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80-200 hour difficult-ish (J)RPG to be 50th plat


lednatius

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I have 27 platinums and I want Zero Time Dilemma to be #30, and I have several easy + quick options for 28 and 29 that i'll get in the next few days. I want to start what will probably end up being my 50th plat (I have a lot of 5-20 hour easy plats lined up). I want it to be a difficult and lengthy JRPG that I can really sink my teeth into for 2-3 weeks without worrying about being too close to platting it then. FYI I have every physically released in NA  PS3 JRPG except for folklore (which doesn't have trophies anyway), and dark souls 2.
I'm looking for something about the difficulty of Omega Quintet or a little more, a bit longer though. OQ had a grind at the end but wasn't too ridiculous. I'm not looking for something ridiculous like Mugen Souls, SO4, WKC1 or 2. I have some ideas, can't decide though. Share your experience with what I mention, name something i forgot/don't have, maybe I'll check it out, etc.

-Disgaea 3,4,D2, or 5 - pretty sure these are around the length i'm looking for, not sure about difficulty though
-Agarest Zero
-Ar tonelico qoga -length seems about right from what i can find, not sure on difficulty. Really enjoyed Ar nosurge, haven't played tonelico 1+2 though so kinda reluctant to start with this one.
-Class of heroes 2G ... heard its about the right length, a little reluctant to open it though. I probably will eventually open it anyway unless the digital version is like 80%+ off before i get around to it
-Tales of Vesperia- Right length + Difficulty...language barrier though
-Other Tales games- not completely feeling them right now. Zestiria or graces maaybe.
-Cross Edge- right length, heard its a bit easy for what i'm looking for, also heard its not such a great game.
-Resonance of Fate-
-Ragnarok Odyssey Ace- always wanted to get really into a hunting game. Never really have besides MH3 a little bit.
-Trinity Universe- doesn't really fit the difficulty i want, but its something i want to get to more than some of the others.
-The Guided Fate Paradox- maybe a bit too difficult for what i'm looking for, but I'm tempted. Heard its 1 or 2 steps below the major 4 difficult RPGs.
-Tears to Tiara II- don't actually know much about this except that there was an anime, and the guide here says its just the right difficulty and length i'm looking for.
Trails of Cold Steel- I want to get around to playing this (not now/for this necessarily though), but I'm pretty sure the 100 hour estimate is just because of a trophy for playing 100 hours

Dark Cloud 2 and Rogue Galaxy are also possibilities...
I've also had PS+ since last october, i know there was some stuff like DA:Origins, Mass effect 2, and Freedom Wars. Also would be willing to consider any PSTV compatible games that fit the bill that you see on my profile. Mainly considering PS3 though.

 

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I'll recommed Resonance of Fate out of your suggested options . I'm not a huge of JRPGs right now but i've been buying a couple of them to start really digging into the genre when i have more free time. My suggestion is only basedon the one i really think i could plat it since i have it in my backlog and it kinda intrigues me with his step learing curve and difficulty overall .

Edited by Jiaho24
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About the Hunting JRPG (I know some people will say that if it is a hunting game, its not RPG. But it is to me!):

- Soul Sacrifice Delta: has the best story and customization, along with a pretty active online community;

- Ragnarok Odyssey Ace: very colorful with an epic "feeling" to some battles. Unfortunately, community is plagued with cheaters and there is no more access to Daily Missions and OCA cards;

- Toukiden: if you choose this, go for Kiwami (unless you want the relentless challenge that is Age of Demons). Good combat, lots of equipment and a decent (but not good) character customization with a solid story.

- Freedom Wars: Intense battles, multilplayer versus mode and a very good customization system. But the story is far from good and the weapon customization can really get on one's nerves.

 

SS Delta and Toukiden are the best choices IMO (and I was not a fan of SS Delta in the begining).

