and I thought Rogue Galaxy was the end...

[Aylmer]

...of killer PS2 JRPGs. I assumed that devs would be working on PS3 stuff primarily.

but today, I picked up TWO jaw dropping PS2 titles! Dawn of Mana and Odin Sphere. The Mana game has deep combo based battle elements, more in line with the Tales series. But Odin Sphere, an Atlus title, seems to be in a class by itself. The game looks to be a work of art. I've only played them a bit, but they both are worthy titles for JRPG freaks like myself.

Unfortunately, I will be leaving on an extended trip the first of the week so I'll not be able to get into them right away. But I do have a great PSP game to take with me!

[GCG]

I played and liked Dawn Of Mana but never even heard of Odin Sphere. I will have to keep an eye out for it and scoop it up. Thanks for the info.

[T.Tashi]

Odin Sphere is off the chain. Story, gameplay, outstanding graphics (or art I should say) with a new twist on 2D.

The PS2 still amazes me with it's rpg depth. I'll be wading through PS2 rpgs for at least a couple more years.

[Aylmer]

even the GBA is blowing me away with rpg goodness! Atlus keeps on bringing them over, thankfully!

[T.Tashi]

even the GBA is blowing me away with rpg goodness! Atlus keeps on bringing them over, thankfully!

I've been a fan of Atlus since I played Thousand Arms. Altus does bring over a lot of cool stuff that would probably othewise never see the light of day in NA.

[T.Tashi]

Anyone interested*in Persona 3?

[Aylmer]

that one is on my gotta have list. all the shin megami stuff is appealing to me, but persona looks really unusual

[Mochan]

Can someone tell me more about Odin Sphere, my PS2 I haven't been touching much lately I still have JRPGs to play on it (FF12, Valkyrie Profile 2 among others) but I want them all because soon I may have trouble getting these.

Persona 2 was just as weird as any Shin Megami Tensei game, I'll definitely pick up Persona 3.

[Mochan]

The killer will be when Atlus finally manages to bring over a real Super Robot Wars game. Super Robot Wars Original Generations for the PS2 will be a good start but I *really* want to see them bring over a real Super Robot Wars game like the Alpha series or the Impact/MX series.

[Gadfly2317]

Odin Sphere, I'll be playing that soon. Picked it up, but only popped it in to look at the visuals. I've got house guests all July so have been playing lots of multiplayer stuff like Guitar Hero and Wii, and everyone seems to dig motorstorm.

I can't wait to play Odin Sphere.

[T.Tashi]

Persona 3 is out Aug 14th and I can't wait. I thought I read July 24th but ah well maybe it was just wishful thinking.

Gamespot gave it an 8.5 and more importantly gave it an outstanding review. Mature themes, outstanding story, engaging battle engine and play mechanics and a full on high school simulator including dating! Which is all relative to the fighting. :D:D:D It appears to the the total rpg package.

I bought Odin Sphere but my wife totally jacked it. She's crazy about it and loves the 2D battles. I was ok to let her play since it appears to be more 2D brawler than rpg an dI've been fooling around with the PS3 but it's still a great game that I'll have to steal back. I'll probably end up fighting the harder boss battle for her anyway.

[Glockstar]

Y'alls talkin' made me check it out. I watched the 4 videos that IGN put up (back in April).

I'm glad I did. Wow; it looks amazing! Of course, I'm referring to the graphics/art.

But the gameplay looks pretty sweet too. After watching the videos I had to read the reviews (IGN's and GameSpot's). I think I might have to get this. (Might this be the next Puzzle Quest? Or Etrian Odyssey?) I do wish it was on PSP tho' - then I'd get it for sure.

Man, that game looks sweet!


Atlus is awesome. They're probably, like, my third favorite publisher. (Now when I say 3rd, know that that's actually saying quite a lot.)


Regarding Persona 3... well, actually Persona 2 :p : I've still got my copy of Persona 2... and I'm still looking to get rid of it... :wink5: I'd get, like, $30 for it on ebay - but I hate (selling on, and dealing with) ebay.

[Aylmer]

I know what you mean about eBay. Now they have four different categories for seller feedback. eBay has always been about favoring the buyers, even though it's the sellers that pay the fees. and, of course, if you accept paypal and complete a sale, that's three different fees per transaction. And then there's all the new shipping rules and crap.

I have a backlog of games I'd like to unload, and eBay is still better dollar-wise (tho maybe not hassle-wise) than trading games in at a store. So I'll prolly end up doing it, regretfully.

[T.Tashi]

I know what you mean about eBay. Now they have four different categories for seller feedback. eBay has always been about favoring the buyers, even though it's the sellers that pay the fees. and, of course, if you accept paypal and complete a sale, that's three different fees per transaction. And then there's all the new shipping rules and crap.

