You guys make sure to check out Super Derek! The guy is THE place for RPGs on youtube (www.youtube.com/@SuperDerek). And huge thanks to Machine Hunter OG, the guy who made the new intro song. His handle is twitter.com/machinehunterOG and he's currently accepting commissions.
For breath of fire 2 you HAVE to play the Maeson + Retranslation hack. In my opinion, the original version has a horrible translation and miserably high encounter rate. The above fixes it.
SuperDerek - Not sure if you remember this, but a few years back, I tried calling your hot line to leave suggestion. I was a bit drunk and kept screwing up my messages. I said something along the line of, “you look like someone who calls movies cinema” or something like that. You actually played my voice mail in one of your podcast videos. I never did manage to get my suggestion out, which is why it’s so awesome you guys end up doing a collab! My suggestion was to invite Avalanche reviews on to your Sunday’s podcast.
Oh hey, I was actually the one who recommended Nightmare of Druaga when you were on that Mystery Dungeon kick a while ago. I'm glad you liked it enough to include in a video! Of course, Super Derek is always awesome, I think it's been a long time since you two collabed on something. Of course, just when I think you couldn't get any more gigachad putting the *entire* Breath of Fire series in the video (and exalting the greatness of Dragon Quarter) you bring in Arc Rise Fantasia, and absolute must-play on Wii. In fact, if you do play it on real hardware, I highly recommend using the Classic Controller Pro, it gives a very nice "lost late-life PS2 RPG" vibe to it. Also, I don't dive into emulation often, but I didn't know Klonoa Legend of the Star Medal's fan translation was already finished... I might just need to dust off ol' VBA
Don't know if it was reviewed yet but... I suggest: - Ar Tonelico (Suuuuper cool management system using crystals and sync with a 'singer') - Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al Revis (Vey nice school setting and crafting)
Glad in another video you mentioned Legend of Legaia, I really loved that game when I was younger. I played a lot of weird and random RPG's as a kid, and that was one that was a gem. Have you thought of adding the Lunar games to this list? I wish those games got some more love and the work that was put into Silver Star Story and Enternal Blue always deserves more love and highlighting.
i waited for arc rise fantasia to come up, its been so long since i first asked you that question. honestly the only reason i play is for the combat, being under powered in a fight in the middle game is super engaging as you have just enough tools to get by a lot of the scenarios presented to you, but not too much to make you too over powered or to overwhelm you, and when it comes to that point when you have those options its when you have a had time to get to grips with it. it has a few difficulty spikes and demands a bit of grinding, but the grinding more or less surrounds the Materia combined with Tetris/re4 attaché case system. which feeds more rewards to you at a consistent pace which makes that grinding less of a chore overall (even if i use the turbo function the whole time), and that weapon system basically makes weapons stay consistently viable throughout a majority of the game when some of them get replaced with better variants. the weapon system is very engaging and meshes with the other systems well as you can make different builds with different characters, which all have a different weapon subtypes that attack at different ranges, you never actually have to use the main protag in the party though. L'arc being the protag, is the best character overall, that doesn't mean you have to use him, its very recommended though as he gets some of the best offensive locked weapon parts [being weapon parts you cant unlock by level up the weapon with WP (the games exp system for weapons)], the Rolex (Rogress) the summons of the game are usable by him as well, the rolex give him options to basically negate large portions of boss fights by either taking out a majority of their health bar or giving your party numerous benefits and status buffs, this paired with the passive buffs to resistances and stats that they give to L'arc puts him up there as the best. speaking of the rolex. they are the majority of the plot focus, while there is a few strands not from them, most of the fights you will be taking place in will surround rolex, or be in fights with rolex to prove your self. which while repetitive doesnt really get in the way of enjoyment, as while the story writing is overall really poor, the pacing of the story is quite good, theres never really a time where theres no reason why your doing something, and they always try to move the story along in a timely fashion for the most part there is a few outliers, but overall the plot is fairly paced throughout. and that concludes my mini essay about arc rise fantasia, this is truly a game i cant say is bad, its has so many rough spots, and can be grating at times either because of the story or some of the mechanics, but i could never say its bad, because i have immense nostalgia goggles for most of the game, and it has so many bright spots as well, so if you can pickup a copy (legally, plz, i understand if you cant tho) put it through dolphin (because the resolution is so bad and you can speed up some parts) and enjoy it, not really for the cutscenes, (although some are pretty funny) but for the gameplay, which will engross any jrpg fan throughout, it has alot of different bars, and as an jrpg fan, yknow you love bars. also props to me for having the longest comment by far sheesh
I thought about writing back a comment one letter longer than yours so I could have the longest. Arc Rise really is one of those flawed, but great kind of games. It's got a list of issues the length of my arm, but I still really get a kick out of it.
Great to see another Dragon Quarter fan! I have to say though that it is most certainly possible to beat it on your first try. I did it on a new save. There were tense moments, but when I won the feeling was amazing. I had beaten the game before; so I knew how to play. It is one of my favourite JRPGs and it is hilarious because I used to trash the game all because when I was a kid, I didn't like it.
If I may comment, since I just finished playing BoF 1, I found that the main issue is the horrible translation. The game in general is good, with amazing music, a good setting, and good gameplay for the time. However, it is difficult to keep interest when the translation is so bad that following the story is almost impossible.
Did you ever play the Van Helsing PS2 game? I found a copy I've had laying around since I was a kid and decided to give it a try. It's actually pretty enjoyable. Sorta plays like DMC, but it's got elements of resource management and metroidvania backtracking, not to mention that the whole gothic town/castle aesthetic gives me big RE4/Village vibes. It can get a bit frustrating when the later levels turn into bossrush with close to no resources becoming available between fights, but it's still a fairly enjoyable game throughout.
