Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[Sentinel]

I finished Xenogears.

It started out pretty strong, almost no filler content, likeable characters, different take on jrpg combat. The more I played, the more the cracks started to show. The deathblow progression system is annoying, as you have to basically not use deathblows to learn new deathblows. The balance is also all over the place, with Ether being either completely worthless, or overpowered as fuck. I finished the game with 0 X-tier deathblows unlocked lol.

As for the story - spoilers ahead - for a game that bets its entire payoff on the relationship between Eli & Fei, you spend a surprisingly low amount of time with Elly. She's simply underdeveloped. The devs spend more time showing their past reincarnations than actually furthering their present relationship. For 90% of the game they're friendly to one another, and then the last 10% they're suddenly madly in love, like a switch was flipped.

I played Xenoblade Chronicles before Xenogears, so the Fei & Elly twist also didn't really do anything for me, because it's basically a rehash of Xenoblade (or rather, the other way around).

In regards to Disc 2, all I can say is that I'm glad it wasn't complete, because the no-nonsense approach they were forced to take with it actually worked for me. I would've 100% dropped the game otherwise.

Square was in the right in forcing cuts and they should've done it earlier cause the game is massively overwritten, poorly designed and extremely overambitious (the fact that we got 1 of 6 chapters says everything lol).

Time to play Dragon Quest VII now. I read a post by aweigh some time ago where he reviews it and it really made me want to play it. Wish I could find that post.

 

[Empary]

BROs, finished Fell Seal - Arbiter's Mark

Bro, where is your doublecast II and cleave?

 

[Silentstorm]

I'm playing experiencing Kingdom Hearts...

How on earth did Disney agree to this? I have just seen Mickey talk about restoring "world order"

As someone who grew up reading Disney comics, mostly anything related to Donald and Scrooge, i can say that they are a bit more hardcore than people expect, Scrooge and his family were going on epic adventures before there was a Ducktales cartoon, it's an actual fact that the classic Indiana Jones movies actually ripped off Scrooge stories in some parts, the rolling boulder trap 100% came from Disney.

And Mickey in the comics is a detective who has supervillains as enemies...not kidding, and Donald is even more badass, getting several moments when going with Scrooge, and being freaking Batman as Paperinik/Duck Avenger(the identity was created in Italy hence the original name) where he literally fights crime on day and night against more than just the Beagle Boys, getting villains of his own and being presented as a genuine hero...he's also been James Bond as Double Duck, a secret agent facing conspirancies, and those stories has him telling Daisy he still goes out at night as Duck Avenger to save the world, with each identity having his own female sidekick/love interest(kinda one version of Duck Avenger has a blonde android kind of love interest):

The thing is that badass Donald in the comics is not a wizard, but a brawler who only seems to showcase his true power when angry in adventures with Scrooge, but is a great and acrobatic fighter as Duck Avenger and Double Duck while being resourceful and using a ton of gadgets, he would probably fight the role of monk or rogue more according to several years of comics.

Then again, Donald Duck in the comics has been different from how other media portrays him for decades, you can read stories from the 60's and be amazed at how no dialogue baloon indicates any weird speech or accent from Donald, and he's treated as speaking perfectly normal english anyone can understand...while in everything else, his unique speech is a trademark of his.

 

[Fluent]

troublshooter, which was great already, has gotten even better to me. basically, about 12 hours in (which i am, but i also play slow), options continue to filter in on ways you can upgrade your team. whether it's equipment, salvaging and crafting gear, perfecting the mastery board or changing class, there is just so much cool "stuff" you can do as you progress. you can really tailor the game to your playstyle and i suspect it's going to get even more amazing in that regard going forward. really cool stuff.

 

[lightbane]

As someone who grew up reading Disney comics, mostly anything related to Donald and Scrooge, i can say that they are a bit more hardcore than people expect

Agreed. Life and Times of Scrooge Mcduck would make for an awesome cartoon. Or hell, a game, but it will never happen, and it's probably for the best, seeing the new season of Ducktales shoved PC characters.

 

[Deflowerer]

Yeah, as someone who grew up reading the Disney comics in Europe, I can also say that the properties are much more adult over here. I think it's mainly the Scandinavian and Italian writers who have portrayed him more seriously, and of course for Scrooge, you also have great stuff by Don Rosa.

