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I bought Final Fantasy X during the Summer Sale since I haven't played it before, but I gotta say that it really is a drag so far. Hallway after hallway, getting interrupted by short cutscenes every few steps. The combat is alright and the leveling interesting in theory, but I feel like most of the time I am just following a line on the grid without having any real choices, thus making leveling up not that exciting. Story is alright, but not engaging enough to keep me really hooked. I just finished the Djose temple, does it get better or do things just get dragged out for 20+ hours?
I think it would have been a much better game if you played the story of Jecht, Braska and Auron—as is, personally, I think the combat / sphere grid is the only thing driving the game, and unfortunately if you do min max the grid the game becomes trivial (and it suffers in the same way any game does where speed gives extra turns). One of my least favorite FFs.
I kind of disagree - I thought the story and even more the themes of FF X were very well done, personally. I thought it was worth playing through for that alone, but I also liked the gameplay which made that easier to do.
That said, if it isn't grabbing you then I certainly wouldn't recommend pushing forward. You've put in plenty of time if you're already at 10 hours to make that determination.
I just finished Phantasy Star 4 since it consistently ranks in the top jRPG lists among Codexers. It's a bland game and I cannot really recommend it, but part of the issue is that I came to it after beating the much better Final Fantasy 6. This is not a knock against the Codex voters, but more of an indication of how bland jRPGs are outside of a few notable exceptions. The combat is repetitive and the game length is padded by constant random encounters, as is usual in the genre. The boss fights are the only times that combat gets interesting. On a more positive note, I really did enjoy the way the story is told in comic panel cut scenes and the characters are charming. Raja is my favorite party member of the game, as an alien priest who likes to drink and crack jokes. The story is pretty convoluted, especially if you have never played the previous games, but the character interactions are solid. Phantasy Star 4 makes numerous call backs to previous games and closes out the series. It is considered one of the better RPGs in the Sega Genesis collection, but honestly I'd rather replay Shadowrun on the same system.
Panzer Dragoon Saga was great. I highly recommend it. Something very different than any other jrpg I’ve ever played. Sometimes the graphics are ugly as sin but they are also beautiful in other situations.
I bought Final Fantasy X during the Summer Sale since I haven't played it before, but I gotta say that it really is a drag so far. Hallway after hallway, getting interrupted by short cutscenes every few steps. The combat is alright and the leveling interesting in theory, but I feel like most of the time I am just following a line on the grid without having any real choices, thus making leveling up not that exciting. Story is alright, but not engaging enough to keep me really hooked. I just finished the Djose temple, does it get better or do things just get dragged out for 20+ hours?
Gets pretty cool around the Calm Lands. But mainly, the music and atmosphere of that game are amazing. FFX is one of the only JRPGs I still like 20 years later.
I just finished Phantasy Star 4 since it consistently ranks in the top jRPG lists among Codexers. It's a bland game and I cannot really recommend it, but part of the issue is that I came to it after beating the much better Final Fantasy 6. This is not a knock against the Codex voters, but more of an indication of how bland jRPGs are outside of a few notable exceptions. The combat is repetitive and the game length is padded by constant random encounters, as is usual in the genre. The boss fights are the only times that combat gets interesting. On a more positive note, I really did enjoy the way the story is told in comic panel cut scenes and the characters are charming. Raja is my favorite party member of the game, as an alien priest who likes to drink and crack jokes. The story is pretty convoluted, especially if you have never played the previous games, but the character interactions are solid. Phantasy Star 4 makes numerous call backs to previous games and closes out the series. It is considered one of the better RPGs in the Sega Genesis collection, but honestly I'd rather replay Shadowrun on the same system.
The callbacks are definitely part of the satisfaction, and one of the reasons I could never take to FF as much. My first FF games were played after completing all 4 Phantasy Star ones, and seeing the same formula recycled with no connection to each other just felt cheap to me, and I invested in their world's less.
Seeing Wren appear in PS4 as a main character again, and the grave to Alis got me well buzzing as a kid.
I bought Final Fantasy X during the Summer Sale since I haven't played it before, but I gotta say that it really is a drag so far. Hallway after hallway, getting interrupted by short cutscenes every few steps. The combat is alright and the leveling interesting in theory, but I feel like most of the time I am just following a line on the grid without having any real choices, thus making leveling up not that exciting. Story is alright, but not engaging enough to keep me really hooked. I just finished the Djose temple, does it get better or do things just get dragged out for 20+ hours?
It does get better, but not by much. The last 3rd is the highlight of the game for sure, both with story and combat. But you've got a long slog to get there, and even then it only steps up a notch, not several.
I loved it as a young lad, but having replayed it last month I quit around halfway through too.
If you hate yourself, you might want to consider playing this bag of shite, Rise Eterna...
I'm honestly struggling to think of an RPG which has worse dialogue than this. It's proper teenage stuff, straight our of some emo's spunk-filled shithole.
Was going to play more World of Final Fantasy today when the game crashed on startup. Went to the Steam forums and apparently dozens of other people are facing the same problem. Seems like Square might have issued a patch that broke the game. Dunno when it will be fixed. Made it as far as the Dragon Scars and caught a red dragon.
