Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[flyingjohn]

Playing chrono cross remastered, oh boy.

-New music is dogshit. Everything is slowed down and feels almost like they are making mistakes( i know they are not), but it feels oddly annoying.
-New portraits are dogshit and for some of them you can literally see where they clipped the picture to fit the frame.
They also move from left to right position for no reason
-The performance is still terrible. You can feel the lag and see the speed up enemies thanks to fps issues.
-They introduced lag into the inventory screen.
-New translation is just the old with weird changes. Stuff like "life savings to not so secret savings".
????
- Low res backgrounds stick out without a filter
-Fmv's are original psx quality
-Speed up button doesn't speed up the victory music part

I was never much a big fan, but this is insulting.

 

[Puukko]

I'm not in a hurry to replay Chrono Cross, as charming as it is, but if I ever do end up replaying it I won't even consider the "remaster." Now, a quality difficulty mod would definitely pique my interest.

 

[flyingjohn]

I'm not in a hurry to replay Chrono Cross, as charming as it is, but if I ever do end up replaying it I won't even consider the "remaster." Now, a quality difficulty mod would definitely pique my interest.

The only one is the time anguish one. And that one is "diminish the game" from what i heard.

 

[ZACKIE]

Playing that Neo World ends with you and it's an absolute slog of a game, cutscene, after cutscene after cutscene, 3 hours in and the game is basically walk to another area, text box pops up, dialogue, get transported to a shitty filler fight, walk to another area, 3 minute cutscene, repeat

Game is fucking abysmal

 

[Sreggin Etah I]

Addenudm: More thoughts on Shin Megami Tensei, through the lens of mindlessness

I hate mindlessness in games. The opposite of mindlessness is mindfulness, more commonly called challenge, i.e. when player's neurons are forced to fire in order to win.

Given a game, potential mindlessness is the most mindless approach a player can take and still win. Alternatively, this may also be viewed as minimum challenge - the minimum mental effort a player needs to exude to prevail.

Potential challenge is the how mindful a player must be, on average throughout the course of the game, to optimize some axis of game performance, which has no bearing on the outcome of the game.

Rewarded challenge is how mindful a player must be (again, on average) for game noted achievements beyond basic win conditions e.g. score, rank or clearing "post game content".

I think i understand what are you saying there, though i have a different definition, mindlessness for me is when i'm playing a game in auto pilot, without making decisions, where the outcome is too predictable so i'm daydreaming instead, that because the game is too easy or too repetitive(often both)or just have nothing new. I have this problem in RPGs in general, more in JRPGs than in WRPGs, Breath of Fire 1 being the worst offender, not even speed hack could save this game. The problem with JRPGs combat: too easy, too many encounters and Wizardry menu based and phase combat style where you have to wait for the outcome(which is imo boring as hell especially in games with easy combat). When you combine these three elements, you create torture and suffering(for me at least). In JRPGs i'm just spamming attack button 95% of the time, using magic only for heal(potions beign better though), offensive magic is often a waste of mana and time and then i have to go back to refill it to get through a boss, so why bother? it reach a point where i question why i'm even playing this shit(the result of daydreaming). Sometimes i use magic just so i can lessen the boredom.

Looking at the definition of mindless on google: "acting or done without justification or concern for the consequences" it's a perfect defintion.

The opposite is mindful gameplay, where i'm paying attention to the game or actually taking decisions and aware that those decisions are leading me to victory(and could be very different if i took other viable decisions). SRPGs are better for that, i had to think my moves in Fire Emblem and Vandal Hearts(though Vandal Hearts does not punish death enough, good game though), and how to customize my squads in Ogre Battle(game becomes mindless once you discover the broken units but that's okay). Not to mention X-Com or Jagged Alliance.

Mindfullness or paying attention to the game could be achieve in others ways though, i was mindful when playing SMT, not because of the gameplay, the gameplay is actually repetitive shit, but because of the setting, the demon design and especially: the demon negotiations, i had a lof fun with this shit, same with Persona 1 and 2(which had shitty gameplay but cool and funny demon negotiations) i have never seen something like that in any other game, it felt fresh so it grabbed my attention.