Wow, Super Derek was the channel that led me to both you and Jimmy Hapa. Glad to see that you both were finally able to make a collab. On another note, I know RPGs are not as much of a popular subject on your channel but I'm really happy that you're able to cover them from time to time.
Have you ever played Planet Laika? Every time I see it mentioned I think of your channel. It's a very weird PS1 RPG that has similarities to survival horror games of the time, and it was translated relatively recently.
Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter is one of the best games of it's generation. Very Few RPGs and hell other games are on the same level of ambition as that game is. I use to be in the camp of not liking it, but after giving it a chance, it became one of my favorites. DQ is a funny case cause I think it was very well received by critics but not so much with RPG fans where it was divisive. The way the game is structure is very engaging and kinda akin to a survival horror game and a dungeon crawler which works very well. The story and look of it is all it's own and it probably has hitoshi sakimoto's best score. On the subject of capcom rpgs, if you do another one of these, I'd like to see your thoughts on some of the megaman RPGs. Specifically Command Mission and Star Force, which the later gets overlooked by a lot of people outside of the megaman fanbase. Didn't expect Klonoa Heroes on here, but that game is great and probably my favorite in the series. Regarding it's place in Klonoa's series, it uses a lot of characters from the main series like Guntz from Klonoa 2 Dream Championship for the GBA and Lolo and Popka from Klonoa 2 Lunatea's viel, but the story is in it's own continuity seperate from the main one. Hard disagree on the OST, I think heroes has a very memorable soundtrack, esp that theme song sung by klonoa's VA.
I have thought about trying Command Mission for so damn long now. Damn, it's crazy to see other people really liking DQ. That game really has a strong......anti fan base?
@@AvalancheReviews It's so good, it's basically breath of fire but as a megaman X sequel(Same team even). I think it's cause DQ has been more forgotten and times have hanged that it found it's audience. I can say I've seen my fair share of JP BoF that call it a "god tier game".
nice to see you covering games that normally get glossed over and being a huge fan of Raidou Kuzunoha games let me say its sequel VASTLY improves the gameplay and movement ;3
33:40 From what you're telling here I can certainly guess why many purist fans would dislike this installment, but I can still see why it would be your favorite. Sometimes if I like a story, or if the gameplay does something unique and interesting, I don't care if a game sticks out from its peers.
I love that the first game to come up was Time Stalkers! I really liked it from what little I've played of it but I gotta get my Dreamcast fully repaired before I start getting back into that console.
Arc Rise Fantasia's combat system is PEAK in my opinion. Worth the playthrough for that alone. One of those JRPGs where, even after hundreds of fights, i'm still up for another one. Another example is Tales of Graces f. Great vid!
Devil summer will always be a classic. I remember playing it and hating it then one day (not long after) picking it back up and realizing how absolutely amazing it is
I wasn't prepared for Dragon Quarter to get as much focus as it did, but I'm not complaining either. I played them all and I understand that a game that was previously all about colorful fantasy-environments with a mixture of goofy humour and sometimes quite bleak plotlines hard-rejected a game that went all-in on bleak post-apocalyptic sci-fi where everything is earth and metal-toned... and that whole part where a turnbased strategy game went all in on dungeon crawl and pseudo-rogue lite gameplay, but I for one loved the planning of those fights, and slowly unraveling the plot. Maybe one day, we'll finally get a collection or something along those lines... or a Shining Force game that takes advantage of Fire Emblem becoming bigger to give us some of that good old tactical fantasy action. I didn't play it back in the day but I was charmed to see someone who had fond memories of it give me a small run-through of it. Breath of Fire and Shining-series feels like they share a "high fantasy with lots of animal-people" vibe to them that makes me wonder if the character artists in them were inspired by the same things or something. Also, apparently Time Stalkers is a cross-over game between a lot of different characters from that company, so I guess they kinda decided to go all out with a big cross-over game since I don't think they're active any longer? I'm mostly just amused by how the game has Sword's 3D-model look like a pretty standard heroic-build JRPG hero of the time, while the character art is that artists usual "lanky smirking asshole" deal.
Utterly agree with Ridou kuzanoha devil summoner being my favorite SMT game PERIOD. The aesthetic, 60s Japanese jazz soundtrack, the beautiful pre rendered backgrounds and seeing my favorite demons in action... favorite.
Always down for a good RPG discussion/recommendation video! 😄 Time Stalkers is one that I have been wanting to pick up. I did not have a Dreamcast back in the day, so I missed out on a lot of the goodness the system had to offer. I still need to dive more into the SMT series, and I’ll have to bump Devil Summoner up the list. Much love for the Breath of Fire series. Getting all the nostalgia chills during this segment of the video. I hope we do get a revival someday. I do appreciate the lengthy Dragon Quarter defense. 💚 It is a little sad when you find out about a gem of an RPG that never was released outside of Japan. I’ll have to look into Sacred Blaze and Klonoa sometime. Being scolded by the game in Nightmare of Druaga, I love that concept. Anything that blurs that wall between the player and the game I appreciate. I’ve never played the GBA version of Shining Force. Loved them on the Genesis! I do like the look of those GBA sprites. A great series which I agree doesn’t seem to get enough love these days. Glad you included them here! Great video, Jared! Hope all is good on your end and you had a great Christmas and have a great New Year’s! 😁
I absolutely adore about this channel. Despite me disagreeing on a lot of avalanches game design opinions they are super consistent with what they like and why they like something. This makes it so that when I watch a review I know everything I need to know about the game because of how consistent of a voice avalanche is. I don’t have to worry about different writers and contradictory reviews like IGN. Super thanks avalanche
I don't know if you already covered it in another video like this one, but I really enjoyed Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits on PS2 [though it's the only one in the series I've played.]
