After 20-odd years of fantasizing about how the game might be (and crushing on Cierra,) I finally finished a playthrough of Riviera: the Promised Land. It's a very unique game, with familiar elements combined in ways I've never seen before. It's not perfect, but I thought it was really clever, visually beautiful and engaging with the different characters. I never see anyone talk about it, though. What are people's thoughts on Riviera?
>>3832630It's one of my favorite games of all time. First time I played it I was greatly impressed by it. It's fun, it's different and the music is great. The story itself is fine, nothing special, but the characters and progression carry the game hard.I pretty much replayed it yearly.Lina/Lyuri is greatly underrated, by the way.
>>3832630I found the game design annoyingly gimmicky.
>>3832630>RivieraWhen Japanese are creative, they proceed to use German or Italian words - voilà, the French get fucked.
>>3832666Wanted to ask if there are cool skills, classes or materia or the like.
>>3832653The music really rules, yeah. It also really impressed me to hear completely legible spoken dialogue coming out of a GBA game.How long do you find a beginning-to-end playthrough typically takes you?>>3832674There are no classes, but lots of cool skills, since every character in the game uses the equipment you find in the game differently.
>>3832688That's really, really cool. 3ds, isn't it? Any other rpg for the 3ds, when... I'm proceeding to buy it legitimately?
>>3832700It's GBA, actually! Though technically it was originally on the Wonderswan Color (in Japan only,) then ported to the GBA and expanded for the US release, and then later remastered for PSP.
>>3832674So the main three gimmicks are that:1. Your combat party can only use four items per battle. That's their ENTIRE KIT. Not items plus an attack command and various skills - just FOUR ITEMS across all members of the combat party.2. You have a ridiculously small inventory while getting tons of loot from monsters and chests.3. Items have limited durability.Thus, the main gameplay loop involves juggling tons of trash loot while keeping a handful of good items around to use for boss fights. Not my thing in a turn-based semi-dungeon crawler. I'm not into harem parties either.
>>3832672>they proceed to use German or Italian wordsAlmost like they were in some group with them.
>>3832753They worked on a group project together.
>>3832688>How long do you find a beginning-to-end playthrough typically takes you?I went to check my last playthrough (PSP version) and it clocks 18:40h just before the final sequence and boss. I'd guess a typical playthrough lasts between 18~25 hours. Depending how much grinding you wanna do or also how much of the library you wanna fill (items, skills used, etc).>>3832700Not Riviera, but you can play Knights in the Nightmare on the 3DS (it's a DS game). A game that it's part of the same series, Dept. Heaven. If you want something really creative and similar but not related at all with this series, I suggest you try out Crimson Shroud.
>>3832630It's unique and memorable (partially thanks to the art style), but yeah, too short, lacking in content, gameplay consists a lot of trial and errors
>>3832703Overdrive!
>>3832738That's insane! Want!!>>3832764Awww, diligent daisies!!
>>3832896>Crimson Shroud.The real triangle strategy
>>3832896>Riviera, but you can play Knights in the Nightmare on the 3DSRiviera gba and kitn 3ds, anything else that is an awesome rpg on Nintendo past 64?
>>3832896>I'd guess a typical playthrough lasts between 18~25 hoursI guess I was on the slower side of things. It was a drag realizing that some of the post-game elements are in potentially missable in-game items, but it feels daunting to go back for another playthrough just to snag some more items and see another couple CGs. I really wish I got the bottle so I could hear the voice clips!
>>3833099If you grind the bare minimum you'll probably can finish it in 15 hours, maybe.I don't have any problems replaying it, but doing it back to back can be a little daunting.
This game is hot ass. Insanely restrictive combat and exploration, atrocious RNG, and bland characters sans Serene. In fact it feels like so much of the effort went into Serene specifically because she's the only one with a backstory that has actual substance. Shame because it has great presentation.
>>3833160All right, lay 'em out, boys. Who's your Riviera waifu of choice?
>Game is too easy>Add a hard mode>It starts off interesting but you can just grind out all the difficulty anyway thanks to practice mode
>>3833126Therein may lie the issue. The thought of immediately jumping back in for a replay sounds unappealing, but I may not feel that way in six or twelve months' time...
>>3833168For me, it's >Cierra=Lina>Serene>FiaAll of them are great, though.I wish there was some alternative mode where you could use NPCs like Soala, Ladie or Iria. Most of them are really cute, too.
>>3835446Yeah, I definitely wanted to see more of some of those NPCs. Soala is so pretty!
For me, it's Yggdra Union.
>>3832630>After 20-odd years of fantasizing about how the game might be (and crushing on Cierra,) I finally finished a playthrough of Riviera: the Promised Landwhy didnt you play the video gamewhat
>>3835628Never got around to it. I thought I was overdue.
>>3835634that was my kneejerk reaction but honestly i recently started playing parasite eve for the first time after having seen it in a magazine as a teenager and having been interested in it since then, so i really can't talk lolanyway glad you enjoyed riviera
>>3835624I wish I could enjoy Yggdra. The sprites are great, the music is great, the story is pretty interesting but fuck the gameplay. You can plan everything but a single unlucky critical can fuck the current 40 minute battle and make you restart.
