Ten years is a long time for games to come and go, some hard and some easy. There are sooo many games out there that you may not have even heard of some of these games, and probably never will. Me? I’m the mainstream and sub-market kinda guy for RPGs, if it looks good on the cover, I’ll buy it and try it. Well, Let me run down for you some of my hardest RPGs of the last 10 years for you.
The Last Remnant
What made the game so hard wasn’t it’s combat system of ‘pick a skill to use gt; select an enemy gt; wait your turn to attack’. For a 2-disc (I played on the Xbox 360) adventure that looked good, I was actually kinda let down by how flawed alot of the minor things were. Crafting was okay but there was just so much micro management of items and materials that even I kinda just gave up after a few tries and just stockpiled all my loot from dungeons and the like. Combat was ok, I just wished they had given us a little more freedom to do what we wanted. Overall, the presentation was good, just not enough to keep me playing. I stopped playing halfway through the first disc when I got lost. The maps were of no use, and finding a location in the town was more of a chore than I wanted. Would I still play it? Maybe, if I had time to spare and wanted to torture myself through agonizing menus.
Infinite Undiscovery
The name alone is pause of what this game might entail for a story. I think that’s why alot of people may have overlooked this game on the outside. On the inside, its a whole different beast. What makes this game so hard? Well for one, the enemies themselves. I sometimes found myself overwhelmed with strong enemies even at the beginner stages. The areas in which you fought were so large and your map was only ‘revealed’ to you as you explored, so navigating was very tough and I was lost a good portion of my time. The inventory system was very overwhelming, and the crafting system wasn’t explained will in game (I found most of my crafting was done through guides i found online). Even with the hardships of the games controls, the game itself is VERY beautiful and I had to finish the game at least once. If you’re into achievements though, you’re gonna spend a good week straight of gaming, as you must play 3 times on harder difficulties to get all the achievements.
Resonance of Fate
I didn’t finish this game, didn’t even get well into it, but I can tell you from the start, if you like punishment and a grueling and hard control system to use, then you make like this game. For the average gamer, this game may be too much for you to handle. From fixed camera angles to a massive grid system for moving between towns and the world in general, I felt very overwhelmed by how much information was given to me in this game. Maybe I went in expecting too much, or maybe I just underestimated the games menus and controls, but this game made me not want to touch an RPG for awhile. Sure, one of these days I’ll pick it up, but for now, it’s still staring at me and calling for me.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Beautiful, anime-style game that is very, very long (3-discs on the Xbox Version!). As with other titles, if you’re not going into this game with an open mind and ready to learn new things (Fighting styles, controls, menus, etc), then this game may leave you scared. The game world is, in one short word, overwhelming. There’s lots to do here and lots of weird and interesting characters to meet. The problem is, as I saw at times, the scale may be TOO large for most people to handle. The maps were ridiculously large and the battles came a bit too often and were more of a chore than a delight in this game. But even still, this game is well worth it if you like long, detailed RPGs. Just, don’t get your hopes up for the voice acting.
With some of the limitations of the games, some players tend to rely on games with aboutmods. This gives them freedom to modify some aspects of the game, hence, they will get competitive advantage over other players in the game.
