Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[Grampy_Bone]

Ultima 4 NES was actually my first Ultima game before I ever owned a PC.

When I did eventually play the PC version I was blown away by the 8 man party and conversation system, but I really missed the music and graphics.

 

[Puukko]

Playing Pokemon Sinking Sapphire, a full dex/difficulty hack. My previous experience with gen 3 was Emerald a long time ago so I figured I'd try a fan hack of the remakes to see what they're like. Pokemon falls squarely into the "play the games, don't interact with the fans" camp much like Persona and they make for a pleasant, lighthearted adventure which I appreciate every now and then. Apparently these remakes aren't as fondly remembered but I haven't really looked into why. So far there's nothing sticking out to me as particularly bad.

The hack promises a "sharp difficulty curve" but it hasn't been as difficult as I had hoped so far. After the very early game it did get a bit more difficult with the rival battles but even with all gym leaders having six mons, I did just fine only having 3/4 myself. I'm approaching the mid game so there's still plenty of time for it to up the stakes, though.

I do really like how the hack makes use of the whole roster, though. Brings much needed variety when you're not fighting the same shitty regional dog or vermin variant for the nth time.

 

[Twizman]

I recommend Pokemon Pyrite- healing items in battle are removed, there is a level cap based on Gym badges, improved ai, forced 'set' battle style. It's basically a rebalanced Crystal upping the difficulty a fair bit, if those kind of hacks are your preference. https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=350926

 

[Puukko]

Alright, the difficulty is setting in. The fight against the female Aqua admin after the fifth gym is about when the game stops fucking around. 6 mons at lvl 46 when mine are ~42 and only my starter is 49 (and I was worried I was overleveling...) with several tricks up their sleeves. The trend so far has been that enemy mons have moves to counter the likely types you'd use against their weaknesses. In this case, lots of earthquakes against electric types. I hope this keeps up for the rest of the game.

 

[Falksi]

Just starting Dragon Quest 11. Barely played a few hours yet, but so far so good.

Not sure I'll get very far into it for a while though, as I'm also currently working my way through Final Fantasy 4, and Phantasy Star 4 too.

Before playing Phanstasy Star 4 this time round I'd have had it as a certified classic. This time round though it's really getting on my tits.

 

[GhostCow]

I didn't get into DQXI on my first try. The story seemed very generic and boring. I waited a year or so then gave it another shot. It still seemed kind of generic and boring, but this time I pressed on and eventually the game got really good. Now that I've beaten it I'd say that it would fit somewhere in my top 20 jrpgs if not top 10. My only complaint is that I had to lead a gay pride parade at one point in the game. God dammit Japan, I play games from your country to get away from all the faggotry in western games.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Just finished Shin Megami Tensei Apocalypse
And it's was pretty darn good. The gameplay is 10/10. Smirk is fun to play around now, i had to actually switch a ton and use everything in a lot of bosses , much better last boss than

Spoiler

Lucifer in 4

Oh also the endgame bosses are actually hard. record scratch is quite hard, i barely got to his second phase first time but third times is the charm.. Also the mini boss rush was pretty hard too. And

Spoiler

I lost 2 times vs Satan

I hope SMTV has similar gameplay because holy shit, one the best game i played , gameplaywise. Just fun.

Spoiler

The story isn't terrible too. Character have arcs , evens someone better than others and Divine powers are godtier villans. Also Hallejuah is the best. He's really enjoyable. Gaston , Navare , Asahi/Toki then Nozomi.

The last dungeon, yhvh universe.. I kinda really like. It's was hard but gave good loot and relative fun to explore. Much better than Lucifer castle or Pandemonium.

Overall is really good game and asides from tone and overall story, it's much better than SMTIV. 9/10. Can't wait to play SJR.

 

[Frank Capicoli]

Oh also the endgame bosses are actually hard. record scratch is quite hard

I hope you did the Diamond Realm dlc it has one of the most pumped up fights in the game.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

I hope you did the Diamond Realm dlc it has one of the most pumped up fights in the game.

I didn't got any DLC yet. I trying to save my money for SJR. But i gonna all DLC

Spoiler

especialy the Beach One

 

[Cat Dude]

Glad that unlike Wrpg, Jrpg has a lot of games to choose from.

