ddaryl\'s Ring of Red thread

I too am still intrested in hearing what you think about the game. I appreciate the reviews keep em coming.

I didn\'t see this thread before, but I\'ll post some short opinions of mine on RoR...

This game is my #1 favorite game for PS2 so far...  I LOVE the theme, and the mech designs...

Graphically it even is very good IMO.  Details such as many different areas to fight in depending on your map location such as villages, forests, mountains, rivers, bridges, and prison camps; lookout towers even have two different stages, one if they\'re destroyed and one if they\'re not.  I also love the heat wave effects in the game, the best I\'ve seen so far, including the GT3 demo.

Gameplay is also excellent in my opinion... one of the best strategy games ever, the gameplay is like a combination of Iron Storm and Dragon Force for Saturn... the mechs are the commanders, only it is more complex strategy than Dragon Force.

Again, the story and theme really are good for me...  The story might even stimulate your mind a little.  The music is pretty unmemorable however.  I like the sounds of the weapons, what little you hear.  Also, I like a lot of the character designs, they help to draw you in.

The battles keep a consistant level of decent challenge, and are quite long, but allow a save mid-level that will be deleted when you restart, forcing you to re-save the mid-scenerio progress again if you want to quit.  That way you can\'t really cheat the system.

Anyways, there are very few strategy games I\'d put at the level of Ring of Red...  A must buy for any strategy game fan IMO.

I\'ll keep the updates coming so people can get a real feel for the game

Its a mixed bag in the graphics department. There are some strengths but overall RoR doesn\'t really push the PS2 in any category. Its just an addicting strategy game

We\'ll see how the game manages to keep me interested, cause if it follows this recipe for 16 more missions or so it will get boring, new mechs and such should be coming my way shortly


The game is long I lost mission 6 once by spreading my troops trying to get extra soldiers and that was bad strategy cause as soon as Infiltrated a new town new enemies would appear

Also I screwed up and let my little guy make the qst move in battle and he ended upo getting surrounded before I could get him out of there so I just reset the game and I\'ll try again tonight

This game does rock...  Its involved though...  ANd there is no way to pause it..  

I have played it for about 2 - 3 hours now and the game  picks up quite a bit once you start progressing..  And about grabbing towns and spreading yourself thin, its all about the strategy.  Which is still taking me a little bit to get used to what the computer is going to do, but its not that complicated.  Graphicaly the game is damn good, escp. when the time changes and the backgrounds reflect whats going on, daytime, night time. etc.

I recommend this game to people who like strategy games, if your not a fan of them, then rent it, cause I don\'t feel like listening to you complain on how the game sucks...

Ddaryl, keep the posts up, I will as well.  I think this game is already worth the money I spent on it...  Hopefully it will take awhile to play and wont be another short run...

Originally posted by kirath
This game does rock...  Its involved though...  ANd there is no way to pause it..  

Yes you can pause the game or save in the middle of battles.

for pausing
When ever its your turn you can just wait until your ready to continue on the map, or in  battle when your in your menu screen time stays still

for saving (on the map only)
Put the cursor on your character when its your turn to move and hit X. You\'ll see a menu called "Stop" by pressing stop it will offer you a chance to save. When you save it will save the game in a slot above your last save. This way you can take up the battle where you  left off or you can start from the beginning in case your strategy ended up sucking ass

Day 4


Well I\'m at mission 7 Prison camp.

I played for 1/2 hour and  lost Weis AWF which is a condition for a loss.

I realized how important it is not to get yourself into a position where 3 or so enemeies can all have a go at one  of your AFW\'s which usually means defeat

After restarting the mission I also decided to switch some of my Soldier troops to ones with Illumination attacks. These soldiers shoot a kind of missle or firecracker that  hovers over the enemy and illuminates the target for night battles. This increases your aiming correction and capabilities.

Things are going smoother now but I\'m only half way thorugh this battle, I had to save and come to work.

I have up levels on all my AFW\'s and pilots and troops and received a few new attacks, but no new AFW\'s.

Anyway again the game is addicting, my lawns is 7 inches high and I dread having to give up a morning of playing RoR to tend to it. Life sucks, if you live in Eastern Wash and want to make $30 give me a call



Anyone have any questions about the game fire away. I seem to have a very solid grasp of it now

Thanks for the updates ddaryl,
I probably won\'t be picking up the game until May 2nd (my final exam, confirmed), but I just wanted to know if I should play Front Mission 3 first? I don\'t think I\'ve played a console strategy game before, and I just wanted to know if I\'d be able to pick up RoR without being too frustrated, or should I get FM3 first?
Cheers.

