After playing a lot of JRPGs, most CRPGs became tedious

[baud]

I have seen plenty of Western games with stolen music: Monkey Island's theme versus Down Under, Starfox's theme versus The Reflex, Leisure Suit Larry's theme versus When I'm 64, Elder Scrolls's dungeon music versus the Dalek music from Doctor Who

You missed the most famous one:

wasn't there some in Baldur's gate too? Taken from a movie called lifeforce, I think I read that here

J.R.P.G.s are very varied: Are you really going to claim that Final Fantasy Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei, Disgaea, Lagrange Point, Metal Max, Zelda, Metroid, Shadow Hearts all play the same?

you have to really stretch the definition of RPGs to include Zelda and Metroid

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Are there any good JRPGs made for storyfags with branching plots and what not? And no, VN tier CYOA routes determined by a few choices sprinkled here and there don't count.

 

[Rean]

JRPGs tend to have much better quality control, art and music. They are less likely to bait and switch you with a great opening chapter or whatever.

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Would anyone miss you if I beat you to an inch of your life and you had to spend a month in gay-hospital to recover?

 

[Endless]

JRPGs tend to have much better quality control, art and music. They are less likely to bait and switch you with a great opening chapter or whatever.

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Would anyone miss you if I beat you to an inch of your life and you had to spend a month in gay-hospital to recover?

I'd like to see you try, your time playing JPRGs has probably risen your Soy Estrogen levels by 500%

The Jews have you by the balls my friend, playing JRPGs sends signals to your brain which tell it to start producing estrogen, and this process eats your muscles and replaces them with flab.

 

[Rean]

JRPGs tend to have much better quality control, art and music. They are less likely to bait and switch you with a great opening chapter or whatever.

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Would anyone miss you if I beat you to an inch of your life and you had to spend a month in gay-hospital to recover?

I'd like to see you try, your time playing JPRGs has probably risen your Soy Estrogen levels by 500%

The Jews have you by the balls my friend, playing JRPGs sends signals to your brain which tell it to start producing estrogen, and this process eats your muscles and replaces them with flab.

A lot of words for a coward with a locked profile wall.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

On the subject of random encounters... yes they can sometimes be over the top in some games but I don't know if seeing enemies on the overworld is always the answer. If the enemies are too easy to avoid, it makes battles almost elective and you remove the attrition element from dungeon crawling completely.

One example I always go back is Dragon Quest 3 vs Dragon Quest 11. Random encounters never bothered me in DQ3 despite the fact they are somewhat frequent. For the most part the random encounters are challenging and in the NES version you have limited carrying capacity so getting hit with poison or paralysis can really screw you over- and you have to treat these random encounters with extra care and consideration. One of my favorite dungeons in any RPG is the pyramid in DQ3- it's maze-like, full of traps and pitfalls and when you reach the bottom floor and grab your macguffin I believe you're cursed with silence. There is no boss fight in this dungeon, just a frequent enough and challenging enough random encounters to grind you down, and even escaping the dungeon alive is a challenge in itself.

Compare that with DQ11, where you can see every enemy on the overworld and in dungeons. You can always pick and choose what to fight, monsters hardly pursue you and you really have to be asleep at the wheel in order for something to 'ambush' you. I still liked it as far as JRPGs go, but the result of this is basically just making a beeline for the boss or objective and then to grind out mobs if you're not strong enough. If you're hurt mid-dungeon it becomes trivial to run back to town and sleep at an inn.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that old design where you're getting into a new fight every couple of steps can be really grating, but plenty of games fuck up the alternative as well.

 

[AdamReith]

I loved the encounters in Breath of Fire 2 because it was always a possibility that things would go pear shaped and you would end up in dire straits.

It added just enough tension to every fight, not terribly difficult or anything but an enemy could drop a poison on you costing you items/MP or later on something much worse such as sleep or instant death. Every time you failed to take out an enemy group efficiently was a potential "oh shit" moment.

Some JRPGs don't get the balance quite as nice though, I kind of checked out of Breath of Fire 4 for example because there was no danger to any of the encounters. Hopefully it gets a little more interesting later in.

 

[Endless]

JRPGs tend to have much better quality control, art and music. They are less likely to bait and switch you with a great opening chapter or whatever.

art

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Would anyone miss you if I beat you to an inch of your life and you had to spend a month in gay-hospital to recover?