Any game if you played enough, becomes mindless, either because it became monotonous/repetitive/predictable or because you found the stronger strategies, so everything is a cakewalk unless you restrict yourself(so.. predictable).

That applies to everything in life, if you eat pizza after 6 months of not eating anything good you will eat it mindfully and enjoying it. If you eat Pizza everyday, it becomes repetitive so you eat mindlessly and not enjoying so much.

Challenge when playing for game time efficiency is a universally applicable measure of potential challenge and a good substitute for rewarded challenge in its absence. Henceforth called "Universal substitute challenge".

What is game time efficiency? It is simply minimizing the amount of game time (in turn based games, turns, in real time games, real time) passes before victory is achieved.

(A/D/J/S)RPGs are interesting because they usually have almost 0 minimum challenge, i.e. they can be played entirely mindlessly, but they also may have decent substitute challenge (usually hampered by how infrequently they accept player inputs), and sometimes rewarded challenge.

I understand if you like this stuff, beating Heroes scenarios in the least amount of turns to get high score is an fun challenge and integrated into the game design itself. But the last thing i want to do, is to die in a JRPG dungeon because i was underleveled and having to redo mindlessly all those repetitive random encounters again, i would rather play a game that provides real challenge without having to restrict my play style.

 

[Nutmeg]

Any game if you played enough, becomes mindless, either because it became monotonous/repetitive/predictable or because you found the stronger strategies, so everything is a cakewalk unless you restrict yourself(so.. predictable).

Depends how dynamic the game is (rare) or as a substitute in real time games, how much execution skill is required -- which can also contribute to the dynamism. If it is close to humanly impossible to execute the exact same movements to the level of precision required to follow a static strategy, then each play through you're dealing with the slight variances created by your own mistakes, but because the game is so tight these small variances can mean having to really focus and think on your feet. Not to mention this amplifies any RNG the game might already have. This is what makes "simple" action games so engrossing and worthwhile despite their outwardly static appearance.

When it comes to turn based games, there is no such easy crutch.

I understand if you like this stuff, beating Heroes scenarios in the least amount of turns to get high score is an fun challenge and integrated with the game design itself

I don't generally, but it can be a way to make the most out of a slightly flawed gem or maybe a game you like for aesthetic reasons. It's a different story if the game designers have accounted for that kind of play (e.g. playing for ranks in Fire Emblem or Advance Wars (a favorite example of mine)).

 

[Reinhardt]

almost done with replaying escha & logy. then only shallie remains. i will need to find something comfy to play again.

 

[Nutmeg]

almost done with replaying escha & logy. then only shallie remains. i will need to find something comfy to play again.

Have you played the Wizardry Alternative games?

 

[Sreggin Etah I]

Not to mention this amplifies any RNG the game might already have. This is what makes "simple" action games so engrossing and worthwhile despite their outwardly static appearance.

Yes but i would add to that: not having waiting time, all action being instantly, you're forced to pay attention, unless you already memorized everything so that you cakewalk through the game.

When it comes to turn based games, there is no such easy crutch.

I can think of turn based Roguelikes, of this genre i've only played DoomRL and no run was the same, similar yes but no the same:


Random map layout, random loot, random enemies placement and different builds to choose, you have to adapt in every run.

Roguelikes are not perfect though, my problem with them is that because the difficulty throughout the game is scaling linearly, from easy in early game to hard in late game, like this:

after you get used to the game, the early game becomes too easy, repetitive and a drag to your runs. You end up playing mindlessly in the early game but mindfully in late game. This is my experience with DoomRL, in the early game i'm playing in auto pilot and bored. In the late game i cannot even blink and planning every move. Yes, it's never the same but the early game is not challenging enough to matter. The solution i think would be to make the game equally challenging and varied from early to late game or short enough so that the early game does not become a drag(DoomRL is not short enough, my runs take 4h+)

 

[Reinhardt]

almost done with replaying escha & logy. then only shallie remains. i will need to find something comfy to play again.

Have you played the Wizardry Alternative games?

wizardry games is not something i would describe as "comfy".

