Anyone tried Front Mission 4 yet?

[WarLocke]

I'm finding that not having a PC is very annoying.

I'm seriously considering buying a console to tide me over until I can put together a decent PC, since they're relatively cheap now.

My problem here is, I'd only want to spend money on one console, and I can't decide between the Playstation 2 and X-Box.

I'm not really comparing them hardware-wise, that's not an issue for me. But game selection is. <_<

The X-Box has:

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay
Gladius
MechAssault
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
Robotech: Battlecry

The Playstation 2 has:

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Front Mission 3 (PS1)
Front Mission 4
La Pucelle: Tactics
Star Ocean: Second Story (PS1)
Vandal Hearts (PS1)

And those are just the games I could come up with off of the top of my head. Someone help me decide. :(

[[wcip]Angel]

I have to be honest with you; I haven't heard of one of those games.

There's 1 game on the X-box I'm looking forward to: Full Spectrum Warrior. It's a semi-realistic combat simulator originally designed for the US. army.

But that's about it. For the PS2, I'm looking forward to Silent Hill 4, Gran Turismo 4, Metal gear Solid 3 and Resident Evil 4.. to name the very best.

[kandrathe]

The only solution is to get both. :)

I have a PS2, but I have XBox envy. Seems that many game designers are writing for the XBox first (known hardware), then port it to the PC if it is successful.

[Medicine Man]

PS2 or X-box is a tough question. The best answer I've heard came from my dealer: If you like to play multi-player, with or against friends, then the X-box is a better console. If you like to play solo alot, the PS2 is better. Judging from the games you list, I take it you like RPGs, tactical RPGs and platform strategy/shooter titles the most. With that in mind, I'd probably advise you to purchase a Playstation. Tis only my opinion though -- and every console is only as good as its games.

About the games, I can provide some insight into them:

Both Disgaea and Star Ocean are heaven for 'tweaker'-style RPGers. By 'tweaker', I mean you have to like spending 1000 hours developing skills, doing side quests, and sandbagging levels. Both games serve up these elements in spades. Disgaea is also compared favorably to Final Fantasy: Tactics -- a large pair of shoes to fill, in my opinion. A word of warning however, Disgaea was a huge sleeper hit and it is almost impossible to find a copy of it at the moment. Nippon Ichi is going to produce a second run of units, but I don't know when.

La Pucelle: Tactics was also made by Nippon Ichi Soft and shares many of the same traits as Disgaea -- most notably some of the strangest storylines and atypical protagonists in the genre. It is a fun game, but is also 50-75% side quest. It will take much longer to finish all the special dungeons than it will to finish the main storyline.

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits was a relatively inoffensive, mediocre tactical RPG game. Its reasonably challenging but not terribly innovative. I found the story and gameplay a tad snoreworthy -- perhaps due to the vast number of RPGs I've played in the past.

Vandal Hearts 1 is a tight little tactical RPG that will happily kick the bejesus out of you if you let it. Entertaining and challenging, moderate in length, but little replay value. If you find it cheap, it's worth it.

I don't have Front Mission 4 yet, but I can speak about FM3. If you are into tactical mech-warfare/RPG games, this one will keep you busy for a loooong time. There are 2 campaign paths each with around 45-50 missions. You can tweak your mechs, build skills and experience on your pilots, and play simulations between missions... tons to do. Weakness are a fairly stale plotline and dialog and some rather dated graphics.

Judging from your picks, you may wish to add 'Ring of Red' to your list. A mech-combat, tactical RPG from a couple of years back, RoR was a good but not well known title. Weaknesses most often mentioned: it can take hours to complete a map in this game, mostly due to how long it takes to exchange fire sometimes (1-2 minutes later on). Strengths: RoR delivered some rather unusual gameplay, with a combination of tactical-RPG and first person shooter. It also required a fair amount of thought and planning to win battles.

I hope all of this helps a bit. Cheers.

[Medicine Man]

To [wcip]Angel: I'm also waiting for Silent Hill 4. Waiting with a kind of mounting dread. :) I wasn't aware that there's going to be a Resident Evil 4 anytime soon on the PS2 though... I take it you aren't talking about RE: Outbreak.

[DeeBye]

Get a PS2. Xbox is huge. You might not even be able to carry it by yourself.