>>3832630Riviera’s pretty great, I have fond memories playing this game as a teenager. I remember the final battle being difficult because I only used Serene and Fia the entire game and left the others to rot lol>>3833168Serene and it’s not even close.
I have a bit of an off-topic to Yggdra/Riviera/that entire series BUTwhat older obscure-y games from the say GBA era to 3DS had the wildest trippiest stories? Like Knight in the Nightmare stuff
>>3832688>It also really impressed me to hear completely legible spoken dialogue coming out of a GBA gameyeah, the dub isnt even bad. i can still hear "ashes to ashes" or "lina wont lose" in my head when i think about the game.
>>3832630I enjoyed it quite a bit, though I do wish the combat was more interesting.>>3833168Serene.>>3835701Suffering a critical hit or two really shouldn't cost you the battle. That said, I do agree that critical hits are a bit more devastating than they should be.I love the game, but my own biggest complaint is the way stat growth works. Units snowball in strength to a ridiculous degree if they get some start-up items. This also means that the game's difficulty varies wildly depending on how much treasure you find.
>>3832630>>3832703My PSP is still kicking and has a GBA emulator. Any reason to play the GBA version over the PSP one?
>>3836265The GBA has better sprites.However, the PSP has more CGs, full voiced dialogue in ENG or JP and better quality sound (despite several fans prefering the grungy soundfont of the GBA version). The new HD version is based of the PSP version, by the way.Personally, I alternate between both versions.
>>3836271Is this a tactics game
>>3836277No. It's a point-and-click exploration game with turn-based combat and a visual novel presentation.
>>3836316>point-and-click
>>3836049Not exactly the trippiest, but I absolutely must recommend you Ao no Tengai - Oriental Blue for the GBA, if you're looking for something different. It's pretty much SaGa meets Dragon Quest.
>>3836318It's the most similar comparison. I'm open to a better suggestion.
>>3836316Oh, dang. Looks good. How are the battle mechanics? Itemization? Is it job based?
>>3836319It's 1st person, eh? Looks fantastic.
>>3836870There's already an attempt at explaining the game in this thread (>>3832738), but I'll give it a shot:Basically, both the exploration and combat are menu based:>explorationYou have two modes of exploring the "screen": Look and Move. With Look, you interact with objects (treasure chest, torch, statue, inspect the ground or the walls,...) and with Move, you Move to that screen (moving left/right/up/down, descending a ladder, climbing a wall, jumping off a windows,...).Everything is predetermined, but several options will differ how some dungeons are cleared and which way the characters go and clear the dungeon. And most of them need TP which are awarded after battle.>combatYou have a item bag of 15 total but you can only use 4 items per battle and every item has limited number of uses. Also, weapons' attack, target and accuracy as well as an available skill for that specific weapon are character-exclusive. For instance, the archer girl will always target the farthest enemy (or randomly if there are 2 or more at the same distance) and has an available skill of level 3 which the which girl can use the bow but will target randomly and with low accuracy and has a lvl 1 skill only.Skills are used by expending the OverDrive bar at the top which is filled by using normal attacks. Also, the enemies have a bar of their own on the bottom right which is affected by the number of defeated enemies and number attacks they've suffered in that specific battle.>visual novelYou can affect several things during you trek thouch the dungeons and specially the affection each girl has on the main character and get different scenes and endings with them. But bear in mind that the story per se doesn't change.Trying to write everything down may paint the game a little stale and overcomplicated, but it's a damn good game and very charming. Hopefully, you'll give it a shot, anon.>>3836871Yeah, it is. Maybe it's not your thing, but the game is very interesting.
>>3836871Same anon, but you prefer something without first-view, I absolutely must recommend you the Metal Max games. You can easily play Metal Max Returns (SNES), Metal Max 2: Reloaded (DS) and Metal Max 3 (DS) on your 3DS and all three are excelent games.They're semi-open world RPGs with tanks. With the DS games having a job system. I recommend you play Returns first, then 3 and the 2:R but the best experience.In the same vein, check out 7th Dragon (DS) and both SaGa remakes on the DS.
>>3836910seconding the metal max series. absolutely fantastic games.
>>3836904Osunds very unique in multiple aspects
>>3836910>>3836933The tanks have jobs?>sagaSaga frontier remakes? Played romancing saga 3, loved it. Unfortunately very, very unfinished. Such a cool game. Completely dislike rs2r.
>>3836959It really is. And the rest of the series are also very unorthodox games (Yggdra Union, Knights in the Nightmare and Gungnir, and to a lesser extent, Baroque which is also a Sting game).>>3836962>The tanks have jobs?No, each vehicle has different pros and cons (tanks have higher HP and Def but bikes allow you to use human weapons, for instance) but jobs only exist in MM3 and MM2:R and are human exclusive.>Saga frontier remakes?No, the SaGa games on the DS are remakes of the original SaGa 2 and SaGa 3, which work more like traditional RPGs. Although, to be fair, are closer to Romancing SaGa 3 than RS2.
