Topic: Wii RPGs

Theres always VC

Hey Mono, I'm actually playing through Radiant Dawn right now, too! This is my third time. I played once on Normal, and got my head handed to me. Played again on Easy and got stuck maybe six chapters from the end. Got further this time and will certainly beat it now.

Honestly though, I find the story to be abysmal. This game seems to be a dividing point among fans in the way that Sacred Stones is (though I barely played that one myself -- need to get back to it someday). The Gamecube game, Path of Radiance, goes pretty cheaply on Ebay. I highly recommend it. It's often regarded as the best, though not unanimously.

What's especially cool though is if you beat the game, you can use that save data with Radiant Dawn to carry over stats for all returning characters! The only problem is, due to a bug, you have to play on Normal or Hard if you use GC save data. If you so much as have an Easy save file on your system, it'll crash.

Radiant Dawn is a direct sequel to Path of Radiance, though not all Fire Emblem games are connected. Most are either standalone stories or have one direct sequel, I think. So if you like this one so much, the Cube game is a good next step.

The Wii is great for 'kinda-RPGs' but lacks just normal RPGs.

No one mentioned Fragile Dreams though, it's probably more of an adventure game but has some features of an RPG.

You're forgetting sakura wars and rune factory frontier.

@Adam, That cool that you can carry over stats for all returning characters from the GC Fire Emblem. I really going to pick it up now. I'm playing on easy now since this is my 1st time playing this game. But it is just a great game. Nintendo hooked me again. I'm really far too. I'm on part 3 called Blood Contract. Ike is the F'in man by the way. I hope Nintendo makes another one for the Wii. Thanks for telling me about the GC one tho. Must buy for me now.

P.S.
The only thing I don't like about this this game. Is losing your strong or cool looking guys. I lost Jill early and really didn't care. But she had a dragon and I wanted to keep her. I was to far into the mission to start over. Now I just lost Leonardo
and he was strong as all hell. Pissed me off...lol...ok back to gaming.

Chocobo Dungeon is by far the best RPG on the Wii. I point you to my avatar. Adorable characters, simple-but-challenging mystery-dungeon style gameplay, and a soundtrack that borrows from the best of the Final Fantasy series. Love every minute of that game.

Zelda is not a RPG, it's an adventure game. Fire Emblem is a strategy RPG.

Real RPGs (or at least JRPGs) that are worth playing on the Wii that I have played:

Chocobo Dungeon
Tales of Symphonia
Spectrobes: Origins

Ones that are a bit more on the fence:

opoona (it's cute, but also a bit cheap - there is some questionable translation and some rather confusing moments)
Dragon Quest Swords (more on-rails shooter than RPG, it's still filled with that Dragon Quest charm)
Samurai Warriors 3 (it's hack-and-slash, but the levelling and weapon upgrades should appeal to RPG fans)

But that's a good thing because old school RPGs like Arc Rise Fantasia can feel so outdated. My favorite rpgesque games on the Wii include:
Muramasa
Sakura Wars
Monster Hunter Tri
Rune Factory Frontier
...and I'm looking forward to playing Fragile Dreams just as soon as I can find anyone who carries it.

I'd barely call Monster Hunter Tri RPG-esque. It's more like an action game with a complex weapon system. Same with Muramasa, really.

I haven't played many Wii JRPGs actually. In fact, I think I don't have any. O_O

I don't know what you mean by "cheap", but I definitely agree they didn't seem to do a very good job with translating. It's not horrible, but it can get a little confusing at times. I kind of disagree with the people who say Opoona is a good starter RPG, because it can get frustrating, and it's definitely got its old-school RPG moments and frustrations. Also, you don't really get into the story until about 20 hours in, which makes sense in the context, but can be off-putting. It's not for everyone, but, obviously, I highly recommend it.

Monster Hunter Tri is definitely an RPG in my book. Item combining, status effects, skill points, farming, mining, spending hours in menus. True, the combat is action based, but the gameplay is pure japanese grind RPG.

@grenworthshero I find Opoona really intriguing, but the 20 hour "intro" is a little off-putting. So it's worth sticking through that? Do you know of any websites I can get it new?

Radiant Dawn and Tales of Symphonia 2 are both great games. ToS very underrated.

xenoblade looks nice but for now it's japan only.

secret of mana much?

I'm looking forward to Dragon Quest X, personally. I hope they make it compatible with IX, if that's possible.

It'd be possible but I imagine the only connectivity would be bonus items... which is cool I suppose. I think DQX is going to be a total different game than IX though, probably closer to how VIII was but if the rumours are true and Genius Sonority are the developer then it couldn't be more like VI and VII. Could be even more different than that!

There's no way Xenoblade is going to remain Japan only. No way.

Yeah, Nintendo didn't acquire Monolith to release a game that is going to remain in one region. It'll get translated, I reckon.

Monster Hunter Tri is a MMO, and that means it's not really an RPG at all. You don't play a role at all. Instead you grind through to gain the coolest gear and mad skillz.