 

[Zariusz]

Fuck
I was trying SMT Strange Journey(never played any other SMT) on my flashcard, i just got the ability to fuse demons and i wanted to save. Shit got freezed, ok at worst im going to lose my save file, no problem because its still practically a tutorial. I restart the R4 and launch SMT... another fucking freeze and now flashcard freezes on launching. I got situations like these few times through years but formating microsd always helped. This game fucked my micro sd so hard that now it disconnects after few seconds and i cant even format it or do anything really, this card served me for almost a decade and now some edgy pokemon game finally killed it RIP

 

[Puukko]

Welcome to the Schwarzwelt, motherfucker.

 

[Abu Antar]

I reached Day 3 in Devil Survivor Overclocked.

I'm having a good time, despite disliking the few rescue missions that have appeared. You basically need Devil Speed, Fly, or something similar to reach your targets in time.

I'm taking a break from the story to grind, and fuse some new demons.

 

[Removal]

Tried Chained Echoes
I hate the combat system's focus on the overcharge bar and the "+1 attack" leveling system

felt very generic, did not finish

 

[Maxie]

almost done with replaying escha & logy. then only shallie remains. i will need to find something comfy to play again.

have you tried the trails in the sky trilogy of video games
non meme answer i played tokyo mirage sessions last year and had fun

 

[Reinhardt]

have you tried the trails in the sky trilogy of video games

i dunno

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

How are the Neptunia games on the front of comfy-ness? Or are they too shitty? (haven't played myself)

 

[Reinhardt]

they are ok, but pretty much same, so you played one - you played all. except that grimdark cursed sword shit. fuck it.

 

[GhostCow]

How are the Neptunia games on the front of comfy-ness? Or are they too shitty? (haven't played myself)

Mainline games are great. The gameplay is a small step above most jprgs due to positioning mattering. It's mostly carried by the characters and writing and there is no buldporn though.

I'd avoid the spinoffs

 

[newtmonkey]

Shining and the Darkness (Mega Drive)
(aka Shining in the Darkness)

Completed!
This ended up being a pretty simple but fun "blobber," with some very nice, colorful graphics.

It's very user-friendly. You have a cheap spell you can cast to show you a map of your surroundings, healing spells are cheap and powerful, and the game tends to almost always let your entire party go before the enemy when fighting enemies that are around your level or lower, meaning you can win most battles before you even take damage. Finally, if your entire party wipes, you get resurrected in town with all progress retained (including EXP), though you lose half your gold.

The best part of the game, however, is the dungeon (temple) itself. It's "only" five levels high, but each level is a massive 30x30 squares, and there are also another four sublevels (most with two floors each) accessible from the main levels of the temple. You often have to go back and explore previous levels as you find new keys to locked doors. There are lots of interesting traps such as mimic chests, squares that sap spell points, and spinners, to keep things interesting (though the spinners are frankly meaningless, since they always just spin you 270°!).

Although I enjoyed the game, it has some problems.

First, it's extremely simple and easy. You start out with just a single character (a warrior), and the game is indeed quite difficult when you're all alone. Soon, though, you're joined by two other characters: a warrior priest and a mage. All three characters are actually very competent melee fighters, so from that point on, most battles consist of you just selecting attack and winning on the first or second round. Rarely, you'll run into some powerful group of enemies and you'll need to cast some offensive spells. It's just not a very difficult game after the first hour or so, and the difficulty level is basically reduced to nil once you get the final sword for the main character.

Second, it can get pretty tedious toward the end. If you fail to collect a permanently missable item partway through the game, you'll never unlock any shortcuts throughout the entire dungeon. Of course, I missed this item, so I had to run through the entire dungeon every time I re-entered it, and it takes roughly 30 minutes to trek through the dungeon from the entrance to the final level. Pretty annoying.

Other than these nitpicks, though, it's a fine game.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I've been slowly chewing my way through the first Shadow Hearts. Not a lot to say about it- I've played SH2 and SH3 numerous times but never touched the first game. I've gotten around to setting up ReShade crt shaders to work with pcsx2 and it's been motivating me to revisit some games from the 'ol PS2 library. 'Twas the first console I purchased with my own money back in the day and I've made it a habit to treat myself to a nice gift whenever I get a new job or promotion ever since.

