Community MetaRPG | Hurting. Longing. Dancing to disco music.

[Li Kao]

So, I started playing Might & Magic: Book One over the weekend...

Everything in this post is great !
Great of you for having the bravery to face some old school M&M. Great mapping software ! Just great !

Ooh, just imagine running that type of game in a dual monitor setup with Grid Cartographer

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Seeing the Enderal release makes me wonder about buying the "Skyrim Whatever" version i need as i only have vanilla version.

 

[Stevey]

Seeing the Enderal release makes me wonder about buying the "Skyrim Whatever" version i need as i only have vanilla version.

I tried the original release of Enderal and it ran like shit for me.

Special Edition runs super smooth, like 100+fps on Ultra

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

I'll keep an eye out for Skyrim SE deals as i'd want it just for Enderal really.

 

[BlueOdin]

Don't know if I already asked the question but I am too lazy to search so I'll just aks. With the Yakuza games in the Dragon Engine I always like going into first person mode and walk through the locations. Let's me appreciate the density and details much more. Also always reminds about first person dungeon-crawlers despite never having played one (but I am planning to change it this year...)

Is there a dungeon crawler that is set in a modern city? Or are the all exclusively fantasy with a bit of sci-fi here and there?

 

[Knurek]

Is there a dungeon crawler that is set in a modern city? Or are the all exclusively fantasy with a bit of sci-fi here and there?

Some of Experience stuff is set in modern day/close future Japan.
Also Shin Megami Tensei for the first 20 minutes, before Tokyo is either nuked or thrown into demon's dimension

 

[FunnyJay]

Don't know if I already asked the question but I am too lazy to search so I'll just aks. With the Yakuza games in the Dragon Engine I always like going into first person mode and walk through the locations. Let's me appreciate the density and details much more. Also always reminds about first person dungeon-crawlers despite never having played one (but I am planning to change it this year...)

Is there a dungeon crawler that is set in a modern city? Or are the all exclusively fantasy with a bit of sci-fi here and there?

Cyberpunk. So might not be exactly what you are asking for...

 

[texhnolyze]

15 hours in and I think my main issue with Dragon Age 2 so far is the encounter design. Every fight has three or more waves which fucks up your positioning everytime because they drop out of nowhere and out of all directions. Really not great. My other nitpick is using the same unaltered PNGs for maps for the dungeons. Don't have a problem with them reusing dungeons.

And my main issues with the game feel like a result of the shortened dev time. I quite enjoy the game for what it is despite its faults. It's also warming me up more to RTwP. Might pick up Inquisition in the next sales if my 2070 Super ever comes back to me.

Otherwise I am playing this as a mage after being either tank or rogue with my main character. Thought sometime last year to change it up a little bit. But now I am thinking that I never play the ranger types in RPGs with either my main character nor the party. Or at least not that I can think of. So what would be a good cRPG where I could go with bow and arrow with my main character? Was thinking about it when I maybe give Pillars of Eternity another try I might try it there.

Yeah, I tried replaying Dragon Age 2 last month and I just couldn't push myself through the combat. I think I spent more time modding the game with texture packs and QoL changes, as well as tinkering with Reshade than playing the game itself.

I'll keep an eye out for Skyrim SE deals as i'd want it just for Enderal really.

Skyrim SE is worth it even without Enderal. It makes modding far more stable while keeping the performance intact.

 

[Kvik]

Is there a dungeon crawler that is set in a modern city? Or are the all exclusively fantasy with a bit of sci-fi here and there?

Consider giving Zanki Zero a look. It's set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo if it's still fits your criteria.

 

[Arulan]

I've started to venture outside of Sorpigal in an attempt to find Eriquin on my own. I know you can pay a gem to the Leprechaun to get there. Some of these encounters can be pretty tough, even for the level 3 party I have now. Once I found the road I started to make some distance. I found sign posts alerting me of other nearby towns, but nothing on Eriquin so far.

The combat is a lot better than I remember. Between the system that determine which of your party and enemies are in melee range, the variety of spells, and challenging encounters, the tactics of it all is pretty enjoyable. Maybe even more so than some of the later entries? I'll have to see when I have them fresh in memory.

