Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[newtmonkey]

Lunar: The Silver Star (Mega-CD)

I went into this not knowing much about the game, though I had heard of it. It ended up being what you'd expect of a 16-bit console RPG: linear and very easy, with a structure that hardly ever deviates from going from town to town killing whatever boss is causing problems in the nearby cave/tower/castle.

The combat system is somewhat cool in that it takes range and positioning into consideration... but ends up being wasted on this game because it's just too easy. Several of your characters have cheap but powerful healing spells, and you can even find a couple of staves that cast healing spells for free in combat. Making things even easier is a permanent item you find that can teleport you at will to any town you've already entered, and scads of items that restore HPs and MPs. You are never in any danger of running out of resources, never mind dying.

The way magic works in this game feels broken. Enemies that are weak to magic spells are REALLY weak to spells, and even early on you have so many MPs that you might as well just cast them all the time. Your spellcasters each end up with about a dozen spells by the end of game, but they are mostly minor variations of previous spells. One character ends up with a ridiculous total of 10 electricity spells, and since higher level spells are clearly better, that means nine of those spells are totally worthless. There are a handful of utility spells, but why would you cast a confusion or sleep spell (that might not even work), when you could spend the same amount on a spell that will just kill every enemy on the screen?

Having said all that, a breezy RPG you can just blast through can be fun every once in a while. The characters are all likeable, the story is fun, and it's got a nice ending.

 

[Puukko]

So... babby's first JRPG?

 

[Grampy_Bone]

just too easy.

The PSX version ups the challenge a bit.

 

[newtmonkey]

Final Fantasy USA Mystic Quest

This is the Japanese version of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, which I played and completed back when it was first released. I was in the mood to replay it, so I decided to play the Japanese version and see if there were any differences (there are none, besides the language of course). I also tried to do a low-level run by ignoring the "battle fields" (grinding spots) on the map... but ended up at level 34 anyway, which seems to be around the level most people complete the game, thus proving that the battle fields are a meaningless waste of time.

This game was basically a crass attempt by clueless Square executives to get American kids into RPGs, under the delusion that RPGs were just too complicated and hard for them to understand. Even if their intentions were pure, what they ultimately released is mostly a failure of a game with some fun moments.

Everything about the game has been simplified to the point where the game is just boring. There are no random encounters, probably because some test group told them they were "totally bogus," so instead there are visible enemies on the maps. However, the enemies stand still in fixed locations and, due to corridors all being a single tile wide, cannot be avoided. In effect, the game becomes a worse slog than even the grindiest "real" RPG with random encounters.

There is no utility magic, just healing and damage spells, so combat completely lacks any strategy or tactics. Damage spells really aren't very effective unless an enemy is weak to them, so you can't even blast through battles quicker by casting spells instead of fighting. So, the game is just fight and heal. Making this even worse is that you have just two characters in your party. There's simply not much you can do with such a limited battle system.

Toward the end of the game, nearly every single enemy takes two hits to kill and casts lots of status effect spells. When one of your characters gets hit with stone/paralyze/sleep, it means your other character will be spending the next round curing... extending battle for one more tedious round. If you're unlucky, the enemy will just keep doing it, so it's round after round of this. Monsters can also cheat and change their orders in the middle of a round, allowing them to heal a damaged comrade instantly. That, too, means extending battle another tedious round.

Even so, you're never in any real danger. The main character (and often the second character) has access to powerful healing spells, and you find items that heal you and restore your spells all over the place. Even if you do get unlucky and die in battle, the game lets you restart the battle from the first round with no penalty. It's the very definition of trash combat: thoughtless, routine, unavoidable, and with no danger whatsoever.

What really kills the game is the extreme linearity and total lack of any sense of exploration. There is no world to explore, just a map that basically serves as a menu to choose which dungeon or town to enter. If the dungeons were worth exploring, and the characters were fun, this could have worked. Gaia Gensouki (aka Illusion of Gaia), though an action RPG, works similarly and yet is a great game thanks to its excellent dungeons with actual puzzles, thoughtful story with charming characters, and awesome sense of exploration even though the game is totally linear!

The game is not completely horrible, though. The monster graphics are colorful and fun, and actually show damage as the fight goes on. The game has also got an excellent soundtrack, though there aren't very many songs and things get repetitive very quickly... even for a game that lasts only 10 hours or so.

 

[Brimruk]

Currently playing Demon Gaze and EarthBound Beginnings on my Switch.

