Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[Sigourn]

Are the snes remakes just romhack patches or completely overhauled?

It's reasonably overhauled. Mostly quality of life upgrades, and a few things introduced in later games.
For instance, in Dragon Quest 1 you can now:

• Use stairs without having to select a special command.
• Get items from pots, drawers.
• You can now find seeds and acorns that increase your abilities.
• You can now see how strong weapons and armor are when you buy them.

And I'm sure there are other things I haven't thought of yet. The only thing that makes the game EASIER, that I have found so far, is that the Fireball spell (a.k.a. HURT in Dragon Warrior NES) deals twice the damage. On one hand I'm okay with it, because in the NES release the HURT spell is rendered pointless fairly quickly but way before you get HURTMORE. On the other hand, it does make beating certain difficult enemies easier early into the game. But IMO stronger is the better choice no doubt. Grinding has been greatly toned down. In a game like Dragon Quest, however, it will always be noticeable since there aren't that many things you can do aside from following the "story", and the roadblocks in place require grinding to overcome.

Overall I very much recommend it.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I played the SNES versions. I didn't really need to grind in 1 except at the very end, and that only took like half an hour or something iirc. Exploring was fun. End boss is bullshit. DQ2 was fun until I encountered a gamebreaking bug related to a character going into a coma. So uh, avoid that, I guess? Also it kinda railroads you in some dumb ways. DQ3 was really fun for a while, got a bit dull around when you can unlock the higher tier classes, and got so boring at the end I didn't bother finishing it in the underworld.

 

[newtmonkey]

The SFC version of Dragon Quest 1 is far and away the preferable version, because it's the easiest way to get that piece of shit over with. It's a horrible grind from about 2/3rds into the game until the end because combat offers no tactics whatsoever. The SFC version reduces the grind.

The other games are arguable.

Dragon Quest 2 SFC is easier than the NES version, and unlike DQ1, DQ2 is not a mindless grind but instead a fantastically balanced game that rewards prioritizing certain targets in combat, making good use of spells, and running away (from battle or back to town) when your resources get low; in that respect, it's very close to classic Wizardry games—you aren't really meant to fully explore caves/dungeons in one attempt. You won't have to mindlessly grind battles until the very very end of the game.

I dunno if DQ3 SFC tones down the difficulty (I suspect it does though), but it adds enough stuff that it's worth playing anyway.

 

[aweigh]

ff4 tay on psp sure looks pretty with retro arch crt filter (crt royale):

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Are the gbc, gba, and later version good? I started getting into the FF1-2 game.

 

[Twizman]

Very happy replacing my Witch in Dungeon Travelers 2 with a Papillon in mid-game. Witch was facerolling everything and Papillon AoE is less powerful, forcing me to think a bit more vs dungeon mobs.

Also I love the gorgeous art in the FFIV Complete Collection and TAY, was thinking of replaying it. Awesome rpg!
Heard good things about FFIV - Ultima too, want to try that at some point :D https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4134/

Very happy to see praise for Dragon Warrior II balancing newtmonkey, always thought that myself which was at odds with the general black sheep view of the game. One of the best rpg experiences I've had - not nostalgia as only played recently. Oh I was referring to the NES version, now my interest in piqued for SFC. DQIII - Hardtype is the definitive version for me.

 

[aweigh]

anyone played the iOS/Android remakes of DQ 1 - 3? Did they butcher the difficulty in those?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Any of you try Tower of Silka on the MAC. Seems mac exclusive.

 

[jungl]

been playing fire emblem fates on citra runs good now. Nu fire emblem games don't feel the same compared to gba and gamecube one and not in good way.

 

[Sigourn]

Playing Final Fantasy (NES) on RetroArch. My gorgeous party:

I've toyed with this game before, but this time it's for real. I'm currently grinding to tackle the Marsh Cave. I've heard it's the hardest part of the game, and I'm not looking at DQ levels of grinding so far (the only time I "grinded" was just to get to level 2, and then went ahead and killed Garland), so I'm thankful for it.

The existence of classes and the Vancian magic system add much needed complexity when compared to Dragon Quest (1986), plus the character sprites are C-U-T-E. And once I found out I could adjust the response rate (i.e. battle message speed) the game became much more enjoyable. I've started running away from wolf packs too, which helps a lot (numerous enemies with high evasion and low rewards -> get the fuck away from me).

 

[Volourn]

Hey, guyz, we found the Avellone Japanese imposter!

 

[Swigen]

TiTS SC, got frustrated looking for the little cunt in the white dress at the Royal Villa and ended up just looking online. FUCK YOU GAEM!! I checked there 3 fucking times but you have to be standing just so in order for the (!) to show! Thanks for wasting my motherfucking time! SUCK COCKS IN HELL weaboo fag who designed that quest!! HHHNNNNNNNNN!!!

