Is it just my imagination, or is IGN biased big-time in favor of anything that has "square" and "enix" written on it? Even though players love Etrian Odyssey II, they gave it a score of only 8.0 overall. On the other hand, they gave FF Tactics A2 a score 9.0 overall.

Example Gameplay:

EO: Etrian Odyssey II is all about “more” this time around. There are more options, more classes (12 in all), town warps to help streamline exploration, and force skills to tweak. score = 8.0

FFT: It doesn't break any new ground, but the strategy gameplay on offer is rock solid. You'll be hard-pressed to find a deeper game on the DS. score = 9.0

Truth is, with the mapping system EO is one of the coolest and most innovative gameplay experiences to come in a long time! While FFT might be fun, it's certainly the same SRPG game... and yet it gets a full point higher?

Honestly, I think if EO was made by Squeenix it would score much higher in IGN's eyes. Pa-thetic...

Thoughts?

-avatar!

I haven't read either review... were they done by the same person?  It could have been personal preference on the reviewer's part, or the way they personally scored things.

Haven't played Etrian Odyssey, so I can't comment on it, but I know I had a total blast with FFTA2, clocking in about 80 hours or so.

Have you considered the fact that yours is also just one man's opinion?

So when I checked out gamestats, it turns out EO (both I and II) received their lowest score from IGN (frankly I don't think they put much time nor thought into it), and FFTA2 received it's highest score from IGN. Seems to me like IGN is feeding the fan boys and girls... but you're right, I could be mistaken. Still, I'm glad there are enough people out there who are willing to look beyond shallow reviews and actually love unique and innovative games such as EO! I guess IGN likes games that have a heritage, are shiny and purty...

cheers,

-avatar!

Not sure the two should be compared since they play pretty differently. But I will agree with the general vibe that press reviews, online or otherwise, are pretty much useless. Some of my favorite games of the last few years have only received middling scores across the board while some much-vaunted 9s-10s have left me utterly cold.

The best approach is to read these reviews for the cold, clinical take, then take the negatives listed and ask friends online (and yourself!) whether they matter. If not, go for it.

Well, I'm not trying to defend IGN or anything, God knows I can't stand 'em, but I was just saying I thought FFTA2 was a great game in any case.

Still, you've got me interested in EO now, so I'll probably be checking that out

IGN gave God Hand a 3.0; therefore, they have lost all Zane Credibility. That game is f---ing great.

You, are in for a treat! It's such a beautiful game! Lots of secrets, tons of side quests, great music, great fun, create your own party in the spirit of old-school goodness! Some new-school goods too. For instance, NO random battles! (You have have a gauge in the screen which tells you when you're about to enter battle). Plus FOEs are cool... yeah, it's a winner Be warned though, it's not easy (although in a good way), and the original EO is already somewhat difficult to find (but well worth it)!

cheers,

-avatar!

Would I have to play part 1 first to be able to appreciate part 2, or are they stand-alone games?

I always think you appreciate something more if you play it from the start. The first is a great game, I've heard the second is even better (although I have yet to play the sequel but I will)! I've also heard that the second has a password feature from the first as an Easter Egg, which I think is really cool. So I guess the answer is no Although after playing the second you just might want to go back and play the first...

cheers,

-avatar!

This may be the understatement of the year. I haven't played the second one, but the first one isn't just hard -- it's hardcore. If you don't know what you're doing early on, you're going to die. A lot. It really has to be stressed that EO is not an easy game.

I also think the "no random encounters" thing is a bit misleading. Yeah, you get a gauge to show you when you're about to enter a battle, but you can't actually avoid them. At best, you can use items or spells to decrease the encounter rate.

All that said, I do echo the sentiment that Etrian Odyssey is a lot of fun when you get used to the difficulty. The mapping system in particular really provides a sense of exploration and makes great use of the touch screen.

I've mostly stopped reading IGN reviews altogether, especially for blockbuster games. I find their 5 page reviews obnoxious. Sometimes I watch their video reviews, though.