 

[jungl]

playing wizardry empire 2 plus. Seems alright first dungeon somewhat interesting second one is not. My god though fuck that door of mondot. If I wanted to play a critical thinking math game well I wouldn't play games. Anyway to bpass that fucker with a item or something?

 

[MpuMngwana]

Alternating between Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey and the DS remake of SaGa 2.

Strange Journey is pretty great so far (just reached the sixth area). Of the MegaTen games I've played, this one probably has the best dungeons, with all the old-school blobber goodness like dark areas, secret doors, hazard tiles, pitfalls. What I find weird is that bosses still mostly have weaknesses at this point, but since weakness exploiting is less powerful compared to other titles in the franchise, it doesn't quite make them pushovers.

SaGa 2 is, well, pretty weird. It's got full-party creation (with things like monster and robot party members), limited use weapons, learn-by-doing character development and a charming lack of internal consistency often found in older RPGs - at the end of my last session, I've walked into a oriental-looking town, bought a lightsaber from the local blacksmith and am now on my way towards the nearby Apollo's temple. It's also shaping up to be fairly short, as I've reached the fourth of I believe nine worlds in about six hours. An interesting experience overall.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I'm also enjoying Strange Journey Redux for the first time. Was going to go all-in with Chaos (I tend to run with Lilim and the Doppleganger is too damn cool) but I don't know that it agrees with my actual beliefs. I wonder if there's enough time in the game to shift to neutral or law, I think I'm on the 4th or 5th strata.

Still, enjoyable game so far and it mixes up fusion enough with its sources, how heavily it leans on alignment systems and the fact that your demons don't gain any new abilities as they level. The systems are different enough from what I'm used to, mainly having played SMT3/4 and Persona games, to keep things interesting. Also playing a space marine is cool, some of the guns you can equip actually have satisfying audio feedback, it can feel like you're unloading a super shotgun into some of these demons.

 

[Puukko]

Google brings up the following:

Alignment lock happens in Horologium after using the elevator and walking forward, that's

Spoiler

when you'll meet Gore

. Unless you're heavy chaos/law you'll be able to choose your route regardless of your current alignment. The dialogue choices are pretty obvious.

Edit: Additionally, you can change your MC's alignment at any time (even after locking your route) by using the goblin trick.

The new alignment endings are achieved by doing this and then completing Womb of Grief after the final boss of the base game.

 

[Puukko]

Xenosaga is pretty entertaining once it gets going. It has a bit of a slow start with you spending a couple hours watching cutscenes and running around on the ship after the tutorial mission, but it gets going from there. And let's be honest, scifi with religious elements > regular scifi. Who knew playing JRPGs was the best way to get acquainted with jewish mysticism and gnosticism?

 

[mushaden]

Suikoden 1 is fine. A bit mediocre. I know the second one is where it's at, so I'm still looking forward to that. I think I'm team SNES vs team PS1 when it comes to jRPGs

 

[Maxie]

I'm towards the end of Radiant Historia and I must say that my initial enthusiasm seemed to be unsubstantiated to a large degree. Endgame fights have little of the fanciful displacement tactics, with more and more bosses being immobile and summoning support units immune to condition effects. The timeline-hopping gimmick wears thin as you're to sit through extensive sections of a singular timeline, with some, frankly, inane side-questing. The presentation remains one of the more appealing takes I faced playing 3ds (still outshined by Strange Journey quite easily), and the sheer number of military movements in the plot is something to behold, even if no camps are ever erected. It's a cute game, but no masterpiece I'd dare to say. Still have to clear the very last chapter.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

I just started playing Strange Journey Redux. Only got to clean Sector A. I legit scared to see what the Schwarzwelt gonna trow at me.
I really miss the english VA from 4 and 4Apocalypse.
The lack of build and stats increasing randomly is quite strange.

 

[Thac0]

Just starting Dragon Quest 11. Barely played a few hours yet, but so far so good.

Not sure I'll get very far into it for a while though, as I'm also currently working my way through Final Fantasy 4, and Phantasy Star 4 too.

