Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[newtmonkey]

It's so nice to read a similar perspective to how I felt playing DWII. Thanks for sharing newt. Wonder what other jrpgs in that non-linear style exist.

I haven't played them extensively, but the Romancing SaGa series and Metal Max series are both quite nonlinear by JRPG standards.

 

[Maxie]

Mordi is the worst witch, her map is the worst map, her companion has the worst stats imaginable
And you revisit her map with her companion being mandatory in the finale just in case you didn't find her shit enough
Stella Glow is amazing at how it hates the player

 

[Twizman]

Interested to read any ideas for potential modifications to Phantasy Star II. Passionate that there is potential to make combat more engaging and thought-provoking. I've been in contact with a modder at rhdn - wondering if any PSII vets newtmonkey can assist with my idea. I'm specifically interested to promote the use of status ailments, and I thought making Forsa/Conte and maybe Doran/Shiza hit all enemies in a group. The intention of the modder is to maintain the spirit and design direction of the base game, and similarly I don't want anything overpowered in.

Hypothetically if balanced properly, I think this could make some players consider the tendency of the enemy to physical or special attacks, and consider enemy speed as compared to Kain/Hugh. The result if successfully used being significant amounts of damage mitigated for a relatively cheap tp cost - with the player excited seeing powerful attacks whiff!

My favourite spell in the Dragon Warrior games is Dazzle/Surround. There seems to be a similarity in Forsa/Doran halving enemies physical attack accuracy. Though in Dragon Quest, statuses last for some number of turns, whereas in PSII they are permanent. Not sure about changes to the paralysis techniques, or altering the accuracy and tp costs of the status ailments. Would appreciate any thoughts.

Some ideas that are currently being considered:
Hugh:
- Res at LV 5, Shinb at LV 8, Gires at LV 14, Nafoi at LV 30
*I suggested Hugh's repertoire be expanded as a secondary healer. And NaFoi is fun, strong and efficient with tp.

Anna:
- Anna gains Gra at LV 12 and Gigra at LV 23. (Zan is useless since slashers already target groups; Foi isn't needed.)

Kain:
- Double his TP? Or maybe 1.5x?
*I've suggested rather Kain have his status techs buffed.
Resource showing what status infliction techs do: https://phantasystar.fandom.com/wiki/Techniques_in_Phantasy_Star_II

 

[newtmonkey]

Estpolis Denki (aka Lufia & The Fortress of Doom) (SFC)

Finished! I've been playing this one on and off now for a couple years, but I finally was able to complete it today as my final RPG completed in 2020!
I was able to complete the game in just under 30 hours with character levels ranging from 46 to 52. The final boss rush was weirdly easy and I slew the last boss with all four characters alive and at nearly full HP. Once again, no grinding was required at all for either EXP or gold contrary to every FAQ I consulted after the fact.

It's a very standard 16-bit JRPG in pretty much all respects. It follows the somewhat boring progression made popular by Final Fantasy IV in 1991 and then copied for the rest of eternity by nearly all other JRPGs: town -> dungeon -> boss -> town, repeat until end. This means that the game constantly "gates" your progress with boss encounters so you can't really explore and go off the beaten path to find powerful equipment or whatever.

Estpolis Denki bucks the trend a bit by including two quests that involve gathering a certain number of doodads to progress, with each doodad located in a separate tower/dungeon which you can tackle in any order. It also has an optional cave you can explore for powerful gear, with each floor getting progressively more difficult until you reach 7F which includes endgame-level enemies. Finally, you can collect dragon eggs throughout the world; once you gather eight you can exchange them to select from a small selection of powerful gifts.

Other than this, it's a step down in complexity from even Final Fantasy IV. You have a fixed party of four characters you gather within the first few hours of the game, and it doesn't change for the rest of the game (with one slight exception that lasts maybe 10 minutes). Your spellcasters have tons of MP, but attack spells do so little damage it's not worth casting them. One nice thing is that spells like silence, confuse, and sleep are very effective all throughout the game—one great way to stop enemies from casting spells and using special attacks is to confuse them. Finally, running hardly ever seems to work; it's actually safer to just fight every battle you get into and render the enemies harmless in the first round with the overpowered combo of sleep/silence and confuse.

What really makes the game tedious is that it does nothing interesting with such a linear structure. Every boss falls to the same basic strategy. Although dungeons can be pleasantly labyrinthine and contain some great treasure to find, dungeons are completely devoid of gimmicks or even any kind of unique theme. The random encounter rate is also through the roof. Finally, there's also not enough unique art in the game—all towns look the same, and there are really just two tilesets for dungeons (cave and tower). The game is also plagued by enemy recolors, which is usually a result of using a smaller cartridge to save money but I was surprised to find that the game uses the same sized cartridge as Final Fantasy IV (8Mb)!

