My journey to No 1. for Arcade RPG's!

As many of you know I'm a huge RPG fan and I noticed the other day on TA that nobody has 100% all the Arcade RPG's on TA so I've set myself a challenge of finishing every single one, which coincidentally will put me no 1 on their Arcade RPG TA leaderboard! And so I'm working my way through the list and I thought I'd keep a running route on here so you guys can follow me if your interested. I'll put reviews and updates on how I'm doing and how the games are as well as my position.

So here's the first one. I'm currently placed at 78th though when TA updates I should be around 68th after finishing Torchlight last night and I'm now working through Phantasy Star 2. For those who are unaware of Phantasy Star 2 its a port of the old Genesis/Megadrive title and its showing its age in its gameplay. As I write this I am currently grinding levels and earning cash to move on in the game. Thankfully the gameplay is of the style where you can just hit one button and it does it all for you. It's a nice bit of nostalgia but I'll be glad to move on from it.

I'm also playing The Harvest on my WP7. As there are only two RPG's classed as such on WP7 this is a way for me to continue working towards this when I'm away from my Xbox. In a way it is a Diablo-esque game as everything is controlled by tapping where you want to go on the screen and tapping on enemies to attack. It's not a bad little game and worth picking up if you get it on DOTW. But on my third playthrough to get the final achievement I will be glad to see the back of it!

So that's it for now, I'l update next once Phantasy Star is complete which should be by the end of the week.

Here is a list of the Arcade RPG games available according to TA and how far I am from completion on each:

Arkadian Warriors - 200/200
Band of Bugs - 0/250
Bastion - 200/200
Costume Quest - 250/250
Crimson Alliance - 0/250
DeathSpank - 200/200
DeathSpank: Things of Virtue - 215/215
Dungeon Fighter Live: Fall of Hendon Myre - 190/400
Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale - 0/200
Faery: Legends of Avalon - 200/200
Final Fantasy (WP) - 20/200
Fusion: Genesis - 140/200
Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax - 55/200
Island of Wakfu - 10/200
Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 1 - 20/200
Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 2 - 0/200
Phantasy Star 2 - 200/200
Realms of Ancient War - 175/200
SEGA Vintage Collection: Monster World - 10/200
The Baconing - 40/200
The Harvest (WP) - 200/200
Torchlight - 200/200
Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgement - 0/200

Good luck with it mate.....is this in gamerscore or completed games?

Then are you going to start on all the exclusive PS3 and Nintendo RPG's too?

Have you ever played the Mario RPG?

It's for Gamerscore as I never concentrate on completed games as often there will be glitched or unobtainable achievements though this category seems free of both for once, but I'll be 100% each game before moving on so a bit of both really!

As for the PS3 Kent I've still got a backlog of retail RPG's to work through as well!! But I have played Mario RPG and its a shame it never made it over to these shores officially as it was ace and so you don't get the full experience!

Interesting idea. Good luck. Wish I had the dedication to try something like this

good luck on the challenge

I've always wanted to try somethign out like that...but I definetly do not have the dedication. I like variety too much in game style. Also, I'm not very skilled at most games...so getting 100% would be impossible lol The only thing I plan on maxing out is the Forza series...but thats just one franchise, not game style lol

I'll be watching this thread as I am curious on how you are doing

Good luck in your quest RPG master!!!

I keep looking at my completion percentage and it's making me want to rent all the games again in order of when I first played them and try to squeeze as much GS as possibe. Some games I've only unlocked one or 2 achievements so would be easy to get more but then there's a bunch of games that have the online servers switched off and I really cba playing through all the lego games again :/

Ahh see I've got them all lined up for January when my Boomerang goes live again, I've got all teh remaining RPG's for 360 on there as well as the games I've finished a playthrough but not 100% yet. That's why I'm clearing so many games at the mo in prep for that, now its silly season though my plans have gone awry!

Good luck with mate, sounds like a pretty good target to aim for!

