Radiant Historia (the best game EVER)

I've posted an angry dome thread and two blogs about this but I think it's important that I cover all of my bases to make sure EVERYONE hears about this game.

Because it is the best game ever. Or at least really high up there.

Radiant Historia feels like a mix of concept from games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Suikoden and Final Fantasy Tactics.

It's a jRPG, not tactical, but it does have a 'grid'-based battle system that requires you to use some tactics like pushing enemies around for effective mobbing. Most of the battles are pretty easy if you have a grasp on using tactics and constantly upgrade your equipment but there are some challenges such as various optional bosses throughout the game.

Exploratory game-play consists of running around maps and cities accepting quests, opening chests, finding hidden chests after a certain point in the game, moving crates, exploding or slashing stuff, and of course TRAVELING THROUGH TIME.

Well, unlike Chrono Trigger you can't just travel through time; you just travel to important parts of Stocke's life (the main character) but there are a lot of them and it's key to so much in the game. There are two main timelines that are show two extremely different outcomes for the world based on one decision made early in the game.

The story is by and far the best part of this game. The overlaying story about the war and desertification itself is great, but far more impressive and meaningful is the way that every choice--big or little--impacts the story. While everything is set in stone as a linear game, from the perspective of a viewer it's amazing to see how one choice you made or didn't make earlier can effect your progress, and then going back and making the necessary change to see what comes out of it leaves you (or at least me) with this really spectacular feeling.

The game has dozens of bad endings, 10 good endings and one true ending. All of these can be viewed in a single playthrough, so no worries there.

Oh it's also got an amazing soundtrack. And I hate video game music.

It's about 45 hours long for 100% completion and the best ending is one of the most satisfying of all of the games I've ever played.

I really suggest that if you have $35 and are looking for something to play that you purchase this game immediately. I can't imagine anyone regretting it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD9FevMw1_o

It's for the DS? I'll consider it since I've been bored for a new DS RPG to play, but Pokemon B/W takes priority.

Or if I can manage to get a discount I'll pick both up on Sunday.
It looks pretty good from the video, I've missed them pure turn based RPG-gers.

Says the soundtrack was done by Yoko Shimomura (aka kingdom hearts/final fantasy/mario & luigi) so OBV/10 it'd be pretty snazzy sounding.

Wow, looks awesome. Are there any other games in this series? I wanna brush up before I make the decision to buy this. Short on cash atm, and B/W is a must buy.

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Originally Posted by Piggy 2.0

Wow, looks awesome. Are there any other games in this series? I wanna brush up before I make the decision to buy this. Short on cash atm, and B/W is a must buy.

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Nope, not related to any other game technically. It's made by part of the team who made the Shin Megami series and part of the team who made Radiata Stories though.

@Baklava: Yep, DS.

I wholeheartedly approve of this thread. Started playing it today and I almost don't want to go to bed CAUSE THAT MEANS LESS TIME FOR ME TO PLAY THIS. I'm a little over 5 hours into it and I can understand why Sarah almost blew up her microwave.

36 hours in and still only 3/4ths of the way through it or so.
Cursed need to re-explore over and over and level people consistently.

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Originally Posted by Herbert Jablonski

I wholeheartedly approve of this thread. Started playing it today and I almost don't want to go to bed CAUSE THAT MEANS LESS TIME FOR ME TO PLAY THIS. I'm a little over 5 hours into it and I can understand why Sarah almost blew up her microwave.

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That's probably the best part about being done. I'm really sad that it's over. The ending was so satisfying but I want to continue my adventure! I hope they get enough interest to create a sequel.

It's okay so far for me. I find battles take too long, but is still entertaining. I'm not too far in, but only Rosch appears to have any attack that can hit more than one row or column so far, leaving me to stack monsters to deal damage to multiple ones, which sometimes just plain doesn't work when there's six monsters and some are unmovable. Also, the absurd amount of damage that four enemies who each attack twice does is mind boggling. I'm just hoping I get access to better skills soon.


ALSO, BEAR TRAPS ARE RETARDED.

You're weak. Go level more.

I end battles in two turns. The animations just take a long time.

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Originally Posted by Sarah

Nope, not related to any other game technically. It's made by part of the team who made the Shin Megami series and part of the team who made Radiata Stories though.

@Baklava: Yep, DS.