 

About the other JRPGs:

- Tales of: Go for Graces F (more teenager) or Xillia (a little more adult) Or, if you dont have problems if graphics, go for Symphonia.

- Tears to Tiara 2: Heavy visual novel (some scenes may take more than an hour) but it has a moving story, likeable characters (Charis...) and the bonus dungeon will test all your might as a tactician.

- Resonance of Fate: good, but gets repetitive and you have to pay attention to what you are doing with the characters or you can screw up and hit a wall.

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I'd recommend Resonance of Fate/End of Eternity.

Has a hard-to-learn, fun-to-master gameplay. The story is top notch, the characters are most likely more than amazing. However to get into the trophylist, the difficulty of it depends on how fast you adapt to the gameplay. Though there is a really grindy Arena.

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If you're willing to go out of the JRPG genre to RPG itself, then Xcom: Enemy Unknown sounds perfect for your criteria.

Edited by Lord_of_Ra
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I'd agree with Wdjat that Guided Fate Paradox seems perfect for this. It's difficult to begin with but once you get a hang of the mechanics and powerlevel a bit it's a lot easier than people make it out to be. It's around 150ish hours too so fits within your timescales.

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as someone that has played xillia with 2, final fantasy X and X-2

 

those aren't too bad (both have new game plus).

 

spent at least a month apiece on the finals series (with a generous amount of gameplay each day).

Edited by kingdrake2
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I've played most of those titles listed in the OP, and out of those I'd recommend Trails of Cold Steel as my personal favorite of the bunch.  If I had to pick a second finisher, I'd go with Tears to Tiara II, although that's more "visual novel" than it is Strategy RPG for the most part (except for the bonus dungeon with is pretty much all RPG and very little story but also very difficult at times without a guide to hold your hand).

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I'd recommend Resonance of Fate/End of Eternity.

Has a hard-to-learn, fun-to-master gameplay. The story is top notch, the characters are most likely more than amazing. However to get into the trophylist, the difficulty of it depends on how fast you adapt to the gameplay. Though there is a really grindy Arena.

Having platted RoF myself I strongly recommend it. You'll be playing for 2-3 weeks for the plat.

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Not on your list, but Agarest 1 (would need to be NA version, I think digital, else no trophies) would fit the description really well of what you want, but Zero can also go well I think.

 

Trinity Universe has a broken money system, making it super easy.

 

Resonance of Fate is a good candidate though, just like Agarest Zero is too.

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I'd throw my vote behind Resonance of Fate too, it fits the criteria and aside that it's one of my PS3 hidden gems, it's flawed, can get repetitive but it's also quite unique and almost criminal that no-one has ever done anything to revisit and evolve the combat system.   Good story if a bit cryptic, cool exploration mechanic, weap customisation is an enjoyable game in and of itself and as I alluded to, a unique and, albeit 'limited', fantastic combat system.  Gem of a game!  :) 

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From the ones I plat or played from your list, I don't see any overly difficult, but I see some overly boring (as in grinding is painfully boring..), and those are namely Cross Edge (it almost drove me insane.. really end up hating it, because of creating all weapons and grind for resources) and Agarest War Zero (it feels exactly the same as Cross Edge, since it reuses all enemies from that game, as well as a lot of other things..)..

 

Other then those, Disgaea is always grindy, but not boring (at least for me), since there's tons of stuff to do at all times..

 

Tales of usually aren't hard or to bad to plat, but may require a few hours of grind, specially the new ones, both Symphonia are different, and the first game requires some  preparations as well as a lot of playthroughs, but it's probably my favorite tales of game (that or Grace, but Grace was also my first Tales of game).

 

I have had Ar Tonelico 3 on my backlog for years, too but never found the will to play it.. I got it at the same time as Atelier Rorona, and plated that ages ago.. so I can't say much

 

I can see Rogue Galaxy as being a good option, but it's not that difficult either..

