Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[Damned Registrations]

The thing that put me off it was the skill learning mechanics. They seemed really cool and deep. They're retarded and you'll never understand them without looking up guides for how to unlock the high level skills, at which point I knew what all the skills were and had nothing to look forward to.

Also the desert. Fuck the desert.

 

[abnaxus]

I finish the first scenario of Rudra no hihou

Spoiler

It’s decent enough for a Square game, but Shinseiki Odysselya II basically does everything this game does, and better. At least there's no grinding

Still I’m kind of burnt out already.


Anyway, Foxy is really hot and Riza chan is cute

 

[n0wh3r3]

The thing that put me off it was the skill learning mechanics. They seemed really cool and deep. They're retarded and you'll never understand them without looking up guides for how to unlock the high level skills, at which point I knew what all the skills were and had nothing to look forward to.

Also the desert. Fuck the desert.

What if part of the fun was getting to decipher the gameplay?

 

[Damned Registrations]

The thing that put me off it was the skill learning mechanics. They seemed really cool and deep. They're retarded and you'll never understand them without looking up guides for how to unlock the high level skills, at which point I knew what all the skills were and had nothing to look forward to.

Also the desert. Fuck the desert.

What if part of the fun was getting to decipher the gameplay?

Doing that would require crowdsourcing or code diving. There's simply too much hidden information. Deciphering the gameplay is what I normally enjoy most in RPGs. Spending a bunch of time on it only to eventually give up and find out I could have spent a decade working at it without discovering half of it was immensely disappointing.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

What is hard about the last remnant skills? You just use the skill/weapon/magic and it eventually unlocks higher level abilities. It's not even random like SaGa games. It's not like, say, the wtf clusterfuck that is Legend of Mana tempering.

 

[Damned Registrations]

There are a set of magic skills that only specific characters can use, and only if those characters are the leaders of the group, and have learned specific prerequisite skills, and the group members also use specific skills. You can easily use a character all game long and never unlock the high level skills because you didn't know they weren't eligible for whatever fucking skill category you wanted to use them with. Don't even get me started on the fucking class system, where various combinations simply don't have high tier classes associated with them. Give a character a two handed weapon and some healing spells? Get fucked, 3 of the 7 tiers aren't available for you!

Basically, if you don't give characters very particular skills, their growth will be capped and you'll have no idea why.

 

[Zero CHAR]

There are a set of magic skills that only specific characters can use, and only if those characters are the leaders of the group, and have learned specific prerequisite skills, and the group members also use specific skills. You can easily use a character all game long and never unlock the high level skills because you didn't know they weren't eligible for whatever fucking skill category you wanted to use them with. Don't even get me started on the fucking class system, where various combinations simply don't have high tier classes associated with them. Give a character a two handed weapon and some healing spells? Get fucked, 3 of the 7 tiers aren't available for you!

Basically, if you don't give characters very particular skills, their growth will be capped and you'll have no idea why.

Min-maxing in games is for fucking pussies, no wonder an undertale fan doesn't like TLR.

 

[Damned Registrations]

There are a set of magic skills that only specific characters can use, and only if those characters are the leaders of the group, and have learned specific prerequisite skills, and the group members also use specific skills. You can easily use a character all game long and never unlock the high level skills because you didn't know they weren't eligible for whatever fucking skill category you wanted to use them with. Don't even get me started on the fucking class system, where various combinations simply don't have high tier classes associated with them. Give a character a two handed weapon and some healing spells? Get fucked, 3 of the 7 tiers aren't available for you!

Basically, if you don't give characters very particular skills, their growth will be capped and you'll have no idea why.

Min-maxing in games is for fucking pussies, no wonder an undertale fan doesn't like TLR.

Yeah, me and my unreasonable expectations of being able to get new skills and classes with over half the game left to go.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Which of these games I'm already ~20% of the way through should I finish next?

-Tales of Arise
-Cold Steel 2
-Alliance Alive
-Xenoblade Chronicles 2
-Fire Emblem Three Houses

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I finish the first scenario of Rudra no hihou

Treasure of Rudras was a real fun SNES RPG. Although there are a lot of JRPGs that I quit half-way through- this game has the honor of being the only one that I dropped during the final boss fight. I still have no idea how it ends. I played it on a cell phone emulator like a decade ago- the final fight just went on and on and on, I had some series of actions that the boss could never beat but I was chipping away at its health so slowly that I just stopped playing it permanently one day.

To your point, though, it's always interesting seeing the artwork that those SNES sprites are based off of. I never knew what Foxy was supposed to look like, for instance. Some of my favorite artwork for an SNES JRPG has to be Mystic Ark, the 'sequel' to 7th saga if you can call it that.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Which of these games I'm already ~20% of the way through should I finish next?