Good luck mate, sure it will we fun playing through them all

Good luck with the challenge. Phantasy Star 2 is one I have to get back to - the dungeons in that game so mazey to try and navigate. I also have a real interest in starting Fusion genesis at some point as it looks great.

Have you done Islands of Wakfu yet? if so what did you think? I was looking at the list and i'd say it is one of the best i've played but it's certainly an underdog.

Well today I've come to a stumbling block, I just can not grind anymore!! I've hit the 20+ hour mark on Phantasy Star and not even halfway yet due to the incessant grinding. I feel I may have to move onto something else and come back to this is fits and starts until the majority of the grinding is complete.

However I can believe in the past this was the big draw of games like this. This is when 10 hours from a game was pretty long, and 30-40 must have felt like an age. To be fair I'm using a guide to get through the game and so I'm not exploring every dungeon completely, I'd assume that when this first came out when people had to wait months for a paper walkthrough to be published in a magazine you forced yourself to explore everywhere and you levelled up quite nicely but with the modern age and walkthroughs at your fingertips it has just become a chore and wandering around for hours killing enemies to level up is just no fun any more.

So I think as a complete change of style I shall be continuing with Half Minute Hero which is the polar opposite of Phantasy Star and hopefully will keep me going between sessions of grinding.

Oh one last thing if my calculations are correct, I should now be in 61st in the world, let's hope for top 50 by the end of the weekend which is another 100GS!

I hear you with phantasy star requiring alot of grinding but if you get lost in dungeons it can take a couple of hours and a few level-ups to find the way again.

I find Half minute Hero very enjoyable but I wish they had kept the other modes from the PSP version, helped vary the gameplay abit.

Good luck on top 50 by monday

i must say with any RPG that requires grinding if you feel like its a chore and your getting bored go and play a different type of game like a spots game, racing game etc anything that isnt an RPG to try and get rid of that boredom


good luck with this i would never attempt any sort of thing like this with the arcade due to the fact i always forget ive got arcade games lol

I've found a solution between 4OD and Netflix I can watch on the laptop while playing which helps with the boredom.

I've also updated the first post to include a list of the games and my progress within them for any who are interested

Well a day late but Phantasy Star 2 is now complete as is Harvest which has also pushed me into the top 50 now. The only downside is the Harvest is not synching with my score on Xbox.com though Xbox.com has been pretty naff the last couple of days for connecting.

But Phantasy Star 2 - what a game, it truly is a relic now due to its repetitive gameplay. As has been pointed out, if I was playing it without a guide available (as would have been the case when it was first announced, it would have been less of a grind as my levels would have shot up while I figured out how to get through the levels. As it is now though it is a bore, thankfully due to a glitch in the game you can skip the majority of the fights in the game and manipulate saves to make the final boss fights easy. The ending was also truly bizarre and made very little sense overall! But thankfully that was the last game in the list like that as Final Fantasy is a WP game and I will just dip into that as and when.

So what's next on my list, well I think I'll finish tackling Half Minute Hero and Penny Arcade Epsiode 1. These are actually two of the least completed games on the list with Half Minute only being beaten by Final Fantasy and RAW. Hopefully they can be finished by Friday so I can get dug into Dishonored before returning to my journey!

Good stuff mate!

You truly are the Man with a plan!! I enjoy reading about your latest schemes!!

Well today I polished off Half-Minute Hero. This whole thing is actually running a little bit too smoothly for my liking and it would seem that I may well accomplish my aim by Xmas!! In fact I think I've finished some of the toughest achievements already and in fact looking at TA it seems the toughest achievements left to me are in Final Fantasy which is just more of a slog than anything else and Fusion: Genesis which again is more of a slog than actual difficulty. I'm feeling pretty confident.