I've gone back and forth on some of my mapping standards. I'm trying to keep it similar to what I'd draw on paper, but some of the niceties of Grid Cartographer (descriptive icons, ease of coloring) make it hard to resist sprucing it up a little. As you can see I traveled down a few roads...

If a blobber asks you if you want to drink from a fountain, the answer is yes.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

I might have to get Grid Cartographer downloaded as i plan on diving into my DRPG collection sometime soon once i've cleared some games from my library that i'm halfway through. I went on a buying spree last year in sales and i now have about 28 of the things! Good times.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Aha! It was in here! Anyway, Conglomerate 451 is £3.61 on Fanatical at the moment.

Conglomerate 451 | PC Steam Game | Fanatical

Conglomerate 451 is a grid-based, dungeon-crawling...

www.fanatical.com

I'll tag in BlueOdin in case they're still looking.

Also, Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk is on a deal for the next day and a bit at humble.

The Humble Store: Great games. Fantastic prices. Support charity.

Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk Digital Limited Edition includes the following:• Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk• Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk - Digital Art Book• Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk - Meel's Best Bell• Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk - Meel's Best Shield•...

www.humblebundle.com

 

[BlueOdin]

Aha! It was in here! Anyway, Conglomerate 451 is £3.61 on Fanatical at the moment.

Conglomerate 451 | PC Steam Game | Fanatical

Conglomerate 451 is a grid-based, dungeon-crawling...

www.fanatical.com

I'll tag in BlueOdin in case they're still looking.

Also, Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk is on a deal for the next day and a bit at humble.

The Humble Store: Great games. Fantastic prices. Support charity.

Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk Digital Limited Edition includes the following:• Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk• Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk - Digital Art Book• Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk - Meel's Best Bell• Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk - Meel's Best Shield•...

www.humblebundle.com

Thanks! I am only kind of looking and mostly out of academic interest. But the thing I am more interested in would be a more contemporary setting. But thanks for thinkg about me

_

Kind of want to go back to Fallout 2 but I don't know when. Still in the middle of Yakuza 6, Outriders interests me, Saga Frontier Remastered is coming up and I also should continue Nioh 2.

 

[Arulan]

Anyone checking it out in Early Access? I loved The Age of Decadence (Dungeon Rats was enjoyable too), butI think I'm going to wait until its finished.

 

[Cacher]

Thanks for Arulan invitation.

I have been playing the Bard's Tale Trilogy lately. As printing out some pre-made maps from online resources seems rather pointless for a dungeon crawler, I decided to plot them out through excel, and the whole process is very fun. After finishing the whole layout I cross-checked with maps made by others to find those I missed (hence the ? marks from the pic). Going to return to the dungeon and fill out the missing part later.

I have always been a JRPG person and honestly don't remember my last classic WRPG other than Fallout and Mass Effect. Maybe Gothic 2? I meant to play some classic WRPGs but many often they seem far too daunting to jump in. Hopefully I will have the patience to play through the Bard's Tale. So far I am enjoying it a lot.

 

[Routa]

Glad to see someone else in here playing the Bard's Tale Trilogy

I look forward to your maps in BT2

 

[Cacher]

Glad to see someone else in here playing the Bard's Tale Trilogy

I look forward to your maps in BT2

Yay, I was lucky enough to get BTIV from the Giveaway thread last Christmas, which comes with BT Trilogy. Hopefully I can go through the whole Inxile catalog down the road!

 

[Routa]

Yay, I was lucky enough to get BTIV from the Giveaway thread last Christmas, which comes with BT Trilogy. Hopefully I can go through the whole Inxile catalog down the road!

I should say, I don't like Bard's Tale 2 that much. I think it goes overboard with a lot of it's traps and puzzles which resulted in a ton of frustration for me.

1 and 3 are great though!

I have yet to play 4.

 

[Cacher]

I should say, I don't like Bard's Tale 2 that much. I think it goes overboard with a lot of it's traps and puzzles which resulted in a ton of frustration for me.

Lol, I know this will happen sooner or later!

 

[Arulan]

Welcome to the thread! Jim_Cacher

It always makes me happy to see someone go back to some of these classic RPGs and embrace the mapping. I hope you're enjoying it.

What kind of party composition did you go with?