>>3836271one of the coolest swords in gamin>>3836277No, but the other three games in this franchise ( department heaven) are tactics games ( yggdra union, knights in the nightmare and gugnir)
>>38369107th dragon 3ds was lit
>>3832630>After 20-odd yearsWhat the FUCK? Has it been that long?
>>3836271I picked it up on PSP and I'm starting to regret it. I just finished chapter 1 (so did the tutorial and entered the magic circle with Fia and Lina) and the game desperately needs some sort of fast forward or speed up button, combat animations take forever. It's also weird that the same trigger points that get you loot are also used to make inane comments about the environment. Just a bit annoying to use a TP on having someone say>Wow, you can see the sky from here!Instead of getting a useful item. But the combat is neat and the characters are cute. I'm not sure what purpose points serve though.
>>3837367The new HD version on Steam and Switch has precisely a fast forward option for battle animations.>make inane comments about the environmentBut it's cute, anon. And sometimes you get some fun event or unique dialogue. Remember that this is both a visual novel and an RPG. And you shouldn't have any problems with TP when you get a better hang of the combat. Also, if you finish with an higher skill level, you get a finish bonus and consequently maybe a higher rank and thus more TP. Later on, you get an higher skill for Einherjar for Ein that you should always use to finish a battle (unless you want affection points for a specific girl).
>>3837156It was around 2005 when my mom brought me along on a shopping excursion to London Drugs. While she was shopping, I went to try and entertain myself in the magazine aisle. The presence of strategy guides was an immediate draw, since I didn't have many video games growing up and reading about one was almost as good as playing one... right? Things are different when you're a kid.Upon paging through the guide for Riviera at random, I promptly fell in love with Cierra's design and was highly intrigued by the dating sim aspect of the game, having never really seen that before. I didn't pick it up, but I remember repeating "Riviera, Cierra, Riviera, Cierra" in my head on the ride home so I'd be able to look up more pictures of her. I have periodically thought about her and wondered how the game would play ever since, and finally got the wherewithal to give it a go already. Twenty years sounds like an insanely long amount of time to "put it off," but it's amazing how it passes without even meaning to.
>>3837576>Riviera, CierraFor how long were you repeating that
>>3837577It wasn't literally nonstop. It was about a ten minute drive, and reminding myself every couple minutes did the trick.
>Ursula says she'll unlock my diviner>Ein is immediately one shot by the boss' max attack so have to tediously slog through the boss battle with Lina and Fia using regular items since they can't use the diviner I was forced to bring>Gets even longer when the boss starts stacking guard>almost run out of said regular items because the fight is preceded by a scripted loss and you're forced to use actions instead of skipping turnsI'm having fun with the game overall but some of its design decisions truly baffle me
>>3837663They can use the diviner.Also, pay attention to the info on the right side (press R) because some skills ignore block.
>>3832630Best way to play this?
>>3837686with hands imo
>>3837682>use the divinerMore of a theory/practice thing. They have really low Accuracy with it>guard detailOh I know that, I just didn't have any guard ignorers with me. Fia's rapier move apparently doesn't count with its "ignore enemy properties". I'm pretty sure Ein's execution move does have it but he got BTFO by the max attack. I think it was just an unlucky fight for me overall
>>3837694I mean which port....
>>3837686>>3837708see>>3836271
Besides the fast forward feature, does the Steam HD version add anything else that makes it worth it?
>>3839265Higher native resolution (specially noticeable on CGs) easy mode (1 exp grind and endless itembag) and 3 bgm modes (Wonderswan, GBA and PSP/OST).Unfortunately, it seems the spring/bikini scenes are the original "censored" Japanese ones.
>>3839265Dialogue backlog and complete voice collection, the latter sucks as it's implemented terribly without any identifing subtitles so you have to trial and error your way to find your favourite voiceline).
>>3833168Malice>Vampire>Harpy>Marietta(Arch.Angel) . Evil waifus you can't recruit is more attractive than what you have. You can spare Happy the Harpy but she is useless in boss fights and even in KITN Maria/Melia isn't exactly Marietta. But only counting playable characters, Fia.
>>3839586>he doesn't like Melissa
>>3839943I like her too (nice booba) but she isn't in Riviera so not in the Riviera tierlist and Melia is basically her anyway.
>>3839943Wait, i just realized you mean witch Melissa from Riviera chapter 3 which you have to fight twice... She looks cute but her outfit is too plain for me so i rank Elf archer female enemy over her even though i dislike elves(vampires and witches with pointy ears are not a problem , i have selective racism).
>>3840296I will say, it was an extremely pleasant surprise, almost fortuitous beyond my dreamiest hopes, to learn that Cierra is canonically the tittymonster of the crew. I always assumed she was a slender teenaged waif, but that was just the early-2000s anime art style (where everyone looked like that.) She's not only the one adult of the group, but an event in chapter 3 can lead to Serene mentioning her jealousy towards Cierra's big bustline. Sometimes everything really does turn out for the best.
>>3833168A cat is fine too.
>>3843081It really seems insane that this was the 'canonical' ending, though.
>>3841700???where in the game do they ever mention cierra's boobs, lol
