#SRPGSeptember 2017!

Joshua Carpenter · September 2017

September is an incredibly crowded month for releases this year, but it's also #SRPGSeptember, the Internet game-along hosted by Anne Lee @ Chic Pixel and since I knew I would be participating, I thought it would be a good idea to create a place on the forums for everyone to share what they are playing this month. This has been an incredible year for SRPGs so there are plenty to choose from: Fire Emblem Echoes, Utawarerumono Mask of Deception (and Mask of Truth in a few days), Disgaea 5 Complete on the Switch, God Wars: Future Past, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, and the just released Mario + Rabbids. Of course you could dive into that ever growing backlog to knock one of those out: Banner Saga, Valkyria Chronicles, or maybe one of the Final Fantasy Tactics games.

Personally, I'll be playing God Wars, which slipped under the radar earlier this year, but I've been impressed with it so far and I'll be continuing my journey through Super Robot Wars V (I'm sure I'll find some more screenshots from SRW to post on Twitter). If I finish those, maybe I'll have time to move on to Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth. If you are going to be playing anything for #SRPGSeptember, share your experience here in the forums or on social media using the hashtag.

TheAnimeMan · September 2017

I've been working through Fire Emblem Fates

Alex Fuller · September 2017

Coincidence that it releases this week rather than actual trying to match up with this but currently playing Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth for review.

Miles away from finishing it but some brief early thoughts (yes, I have copied this verbatim from twitter :) ):
Definitely picks up where the last left off, plot does move along and is more like the second half of Mask of Deception with a greater focus on military/political aspects. Though of course it still finds the time for some faffing and fanservice. Also had a decent number of battles so far (compared to same point in prev. game), so on the whole very positive as far as I'm concerned.

Finally, should be obvious, but despite the jog-the-memory bits not playing the first game beforehand is rather a waste of time.

Joshua Carpenter · September 2017

Finally experienced my first roadblock in God Wars, a brutal mission where I got overwhelmed by enemies. I think the problem is that I've been mostly mainlining the story, ignoring the sidequests, and not paying enough attention to the job system (I keep playing one mission and putting the game in rest mode and forgetting to fiddle with the job points when I come back to it). Consequentially, most of my characters are using at least 1 starting class, so I'm spending a bit of time grinding up of the mid-game classes so I'll have some better abilities.

Before this roadblock, the game is really good. It's a very technical SRPG; height matters quite a bit even for melee attacks increasing damage and accuracy and attacking from the side and rear does the same. So positioning is essential, but you have to be careful about bunching units together because the AI will hit you with area of effect attacks.

The story is fairly strong and it has good pacing; it's telling an interesting tale without getting bogged down in the details. And, my goodness, the game is gorgeous. I'm used to SRPGs being talking heads and grid based maps with an occasional cut-scene. The art style here really sells the ancient Japanese locale and I love the way they intersperse manga inspired art scenes with fully animated cut-scenes. Also, this game may have the most beautiful world map I've seen in a game; it even has these little details where a volcano will erupt and have smoke and lava coming out of it. The small touches in this game I'm finding very charming. Now I'll find out if it holds up over the second half.

Cassandra Ramos · September 2017

I'm replaying Stella Glow and am aiming for the True ending. It's apparently not hard to get and despite what I initially though, you don't even need New Game+ to see it. I'm still very early in the game, just a little past chapter one.

7thCircle · September 2017

I finished chapter 2 in Mario + Rabbids tonight. As a tactical game, it gets a lot of things right. The merging of Mario mechanics with tactical ones is beyond my expectations. Simply turning a Mario head stomp into a fast way to increase mobility on a map takes Disgaea's slow, annoying pick-up-and-toss mechanic and makes it much more convenient. I know nothing of the Rabbids franchise, but the game is nailing an absurd humor that will appeal to both kids and adults. I have nothing bad to say about it, and it's challenging enough in spots that I've already lost twice.

