Square looks to buy Tecmo

[T.Tashi]

Square Enix announced the company has offered a proposal to Tecmo board of directors, to acquire Tecmo as its subsidiary for 920 yen per share, through a friendly takeover bit. The total amount is estimated at 22.34 billion yen (US$205 million), and currently Tecmo's share is at 706 yen. The offer expires on September 4, 2008.

http://the-magicbox.com/gaming.htm

[Cuddly Knife]

Didn't Tecmo make some cool rpg games in the 16-bit era? Maybe Squenix could rivive those games?

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

Ninja Gaiden under Square. Hmm. Ryu will have spiky hair and will surprisingly find the fountain of youth and turn into a teenager. All the DOA women will get breast reduction and wear clothes.

I can't really put down Square completely, since they do have tri-Ace.

[T.Tashi]

Didn't Tecmo make some cool rpg games in the 16-bit era? Maybe Squenix could rivive those games?

If they did I don't think they made it stateside. There's Deception, but I don't think that was an rpg perse, just something with fantasy elements. Nothing else comes to mind. There's Rygar tho.

I wonder if this effects Itagaki's lawsuit. Obviously Tecmo has some financial difficulties and $205 mil is almost a steal.

Square is giving the 360 some nice exclusive attention. I may have to break down and take a chance on one of these RROD machines. Sony's gonna be playing catch up with the rpgs for a long while. Ordinarily I'd get one used, but that's an even bigger throw of the dice. Hopefully there's a price drop this holiday.

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

There was a guy at my local Wal-mart (evil store) asking me about the 360 when I was looking for Mercs 2. The first thing out of my mouth was "I wouldn't get a used/refurbished one". I wouldn't get any used system, and getting a used 360 may be the worst option. I'm not even sure if it's covered under MS 3-year warranty or not.

I just picked up Infinite Undiscovery. I'm in dire need for a hopefully solid RPG, and October 14 (Fable 2) and October 28 (Fallout 3) are too far away. Plus, it has real-time hack and slash combat. I have yet to play it, though. I may not have time until this weekend. :(

Is Star Ocean a 360 exclusive?

[T.Tashi]

There was a guy at my local Wal-mart (evil store) asking me about the 360 when I was looking for Mercs 2. The first thing out of my mouth was "I wouldn't get a used/refurbished one". I wouldn't get any used system, and getting a used 360 may be the worst option. I'm not even sure if it's covered under MS 3-year warranty or not.

I just picked up Infinite Undiscovery. I'm in dire need for a hopefully solid RPG, and October 14 (Fable 2) and October 28 (Fallout 3) are too far away. Plus, it has real-time hack and slash combat. I have yet to play it, though. I may not have time until this weekend. :(

Is Star Ocean a 360 exclusive?

Star Ocean is exclusive. A PS3 version is up in the air. At least the PS3 has Valkyrie Chronicles in Nov. That looks pretty awesome.

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

Isn't Chronicles the strategy, traditional (turn-based?) RPG with cel-shading?

The PS3 will have other rpgs, but they are of the western rpg flavor, which I prefer. Fallout 3 and Sacred 2 are coming in October and November, respectively, and I'm going to try and get both.

[ilnadmy]

Honestly the PSP seems to be getting better RPGs than the PS3, which is kind of disappointing since I loved my PS2 RPGs, but it's also great because it justifies my PSP purchase quite well.

Star Ocean and Star Ocean 2 will be released on PSP soon, and they're not just re-releases but actual remakes which is awesome. I saw them in Japan and was going to get them but the thing is I actually want to understand the story.

[T.Tashi]

Honestly the PSP seems to be getting better RPGs than the PS3, which is kind of disappointing since I loved my PS2 RPGs, but it's also great because it justifies my PSP purchase quite well.

Star Ocean and Star Ocean 2 will be released on PSP soon, and they're not just re-releases but actual remakes which is awesome. I saw them in Japan and was going to get them but the thing is I actually want to understand the story.
Sony wore the rpg badge of honor (shuddup you PC gamers) for 2 generations but I guess they are just slow coming. In the meantime yeah I gotta admit the 360 is beginning to round out its rpg library nicely. It's not on the PS2's level but nonetheless, MS realized this weakness last gen and are really going after it and it has some really quality titles to boot. Too bad the hardware sucks or I'd probably have one by now. The price drop is tempting but yeah that RROD issue needs to be squashed first. I've had one console ever totally break on me and it's because I dropped it. So yeah I can't spend hundreds of dollars on something I know will eventually fail, and getting one used (what I would prefer) is out the question. I bought the GC and DC used and they performed like champs for many years, so that really says something about the lack of quality in MS's console.

I was never crazy about the way the Japanese make any of their action rpgs. But Star Ocean is a worthy title, however flawed the battle system.

[Mochan]

Deception wasn't an RPG, it was a Trap game where you are an evil ***** terrorizing innocent townsfolk, soldiers and kings with devilish traps and laugh at them squealing their death throws under your evil boulder traps and guilotines.

In other words, it was the pinnacle of AWESOME.

Tecmo was never known for RPGs and I honestly can't think of any RPGs by them.