SH1 is an interesting game when compared to the rest of the series. Obviously SH2 has a shift in tone, and by SH3 the series has gone completely off the rails despite retaining its solid gameplay. But SH1 still has plenty of requisite goofiness, like in the serious mid-game cutscene where Albert Simon channels his inner Homer Simpson:



The tonal shift over the course of the series reminds me of Fallout in a lot of ways. I remember being flabbergasted at the Kodex Konsensus that FO2 was inferior to the first game due in part to its constant off-the-wall wackiness and pop culture references- I was always of the opinion that FO2 was clearly the superior game and never gave it a second thought. But I've come around a bit, and while I'd still take SH2 or FO2 over the originals if I were stuck on a desert island, I can't say I don't appreciate the fact they take themselves more seriously.

Gameplay-wise there's not a lot to write home about. The judgement ring seems to move a lot faster than in the sequels- or at least equipment to slow it the fuck down seems a lot rarer- I've found myself buying a lot of consumables that slow the ring's movement and I can't say I've done that in any of the other games. Bosses are mostly tank and spank affairs and the difficulty mostly comes from juggling healing, buffing and keeping everyone's spirit points topped off so they don't go berserk and initiate a death spiral. Most bosses are just 1 single tough mob that become trivial with the right accessories equipped since they're typically spamming some status effect, but it's nice that they have some teeth compared to SH2 where unless you're underleveled and underequipped you'll just steamroll everything.

I do wish some of these boss fights had additional henchmen you have to manage, or even fights with two bosses at the same time. One JRPG that did boss encounters very, very well was Arc Rise Fantasia. The very first boss encounter is against a necromancer who is pumping out formidable skeleton henchmen every other turn that you absolutely have to contain efficiently, and the boss himself can put out a hurting if you're not chipping away at him. It's really dynamic and challenging first boss and the rest of the games bosses follow suit. I rarely see Arc Rise Fantasia talked about and it's been a good 3-4 years since I played it, but despite its many shortcomings it's very much a game for combat and mechanics enjoyers. Truly a hidden gem, will probably write more about it in the future.

 

[unseeingeye]

I haven't really been gaming much at all lately, only messing around with emulated MVS versions of Neo Geo games through LaunchBox which is what I typically fall back on when I find myself unable to get into anything, but I noticed that the Pixel Remaster versions of the first six Final Fantasy games was released for Switch so I plan to try going through them in order.

I read about the differences introduced to the Switch versions that differentiate them from the PC and Mobile versions, as well as the many variations to the content throughout the years across the many rereleases of each game. Some of what was changed for the Switch versions are surprisingly pleasant, such as the reintroduction of the credits to the opening walking sequence in Final Fantasy VI, implementation of pixelated font more nearly approximating the original for the dialogue, and the inclusion of both the orchestrated score and the original (which I greatly prefer) for all games, while others I'm less enthusiastic about.

Final Fantasy IV and VI were my jams back in the 90s when I was growing up; I'll always have a fondness for VI in particular which I maintained as my favorite even during the period when VII was brand new and blowing all of our minds. The original Tactics and VI are for me the peaks in that series and I've returned to the former many times on various platforms but despite having owned different versions of VI I haven't actually committed myself to a proper playthrough since the Super Nintendo days, so I've forgotten so much of it. The first two original games I didn't have an opportunity to try (outside of messing around with emulation in the early days) until they were rereleased as Origins for the first PlayStation, and the third one I didn't try until the remake for Nintendo DS. Eventually I'd played all of them, but I don't think I've ever actually finished any other than IV and VI, so most of this should be almost like a brand new experience for me.

 

[Derringer]

I gave Mary Skelter 2 and 1 a try and they're surprisingly ok for Idea Factory/Compile Heart casual DRPGs, I'm not really a fan of the Neptunia games. I think the biggest problem with them is the voice samples in the battles which you can mute completely and the speed of them which you can increase with Cheat Engine, and the inane VN writing which you can just skip through. I wouldn't say they're amazing or anything but they're ok.

 

[MurkrLurkr]

It's been a year and a half since I downloaded the rom for DS title, not so well known (which is a shame cos despite all the shortcomings I think it could be a great inspiration for game devs interested in innovative gameplay) and peculiar Avalon Code. It caught my attention because of the interesting mechanics and the plot that revolves around the magic, sentient book...

