Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[j2alg]

In Potato Flowers in Full Bloom it's absolutely hysterical that it's possible to make level 1 characters overpowered by letting them win against higher level monsters, 20 level ups in one battle and now they're a higher level than the main team

Spoiler

 

[Mojobeard]

Finished Tales of Xillia, it stayed really good. The story has some problems, but it was more about the characters, so that's fine.
Did figure out the DLC outfits, I was just being retarded and forgot you get them from the last item tab.

Now playing Xillia 2. There's a new protagonist, but the rest of the group is essentially the same.
The genre of anime is a little different than usual? Lots of suits, cellphones, trains. I'm drawing a blank what exactly it reminds me of, it's a little more God Eater or Code Vein-ish?
There's some VN too, you actually pick dialogue/action choices, and otherwise the MC is almost silent.

I mostly like what they've built on top of the first game, except for the new leveling system. You babysit extractors that have skills that level at different speeds, once it's leveled you gain that skill, and then give that extractor to another character. It's pretty awful. Some skills also only have one level, while others keep leveling, so I'm still not sure when I've gotten what I want from an extractor.

But none of that is really important. What's important is that you have a loli in your party that does not fight, but instead cheers you on during them, and also sends a fat cat to adventures.
You also have a 20 million gald debt that 1) sounds like a Yakuza scam, and 2) you pay off in increments whenever an overenthusiastic secretary calls you.
It's not much, but it does create a fun atmosphere.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

Replaying the best Fire Emblem game on my 3ds. Will go through Birthright-Conquest-Revelations. I think that time puts games in their place and i've read a lot of people lately realizing that Conquest is the best Fire Emblem game, gameplay wise is the best and while narrative is weak i don't think is the worst story in the franchise it's just that NoA fucked up the dialogue a lot, rewriting characters or outright deleting support conversations like here or outright skipping DLC because they would make no sense with their fanfiction.

There's a re translation floating around for those than don't know moon runes and want a more faithful experience to the original script.

I really want to see the FE game ISYS has been working on these past years, they made the DLC for 3H which actually had some map design so i hope that next game takes after Conquest, but i know it's just copium.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I never really got the "Conquest has the best gameplay!" thing. The only interesting Conquest map I can remember was the one in the sewers where you used the dragon veins to alter the wind direction. I found Birthright to be far more memorable due to the aesthetics, the music, and the storyline is at least more enjoyable.

 

[grimace]

https://rpgamer.com/review/saga-frontier-remastered-review/

https://www.square-enix-games.com/en_US/games/saga-frontier-remastered

I have vague memories of seeing advertisements for Saga Frontier in gaming magazines I read in 1998. That year was overshadowed by Ocarina of Time. I owned a Super Nintendo and enjoyed A Link to the Past.

RPGs from the Playstation era fascinate me now. At that time I was bored by the menus and the long load times. Cartridges were instant! Now Saga Frontier is on a cartridge and load times are instant, battles can be played at 3X speed, and reloading to main menu is instant. I'm charmed by the art and music.

I really miss these water color character portraits.

Spoiler

The game is fun.

Battles allow characters to combine moves into combos. Those are fun.
No character levels but skills are upgraded as they are used and stats improve after combat.
The maps are the perfect size for a handheld experience on Nintendo Switch.
Re-playable because there are different characters to choose at the start.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

https://rpgamer.com/review/saga-frontier-remastered-review/

https://www.square-enix-games.com/en_US/games/saga-frontier-remastered

I have vague memories of seeing advertisements for Saga Frontier in gaming magazines I read in 1998. That year was overshadowed by Ocarina of Time. I owned a Super Nintendo and enjoyed A Link to the Past.

RPGs from the Playstation era fascinate me now. At that time I was bored by the menus and the long load times. Cartridges were instant! Now Saga Frontier is on a cartridge and load times are instant, battles can be played at 3X speed, and reloading to main menu is instant. I'm charmed by the art and music.

I really miss these water color character portraits.

Spoiler

The game is fun.

