The GWJ JRPG Club Version 2.5 HD Remaster: Announcing our Q2 2024 Game!

Malkroth wrote:

Noticed that Tales of Arise had some strong support and got curious, the Deluxe version is on sale for 60% off on Steam and PS (not sure about Xbox, I don't own one) for the next 15ish hours if people are interested.

All three editions (standard, deluxe, and ultimate) are 66% off on GreenManGaming.com - Steam keys. No idea when this deal will end though.

Malkroth wrote:

Noticed that Tales of Arise had some strong support and got curious, the Deluxe version is on sale for 60% off on Steam and PS (not sure about Xbox, I don't own one) for the next 15ish hours if people are interested.

Yes, that's what motivated me to buy it and nominate it!

LastSurprise wrote:
Malkroth wrote:

Noticed that Tales of Arise had some strong support and got curious, the Deluxe version is on sale for 60% off on Steam and PS (not sure about Xbox, I don't own one) for the next 15ish hours if people are interested.

Yes, that's what motivated me to buy it and nominate it!

yes at $33.99 it is quite a good game.

Bubblefuzz wrote:
JohnKillo wrote:

I’m weird. I like DQ Builders 1 better than 2. 2 felt more busy and less creative

I've played the demos of both, own 1 on disc and now both on PS Plus Extra... So you've got me thinking which should I proceed with. I've not played a lot of the 2 demo to compare.

I like one better for more free form fun. 2 had more story but they wanted you to follow more plans

JohnKillo wrote:

I’m weird. I like DQ Builders 1 better than 2. 2 felt more busy and less creative

I love them both dearly and a DQ Builders 3 would rocket instantly to one of my most-wanted games (only other games that would eclipse it would be a new Monster Hunter Stories, a new Dragon Quest Monsters, or a new Ogre Battle or Tactics Ogre)

Only about 12 hours left! If you're thinking of voting, but haven't yet, now's the time.

Results will be delayed while I go do some real-life work!

Worst game ever.

Okay all, I'm back at my desk, and have some downtime, so the votes will be coming in shortly! This will be very close!

Round 1: Votes expressed in terms of First Place / Second Place / Overall
Atelier Sophie: 1 / 0 / 7
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: 1 / 5 / 9
Grandia 2: 0 / 2 / 6
Octopath Traveler: 3 / 3 / 7
Parasite Eve: 2 / 0 / 5
Radiant Historia: 2 / 1 / 5
Tales of Arise: 4 / 2 / 9

Total People Voting: 13
Votes Needed for Majority: 7

Eliminated this round: Grandia 2, Atelier Sophie

Grandia 2 doesn't have any first-place votes, so its out. And the distribution of Grandia 2's votes don't change anything, so Atelier Sophie's out, too. Of the remaining games, it looks like it'll be a race between Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Octopath Traveler, and Tales of Arise. Unless the process of eliminating other games causes ballots to drop out, no other game can capture enough votes for a majority.

And then there were 3.

Suspense!

Round 2: Votes expressed in terms of First Place / Second Place / Overall
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: 1 / 7 / 9
Octopath Traveler: 3 / 4 / 7
Parasite Eve: 2 / 0 / 5
Radiant Historia: 2 / 1 / 5
Tales of Arise: 5 / 1 / 9

Total People Voting: 13
Votes Needed for Majority: 7

Eliminated this round: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

By the numbers, not much changes here. Tales of Arise picks up an extra first place vote from Malkroth; Octopath gains an extra second place vote. And Final Fantasy Tactics Advance pics up extra second-place votes from Mr GT Chris and JohnKillo.

But, because FFTA has the fewest overall first-place votes, everyone's second-choice game is eliminated! This was a surprise to me given its breadth of support--and may seal the deal in favor of Tales of Arise. I'll post some further thoughts on this, later.

Round 3: Votes expressed in terms of First Place / Second Place / Overall
Octopath Traveler: 3 / 4 / 7
Parasite Eve: 2 / 1 / 5
Radiant Historia: 3 / 1 / 5
Tales of Arise: 5 / 4 / 9

Total People Voting: 13
Votes Needed for Majority: 7

Eliminated this round: Parasite Eve

We are definitely seeing movement, as Tales of Arise solidifies its lead! Mr GT Chris's ballot drops out, reducing the number of people voting by one -- but not yet reducing the majority threshold. Radiant Historia gains a first-place vote from hbi2k and a second-place vote from bobbywatson; Tales of Arise gains second-place votes from merphle, Stele, and Sundown.