@@AvalancheReviews I honestly don't remember much about my time with the game [till i read the wiki to make sure i got the right game, I'd forgotten you spend the game switching between two teams,] but I remember really liking it. I think it's the only game i've ever played with turnbased combat that had a range of movement that wasn't grid based. The range circles led to some very interesting strategising for movement and I wish more games used it [and, in general, that more RPG's would return to turn based combat. Final fantasy as basically a Hack&Slash just doesn't work for me.] Then again, even before I discovered Furry I was always low-key trash that could be swayed into liking a game if it had cool character designs and especially if it had anthro's so Valk sold me on the game just from the boxart XD
He's still looking good!! His name is Jared!!! Great video. When it started off and you started talking about obscure mystery dungeon games. I was sure you were gonna do Azure Dreams for PS1. Check it out, it's incredibly charming mystery dungeon, sprite based, monster taming , town building and relationship building game that's totally lost over the years.
I still have the original DQ game, play it all the time, the game really was ambitious and I think they smashed it out the park! I had no idea people didn't like it, but I can see how people didn't like the change up in style. But they are wrong it's amazing hahah
Love your videos man, especially when you branch out and do ones like this, but maaan that was harsh what you said about the Genesis soundchip. I understand if you played some games that had shit soundtracks, they certainly exist, but there's also several games with great soundtracks on that console. SNES was not 100% better, it has a problem with hallow sounding instruments and weak bass and drums on a lot of games too. The way I see it is, both consoles had great but very different soundchips, and each one was better at certain things than the other!
For anyone not aware, the artist for Time Stalkers, Landstalker etc,Yoshitaka Tamaki died recently. Meaning that along with the writer for illbleed and Blue Stinger, Shinya Nishigaki; we are losing many members of Climax Graphics before they have had chance for their game to be truly loved and appreciated for the weird, wonderful and offbeat creative works of art. It's truly saddening that we haven't had some kind of collection of their games (even though we nearly got illbleed and Blue Stinger on the xbox... until he died and the deal fell through). These old guard of 90s small team development seem to be dying young before we get chance to take down their history (RIP Kenjo Eno) I am assuming it's due to the culture that many of them went through during the 90s. No sleep and smoking like chimneys. Sorry, after seeing Timestalkers I just had to get that off my chest... Goodbye Climax Graphics, Goodbye Crazy Games.
Another awesome game to add to the list someday, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. Basically, Final Fantasy X with a lord of the rings coat of paint, one of my favorite games to visit from time time. Also, Gladius! A Lucas arts strategy rpg where you make a team of gladiators to fight in the games, travel the lands, different cities have different arenas all with unique challenges. You might have a normal brawl in one town, or have to do a bunch of king of hill objects in the next one over. Some arena's are themed, like all monsters, or more focus on heavy or light troops. Really great game, and deserves more love.
I remember kind of being hyped on that one. It looked like a real traditional RPG. I was expecting an action game. Still haven't played it yet. I'll admit I'm not much of an LoTR guy, but I'll def give it a try at some point.
BoF Dragon Quarter was one of my all-time favorite games I played on my PS2. I got it randomly for Christmas and had never played a BoF game before. But when I put it in my PS2 and played it, I was hooked. It's one of the few games I played growing up that sticks in my memory and if I could get my hands on a fully functional PS2 It would be on that list of games I would be hunting down.
It must have been wild seeing what the other BoF games were like after having DQ be your first one. Kind of like the rest of our experiences, but in reverse.
@@AvalancheReviews Yeah, I played a few game series in reverse order before getting hooked on the franchise. BoF for example, though when it comes to Resident Evil, I didn't really get into that series until a little after my first experience with it. I was handed a copy of Code Veronica when I was still young and told that it wasn't a horror game (which to be fair, it really isn't), so when I got up the stairs at the start and entered the graveyard you can imagine what a shock to the system it was when the zombies started popping out of their graves. I didn't touch another RE title until Outbreak. That was when I became hooked on Resident Evil.
Cant complain about someone praising about Dragon Quarter, easily one of my favorite RPGs, the story, the presentation, the battle system, heck even the atmosphere, everything just work, if I were to complain I would say that higher D-ratio could add more cutscenes and areas to explore, would make me want to play better to get that elusive D-ratio of 1/4, and would actually really complement the name of the game
The breath of fire series has been on my list to experience at some point but you definitely sold me on dragon quarter in particular. The world and setup intrigues me but the resetting mechanic does make me raise a brow some. Thinking on it a bit.. is Dragon Quarter a JRPG roguelike in a way? Keeping equipment and getting more powerful each run through while unlocking new scenes/dialogue etc. Just a thought.
It is adjacent to one, that's for sure. I get being apprehensive about the restart system. It's not something sounds like it would work on paper. It really is fun as hell though.
Always wanted to play dragon quarter. I love cel shading too. Dark Chronicle has some beautiful characters because of it. I'll be eagerly awaiting the mail man 😂
Woooo new vid hype. Ok you like JRPGs, you like stories, you like exploring and you like games that kick you in the balls .Why have you not played Fear and Hunger yet?
@@AvalancheReviewsthe first one is very much a roguelite dungeon crawler (a la Chocobo Dungeon) and the second is so full of tropes and references you can't help but smile. I'll skip the "current year" bits I noticed in the second, but they *are* there.
Got Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter a while ago, I didn’t even know it was the 5th game in the series. Since I wasn’t sure it was ok to play the game before playing the other I checked some reviews which were pretty negative and ultimately put me off trying the game. Ironically one of these reviews was from Super Derek.
I thought I was the only one who loved Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter. I remember being so disappointed, playing not long after it's original release because I'd loved Breath of Fire IV so much and this was barely like the games that preceded it at all. But, something just clicked a few hours in and it became my favourite in the series. It really is a strategy title through and through with each of your trio having a role that you really need to understand.
Great video as always! Have you ever tried out the PS1 fan translation of Persona 2 Innocent Sin btw? Whilst I love Eternal Punishment it was actually Innocent Sin and later Persona 3 that were my first JRPG I've played! You should also try out Namco X Capcom at some point, you'll get to meet a lot of your favourite and unexpected characters from both companies and get an unexpectedly well written crossover!