Battles allow characters to combine moves into combos. Those are fun.
No character levels but skills are upgraded as they are used and stats improve after combat.
The maps are the perfect size for a handheld experience on Nintendo Switch.
Re-playable because there are different characters to choose at the start.

I want to fuck that

Spoiler

robot.

 

[Falksi]

Well it's that time again. Yes the fabled SNES, the so called ultimate machine for JRPGs serves up another JRPG for me in Magic Knight Rayearth and so, yet again, I wait with baited breath for a game outside of the Final Fantasy series to FINALLY deliver on that claim which so many make about the SNES. And guess what? I'm left disappointed yet again. Sigh.

But there's no doubt it offered a slightly original and adventurous setup at least. Based on the Anime of the same name, three schoolgirls on a trip in Tokyo are summoned to another world because of special powers they possess, and this little setup is actually pretty cool. It's supported by some very nice anime artwork, and I was particularly happy here that we don't get overly-sexualized schoolgirls too. Instead we get normal looking ones, which at least meant I could play this without feeling ill.

Magic Knight Rayearth is as standard a JRPG as you get when it comes to the mechanics. There's no fancy gameplay systems here, just very straightforward stuff which you've seen before in games of this ilk. Do that well though and that'll do me, however several flaws stop this game from being anything but average.

Firstly we have, like a lot of other SNES JRPGs, far too many random battles killing the already slow pace of the game. There are a lot to contend with and it makes exploration a chore. And the areas which you are presented to explore are some of the least interesting which I've played in some time too, so that doesn't help matters either.

But worse still is that the game is ridiculously easy. You level up constantly and are overpowering enemies in no time at all. This makes the constant stream of random battles even more annoying, as they offer no challenge in no time at all, and thus you soon get into a rhythm of just wanting to move forward and blasting through battles without paying any real attention to them. It's very unengaging and drags the game down big time.

It's not a very long game, bit it still feels like a chore to wade through despite the promise of better sometimes appearing.

There's a reason that a lot of these SNES JRPGs didn't make it to the west, because a lot were fairly average or even bad, and from the 23 which I've played so far only 4 have been worth it. Sadly, this wasn't one of them and I'm glad to see the back of it.

 

[grimace]

only 4 have been worth it

Just four?

• Shin Megami Tensei (1992)
• Majin Tensei (1994)
• Shin Megami Tensei II (1994)
• Shin Megami Tensei: if... (1994)
• Majin Tensei II: Spiral Nemesis (1995 )

Which four?

 

[Falksi]

Just four?

• Shin Megami Tensei (1992)
• Majin Tensei (1994)
• Shin Megami Tensei II (1994)
• Shin Megami Tensei: if... (1994)
• Majin Tensei II: Spiral Nemesis (1995 )

Which four?

I've not touched any of the SMT series on SNES yet, working my way alphabetically and currently on "M" so Majin Tensei will probably be up soon.

The four so far have been:
- Bahmut Lagoon
- Final Fantasy 4
- Final Fantasy 5
- Lufia 2

I'm not a fan of FF6, but will be replaying the T-Edition at some point to see if that adds enough for me to like it.

And before you ask Chrono Trigger sends me to sleep with it's predictability and baby-easy gameplay. Hated replaying it thorughouly.

 

[Modron]

Play Front Mission and Dragon Quest 6.

 

[Falksi]

Play Front Mission and Dragon Quest 6.

I have and thought Front Mission was OK, but nothing spectacular. I'm not a fan of the DQ series and tried numerous SNES ones, but will revisit 6 just to see if a different time changes my opinion. FWIW though I revisited 8 & 11 lately too, and thought both were pretty average. 11 was bloated as fuck.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

Lost like three units in the ship map of during my hard ironman birthright playthrough, all because i'm shit at math. One of them was Mozu, poor girl.