That's not to say the MMO formula isn't compelling - it is, but if you look a RPG as a definition, and by definition a computerRPG should be emulating the traits that made Dungeons and Dragons so successful, then Monster Hunter Tri is not an RPG.

(I'm aware that there are RPG servers for MMOs, but the fact that MMOs need dedicated role playing servers is proof that core MMO gameplay is not RPG friendly at all).

Xenoblade will most likely get translated. It is on the NoA website in the games section titled Monado: Beginning of the World. Its release date is TBA and there is no cover art or any other information for that matter, but it will most likely hit the states sometime.

Big post about MH3, MMOs and JRPGs coming up.

Yes, there is no role playing in MH3 - the character you play as has no personality and doesn't need one, and the story is a functional setup so you can get to the action. There are no character levels, skills or spells. As I said before, it's not an RPG but an action game.

Still, Monster Hunter Tri is pretty far from an MMO. The way it operates is much closer to Diablo 2 or Phantasy Star Online: multiplayer lobby/session-based gameplay with a small group. (Even FPS multiplayer sessions work in this fashion.) There are no persistent worlds, persistent monsters, economies, guilds - nothing definitively "massive" about it. The game's server has a different network topography from MMOs, which are defined by their client-server setup. The MH3 server acts only as a peer-to-peer hookup service. When hunting, you are connected directly to your teammates (which explains why JayArr keeps disconnecting every time I play with him!).

The only MMO feature it has, so to speak, is percentage item drops (a right pain), leading to a somewhat mild form of grinding (relatively speaking). I too have plenty of qualms with the MMO formula and I've described them in detail elsewhere and I think this post is going to be long enough without my harping on about them.

Gear, yes. Though the gear is designed intentionally not to make too much of a difference. You'll take only a little less damage with the highest armour set compared to a mid-range one. Skillz, well, in the same sense that you have a right to gloat if you can finish an old Mega Man game with no deaths. The gameplay is skill-based (as in observation, timing and reflexes), not stat, dedication or luck-based. You can't wow newbies by casting Meteor Storm level 20 on the Slimes they're fighting - only with how well you can predict a monster's movements and efficiently deal with it.

I have to disagree. Popular Japanese RPGs are quite a different monster from CRPGs/tabletop RPGs. Their approach is a very streamlined adaptation of D&D that has evolved over decades into what it is today: described roughly, a cinematic/narrative experience punctuated by battle sequences heavily involving statistics. The developers make what they/their audience will enjoy (or what they think they will enjoy), so they don't usually see any need to "return to their roots" (unless, of course, the odd developer thinks people will enjoy that in which I applaud them). There is no "should", and JRPGs are certainly not without their merits. I remember reading an interesting article highlighting the differences between eastern and western RPGs, but it was a long time ago and I don't remember the site it was on.

There actually are pure role-playing MMORPGs. As in, this game has no combat or experience levels. People login to play a role, experience the world and socialise within the game's narrative context. A Tale In the Desert's gameplay revolves around community, political, legal and economy-based mechanics. True "role playing" if there ever was such a thing.

Yes, there are obvious RPG elements in the game. A large number of Japanese games have clear RPG influences, and it makes sense considering how massively popular the genre is there. Besides, a lot of non-RPGs (Japanese or otherwise) have RPG elements in them now, but no one would call them pure RPGs. (MGS or MW2 an RPG?) At best MH3 is an action RPG, but that's still a bit of a stretch. Things to note:

• No magic, no special abilities, no limit breaks, no mana points, no numbers flying out of your enemies with every hit, no health bars in sight. The game has a distinct lack of numbers. Stat growth and character builds? Bah! There is far more focus on intuition and timing than statistical perfection.
• FYI item combining has always typically been a point-n-click adventure game mechanic, not RPG lol. If MH3 is an adventure game, I don't mind. I love adventure games!
• Farming and mining aren't specific to RPGs anyway, but there's a good reason why they included them in MH if you consider the game's context. Primitive hunter-gatherer society: hunting and carving meat from animals for food, gathering herbs and mushrooms, scouring the land for materials. They aimed to give a sense of "roughing it in the old times", and it shows from the interface design to the musical score.
• Yes, there is a lot of time (around 30-40% of play time) spent in menus doing detailed planning and customisation, but that's like saying Imperium Galactica 2 is an RPG because lots of time (around 80-90%) is spent in menus doing rather similar sorts of things.

I could go on about how the MH3's armor and kitchen skills are nothing like RPG-typified permanently-assigned skills, how Japanese RPGs traditionally didn't focus on the grind (it was the Koreans and their MMORPGs who really got started on that concept) but rather on pacing story and gameplay, and how the combat is everything in MH3 so if the combat is action-based then it must be an action game... But I think my post is long enough!

Didn't mean to step on any toes with this post - just clarifying what seem to me to be misconceptions.

LOL H-Mac go back to EO3 that is way to much time on your hands. Good points though. Oh and you know you stepped on toes!