I'd like to see you try, your time playing JPRGs has probably risen your Soy Estrogen levels by 500%

The Jews have you by the balls my friend, playing JRPGs sends signals to your brain which tell it to start producing estrogen, and this process eats your muscles and replaces them with flab.

A lot of words for a coward with a locked profile wall.

There, go nuts.

 

[Morenatsu.]

I have seen plenty of Western games with stolen music: ... Starfox's theme versus The Reflex

um ackchully star fox is only partially western. they had a japanese composer and as we all know asians are dirty yellow cheaters!!!

 

[mogwaimon]

Are there any good JRPGs made for storyfags with branching plots and what not? And no, VN tier CYOA routes determined by a few choices sprinkled here and there don't count.

the closest thing I can think of might be Persona 1 having two main quests depending on certain choices you make at the beginning of the game. the genre isn't exactly renowned for this, but someone else with more experience might have a few more options. Oh, I also haven't played them yet but I recall Digital Devil Saga (another SMT series) had a system where the choices you made in the first game affected the story of the second game, but I'm not certain how and to what degree.

Oh and Star Ocean 2 now that I think of it, it doesn't have overly significant main story differences based on your choices, but the people who join your party and how you experience the story are dictated not only by what character you choose as your protagonist at the beginning of the game but also by choices you make during the game, which does of course change which party members you get to know and get to use.

 

[Arthandas]

After playing a lot of JRPGs, most CRPGs became tedious

Can we finally remove the jRPG Weeaboo subforum? Come on guys, we gave it a fair chance.

 

[Thac0]

Are there any good JRPGs made for storyfags with branching plots and what not? And no, VN tier CYOA routes determined by a few choices sprinkled here and there don't count.

For some very strange reason branching narrative is seen as combatfag adjacent in JRPGs. Tactics Ogre and Der Langrisser are the most well known branching narrative rpgs, and they are both grid based srpgs with heavy gameplay focus.
Other JRPGs with differing endings like SMT are 90% combatfag aswell.

Don't ask me why, but for JRPGs storyfag means having no agency in the narrative. Can't think of any example of the contrary.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Don't ask me why, but for JRPGs storyfag means having no agency in the narrative.

That is the way of the samurai. :^)

Anyhow, thanks for the reply. Was awaiting yours in particular.

 

[Thac0]

Don't ask me why, but for JRPGs storyfag means having no agency in the narrative.

That is the way of the samurai. :^)

Anyhow, thanks for the reply. Was awaiting yours in particular.

Might have something to do with the Chinese originated belief in the chain of command and all. Even Japanese CYOAs and VNs tend to have one "perfect route/true ending", where you get the definitive best ending for the narrative. The other endings are usually more deliberatd fail states than real endings, a bit like taking the undead throne in PST.

For narrative heavy games with only a minor gameplay focus and at least an unconventional narrative (26 endings or so lol) I would recommend Nier games, although I think those are structured in a way that you see all of the endings and get a unified conclusion to the narrative aswell.

Making complex moral decisions with wide reaching impact over the life of other people seems to be something that is just not in the escapisting needs of many Japanese.

 

[Arthandas]

(26 endings or so lol)

You mean one ending and 25 game over texts? Because that's what it is.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

JRPGs were a mistake.

 

[Thac0]

All of the combatfags broke before our ranks, but the true demise was outside of our field of view. The subtle storyfag found a niche were crpgs are undeniably ahead.
There is actually not a single moral decision in a Japanese game which I can remember which even reaches the mid tier depth of the mages/paladins or elves/werewolves decisions in DAO.

The most common way to have differing endings in JRPGs is to have a moral counter, which shifts your alignment towards one of the endings depending on how nice/rude you are towards NPCs. Imagine PST had 9 different endings for all alignments. That is not really a choice either, as the ending you get is naturally fitted to your playstile.

 

[Morenatsu.]

Westerners are prometheanfags, so of course they want to pretend to control game stories by their own will. I don't think it's ever resulted in anything great, though. Choice and consequence just means looking up a guide on the internet to find which ending I like most. How about just having one great ending instead of whatever? Those choices don't really amount to anything actually meaningful, anyway.

On the other hand, Japan supposedly doesn't want to burden people with needless choices, but there's also the fascination with viewing things from multiple perspectives, so when there are multiple routes and endings, you're supposed to play all of them, otherwise you don't really know the whole story. Which is of course why it's always required for the TRUE ENDING!!!! It's either that, or the alternate endings are advanced game-overs.