Overall, it's not a great RPG, not even a great JRPG, but I did enjoy playing through it in bits and pieces. It was worth playing in the end.

 

[newtmonkey]

Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
Finished! I had been playing this on and off over the past year and was very close to the end, so I decided to polish it off before the end of the year.

I was very impressed with this game! It's basically an action game with very light RPG elements, almost like a very linear version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Linearity tends to annoy me in RPGs or quest/adventure games, but I liked the approach used here. The dungeons are a joy to explore, and the game includes some of the best dungeons in the sub-genre (even better than Zelda imo).

Movement and combat are both a ton of fun, and your character has a pleasant feeling of weight. I never felt like I was struggling with the controls to get something done. The boss fights are a highlight for sure, and you'll have to make full use of your moveset to get through them. This all culminates in a "boss rush" at the end of the game where you have to defeat faster/stronger versions of each of the bosses.

The most enjoyable aspect of this game is that it has you exploring locations taken from history and legend, such as Angkor Wat, some Incan ruins, and the Tower of Babel. I'm sure everyone has at one point or another wanted to explore old ruins to discover ancient secrets, and this game delivers that atmosphere perfectly—especially thanks to the soundtrack which is often mysterious and eerie. I also liked how the story dealt with some serious themes (cannibalism, slavery, where we are headed as a species) without coming off as edgy or (too) preachy. It's much more mature than the typical melodrama you get in JRPGs, while still being lighthearted and fun.

It's a short game at around 15 hours or so, but I feel that's the perfect length for an action/adventure like this. Highly recommended!

 

[jungl]

Started playing fire emblem three houses on yuzu. Lol the graphics reminds me of indie shit game i tried a month ago or two, blackthorn arena. Funny how pathetic consoles are.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

A year ago i finished 3/4 routes in Fire Emblem:Three Houses, now i'm doing the only one left (church).Having to do again the first half of the game every time you want to do another route is the worst, i don't know how they didn't find a solution to that, really tiresome.The game is the exact opposite of fates (Conquest to be more precise), really shitty maps but a serviceable story that keeps you engaged, hope the next Fire Emblem is more rounded in all areas.

Spoiler

Marianne is best girl and Bernie deserves to be tortured in the most painfull way.

 

[GhostCow]

Spoiler

Marianne is best girl and Bernie deserves to be tortured in the most painfull way.

Big disagree. Bernie is obviously made to pander to the NEETs but I love her anyway. Also Hilda is easily best girl because pink hair and tiddies

 

[Dishonoredbr]

.Having to do again the first half of the game every time you want to do another route is the worst, i don't know how they didn't find a solution to that, really tiresome

I played 2 routes march of 2020 and only got to play both Golde Dear and Chruch route now because otherwise , i would hate this game. Especialy Chruch route because it''s literaly the same as Black Eagles until Chapter 12/13. I had to skip 90% of cutscenes. I just go to Post Time Skip with both Routes. Sometimes even for me , the monastery can be boring ..

Also yeah , i hope FE17 or next remake , has more balance between Gameplay and Story. At least the gameplay isn't Dogshit and i can enjoy breaking the game in half with a Dodge Tank Byleth.

Spoiler

Also embrace Lysethea supremacy , she's nuke in all my playthough , especialy as a Mortal Savant/Trickester

 

[GhostCow]

I thought it was the best FE ever and played all four routes in a row then the dlc when it came out. I even rigged up my switch so I could transfer my saves to PC and play it again on an emulator. GOTY 2019 for me

 

[Dishonoredbr]

I thought it was the best FE ever and played all four routes in a row then the dlc when it came out. I even rigged up my switch so I could transfer my saves to PC and play it again on an emulator. GOTY 2019 for me

GOTY 2019 for sure to me too (even tho played in 2020 but alas..) , i just critized the gameplay because after playing Conquest , the flaw about the gameplay were more clear to me. But still one of the best switch games.

 

[spekkio]

Devil Survivor - Overclocked

One of the most interesting japtactical games I've played in a while...



I mean, I've had a lot of fun with this game right from the beginning, but mostly due to the initial enemies using random attacks and "general" team setups (see below). Initially I tried to play the game the way I played SMT or DDS blobbers. By trying to fuse strong "universal" demons, which could've survived most encounters with some healing and only needed replacement when facing some specific enemies (with "opposite" elemental or / and status-changing attacks).

So, my demons, used in all encounters, looked like this (as universal as possible):

BUT!

1) Combination of SMT's press turn system, tactical combat and sometimes really brutal encounter design:

Quickly made this approach impossible. You simply cannot achive these goals quick enough without specific demon setups.