 

[Silentstorm]

Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck as a RPG or any kind of game would be awesome, but every media seems to be based on the cartoons or mainstream idea of the characters, hence Donald Duck always speaking weirdly, to be fair, his stories do come in two flavors, one where he's still a bumbling guy with a big temper but still generally more competent and nicer than his cartoon selves, or him just having some bad luck but genuinely being competent at something, he's portrayed as being an actually good superhero and world saving double agent who disguises himself as a bumbling guy so his family won't suspect him.

He even gets some universes of his own, when i said one version of Paperinik has a female android as a partner/love interest it's the glove one where he doesn't partner with Gyro Gearloose to get his gear and instead with an A.I as he fights an intergalactic empire and other cosmic threats in his own universe, which even has AU's of it's own, one time readers being presented by a vengeful Donald in a world where aliens killed his entire family and he has been going on an epic crusade fighting an alien army by himself and becoming a legendary intergalactic terrorist in his quest to avenge his nephews and uncle.

Basically, Donald is either still full of bad luck but generally more competent and nicer, kinda like his Kingdom Hearts self...or secretly a badass who winks at readers when everyone else mocks him for being a clueless idiot because he knows he regularly saves the world without them knowing, or the few times they realize it, like him telling Daisy about being Duck Avenger and Double Duck, he just gasses them and makes them forget about it, Men In Black style...though some of these stories still have him being a bit bumbling, Double Duck has some stories having some Get Smart moments, but Donald is resourceful enough to make up for it.

He's basically a more competent version of Darkwing Duck...unless it was one of the stories where Daisy is a superheroine too, some european writers thought that if it worked for Donald, it should work for her too, only when Donald and his superhero persona appeared in her stories, Donald became far dumber and way more incompetent so that he would need to be saved by Daisy and have "girl power!" shoved in our faces which...many readers didn't like, as the main enjoyment of Duck Avenger and Double Duck stories is seeing Donald still be a bit awkward but actually taking control, being badass and saving the day with his wits and skills, if anything, this made Daisy's superheroine persona way more unpopular than writers expected, who would have thought casually nerfing a character to make another look cool would backfire?

 

[Fluent]

Beyond troubleshooter i've also started playing and LPing Himeko Sutori. First impressions, beautiful sprite work, beautiful characters and graphics. Very interesting depth level as u equip all of your many units with gear, as well as level them up. I haven't tackled either of those yet but i'm aware they are present. also seems to be a food/water mechanic for traveling parties, cool addition there. the combat is really fun, it's tactical and fluid. you build groups called lances and each character adds their particular traits to the group. u give overarching orders of attack and try not to get overwhelmed, flanked, etc.. really neat stuff so far. i will report more as i play. if anyone's interested u can watch the series on my youtube channel (GAMEGODFLUENT on youtube). peace. <3

 

[Silentstorm]

Started Octopath Traveler, only knew it had 8 characters and i assumed it meant 8 different stories and i decided to start with the easiest less-combaty sounding ones to get them out of the way, started with Alfyn, the apothecary and then i find out the other 7 characters are part of the world, found one of them, and now i realize i can play their first chapters too, just don't know if this means i can play all of their stories or not, but it does at least mean everyone else is available.

Doing their first chapter just seems to mean you can take them anywhere, even if you play all those adventures solo as a "what happened before your character arrived that led them on a quest" kind of deal.

 

[Abu Antar]

Started Octopath Traveler, only knew it had 8 characters and i assumed it meant 8 different stories and i decided to start with the easiest less-combaty sounding ones to get them out of the way, started with Alfyn, the apothecary and then i find out the other 7 characters are part of the world, found one of them, and now i realize i can play their first chapters too, just don't know if this means i can play all of their stories or not, but it does at least mean everyone else is available.

Doing their first chapter just seems to mean you can take them anywhere, even if you play all those adventures solo as a "what happened before your character arrived that led them on a quest" kind of deal.

My recommendation is to do chapter one for each character, then chapter two, and so on.

 

[Silentstorm]

Got the hunter, fought everyone in her village and then went to Alfyn's village, of course people from a quiet peaceful village are tougher than people of a village where they generally train to be hunters and live next to forests full of dangerous beasts to a point where they are known throughout the whole continent as the best hunters around.

Why wouldn't the quiet granddaugther who has seemingly never left her village be stronger than some hunters?

Ahh, i love RPG logic sometimes.

 

[Aarwolf]

Been playing Lost Sphear for a while. Pretty good little game, just okayish enough to keep me mildly interested, 15 hours in so far. And after that I have only one question - why can't we have Final Fantasys like this anymore? With better production values than this one or I am Setsuna, but not as big and overblown like FFXV. Simple games with 2D graphics like in the SNES era or even PS1 (VII to IX). I crave for it.