 

[Cacher]

Welcome to the thread! Jim_Cacher

It always makes me happy to see someone go back to some of these classic RPGs and embrace the mapping. I hope you're enjoying it.

What kind of party composition did you go with?

Honestly I did not do any research on how to get the best party. I read the whole manual at the beginning and create these six party members:
Paladin (Human), Bard (Elf), Hunter (Half-Orc), Rogue (Hobbit)
Conjurer (Gnome) and Magician (Gnome)
Leave a slot open for summon.

Doing okay so far. I am still learning the spells as there are quite a lot of them.

 

[Arulan]

I didn't have a lot of time to play this past week, but some updates on my Might & Magic playthrough:

I found the Merchants Pass while exploring some of the wilderness in C1. I'd heard about it in a tavern before, and it looks like it's necessary to get into the inner-castles. Before the guard would send me away if I tried to enter.

A quest from Lord Hacker?! How could I refuse?

Oh...

I found the Wizard Telgoran as well, and followed his clues to find the two brothers.

Portsmith

Portsmith map -- Zam's clue

Algary

Algary map -- Zom's clue

I pieced together their clues to find the Ruby Whistle, and the location of a stronghold. I think I'll continue exploring Varn a little before I go there though.

I fought these Barbarians earlier, and it resulted in an alignment shift. My party is majority Evil now.

Honestly I did not do any research on how to get the best party. I read the whole manual at the beginning and create these six party members:
Paladin (Human), Bard (Elf), Hunter (Half-Orc), Rogue (Hobbit)
Conjurer (Gnome) and Magician (Gnome)
Leave a slot open for summon.

Doing okay so far. I am still learning the spells as there are quite a lot of them.

I just wanted to make sure you had a Bard. If I recall correctly they're pretty essential for parts of the game.

Gnomes!

 

[BlueOdin]

Dropped Saga Frontier Remastered for the time being because I was not feeling it. Intend to go back and at least finish my Emilia playthrough but I don’t know when. I liked it but never felt safe or good doing things without a guide. But I liked a lot of things about the game so it isn’t dropped forever. Also rekindled my interest in Scarlet Grace.

So I was wondering what to play instead. My choices were either continuing Fallout 2 or finally checking out Enderal. Since the former would be the correct choice to make I finally started Enderal. Haven’t played much of it because this game talks a lot.
I thought Saga Frontier could’ve maybe used a bit more textboxes here and there but I didn’t appreciate the brevity enough it seems. Would take it any day.
Otherwise my first impression of Enderal was... not great tbh. Other than it taking forever until I could finally move around through the tutorial area the initial scene was pretty dark in not a good way? A bit too edgy for me. Though maybe it was also because I was playing in English at first. There was one dialogue which made me switch to German. The VA performances sound much better from what I've heard so far. Gave me some Gothic feelings.
Another thing I didn’t like was the character creator. Felt like it was missing some „fun“ options especially in the hair color department. But I don’t know how much this is limited by Skyrims character creator which I don’t remember much anymore.

Looking forward to playing more though. Kind of in the mood for an open world RPG. Planning to play as an elementalist mage because at the end of the day I like shooting fire from my hands.

 

[Arulan]

So I was wondering what to play instead. My choices were either continuing Fallout 2 or finally checking out Enderal. Since the former would be the correct choice to make I finally started Enderal.

 

[BlueOdin]

Why finish game you already started when you can start new game

 

[Cacher]

All these darkness rooms in Bard Tale

 

[Arulan]

All these darkness rooms in Bard Tale

What could be worse you ask? Darkness + Anti-Magic rooms!

 

[BlueOdin]

6 hours in and I am unsure on where I will fall with Enderal: Forgotten Stories, So far the only roadblock for my character was inventory limit. Magic seems pretty good for dealing fast with tough enemies. Also like the amount of foliage in this game. Like, holy shit I am drowning in grass and flowers. Lost slain enemies several types in fields now because foliage is just so thick. Love it.

Otherwise I am unsure about character progression. It has a system similar to Gothic but not that satisfyingly balanced sadly. Never had to leave somewhere and come back later when I would be stronger. Wonder how much they are held back due to the Skyrim foundation. Exploration hasn't felt that rewarding yet either. Found a few more out of my way locations and came out with the same gear I went in and didn't find anything interesting other than stuff I already had. Which led to me not looking as thoroughly now.