I tried out that P2 fan translation back on the PSP. Loved it! I've had Namco X Capcom ready to go for so long, but still haven't really messed with it. I really need to.
@@JarlBarbossa Unfortunately not so, whilst Innocent SIn on PSP is much better than the PSP port of Persona 1, the PSP version of Innocent Sin changed how the battle system works so its not as fast as the PS1 original, as well as censored some stuff and most annoyingly of all, made the game way too easy, easier than the original PS1 game (which wasn't hard in the first place), increasing difficulty only increases the HP of the bosses and nothing else. Pretty much all these issues were fixed in Eternal Punishments PSP port and thank god that has an English translation now so that people can experience the additional story from the game's original writer, Tadashi Satomi.
Merci. (The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing work perfectly with a gamepad, i mean that's really good, It just takes a little time to get used to it. Don't forget to update the game. Also they are many secret in the game very well hidden ;) i have The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Anthology, it's really worth it.
If there's anything, ANYTHING, this video convinced me, it's to at least try Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter, this thing looks and sounds so sick. Thank you. Also I gotta take advantage of the retro market crashing so...
The smt series is my bread and butter the press turn system makes such a difference to boring rpg combat. Though I like active combat like in paper mario or like a dragon
I will always agree with this. Anytime you're saying that an old RPG series needs a remaster or re release, just know that somewhere, I'm nodding my head in agreement.
One of the ps2 games I played a bit of that had some interesting mechanics was Ephemeral Fantasia, the game itself was fairly meh but the groundhog day style story and music mini games I rather found done well enough. The grind is real though, don't think I finished it at all, but I have vague memories of saving the general from the bomb.
Breath of Fire 4 really falls apart plotwise after the island. A lot of set ups never paid of. BoF 3 it's amazing, but the random encounter rate it's way too high that made the whole experience worse. 2 steps, random encounter.
Dunno what that says about your tastes. If everyone things it killed the franchise and you think it's the best/your favorite. I dunno if you can be a trusted source lol
Van Helsing hack'n'slash was pretty cool - they put effort to make something interesting outside the combat. Final Cut tho? Wasn't that great - it was getting stale when you reach 3rd game...
Diablo clone/Diablolike works fine Isometric Looter ARPG is a bit of a mouthful, and there's always a pedant or two around to crap on you for not recognizing that it's ACKTSHUALLY dimetric or whatever
You guys make sure to check out Super Derek! The guy is THE place for RPGs on youtube (www.youtube.com/@SuperDerek). And huge thanks to Machine Hunter OG, the guy who made the new intro song. His handle is twitter.com/machinehunterOG and he's currently accepting commissions.
You should review Xenoblade series.
Will we get an Alan Wake 2 review in 2033 bro?
The link to Super Derek doesn't work!
For breath of fire 2 you HAVE to play the Maeson + Retranslation hack.
In my opinion, the original version has a horrible translation and miserably high encounter rate. The above fixes it.
Hey Jared, thanks again for having me on dude, always love the chance to talk about The Bouncer, and talk RPGs. :)
We gotta do it again!
SuperDerek -
Not sure if you remember this, but a few years back, I tried calling your hot line to leave suggestion. I was a bit drunk and kept screwing up my messages. I said something along the line of, “you look like someone who calls movies cinema” or something like that. You actually played my voice mail in one of your podcast videos. I never did manage to get my suggestion out, which is why it’s so awesome you guys end up doing a collab! My suggestion was to invite Avalanche reviews on to your Sunday’s podcast.
I actually thought Sora was the guy from “The Bouncer” when the first “Kingdom Hearts” images came out!
Whoa
Yah
Bruh
Sora Becomes the Bouncer in his adult life
There's just something special about the PS1 DC and PS2 era rpgs. Great video bud!
Thanks man! Getting to live through the PS1 era was a stroke of pure luck.
thank you for bringing up breath of fire and shining force which both strengthened my love for video games
My pleasure dawg!
Oh hey, I was actually the one who recommended Nightmare of Druaga when you were on that Mystery Dungeon kick a while ago. I'm glad you liked it enough to include in a video!
Of course, Super Derek is always awesome, I think it's been a long time since you two collabed on something.
Of course, just when I think you couldn't get any more gigachad putting the *entire* Breath of Fire series in the video (and exalting the greatness of Dragon Quarter) you bring in Arc Rise Fantasia, and absolute must-play on Wii. In fact, if you do play it on real hardware, I highly recommend using the Classic Controller Pro, it gives a very nice "lost late-life PS2 RPG" vibe to it.
Also, I don't dive into emulation often, but I didn't know Klonoa Legend of the Star Medal's fan translation was already finished... I might just need to dust off ol' VBA
Don't know if it was reviewed yet but... I suggest:
- Ar Tonelico (Suuuuper cool management system using crystals and sync with a 'singer')
- Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al Revis (Vey nice school setting and crafting)
I got time stalkers to this DAY. Re-bought it from a swap meet for 10$ with a dreamcast controller. Felt like a true treasure hunter.
Thankyou for giving Dragon Quarter the respect it deserves because when it came out it was hated for being different from the usual JRPG formula.
Glad in another video you mentioned Legend of Legaia, I really loved that game when I was younger. I played a lot of weird and random RPG's as a kid, and that was one that was a gem.
Have you thought of adding the Lunar games to this list? I wish those games got some more love and the work that was put into Silver Star Story and Enternal Blue always deserves more love and highlighting.
I think it wont be too long till you see those games show up in one of these videos.
So nice to have Jared back with the RPGs!