I like Japan.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

On the other hand, Japan supposedly doesn't want to burden people with needless choices, but there's also the fascination with viewing things from multiple perspectives, so when there are multiple routes and endings, you're supposed to play all of them, otherwise you don't really know the whole story.

Woodcutter: I don't understand. I just don't understand. I don't understand it at all. I just don't understand.

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Rashomon the JRPG

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Based mostly on the short story "In the Grove" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa from 1921.

 

[Fluent]

I loved the encounters in Breath of Fire 2 because it was always a possibility that things would go pear shaped and you would end up in dire straits.

It added just enough tension to every fight, not terribly difficult or anything but an enemy could drop a poison on you costing you items/MP or later on something much worse such as sleep or instant death. Every time you failed to take out an enemy group efficiently was a potential "oh shit" moment.

Some JRPGs don't get the balance quite as nice though, I kind of checked out of Breath of Fire 4 for example because there was no danger to any of the encounters. Hopefully it gets a little more interesting later in.

if u like this sort of thing, you might enjoy the Japanese Wizardry/Elminage games as well. Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls is one i played recently that was very good. Every combat had that sort of tension, especially late in the game, and some encounters were jaw dropping when u saw the enemy. Very cool and underrated feature imo, nice job pointing it out! Hope the recommendation helps u, cheers!

 

[AdamReith]

I loved the encounters in Breath of Fire 2 because it was always a possibility that things would go pear shaped and you would end up in dire straits.

It added just enough tension to every fight, not terribly difficult or anything but an enemy could drop a poison on you costing you items/MP or later on something much worse such as sleep or instant death. Every time you failed to take out an enemy group efficiently was a potential "oh shit" moment.

Some JRPGs don't get the balance quite as nice though, I kind of checked out of Breath of Fire 4 for example because there was no danger to any of the encounters. Hopefully it gets a little more interesting later in.

if u like this sort of thing, you might enjoy the Japanese Wizardry/Elminage games as well. Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls is one i played recently that was very good. Every combat had that sort of tension, especially late in the game, and some encounters were jaw dropping when u saw the enemy. Very cool and underrated feature imo, nice job pointing it out! Hope the recommendation helps u, cheers!

Thankyou and good morning sir, yes I have tried and enjoyed these games too. For me though the perfect mix is this tension coupled with a nice story.

There's a part in Breath of Fire 2 for example where you are shrunk down to microscopic size and injected into an overweight queen. Only by destroying her lipid monsters can you successfully cure her of her life threatening condition.

Gameplay is important, context is what makes it memorable and fun. So I miss this aspect a lot when I play pure crawlers. Even Labyrinth of Refrain style interludes don't quite do it for me because I don't feel involved enough.

 

[Nutmeg]

Are there any good JRPGs made for storyfags with branching plots and what not? And no, VN tier CYOA routes determined by a few choices sprinkled here and there don't count.

Black Souls (n.b. not Dark Souls)
Ruina - Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins
Radiant Historia
SaGa series

JRPGs are heavier on the gameplay c&c than story c&c I guess.

 

[Thac0]

Black Souls

Small warning: This is literally a porn game. 4chan loves it, never tried it.

SaGa series

Not for storyfags, SaGa has somewhat interesting lore, but there is very little of it. 90% of the game you engage with the mechanics only, then from time to time you read an interesting piece of exposition.

Ruina - Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins

Have not played, can't say anything about it.

Radiant Historia

This would actually have been my recommendation had you pressed further Hóngwèibīng . It is a neat time travel JRPG with a good world, good aesthetics, a slick and fun combat system with some depth and a nice plot with a route system. The problem for you however will be that at the end of the game all of the complex temporal strands coalesce into one, with one unified ending. Ultimately all decisions you make during the game are just which timeline to explore first, at the end you will reach the same conlusion.

Radiant Historia is however as good as a storyfag JRPG gets, has at least the illusion of choice, and a pretty fun combat system to boot. It was a really underrated little gem on the DS, then it got the mainstream recognition it deserved with the perfect chronology version for the 3DS.
I never got too deeply into version differences, but I think Perfect Chronology is generally recommended over vanilla.

 

[Nutmeg]

Not for storyfags, SaGa has somewhat interesting lore, but there is very little of it. 90% of the game you engage with the mechanics only, then from time to time you read an interesting piece of exposition.

Agree, but there's consequences in the form of missable quests which are kinda like mini stories lol.