There is still some stuff to do like looking into the crafting but I haven't really needed it yet. All in all I feel kind of mixed on it tbh. With all the praise it got I expected maybe too much.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

Currently playing Shadowrun Returns, and there's more diversity with the NPCs in just two hours than entire AAA games these days.

I approve.

 

[Arulan]

Currently playing Shadowrun Returns, and there's more diversity with the NPCs in just two hours than entire AAA games these days.

I approve.

First time playing any of the Shadowrun trilogy?

I hope to see Harebrained Schemes return to Shadowrun. I really enjoyed them.

Despite enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 overall, the recent Shadowrun RPGs more often succeeded at putting me in the cyberpunk mood I was looking for, and a lot of that from just the writing.

 

[Cacher]

I just got Blue Reflection from the current Koei Tecmo sale and launched it to have a quick look. Man, playing the Bard's Tale and Blue Reflection at the same time is weird. Such polar difference between the two.

Currently playing Shadowrun Returns, and there's more diversity with the NPCs in just two hours than entire AAA games these days.

I approve.

I played it a few years ago. It's short but pretty enjoyable. Still need to play the second and third one.

 

[Valdien]

Currently playing Shadowrun Returns, and there's more diversity with the NPCs in just two hours than entire AAA games these days.

I approve.

Glad you're enjoying it. I'm a big fan of the newer Shadowrun games. And if you think Shadowrun Returns is good, then mate, it only gets better with Dragonfall and Hong Kong! HK really nailed that depressive Cyberpunk atmosphere. And the OST for all three games are amazing.

 

[Cacher]

Reached chapter 4 of Blue Reflection. To be frank, this game is a looker (character models looks great) but also a bit boring. Probably due to what happening in real life, I have difficulty connecting with these high school young lady's concerns and worries of their daily life. I don't particularly enjoy the characters so far as well.

Combat-wise, I love traditional turn-based RPG. The combat is rather basic but I have fun thinking about the options available on building up the characters. And the highest difficulty does not feel too hard.

The start of chapter 4 is pretty intriguing. Hopefully the story will pick up steam soon.

 

[FunnyJay]

I played it a few years ago. It's short but pretty enjoyable. Still need to play the second and third one.

I kickstarted both Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun Hong Kong. I played Returns immediately on release, but burnt out on it, especially since back when it released you couldn't save anywhere you wanted, you had to save just when a new map had been loaded in I believe.

I returned to it much later, after Dragonfall had released and finished it. It was enjoyable, but a bit hard in some places.

I have attempted to start Dragonfall several times, but never quite feeling it, and haven't touched Hong Kong at all.

Backlogs, am I right?

 

[Cacher]

Backlogs, am I right?

Yes, and new games.

 

[BlueOdin]

Since I played it as part of the backlog blitz I rambled a bit about my least favorite parts about Enderal here: RPG Community |OT| Take the Epoch to a New Era

In general I felt the game was okay. Overstayed its welcome for me and there is content and areas that could easily be cut imo. It's neat and packed for a full conversion mod that is free and worth checking out but didn't meet the hype that I read about it.

 

[BlueOdin]

Finished Dragon Quest IX. Was the last main line Dragon Quest that released here. I like it but I don't love it.

It was nice to play a Dragon Quest with a job system again even though it might be my least favorite iteration of it. Just didn't like how classes unlocked. Doing sidequests that are something like "defeat 5 metal slimes with a certain character while this ability is active and your hands are on your hips and a blindfold over your eyes". And some abilities which I wanted during the game hidden behind these classes. And sometimes it would've required leveling up to levels which I didn't even achieve during my playthrough.
I prefer the way VI and VII do classes over this though this is maybe more reminisence to 3 (which I think made it maybe more basic but still better).

The vignettes were solid. One that had a really dark conclusion. Can't say too much about them now because some of it was spread out over months when I put the game down because being in quarantine didn't make me want to play much on my handhelds.

People also always tell how random encounters suck but at least for the overworld I wish it had them. In my mind I at least know that the encounter rate is (ideally) tuned such that you have enough encounters to be in the right level range. Here I was often wondering if I should just go back and fight a few battles because it was too easy avoiding fights on the way to the next location. And while the situation in the dungeons was better hallways were sometimes too narrow to avoid fightings when going through multiple times.