Before playing Phanstasy Star 4 this time round I'd have had it as a certified classic. This time round though it's really getting on my tits.

You are not gonna get far. The game has three acts. I managed to finish act 1 after 50 hours, act 2 after 70 hours. Easily a 100 hour game.

To all who are rpg savvy I recommend the draconian options in DQ 11. You need to trigger them from the menu before starting a new game. Stronger Monsters boosts enemy strength by a lot, makes certain bosses really strong. I also play with no running in combat and weaker monsters give no experience. I wouldnt recommend those two too much, No xp is a nonissue 99% of times and then it fuckes you over once because that vicious liquid metal slime group from electro light that would give you 4 level ups gives none because their level is too low. All that no running does is make one sidequest in the game more tedious.

 

[mushaden]

Before playing Phanstasy Star 4 this time round I'd have had it as a certified classic. This time round though it's really getting on my tits.

I played PS4 this year for the first time. I’m not a huge fan. Poor inventory management and a story that seems quite random. It does have a charm though, and it’s not a cakewalk at least (though I never bothered learning the combination attacks).

 

[Falksi]

Before playing Phanstasy Star 4 this time round I'd have had it as a certified classic. This time round though it's really getting on my tits.

I played PS4 this year for the first time. I’m not a huge fan. Poor inventory management and a story that seems quite random. It does have a charm though, and it’s not a cakewalk at least (though I never bothered learning the combination attacks).

Pretty much where I'm at with it now. We'll see how I feel when I finish it, but so far I'm a bit gutted.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Negotiating with demons in Strange Journey Redux makes me miss Apocalypse holy shit.

 

[Removal]

Rolling up Strangers of Sword City. While it's not a bad game, it feels very much like baby's first crawler in regards to difficulty of combat. Combat wise, once you get into the "tempo" 99% of fights are just the same orders regardless of enemy composition. The only change up is if you're fighting spirits or undead, and even then it's changing a single command in from your mage/cleric. Boss fights feel very much the same as the standard no think fights on the map, except you have to throw in debuffs, buffs and they have a lot more hp.
Dungeon design is the big weak point so far, it's very blah and even the dungeons with environmental effects going on suffer since it's not a big enough impact to change how you play/approach, aside from the no magic dungeon.
Can't say I really like the ambush mechanic for getting loot all that much, I can see why someone would like it, but I'd rather deal with fixed loot or mobs dropping specific loot ranges.

the game is easy to get into though, it's not one where you need to sit down and read a manual before diving in
some of the basic quality of life stuff in the game is great though, specifically the automove on parts of the map you've already uncovered

Spoiler

Solid waifus too

 

[Puukko]

Tiamat in Xenosaga was the first game over for me, 25 hours in, and a late casual filter that requires exact handling of the boost system (granting party members extra turns). The boss counters with different attacks based on who went last before its turn, and the counter to Shion is the deadliest since it deals 250+ damage to everyone while the other counters are far easier to deal with. Either Shion or Jr has to land the "killing blow", after which the boss heals and disables the regular counter against that character and replaces it with a fat heal. Since Shion is not really a damage dealer while the boss is weak to Jr's piercing attacks, doing it this way allows him to make maximum use of his turns since I gave him the +1 AP accessory and transferred Boost 1 and Medica all to chaos for support. This boss is either clean and dead in about 15 minutes, or puts you in a resource drain limbo where it heals for more than you can damage it. Also, even with perfect execution, the boss can still counter boost from your attacks, so it can give itself a surprise turn and screw you over. I really quite like bosses that require you to actually handle their mechanics rather than being a simple damage check.

I am morbidly curious what the boss is like with the hardtype hack.

 

[Ysaye]

Started the original Sega Master System Phantasy Star again and is it just me or is this more brutal than the PS2 remake? I have died numerous times already which is hilarious, some random battles are pretty much an automatic loss on sight with Alis less than Level 3 and I am finding enemies don't exactly pass on much gold per encounter (and from memory I need to buy the Secrets from the Port shop so I can at least get another party member?). This is not say I am not enjoying it, just that I may need to take it a bit slower than first thought....