DG is interesting because instead of building a full party, you only start with the MC and have to pay an increasing amount of gold for future party members. Just kicked this one off but it's scratching the DRPG itch nicely (I dropped Labyrinth of Galleria in favor of this game; I don't know what it is but something about that game is not clicking with me even though I loved the first Labyrinth game).

EBB has a simple, but pretty satisfying gameplay loop (and great music!). It's a nice brain break game when I need to unwind; just got my second party member so a lot of time is being spent grinding up money for gear and exp to get him up to speed.

 

[Lincolnberry]

Elminage Gothic. I've played for about an hour and I'm bouncing off hard. Conceptually I love the idea. The lack of a map to follow / see or locked behind one use consumables is hard. I don't think I have the patience for this, regrettably.

 

[REhorror]

This year: Octopath Traveler 2 and Star Ocean 2nd Story R rock the JRPG boat for me. Honorable mention to Wandering Sword too.

All games have fun stories and very fun combat system.

Should also mention Armored Core 6, but it's not strictly a JRPG I guess, multi-choices and endings aside.

 

[TheSoul]

I finished playing the Phantasy star series this year. It's nice to play a jrpg that lets you play the game in the first 15 min again.

PS I

• It's simple in a good way. The art leans a bit too close to Star wars at times, but the combat animations and environments do look good. Too many moments where you just mash A though.
• The difficulty is low until you get to the final bosses. We have Lashiec, who is a fucking pain in the ass and inflicts bullshit amounts of random damage. Then there's Dark Force, who has his health bar and damage taken hidden. It's a nice "meta" change since you were able to look at it the rest of the game.

PS II

• This is the most subjective. PSII has terrible dungeons, slow movement, and at times looks worse than I. Using a guide is mandatory unless you love jumping down holes and guessing what equipment also casts spells. Without a guide, I wouldn't have played this.
• What I really like about the game is how minimalist it can be while having interesting ideas. Motavia's dependence on Mother Brain, with most of the civilians lacking the initiative to solve the monster problem was well done with what little dialogue there was. You also get some reactivity once the robots are released, since some NPCs now recognize you, although nothing was done with it.
• The game leans a lot more into sci-fi elements and it's cool to see how much the planets changed since 1. The pacing on Dezolis is terrible though, with Lutz's temple being the worst example.
• The Soundtrack is really warm? Not sure how to describe it but it's a lot more soothing than what you'd expect from a sci-fi game, while still sounding like one.

PS III

• I've heard this was handled by a bunch of newer employees and it shows. My main issue with the game is how aimless the whole experience was. Progression is tied to needing an item and getting cockblocked if you don't have it. It's much more accessible than II, but is substantially worse at doing anything besides giving textboxes that only exist for exposition.
• III's main ideas are way too underdeveloped. The world feels so samey even if they're supposed to be two different cultures. I'm not invested in anything that goes on and I barely remember what happened in each generation. The sci-fantasy clashes with each other and irritates me the more I've been thinking about it.
• The one new idea I liked is the dynamic soundtrack. The overworld theme is more layered the more members you get and the combat theme changes depending on how well it goes.
• Enemy designs suck. The robots look like they came from Earthbound and most enemy groups just look like objects. Overall, this one is a slog and I don't see myself touching it ever again.

PS IV

• If you wanted to recommend an old jprg to someone, this is a good one to show what they did right. Sega threw in a lot of the better elements from the first 3 games while adding some more on top (vehicle combat, combination attacks, a rotating party, sidequests). It's the only one where the party feel defined as characters and it makes a world of difference. Towns also change after certain story events, which is always nice to see.
• Visually, everything is well done and there's a lot of beautiful environments. The final dungeon being this seizure inducing psychedelic nightmare makes up for how simple it is. I also find the screen turning to red and black when you kill a boss really satisfying.
• The soundtrack is amazing.
• I think the pacing is too slow midgame and the main villain Darkforce, is not interesting. They should've introduced Lashiec earlier or killed Zio later.

 

[Puukko]

'tism swung particularly hard and I've been in a Pokemon mood for a while now. Usually I have very little interest in these games, last time I actually beat one was in 2020. Picked up Sacred Gold, an older HGSS hack. It's very good, the difficulty is just right and having access to that team variety with every mon available is basically a requirement for me to enjoy these games at this point. I honestly don't think there's much point in playing anything other than hacks other than specifically for a nostalgia trip. They elevate these games from babby's first JRPG to something actually engaging. This game has plenty of content, I'm just past the midway point after the league.

 

[flyingjohn]

Picked up Sacred Gold, an older HGSS hack

Good choice and Drayano is making a new version.

the difficulty is just right

Th beginning is great but it kind of falls off difficulty wise all the way until you reach the Elite four.