I've been playing it on and off for the past while and decided to throw in the towel and write a post about my experience with it instead. I haven't come across a better concept for a game in a long time, but it was poorly implemented, classic instance of unrealized potential... As in the Old Testament stories, god Kullervo (WEF) is dissatisfied with the creation and how the world is unfurling, so he decides to obliterate it, performing a kind of great reset and you've been given the task of saving what you deem worthy in the Book of Prophecy (external hard disk of sorts)... To record something in it's pages (it can be anything from a living organism to a weapon) the player must perform a "Code Scan". Code is something like a DNA of an objects and it's represented by puzzle pieces of different shapes and sizes that fit into the object's grid. Player is not just a mere archivist but more of a Demiurge figure as creating different combinations of codes, by adding and removing them, can have a major effect on the object, changing its properties. For instance I removed stone code from stone goblin and added to it ill code, making it easier to kill.. Later I added that stone code to warm loaf of bread, turning it to stone bread, but apart from the name and color, nothing substantial changes... This cool mechanic isn't used well enough in my opinion, cos imagine how fun it would be if by adding a dog code to a sword, you were wielding a bristled mutt But the biggest downside for me, since I played it on my Android phone (yeah, don't ask ) is that rotating the screen rotates the controls One half of a split DS screen is reserved for the book and the interface controls on DraStic emulator are in the way of properly interacting with it. In emulator options I can go fullscreen on the book, but sometimes I still have to awkwardly rotate my phone in order to press the correct button. The book is full of content with hundreds of pages, and from the start I felt irritation creeping in... I highly doubt this would be a problem on a desktop computer but it is what it is, since my gaming hours are reserved for the roads.

This was just an introduction to my problems with the game cos MP (Mystic Points) is required to use items, such as our delicious stone bread... You are also spending MP every time you add or remove a code in the book, which is a major hassle, as you can refill the bar only by sleeping in your house or by performing combos during fights..
Almost every page in the book has a CP (Code Points) value (map pages, character pages, item pages, even your page). Certain actions will increase that value, depending on the type of page. For non-dungeon map pages, it all comes down to exploring, and by "exploring" I mean pressing A. Every area has three to five hot-spots to be examined, each of which will add CP. There is no indication of where these hot-spots are, which means running around mashing the A button on everything that looks even vaguely interesting. Worse, even when you're looking at the right object, it often won't register unless you're in the right position.
Character CP increases as you talk to NPCs, giving them gifts and doing sidequests for them. They also have "aspirations", which are certain combinations of codes that yield the highest possible CP for the page.
Once you gather enough CP, the book will level up. This will eventually expand the code grid (or Mental Map, to give it its proper name)... On the paper everything sounds über fun but the sad truth is that soon everything becomes stale, and you are just going through the motions as you try to trigger the next chapter point.

As with many aspects of Avalon Code, I like the idea of it... I liked the idea of exploration being a goal unto itself, but for that to work, there must be well-designed maps with interesting stuff to find. Landmarks, ruins, relics, things that have stories attached to them. Things that someone tasked with recording the world would care to record. Instead the game quickly devolves into dungeon delving which is the least interesting part of it, and experimenting with various codes frustrating MP menagement... Please don't be deterred by my negative review, cos despite all the complaints, I think this is pretty unique title that every fan of JRPGs should at least give a try...

 

[Lincolnberry]

Finshed SaGa Scarlet Graces just now. Did the Uprina route.

Overall, I really enjoyed it - love how it handles upgrades, I enjoyed the getting new characters aspect (even though many come too late to be useful).

The combat system is very enjoyable in general but especially out of the gate. It fades a bit when you start getting higher weapon levels that turn everything into a united attack simulator.

I had some major frustrations with some of the quest lines - I think some are either outright broken or I just couldn't figure out how to re-flag them - looking at you, Bicnyrio on the Scarlet Shards route. As a result, felt like I spent a lot of time in some areas that was ultimately useless.

Going to give it a bit of a break but I'll be back to play other route(s). Would still give this game a solid and will be looking at the others in the series (I have an ancient copy of Last Remnant I've never tried and also bought the recent minstrel song remake on steam).