Bozon's Ninjabread Man review is full of lulz.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/844/844327p1.html

Why do people find this game so hard?? Yeah, it's hardcore (in a good, fun, way), but I honestly don't think it's super hard like people are making it out to be! To be honest, I thought Odin Sphere was harder AND more frustrating. Really, the only thing you'll need to do is put a little time to build up your characters (which is easy so long as you don't run away from every fight), and just a little thought into what skills make them strong. In fact, there are tons of skills to choose from (as well as many classes), and most skills once powered up are very potent. This makes the game very replayable and you can build a party that suits your taste!

As for the encounters, you actually can avoid fights. That is, if you're near stairs you can go up or down to reset your gauge, plus you can always warp back to town. Granted, those certainly are limited options, but they do work beautifully. I think the gauge is perfect, because basically you'll always be prepared for a fight, and the same thing with bosses and FOEs. You'll never accidentally walk into a boss fight (thank goodness)! As for the boss fights, they take some strategy, so you can't just go in there and just keeping hitting attack. That being said, the bosses along with the rest of the game really aren't all that hard... don't believe all the horror stories

cheers,

-avatar!

D'oh!

I just realised that Etrian Odyssey is the American name for Sekaiju no Meikyu, which I already played a while ago and put down almost immediately because I found it unplayable (>_<)
Unfair difficulty RIGHT from the start, plus random maps make me very unhappy.

Sorry Avatar!, but no love from me for this game, and I DEFINITELY wouldn't say this is in any way better than FFTA2 AT ALL.

Etrian Odyssey has its moments of cheapness but I don't think it's absurdly difficult. Then again, I grew up playing PC RPGs that are a hell of a lot harder (and without the convenient mapping system the EO series provides).

It's not for everyone, but the difficulty is certainly fair, and there are no random maps in the game, so not sure if you were really playing the same game or not. I would love to see a sequel to FFT, but FFTA2 is a sequel to the GBA game (I believe), and I've heard the story isn't as deep as that of the original FFT game. I'm still hoping for a true sequel one day, or better yet another Ogre Battle

-avatar!

It's a matter of preference, but the exact opposite is my impression. That difficulty is what made the earlier gameplay of EO so fantastic (and why I eventually got bored with the game while there still remained some optional floors). Unlike today's globetrotting J-RPGs which people seem to play for enjoying stories, a dungeon crawling RPG like EO should be challenging and tensive. That may or may not be called 'grinding', but it's still a major requisite. I absolutely adored how the game initially started. ?Then again, it's really a shame that I found the later floors to be quite dull. A well-customized bird or a medic had so strong buff that I never got stuck with any F.O.E, or even the floor bosses. Yawn.

As for FFT A2, it was a fine game, but flawed in a reverse way: Too easy. I even restarted the game in hard mode, but it wasn't still enough. There were piles of quests to do, but but most of them came off as samey and boring chores. The lack of any optional strong boss didn't help the game either (granted, making a stronger character is interesting, but for what?).

Btw, does anyone know if EOII has consistent difficulty? As I just passed the qualifying exam, now I have much time to play some games. Given that I happen to get the autographed soundtrack, EOII is a good choice. I know that medic's buff is at least nerfed.

QFT and fix'd

My friend and I used to browse their game reviews religiously, and then I gave up on it.  The dissappointment of seeing a game you're really looking forward to getting a "bad" score of 6.0 or lower just demolished the hype.  Word of mouth works for me alot more nowadays.  "Izuna" got a score of 6.9 and I'm having a BLAST with it.  (Thanks McCall for getting me into the Rogue-like genre.  Baroque was fantastic and now I need moar!!)

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Yeah, it was WAY too easy, I'll grant you that, but I find myself not playing games for the challenge anymore. Optional challenges are great, but if the main gameplay is too hard, I just don't have the patience to finish it anymore.

I'm getting old.

@Avatar!: No, I checked, it's the same game, but it seems I was wrong about the dungeons being random. They just FELT random somehow, in that they were so utterly devoid of anything interesting.

I must disagree, but that's fine. The dungeons are packed with goodness and tons to do! The game certainly is not for everyone, but there's a reason why it's already a collector's item (the first game), and that's because it's great

cheers,

-avatar!

