Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[aweigh]

Just did a 90 hour tour of duty on Xenoblade Chronicles 1: Definitive Edition.

Best fucking RPG I've played in years

 

[lightbane]

Not sure if it counts, but anyway:
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky.
Surprisingly fun, challenging and quite good writing, much better than the mainstay games, it can stand on its own and it's quite polished... Although there are some QoL features missing that would be introduced later.

 

[Amurada]

Been considering playing the 3DS version of Dragon Quest VIII, but I have some concerns that maybe could be alleviated here? I originally played the PS2 game on release, and had a great time. Got as far as unlocking the boat, and dropped the game due to life getting in the way. Been considering picking up the 3DS version, but I've heard that the difficulty has been severely nerfed in this version. I'd like to know if this is actually the case, as the thing I loved about the original was how hard enemies hit, even as early as the first dungeon. I always heralded the PS2 games as one of the best JRPGs when it comes to difficulty balance, only rivaled by DQXI's Draconian Quest options. Please tell me they didn't ruin one of my favorite games. I heard that the difficulty is compromised due to being able to run away from battles on the overworld (which wasn't possible for all but certain elite monsters in the PS2 version). If this was all that was changed, it isn't the end of the world -- albeit, a bit disappointing. All the extra content and convenience features in the new version make it tempting to switch over, but not at the cost at the game being nerfed to hell.

 

[Blaza]

I've been replaying through Final Fantasy 7 (switch port) for the first time since I was a kid. It still holds up and is pretty fun. However the minigames are sometimes misplaced.

Spoiler

Aeris just died and you want nothing more than to kill Sephiroth?

Time for a snowboarding segment!

 

[Nutmeg]

I played FF7 at the ripe age of 14. I had played FF6 and Chrono Trigger before that, and I heard this was even better.

It moved me not one bit and I never completed it.

Materia system was a great evolution of the FF5 job system though. Shame it was so underutilized by the completely absent encounter design.

 

[Dodo1610]

I'm playing experiencing Kingdom Hearts...

How on earth did Disney agree to this? I have just seen Mickey talk about restoring "world order"
On the other hand, you get Yuffie and Squall in one game so I need to continue playing.
The gameplay is flashy, yet boring although still more interesting than the one from FF15. But the production quality is pretty amazing for a 2002 PS2 game, I'm kinda amazed how good the Disney characters look despite all being made in the same style.

 

[lightbane]

The first one was the best. Then Nomura was let loose and an increasingly convoluted and shitty plot was the result.

 

[Ataraxia]

The first one was the best. Then Nomura was let loose and an increasingly convoluted and shitty plot was the result.

Are the games worth playing?

I heard the stories in these games are very messy and convoluted but people also say that the gameplay are some of the best you can find in action RPGs, especially if played through the highest difficulty.

Any of you guys here can give your opinion on that?

 

[NerevarineKing]

The first one was the best. Then Nomura was let loose and an increasingly convoluted and shitty plot was the result.

Are the games worth playing?

I heard the stories in these games are very messy and convoluted but people also say that the gameplay are some of the best you can find in action RPGs, especially if played through the highest difficulty.

Any of you guys here can give your opinion on that?

KH1 is the one with the least BS, but the combat is a bit simplistic for some people. I personally really enjoy the simplicity of the combat and it really shines on Proud mode. You can only recover MP by doing physical attacks or using consumables. KH2 has a lot more story bullshit, but the combat is much tighter and flashier. If you play the game on Critical mode, it turns Sora into a glass cannon and it's by far the best combat in the series. Chain of Memories has a weird card battle system that I actually enjoy, but lot of people bounce off this game pretty hard. KH3 is fun if you play on a harder difficulty and ignore the attraction flows (and it looks insanely good graphically). But, this game requires you to have played all the other games to really understand the "plot". The rest of the games I've played once and don't really care about.

 

[Ataraxia]

The first one was the best. Then Nomura was let loose and an increasingly convoluted and shitty plot was the result.

Are the games worth playing?

I heard the stories in these games are very messy and convoluted but people also say that the gameplay are some of the best you can find in action RPGs, especially if played through the highest difficulty.