Parasite Eve, which is eliminated this round, was the only remaining game on Mr GT Chris and A_Unicycle's ballots. So those will drop out in the next round, reducing our threshold for victory ...

And announcing our winner: Tales of Arise! In the final round of ranked-choice voting, here's what we saw:

Tales of Arise: 7 / 2 / 9
Octopath Traveler: 3 / 4 / 7

In the end, there were a lot of good titles, but Tales of Arise had the breadth and depth to go the distance. I'll be going out of town for the weekend to visit family, but I'll officially start the new thread once that trip is over!

A glimpse behind the curtain: what about Final Fantasy Tactics Advance?
I had run the numbers before Sundown and A_Unicycle voted, and--at the time--it came down to Tales and Tactics. If Parasite Eve and Radiant Historia had less first-place support, Tactics would have hung in there, and would have prevented Tales from accumulating the support to eventually deliver a knockout blow. Eventually, it would have come down to second-place votes as a tiebreaker. After Sundown and A_Unicycle voted, I was actually concerned that we would have another Nier Automata / Tactics Ogre showdown on our hands! But, FFTA shows that it is worth being in the conversation next time.

Tales of Arise is still on sale at GMG, $20ish for standard and $30ish for deluxe. Slightly better pricing than on Steam directly.

Steam sale starts in an hour so wait and see just in case

PS4/PS5 combo is 24 for regular, 44 for ultimate. Deluxe not on sale.

And disc version was 20 at GameStop a couple days ago

Stele wrote:

Steam sale starts in an hour so wait and see just in case

PS4/PS5 combo is 24 for regular, 44 for ultimate. Deluxe not on sale.

And disc version was 20 at GameStop a couple days ago

Steam sale already started.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/UP2NBtt.png)

I probably should've asked this before, but: Do I need to know the storyline of Tales of Berseria (or previous Tales* games) before getting into this?

merphle wrote:

I probably should've asked this before, but: Do I need to know the storyline of Tales of Berseria (or previous Tales* games) before getting into this?

No. It is a different cast, different world, etc.

I think, with limited exceptions, all the "Tales of" games are set in different worlds, much like the Final Fantasy series.

Yeah aside from Xillia and Xillia 2, a direct sequel.

It's a lot like Final Fantasy, except for X, X-2, and XIII and its sequels

Berseria is also a prequel to Zesteria.

merphle wrote:

Tales of Arise is still on sale at GMG, $20ish for standard and $30ish for deluxe. Slightly better pricing than on Steam directly.

A few cents cheaper at IndieGala and a few cents more at Fanatical. Choose where you already have an account or whatever.

Standard

Deluxe

Ultimate

alright dagnabbit, I'm officially in this time. I have this, I started it a while back but haven't really kept at it, so this quarter's club pick is as good a reason as any to make it a focus.

And I'm in on this one. Already started to get a head start

Welcome Yoreel!

I'm in as well, but I won't start right away, I want to finish the other JRPG I'm playing first (P3P). Also I'm going to wait January 1st to buy the game so that it goes into next year's gaming budget.

There's been some talk over in the FFFF thread about FF X-2, and the potential for playing it as part of the JRPG club at some point in the future. The only thing is, FF X-2 was already part of the JRPG 1.0 club in Q2 2016, when the remaster was released, and club rules state that repeats are not allowed.

I'd therefore like to propose amending the club rules to allow nominations of repeats, if the last time it was in the club was more than 3 years ago. Merely allowing nominations wouldn't guarantee it to be played, of course; it would still be up to the whims of the voting populace to decide.

I would be open to that if other people are. I'd also be open to a special quarter where people can go back to games the club already has tackled. I don't think I'd want to run a retirement home like the CRPG Club -- we're too small, and that might drain participation in whatever else we're doing -- but a "Summer of Backlog" or something could be a fun event.