Anywho a little bit about Half Minute Hero, well it's a port of a PSP game and it plays like a nes RPG on speed literally. It's called half minute Hero as you have exactly 30 seconds to finish each level, but thankfully you can rewind time for an ever increasing price. It is a lot of fun and has a quirky little sense of humour and despite each level being about 2 minutes long max there is actually an awful lot of content and a fair amount of replayability. On top of all this you have extra modes too - a 300 second mode and also a 3 second mode. Let me make it clear that the 3 second mode is one of the toughest modes I've come across in a while and actually physically hurt my fingers as I was having to push buttons so fast. I was quite chuffed when I finished it by accident by overshooting the village I was aiming for and ending up in the boss castle and then killing him with just 0.08 seconds left on the clock!!!

If you have some points left over and you enjoy som fun RPG-esque gameplay which is perfect for picking up quickly for a blast, I'd recommend this highly if for no other reason than retro mode which turns everything 8bit!!

Well this will probably be my last update for awhile now. Tomorrow I start playing Dishonored and by the time I've finished with that I'll be onto Assassin's Creed 3. However I won't be stopping entirely and if I manage to finish off an RPG between these I'll be sure to let you guys know!

Great read fella, look forward to hearing more when you get back on the RPG train. Dishonored will be my first day buy in a long time and will keep me occupied until Hitman arrives. As always if you need online support give me a shout.

As predicted the whole thing slowed down with Assassin's Creed 3 and Dishonored taking up the majority of the last two months. However I now own all the games that I need to complete and I have another to add to the done list.

Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World is a total of three megadrive games - Wonderboy in Monster Land, Wonderboy in Monster World and Monster world IV. Of these the only one which shows its age is Monster Land as the gameplay mechanics are very simple and the graphics are not anything to shout out about. An enjoyable game to play though to class it as complete means doing the whole thing without dying once, thank god for anywhere saves!!

Wonder Boy in Monster World is probably the most RPG of the lot and very cartoony in style. You go around defeating enemies and bosses while buying better gear and magic. It was a really enjoyable game and if you fancy a bit of retro RPG you can't beat this game. Thoroughly enjoyed playing it and wish there were more platform RPG's like it.

Monster World IV however is essentially a platformer with the only RPG elements being upgraded swords, shields and armor available to buy. It's a bit linear and the combat controls are a bit naff on some bad guys requiring more luck than skill to defeat. With some weird choices in boss designs as well (the majority of characters are cartoony while the bosses seemed to be vector style creatures made of several blocks) it was still enjoyable but nothing stand out about the game.

Overall a nice package with some great retro gaming but nothing I would have gone out of my way to play if I didn't want to play it. If your not a fan of this style of game, its not going to change your mind put it that way!!

Now its time to move onto my next completion, which is likely to be the Penny Arcade games as a bit of turn based RPG combat is what I feel I need!

One last thing, this shoudl push me into 28th place now!

Congrats on completing Monster World Collection. I enjoyed all 3 games though Monster World least.

I find it pretty strange that the collection is classed as RPG's. I know TA doesn't have a sub-genre for action or platfromer called "Action-Platformer" but they should.

Monster land is very much a straight up action-platformer, Monster World is a Metroidvania (which is an action-platformer sub-genre) with some quite strong RPG elements. Monster World IV again is an action-platformer with some small RPG elements.

Have fun with the Penny Arcade games. I found them quite enjoyable. I liked the ability to counter/block every attack once you get the timing right - something I also loved in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Well I may have been off, but I've still been working away on this. I've finished both Penny Arcade games and Vandal Hearts now and am currently doing a speed run on Final Fantasy to finish that off. The reason I've shifted onto Final Fantasy is I'm starting to play tactical. The guys at the top have finished off most of the easy games already now, so my plan is I sneak up the table slowly completing the hardest achievements first and finish off the easier games last so when they realise I'm about to overtake them there is very little they can do to stop me! Fingers crossed it should work.

I'm currently sitting at 7th place now but there is a total 805 points to the first place, so I've still got a fair way to go.

Cheering you on fella. Stick it to them

Good luck Tenlo. I hope your tactical plan pays off.

I look forward to more updates