 

[Sigourn]

So I've kept playing Final Fantasy despite many annoyances it has (which I will cover in a detailed review), and after having my ass whipped at a volcano I decided to map the game's world. And, like it is usual in these games, it is obvious that the game's massive worldspace does a great job at making it seem you have more freedom than you actually have: the map itself, while open, is very linear. Exploration is of very little gain, as the most you can come across are locations whose purpose is yet to be known.

Overall the game is serviceable, but it would have been a much better experience with some major quality of life improvements.

 

[Deflowerer]

It would be more appropriate to compare it with Dragon Quest III, since the latter was released only two months later.

 

[MpuMngwana]

Been playing Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne over the last couple of weeks. Good shit. Atmosphere and art direction are top notch, and I enjoy the dynamic party building a lot. I'm playing on Normal, and I'm not sure if I should've gone for Hard; on one hand, I'm becoming increasingly able to steamroll any opposition, on the other hand the differences in difficulties in jRPGs can be kinda drastic so maybe on Hard I'd have the opposite problem.

 

[Puukko]

Nocturne is widely considered a "difficult" RPG but I found this to be an exaggeration to some extent. If you go in blind, then yes, but a lot of the challenge comes from learning enemy patterns and weaknesses. Meanwhile, bosses don't hit very hard, especially after the usual buff/debuff cycle. I don't remember having too much trouble with any boss compared to later SMTs. Even the final and ultimate bosses I one shot which was really surprising to me.

How far in are you? I remember getting some good attacks on my STR/buffer Demifiend inbetween the second and third riders which turned 12 minute boss fights into 4 minute ones. It really can't hurt to try Hard, assuming you can change mid-game - I have no recollection if you can.

 

[MpuMngwana]

Nocturne is widely considered a "difficult" RPG but I found this to be an exaggeration to some extent.

Yeah, I picked the Normal option mainly because of its reputation for being very difficult, and it certainly seems to be exaggerated. My only previous experience with SMT is Persona 4, and so far they seem to be of pretty similar overall difficulty. While some of Nocturne's fights seem harder on paper, it's offset by the ability to finely tune your party and the fact that your buffs don't wear off on their own.

Meanwhile, bosses don't hit very hard

That's true. It's kinda refreshing compared to typical jRPG "you need to spam healing constantly if you want to survive" fare, though.

How far in are you?

Doing the Amala Temple ATM.

It really can't hurt to try Hard, assuming you can change mid-game - I have no recollection if you can.

I believe you can't unfortunately, would've at least tested it otherwise to check whether I find it manageable.

 

[Puukko]

Ah, well that is late game. Make sure to get the true demon ending for maximum content.

 

[Rahdulan]

Nocturne is widely considered a "difficult" RPG but I found this to be an exaggeration to some extent. If you go in blind, then yes, but a lot of the challenge comes from learning enemy patterns and weaknesses. Meanwhile, bosses don't hit very hard, especially after the usual buff/debuff cycle. I don't remember having too much trouble with any boss compared to later SMTs. Even the final and ultimate bosses I one shot which was really surprising to me.

I think there was a discussion about it here at some point, but it's more of a comparative thing because JRPGs at large are insultingly easy and basic when it comes to what they expect from the player to finish them. The moment you throw in something more (status ailment actually doing something, needing to understand basic counters, etc) said addition blows away the minds of your audience used to "press X to choose attack = victory fanfare". Nocturne was that wake up call for a lot of people hence the reputation it has. It's no Romancing SaGa in terms of needing to understand the underlying mechanics or anything, but it definitely happens to be more involved than most of the genre.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Not JRPG, but Tales of Wuxia is fun.

Is there other example of simulation RPG with multiple ending? Think something like Princess Maker but with heavier RPG elements

 

[Sigourn]

I've gone on record in the past saying I'm surprised computer RPGs ever became popular in the first place. That's because pretty much all of them, in the beginning, were tedious as fuck.
Final Fantasy is no exception. I've just defeated the third Fiend, Kraken, and I have to stop for the day beause I'm burning out. Pretty much anything I can think of from a gameplay point of view is done poorly in Final Fantasy. In fact, I struggle to think of anything I can point out at and say "yep, this is good".

• You can face parties of up to 9 enemies.
• It is more common to be ambushed than it is to surprise the enemy. Cue 9 enemies attacking you in a row.
• Enemies can paralyze you or poison you on touch. You can be effectively stunlocked if you are unlucky.
• Cannot buy items in bulk. Enjoy buying one HEAL or PURE at a time. Also enjoy having to apply them in the most retarded of ways because the game doesn't allow you to spam HEALs on your character; rather, you have to apply one, the game takes you back one menu, you have to select the item to apply, and then again have to select the character to apply it too.
• Can't tell which weapons and armor your party members can equip at either a vendor or at the equipment screens.
• Can't tell whether said equipment is worse or better than what you are currently equipped with.
  
