. Demon slaying on the Vita.

^I agree there. I don't play Marvel vs Capcom and expect an answer as to why Wolverine is fighting Captain Commando, it's just a neat crossover. Dissidia 2 it is, then. I look forward to playing as Gabranth and knocking the stupid smirk off Tidus's face.

FF Tactics War of The Lions (Never Played but played the GBA and DS game)

:|

Maaaaan, if you could play the two spin offs, then you are in for a right treat with the original Tactics, which is on a whole different plane of existence. One of my favourite games. The story and tactical gameplay is just...unparalleled. I put in around 70 hours in my first playthrough and 50 in my second and I could play that game all year round, such an addictive game. Masterpiece.

I'd cautiously say that it's my favourite storyline in a game ever next to a couple of others. I'm hyping the game up too much, sorry...but really, it's good. Really good. Best game ever, good. Play it.