The story thus far is whatever. The character banter is decent enough.
I do like that the antagonist faction calls itself "the Federation" rather than just being yet another empire. They're pretty much communists. Gotta tout the party line and keep your social credit scorecivic rank up or else you get sent to the gulags.
I think there is a problem with the game design. You can walk either forward or back down a corridor for 2 minutes and come across a teleport gate back to the hub (which also heals you to full). So you never really feel like you're in danger. You never really feel like you have to ration your potions or try to mitigate damage. So adventuring kind of feels boring. At the same time, you constantly come across new creatures you want to capture and try out, but if your team is full then you need to find the nearest teleport gate so you can adjust your team. It would have been nice if after catching a creature and your team was full, if you were asked whether to send them to the hub, or to replace someone on your team.
My save file from Megaman Battle Network got corrupted so it's ogre, i will wait for the collection next year to play on my Switch. I will start Soul Sacrifice Delta on my Vita, heard amazing things about this game. Still also playing Xenoblade 3 but taking it extremely easy doing side content, i'm at chapter 3.
That first game gives me a lot of Heroes of the Lance - Dragons of flames vibes. In some ways, I'd love a remaster of these games in a bit more Metroidvania style for the platformer sections. The same for the Dragonlance games. DL was clunky and DOF was annoying as all fuck. Exile took a bit to get used to. Luckily the later games were on Genesis but variants aren't as cool as the original systems. Translations hardly seem available here and I know story is usually important in jrpgs.
My save file from Megaman Battle Network got corrupted so it's ogre, i will wait for the collection next year to play on my Switch. I will start Soul Sacrifice Delta on my Vita, heard amazing things about this game. Still also playing Xenoblade 3 but taking it extremely easy doing side content, i'm at chapter 3.
My save file from Megaman Battle Network got corrupted so it's ogre, i will wait for the collection next year to play on my Switch. I will start Soul Sacrifice Delta on my Vita, heard amazing things about this game. Still also playing Xenoblade 3 but taking it extremely easy doing side content, i'm at chapter 3.
No one talked about this very much but the jobs system is fantastic but i have a weak spot for them. I also though that you would unlock hero classes only through the main story but i unlocked 4 by doing side quests so is definitely worth it. I'm still early in the game and the options for min maxing characters is enormous. Plot wise is okay right now, they are still setting it up. They also fixed fixed even more the break topple launch smash spam, but we will probably unlock a way to spam it by the end game.
I MUST also say that unlike FFXIII the bosses don't have a timer so there's nothing stopping you from making a 4 healers, 1 tank, 1 dps team +whatever hero to slowly grind the boss down, so even people that don't understand the intrincacies of the combat will be able to beat it.
Cant keep up with predecessor storywise. Just doesnt evoke that adventure feel. The party members are good but outside of that the world just feels bland and underdeveloped.
Gameplay wise the skill system was streamlined which removed the need to grind skills but kinda made all the characters the same.
Millenia>Tio>>>>>Elena
Currently playing Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (5th day) and I love how it's an excellent fusion of the elements of Persona and mainline SMT.
Most of the cast are young but unlike the later Persona games, they aren't one note cliches and generally likeable and the annoying ones have reasons to act that way and develop over time. I also love how the game portrays the chaos and decay of society as a result of locking down an entire city that's filled with demons.
Regarding the gameplay, it's the most accessible and outright customizable I've seen in an SMT game. You can buy many demons from the demon auction, you can now search for new demons to fuse based on your current demon lineup, the Skill Crack lets you learn a new skill by killing a specific demon with a specific character and you can change or gain new skills to a demon in-battle with the magnetite timer.
And yet it remains just as hard as the mainline SMT games go, with a variety of missions that sometimes even change objectives on fly. I'm going in to say this is one of the best SRPG games I've played so. It doesn't feel bloated or overly grinding yet it still offers a satisfying challenge.
A workaround to fix the game from crashing on startup has been found: find the .exe, right click, go into properties, click the compatibility tab, and check the run as administrator box. It worked for me but other people are reporting that it didn't fix the crash on startup bug.
Gameplay wise, there wasn't much depth. You effectively only control two characters (the two stacks), which doesn't make for a fun interesting turn based game. You can theoretically unstack your characters and have up to 6 characters on the field at once, but unstacked your characters hit like limp noodles, and are easily one or two shotted by any opposition. Furthermore, only the two humans Reynn and Lann can actually use items, such as a phoenix down, so if they're unstacked and get taken out, welp the rest of your team is screwed. Furthermore, you can only cast higher tier spells by stacking. So there is pretty much no reason to ever unstack.
Stability, elemental weakness, and debuff resistances pretty much don't matter at all.
The meta game is this: equip multiple elemental spell seeds and mirajewels such as blizzara or fira on a stack. Try to achieve Firaga, Thunderga, Waterga, and Blizzaga. Then you just use the spell that your target is the most vulnerable to. Use curaga to heal when necessary (or use the Refia medal). That's it. Don't bother with Aeroga as hardly anything you face is vulnerable to it.