 

[aweigh]

Been playing Lost Sphear for a while. Pretty good little game, just okayish enough to keep me mildly interested, 15 hours in so far. And after that I have only one question - why can't we have Final Fantasys like this anymore? With better production values than this one or I am Setsuna, but not as big and overblown like FFXV. Simple games with 2D graphics like in the SNES era or even PS1 (VII to IX). I crave for it.

Technically Square-Enix is already doing exactly what you're asking for, but they're doing it in their own way, a kind of Hunger Games thing where they give some money to some devs and let them do their classic-style RPGs and then continue supporting the ones that are commercially successful.

Square-Enix is currently bankrolling or otherwise supporting or in some way making happen:

- Bravely Default devs and thus the Bravely Default games.
- Octopath Traveler devs and thus whatever games they make, currently working on their new SRPG.
- Tokyo RPG factory devs and their games like Setsuna and Lost Sphear.

Of those 3 teams two have been commercially successful (Bravely Default guys and Octopath guys) while the Tokyo RPG team has had losses on each game made and will probably be dismantled soon if they haven't been already.

It is what it is, but Square-Enix *is* bankrolling or otherwise helping smaller RPG projects happen.

 

[lightbane]

Basically, Donald is either still full of bad luck but generally more competent and nicer, kinda like his Kingdom Hearts self...or secretly a badass who winks at readers when everyone else mocks him for being a clueless idiot because he knows he regularly saves the world without them knowing, or the few times they realize it, like him telling Daisy about being Duck Avenger and Double Duck, he just gasses them and makes them forget about it, Men In Black style...though some of these stories still have him being a bit bumbling, Double Duck has some stories having some Get Smart moments, but Donald is resourceful enough to make up for it.

I think the Cold Fear game where Donald stars in as Maui Mallard is a good example, since in that game he's a goofy but badass private detective with a super-hero identity.
Moreover, the remake of Castle of Illusion was good. The final boss was quite cool, with the witch shouting spells that rhymed.
Sadly, the most recent example, the newest game of Ducktales, is mediocre-to-bad, with a final level that is stupidly hard compared to the rest of the game (as well as being asspulled compared to the OG game).

He's basically a more competent version of Darkwing Duck...unless it was one of the stories where Daisy is a superheroine too, some european writers thought that if it worked for Donald, it should work for her too, only when Donald and his superhero persona appeared in her stories, Donald became far dumber and way more incompetent so that he would need to be saved by Daisy and have "girl power!" shoved in our faces which...many readers didn't like, as the main enjoyment of Duck Avenger and Double Duck stories is seeing Donald still be a bit awkward but actually taking control, being badass and saving the day with his wits and skills, if anything, this made Daisy's superheroine persona way more unpopular than writers expected, who would have thought casually nerfing a character to make another look cool would backfire?

Funny that many (bad) writers have others act OOC and stupidly so that their snowflake character stands out. Extra points because it happens more often with superheroines in already established settings.

 

[aweigh]

Darkwing Duck scenario in a Kingdom Hearts game would be amazing. Just imagine running around with Darkwing Duck in a noir-duck city!

 

[Silentstorm]

As an european man, i would rather see Paperinik, but they already have Wizard Donald and the only Paperinik game we ever got was a PS2 game that went unnoticed by everyone so Darkwing Duck would be a good enough replacement.

Europe, probably the only continent where there would be a good amount of people thinking Darkwing Duck is only a substitute for Donald Duck, has to do with Europe being the biggest market for Disney comics, particularly anything related to the Ducks and their unique characters...i have a collection of Disney comics i have collected since i was a kid and i absolutely have The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck in physical copy, and Donald has been my favorite Disney character since i was a kid so i may just be very biased when i say i would rather get Paperinik.

Or for any game to be more like a classic Don Rosa adventure story with Scrooge, Donald and the nephews going on a big adventure without having it be based on Ducktales, but the comics have mostly been their own thing separate from cartoons and games with rare exceptions like the PS2 Paperinik game which apparently wasn't that great.

Also, it was based on the more serious version, there is the original one where Donald is in the classic universe with Scrooge and the others and his gear is made by Gyro and he fights mostly villains from the city...and then there is the AU where Donald finds a bunch of stuff created by one super genius that left it all behind in a building next to an advanced A.I and aliens suddenly invade the world and it becomes Donald fighting aliens, time travelling supervillains, robots and even getting allies like Xadhoom:

An alien energy being from a race that was enslaved by Donald's foes who initially fights Donald, and then persists with her extreme hatred of her foes and a being with the powers of a supernova that can blow up planets...at least until a shocking moment where she commits a heroic sacrifice and issues later it's confirmed she really died...only for writers years later to say she never really died.