Hell yes! I'm back!!!
the bouncer is like a 2h cutscene with 3-min gameplay chunks in between scenes. It's underwhelming, to say the least
i waited for arc rise fantasia to come up, its been so long since i first asked you that question.
honestly the only reason i play is for the combat, being under powered in a fight in the middle game is super engaging as you have just enough tools to get by a lot of the scenarios presented to you, but not too much to make you too over powered or to overwhelm you, and when it comes to that point when you have those options its when you have a had time to get to grips with it. it has a few difficulty spikes and demands a bit of grinding, but the grinding more or less surrounds the Materia combined with Tetris/re4 attaché case system. which feeds more rewards to you at a consistent pace which makes that grinding less of a chore overall (even if i use the turbo function the whole time), and that weapon system basically makes weapons stay consistently viable throughout a majority of the game when some of them get replaced with better variants.
the weapon system is very engaging and meshes with the other systems well as you can make different builds with different characters, which all have a different weapon subtypes that attack at different ranges, you never actually have to use the main protag in the party though. L'arc being the protag, is the best character overall, that doesn't mean you have to use him, its very recommended though as he gets some of the best offensive locked weapon parts [being weapon parts you cant unlock by level up the weapon with WP (the games exp system for weapons)], the Rolex (Rogress) the summons of the game are usable by him as well, the rolex give him options to basically negate large portions of boss fights by either taking out a majority of their health bar or giving your party numerous benefits and status buffs, this paired with the passive buffs to resistances and stats that they give to L'arc puts him up there as the best.
speaking of the rolex. they are the majority of the plot focus, while there is a few strands not from them, most of the fights you will be taking place in will surround rolex, or be in fights with rolex to prove your self. which while repetitive doesnt really get in the way of enjoyment, as while the story writing is overall really poor, the pacing of the story is quite good, theres never really a time where theres no reason why your doing something, and they always try to move the story along in a timely fashion for the most part there is a few outliers, but overall the plot is fairly paced throughout.
and that concludes my mini essay about arc rise fantasia, this is truly a game i cant say is bad, its has so many rough spots, and can be grating at times either because of the story or some of the mechanics, but i could never say its bad, because i have immense nostalgia goggles for most of the game, and it has so many bright spots as well, so if you can pickup a copy (legally, plz, i understand if you cant tho) put it through dolphin (because the resolution is so bad and you can speed up some parts) and enjoy it, not really for the cutscenes, (although some are pretty funny) but for the gameplay, which will engross any jrpg fan throughout, it has alot of different bars, and as an jrpg fan, yknow you love bars.
also props to me for having the longest comment by far sheesh
I thought about writing back a comment one letter longer than yours so I could have the longest. Arc Rise really is one of those flawed, but great kind of games. It's got a list of issues the length of my arm, but I still really get a kick out of it.
Guardian's Crusade and Shining the Holy Ark are severely underrated.
Both are on the list. Can't wait to cover em
Great to see another Dragon Quarter fan! I have to say though that it is most certainly possible to beat it on your first try. I did it on a new save. There were tense moments, but when I won the feeling was amazing. I had beaten the game before; so I knew how to play. It is one of my favourite JRPGs and it is hilarious because I used to trash the game all because when I was a kid, I didn't like it.
If I may comment, since I just finished playing BoF 1, I found that the main issue is the horrible translation. The game in general is good, with amazing music, a good setting, and good gameplay for the time. However, it is difficult to keep interest when the translation is so bad that following the story is almost impossible.
Did you ever play the Van Helsing PS2 game? I found a copy I've had laying around since I was a kid and decided to give it a try. It's actually pretty enjoyable. Sorta plays like DMC, but it's got elements of resource management and metroidvania backtracking, not to mention that the whole gothic town/castle aesthetic gives me big RE4/Village vibes. It can get a bit frustrating when the later levels turn into bossrush with close to no resources becoming available between fights, but it's still a fairly enjoyable game throughout.
Wow, Super Derek was the channel that led me to both you and Jimmy Hapa. Glad to see that you both were finally able to make a collab.
On another note, I know RPGs are not as much of a popular subject on your channel but I'm really happy that you're able to cover them from time to time.
OMG YOUR TALKING ABOUT SMT AND PERSONA!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!
Excellent video, and I love all these collaborations you're doing lately.
I've never been much of a collab guy, but it's been fun messing around with doing that stuff.
I loved dragon quarters game play loop!. Beating the last boss never felt so earned.
Well, happy Thanksgiving to you Jocyne and Rufus!
And a Happy Thanksgiving to you man! Hope you're at home with the fam.
Love this piece. Didn't expect you to cover Duraga game
I live in Clarksville, TN! Do you remember what the mom and pop shop you went to was called? I wonder if it’s still around.
Have you ever played Planet Laika? Every time I see it mentioned I think of your channel. It's a very weird PS1 RPG that has similarities to survival horror games of the time, and it was translated relatively recently.
Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter is one of the best games of it's generation. Very Few RPGs and hell other games are on the same level of ambition as that game is. I use to be in the camp of not liking it, but after giving it a chance, it became one of my favorites. DQ is a funny case cause I think it was very well received by critics but not so much with RPG fans where it was divisive. The way the game is structure is very engaging and kinda akin to a survival horror game and a dungeon crawler which works very well. The story and look of it is all it's own and it probably has hitoshi sakimoto's best score.
On the subject of capcom rpgs, if you do another one of these, I'd like to see your thoughts on some of the megaman RPGs. Specifically Command Mission and Star Force, which the later gets overlooked by a lot of people outside of the megaman fanbase.
Didn't expect Klonoa Heroes on here, but that game is great and probably my favorite in the series. Regarding it's place in Klonoa's series, it uses a lot of characters from the main series like Guntz from Klonoa 2 Dream Championship for the GBA and Lolo and Popka from Klonoa 2 Lunatea's viel, but the story is in it's own continuity seperate from the main one. Hard disagree on the OST, I think heroes has a very memorable soundtrack, esp that theme song sung by klonoa's VA.
