Chances are a lot of us are stuck at home right now, even if we don't want to be. And I like playing RPGs, so I figured I'd put together a list of five I enjoyed that are really long and are also available digitally so you can pick them up without going out of the house.
Persona 5 (PS4/PS3) - This is a popular one. The dungeons are huge and when you're living your school life there's a never ending list of things to do that will push you to play "one more day." Combat is presented as being fairly simple, attack enemies by hitting their elemental weaknesses, and if you knock all of them down, then your team of Phantom Thieves get to gang up on them for bonus damage. But the really deep part of game design is in the Persona fusion system which allows you to create Personas with different elemental strengths and weaknesses, and that's all pre-combat preparedness.
The story itself is probably too long for its own good, but the cast is entertaining and the presentation is incredibly stylish. You'll never appreciate the artistic trappings of a game's UI like you will in Persona 5. There's even an updated rerelease Persona 5 Royal coming out at the end of the month with a new playable character and additional story that takes place after the previous last boss.
Dragon Age: Inquisition (Windows/PS4/PS3/XB1/X360) - This one isn't too long if you want to rush it, but there's tons to explore and more side quests than you can shake a stick at. Maybe there are too many side quests, but this is a game that encourages you to wander through every nook and cranny you can find, and if you're looking for a time sink, it delivers. Combat is in real time, but you can pause whenever you need and overall it's pretty forgiving.
The story is probably not the strongest one in the series, but it's serviceable. As per custom, there are multiple ways to handle the majority of the key situations your Inquisitor ends up in, and generally they feel satisfying. The Inquisitor is a bit shoehorned into a particular type of personality since they removed the Nice/Sarcastic/Angry voice options in Dragon Age II, but the rest of the cast benefits from the studio's talented character writers. Except maybe Blackwall. I think he hates me.
Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) - I haven't played Three Houses yet, but you can't go wrong with Awakening, which set off the current Fire Emblem renaissance. It's a strategy RPG in a series that was previousy known for being brutally hard, but there's a casual mode now so you can enjoy the game more for the story than worrying about your favorite character getting permanantly killed off in battle. Combat is generally handled through a rock-paper-scissors method except with lance-sword-axe so you know which units are good against which.
Since every unit is a person, you'll likely end up caring about the various faces in your army, and you can even hook them up with each other (and due to the plot, you'll also meet their time traveling children). It's not terribly realistic, but it's rather fun pairing off as many people in your army as you can, and every courtship has its own unique dialogue. Some couples are incredibly funny, and because the combat bonuses for a couple fighting together are pretty good, there's little reason not to get them hitched.
Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker (3DS) - Though I enjoyed both Devil Survivor games, I'm going with the second for this list because it's more upbeat than the first game, even if it's still about the world coming to an end in the span of a week. Like Persona, it's part of the Shin Megami Tensei meta-series of games so you have demon fusion that works much like Persona fusion, but the demons are now teammates that join you in battle, which takes place on a typical strategy RPG grid.
There are actually two storylines, each with multiple endings, in Record Breaker, giving you quite a bang for your buck. One is the original Devil Survivor 2 storyline, and the other is the Record Breaker pseudo-sequel (since it's to an ending you can't actually achieve), and with New Game+ it's easy to replay and knock out additional endings just to see what you missed. The game's cast is large, but there's enough time to get to know all of them, especially if you're replaying.
Disgaea 1 Complete (Switch) - This was originally released on PS2, and I haven't played the update, but it's much the same game as the original (which also means incredible difficulty), just with prettier graphics. It's another strategy RPG, but flavored with comedic demons. You'll get the most mileage out of it if you're already an anime fan as Disgaea gleefully skewers trope after trope, whether it's villain monologuing or an appearance by the color-coded "Prism Rangers."
The characters are incredibly shallow and funny because they know they are. Demons pride themselves on being awful and immoral, and of course the cute angel that shows up to join the party makes everyone sick in the best possible way. I'm not sure I can coherently say what the story is in this game, save that it's about 90% comedy, 10% tear-jerker, and even demons have hearts, though they wouldn't want to admit it.
No comments:
Post a Comment