I have 6 characters right now. I don't use Luigi because his health is too low to rely on him consistently. Thanks to the pixel weapon DLC, new characters get a free weapon upgrade when they first join, encouraging me to try each new character for a bit. At the moment I'm using Mario, Peach, and Rabbid Luigi, though I'm tempted to keep Rabbid Peach in because of how funny she acts in cutscenes.

Joshua Carpenter · September 2017

Still making progress in God Wars; it seems like I've been playing it forever, and I'm not totally sure of my playtime because I can't find a timer in game, but I must be around 60 hours in and finally reached the final chapter. Usually I tend to gravitate to games with fun, interesting characters and the story can just be okay, but this game is the opposite. The characters are okay, they fit the story, but the story really carries the game. People who want a FF Tactics style game, complete with class system, combined with a Japanese folklore inspired story will be pleased with this one.

I've also been playing a bit of Summon Night 5 for... reasons. I got past the mission that I banged my head against 8-9 times last year before finally giving up so maybe I'm playing that again? Just what I need, resurrecting a game that was safely put away for good ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7thCircle · September 2017

I'm at the end of world 4 in Mario + Rabbids. I settled into Mario, Rabbid Peach, and Rabbid Yoshi as my go-to team. On one hand, there's not enough money to keep everyone in the best gear available, so it's good that there's no real reason to change things up, but on the other hand it would have been cool if levels provided a wider variety of scenarios that encouraged or forced the player to switch teammates some. My team has the damage, mobility, disruption, and defense to handle any situation. If I end a stage with someone seriously low on health and swap him out, the new team always feels a bit weaker to me, though that could be a skill issue since I don't have much practice with the others.

I love Rabbid Luigi, but he does the least damage of everyone, and it started becoming a detriment in stages where high HP enemies need to be killed fast. With Mario being an all-offense, no-defense mandatory party member, Rabbid Mario makes 2/3 of the roster have the same strengths and weaknesses, so I stopped using him quickly. I never gave Luigi a fair shake because of his low HP. I liked Peach and used her for a while, but ultimately found her abilities to do as much harm as good. Shotgun + Unaimable counter attacks + Friendly Fire = Fratricide, and protection caused her to die a couple times. Yoshi I like a lot and currently swap in for Rabbid Yoshi if he ends a stage at low HP. I prefer Rabbid Yoshi because of his defensive ability and because the grenade is a bit more versatile than the rocket launcher.

The game has a nice difficulty curve. Stages are getting harder, but I haven't been losing much. I made a big mistake in one level in world 4 and lost that once. It feels like I'm using tactics to perform well, and when I fail it's because I did something stupid.

TheAnimeMan · September 2017

Although I beat FE Fates:Revalations I'm giving it another go. First time I did it without the kids. Going to try and do more with getting the kids and working on more supports for characters.

Joshua Carpenter · October 2017

An SRPGSeptember wrapup:

Finished God Wars which was quite good actually, but I'll leave most of my thoughts for the review I need to finish. Think that is the first time I've finished a game for a month play-along; having a review hanging over my head was apparently good for productivity.

I also got back into Summon Night 5 thanks to something I'm writing for the site and I finally got past the mission that had me stuck last year. I may just be able to finish it up by the time Summon Night 6 comes out the way that keeps getting pushed back. I know Summon Night isn't the best game in the world, but it really clicks with me for some reason.

Cassandra Ramos · October 2017

I didn't make to what is different about a good ending run for Stella Glow. I'll keep playing it to completion, as Stella Glow is still an enjoyable game for all of its goofy fanservice. I do like having so much Free Time to do things. I get some rather interesting accessories using the Explore option.

Michael Baker · October 2017

I'm stuck at the Brave Level 10 battle in Chapter 6 of Summon Night, mainly because I want to actually beat it with the Brave award, which means I can't have any units with a base level higher than 10 and no one can get K.O.'ed.

So to do this, I've been grinding at the two available free battle points for this chapter to get everyone at top equipment. It's taking a while >_<

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#SRPGSeptember 2017!

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