I have thought about trying Command Mission for so damn long now. Damn, it's crazy to see other people really liking DQ. That game really has a strong......anti fan base?
@@AvalancheReviews It's so good, it's basically breath of fire but as a megaman X sequel(Same team even).
I think it's cause DQ has been more forgotten and times have hanged that it found it's audience. I can say I've seen my fair share of JP BoF that call it a "god tier game".
Star force is a massive downgrade from battle Network
Nah Star force 3 is like top tier megaman
@@MD_Chaos nah, they took battle Network then cut out the movement options for no reason. It's mobile phone tier sl0p
nice to see you covering games that normally get glossed over and being a huge fan of Raidou Kuzunoha games let me say its sequel VASTLY improves the gameplay and movement ;3
That's what everyone is saying. I can't wait to check it out.
33:40 From what you're telling here I can certainly guess why many purist fans would dislike this installment, but I can still see why it would be your favorite. Sometimes if I like a story, or if the gameplay does something unique and interesting, I don't care if a game sticks out from its peers.
Sometimes all it takes is for a game to do that ONE thing that you like, and it doesn't really matter what else it does.
@@AvalancheReviews Indeed.
devil summoner ost is SICK . that shit slaps
Slaps real damn hard
you ever play gorky 17? its a survival horror rpg set in a locked down russian lab/city filed with mutants. it still works on mordern pcs
The 2 times I installed it, it looked all fucked up at anything other than 640x480
I love that the first game to come up was Time Stalkers! I really liked it from what little I've played of it but I gotta get my Dreamcast fully repaired before I start getting back into that console.
Arc Rise Fantasia's combat system is PEAK in my opinion. Worth the playthrough for that alone. One of those JRPGs where, even after hundreds of fights, i'm still up for another one. Another example is Tales of Graces f. Great vid!
Devil summer will always be a classic. I remember playing it and hating it then one day (not long after) picking it back up and realizing how absolutely amazing it is
Devil Summer is the Beach VolleyBall spin-off.
You ever play the Chaos Rings series?
I wasn't prepared for Dragon Quarter to get as much focus as it did, but I'm not complaining either. I played them all and I understand that a game that was previously all about colorful fantasy-environments with a mixture of goofy humour and sometimes quite bleak plotlines hard-rejected a game that went all-in on bleak post-apocalyptic sci-fi where everything is earth and metal-toned... and that whole part where a turnbased strategy game went all in on dungeon crawl and pseudo-rogue lite gameplay, but I for one loved the planning of those fights, and slowly unraveling the plot. Maybe one day, we'll finally get a collection or something along those lines... or a Shining Force game that takes advantage of Fire Emblem becoming bigger to give us some of that good old tactical fantasy action. I didn't play it back in the day but I was charmed to see someone who had fond memories of it give me a small run-through of it. Breath of Fire and Shining-series feels like they share a "high fantasy with lots of animal-people" vibe to them that makes me wonder if the character artists in them were inspired by the same things or something.
Also, apparently Time Stalkers is a cross-over game between a lot of different characters from that company, so I guess they kinda decided to go all out with a big cross-over game since I don't think they're active any longer? I'm mostly just amused by how the game has Sword's 3D-model look like a pretty standard heroic-build JRPG hero of the time, while the character art is that artists usual "lanky smirking asshole" deal.
Will you be getting the Tink 4K on release?
Well this was a pleasant surprise.
Utterly agree with Ridou kuzanoha devil summoner being my favorite SMT game PERIOD. The aesthetic, 60s Japanese jazz soundtrack, the beautiful pre rendered backgrounds and seeing my favorite demons in action... favorite.
Always down for a good RPG discussion/recommendation video! 😄 Time Stalkers is one that I have been wanting to pick up. I did not have a Dreamcast back in the day, so I missed out on a lot of the goodness the system had to offer.
I still need to dive more into the SMT series, and I’ll have to bump Devil Summoner up the list. Much love for the Breath of Fire series. Getting all the nostalgia chills during this segment of the video. I hope we do get a revival someday. I do appreciate the lengthy Dragon Quarter defense. 💚
It is a little sad when you find out about a gem of an RPG that never was released outside of Japan. I’ll have to look into Sacred Blaze and Klonoa sometime. Being scolded by the game in Nightmare of Druaga, I love that concept. Anything that blurs that wall between the player and the game I appreciate.
I’ve never played the GBA version of Shining Force. Loved them on the Genesis! I do like the look of those GBA sprites. A great series which I agree doesn’t seem to get enough love these days. Glad you included them here!
Great video, Jared! Hope all is good on your end and you had a great Christmas and have a great New Year’s! 😁
I absolutely adore about this channel. Despite me disagreeing on a lot of avalanches game design opinions they are super consistent with what they like and why they like something. This makes it so that when I watch a review I know everything I need to know about the game because of how consistent of a voice avalanche is. I don’t have to worry about different writers and contradictory reviews like IGN. Super thanks avalanche
I don't know if you already covered it in another video like this one, but I really enjoyed Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits on PS2 [though it's the only one in the series I've played.]
I actually did cover that game briefly in a previous underrated RPG video. It's a game I started off negative with, but now I kind of like it.
@@AvalancheReviews I honestly don't remember much about my time with the game [till i read the wiki to make sure i got the right game, I'd forgotten you spend the game switching between two teams,] but I remember really liking it.
I think it's the only game i've ever played with turnbased combat that had a range of movement that wasn't grid based. The range circles led to some very interesting strategising for movement and I wish more games used it [and, in general, that more RPG's would return to turn based combat. Final fantasy as basically a Hack&Slash just doesn't work for me.]
Then again, even before I discovered Furry I was always low-key trash that could be swayed into liking a game if it had cool character designs and especially if it had anthro's so Valk sold me on the game just from the boxart XD
shining force 2 and phantasy star 4 are the best rpgs on cartridge.