-Tales of Arise
-Cold Steel 2
-Alliance Alive
-Xenoblade Chronicles 2
-Fire Emblem Three Houses

Cold Steel 2 is one of my top favorite JRPGs, but it is a direct continuation of CS1 so if you aren't invested in the story and don't like the combat and character building then I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

direct continuation of CS1

I did finish CS1, and the combat is great. What stalled the game for me is the structure of sidequests and the FOMO of the grading points system.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Cold Steel 2 is the best Cold Steel game hands down, followed by 4.

 

[n0wh3r3]

Cold Steel 2 is the best Cold Steel game hands down, followed by 4.

Where should I start the saga?

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Where should I start the saga?

Take that to the kiseki thread, don't derail this one for 20 pages

 

[Lyre Mors]

Where should I start the saga?

Trails in the Sky FC

 

[JoacoN]

26 hours deep into P3P and I think it's quite good.
First Persona I played so it was interesting to learn that it has a gameplay loop focused on elemental advantages and disadvantages, I used to think the personas would just give you a special attack with an effect, not that they would have entire movesets and stuff.
Rn level 31 and 26/7, most of the team is level 27 (tho i find mitsuru kinda useless, she always spams the same 2 attacks and I find it more useful to just use ice focused personas myself).
Definitely best part of the game are the social links, pretty unique and makes it easier to know what NPCs are more important than others.
Also btw does anyone know if weapon fusing is required? Haven't used yet cause focus striking with crits + elemental attacks is kinda busted

 

[deuxhero]

JoacoN
IIRC weapon fusion has two main uses
1: Give a party member a weapon that lets them evade/resist their weakness
2: The unique weapons (fusing Cu Chulainn, Surt, Thor, Odin, Siegfried, Cybele, Michael, Masakado, Mara, Vishnu, Beelzebub, Shiva, Asura, Chi You, Metatron, or Lucifier with the right weapon type) are often powerful, especially when obtained early.
2B: Black Frost with anything doesn't make a true unique weapon, but the weapon will always give 1 power and +10 magic, so good for casters who aren't attacking.

It was an FES addition and not in base Persona 3, so hardly required.

 

[JoacoN]

deuxhero thanks for the info, then I guess I'll wait till I have the first ultimate persona of whatever arcana, register it, make the weapon, check it out then buy the persona again

 

[n0wh3r3]

Dragon Quest VI is a joy to play on mobile.

 

[n0wh3r3]

I don't know if I should go further with The Alliance Alive. I am a little more than 10 h in (right before the Bastille) and the difficulty doesn't improve. I like everything besides that there is practically no challenge. It is almost a visual novel. Any suggestions?

 

[Abu Antar]

I don't know if I should go further with The Alliance Alive. I am a little more than 10 h in (right before the Bastille) and the difficulty doesn't improve. I like everything besides that there is practically no challenge. It is almost a visual novel. Any suggestions?

If difficulty is an issue, play Romancing SaGa 3, SaGa Frontier, or Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

I started playing Persona 5 (original) again. I don't think I ever finished it back when it first came out. Typically I hate anime shit but there's something cool about this game. It oozes style from top to bottom, like literally every few seconds it's doing something that's visually impressive and the music is great. It helps that the turn based combat is a bit more interesting than in other jRPGs. I dig it.

The dialogue is pretty hit or miss though. Sometimes it's laugh out loud hilarious and other times it reeks of cringe anime style schmaltz.

 

[n0wh3r3]

I don't know if I should go further with The Alliance Alive. I am a little more than 10 h in (right before the Bastille) and the difficulty doesn't improve. I like everything besides that there is practically no challenge. It is almost a visual novel. Any suggestions?

If difficulty is an issue, play Romancing SaGa 3, SaGa Frontier, or Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song.

I have played Minstrel Song and Romancing Saga 3 is in my library with SaGa Frontier. Now I am also on Emerald Beyond and SaGa Frontier 2. I'd just like to know what to do with The Alliance Alive.
Anyway difficulty is not the first thing I think about when choosing a game, but this one is laughably easy.

 

[Lyre Mors]

I started playing Persona 5 (original) again. I don't think I ever finished it back when it first came out. Typically I hate anime shit but there's something cool about this game. It oozes style from top to bottom, like literally every few seconds it's doing something that's visually impressive and the music is great. It helps that the turn based combat is a bit more interesting than in other jRPGs. I dig it.

The dialogue is pretty hit or miss though. Sometimes it's laugh out loud hilarious and other times it reeks of cringe anime style schmaltz.

Check out Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance when you get a chance. Take the combat and customization of Persona 5 and multiply it by 2-3. It's fantastic. Ball-bustingly difficult on Hard mode sometimes too. Much more focus on gameplay rather than tons of dialogue.

If you end up liking V Vengeance, I'd highly encourage you to check out SMT III Nocturne afterwards.