 

[Maxie]

frickin certifications in three houses you fail over and over again at 70%

 

[Machocruz]

Well it's that time again. Yes the fabled SNES, the so called ultimate machine for JRPGs

A meme. Something people repeat without analysis or even personal experience. A lot of mass "opinions" or "consensus" are like that. Now I think games like CT and FF6 have some things going for them, but they are not at the top of the heap imo. They are only interesting, play-wise, in their harder encounters and boss battles, which account for what? 20% of their play time?

(On a side note: the dollars-per-hour value ideology is problematic and it hampers many games. While some people may truly enjoy engaging in mindless encounters for 10s of hours, I think d/h taken as a rule limits game design possibilities and potential).

I think you should just skip ahead to the SMT games for now. If you don't like those, your assessment of the console's JRPG library is likely to hold. You already played FF5, which is one of the handful of others I would recommend and one of the greatest 16-bit JRPGs. I'd put the Romancing SaGa games up there. Ogre Battle. I think Front Mission is cool, but you've already bounced of of it.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

Sega had better JRPGs in their consoles and i'm tired of pretending otherwise, Shining series shits all over NES and SNES JRPGs, don't @me.

 

[Viata]

Mega Drive was the best 16 bit video game. Simple as that.

 

[Falksi]

Well it's that time again. Yes the fabled SNES, the so called ultimate machine for JRPGs

A meme. Something people repeat without analysis or even personal experience. A lot of mass "opinions" or "consensus" are like that. Now I think games like CT and FF6 have some things going for them, but they are not at the top of the heap imo. They are only interesting, play-wise, in their harder encounters and boss battles, which account for what? 20% of their play time?

(On a side note: the dollars-per-hour value ideology is problematic and it hampers many games. While some people may truly enjoy engaging in mindless encounters for 10s of hours, I think d/h taken as a rule limits game design possibilities and potential).

I think you should just skip ahead to the SMT games for now. If you don't like those, your assessment of the console's JRPG library is likely to hold. You already played FF5, which is one of the handful of others I would recommend and one of the greatest 16-bit JRPGs. I'd put the Romancing SaGa games up there. Ogre Battle. I think Front Mission is cool, but you've already bounced of of it.

Sega had better JRPGs in their consoles and i'm tired of pretending otherwise, Shining series shits all over NES and SNES JRPGs, don't @me.

Mega Drive was the best 16 bit video game. Simple as that.

Gentlemen, thankyou for confirming I'm not losing my mind.

I occasionally frequent Facebook and a few RPG/JRPG groups on there, and I'm genuinely gobsmacked at how much brainwashing the Nintendo fanboys seem to have done to the world. As Machocruz says there's a ton of regurgitated bollocks from people who haven't even played these games. Check this silly cunt out...

...he's saying the SNES had 210 "Masterpieces" FFS, out of the 30-ish SNES RPGs I've played through so far, I'd only rate 4 or 5 as good or higher.

In fact here's how I currently rate what I've played so far...

Ranking	GAME	System	Rating
2​	Shining Force 2	Megadrive	10
11​	Phantasy Star 4	Megadrive	10
25​	Warsong (Der Langrissa)	Megadrive	9
36​	Final Fantasy 5	SNES	9
37​	Langrisser 2	Megadrive	9
40​	Landstalker	Megadrive	8
42​	Shining Force	Megadrive	8
47​	Lufia 2	SNES	8
53​	Final Fantasy 4	SNES	7
61​	Illusion of Gaia	SNES	7
78​	Chrono Trigger	SNES	7
161​	Front Mission	SNES	6
101​	Bahmut Lagoon	SNES	6
135​	GOD	SNES	6
137​	Secret of Mana	SNES	5
139​	Glory of Heracles IV	SNES	5
144​	Earthbound	SNES	5
145​	Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War	SNES	5
146​	Breath of Fire 2	SNES	5
151​	Dragon View	SNES	5
152​	Brain Lord	SNES	5
155​	FEDA: The Emblem of Justice	SNES	5
160​	Alcahest	SNES	5
163​	Super Monster Shell Story	SNES	5
173​	Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem	SNES	4
204​	Soul Blazer	SNES	4
217​	7th Saga	SNES	4
241​	Eternal Filena	SNES	3
242​	Magic Knight Rayearth	SNES	3
252​	Breath of Fire	SNES	2
283​	Lagoon	SNES	1
284​	EVO Search For Boredom	SNES	0

And there's also games such as Dark Half which I couldn't stand to play for long enough to bother adding/rating.