Any of you guys here can give your opinion on that?

KH1 is the one with the least BS, but the combat is a bit simplistic for some people. I personally really enjoy the simplicity of the combat and it really shines on Proud mode. You can only recover MP by doing physical attacks or using consumables. KH2 has a lot more story bullshit, but the combat is much tighter and flashier. If you play the game on Critical mode, it turns Sora into a glass cannon and it's by far the best combat in the series. Chain of Memories has a weird card battle system that I actually enjoy, but lot of people bounce off this game pretty hard. KH3 is fun if you play on a harder difficulty and ignore the attraction flows (and it looks insanely good graphically). But, this game requires you to have played all the other games to really understand the "plot". The rest of the games I've played once and don't really care about.

Sounds very interesting. A bad story won't bother me much if the gameplay is good and fun enough to experience.

Seeing that Square Enix suprisingly did not put the denuvo drm on the PC ports... I'll be easily able to download and play them later.

Anyways, thanks for the reply!

 

[CyberModuled]

Playing through Labyrinth of Refrain rn. Never played a Nippon Ichi JRPG before so I wasn't sure what I was going in for other than hearing it was a dungeon crawler. Overall I'm liking it quite a bit though as the pact system is a fun system for experimenting/grinding and being able to interact with the actual dungeons themselves a bit such as wall breaking is cool. Also surprised that general story and mean spirited humor is enjoyable so far so I guess I might like Disgaea more than I thought. Currently at the Umbra Tower and while going back down to the other areas from prior floors is a slog, I find it the most interesting tonally.

Spoiler

I mean hell, I can't think of another game where the boss is literally smacking some giant overlord's ass for pleasure.

(and yeah, I know, it's fucking dumb to have a Gothic Copellia on Rearguard, forgot that hammer was ineffective in that position until I showed up for the boss)

 

[lightbane]

Are the games worth playing?

Only the first one and the second one IMO. The rest gets too convoluted plot-wise and gameplay is more of the same.

 

[Sentinel]

I'm playing Xenogears for the first time and I'm enjoying it. I'm up to the part after Fei escapes from captivity & his airship (goliath) is shot down and is rescued by those sea dudes.

One thing that's bothering me though is how important events are written purely to serve the story and don't seem to have any impact on the characters at all.
For example

Spoiler

After rescuing Marguerite, she takes Fei to the church of mother sophia. He gets shown her portrait and to everyone's shock she looks just like Elly. Citan points out that the painting style matches Fei's 1:1. He thinks about this and this is never brought up again to this point, despite Fei being with Elly in a quiet and peaceful moment where they just talk and chill out. Am I supposed to believe he just forgot all about that?

 

[SerratedBiz]

Spoiler

After rescuing Marguerite, she takes Fei to the church of mother sophia. He gets shown her portrait and to everyone's shock she looks just like Elly. Citan points out that the painting style matches Fei's 1:1. He thinks about this and this is never brought up again to this point, despite Fei being with Elly in a quiet and peaceful moment where they just talk and chill out. Am I supposed to believe he just forgot all about that?

Just wait for it.

 

[cosmicray]

Final Fantasy VII Remake
Well, I borrowed PS4 just to play it, but I haven't thought it would be this big. 40+ hours and I'm not done yet with the story. I think its alright.
Although, I'm getting tired of this "stagger" battle gameplay(from FF13, I think). Also, no proper classic mode - decline.

 

[AdamReith]

Finished Shadow Hearts.

You take the perfect dark gothic horror tone from Koudelka, the turn based but reaction based combat from... Super mario rpg? Add in Final Fantasy style stakes where you are fighting divine entities in space and a kind of pseudo pokemen thing where you collect monsters that you can transform into.

Very ambitious, very interesting and some of most subtle fan service I've ever come across. I like how it tied in very tightly to Koudelka too.

 

[4249]

Started playing Phantasy Star IV over the weekend while waiting for Trails of Cold Steel IV to come out, since I had II, III and IV in the "official" Genesis emulator on Steam that I've got from a bundle or something.