I honestly don't think there's much point in playing anything other than hacks other than specifically for a nostalgia trip.

Agreed and it is one of the reasons I can't enjoy modern Pokemon games, no proper romhacks. That and the atrocious graphics.

 

[Puukko]

I tried Scarlet with the SV+ hack and even when upscaled on an emulator, it looks very rough a lot of the time. The draw distance is very low and many scenes are lacking in basic lighting and shadows. It just looks bad, and apparently it's still a marked step up from SwSh. These games are just too much for the Switch it seems. Nintendo isn't really in the business of remastering previous gen stuff on newer hardware (to my knowledge) but if they made the Switch 2 not only backwards compatible but also able to easily upscale and maybe even enhance Switch games, that would be very nice.

There are UE4 games with graphics tweaks mods on the Switch but I'm not aware of such mods for other engines. I used those with SMTV and it had a marked improvement with stuff like shadows and grass.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

Currently running through Suikoden I for the first time, reached my first big army battle.

I watched some random youtuber's PSX RPG tier list and realized there are several I've never played through. Suikoden always seems to get high marks.

So far my opinion is mixed. Recruiting all these characters is novel and as a sucker for talking head portraits I'm just generally appreciative of the artwork and pixel art the game's offered so far. I would probably have bought Octopath Traveler if characters had portraits in their dialogue windows- it's a weird thing, but I think it adds a lot to the aesthetic of dialogue-heavy JRPGs. Some games just feel very dry without them.

On other hand I can't say I'm impressed with the gameplay loop so far. Combat is very much an auto-attack fest and very easy overall. There was a single dragon battle to earn my keep that was somewhat difficult, but outside of that it's been more or less a snooze. I was running through Dragon Quest 3 NES just prior to this, and the battles in Suikoden just pale in comparison so far. In DQ3 even in its first dungeon when you're sub-level 6 you have to carefully prioritize your targets in random encounters. A party of 4 enemy magicians can wipe your team mercilessly. Occasionally you might run into a battle with an overwhelming number of enemies where you have to weigh the risk of failing a flee attempt and the onslaught it would invite. DQ3's combat encounters were interesting and (relatively) tactical from the jump.

Maybe the game gets better difficulty-wise, but I'm guessing the game is not as revered as it is for its combat system. Maybe I should try some of these PSX Saga games instead. When I was like 7 years old the folks bought me a gameboy with Kirby, Link's Awakening and Final Fantasy Legend. Had never realized it was actually a Saga game.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Suikoden was "that one game you played before FF7 came out."

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

For S1 I had to retry a couple story boss fights near the end but otherwise it was easy.

The main feature of the Suikoden series is that you can mix and match your favorite party members from a humongous roster. The exp scaling mechanic was implemented so that if you changed your mind about who you wanted to bring (or were forced to bring someone for a story segment) or recruited a new character who was your favorite, you wouldn't have to waste a lot of time grinding them up with the rest of your team. It is disappointing that the combat system never become more sophisticated, not even in 3 or 5 (they never did anything interesting with the skill system), and the game designers erred on the side of caution making it so that you can beat the game with whoever. The Trails series later on managed to take Suikoden's concept of mixing and matching huge playable character rosters but apply more indepth combat and character building to it and higher difficulty levels, with almost the entire character roster still being viable even on the highest difficulty setting of nightmare/abyss (Swin in Reverie is often regarded as meh due to his redundant toolkit, but at least he has a 4S S-craft like everyone else so can deal viable damage. I think the only truly useless character on higher difficulties would be Josette in 3rd).

 

[Rahdulan]

Currently running through Suikoden I for the first time, reached my first big army battle.

On other hand I can't say I'm impressed with the gameplay loop so far. Combat is very much an auto-attack fest and very easy overall. There was a single dragon battle to earn my keep that was somewhat difficult, but outside of that it's been more or less a snooze. I was running through Dragon Quest 3 NES just prior to this, and the battles in Suikoden just pale in comparison so far. In DQ3 even in its first dungeon when you're sub-level 6 you have to carefully prioritize your targets in random encounters. A party of 4 enemy magicians can wipe your team mercilessly. Occasionally you might run into a battle with an overwhelming number of enemies where you have to weigh the risk of failing a flee attempt and the onslaught it would invite. DQ3's combat encounters were interesting and (relatively) tactical from the jump.

Maybe the game gets better difficulty-wise, but I'm guessing the game is not as revered as it is for its combat system. Maybe I should try some of these PSX Saga games instead. When I was like 7 years old the folks bought me a gameboy with Kirby, Link's Awakening and Final Fantasy Legend. Had never realized it was actually a Saga game.