Can't say I disagree. Throw in FF5 and you got yourself a trifecta!
@@AvalancheReviews Uncharted Waters: New Horizons?
He's still looking good!! His name is Jared!!! Great video. When it started off and you started talking about obscure mystery dungeon games. I was sure you were gonna do Azure Dreams for PS1. Check it out, it's incredibly charming mystery dungeon, sprite based, monster taming , town building and relationship building game that's totally lost over the years.
I still have the original DQ game, play it all the time, the game really was ambitious and I think they smashed it out the park! I had no idea people didn't like it, but I can see how people didn't like the change up in style. But they are wrong it's amazing hahah
Love your videos man, especially when you branch out and do ones like this, but maaan that was harsh what you said about the Genesis soundchip. I understand if you played some games that had shit soundtracks, they certainly exist, but there's also several games with great soundtracks on that console.
SNES was not 100% better, it has a problem with hallow sounding instruments and weak bass and drums on a lot of games too. The way I see it is, both consoles had great but very different soundchips, and each one was better at certain things than the other!
More!! WE WANT MORE!!
Great video by the by.
Coming up!
For anyone not aware, the artist for Time Stalkers, Landstalker etc,Yoshitaka Tamaki died recently. Meaning that along with the writer for illbleed and Blue Stinger, Shinya Nishigaki; we are losing many members of Climax Graphics before they have had chance for their game to be truly loved and appreciated for the weird, wonderful and offbeat creative works of art.
It's truly saddening that we haven't had some kind of collection of their games (even though we nearly got illbleed and Blue Stinger on the xbox... until he died and the deal fell through).
These old guard of 90s small team development seem to be dying young before we get chance to take down their history (RIP Kenjo Eno)
I am assuming it's due to the culture that many of them went through during the 90s. No sleep and smoking like chimneys.
Sorry, after seeing Timestalkers I just had to get that off my chest...
Goodbye Climax Graphics, Goodbye Crazy Games.
Why has the thumbnail for this video change like 10 times?
Why do you know that?
Is that a new intro track?
It is. This guy on Twitter MachineHunterOG made it for me.
Another awesome game to add to the list someday, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. Basically, Final Fantasy X with a lord of the rings coat of paint, one of my favorite games to visit from time time. Also, Gladius! A Lucas arts strategy rpg where you make a team of gladiators to fight in the games, travel the lands, different cities have different arenas all with unique challenges. You might have a normal brawl in one town, or have to do a bunch of king of hill objects in the next one over. Some arena's are themed, like all monsters, or more focus on heavy or light troops. Really great game, and deserves more love.
I remember kind of being hyped on that one. It looked like a real traditional RPG. I was expecting an action game. Still haven't played it yet. I'll admit I'm not much of an LoTR guy, but I'll def give it a try at some point.
As someone who beat Klonoa 1 and had the 2nd game LP'd for him, I know that every other game is basically AU.
I'm glad you're still putting out videos. Are you going to stream on RUclips again? You haven't streamed in awhile and we miss you streaming.
I'm probably going to come back tomorrow actually
@@AvalancheReviews That's good.
BoF Dragon Quarter was one of my all-time favorite games I played on my PS2. I got it randomly for Christmas and had never played a BoF game before. But when I put it in my PS2 and played it, I was hooked. It's one of the few games I played growing up that sticks in my memory and if I could get my hands on a fully functional PS2 It would be on that list of games I would be hunting down.
It must have been wild seeing what the other BoF games were like after having DQ be your first one. Kind of like the rest of our experiences, but in reverse.
@@AvalancheReviews Yeah, I played a few game series in reverse order before getting hooked on the franchise. BoF for example, though when it comes to Resident Evil, I didn't really get into that series until a little after my first experience with it.
I was handed a copy of Code Veronica when I was still young and told that it wasn't a horror game (which to be fair, it really isn't), so when I got up the stairs at the start and entered the graveyard you can imagine what a shock to the system it was when the zombies started popping out of their graves. I didn't touch another RE title until Outbreak. That was when I became hooked on Resident Evil.
If you liked Raidou 1 you should really try Raidou 2. It does quite a lot of improvements.
Really? Fuck yeah!
Pretty much the only way I recommend those games is playing 2 then 1
Excellent video. No love for Shining in the Darkness, though? Deserves at least a shoutout when discussing the Shining series.
I've only ever played a few minutes of that game honestly. I've missed out on a lot of really good gen rpgs growing up.
Cant complain about someone praising about Dragon Quarter, easily one of my favorite RPGs, the story, the presentation, the battle system, heck even the atmosphere, everything just work, if I were to complain I would say that higher D-ratio could add more cutscenes and areas to explore, would make me want to play better to get that elusive D-ratio of 1/4, and would actually really complement the name of the game
The breath of fire series has been on my list to experience at some point but you definitely sold me on dragon quarter in particular. The world and setup intrigues me but the resetting mechanic does make me raise a brow some. Thinking on it a bit.. is Dragon Quarter a JRPG roguelike in a way? Keeping equipment and getting more powerful each run through while unlocking new scenes/dialogue etc. Just a thought.
It is adjacent to one, that's for sure. I get being apprehensive about the restart system. It's not something sounds like it would work on paper. It really is fun as hell though.
Id recommend skipping 1 and if you play 2, use the Maeson hack + Retranslation. 3 is the best starting point imo
Where you been!?
I've been taking care of a few things. Haven't had the energy to stream as much.
The Bouncer feels like a recycled Tobal 2, since the characters have all the moves from the PS1 game. Hope for a Tobal 3 release :')
great, i guess i will have to wait a bit longer for your Alan Wake 2 retrospective
That is coming
It's so refreshing seeing someone else recognize how brilliant Breath of Fire 5 is!
Genuinely one of my favorite rpgs
coming back to this its really funny how much time you spent on dragon quarter compared to the rest of the trilogy
makes sense but just funny
is arc rise fantasia's voice acting really worse than enchanted arms?