For bosses, you want to enter battle with your Behemonster XL mega mirage at around 30% to 20% HP, which you can easily do by just using him in random battles and never healing him. Spam the 4 AP ability that deals extra damage the less HP you have, and he will deal 5 digit damage. I twoshotted the final boss this way.
Story
About half way through the game, Reynn picking on her brother every other line started becoming a real turn off. When you listen to her condescending attitude for dozens of hours on end, it starts coming across as if she is a bitch. Lann does say silly stuff but it feels like he is trying to keep morale high, especially during the last 1/3rd of the game when things look rather grisly.
Spoiler time:
I was surprised the game ended with Brandelis' defeat. I thought that the giant robo-dragon ripped out of Sonic Heroes or Sakura Wars V was going to be the final boss.
Not too keen on the "hero sacrifices himself but is hinted to come back in the last shot" cliche.
Unanswered questions:
If the League of S knew that the Federation were cannibalizing architects, why weren't they shouting from the rooftops/flying an airship around and saying "The Federation turns Architects into soylent green! Barge into your local Cathedral and find out!" over the megaphone? And you'd think that Enna Kros, being an interdimensional being unaligned with Cogna, would be going around across the universe warning everyone about the Cogna, or even organizing an alliance.
Why is the world of Nine Wood Hills unpopulated? Did Reynn and Lann's parents escape their from another world that was wrecked by the Cogna? What civilization built the city in the first place and how did it get wiped out? Why was Lann running a cafe if no one else lived there? Or was it a world populated by humans and the humans disappeared? Why?
Why did Reynn and Lann jump off a skyscraper at the start of the game?
Apparently there is a postgame, but I've heard that it is very grindy, and I think I've had my fill of the combat. I'll check it out tomorrow but if the story isn't short then I'll probably just move on.
Playing through persona 1 right now, after finishing persona 4.
The best parts so far are the atmosphere and the general lack of one hour talk shows which don't end.
The random encounters aren't as bad as everyone made them out to be, although i think that's mostly because of how easy the combat is.
The j.pop music really feels out of place , but i like the sound design overall.
The story seems promising, but have to wait to see whether they deliver or it will end end up like persona 4.
I bought Final Fantasy X during the Summer Sale since I haven't played it before, but I gotta say that it really is a drag so far. Hallway after hallway, getting interrupted by short cutscenes every few steps. The combat is alright and the leveling interesting in theory, but I feel like most of the time I am just following a line on the grid without having any real choices, thus making leveling up not that exciting. Story is alright, but not engaging enough to keep me really hooked. I just finished the Djose temple, does it get better or do things just get dragged out for 20+ hours?
The best about FFX is the Blitzball minigame.
The last time I played FFX I just rushed until I could "freeplay" Blitzball all I wanted, then after I got bored of it I stopped playing.
If they made a Blitzball standalone game, with leagues and tournaments, being able to hire players and tech learning just like in FFX, I would buy it almost instantly.
Playing Pokemon Conquest. I can definitely say making the first go through largely a tutorial and requiring you complete over 30 (!) separate stories that are mostly recycled content to access the conclusion was a mistake. During the main story the strategic elements don't matter because they're either disabled or only seen if you deliberately fail (the enemy CAN attack your domains, but only if you leave them with effectively or literally no garrison in a game where moving garrison around is instant and free and there's no cost to keeping everyone you can recruit in your army), while during the side stories they don't matter because they're relatively shallow, all domains start with roughly the same power and the best strategy by far is to rush the enemy. This only gets worse the more of them you complete since Pokemon recruitment and evolution (but not level) is retained across stories but only when a unit is controlled by you (when the enemy controls them, they only have their default Pokemon at the same level as everyone else), so it's more and more likely you start with or quickly pick up an officer that hilariously outmatches any enemy you fight (and even before this the big name officers you start with likely already have a moderately better Pokemon to start with).
Playing through persona 1 right now, after finishing persona 4.
The best parts so far are the atmosphere and the general lack of one hour talk shows which don't end.
The random encounters aren't as bad as everyone made them out to be, although i think that's mostly because of how easy the combat is.
The j.pop music really feels out of place , but i like the sound design overall.
The story seems promising, but have to wait to see whether they deliver or it will end end up like persona 4.
The reason it feels out of place is because that's a new soundtrack, the original for the PSX had a much more atmospheric soundtrack but a butchered localization. There's a partial soundtrack replacement mod but I can't personally vouch for it.
I'm currently playing the original FF7 and I must bow my head deeply before whole generations of weebs who had to stomach the wonky mapping further obscured by horrible camera, the silliness of the game's combat system, the sheer bother that is overmap travel, the way in which nothing make sense at all-
It's still very nice and old-fashioned, doesn't carry itself as an incessant ironic exercise in waifu baiting, and I like that nothing is voiced, so scenes are super short to skip.
I'm currently playing the original FF7 and I must bow my head deeply before whole generations of weebs who had to stomach the wonky mapping further obscured by horrible camera, the silliness of the game's combat system, the sheer bother that is overmap travel, the way in which nothing make sense at all-
It's still very nice and old-fashioned, doesn't carry itself as an incessant ironic exercise in waifu baiting, and I like that nothing is voiced, so scenes are super short to skip.
