Racing Lagoon: High Speed Driving RPG

[plumpan]

Everyone should play this game. Let's get out the bullet points.

• It's a Racing Game, but also a RPG. But not like Gran Turismo or TXR. This one does it right.
• Made and published by Squaresoft in 1999 for the PS1. Peak Square era.
• One of the most stylish games you will ever see
• Absolute 10/10 jazz fusion soundtrack
• Actual, really good 90s Square RPG story
• Chock full of 90s Square prerender 3d
• Got an amazing fan translation/localization in 2021
• Still a really fun racing game

The translation works great in emulation or on hardware, I've played it through on both. The only caveats I'll give is the story does get heavy, and the game kind of frontloads a lot of the difficulty. The former is up to you, the latter there's an "easy mode" save included with the translation patch which starts you out a bit "leveled up" and helps with that early difficulty bite.

If you're inclined to watching your favorite streamer play games then that also works, but the handling in this game is really fun as well as the different builds you can get up to. It's worth playing, not just watching.

If you have any interest in PS1 RPGs, or racing games, or Squaresoft games, or games with amazing soundtracks, or just some really unique shit, you should play it. If you don't care about any of those things, I still think you should play it.

Remember to tag your spoilers

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[Enbyeon]

This game is so fascinating and the translation effort for it is fantastic. I sadly had to tap out because I did not vibe at all with the car handling and grindiness of it, but I like watching people who are into it stream it.

[Mixi Blacksand]

Yeah, I don't vibe with it enough to play it, but I've been watching a favorite streamer of mine play some of it and the reaction when

Hidden text.

he found the Bus body

was worth the ride along.

[plumpan]

I should *try* and do an anti-grind run sometime. I don't know what that would entail but I think the game can be completed pretty quickly. I'm normally someone who hates RPG grinding but mixing it in with always trying to improve my times plus feeling out new parts works extremely well for me. So my playthroughs always end up rather long, oops.

Getting to grips (har) with the handling in the beginning is one of the reasons why it's so hard early game. But once you figure it out, it's really really good. "Circle button is your friend" I think I heard someone describe it as.