Well Monolith had to sack over 90 employees after pulling out of the MMO bizniz and selling Matrix Online to Sony. Pity but i wondering how much was this down to Sega then WB.
Over…?
I’m not talking about a strategy RPG .I’m talking about an Action RPG with a party.I’m just saying it’s possible to include a party in an ARPG.There are many ways, this is one of them.
But like I said there could be a sort of parallel combat mechanics not unlike that of strategy RPGs if wanted.Like pausing the combat ala KOTOR and the issuing specific orders in some way.
Over, the additional characters in your party. When you’re in control of one character, AI would take over the other characters and you’d cease to have direct control over them. So, even though you may have a deeper sense of control over a single character (with different real time moves, combos etc), the depth of control over you entire party would be lessened.
To put this into perspective, I think you have a greater control over your entire party in Skies of Arcadia than KOTOR, unless you’re constantly pausing the game. A system where you could program what the AI of your character would do under certain circumstances might remedy this, however. Still, there?s room for both systems in my opinion. By no means is turn based combat “dated” just because the mainstream don?t want it anymore? that would be like saying the rail shooter is dated because it offers a different kind of experience than an FPS.
But anyway… yes, real time combat can work for small parties. Turning a turn based strategy game with 12 characters your party into an action game a whole other matter entirely, really. I really don’t know what the developers at Amusement Vision were thinking when they made Shining Force Neo an action game besides “cash in”.
I’m sorry.I’d liek to thing my english is at least good but sometimes …
When I said over I mean “a step backwars over [something else]”.Now that I think of it tho I think my synthax is flawed 
Personally I don’t like big parties.I used to dislike parties altogether but I’ve changed my opinion a bit.12 team members are too many even if you are just trying to remember their names.
Anyways I think you (much like Geoff) are beeing influenced by SFNeo.I don’t really now why you say ARPG’s are mainstream now.I honestly can’t name 4 solid mainstream ARPG franchises.I can name SRPG ones tho.
I think deep in your hearts you both (like so many other SF fans) are coming up with a reason to dislike ARPGs and disregard their mechanics as shallow simply because your expexcted sequel turned out to be a spinoff (for lack of a better term).Admit it 
It just annoys me that Sega purposely chose to go down the Action/RPG route when so many fans are crying out for Shining Force IV. It’s not as if “simulation RPGs” (as they are called in Japan) are an extinct genre like rail shooters.
It was a poor decision no matter how good Shining Force Neo turns out to be on its own merits.
Each to his own, I guess.
Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance, Fable, Phantasy Star Online, and The Legend of Zelda are four franchises that spring to mind pretty quickly (even if Fable only has one game so far).
I like action RPGs. I just think that there is room for both, and the fact that franchises like Phantasy Star, Baldurs Gate, and even Final Fantasy seem to be going to action RPG route shows that action RPGs are more mainstream than turn based party games. Now, if you take Shining Force, where most people would agree that the main attraction was it’s gameplay and turn it into an action game you lose what made it Shining Force in the first place.
Shining Force Neo isn’t a spin off, it’s a completely new direction for the series (Neo means “new” in Greek). “Lets introduce a new, mainstream battle system where you don’t control a force, and add in some Star Wars-like storyline to justify the name” is basically what they’re saying. When Shining Force Neo could have just as easily been called Shining Soul 3, I don’t see how Neo can be justified as any more than a cash in on the Shining Force name. How anyone can say that Sega’s desision was a good one, is beyond me (not saying that you did…).
Aren’t there things like turns in PSO?I only played it for an hour or too a long time ago so bare with me.
Isn’t Dark Alliance similar to Diablo?People keep calling Diablo an ARPG but to me they are as much “action” as something like Commandos (which I love btw).
I have issues considering games with isometric views and lag between button pressing and the actual action (which feel more like issuing orders than) action games.
Of course I’m not the one labelling things but I talk or stand by or wish for an action game I’m talking about one which gives you that kinetic feel of immediate response to your fingers.As for isometric view : I just think it isn’t suited for a game of action.
[quote=“Solo Wing Dragon”]
Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance, Fable, Phantasy Star Online, and The Legend of Zelda are four franchises that spring to mind pretty quickly (even if Fable only has one game so far).[/quote]
I would replace Dark Alliance with Champions of Norrath or even Untold Legends for PSP, since Dark Alliance is pretty much dead at this point if I am correct. Plus every MMORPG is pretty much an ARPG at this point.
On the PS2 however Atlus Software has been bringing over SRPG for the past couple of years now with Disgea, Stella Deus, Phantom Brave, and the upcoming Atelier Isis. While none of these are franchises they are what seems a popular trend on the PS2 right now for many people.
Maybe not in the west.
Felix - Disgaea did surprisingly well, but the follow-ups have all met with less than stellar sales. I’m not exactly sure why, as I’ve only dabbled with Disagaea and haven’t touched the others, but I’m curious. Perhaps it was just a freak accident with timing and the right hype?
Really? Hmmm…perhaps they did just find a good time to release the game plus hype like you said Abadd. From what i’ve read though, they aren’t printing a lot of copies of these titles anyhow. I doubt they will continue this on the PS3.
I’m inclined to think combination of freak accident and novelty. I know several people who picked it up because it involved taking over the Underworld with wacky hijinks along the way, which at the time no other strategy RPG offered. The other Nippon Ichi titles brought to the US since (which weren’t by Atlus), La Pucelle and Phantom Brave, haven’t done nearly as well and it may just be because the subject matter is different or because people feel they’ve already gotten their fill of that style of game with Disgaea.
Regarding Atlus, they’ve always been bringing over strategy RPGs. Stella Deus is just one of many, given they’ve done the Tactics Ogre/Ogre Battle series, Kartia, Brigandine, etc. over before. I don’t think anything’s really changed. They just happened to get lucky with Disgaea.
By the way, Atlus is a very small publisher. They always do low print runs to ensure that their entire stock of games is sold. It’s very expensive to store unsold merchandise, and being a small company they can’t afford it, so they prefer to underproduce and make sure they run out than to be greedy and then wind up with inventory they can’t get rid of.
Yeah, you are definitely right now that I think about it Rune Lai.
But it’s still good to see that atleast one console is regularly getting SRPG rather than being starved of them.
Are they making a Digaea 2, I thought I read that somewhere? Perhaps not…
Atlus has been losing a lot of money lately; I wonder how much longer they can hold on?
Nippon Ichi is working on Makai Kingdom now, which sounds superficially like Disgaea (evil demon lord gets in over his head, wackiness ensues), though I understand it also has something to do with buildings, used transport troops and/or build a city. I don’t remember, but it’s supposed to introduce a new mechanic.
Regarding Atlus losing a lot of money, I don’t know if they are, but I would not be surprised. Despite all the RPG of the Year nominations, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne has had weak sales. I’m not sure what Digital Devil Saga is doing, but if it’s anything like SMT:N that can’t be good, especially since the Megaten series is supposed to be something of their flagship franchise. It’s possible that series is just not destined for popularity outside of Japan.