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>>Shin Megami Tensei

SOLD.

I... I dunno. I have a habit of not finishing RPGs.

But... I trust your judgment. Might try to get it. :x

She owes me an equally fun replacement for this for when I finish it so I don't withdrawal.
Get on it, Sarah.

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Originally Posted by Eosian

She owes me an equally fun replacement for this for when I finish it so I don't withdrawal.
Get on it, Sarah.

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Still trying to find one for myself. Went back to Dragon Quest VI to finish the bonus dungeon... feels slow. Okami Den comes out on March 15th and if it's anything like Okami it should be a blast.

This kinda reminds me of Valkyrie Profile Covenant of the Plume, not sure why. Look really good, so when I has money, ima get it.

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Originally Posted by JoeTang

It's okay so far for me. I find battles take too long, but is still entertaining. I'm not too far in, but only Rosch appears to have any attack that can hit more than one row or column so far, leaving me to stack monsters to deal damage to multiple ones, which sometimes just plain doesn't work when there's six monsters and some are unmovable. Also, the absurd amount of damage that four enemies who each attack twice does is mind boggling. I'm just hoping I get access to better skills soon.


ALSO, BEAR TRAPS ARE RETARDED.

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Not surprised to hear about pomegranatety combat mechanics. They plague so many otherwise interesting JRPGs.

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Originally Posted by Dusk

Not surprised to hear about pomegranatety combat mechanics. They plague so many otherwise interesting JRPGs.

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Joe is definitely exaggerating, it's not that bad, even at the beginning. There's two immobile types of enemies and they can be killed in a singe combo by adding in column/row attacks that connect them. You just have to be smart about how you do things. And even then it's not that big a problem. I don't know why Joe is complaining about damage because I never came close to death at any point before the 4th chapter on either story.

I really think he's under-leveled or under-armed.

One thing about this game is that there are a lot of equipment/armor choices that will hurt one stat while boosting another. So you'll be forced to choose between speed or defense. Or attack or magic. This can happen on any character and with the exception of one character who has only good magic skills, the rest are pretty balanced between melee and magic. Oh wait, two characters. One magic and one purely physical.

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Originally Posted by Sarah

Oh wait, two characters. One magic and one purely physical.

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Rosch and who?
Aht can be purely physical.

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Originally Posted by Eosian

Rosch and who?
Aht can be purely physical.

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Spoiler

Eruca

Aht can be but that doesn't mean she is by virtue. I used her as a healer/poison bomber. And also as a combo buffer because if you change to her 3 times and use her first 7 hit skill then you get mega damage from the rest of your characters.

I guess I was underleveled then. The enemies that I was fighting had six in a group. The turn order made it so my party couldn't make any combos without giving them a significant lead in turns, which would kill me before my turns came around to even do the combos. The alternative is to attack right away and then they would kill me anyways.

Hm. She has a physical side too though. Rosch is really the only one I think of as typecast.

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Originally Posted by JoeTang

I guess I was underleveled then. The enemies that I was fighting had six in a group. The turn order made it so my party couldn't make any combos without giving them a significant lead in turns, which would kill me before my turns came around to even do the combos. The alternative is to attack right away and then they would kill me anyways.

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Weren't you stunning the enemies so you could enter battle at an advantage and kill off the more dangerous ones before they could attack?

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Originally Posted by Eosian

Weren't you stunning the enemies so you could enter battle at an advantage and kill off the more dangerous ones before they could attack?

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I was trying to run past them and it started off as a normal battle. Stunning the enemy should never be a requirement to win the battle, just like if an enemy sneak attacks you, it should not be auto-lose unless you're already severely hurt.

I just dislike the massive amount of turns a large number of enemies can have if you need to change to set up even a small combo.

I never felt that way. Sacrificing my turn for the greater good (or combo in this case) always made me feel really good. Especially since you get exp/money bonuses for really big combos. I knew that every turn I changed out to beef up my combo would reward me graciously. This becomes even more true if you mob once you get the Steal skill because you can steal from the entire mob in one attack and sometimes get awesome equipment.

Damn, I started playing and 3 hours went by like nothing. This game is awesome o_O

Beat this the other day. Enjoyed just about everything the game had to offer. The music and characters really set up a nice atmosphere and the story was enjoyable every step of the way. Just about everything looks like they put in a lot of attention to small details.