Never played a Phantasy Star before, so I chose to try the most polished and best received one at first instead of starting from the first one. Seems pretty fun so far. The difficulty overall has been a bit non-existent and the random encounters are a tad too frequent to my liking, but the combat itself is super smooth and quick so it's not that bad. The macros help a lot too with dealing with the trash. Reaching the Hunter's guild and getting side quests surprised me a bit, wasn't expecting that since the game so far had been a completely linear affair. The first one with the sand worm was also a bit of a spike in difficulty which was fun. Such a good looking game as well, the combat sprites look great and the 80's anime styled cutscenes are comfy as fuck. Liking the soundtrack too, the battle theme is a real banger.

The emulator itself is a guaranteed Sega quality affair once again. Ingame saves are just not persisted at all, you need to use the emulator save states to save the game

 

[Amurada]

Finished Shadow Hearts.

You take the perfect dark gothic horror tone from Koudelka, the turn based but reaction based combat from... Super mario rpg? Add in Final Fantasy style stakes where you are fighting divine entities in space and a kind of pseudo pokemen thing where you collect monsters that you can transform into.

Very ambitious, very interesting and some of most subtle fan service I've ever come across. I like how it tied in very tightly to Koudelka too.

The second and third games get rid of the gothic horror tone, but I'd say that the third one especially is worth playing. Definitely in my top 30 best jrpgs.

 

[AdamReith]

Finished Shadow Hearts.

You take the perfect dark gothic horror tone from Koudelka, the turn based but reaction based combat from... Super mario rpg? Add in Final Fantasy style stakes where you are fighting divine entities in space and a kind of pseudo pokemen thing where you collect monsters that you can transform into.

Very ambitious, very interesting and some of most subtle fan service I've ever come across. I like how it tied in very tightly to Koudelka too.

The second and third games get rid of the gothic horror tone, but I'd say that the third one especially is worth playing. Definitely in my top 30 best jrpgs.

That would make sense, it started off very dark and there were definite points where there was quite a twisted scenario unfolding but you could feel the whole thing veering into goofiness too strongly to maintain any atmosphere of menace.

It is a pity in a way but I think characters were so likeable and the plot so fast paced that I didn't mind too much. It had the JRPG fundamentals nailed.

Probably wouldn't miss the attempts at horror in a sequel.

 

[Dodo1610]

I finished Kingdom Hearts and I am now playing the second one. Overall improvement in most areas except there are too many cutscenes at times. Combat is definitely more fun though with blocking and more options for combos. Visually it's insanely pretty with fantastic animations and great atmospheric lightning for the PS2 era. Sadly Square Enix has done it again and the Port is bugged: I have audio issues during combat and even worse crashing(which seems to happen to a lot of people). Few things in life are as rewarding as buying SE PC ports

 

[e-mailio estevez]

Finished Shadow Hearts.

You take the perfect dark gothic horror tone from Koudelka, the turn based but reaction based combat from... Super mario rpg? Add in Final Fantasy style stakes where you are fighting divine entities in space and a kind of pseudo pokemen thing where you collect monsters that you can transform into.

Very ambitious, very interesting and some of most subtle fan service I've ever come across. I like how it tied in very tightly to Koudelka too.

The second and third games get rid of the gothic horror tone, but I'd say that the third one especially is worth playing. Definitely in my top 30 best jrpgs.

People shit on the SH3 but it made some refinements to the combat system (that was already good from 2), and even though it's a lot goofier than its predecessors I still enjoy it more as a game. And honestly the goofiness landed with me, I genuinely find SH2 and SH3 funny.

 

[Lincolnberry]

Finished Shadow Hearts.

You take the perfect dark gothic horror tone from Koudelka, the turn based but reaction based combat from... Super mario rpg? Add in Final Fantasy style stakes where you are fighting divine entities in space and a kind of pseudo pokemen thing where you collect monsters that you can transform into.

Very ambitious, very interesting and some of most subtle fan service I've ever come across. I like how it tied in very tightly to Koudelka too.

The second and third games get rid of the gothic horror tone, but I'd say that the third one especially is worth playing. Definitely in my top 30 best jrpgs.

People shit on the SH3 but it made some refinements to the combat system (that was already good from 2), and even though it's a lot goofier than its predecessors I still enjoy it more as a game. And honestly the goofiness landed with me, I genuinely find SH2 and SH3 funny.

