RPG Insanity

I basically need help to trim my playlist. So, I've played at least 10-15 Kemco games. I didn't keep a record but from what I could remember:

From EXE-Create : Revenant Saga & Dogma, Antiquia Lost, Asdivine Hearts 1&2 / Dios + Menace / Cross / Kamura

From WWS : Symphony of Origin, Tears Revolude

From Hitpoint : Machine Knight and 1 other that I can't recall

 

It was clear to me that Kemco reused a lot of assets and gameplay mechanics in their game (not suprising, given their budget nature). I don't have much free time to play so right now, I plan to play only games with different styles. For example:

Let's take Asdivine first. Antiquia Lost has basically the same mechanic and visual style so I wouldn't play it. But I will play Revenant Dogma since it employs transformation and 3D, different from Asdivine. Machine Knight is also vastly different from both Asdivine and Dogma so I'll play it too. And so on. The difference could be in game mechanic or presentation (graphic or perspective like 1st person vs 3rd person battle)

 

Regarding this, reading reviews and looking at screenshot just confused me. So, how many different gameplay mechanic and/or presentation are there in Kemco games? And which game would you recommend for each style? Thanks in advance.

edit : I just realized I should've gone to Kemco Chat for this. Sorry, if mods see this, please move it there.

The great trick is the development studio and release year.

So, needless to say, but Chocoarts Djinn Caster is one-of-a-kind, and Rideon's Marenian Tavern Story is also very unique.

 

From WWS, Fortuna Magus and Silver Nornir share similar mechanics and are unique enough.

Legends of Ixtona is a SRPG, so it may compete with Legna Tatica but I never played the later.

World Wide Software is pretty much a mixed bag, so in general their games are different from each other, but they also have very cheap, poorly implemented or boring games on the mix, so be careful.

 

Magitec is famous for deeper (or strange) stories and annoying/horribly-cheap mechanics. Blood of Calamity has a mechanic different from Shelterra which is also sightly different from Chrome Wolf, but they all are bad imo. Can't comment a lot on their works but being a company, you can be sure it'll differ from other companies.

 

Exe-Create has a lot of games with similar mechanics. You already played AH2, where Fernz Gate and Wizards of Brandel are a proper use of AH2 mechanics.

Alphadia Series should also have some uniqueness to them, but most Exe-Create games look like Asdivine.

I could divide in four eras:

The 3D era: Revenant games, Dimension Cross, etc.

The old era: Asdivine Hearts, Journey to Kreisia, Fanatic Earth, etc.

The classic era: Most asdivine games, Fernz Gate, Wizards of Brandel, etc.

The new era: Seek Hearts, Miden Tower, Ruinverse, etc.

 

Very few Exe-Create games will stand apart as they're the true masters of reusing stuff. Fairy Elements should have some uniqueness to it, Frane: Dragon Odyssey being a remake of a really old game and an ARPG is also unique, Onigo Hunter have traps which was not reused in other games, and that's it.

 

Hit-point games are very distinct from Exe-Create. If Kemco was a coin, Exe-Create would be heads and Hit-Point would be Tails, and all other companies would be in the middle.

Monochrome Order will still stand out, because it is less action and more decision making.

They have the pocket-sized Archilion Saga and Everdark Tower which are also notoriously different.

Chronus Arc could stand out for having a bit too much puzzles to solve.

Elio is also unique (and very annoying imo, it looks like an experiment in an eventual MMORPG)

Justice Chronicles and its derivates, like Legends of Tretarchs , Monster Viator*, etc. are within HP best games, but they can be grindy. They differ from others, and even between themselves because the year.

They also have ARPGs which usually play like Pokemon games, like Band of Monsters, Seven Sacred Beasts and What Hadjane Says Goes! .

 

Too Long Didn't Read: It depends on the company, the year, and also on what you define to make a unique style. The Blog (https://www.rpginsanity.com/blog/) will have more in-depth reviews of older games, and the Game List (https://www.rpginsanity.com/games/) is pretty much easy to browse, will have reviews as well, and links to forums, blog etc. in the right column.

 

EDIT: *: Monster Viator, from what I have heard, is like a cross between the two groups I said before (Justice-Chronicles-Like and Pokemon-like). I do not own this title in particular, and my opinions on what is unique and what is not differs.

Oh my god, thanks a lot! I'm bookmarking this page ?

That's REALLY helpful. Regarding style, I don't have a particular like or dislike, as long as it's different. I've seen the front page, but unfortunately they are sorted alpabetically. I can't find a way to sort them chronologically.

My initial plan was to get Alphadia. The reasoning was: it was part of a series so it had to be good. Actually that was the reason I played Asdivine and while I found Asdivine games acceptable, they were ... mmm ... too same-y

Djinn Caster, Marenian Tavern, Monochrome Order, and Monster Viator sound really interesting. I'll check the store's review later.

Also, I remember Chronus Arc! It was my first Hit Point game right before Machine Knight. I didn't finish Chronus Arc since I was underleveled against Boss. I really need to fix my bad habit of running away from random encounters lol