Recently finished Evergrace and really enjoyed it a lot, was a super unique and fun experience.Moved onto Evergrace 2 aka Forever Kingdom in the west and boy howdy it's been kicking my ass.It still retains all the good qualities and maybe even more so with even better environments but while Evergrace wasn't a walk in the park (especially completing the shadow tower to get the moonlight sword) it was still pretty manageable with rarely fighting multiple enemies.This game on the other hand just loves to throw ambushes with 2-3 or more enemies at you and while you do get 3 characters who can use magic to crowd control they can also get hit and you share an HP pool with them so you might blocking a big dude's attack meanwhile your other guys offscreen can just get a facefull of fireball and you die with them.Which is extremely frustrating especially in the coliseum.I just finished the underwater castle level with the cerberus boss.Anyone else struggled like me with this?I know you can pick apart enemies with their elemental weakness but it just feels like mgs3 again where every 5 seconds you need to open the menu and switch all your equipment to fit the situation and the new batch of enemies, which would be fine if the magic didn't require getting hits to get spellcasts which are your only crowd control.But yeah, I'm still enjoying all the cool parts like the crazy vistas and the fun dress up with each eccentrically designed equipment piece visible on your characters but I'm making snail's pace progress.
>>12202860I've never heard of this game before, op, it looks cool, I'll check it out.
>Recently finished EvergraceDid you beat the bonus dungeon?
>>12203569Oh nvm I see
>>12203569>>12203573Yep, I did.Was pretty gruelling but with some patience not that bad.>>12203562It is very cool indeed.
Evergrace had a unique warm palette aesthetic that felt like an invented culture combined with an experimental OST. A creative bestiary, too. The controls and rushed level design gimp it severely though. Apparently this was going to be a ps1 game at first and they changed it to ps2 halfway. Knowing that explains so much. I wish we got that alt timeline
>>12204421Oh really?I didn't know it was a ps1 game originally.That does make sense, in scope it very much feels like a ps1 game.But I actually like that it ended up being a ps2 titles because I doubt we'd get the dress up system with each armor piece visible.Yeah the autumnal vibe with lots of orange tones and a pseudo-tribal aesthetic is the coolest part.I love how imaginative it feels since you do also get it mixed with like classical stuff like empires and knights but dressed as like some bizarro crackhead shamanland.This and Panzer Dragoon Saga kinda have that vibe, PDS leans more on a darker more serious tone with it.But this setting also does surprisingly have the same themes as Panzer with human experimentation and using analogs for nukes to destroy kingdoms (the AI/crest demon in 1 / palmira doll infused with human souls in 2) which I think is also really cool.
The soundtrack is so fucking bad it wraps back around to being good. Chanting, animal noises, and offkey notes. One day I'll finish the game (Quit at the dungeon with the doors that need to be opened with specific element attacks, probably only 3 hours into the game)
>>12204689First or second game?Also I disagree, it's not bad in the slightest it's exactly the vibe they were going for with the whole paganism/shamanism/tribal aesthetic in a bizarre world. It fits perfectly.Also Kota Hoshino's work in general is always superb, especially on Armored Core and with his band Frequency.
>>12204693I was just being hyperbolic, I actually think it's great for the reasons you said. It fits the world of the game, but I'm also into random ass gibberish vocals which is why I also love the AC soundtrack. I don't recall the name but I often have the 9 Ball remix in my music rotation.As for the game, the first one. I never looked into this game so I wasn't aware it even had a sequel until this thread, I just happened to get the game in a huge lot of games recently and remember hearing some of the soundtrack from a thread about bizarre good/bad soundtracks from like 8 years ago.