Star Ocean was great I loved 2 and 3, never played 1. The story was cheesy, the voice acting was horribly good but the battle system was really fun despite its limitations. I am waiting for the PSP remake, the 360 really has a nice RPG library now but I will not get one until they release a new version of the 360.

[ilnadmy]

I was watching some videos of the Star Ocean remake and I didn't realize it was a sprite-based game. I was hoping for a 3D game but it turns out it isn't that at all. It's actually kind of a 3D sprite game since the camera can pan and move around, which is kind of weird since the models are all in 2D. I've never played a Star Ocean game so I'm withholding judgment, but I can't shake the feeling that the sprites are going to annoy me...

[Cuddly Knife]

Tecmo RPG games

Secret of the Stars

Released In: 1995
Developer: Tecmo
Publisher: Tecmo

The evil wizard Homncruise is raising an army so that he can take over the world. You are Ray, a descendant of the legendary Aqutallion warriors, and only you can defeat him. But first you must seek out fellow descendants of the Aqutallion to join your party and undergo a series of trials to claim your birthright, only then will you be able to beat Homncruise and his fearsome generals. Throughout the game, you will also have control of a second party of warriors, the Kustera, which makes for a rather unique, if not sometimes tedious, gameplay experience.
http://sydlexia.com/imagesandstuff/snes100/snes92.png

Also, aren't the Monster Rancher games RPGs?

[T.Tashi]

I was watching some videos of the Star Ocean remake and I didn't realize it was a sprite-based game. I was hoping for a 3D game but it turns out it isn't that at all. It's actually kind of a 3D sprite game since the camera can pan and move around, which is kind of weird since the models are all in 2D. I've never played a Star Ocean game so I'm withholding judgment, but I can't shake the feeling that the sprites are going to annoy me...

The only 3D Star Ocean is currently on PS2 and was pretty decent.

[Mochan]

Hmm, yeah Monster Rancher is an RPG in as much as Pokemon is. I do consider Pokemon to be an, uh, RPG so yeah Monster Rancher qualifies. It's just not hte first thing you think of when you think RPG.

[PapaSmurf]

The only 3D Star Ocean is currently on PS2 and was pretty decent.

You and Ilna liked Star Ocean 3!? Eww. I've put maybe about 15 hours into and I just couldn't stand crashin on one planet which is full of nothingness only to finally get off that rock and crash on the next planet which was full of nothingness. When do you actually get to travel on that ship and get laser guns and stuff.

I'm on the part where the big red ship makes it's debut appearance around the medieval planet. You go in the church and down some secret passage into like a dungeon area. I couldn't be bothered to continue after that as I thought that red ship was my ticket off the planet and sadly it wasn't. If you guys can convince me the game gets better I'll give it another go.

[T.Tashi]

You and Ilna liked Star Ocean 3!? Eww. I've put maybe about 15 hours into and I just couldn't stand crashin on one planet which is full of nothingness only to finally get off that rock and crash on the next planet which was full of nothingness. When do you actually get to travel on that ship and get laser guns and stuff.

I'm on the part where the big red ship makes it's debut appearance around the medieval planet. You go in the church and down some secret passage into like a dungeon area. I couldn't be bothered to continue after that as I thought that red ship was my ticket off the planet and sadly it wasn't. If you guys can convince me the game gets better I'll give it another go.

ilnadmy said he's never played a SO game.

I wouldn't heap any great praise on it. I barely remember the story tho honestly. The only reason I do remember it is because I bought the game the same day I dropped my PS2 and broke it. I do remember the big plot twist which I won't give away, but overall no I didn't consider the game or story memorable. The game has balance issues, the party AI is shaky (they die easy-the bane of all the SO games) so if you're not enjoying the battle system it probably won't get any better. Difficulty amps up fairly quickly and you'll have to do some grinding to finish it. The JRPG fans love the series in general but outside that niche it's a tough recommendation.

[PapaSmurf]

ilnadmy said he's never played a SO game.

I wouldn't heap any great praise on it. I barely remember the story tho honestly. The only reason I do remember it is because I bought the game the same day I dropped my PS2 and broke it. I do remember the big plot twist which I won't give away, but overall no I didn't consider the game or story memorable. The game has balance issues, the party AI is shaky (they die easy-the bane of all the SO games) so if you're not enjoying the battle system it probably won't get any better. Difficulty amps up fairly quickly and you'll have to do some grinding to finish it. The JRPG fans love the series in general but outside that niche it's a tough recommendation.

I meant Mochan.

[T.Tashi]

I meant Mochan.
Oh... yeah he'll probably give you a very different opinion of it. :D Me being the JRPG fan I am I'll play it but it wouldn't crack my top 10.

[Mochan]

Star Ocean 3 was okay but not one of the greats. The battle system was fun and I like how different characters play differently in the battles but overall the game was not as fun as Star Ocean 2. I think the characters overall just weren't as funky and stupidly fun, and again SO2's bad dub actually made it more interesting.

The plot was okay, better than 2's for sure but some people will probably hate the "Matrix" plotline.

Despite that, I think its somewhere around the top 10 of PS2 RPGs, I put it above FFX, Shadow Hearts and Grandia 3 but below Suikoden 3 and 5, Breath of Fire V and Persona 3.