FM3 is a cool game  - minus the teenie bopper storyline and the excrutiating amount of reading the gamne puts you thorugh. I got so frustrated with FM3\'s story and reading I bypassed 50% of it. Luckily its easy to do and the gameplay is basically uneffected, although I has a strat guide with FM3 and recommend one to understand all the parts and stuff

FM3 has elements in its game that I wish RoR had and vice versa. Ror is a little more sophisticated and alot less story driven in comparison which are 2 things I like about RoR over FM3

I do not think you would suffer any frustrations with RoR, so playing FM3 just to understand RoR is not necessary at all

My recommendation is play both, but if  you want a PS2 game then RoR will be fine. If you played both FM3 and RoR you\'d be looking at 150 - 200 hours of gameplay/time

I have to admit I would love to see Square make a Front Mission Tactics type of game. A game based more on gameplay then story, and upgraded to take advatage of the PS2\'s capabilities, something RoR doesn\'t do enough of. RoR is not a PS1 game but doesn\'t really show off the power of the PS2 either.

A combination of both RoR and FM3 is my perfect mech turnbased strat game

these liyttle everyday post you have been making ddaryl are sweet, please dotn stop, seeing as hopw i cant buy it yet :im getting Z.O.E. in 7 days " i have been reading these little articles, so what would you rate the gamne so far, when you play in a battle is it in a in game state or like chess with the red and blue??? what does it look like?

Originally posted by unknown
what would you rate the game so far, when you play in a battle is it in a in game state or like chess with the red and blue??? what does it look like?

Rating the game so far
 
Graphics: 7
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 8


The game plays in 3 stages.
1st stage is story progression, mission agenda, and battle preperation.

Basically you get a run down of events surrounding the world you are in, some character interaction to make the game feel more personal, and your preperation area, where you choose what sodiers will accompany which AFW

You then proceed to the missions which have 2 stages.

the 1st battle stage is your overhead chess board type of map. You are allowd to move your AFW\'s to positions you feel they will belong.  You can also stay put and pass a move if you choose. After a move you can choose to attack if an enemy AFW is in range or recoup if you need to repair yourself and your troops. Each troop and AFW has repair / recoup abilities so how much you are repaired varies.

the 2nd battle stage is your battle mode which is done in realtime.

YOu can move your AFW forward or reverse or stay put. Not moving allows for faster reloading. Moving closer or further away increases your starting aim percentage depending on your AFW. Some AFW\'s aim better from afar some from close and others right in the middle. ALso getting close enough to an enemy allows for Close combat maneuvers and moving the furthest away allows for escape possibilities. ALthough if you engage in short range you\'ll never make it far enough back to escape and if you engage in long range you\'ll never make it close enough to use close combat.


After battles are done you are returned to the map to either make another move or watch the enemy take its turn.

SPreading your troops usually spells disaster

ah i c, well it sounds very cool so far, thanks, im trying to find a place to rent this game while i wait for Z.O.E.

So the would you advise getting this game if your limited financially?? Or wait for a better game to come out soon. Thanks for the reviews they are helpful.

Recommending this game for those strapped for cash is a hard call. Renting this game is pretty useless cause you\'ll never finish it

The game is fun and addicting, but its not quenching my thirst for ZOE and MGS2 next week. I\'m enjoying the game alot, but its not a system showcase type game.

I would recommend renting it getting a taste and then decide if you want to buy it.

it ok if i dint finish it, i will when i buy it , i just wana see if it orth the buy, what im worried about is the slow begining, it might give me a bad impression i will probably play this game all day , im gonna rent it tomorrow and check it out

Day 5



Today can be summed up in one word

UGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!


I started mission 7 before work yesterday, spent close to an hour. Got home last night and played mission 7 for another 2 hours for 3 hour total of invested time. I was down to 3 more battles and I would have cleared the entire board, but what happens. I get a "Mission Failed" because I went over the allotted time period for this mission.


My strategy of take on all baddies and clear the board was obviously the wrong strat. Since I am an hour into mission 7 again I have refined my strategy somemore and am making a B-Line for the objective instead of playing kill all.

Still I am being pursued form behind  by a coouple enemy AFW\'s and I am heading into a couple more AFW\'s but this is what has to be done (I think)

I\'ve also noticed (now that I screwed up) how the time works in the game. When you take a turn you are showned the time of your next turn for that AFW. If you choose to move and recuporate (heal) your next turn is a longer wait then just a move or attack turn which can alllow Enemy AFW\'s 2 or more moves to your 1 .

Choosing recup can leave you as a sitting duck if your not far enough away from the enemy, or choosing recuperate when you really don\'t need to can waste valuable time and leave you in a mission failed situation.