Whatever, she is basically Superman to Donald's Batman, there are also other villains not related to the same alien guys and time travellers, like Moldrock:

God, whether it's the more classic Paperinik or the AU more serious version started in 1996, it would be so cool to have a proper Paperinik game, or for him to appear in Kingdom Hearts to make a joke about how there are two Donalds.

And hey, Goofy also has his superhero persona though his has always been a joke, rather than a comedic character being badass, Super Goofy:

Who is Goofy as basically Superman and all his intelligence...powered up by radioactive peanuts that temporarily make him a guy who can shrug off bullets, fly and have super strength because...i actually don't recall how he even found radioactive peanuts, still, Paperinik and Super Goofy in Kingdom Hearts would be amazing.

 

[Reinhardt]

As an european man

As a russian man i think Darkwing Duck is best kwa cartoon character.

 

[Silentstorm]

Okay, anyways, dissapointed that Octopath Traveler has no EXP share, you can only get 4 characters to fight and get anything, in a game with 8 characters, wouldn't be so bad, but i think i heard there are battles where each character is required and tough fights where you play with all 8 characters at once, i get why they didn't balance the game around 8 characters for the most part, you do start with 1 and slowly find the others, but i find these days, i just find not having EXP share to be obvious padding.

Well, off goes Hannit, i just found a knight who challenges people without losing reputation and without having to bother capturing monsters, she can...stay in a bar somewhere rather than following the rest of the party for some reason.

 

[AdamReith]

Tried to move on but decided to cave to my new "finish your games" credo and returned to Trail in the Sky second chapter.

It is exhausting, JRPG marathon style where everything is ten times as long as it needs to be and the writing is (as I've seen it desribed elsewhere in this forum) light novel tier at best with little bits of flair mixed in few and far between.

But accepting all of the above it kind of clicked in a way it didn't before. It's just not a game you can binge, the chapters are of reasonable length for a solid bit of gaming and the game sure as hell isn't in a rush so you better not be either.

I'm starting to see these Falcom long form JRPGs as their own beast and I think that's how they need to be appreciated. Very glad to have stuck with it.

 

[Gastrick]

As a russian man i think Darkwing Duck is best kwa cartoon character.

I remember Magnat saying you were ukrainian.

 

[Reinhardt]

It's same thing.

 

[aweigh]

Kingdom Hearts games are really fun. I couldn't appreciate them when they came out because I thought they were childish nonsense with, but now as an adult I love how charming and aesthetically pleasing they are, plus I really enjoy the fun gameplay and the fun combat. I'm really glad I'm re-discovering them now when I can appreciate them wholly.

 

[Deflowerer]

I like the Disney stuff, the edgy Square stuff is embarrassing on the other hand. Which seems to me most things that fall into that early teen spectrum, as I've realized over the years. Meanwhile everything "childish" like Disney and Dragon Quest is much more appealing as an adult.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

Kingdom Hearts IS aimed at teens, you are just not in the striking zone anymore, same thing happened to me with Persona, i can't play them anymore even when Persona 3 FES was one my favorite JRPG. I'm replaying Persona 5 Royal and i had to skip all dialogue during

Spoiler

Okomura palace when the stupid cat decides to leave over minor stuff

, i just can't take that kind of stuff anymore.

 

[Fluent]

a few random thoughts about the 2 jrpgs i'm playing.

troubleshooter. dangerous amounts of customization. i spent 45 minutes just researching and mixing masteries until i found the 'perfect' combination. and it was hecka fun the whole time, lol. also, the battles where u are timed are rough, i lost albus super early and was down to 2 heroes and the hacker (the mission was to recover data from scattered data points) and all hope looked lost. somehow i pulled it off just in the nick of time (playing on Hard as well, so more enemies u gotta kill along the way.) it was TENSE. and a lot of fun.

himeko sutori. also dangerous amounts of fun customization. got knocked around pretty badly in a big battle (permadeath here) and my army had to recover. took some new recruits and grinded against slimes nearby to get them to a decent level now and in their respective 'forever class'. but man, that battle was rough. super challenging and tactical. even losing units it was very fun and has me coming back for more every time.

both of these games are truly special. great games. <3