2) Enemies step up their game as well. Instead of "general" teams, you start facing things like these:

Which can't be dealt with easily using "universal team", even if you decide to simply "kill the leader of each team ASAP". That's because even a basic survival becomes a problem, plus enemies start utilizing skills like "Knight Soul" (protect the leader).

3) And to my real surprise, enemies start acting "smart" too, for example finding which of your demons is weak against their attacks, and bombarding him/her/ITZ to motherfucking oblivion.

During some fights I was like:

"That's not how enemies in japtactical games usually behave"



After a lot of butthurt & RAGEQUIT / suicidal thoughts, I suddenly get an ephiphany:

"Wait, to deal with all this shit, I would have to use TOTALLY DIFFERENT SETUP of demons and trainers' skills for EVERY ENCOUNTER in the game! With demons' weaknesses being even more important (drain / reflect) than their skills or stats."

Time to restate my assumptions and create all my demons from scratch:

Werdict: the most fun I've had with the japtactical since Der Langrisser. But you have to be on the spectrum to enjoy this game...

Spoiler

Probably I'm gonna ragequit anyway after n-th escort mission...

 

[spekkio]

BROs, update for the people who GET IT!

After ~2hrs of fusing, my demonic pool looks much better...

1) The Fire Brigade (fire-draining ice-casters)

2) Ice Ice Babies (ice-draining fire-casters)

3) Shocktroopers (electro-draining force-casters)

4) Force Awakened (force-draining electro-casters)

Yeah, I know...

OFC it's just a default setup, modified for every encounter. But these niggas can fuck enemies up p. bad, while being healed by enemy attacks. The only problem is when such "specialized" team gets hit but the "wrong" enemy team, but that's what unit positioning, guarding, healing and changing demons "on the fly" is for...



And speaking about healing, it looks like we can fuse a new, powerful healer:

Weak to fire? Let's try to fix this silly omission with some demon fusion...

Sheeet, with enough macca shekels, you can p. much break the game...

Spoiler

Send help.

 

[lightbane]

Ditch Yuzu at the first opportunity, that's my best advice. Also play the Overclocked edition so that the Compendium is available and physical fighters can actually do shit.

"Wait, to deal with all this shit, I would have to use TOTALLY DIFFERENT SETUP of demons and trainers' skills for EVERY ENCOUNTER in the game! With demons' weaknesses being even more important (drain / reflect) than their skills or stats."

Or powergame and choose demons with long-ranged attacks, lots of resistances and OPness overall. I'm not sure how is this meant to be completed without doing some random encounters but people here say it's possible, somehow.
Having Jack Frost is a good choice, especially with Mitama so that he loses weakness to fire.

 

[spekkio]

Ditch Yuzu at the first opportunity, that's my best advice.

Yeah, Move = 3 - the fuck is that?

play the Overclocked edition

I do. Don't you see all the HIGH RES???

so that the Compendium is available

There was no compendium in vanilla?

 

[Dishonoredbr]

There was no compendium in vanilla?

Nope. Overclocked is the first game that had compendium in the smt series.. Thank for the good souls that add this.

Just a tip. I would always have a good on your level devil speed demon and a fight demon because this game loves missions that someone is needs rescue so getting fast in somewhere is key. Also Tyrant are OP and the best demon in the game..

Spoiler

Get Holy dance and go crazy

 

[lightbane]

When in doubt, leveling up the MC is key, since his level determines what fusions can yo get. DS vanilla had no Compendium as mentioned, and endgame enemies from most routes had resistances to EVERYTHING, especially Phys, which meant Phys-builds were pointless, and you either had Almighty or you die.
A MAG-specced MC with Holy Dance and MAG Up (or whatever that skill is called that only lets you do magic in exchange of more damage and mp costs) can kill anything in a turn or two.

 

[Puukko]

A few hours into FFXV and... it's surprisingly really fun. I know fans are mixed on this (though still not entirely sure why) but that was also the case for VIII and XII which I also liked, though I played those modded. The real time combat is fun and pulling off long range blink strikes into breaks doesn't get old. I am surprised how quickly the game drops you into the semi open world, most FFs railroad you for a few hours. I like that the nights are dangerous - deadly nights are one of my favorite underutilized mechanics, along with strong enemies that stalk you throughout the game.

I thought the way they introduced the first "twist" (the evil empire attacks, shocking!) was pretty badly paced where they showed clips of the CG movie without much explanation for the empire's motivations. XII really suffered from bad pacing too.