 

All in all, I think I would suggest Resonance of Fate, since it's the only one that may give you several challenges if you aren't careful with what you are doing, I think this would be the hardest one, specially on the first playthrough while you learn the battle mechanics and how to fight each opponent.. after that it's quite straight forward, as long as you don't rush the battles..

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I stand with everyone else that's recommending Resonance of Fate. The arena can definitely get pretty grindy. Best to to tackle it alongside the story. I'm working on my plat right now and am almost done with the arena, then off to Neverland and finally NG+. Overall a great game and experience you just cant find anywhere else.

Edited by xoxoagent
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I think I've narrowed it down to 3 or 4 now.
Guided Fate paradox - was already high up on my want to do list, glad to hear its not as difficult as i heard/thought
Tears to Tiara 2 - I don't know why, but I really want to give this a shot/sounds like I'd be able to get really into it
Resonance of Fate - All of your suggestions + i forgot it was a tri-ace game

if none of those click with me though i'll try ATQ.
Eventually hopefully i'll get to most of these though, not enough time D: .

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I think I've narrowed it down to 3 or 4 now.

Guided Fate paradox - was already high up on my want to do list, glad to hear its not as difficult as i heard/thought

Tears to Tiara 2 - I don't know why, but I really want to give this a shot/sounds like I'd be able to get really into it

Resonance of Fate - All of your suggestions + i forgot it was a tri-ace game

if none of those click with me though i'll try ATQ.

Eventually hopefully i'll get to most of these though, not enough time D: .

Since you narrowed it to these three and omitted Sen no Kiseki (which you should play after finishing other Kiseki anyway :awesome:),

I will go against the flow and say Tears to Tiara. Mostly because it's even less known than End of Eternity =D EoE is a fantastic game and you should leave it for 75 or something, but Tears to Tiara is exactly what you are looking for =) EoE eventually becomes easy as you get adapted to the battle system, TtT can always surprise you =)

You may even spend more than 3 weeks to get it =D

 

 

Trails of Cold Steel- I want to get around to playing this (not now/for this necessarily though), but I'm pretty sure the 100 hour estimate is just because of a trophy for playing 100 hours

Nope ;) You WILL be playing for 100 hours ;)

Edited by Satoshi Ookami
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Nope ;) You WILL be playing for 100 hours ;)

 

It should be more than 100 hours if the players decide not to use a walkthrough during 1st playthrough, since they want to talk to townspeople for fun or at least for sightseeing in certain chapters. There is a lot of things to read in this game. I saw some ppl spent ~100 hours just to finish the 1st playthrough, while the plat requires at least 2 playthroughs (actually ~1.8 playthroughs if they start Nightmare mode in 1st playthrough), however, 2 playthroughs only if they didn't miss anything, otherwise, they need to start another playthrough.

 

As a person who wrote the guides for Ragnarok Odyssey Ace, Tears to Tiara II (on "other site'), and Cold Steel, here is my opinion about these games:

 

1) Ragnarok Odyssey Ace: A cosplay game, there is a bunch of cute outfits in the game. There is no level system, you have to equip the cards (skill, stats boosting, etc.) on the armor/outfit, the card can be dropped randomly by defeating the boss and normal monsters.This game may take up to 150 hours if you decide to play solo or ~70 hours if co-op with strong players, however, it's pretty hard to fight against certain boss, so co-op sometime is highly recommended. At least ROA allows you to hire 2 mercenaries to help you in the battle as a meat-shield :rolleyes: .

 

There are new skills for every class, the card drop rate is pretty high compared to original Ragnarok Odyssey game. Sword and Mage classes are too OP in Ace, while Assassin and Hammer classes are game-breaking in RO. Online community is pretty nice, however, it seems to be dead as I visited it last week, only a couple of ppl who still aim for plat trying to play it online. Not sure about Soul Sacrifice Delta online community, but I had a worse experience with SS online community (some of them are nice and willing to help each other, but most of them are jerks who didn't follow the host's rules and they liked to use bad words whenever they wanted).