This isn't a game where you can just button mash your way through battles, but I still think battles aren't exactly that hard. If you make good use of movement skills (push assault, grapple, etc.) and the Change option to rearrange turns you shouldn't have too much trouble, having a strategy helps too. Once I realized how good Aht's trap skills were I pretty much stuck to using her and the trap strategy whenever I could (which kinda sucked when I got to Hell Spider and Guardian because it made me realize I can't depend on it in every battle).

The time travel mechanic sort of gives the game built-in replay value while still only playing through the game once, you can re-battle bosses and replay certain scenes over and over if you really want to do so. Sometimes when I'm playing a game I just want to watch a certain scene play out again and this game let me do that (for the most part).

Also, whenever the game let you make a critical decision I always tried to choose the one that would lead to a bad end. I sort of made it a little game to try to get it first, I managed to get it the majority of the time just by being reckless, but even then I still couldn't get the bad end first every single time haha.


If you're thinking about playing this, please don't hesitate to purchase.

Vainqueur.

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Originally Posted by JoeTang

I was trying to run past them and it started off as a normal battle. Stunning the enemy should never be a requirement to win the battle, just like if an enemy sneak attacks you, it should not be auto-lose unless you're already severely hurt.

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A) Stunning them makes getting past/around them easier and prevents them from ambushing you.
B) Stunning them makes killing them easier by ambushing them.

It's not a requirement, it's an advantage since they have the essentially the same opportunity to do it to you.
You can still win without doing it, but if you have a tool you can readily and easily use to give yourself an edge in every battle not using it because it takes effort is just dumb.

THERE ARE ACTUALLY SPOILERS ABOUT THE GAME IN HERE WHY WAS THIS NOT IN A SPOILER TO BEGIN WITH

Beat the game and got the 'normal' ending today.

I also finished the remaining side quests and since its getting late, I'm going to beat Kef.. err Heiss again tomorrow for the True Ending. That ONE sidequest with 4 of the Masters was RAWRRRRRRR.. The Mist Spider was pretty bad too, but if you have Turn breaks, it will go down by triple/quad Dancing Death and G-Fire spam thereafter..

Man, Apocrypha is a total Kefka ripoff, minus the final form (which doesn't exist unfortunately)

MEGA BUMP.

This game is going back into reprint due to popular demand at the end of March SO MAKE SURE YOU BUY IT THIS TIME if you haven't already. Used copies have been selling for $100+ online since it went out of stock because it is rare AND awesome.

So seriously, make sure you buy it while you can this time. $35. DO IT.

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Originally Posted by Sarah

MEGA BUMP.

This game is going back into reprint due to popular demand at the end of March SO MAKE SURE YOU BUY IT THIS TIME if you haven't already. Used copies have been selling for $100+ online since it went out of stock because it is rare AND awesome.

So seriously, make sure you buy it while you can this time. $35. DO IT.

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It went out of stock? Lol - there were a ton of copies at my exchange store here on base, probably because they tend to get stuff so late.

My only issue is that, due to the nature of how the time travel works, there is a LOT of backtracking through the same parts of the game and it can be annoying to encounter a puzzle or quest and have it not be solvable with your current time travel options but not KNOW this It's a great game, but it's got its share of flaws too.

Would have been cool if they released it in the EU.

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Originally Posted by CarrionCrow

Would have been cool if they released it in the EU.

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Have someone import it for you! =)

Okay Sarah, I'll buy it, and to be quite frank a game hasn't impressed me since skyrim. Seriously before skyrim, it was like a game from 2005. So, ILL TAKE YOUR CHALLENGE.

It also looks like fire emblem which I really enjoyed, I still play through that till this day because it just has me hooked.

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Originally Posted by MasPan

It went out of stock? Lol - there were a ton of copies at my exchange store here on base, probably because they tend to get stuff so late.

My only issue is that, due to the nature of how the time travel works, there is a LOT of backtracking through the same parts of the game and it can be annoying to encounter a puzzle or quest and have it not be solvable with your current time travel options but not KNOW this It's a great game, but it's got its share of flaws too.

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That's Atlus's schtick. Make a great game, goes outta print once all the diehards get their copy. Proceed to spend months looking for a copy, let alone a cheap one.

DDS1/2 WILL BE MINE.

So glad you recommended this game to me. I love it.