 

[Puukko]

Early impressions of The Last Remnant are good. The combat system is a bit daunting but surprisingly easy to actually get into. I know in vanilla this is one of those games where the obtuse progression system can fuck you over big time so I dl'd a mod for static scaling which has multiple options for difficulty.

The game's a bit of an oddball in that it's an UE3 game by SE which you can tell as the animations certainly aren't as fluid as in FF12 despite the age difference. It's almost unintentionally funny at times. The character designs and overall look of the game are very reminiscent of that game, but with more jank and less flowery dialogue, which is a bit of a shame since I really liked that stuff.

 

[Dedup]

After finishing Demon Gaze I decided to try my hand at finishing Elminage Original (PSP version). I played it when it came out and gotten pretty far, but dropped it for some reason. One thing that struck me then and in this recent play through is that there didn't seem to be any risk of perma-death for the characters. For all the times I brought back dead characters, the resurrections never failed and nobody got turned to ashes. Then I botched the disarm on a trapped chest and the party got teleported into a wall. 6 dead characters with no chance of recovery. I do have another leveled up group, but I like having enough characters to run two groups in these games so I went ahead and made replacements. While I could've reloaded and got them back, the risk of permanently losing characters and having to train up new ones is part of the fun for me in these games.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Downloaded and played the Bravely Default 2 demo on Switch. I liked Bravely Default and 2nd on 3DS and I have to say that Square Enix has some balls charging full price for Bravely Default 2. It runs like shit and looks like a shitty mobile port on an ios or android game.

 

[GhostCow]

I could never understand the appeal of bravely default. Passing turns is super boring. I couldn't get attached to the characters either

 

[Gastrick]

Finished Final Fantasy I (PS1). In the beginning and after you get the airship the game is great. In between that the high difficulty and encounter rate make the game worse. I may have found it hard because I wasn't used to my party being surprised and killed in one turn or it could've been that my team sucked(used a thief). For some of the dungeons you're several levels too weak to take on the bottom floors. The ice dungeon is like rolling a 6-sided dice several times with 2 or less meaning your party is dead. The bosses are all easy though, besides Warmech. The battle dynamic is "run if the fight takes over 3 turns, otherwise use beat-sticks". The red mage(battlemage) is better off attacking than using magic most of the time because there aren't any spells that can wipe out the enemy team. White mage(priest) attacks for the first half and gets good defensive buffs to use in the second half. Status moves miss all the time and healing spells don't heal enough to be useful in combat. Progression works well in the game, especially with equipment and when you class-upgrade. The underwater dungeon is the best overall with the mermaid village on the top. They tell you that the Kraken is on the bottom level and that they will all die if he isn't defeated. That gives the dungeon a structure and a good reason for clearing it. The volcano dungeon has a good mechanic being damage floors which gives you the decision "where do I walk" since in some cases taking damage is a better option than walking on the encounter tiles.

There's a few good "riddles" in the game, the canoe one was annoying but I managed to figure it out. Story is barebones, something about time travel and the villain becoming a supernatural entity. There's one detail that I really liked,

Spoiler

seeing a robot when I played it on GBA a while back successfully produced a WTF reaction.

With the over-world map, even though it is technically the same size as DWII it feels smaller. When sailing on the sea ship you can only go to a couple places making it feel emptier. Then with the airship, you can get anywhere in under 10 seconds. There's also a town where they decided to only add two people. The basic animations when you cross the bridge or descend underwater are well-done.
The game was engaging enough to have me wanting to play more but being finished. I'd say the game overall is good. If I were to compare it with some other nes RPGs though, I'd say it's worse than blobber Wizardry II(nes) or open item-hunter DWII, but much better than DWI.

 

[Puukko]

A few hours into FFXV and... it's surprisingly really fun. I know fans are mixed on this (though still not entirely sure why) but that was also the case for VIII and XII which I also liked, though I played those modded. The real time combat is fun and pulling off long range blink strikes into breaks doesn't get old. I am surprised how quickly the game drops you into the semi open world, most FFs railroad you for a few hours. I like that the nights are dangerous - deadly nights are one of my favorite underutilized mechanics, along with strong enemies that stalk you throughout the game.

I thought the way they introduced the first "twist" (the evil empire attacks, shocking!) was pretty badly paced where they showed clips of the CG movie without much explanation for the empire's motivations. XII really suffered from bad pacing too.

And they're removing it from game pass, lol. Microshafted again!

Meanwhile, I bumped up the difficulty of the TLR mod I am using from 5/10 to 7/10 and yeah, these beholders are carving me a new one.

 

[aweigh]

I liked FF15 too and similarly also expected to hate it going in, but it won me over.

Only really annoying thing is during Chapters 3-5 u constantly have to deal with the imperial troops who chase u, lol.