The SNES is just choca full of mediocre crap which suffers from the problem highlighted by Machocruz - a ton of it's library is unengaging when it comes to the actual gameplay. "Mindless encounters" fill up a huge portion of these so called "Masterpieces" and it's just fucking dull.

I'm not far off playing the SMT series anyway, so that'll be interesting at least. Romancing SaGa games up there Ogre Battle are on the list too.

And this list also omits SEGA's RPGs which I'm yet to revisit such as Story of Thor and Starflight, so by the end of it I'll be amazed if the SNES can swing it around.

 

[Cromwell]

Gentlemen, thankyou for confirming I'm not losing my mind.

Its only a question of what people had availlable and how fondly they remember it. "one of the best rpgs of all time FF6/Chrono trigger!!!" I liked I think but would never put up near the best and the reason is that they never came out in germany and I never had the option to play them until I had access to emulators. The only SNES RPGS I really fondly remember as in I think they were very good are Lufia 2 and Terranigma. I had a lot of fun with my snes but I wuld have had the same amount of fun with a mega drive because I was a kid.

 

[Grauken]

SNES jRPGs utterly destroy the few pitiful jRPGs on the Genesis

 

[Falksi]

Gentlemen, thankyou for confirming I'm not losing my mind.

Its only a question of what people had availlable and how fondly they remember it. "one of the best rpgs of all time FF6/Chrono trigger!!!" I liked I think but would never put up near the best and the reason is that they never came out in germany and I never had the option to play them until I had access to emulators. The only SNES RPGS I really fondly remember as in I think they were very good are Lufia 2 and Terranigma. I had a lot of fun with my snes but I wuld have had the same amount of fun with a mega drive because I was a kid.

I'm looking forward to playing Terranigma again, Illusion of Gaia was cool enough and I remember that being better.

It's just a shame people seem to prefer a ton of mediocrity of a smaller portion of genuine quality. But like Machocruz says above, a lot of the "players" haven't actually played these games. They're just fanboys who want the machine to be seen as the best.

Maybe some of the remaining games will change my opinion though.

 

[Grauken]

Shining Force 1 and 2 are barely a 6, Landstalker is a 5 and pretty boring. Your taste is so out of whack

 

[Falksi]

Shining Force 1 and 2 are barely a 6, Landstalker is a 5 and pretty boring. Your taste is so out of whack

Opinions vary.

Although 1 may end up scoring lower after a final playthrough. It did peak and trough and was a 7 for a while. The very end game lifted it a lot for me.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

Well it's that time again. Yes the fabled SNES, the so called ultimate machine for JRPGs

A meme. Something people repeat without analysis or even personal experience. A lot of mass "opinions" or "consensus" are like that. Now I think games like CT and FF6 have some things going for them, but they are not at the top of the heap imo. They are only interesting, play-wise, in their harder encounters and boss battles, which account for what? 20% of their play time?

(On a side note: the dollars-per-hour value ideology is problematic and it hampers many games. While some people may truly enjoy engaging in mindless encounters for 10s of hours, I think d/h taken as a rule limits game design possibilities and potential).

I think you should just skip ahead to the SMT games for now. If you don't like those, your assessment of the console's JRPG library is likely to hold. You already played FF5, which is one of the handful of others I would recommend and one of the greatest 16-bit JRPGs. I'd put the Romancing SaGa games up there. Ogre Battle. I think Front Mission is cool, but you've already bounced of of it.

Sega had better JRPGs in their consoles and i'm tired of pretending otherwise, Shining series shits all over NES and SNES JRPGs, don't @me.

Mega Drive was the best 16 bit video game. Simple as that.