Loved SH2, never tried the 3rd. Thanks for the rec!

 

[Fluent]

Enjoying Troubleshooter. The missions have just enough tension on Hard to be challenging, but not overbearing. Really enjoying the character building via loot and Masteries, which define how your character plays. Overall it's a really great game. My favorite feature is how there is ample amount early on of the game letting u play with higher level heroes, showing u just how powerful u can maybe become. It also firmly grounds u in the fact that u are quite weak at the moment, and these superheroes are like gods amongst mortals. Very cool.

 

[4249]

Finished Phantasy Star IV.

Pretty alright game FWIW. All the elements were solid enough, but nothing too special to be honest. Good looking, good sounding. The setting was cool, but the story itself felt quite dumb. Woo we killed the big baddie, oh no there's a new big baddie repeated a couple of times. But it's a mid 90's game, so it was serviceable enough I guess.

The combat got a bit harder than the start implied, luckily, and one boss even required a few loads to get him down, but nothing too special there either. But it was serviceable and at least the pace and animations were fast so the trash combat was always quickly over with. Dungeons were pretty barebones, only the Air Castle was a bit of a larger thing, but it wasn't too interesting either apart from the size. But then again they rarely are with JRPGs. The random encounter rate did get on my nerves at times.

The most annoying thing was probably the utter lack of info the game provided on equipment and skills. I was expecting the manual to provide more info on skills etc., but only a few were listed there. But oh well, luckily the internet exists.

Good thing it was a pretty short game, so the shortcomings didn't start showing too badly.

Time to prepare my anus for ToCS IV then

 

[spekkio]

BROs, finished Fell Seal - Arbiter's Mark

Spoiler

Time to take out the trash:

I was able to get the "good" ending, but only thanks to the internet, since the requirements are almost impossible to meet during "normal" gameplay:

Anyway, my final Einsatzgruppe:

I've been using only 7 units: 3 "story" ones (Kyrie, Reiner & Anadine) + 4 pretty princesses recruits. You can use 7 units max during combat (in some encounters), so if you disable the injury system (as I did), 7 units is enough.

Since 95% of jobs fucking sucks, I ended up using only 3 unit setups.

1) Brawler (Kyrie as a example)

Ranger as a "primary" class, which gives you ability to wield axes (Blood Axe is the only HP-sucking weapon in the game AFAIK) + 2 great passives (Know Weakness & Evasion Up) + very good set of Abilities (Balm is a godsend, maybe only Sniper Shot is less useful for melee fighters).

Assasin as a "secondary" class, with very useful abilities like Dispel Power (remove buffs) & Assasinate (one of the strongest melee attacks in the game + inflicts status effects)

Custom passives p. obvious: Dual Wield + Attack Expert cranks the damage to insane levels, esp. when combined with critical (Know Weakness). And you don't have to use Leech Life thanks to the Blood Axe.



2) Mage (Bae as a example)

Two "base" mage classes are the best in the game, so there's (sadly) no point of going with anything other than Wizard / Mender.

Wizard has the best elemental spells (both single-target & AoE) + 2 great passives. Mender can use Revive 2, which is the best spell in the game and makes healing obsolete. Mana Font + Mind Expert are obv. choices for "custom" passives.

And recruits are much better than story characters not only because "special" jobs for story characters fucking sucks:

3) Sniper

Dual-wielding ranged attacker (Gunner / Ranger). I went with Reiner, but Katja is probably even better candidate for the role (her special job can use guns). Unfortunately we get her kinda late in the game...

Too bad that other jobs are only useful for 1-2 skills and permanent boons when you master them:

Still, the game has very good encounter design, good/great boss fights (bosses aren't immune to debuffs / status changes and rely more on "clever" behavior than "killer AoE attacks" or HP bloat), sane itemization and no "superunits". So it's like playing a mod for FFT, with the "cheasy gameplay stuff" removed. Plus you can tweak the gameplay to your liking:

Verdict: a must-play for any Tactics Ogre / Final Fantasy Tactics fan. But I could do without some jobs: