Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[Tse Tse Fly]

Started playing Tokyo Xanadu Ex+, it's an okayish game so far, I'm currently at the end of Chapter 2. I must observe the combat system here is a more intricate and featureful one compared to Ys games (though controls feel somewhat stiff), whereas in terms of level design Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ makes an impression of a game made for a portable console if not outright a mobile game, so primitive and streamlined the layouts of the dungeons are, it's like the developers didn't even try. The plot, setting and characters are sure generic but nothing offensively bad as far as I can see, I can get on with that. The soundtrack is rather forgettable save for a couple tracks. I do intend to continue to play (as the combat has proven to be fun enough), though at this point I hold no wild expectations for this game.

 

[arekks]

I've been playing FF6 via the Pixel Remaster. My first JRPG was FF7 and I didn't play the previous game until much later, so I don't have much nostalgia for it. Right now I'm up to the final dungeon.

In general the game holds up, and I greatly appreciate the economy of the narrative even if it somewhat relies on cliches & pastiche to be concise-but-understandable. I do think the World of Ruin is weak though... other than most of the content there feeling like filler, the difficulty is very poorly tuned in the direction of being overly easy, possibly because of how open it is once you get the airship. Mechanically the game is fun to play with, and it can be broken (beyond the already easy difficulty) but it's too much work to exploit most of the broken stuff.

Anyway! To previous posters— I've been meaning to play Tokyo Xanadu Ex+. I've played enough mediocre Falcom games that I'm probably capable of enjoying it, but the game is severely lacking any kind of hook and the first time I played it I kinda just fell off. It feels very generic and the gameplay isn't great.

 

[lametta]

Just recebtly finished FF15. If the combat wasnt that simplistic the game might be much better.

Now playing FF:Lightning Returns. Back in the day after the abysmal FF13 duo i couldnt get myself to start Lightning returns. The annoying time mechanic didnt help either. Now im kinda enjoying it but time limit is still shit. Well at least the game is better than FF13 and 13-2....

 

[j2alg]

playing Dungeon Travelers 2 and I'm stuck in hell, literally
still undecided on wtf I'm going to build. Probably something with that sweet AGI party bonus, but for now Yae is in charge of exterminating

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

playing Dungeon Travelers 2 and I'm stuck in hell, literally
still undecided on wtf I'm going to build. Probably something with that sweet AGI party bonus, but for now Yae is in charge of exterminating

I'm replaying it right now too, i want to 100% the game so i'm save scumming to get mimics in the book, it will probably take me 200hs at least, want to unlock all events too.

Spoiler

Have you played 2-2? Probably the greateast dungeon crawler of all time.

 

[j2alg]

I'm replaying it right now too, i want to 100% the game so i'm save scumming to get mimics in the book, it will probably take me 200hs at least, want to unlock all events too.
Have you played 2-2? Probably the greateast dungeon crawler of all time.

100% as in all drops and sub-events? Bruh
I killed everything in DT1 and noticed that you don't even get Angra Mainyus accessory 100% of the time, imagine farming that THING for a rare goddamn drop

Spoiler

Haven't seen much of 2's postgame yet, but imagine it subjects you to the same abuse.
The mimic thing is one of the reasons why I prefer the original capture system, seriously fuck that "kill 9 monsters for a single accessory" shit.
As for 2-2 I gave it a play, the last I've reached was Fiora's dungeon

 

[Late Bloomer]

I will just slide Dragon Quest Builders 2 into the JRPG category and say its an amazingly fun game. If you like Dragon Quest in general and enjoy building and collecting then I say dive on in. I was slightly concerned with the darkish boy who follows your character around but he proved to be a decent yin to my yang. While I on most cases detest great liberties with translation, the goons who who took these great liberties and translated this game did a fine job. Quite funny from time to time. A very adorable and enjoyable cast of characters all around.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

I'm replaying it right now too, i want to 100% the game so i'm save scumming to get mimics in the book, it will probably take me 200hs at least, want to unlock all events too.
Have you played 2-2? Probably the greateast dungeon crawler of all time.

100% as in all drops and sub-events? Bruh
I killed everything in DT1 and noticed that you don't even get Angra Mainyus accessory 100% of the time, imagine farming that THING for a rare goddamn drop

Spoiler

Haven't seen much of 2's postgame yet, but imagine it subjects you to the same abuse.
The mimic thing is one of the reasons why I prefer the original capture system, seriously fuck that "kill 9 monsters for a single accessory" shit.
As for 2-2 I gave it a play, the last I've reached was Fiora's dungeon

Are you that guy from the drpg general on /vrpg/ that gave up and crowned a character to beat dt 1? Haven't played it yet, but i heard it's hard as fuck and there's no cheese like magical princess from 2.

I won't do all drops for every single enemy, i will just kill every enemy 9 times to fill the book, item drops don't count to 100%, i think.

 

[j2alg]

nah crowns take an eternity, and I was already on the fast lane with Marduk hunting. It is a fiendish game, the closest thing to cheese is the dumbing mazurka and that helps only slightly. But level resets matter less than I expected, I felt a little humiliated when I later looked up some players who beat the superboss and some didn't even need to equip the ultimate armor, just 80+ whatever.

 

[Reality]

Finished Romancing Saga 3.

Reinforcing my opinion that the series should be ignored before saga Frontier... Maybe only unlimited+scarlet grace if talking personally

I was surprised how little the scaling mattered since I had heard the bosses could be rough. The spark system is at its worst here but everything other than final boss dies to Medium skill attacks anyway

Having to bench your main character to access several mechanics and the super slow progression of magic skill (self buffs always miss if skill under 20 ) meant that 3/4 if playthrough was getting a bunch of physical beefcakes and beefing it out. The mini game design is also flawed (stick market mini game I made my company 6 times as large as necessary because the company you need to buyout to win isn't available on market until you own 100 others despite it's tiny price).

 

[Miner 2049er]

SaGa Frontier 3 ? Never heard of it. Japan only ? Are you sure ? Romancing SaGa 3 ?

 

[Reality]

A typo making me talk about a nonexistent 9th game, instead of the 6ty game I wanted to complain about

 

[Miner 2049er]

Finished Romancing Saga 3.
Reinforcing my opinion that the series should be ignored before saga Frontier... Maybe only unlimited+scarlet grace if talking personally

Scarlet Grace is top tier SaGa material, but Romancig SaGa Minstrel Song shouldn't be neglected. It has some very satisfying mechanics in its class upgrading and other systems. The Alliance Alive is another wonderful SaGa game and even its spiritual predecessor Legend of Legacy has merits and I had lots of fun with it.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

It's a shame Scarlet Grace is never talked about, top tier saga game. It might be my imagination but in recent years i have seen people getting into Saga game to get some sort of "gamer cred" and play the old games while neglecting the most recent one.

 

[Jinn]

Scarlet Grace is one of the best games in the series, for sure.

 

[Abu Antar]

Scarlet Grace is good, but I wouldn't recommend it as an intro into the series.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Scarlet Grace is good, but I wouldn't recommend it as an intro into the series.

What games in the series would you reccommend to play before playing Scarlet Grace?

 

[Abu Antar]

Scarlet Grace is good, but I wouldn't recommend it as an intro into the series.

What games in the series would you reccommend to play before playing Scarlet Grace?

I would say Romancing SaGa 3 or SaGa Frontier are good introductions into the series.

 

[j2alg]

Romancing SaGa 2 has some stupid shit in it like having to talk to an npc 30 times just to teach the whole team a bunch of spells, but it's still an absolute must play.
SaGa 2 aka FFL 2 is like a proto Frontier and thus also a must play.

 

[7h30n]

I've recently completed Langrisser 1 from the remake compilation of 1&2.

Never played any Langrisser/Warsong before, it's quite fascinating that I get a lot more of wargaming vibes than typical SRPG ones. There's quite a lot of expandable units to control, and the simple combat mechanics provide for quite an interesting game along with good map design & varied objectives. I think the game peaks at the mid point, then goes straight downhill after the big bad guy reveal. All the maps turn into "wipe them out, all of them" affairs, with single funnel layouts which don't utilize the enormous unit count you now have at your disposal. The story is minimal, which I found refreshing as I could focus on the battles with just enough context to make me care. I hope the Langrisser 2 has more of the better parts of L1, though I'll be having a break before continuing to L2. Time to check out this SaGa thing everyone's been' talking about... oh look Scarlet Grace is on sale and apparently has the best combat in the series...

Oh, and L1&2 remade art style is just abysmal. EDIT: I spoke too soon, SaGa Scarlet Grace looks even worse

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I finished Suikogaiden Vol. 2 the other day. The heroes briefly got to glimpse the dragon homeworld through a portal. I wonder if the devs were fans of Dragonriders of Pern, because it looked like a Michael Whelan cover for that series.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

Re started The last remnant for the 3rd time, something always gets in the way and have to drop it, i want to finish it this time. I try to avoid combat as much as possible but otherwise i'm playing it blind because people always say that you need a guide to play this game and i want to defy that conception.

Also started Dragon Quest II but there's not much to say about it, only that the hate for the game it's overblown, it has issues but it's not unplayable.

Found this image going through my folders, don't know how true it is.

Spoiler

 

[AdamReith]

Picked a PSX rpg at random and ended up getting into Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure.

It's bloody good, some or the finest pixel art I've ever come across.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I try to avoid combat as much as possible but otherwise i'm playing it blind because people always say that you need a guide to play this game and i want to defy that conception.

I personally found that combat generally wasn't the problem. There were only like three battles I really struggled on (Gates of Hell near the beginning of the game, a story battle against two of the bad guy's lieutenants in the middle, and the last fight). You don't need to avoiding literally every battle. If you intend to tackle the harder content, then you do need to have been raising a party member in a certain way right from the get go so he learns Cachexia, a powerful spell near the end of the game, and there was a certain level grind area and technique you had to use to get (if you start training him by the half way point, it's way too late). But again, if you're just doing a casual playthrough then you probably don't need to worry.

The main problem I found was the walkthroughitis of the quests. 90% of the game is optional side content and most of the quests are timed and have obscure requirements. Progress the story too far and quests become unavailable, which prevents you from getting certain rewards and from doing other quests later in the game. You have to be following a thick walkthrough to understand where to go, who to talk to, what quests to do in what order, when to do the quests, etc.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

I try to avoid combat as much as possible but otherwise i'm playing it blind because people always say that you need a guide to play this game and i want to defy that conception.

I personally found that combat generally wasn't the problem. There were only like three battles I really struggled on (Gates of Hell near the beginning of the game, a story battle against two of the bad guy's lieutenants in the middle, and the last fight). You don't need to avoiding literally every battle. If you intend to tackle the harder content, then you do need to have been raising a party member in a certain way right from the get go so he learns Cachexia, a powerful spell near the end of the game, and there was a certain level grind area and technique you had to use to get (if you start training him by the half way point, it's way too late). But again, if you're just doing a casual playthrough then you probably don't need to worry.

The main problem I found was the walkthroughitis of the quests. 90% of the game is optional side content and most of the quests are timed and have obscure requirements. Progress the story too far and quests become unavailable, which prevents you from getting certain rewards and from doing other quests later in the game. You have to be following a thick walkthrough to understand where to go, who to talk to, what quests to do in what order, when to do the quests, etc.

I always take my time with these games so i always talk with every single NPC after story events, got too used to it when playing Trails games, but i honestly don't care about 100% the game i just do it because i like learning about the game's world and the remnants stuff is interesting.