Ultimately I am glad that Level 5 is now off this series.

With Dragon Quest X being absent from this region my ranking for the series would be:

XI > VI > IV > V > III > VII > VIII > IX > I > II

Looking forward to the event in 11 days. Will probably not say goodbye to Dragon Quest either. Still have Builders 2 and Heroes 2 lying around here. And am interested in some other spinoffs like the Torneko mystery dungeons.

As it was decided in a Discord server I am in the next series I will tackle is Breath of Fire

 

[Arulan]

Unfortunately I haven't had time to continue Might & Magic, or much of anything else. Who knew moving across the US and buying a house in this market would be time-consuming. And it'll still be a good while before I settle in.

I am looking forward to NieR Replicant. I'll probably miss Papa NieR, but it looks like a great version of the game.

 

[Li Kao]

Just to be sure, there are no modern Sci-Fi CRPG (other than Wasteland) ?
I have to check but the only one I can think of is in EA.

 

[BlueOdin]

Just to be sure, there are no modern Sci-Fi CRPG (other than Wasteland) ?
I have to check but the only one I can think of is in EA.

If you would count Cyberpunk genre as a type of Sci-Fi then there would also be the Shadowrun games. And I maybe similar to Wasteland the Atom RPGs could be something you're looking for.
Only other one I am thinking about would be Encased but that is probably the one you're already thinking about

 

[Li Kao]

Only other one I am thinking about would be Encased but that is probably the one you're already thinking about

Eh, not that one, so that makes two. I was thinking about Colony Ship.

 

[Taborcarn]

There's also Underrail.

 

[Routa]

Not too many sci-fi modern CRPGs I can think of, but here are some more Li Kao



A bit older one:

 

[BlueOdin]

I've been playing Fantasian these last couple of days and according to a walkthrough I am pretty close to the end of the game. It's neat but I have some annoyances with the game that I think maybe I would've dropped it if it didn't scratch that JRPG itch. Also trying to get through it as fast as I can so I can cancel my Apple Arcade trial before I get billed.

The battle system is neat and having the ability to do all random encounters at a time is a good idea. The backgrounds being miniatures looks really lovely though for me it clashes a bit with the character models. There is too strong a contrast for me. And while I find that the miniature approach is a novel idea I think it hold them back in intersting dungeon design.
The lowpoint for me is the soundtrack so far though. It is usually the aspect I care least about unless a piece is an undeniable jam. And here I haven't found a single song that I like so far. It just feels so boring despite me enjoying lots of Uematsu's work in the past and not being a big Final Fantasy fan.
Story is something that has a lot of good ideas but the execution of it is rather lacking. So I guess it is in line with the older Final Fantasies (mainly V) I played. Character interactions are incredibly one note and cliche.
Another thing I dislike are the boss battles. There was a stretch where I had like three 5 minutes apart and none were interesting and took loong and blergh. It also does my least favorite thing where most of them don't have any setup at all. You walk down a street/interact with something, your characters say "Watch out! Here it comes!" and suddenly you have drawn out boss battle.

Maybe my opinion will change because the game will give one change up just before it ends to carry over into Part 2 but other than a "it's neat" I can't find much motivation in me to recommend it. If you have an Apple device and can get a trial month for Apple Arcade I'd say check it out but don't subscribe because of it.

 

[Arulan]

So, E3 is mostly over. Did anything stand out to anyone?

Copper Dreams Mechajammer is still looking very good.



I'm just repeating myself here, but I'm expecting to be disappointed by Starfield, as I've been with Bethesda Game Studios with every release following Morrowind. I hope I'm wrong though.

I would have liked to see see more about Avowed from Obsidian, but oh well. I haven't gotten to The Outer Worlds yet, so I can't really comment on the sequel showing up.

Hopefully those releases of FF I-VI will be great versions, but then again, you can easily play the original versions on open-platforms.

Oh, and not really E3 related, but Space Wreck continues to look better and better.



Also, the Fallout 2 total conversion mod Olympus 2207 is in English now.

