I’m going to be on holiday until mid-January so I will not be playing Brave Saga until then. I have posts queued up, and I will be playing some switch game (possibly Xenoblade Chronicles).
I thought this would be a good time to provide the list of 1999 strategy RPGs that I will be tackling after I finish Brave Saga. It’s an even longer list than 1998, although some of these are games that I have already played before and won’t replay, and others I’m still unsure whether they count as SRPGs under my definition (marked with question marks below).
Since late 1996 I have been playing entirely Playstation and Saturn games, with the exception of two PC-FX games (and the remake of Black/Matrix). Moving into 1999 there are now six systems of games, which provides some nice variety. Still a lot of PS1 stuff though.
Here’s the list, with some comments on the ones I know about:
- 1. Ecsaform (PS1) – A patch came out for this recently, I think.
- 2. Little Witching Mischief (PS1) – I did not think I would be playing a game developed by “Toys for Bob”. I don’t know what to expect here.
- 3. Device Reign (PS1) – This is actually the final Saturn SRPG on my list, though I will be playing the PS version of course.
- 4. Tokyo Majin Gakuen Extra Disc (PS1) – This is a short bonus/fan disc so it won’t take very long.
- 5. Last Stand (WS) ?? – The Wonderswan appears.
- 6. SD Gundam Emotional Jam (WS) ??
- 7. Cielgris Phantasm (PS1) – This seems to be an Atelier-like game; not sure if I will play it.
- 8. Vandal Hearts 2 (PS1)
- 9. Ogre Battle 64 (N64) – I played this when it came out in the US; I probably won’t play it completely through again but I’d like to remember what it’s like.
- 10. Real Robot Sensen (PS1) – SRW for real robots?
- 11. Nadesico the Mission (DC) ???
- 12. Puyo Puyo Gaiden (GBC) – The Game boy returns! The last GB SRPG was in 1995.
- 13. Fire Emblem 5 (SFC) – And the SFC returns! Finally I can finish up the system with this very late game for the system, the 5th FE game which has a reputation for being pretty difficult.
- 14. Front Mission 3rd (PS1) – I really hope I enjoy this one more than the first two.
- 15. Getter Robo Daisakusen (PS1)
- 16. Mori no Okoku (PS1)
- 17. Arc the Lad 3 (PS1) – Same comment as #14.
- 18. Super Robot Taisen 64 (N64) – This is my favorite SRW story but I doubt I will play it completely through again.
- 19. Saiyuki (PS1)
- 20. Growlanser (PS1) – Langrisser’s team moved on to a new series.
- 21. Shin Masou Kishin (PS1) – I initially mixed this up with Rayblade, an ill-fated game released by Winkysoft after their split with Bandai, but this is actually a Banpresto game. I don’t know much about it.
- 22. Sunrise Heroes (DC) – This is another SRW-like game; I will be playing the PS2 remake.
- 23. Vermillion Desert (DC)
- 24. Kukuroseaturo (PS1) – Released as “Eternal Eyes” in the US.
- 25. Ouka Houshin (DC)
- 26. Gate Keepers (PS1)
- 27. Faselei! (NGPC) – The Neo-Geo Pocket Color is not a system I thought I would be playing a game on, but here we go.
Happy holidays !
“I did not think I would be playing a game developed by “Toys for Bob”. I don’t know what to expect here.”
Toys for Bob do great work! I believe this one is a reskinning of The Unholy War.
I would say that Arc the Lad 3 is quite the departure from the first 2 games in gameplay and tone. I thought that Arc the Lad 1 was a barebones, forgettable game. 2 was a massive step up in terms of scope and had an interesting setting with some great moments, but had some very awkward balance, pacing and was also a bit too grim for my tastes.
3 changes and simplifies the gameplay to be closer to a standard RPG with some grid movement thrown in. Despite being a sequel, the tone in general is much lighter and focuses more on a group of kids who end up falling into a greater plot, as opposed to spearheading the narrative themselves. It’s closer to something like Grandia than Arc the Lad 2.
It doesn’t have the best word of mouth but honestly, I thought it was by far the best game in the series. It’s very different though, and there’s a lot more scenes of quibbles, mischief and comedy. It’s very personal, and the game knows when to take itself seriously too. It does become more clear that it’s a sequel to 2 as the plot progresses.
And, despite being simplified, I enjoyed the battle system too; it’s decently fast and the game balance is more reasonable than 2 as well.
However, if you don’t get attached to the characters, the scenes of them will get in the way of things pretty fast.
Happy holidays, I have played some of them so I will say my opinion about them.
Ecsaform: I have played the English patch and even wrote a review about it on Reddit, the gameplay is better than I was expecting it doesn’t feel slow, but it’s a very easy and short game (only about 14 hours) , the story is underwhelming it feels like a poorly done summary of interesting JRPG story.
Vandal Hearts 2: have played a little bit of it but never got far.
Fire Emblem 5: buy at least 6 keys for the final chapter if you don’t want to softlook yourself in the final chapter , Fire emblem 5 is not a hard game if you know what you are doing or have a guide, the diffulty comes at the fact that the game will throw shit at you without warning or not explain mechanics to you.
However I still love this game, and I hope you do too.
Arc the Lad 3: this feels like Poor’s man trails in the sky, it has a lot of similarities with that game, the difference being that everyone in that game is poorly written, at least in the working design location , I am curious to know if the Japonese script is any better.
Faselei!: I tried to play it but the game was just not for me I stopped at the second chapter.