[Drasca]

I just started this game recently, and of course.. racked up a few hundred hours into it B) I remember warlocke (or another FFT fan) making a thread about it, but that was months ago--so I cannot find that necropost

I love my characters, but I obsess over setups... and I must say 16 slots for fighters is not enough! Ramza, + 3 generic females and one generic male. Then I've had the monsters, chocobos, dragons, bulls and that Pig Uribo derivatives (must I pick and choose?). Poaching and skinning my own veritable monster ranch. Next are the special characters that come up. Mustido the engineer, Agrias the Holy Swordswoman. Orlandu, on and on. Sheesh! I need more room! Um. Fanboy mode will be suspended for the rest of this post.

So... Final Fantasy Tactics alone should be incentive enough to get PS2.

[kandrathe]

I just saw that Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy was on PS2 as well.

Some new PS2 titles I'm interested in;

Silent Hill 4: The Room
Resident Evil Outbreak
Front Mission 4
Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XII
KillZone
Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest

[FunkyfooKarate]

You cannot beat xbox's graphics core speed, ps2 just is crap

thats all there is, its worth not playing the other games. (i use my friends ps2 and games :P)


sorry edit #2

why cant they just put all games on all systems? I currently have the "what to spend 50 bucks of my pay check on, xbox games or ps2? it just costs too dang much! im currently pissed, i missed the days when they bundled games with systems, like supermario brothers on the snes and donkey kong country also for the snes. those where the days, but i sold my ps2, refer to above

i Promise! last edit!
well, i think it would be cheaper in the long run with xbox, built in hardrive, no need for the memcard and the xbox live (last time i checked) it was like 40 bucks for a certain #of months and you dont have to buy a modem, i may dislike microsoft (their just, blah) but they scored when making a system. Currently the best console (hardware wise) out. And the sole reason to BUY an xbox is HALO and soon to be HALO 2 (drool...............)

[kandrathe]

You cannot beat xbox's graphics core speed, ps2 just is crap

Nice troll.

Yah, well this beats it.

IBM XT is crap. Unless it's 1983 and you have one of the first off the line.

When it comes to game consoles, of course the latest one is going to beat out of any of its predecessors. BTW, PS2 is not that crappy and I like Japanese games.

Edit: I'll see your edit and raise you an edit. :) I just wanted to say that you might want to use your shift key a little more. This is not IM, so please take some time to write it if you want people to take the time to read it.

Edit2:

why cant they just put all games on all systems? I currently have the "what to spend 50 bucks of my pay check on, xbox games or ps2? it just costs too dang much! im currently pissed, i missed the days when they bundled games with systems, like supermario brothers on the snes and donkey kong country also for the snes.

Try renting them from the video store, mine even rents you the console if you like.

[FunkyfooKarate]

Nice troll.

that hurts, deep, DEEP, down.

BTW, PS2 is not that crappy and I like Japanese games.

As do i, love japanese, rpgs are the stuff. ( i own final fantasy 11 for computer, and i am stunned)

[WarLocke]

Get a PS2.  Xbox is huge.  You might not even be able to carry it by yourself.

Where's that icon when you need it?

I guess I will end up going with the PS2. Not only is it not so 'OMG HUEG', I already own the 'Greatest Hits' version of FF:T and Star Ocean: Second Story (first disc only ) and it has a ginormous game library when you consider all the PSX games it plays. Plus, it does seem to have more RPGs and SRPGs than the X-Boxen.

I guess I'll just have to settle for sub-par versions of Gladius and Psi-Ops, and no MechAssault for me.

EDIT: Just looked up a Ring of Red review on Gamespot, and it's getting added to my wishlist. B)

[Rinnhart]

What's with the "xbox is hugenormous!" stuff? It's hardly as bad as taking a desktop to a LAN party, and there are several nice carrying cases if you don't mind being a tool (like me :ph34r: ). But really, how often do you move your consoles? At least xbox has it's hard drive, modem, and four controller jacks built in.

If you're going to go for the PS2, don't do it because it's smaller.

[Guest]

I like Xbox's multiplayer system better than PS2. If you're going to be playing any online games (I didn't see any) I'd go for the Xbox. Halo 2 is going to be awesome :)

[[wcip]Angel]

To [wcip]Angel: I'm also waiting for Silent Hill 4. Waiting with a kind of mounting dread. :) I wasn't aware that there's going to be a Resident Evil 4 anytime soon on the PS2 though... I take it you aren't talking about RE: Outbreak.

*slightly drunk*

To be honest, I'm not sure which console the game will appear on. I'm not talking about Outbreak - the multiplayer-thing, but a whole new Resident Evil game, set 6 years after the racoon-incident, with Leon S. Kennedy investigating some strange people. Check out the trailers at www.fileplanet.com!