Devil Summoner is so slept on and I will never understand the hate, I think it’s a great game and SMT fans are just weird
Always wanted to play dragon quarter. I love cel shading too. Dark Chronicle has some beautiful characters because of it.
I'll be eagerly awaiting the mail man 😂
Still waiting on that dormant horror titles to be revived by said studio video...
SF2 and BoF2 were my childhood, classics both.
Woooo new vid hype. Ok you like JRPGs, you like stories, you like exploring and you like games that kick you in the balls .Why have you not played Fear and Hunger yet?
It's really weird. That game should 100000% be in my wheel-house, but I've just never been interested in it.
@@AvalancheReviewsspoopy af
@@AvalancheReviewsthe first one is very much a roguelite dungeon crawler (a la Chocobo Dungeon) and the second is so full of tropes and references you can't help but smile. I'll skip the "current year" bits I noticed in the second, but they *are* there.
I like RPGs and played a ton of them. Never heard of Super Derek.
That dude rules!
Got Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter a while ago, I didn’t even know it was the 5th game in the series. Since I wasn’t sure it was ok to play the game before playing the other I checked some reviews which were pretty negative and ultimately put me off trying the game. Ironically one of these reviews was from Super Derek.
Devil Summoner is correct
This is correct
legend
Nightmare of Druaga has its own Mr. Resetti XD
Breath of fire 4 is the best one in the series for me as it was my first ps1 rpg game.
BREATH OF FIRE!!!!!!!!
YES!!!!!
I thought I was the only one who loved Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter. I remember being so disappointed, playing not long after it's original release because I'd loved Breath of Fire IV so much and this was barely like the games that preceded it at all. But, something just clicked a few hours in and it became my favourite in the series. It really is a strategy title through and through with each of your trio having a role that you really need to understand.
Yeah, it definitely takes some time to grow on you. When it does, it's glorious!
Great video as always!
Have you ever tried out the PS1 fan translation of Persona 2 Innocent Sin btw? Whilst I love Eternal Punishment it was actually Innocent Sin and later Persona 3 that were my first JRPG I've played!
You should also try out Namco X Capcom at some point, you'll get to meet a lot of your favourite and unexpected characters from both companies and get an unexpectedly well written crossover!
I tried out that P2 fan translation back on the PSP. Loved it! I've had Namco X Capcom ready to go for so long, but still haven't really messed with it. I really need to.
The psp version of both games is better
@@JarlBarbossa Unfortunately not so, whilst Innocent SIn on PSP is much better than the PSP port of Persona 1, the PSP version of Innocent Sin changed how the battle system works so its not as fast as the PS1 original, as well as censored some stuff and most annoyingly of all, made the game way too easy, easier than the original PS1 game (which wasn't hard in the first place), increasing difficulty only increases the HP of the bosses and nothing else.
Pretty much all these issues were fixed in Eternal Punishments PSP port and thank god that has an English translation now so that people can experience the additional story from the game's original writer, Tadashi Satomi.
Merci.
(The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing work perfectly with a gamepad, i mean that's really good, It just takes a little time to get used to it. Don't forget to update the game. Also they are many secret in the game very well hidden ;)
i have The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Anthology, it's really worth it.
I really like your current content, we have a cool hidden camera would you like to review?
I........I'm gonna have to pass on that one
Yo I finished the bouncer like 50 times when I was a kid, mostly because it was exceedingly short...
Omg the bouncer was amazing my first ps2 game wow so nostalgic🤯😁
Best i can find for a Diablo like is Action RPG dungeon crawler, so like ARPGDC
If there's anything, ANYTHING, this video convinced me, it's to at least try Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter, this thing looks and sounds so sick. Thank you. Also I gotta take advantage of the retro market crashing so...
The smt series is my bread and butter the press turn system makes such a difference to boring rpg combat. Though I like active combat like in paper mario or like a dragon
This is why we could use an upresed breath of fire collection
I will always agree with this. Anytime you're saying that an old RPG series needs a remaster or re release, just know that somewhere, I'm nodding my head in agreement.
for the design alone draqo is great
Agreed
One of the ps2 games I played a bit of that had some interesting mechanics was Ephemeral Fantasia, the game itself was fairly meh but the groundhog day style story and music mini games I rather found done well enough.
The grind is real though, don't think I finished it at all, but I have vague memories of saving the general from the bomb.
rogue galaxy is pretty obscure and under rated
Let’s GOOOOOO
I should play Devil Summoner games
I was just watching the old clips about obscure rpgs
I feel a connection to people out on youtube looking up obscure RPGs.
I will not stand for Lulu slander... 16:50 that's my wife, she doesn't know it yet, but I am married to her.
alright bro i waited a year time for another rpg video
I got caught up with some other stuff, but there will be more for sure.
Its funny because the game that actually killed Breath of Fire was the mobile only BoF 6 which basically ended the series with a wet fart.
Breath of Fire 4 really falls apart plotwise after the island. A lot of set ups never paid of.
BoF 3 it's amazing, but the random encounter rate it's way too high that made the whole experience worse. 2 steps, random encounter.
Dunno what that says about your tastes. If everyone things it killed the franchise and you think it's the best/your favorite. I dunno if you can be a trusted source lol
RPGs!
And a bunch of em
The Bouncer aged kinda horribly and is just as long as the Call of Duty MW3 campaign lol. Wish it got a sequel though.
Van Helsing hack'n'slash was pretty cool - they put effort to make something interesting outside the combat. Final Cut tho? Wasn't that great - it was getting stale when you reach 3rd game...
Diablo clone/Diablolike works fine
Isometric Looter ARPG is a bit of a mouthful, and there's always a pedant or two around to crap on you for not recognizing that it's ACKTSHUALLY dimetric or whatever
Oh believe me, I know. HA! I've gotten that one before.