>>12204758>I was just being hyperbolic, I actually think it's great for the reasons you said. It fits the world of the game, but I'm also into random ass gibberish vocals which is why I also love the AC soundtrack. I see, I'm just a bit tired of people always saying "it's so bad it's good" about things that are usually just good.>I don't recall the name but I often have the 9 Ball remix in my music rotation.Ah nine novem probably, that's a good one.The original nineball theme from master of arena is incredible already, but some of the mixes are pretty nice too.Ah I see, I mean it's definitely a bit of a rough experience actually playing them so the fact that it got a sequel despite being not so hotly sold or received is quite surprising to anyone.But more so in the west since they renamed the game to Forever Kingdom instead of Evergrace 2 like in Japan (probably due to poor reception of the first one).The ost in the second is even better though imo.The even more surprising part is that this was a multi media project I believe, so it had all kinds of tie-ins in japan.So it had 2 novelizations and a manga.https://evergrace.fandom.com/wiki/Evergrace_novelshttps://mangadex.org/title/1bb9969a-acf1-4f00-b8ec-dc30b6c52dbd/evergrace-iiWhich kind of make a bit more sense of the jumbled mess of a story the game throws you in, the translation being awkward also definitely didn't help that either.Most early 2000s japanese games just loooved doing these multimedia projects that had all kinds of things to spread and advertise them as widely as they can in all sorts of cultural circles, I kinda miss that to be honest.
>>12204786I get the feeling, maybe I shouldn't have joked around in a good faith thread. It's definitely a flawed gem of a game, which usually are the games that I find more memorable.I'll have to read the manga once I return to the first game and beat it. I feel like a lot of those multimedia projects were due to overall lower production costs in video games. I definitely miss that as well since it usually lead to exploring lore, getting more in depth with characters, and of course, wider range of merchandise. Only ones doing that today are well established multi million dollar IPs and even then they hardly try.
>>12204813Yeah for sure. I mean I guess it is still a thing now but that's exactly what it feels like, just rampant merchandising instead of people actually trying to build multi-media franchises. Or could just be nostalgia who knows.But yeah, speaking of the game I just finished it today.Took about 8 hours.They really ramped up the difficulty in this one, the final boss gauntlet kicked my ass but the final boss itself was really cool.What a bizarrely strange game, the music and atmosphere really leave you with a sense of wonder and nostalgia for this strange world almost immediately even if the story itself felt all over the place. The vibe is immaculate.It prompted me with a bonus game which would retain all my items and reset so I guess just ng+ but I don't think there's an extra dungeon in this one like in the first one which is a shame, I think you get the moonlight sword just by clearing all the coliseums in this mode which I might attempt at some point.
Bump.
>The Rieubane Empire NEEDS more immigrants to prevent decline, goyim!
>>12204786I'm guessing the novels aren't great?
>>12206757>The Rieubane Empire That shit's gone bro.
>>12206772Haven't read them myself yet.But from what I've seen online people say they're good.
Bump before going to sleep, maybe someone who likes these games will come here on the weekend and find the thread.
>>12206779Only Western Rieubane
>>12202860Is Forever Kingdom actually better than the first? I got incredibly bored with Evergrace around that section where you have all of the doors in that big castle
>>12202860weird game, also wasn't expecting leper colony themes
>>12208162Oh right, I keep confusing where the first game takes place.And the second too with there being a place named Solta and a princess named Solca.>>12208164The first castle?That's like 30 minutes into the game, if you got bored that fast with EVERGRACE of all games then there's no shot I can think of any game at all that can hold your attention.>>12208559>leper colony themesHuh really?I just finished the game 2 days ago and I don't think I even picked up on that.Or do you mean the first game?It's been some months since I beat that one so maybe I'm forgetting.
>>12208669the crests in the first game seemed like a very open metaphor for leprosy t ome
>>12208669>The first castle?Nah, the second one with the checkerboard corridors
>>12208845>the crests in the first game seemed like a very open metaphor for leprosy t omeOh, really?Hm I guess I didn't see it that way with them researching the crests to be beneficial.But I suppose that does make sense...>>12208871>one with the checkerboard corridorsThat's still only like 50 minutes into the game.I mean, the second game is very different but it's still the same in terms of the puzzles and progression so I doubt you would enjoy it if you didn't like the other parts like the ost and the setting, and strange enemies and locations and weird equipment like wearing frying pans on your head.Like if none of those parts did anything for you then I don't think these games are for you.
Damn, no one? Bump.
Any way to mute the music?
>>12211105Why would you want to?It's the best part.
>>12202860>Moved onto Evergrace 2 aka Forever Kingdom in the west and boy howdy it's been kicking my ass.For some reason I got it into my head that the sequel never left Japan. Now I gotta go play it. What's the story connection?
>>12211364>What's the story connection?It's a prequel.Basically Darius' backstory.
>>12206757Top 10 times influence was too much in the nose
>>12202860these games are unremarkableas are most games from the ps2 era
>>12214560filtered