 

I think I saw they added a new tower or something in latest patch, it should be a good place to farm stuffs.

 

It took me ~115 hours to play solo and co-op (sometime)

 

2) Tears to Tiara II: It's a long game, I spent most of time to read the text or listen to the character's voice since the dialogue is almost fully voiced. I stopped reading the story after "someone traveled to other world", and let it auto-play while I played other games or watched movies. I only came back to the game when I needed to prepare for the battles, so even I platted the game and wrote the guides, I still have no idea about the second half of the story :facepalm:.

 

Overall S rank is actually easy to get since you don't need to have most of S rank in entire chapters. Here is my calculation to determine which rank you can get at the end of the game:

 

S rank is determined by this way:

  • S rank = 4 pts
  • A rank = 3 pts
  • B rank = 2 pts
  • C rank = 1 pt

There are 45 stages, so the Maximum Score is 4 x 45 = 180 pts in total. Even if your performance is really bad in every stage, you still receive C rank; therefore, 45 pts is the Minimum Score you can get.

It takes 25% of 180 pts for every rank, so the Overall Rank's range should be like this:

  • S rank: 75.01 (> 75%) - 100% = 136-180 points
  • A rank: 50.01 (> 50%) - 75% = 91-135 points
  • B rank: 25.01 (> 25%) - 50% = 46-90 points
  • C rank: 25% = 45 points

According to this range, you can get S rank with at least 1 S rank and the rest of them are As (4 x 1) + (3 x 45) = 136 points

Let's take my Overall B rank (2nd playthrough - hard mode) as an example:

S = 3, A = 4, B = 3, C = 35

=> (3 x 4) + (4 x 3) + (3 x 2) + (35 x 1) = 65, so (65 / 180) x 100 = 36.1% => B rank

I saw someone reported that they got Overall S rank based on these numbers:

S= 13, A = 25, B = 6, C = 1

=> (13 x 4) + (25 x 3) + (6 x 2) + (1 x 1) = 140, so (140 / 180) x 100 = 77.77% => S rank

 

Bonus Dungeon is pretty tough, it requires a good strategy in order to pass it. However, it's not that hard after you clear the story mode in Hard mode and buy certain dlc characters (optional). Grinding in Free map for rare stuffs and level trick also help a lot.

 

It took me ~196 hours to plat and also taking note for guide writing.

 

3) Trail of Cold Steel: I played this series because of Emma. Done :rolleyes: .

 

There are some breaking-game stuffs in the game which make the game is extremely easy even in Nightmare mode such as more turns, 100% evasive, exploit weak element and unbalanced, etc. However, I didn't use them since I wanted to test how hard it is if I use "Fighter Class" characters only in the battle, and then I cleared the the Normal Mode with ease. In 2nd playthrough (Nightmare mode), I used the same method, however, strong weapon/armor/accessories and high level which are carried over from Clear Data helped me to clear Nightmare mode easily. In term of difficulty, it's not a hard game unless you use my fighting-style to clear the Nightmare mode in the 1st playthrough.

 

Story is kind of long, since there is no voice for most of scenes so you have to read the text.

 

It took me ~108 hours to plat the JPN version without taking note for guide writing.

 

In the end, if I can suggest a game, I will recommend Resonance of Fate since it is one of my fav games, and I never get bored with the gameplay because it is a unique battle system.

Edited by hasegawa2010
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I recomend Ar Tonelico Qoga

I second (or maybe third) this. Qoga is a nice choice because the trophies demand 100 hours, but you can finish everything much earlier, allowing yourself the opportunity to set up the plat easily.

It's also a pretty good game, and I don't praise JPRGs that often anymore. It's creepy enough to make you squirm, but not enough to make you shake your head in disgust.

EDIT: Oops. I didn't see that you narrowed the list. Plat Resonance of Fate.

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  • 1 year later...

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