• Having to juggle equipment around party members. Especially annoying since Final Fantasy isn't a game where you can hoard loads of powerful equipment, most of it is trash.
• Treasure chests are also garbage for the most part.
  
• The game switches your party order when one character is poisoned, so that they occupy the last place on the party (where they are more likely to be attack). Problem is, if you have mages in your party they will likely be in those spots. Meaning mages are now more likely to be attacked. Enjoy having to switch around your party every time one character is poisoned.
• Turn order is completely fucked. Level 1 or Level 10, you will struggle to notice any difference at how fast your characters get turns. If I'm not mistaken, the concept of "initiative" is not even present in this game.
• The "if you killed the enemy, your next attacks targeting this enemy will miss" system is more annoying than it is interesting. It adds "some" strategy (and I'm using the term liberally here) at the expense of making the game far slower and the battles more annoying to get through.
• Casting a spell that hits all enemies and then seeing your fighters miss their attacks because some enemies have died is also a very fun experience.
  
• Random encounters all the goddamn time. Because even the shittiest, easiest encounters turn to a slog because of fucked up turn order and because they are simply unrewarding, you end up running away from all of them. Except even trying to run away is a tedious affair of manually selecting RUN for all your four characters, and then having to see as the enemy (even pesky IMPs) attack them while it is finally your turn... and running may even miss.
  
• Having to grind to survive dungeons because you can't save inside them and you can't restore your Vancian magic slots either unless you visit an INN or use a HOUSE on the overworld.
• Also gotta love that dungeon design of "let's make the floors really big and add lots of dead ended pathways just to fuck with the player".
• Healing in the game is also shit because of Vancian magic slots, but also because HEAL items heal only about 30HP, in a game where your characters will be hitting 300HP at level 20. I mentioned how you cannot buy items in bulk, meaning not only you have to buy 99 HEALs one at a time, but you also have to see 10 of them go away at one go as you heal just ONE character, since you most definitely want to leave CURE spells for the very last.
• Huge map, but there's fuckall to see.

This game is garbage. But the graphics and music are nice and the setting is somewhat creative. I'll try to see the game through, but no promises: at first I would thoroughly explore a dungeon. With the sunken cave, all I cared about was getting to the end and leaving every potential treasure behind. It will be interesting to play through the PS1 and Dawn of Souls releases afterwards.



ALL THAT SAID, I love how (having played games VI, VII, IX, X and XII) Square eventually fixed EVERYTHING I'm complaining about in Final Fantasy.

 

[MpuMngwana]

Completed SMT: Nocturne. Got the True Demon ending. Fittingly enough, my Demi-Fiend had exactly 666 max HP during the final two boss fights.

I complained earlier that the game was getting too easy, and thankfully it got somewhat harder (or I was just underleveled, since I didn't do any grinding). Beelzebub and the Reason bosses were pretty challenging. Final boss was, unfortunately, trivial (aside from astronomic HP). True final boss was a bit more tense, since only the Demi-Fiend could deal any significant damage, and him combining both of his bullshit super-moves and getting lucky at any point could spell doom.

During the endgame I got somewhat complacent with my party composition, since I dreaded having to transfer skill combos I wanted onto other demons. The most extreme example of this was my Daisoujou, since his Meditation+Prayer infinite healing combo was too good to give up (on top of being able to defeat some bosses by sucking their MP dry).

Overall I liked the game a lot. Mechanics are great, atmosphere and music are phenomenal, and it has some pretty memorable dungeons (my favorite is probably the prison where you have to switch between walking on floor and ceiling). Visually, it has aged really well, it still looks pretty in spite of being a PS2 game.

I'll probably take a break from SMT to avoid burnout, but I'm definitely interested in trying other games from the franchise. Strange Journey seems fun (but I'm not sure whether I should go with the original or the remake). IV and it's spinoff are polarizing apparently, though they are also on my radar. I'm also wondering how well I and II hold up?

 

[Puukko]

I've played neither, but I and II are something more hardcore fans play after having played through several modern entries, usually. If you've got experience with non-mainstream SNES era RPGs and the bullshit they throw at you, you should be fine, but I personally wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Twizman]

Considering having a crack at Phantasy Star IV Purgatory Mode (double exp) again. Although from memory the sheer level of grind and power of mobs to quickly wipe the party swung it a bit too far into the kaizo direction. If it could be slighty rebalanced to tone it back a bit I think that would be the sweet spot.

I just love everything about the battle system though: the speed of actions, animations, music, effects. Surprised I didn't see the macro system used in other rpgs, maybe it exists in different forms.

 

[Damned Registrations]

People speedrun PS4, it can't be THAT grindy.