Suikoden is on the US PSN which I hear is good although supposedly 2 is better but that's not available. (I'm still treasuring my copy I got for £14)
Other than that....Vagrant Story? Breath of Fire 4 maybe? There's probably illegitimate...sources for all of those.

I'd highly recommend Trails of the Sky to anyone with a PSP any day of the week.




Also, I'd be in on some PM action regarding Phantasia as well....

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Disgaea, £11.99 well spent.

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I always remember hearing that the fan translation took a serious amount of liberties with the script, with those "dream lines" being a particular point of contention among fans. The fan translation I played seemed to be of a high quality, even if it wasn't close to the original Japanese script, which always seemed like the purpose of a good localisation to me (although some might not agree). In saying that, there are a few different translations floating about. Are you playing the Absolute Zero one, by any chance?

Sadly about 30 hours in I hit a boss I could never manage to get past, but I do hope to return and finish it some day! Maybe after Abyss. I normally return to it after finishing another game in the series.

The GBA port is supposed be pretty bad by most accounts, Parksey. I'd stick with the PS1 version if you're going to play any version of it.

Yeah, the definitive edition of the game plus a professional translation, it was a no-brainer really.

The SNES DeJap translation is the only alternative I'm really familiar with and as hilarious as their take on the boat scene is, I'd rather play a version that's comparable to what I'd expect from an official localisation.

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The Eeveelution club!!! \o/

Early chapters of Valkyria Chronicles are frequently infuriating, especially when going for an A rank.

Okay, maneuver that Lancer behind the enemy tank, nice fat target in the form of the glowing radiator. Within spitting distance, line up the shot. HOW THE strawberry float DID YOU MISS THE RADIATOR. Okay, calm down, good thing I saved before the move. Reload. Better move a little closer, just to ensure it hits and takes the bastard out. Can damn near hit it with my dick. Line up, HOW ON EARTH DID YOU MISS THE ENTIRE GODDAMN TANK?

Accuracy better bloody leap up with some levelling.

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Directed by Takeshi Koike.

Accuracy is definitely painful at the beginning stages: I remember that from Snipers. They are utterly painful at the low levels. Then you plow some levels into them and upgrade their gear and they turn out to be amazing.

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Good don't get me started on snipers, I don't think mine have ever hit anything This reminds me I need to get back into this. Stopped playing on the early-ish chapter where you have to fight that boss woman in the big tank.

I grinded Skirmishes for a bit and now have myself some sweet Elite Scouts. Those Grenade Launchers have come in ridiculously handy for securing those A ranks. I feel like I should pursue Shocktroopers next, as I can't see the other classes being too necessary at such an early stage of the game. Apart from Lancers, obviously.

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Directed by Takeshi Koike.

Snipers turn out to be the gooseberry fool once you get some decent weaponry on them to boost their accuracy.

The mission you're talking about is a particular sticking point for a great many; a particular bugbear of mine and Mr. Chalkitdown's as I recall.

It's really not helped that Lancers at this point are as Banjo described and can't hit the broad side of a barn with an Acme "Guarranteed Barn Hitting Death Laser". so everytime you try and take out a death turret, you miss and then get slaughtered next turn.

Then she shows up.

Edit: Also, this is highly appropriate since I restarted VC2 for something to do while waiting for a new release.

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I'm loving how in order to secure a A rank on Valkyria Chronicles I have to abandon strategy and fling people into gunfire. Just completed one mission using the Edelweiss as a moving wall, didn't even need to fire it.

Regardless, it's really begun to open up. I finally need to use Engineers, Lancers have at last started to hit their targets, won't be long until I'm using Snipers.

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Directed by Takeshi Koike.

I'm with you on the Valkyria love right now: VC2 has mostly clicked (aside from armored techs, why do they seem so gash?) and it's proving to be silly fun to play aside from the setting.

You're right about the A ranking though; you have to be able to take silly risks with your troops.

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I used an Order last night too. Completely forgot they existed, gave it a crack last night and wiped the floor with the primary target (it was a Demolition Boost order for Rosie, against the main target of Chapter 9, she ripped it to shreds).

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Directed by Takeshi Koike.

more western RPGs. Which makes them more about character development and freedom, so the word applies more to them than the other in my mind.

Tales of Phantasia is done. \o/

I was pleasantly surprised at how well it held up despite a few obvious limitations and it was just good to be back to playing a proper Tales game. I wasn't expecting to have a proper crack at Phantasia for some time so getting to play it and having Graces to follow it up soon is

What really made it for me was having the whole history of Symphonia behind it in the form of a few delightfully familiar locations and music, even something as simple as an NPC telling me lying is the first step on the path to crime, was just wonderful and made looking around the world for this sort of thing a real incentive to keep playing.

The cast is somewhat Abyss-like in that it’s a relatively small, solid enough party with one or two standout characters. Arche is by far the best and is right up there with the likes of Norma and Patty. I have to give great credit to Absolute Zero for such a competent translation, it’s full of the usual series humour too and the skits ensure that this is the best version of the game available in English.

One minor criticism would be that Dhaos could have used a bit more back story and the game ended a bit sooner than I expected, but at least getting it done relatively quickly has prevented any burnout before Graces, instead this has served as the perfect warm up. I’d put it above Abyss and dare I say it possibly even Legendia as well, I do love the latter but it’s too broken to really challenge my favourites and ToP feels like a much more solid game.

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The Eeveelution club!!! \o/

So Valkyria Chronicles 2 then. I'm 41 hours in and still only at the beginning fo the 4th month all because of the bloody classmate missions! Every single one of them (thus far) has now been unlocked and through it all, I've managed to get up to level 20 with each class which is quite frankly ridiculous.

So much fun though.

Great little game to take a break from The Last Story.

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What's the verdict on Lost Odyssey ? A mate is selling it for a tenner (€) keeping in mind my favorite JRPG is FF7.

Absolutely loved it. Well worth a tenner, easy

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Come join the GRcade World of Warcraft guild on the EU "The Maelstrom" server
Tanks wanted!
GRcadians!

I thought it was gooseberry fool.

I can accept that some of it just wasn't for me (battle system for example) and credit where credit's due, the dreams were excellent but there was a massive gulf in quality between them and the main story, hated the characters too.

Can't really argue against you giving it a go for that price though.

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The Eeveelution club!!! \o/