Now you're talking!  That'll always be my all time favorite RPG or game series.  I've got nothing but love for those games.  It's just too bad that they don't appeal to the mainstream.  Since Square-Enix bought the Quest team (seems like they've been buying out their competition for a while now; they bought Gamearts, which probably killed the chances for a Lunar 3), it could be that chances of seeing another one are totally dead, unless Matsuno were to somehow resurrect it with a new development team.  Even then it probably wouldn't be the same, though I suppose it would be better than nothing.  I think there were supposed to be nine episodes total...and we've only got three of them. (not counting the two side games, which I haven't played; I'll probably never play the Neo Geo pocket game but I'd like to try Knight of Lodis sometime)  The only consolation is that those three are all fantastic, which means that the series doesn't have a black sheep entry, unlike so many other game series where that inevitable misstep pops up at some point.

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Wait, Square bought Game Arts?  I thought the Grandia III thing was just a publishing deal.  Thank goodness there always seem to be other small companies coming up to make new RPG franchises since all the other ones are getting conglomerated.

SE didn't buy anything from Gamearts. They just published Grandia III and the PS2 port of Grandia II.

As for Quest, based on the various interviews with Matsuno, I think it was a very friendly acquisition. It's Quest in the first place who approached Square-Enix despite having been backed by Nintendo. Although this relationship resulted in FFT ADVANCE, Quest still had bled financially and decided to withdraw from the industry soon after FFTA. It was then that SQUARE-ENIX got the copyrights of Ogrebattle and absorbed the staffs.

edit: I should've checked the latest state of the thread before posting.

What happened was that ESP dissolved, so Gamearts went to Enix to publish their games. This simply continued after the merger.

-Joshua

'Acquired' Gamearts might've been the better word then.  The point is, for all intents and purposes, it seems like Gamearts belongs to SE now.  Whatever happened to Grandia Online anyways?

It doesn't matter to me how the negotiations went.  I suspect that SE couldn't care less about the Ogre Battle series.  We'll be seeing a FFTA3 before we see another Ogre Battle game.

And didn't Matsuno leave SE during the late stages of FFXII's development?  Or is he back with them?  I thought that he left but that most of his former Quest co-workers might've remained with SE.  It's probably too much to hope for that they'd all leave and do something on their own.  Then again, Sakaguchi and Uematsu left.

So SE exerts no influence whatsoever over what games they might develop from here on out?  If so, then perhaps there's hope.

Nah, Gamearts is now the Subsidiary of GungHo (this results in Grandia Online, I guess). Then again, the license of the game was sold to OGR. I thought you were a bit too much harsh onto SE, but pouncing on your month or pleading for them isn't my intension either. The problem is, if SE made an Ogre Battle without Matsuno, it'd surely offend not a few people. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

As for the main subject, I'd be surprised if IGN (for that matter, most professional review sites or magazines) is still an authoritative site for people.

It's a habit.

I didn't think much of Square-Enix (the Square side in particular) in the 128-bit era.  I'd thought it'd be safe in this den of hardcore gamers to just vent my frustrations without concern for any possible SE fans out there.  It's good that you're pointing out my harshness though.  That helps me to keep things in perspective.  I liked FFXII, but since Matsuno directed most of that one, I see it as an exception to the course that Square has been on since FFX and to a lesser (but perhaps ultimately more culpable) extent, FFVII.

Ogre Battle 64 came out pretty well without Matsuno directing, but it did have the remnants (I don't know how many of them Matsuno originally took with him when he made FFT for Square; please feel free to tell me if you do) of the Nintendo-backed Quest team behind it.

It's true however that some things might not feel quite right to long-term OB fans if some new people introduced new ideas.  Oh well.  Is something new better than nothing or should the stainless legacy of the games that are already out there just be left alone?  It's hard to say.

Forget all this legacy nonsense! I want a new Ogre Battle game! I don't care who directs it, who produces it, who slept with whom, I just want a good game! Oh, and I really really don't care if fans get pissed off or not! I think it's always a good idea to try new and innovative ideas. Worse comes to worse, the game sucks, well then you don't have to buy it. Simple as that!

cheers,

-avatar!

Even if it were to get turned into a Kitase/Nomura production where the hero is a spikey-haired emo who wears clothing with lots of zippers and buckles?

A good game is a good game. I don't care what the hero/heroine is like so long as the game is good. You ain't scaring me with your emos!