With couple of standout battles in every game the entire franchise is on the easy side. In part precisely because the game accounts for 70+ playable characters where you can just take the best ones and clean house. The most challenging battles tend to be those where game saddles you with a sub-par character you can't replace. First Suikoden is short and essentially dev team testing the waters.

 

[Puukko]

I've been curious about the one with the vampire chick, for no particular reason at all.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I've been curious about the one with the vampire chick, for no particular reason at all.

Sierra? Just so you know, she might not be a virgin. In Suikogaiden, you learn that she was the first vampire, and took pity on a dying knight who stumbled towards her shack and she vampired him, and they were pretty close for hundreds of years before Neclord stole the true rune and caused all the vampires to either die or go crazy.

In Suikoden 3, Nash claims to be married (while sneaking into a girl's bedroom). A popular fan theory is that Sierra is his wife.

 

[AdamReith]

Hour 50 of At Tonelico 2, long long time since I've been so deep (oo-er) in a jrpg.

Enjoying all the characters, maxed out all the diving and crafting bollocks. Hopefully can get this promised land created and some kind of vaguely satisfying ending soon.

Low point so far is a supercharged synchronicity enabled replika augmented top tier song hitting for a total of 0 damage because hard mode thought it would make sense for all bosses to have 100% elemental resists. Important life lesson learned, never settle for a Cloche because a Jakuri could be just around the corner.

Other than that though it's a very nicely balanced JRPG and really hits the sweet spot between autistic gameplay and retarded melodrama that I crave.

Also, am using the Metalbat relocalization patch which seems to be decent.

 

[Puukko]

The Ar Tonelico OSTs are absolute bangers and if you haven't heard them you're missing out. And they didn't stop with the Nosurge games.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

Digimon savers another mission (Digimon Data squad) has some really interesting mechanics but the level design is terrible. It's weird when one Digimon partner evolves 6 times in the same fight but it's jumping levels from child to adult and back again. Especially when you have it going from demonic beasts to plants and back randomly between them.

 

[Reinhardt]

Jakuri

best girl!

 

[Puukko]

There is a guy out there who went for Luca. I don't want to meet him.

 

[Reinhardt]

being more psychotic and evil than literal genocide murderloli - that's quite an achievement.

 

[Puukko]

Action games are funny, because playing one makes you feel like playing another. I put Elden Ring on pause and picked up Scarlet Nexus again. I've been playing it on and off for a long while now, I could see myself finally sticking with it. It was a gift as well so there's extra incentive.

Hapa ethnostate surveillance dystopia with biopunk is how I'd describe the setting. And I swear officer, she's an adult, it's the combat drugs that keep her young. You get Persona style social links with very tangible combat rewards which is exactly how it should be done. What's funny is that you're simultaneously at war with some of these people so one moment you're trying to bash their face in, then you're discussing gardening. It's a delicate balance.

The combat got praise and yeah, it's fun and layered and you unlock more of the systems piece by piece. It revolves around making use of the team's special powers to overcome enemy strengths. So for the water enemy, electricity, for thr enemy that is only occasionally vulnerable, slow down time or go for an invisible ambush. The MC gets not one but two power up modes, though they each come with their drawbacks. The first one takes a long while to charge but then automatically turns on which easily becomes wasteful even if it ticks down more slowly outside combat. You actually need to get a plugin to be able to manually use it which I can't even get yet, and even then I don't know if it's worth sacrificing a slot for. The second power is manual but it can straight up kill you if you don't disengage on time and without skill point investment it's really not too useful.

What I'm most concerned about right now is whether the game will have enough unique areas. They've really been reusing them a lot, and there's an entire second route with a different character and if this keeps up I'll be sick of this damn mall area well before then. Meanwhile I'm wondering where exactly it'll go with what party members I'll get, because I briefly got to play with all of them before being locked off. The mechanics imply some kind of reunion but who knows. Not going to look it up regardless.

 

[Crayll]

What I'm most concerned about right now is whether the game will have enough unique areas. They've really been reusing them a lot, and there's an entire second route with a different character and if this keeps up I'll be sick of this damn mall area well before then. Meanwhile I'm wondering where exactly it'll go with what party members I'll get, because I briefly got to play with all of them before being locked off. The mechanics imply some kind of reunion but who knows. Not going to look it up regardless.

From what I understand playing the other protagonist's route gives you some more context on story events and some unique missions, but large chunks of it are the same. Personally I enjoyed the gameplay and setting, but not enough to hop right in to the other route after beating it once.