I have a backlog of games I'd like to unload, and eBay is still better dollar-wise (tho maybe not hassle-wise) than trading games in at a store. So I'll prolly end up doing it, regretfully.

What about half.com? I never liked dealing with the auction thing so when I was selling heavily a few years ago I sold everything on half.com which was a lot easier than dealing with ebay, even though they're the same company.

[Aylmer]

I've heard of Half, but have not used them. Often I get better than half, if that is a factor with Half.com, and with Atlus games, I've gotten more than I paid originally. I sold the Shin Megami series Nocturne with strat guide, and DD saga 1 and 2 for $300 as a bundle.

BTW, I've got about 8 hours into Tales...Radiant Mythology...and, well, I'm still waiting for it to click. I'm doing lots of FedEX stuff, but the game is not grabbing me yet.

However, Brave Story:New Traveler is looking very sweet indeed. It will be in my PSP within a day or three, I think. You can read about it here...

http://psp.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r32105.htm

[T.Tashi]

I've heard of Half, but have not used them. Often I get better than half, if that is a factor with Half.com, and with Atlus games, I've gotten more than I paid originally. I sold the Shin Megami series Nocturne with strat guide, and DD saga 1 and 2 for $300 as a bundle.

BTW, I've got about 8 hours into Tales...Radiant Mythology...and, well, I'm still waiting for it to click. I'm doing lots of FedEX stuff, but the game is not grabbing me yet.

However, Brave Story:New Traveler is looking very sweet indeed. It will be in my PSP within a day or three, I think. You can read about it here...

http://psp.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r32105.htm

I'm about 15 hours into it. The weird thing about it is, the story kinda sucks, and yet, the story is really good. It's hard to explain, but I think you'll like it. It's a bit on the easy side though so far. Tales had a good story but yeah the quests got really old for me quick, especially since when you which job classes you play the same exact missions. Ugh.

Half is just the name. You can sell it for anything you want. I have both DDS and Nocturne and I started to sell it when I saw the outrageous prices for it, but I'm gonna hold on to them. I wish I had bought 2 copies!

[Mochan]

I better pick up Odin Sphere. I feel so... empty after finishing Persona 3.

I tried playing Rogue Galaxy again, but I got put off *again* the moment I saw the C3PO ripoff. Urgh this game was so promising had okay graphics and an awesome combat system, but the characters and the writing just piss me off. I threw it back on the burner and went back to FF12.

I'm gonna raid the shops for Odin Sphere later.

[Aylmer]

Once you get into the game, you see that the C3PO thing is only superficial. The robot has a fairly deep character story and it is interwoven into the overall plotline quite nicely. Plus, in Rogue Galaxy, each character has unique abilities and weaponry, and the robot has some very cool ones indeed.

that game has some memorable moments. I especially liked the lecherous natives on the jungle planet.

and RG has some of the best level design I've ever seen.

I put so many hours into that frikkin' game, my wife started calling me 'Jaster'. I'm not kidding.

[Mochan]

Well he may have a deep character but I am still finding the overall character writing to be not to my liking. There is also no way that I will call the character writing of a JRPG as superficial, because that is the core of the game. If the C3PO ripoff isn't so C3PO-ish well he could have done a better job of hiding it, but it's not just him I don't like Jaster either. I guess one problem is I just finished playing Persona 3, but this game just feels so "bright" and "kiddy" in comparison. Good thing I didn't just play Nocturne.

I will probably play it later I still have Valkyrie Profile 2 and FF12 lined up, somehow those two games are more appealing.

Also, I have a criticism on the blockiness of the character models in RG. I mean that's really weird considering the semi-cel-shaded nature of the game. Have you seen Jaster's arms? They're freaking cylinders.

It's a far, far cry from the character models in FF12 or Digital Devil.

[T.Tashi]

I'm 105 hours into Persona 3 and I just hit floor 175 and my social stats are maxed. I'm just trying to drag it out as much as possible I know the end is coming. :`( Not sure what I'm gonna pick up next. I need to finish FF12 I'm about 60 hours into that. I'm gonna take inventory of what I have, what I don't have and go from there.

[Mochan]

Yeah it seems like Persona takes forever to play, no? Yet despite that, I never felt like it got old, heck I wanted more! I was sad that I only had a month left when I hit a certain point in the game. I was like, "No way I thought this was going to last until April!"

I missed out on maxing a lot of the SLinks, I missed out on Yuko, the French kid, the art/music club guy, Chariot, Tower and a few others. Well I got all the girls that counted so I'm happy.