 

[BlueOdin]

Finished Nioh 2 yesterday. It's pretty good. I didn't think it possible but the combat is an improvement on the first game which already had one of the best systems. The rest though is roughly the same. Which is kind of a bummer. The loot is too much and substracts for me, the level design is solid (though sometimes nonsensical with its shortcuts) and the side missions make it so it overstays its welcome. So much that just like the first game I didn't feel compelled to venture into the DLCs. Story is a bit of a bummer, too, because they have a few neat ideas and the cinematography is great but it feels so disjointed and just there that it once said a character died and I had no idea who they were talking about.
I'd still recommend it and is my second favorite game I played this year so far.

And as a treat that I finished Nioh 2 I picked up FFVII Remake for PS5. Played a bit of it and I think it's pretty good.

 

[Routa]

After playing Nocturne Remastered, I’m on an SMT kick now.

Just finished SMT1. Will edit some thoughts in later when I have time

 

[Valdien]

After playing Nocturne Remastered, I’m on an SMT kick now.

Just finished SMT1. Will edit some thoughts in later when I have time

I went through the same thing this year. Felt like replaying Persona 3 FES, finished it, then replayed Persona 4 Arena + Ultimax, Devil Summoner 1 + 2, SMT IV + A, SMT Strange Journey, and now I'll probably start Devil Survivor. By the time SMT V comes, I might have replayed through the entire SMT catalog.

 

[Routa]

I went through the same thing this year. Felt like replaying Persona 3 FES, finished it, then replayed Persona 4 Arena + Ultimax, Devil Summoner 1 + 2, SMT IV + A, SMT Strange Journey, and now I'll probably start Devil Survivor. By the time SMT V comes, I might have replayed through the entire SMT catalog.

Nocturne was my first "proper" SMT game. I had only played the Persona titles and some of the Persona spinoffs previously

A friend recommended the older titles a while ago and they're pretty great so far, don't know why it took me so long to try them - especially since I'm a massive fan of blobbers (Wizardry 8 being one of my favorite games ever).

Right now - I'm not sure how I feel about SMT If. It had a pretty strong start, but this third dungeon is terribly designed and dragging me down.

Here's the list of other Megami Tensei games I have as "musts" so far based on friends and what I looked at for myself:

• SMT2
• SMT4
• Devil Summoner 1 + 2
• Digital Devil Saga 1 + 2
• Strange Journey Redux
• Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei 1 + 2 (via Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei)

 

[Valdien]

Nocturne was my first "proper" SMT game. I had only played the Persona titles and some of the Persona spinoffs previously

A friend recommended the older titles a while ago and they're pretty great so far, don't know why it took me so long to try them - especially since I'm a massive fan of blobbers (Wizardry 8 being one of my favorite games ever).

Right now - I'm not sure how I feel about SMT If. It had a pretty strong start, but this third dungeon is terribly designed and dragging me down.

Here's the list of other Megami Tensei games I have as "musts" so far based on friends and what I looked at for myself:

• SMT2
• SMT4
• Devil Summoner 1 + 2
• Digital Devil Saga 1 + 2
• Strange Journey Redux
• Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei 1 + 2 (via Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei)

Yeah, the first-person dungeon crawling SMT games are very notorious for having "trolly" dungeons. It gets worse in SMT Strange Journey, especially the bonus dungeon in Redux. That was definitely made by a sadist, lol. Here's a full map of one of the areas in the bonus dungeon. And that's just "Part A". I was also thinking of having these maps translated into English and then typeset them myself because shockingly, there isn't a decent map in English out there for the bonus dungeon.

Anyway, I'd probably recommend playing DDS 1 & 2 next, if possible. If you enjoyed Nocturne's press-turn system, then the DDS series expands upon it. There's also a lot of customizability because it uses a similar magatama system from Nocturne. You're only limited to 3 party members on screen, but you can build them as you please. Oh yeah, it's also got an amazing atmosphere and OST.

But if you're in the mood for more dungeon-crawling madness, finish off SMT 2 and then move onto Strange Journey and finally SMT 4 + A. I'd also recommend leaving the Devil Summoner games last for last. The combat of the first game hasn't aged all too well, not that it was good to begin with. It's the world, characters, OST, and obviously the demons that carry the game. But the good thing about the Raidou series is that they are relatively short. 30-35 hours long, depending on how many side-quests you do.