Gentlemen, thankyou for confirming I'm not losing my mind.

I occasionally frequent Facebook and a few RPG/JRPG groups on there, and I'm genuinely gobsmacked at how much brainwashing the Nintendo fanboys seem to have done to the world. As Machocruz says there's a ton of regurgitated bollocks from people who haven't even played these games. Check this silly cunt out...

...he's saying the SNES had 210 "Masterpieces" FFS, out of the 30-ish SNES RPGs I've played through so far, I'd only rate 4 or 5 as good or higher.

In fact here's how I currently rate what I've played so far...

Ranking	GAME	System	Rating
2​	Shining Force 2	Megadrive	10
11​	Phantasy Star 4	Megadrive	10
25​	Warsong (Der Langrissa)	Megadrive	9
36​	Final Fantasy 5	SNES	9
37​	Langrisser 2	Megadrive	9
40​	Landstalker	Megadrive	8
42​	Shining Force	Megadrive	8
47​	Lufia 2	SNES	8
53​	Final Fantasy 4	SNES	7
61​	Illusion of Gaia	SNES	7
78​	Chrono Trigger	SNES	7
161​	Front Mission	SNES	6
101​	Bahmut Lagoon	SNES	6
135​	GOD	SNES	6
137​	Secret of Mana	SNES	5
139​	Glory of Heracles IV	SNES	5
144​	Earthbound	SNES	5
145​	Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War	SNES	5
146​	Breath of Fire 2	SNES	5
151​	Dragon View	SNES	5
152​	Brain Lord	SNES	5
155​	FEDA: The Emblem of Justice	SNES	5
160​	Alcahest	SNES	5
163​	Super Monster Shell Story	SNES	5
173​	Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem	SNES	4
204​	Soul Blazer	SNES	4
217​	7th Saga	SNES	4
241​	Eternal Filena	SNES	3
242​	Magic Knight Rayearth	SNES	3
252​	Breath of Fire	SNES	2
283​	Lagoon	SNES	1
284​	EVO Search For Boredom	SNES	0

And there's also games such as Dark Half which I couldn't stand to play for long enough to bother adding/rating.

The SNES is just choca full of mediocre crap which suffers from the problem highlighted by Machocruz - a ton of it's library is unengaging when it comes to the actual gameplay. "Mindless encounters" fill up a huge portion of these so called "Masterpieces" and it's just fucking dull.

I'm not far off playing the SMT series anyway, so that'll be interesting at least. Romancing SaGa games up there Ogre Battle are on the list too.

And this list also omits SEGA's RPGs which I'm yet to revisit such as Story of Thor and Starflight, so by the end of it I'll be amazed if the SNES can swing it around.

Zoomers get their opinions from youtubers and don't actually play the games, they also play some games to get some sort of gamer cred which is quite sad, even the men behave like women playing stuff for some sort of social validation. If you ask them about the game mechanics they claim to love they will claim you are gatekeeping them or some bullshit like that, they also claim that you can be a fan of a game without actually playing it see the Persona fanbase. It's all about the community for them.

 

[Falksi]

That does explain a lot Carpincho Pampeano

I mean I knew it happened, but I didn't think it was that rife. I've lost count of the amount of people who have incorrectly claimed that Chrono Trigger invented combo attacks, just coz they read it somewhere

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

That does explain a lot Carpincho Pampeano

I mean I knew it happened, but I didn't think it was that rife. I've lost count of the amount of people who have incorrectly claimed that Chrono Trigger invented combo attacks, just coz they read it somewhere

I could add more to that, i see it when i hang with the kids at uni. Playing video games is just another part of social life and for many of them an obligation, have you seen in the last few years the push for retarded easy mode justifies as "accessbility options"? Is something that you see on most of Soyny games, is for them, they don't want to be left out of social circles so they want to be over with whatever is hot at the momment as soon as possible and start whatever everyone will be talking about next week. You know those people that binge shows on Netflix and start another right after? Apply it to video games.