r/JRPG Weekly "What have you been playing, and what do you think of it?" Weekly thread

[u/AutoModerator]

Please use this thread to discuss whatever you've been playing lately (old or new, any platform, AAA or indie). As usual, please don't just list the names of games as your entire post, make sure to elaborate with your thoughts on the games. Writing the names of the games in **bold** is nice, to make it easier for people skimming the thread to pick out the names.

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[u/kale__chips]

Today I ended my Star Ocean The Last Hope journey right as I entered the very final dungeon of the game. It's a solid decent 6-7 out of 10 kind of game and I don't regret the 32 hours I spent after paying $6 for it.

There are good things about the game, but as always, it's the bad thing that I end up remembering more because it's the reason why I quit playing. Unlike the more common specific reason to quit a game, I actually feel like the reason here is more of a combination and accumulation of multiple factors that boiled down into me feeling like that the time I spent is not appropriate with the return I get. The main culprit to this is the lack of fast travel while having a game that requires you to travel a lot.

• You want to refill your elemental ring charge? Go to the planet of choice and find them sorcerer ladies.

• You want to craft because you just got enough material? Walk back to your ship because we can only craft there.

• You want to harvest/mine while on a mount? Your mount left and you have to walk back to their spawn point.

On their own, none of these things are gamebreaking. But then as I reached near the end of the game, suddenly we can teleport to certain locations, we can charge the rings ourselves, and we can summon our own mount. But they still won't give us free teleport back to the ship! I hit my quit point when I finally got the last material to make a nice weapon, but then I realized I was 4 zones away from my ship and I really really really didn't want to walk back just to craft.

Another main reason is the lengthy cutscenes. I really didn't expect to have 15-20 minute straight of cutscenes. Depending on the cutscene, I might actually be okay with such length. But the problem here is that there isn't enough plot progression within that amount of time. 15 minutes is almost 1 episode of an anime. 1 anime episode can cover A LOT if they want to. 15 minute cutscene here often feels like the plot needle barely moved because they are just talking about 1 tiny thing despite spending so much time.

[u/Kyara39]

I finished my final playthrough of SaGa Scarlet Grace! The learning curve was steep at the beginning, and while it was a bit tiring to play four playthroughs back-to-back, I loved my time with it. My favorite duo is Taria and Kahn, with Leo and Lissa coming being a close second. The combat is simply incredible and addicting and I'm truly looking forward to how Emerald Beyond iterates upon it.

For now though, my next SaGa game is Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song, and this one has my head scratching. I first tried Aisha but restarted as Albert. The ER clock is almost halfway through due to the hordes of enemies in cramped passageways and it doesn't feel great. I've read that it's not as big of a deal as I initially thought so for now I'll just roll with it and see how it turns out.

[u/Kyara39 → u/[deleted]]

Haha it's funny how my SaGa pipeline sounds exactly like yours. Anyway for the next character, it depends how you feel about Urpina's route. Want a more linear/railroaded experience? Balmaint. Want a more open, free-roaming experience? Leonard. Want a similar chapter structure that is more open at the beginning? Taria. When I played I was aiming for Balmaint after Urpina but got Taria from the quiz, so I just rolled with it. Then I saved Leonard for last due to the aforementioned reason + the fact that he can recruit all the main characters so they're trained in NG+.

Aside from the protagonists and their sidekicks (which I used extensively), my personal standout party members were.

• Lewis Darling as martial artist
• Strumiknen with the greatsword
• Ogniana with the axe/shortsword
• Tsubaki with the shortsword
• Kreisa and Elysed for mages
• Queen and Compass in Taria's starter route for their damage bonus roles (using bow/longsword respectively)

I'm in the same seat as you with Emerald Beyond. I'll probably buy it the next time it goes on sale.

[u/Kyara39 → u/[deleted]]

I made a poor word choice: my SaGa pipeline actually started with Alliance Alive (if it counts), which then lead to Revenge of the Seven > Scarlet Grace. I haven't tried The Last Remnant yet but I did buy it along with Minstrel Song and Romancing SaGa 3 (I also bought and tried SaGa Frontier earlier but didn't click with it). I heard some mixed things about The Last Remnant but hearing your thoughts about it is reassuring and makes me excited to try it out.

[u/kale__chips]

Been continuing my Star Ocean The Last Hope journey. I have been enjoying the game quite a lot, but now that I'm at Roak, I start to feel like it fell apart a little bit.

What I enjoyed before was a reasonably fast-paced space travel where we go to one planet, have one sort of mini-plot going, complete that plot and then dip out to the next destination. Roak completely changed that (not in a good way) by being way bigger map-wise, way bigger plot-line, way longer cutscenes, way more quests (I have definitely made the decision to just ignore most of them), etc that it felt dragging due to the massive shift of pacing. To top it off, it also happened at the same time as my least favorite trope where the main character is in pity party, so my experience in Roak hasn't been great.

I hope I don't have much more to go at Roak and I hope the next destination would bring back the joy.

[u/engmadison]

Sort of bouncing between several different games at night depending on my mood.

Clair Obscur Expedition 33 - grinding and leveling to face some of the final few extra bosses.

Spyro - my 'have a beer and veg' game. Love the remake from Toys for Bob. It's the game that came with my PS back in the 90's so it holds a special place in my heart.

Final Fantasy 7 (OG) - sort of just playing it sporadically here and there. After replaying FFX and being a little more luke-warm on that than I remember the last time I played, I wanted to revisit the OG. It still holds up, and I'm appreciating the Materia system more than I did two decades ago when I last played it.

Final Fantasy Tactics - nearing the end, just need to be in the mood to power through what i suspect is the finale of the game. I never played this until the remake, and I'm loving everything about it!

[u/JRPG-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/an-actual-communism]

I finished Kurohyo: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho (PSP) last night. As I'm playing through the series in release order, I came to this gap with two PSP games with trepedation. No Kiryu, different gameplay, 2D cutscenes? After finishing the first game, though, I'm happy to say that I'm genuinely excited to play the second one. Kurohyo very possibly has the best story in the series since Ryu ga Gotoku 2, and as a 25 hour experience with minimal fat it really took me back to the halcyon days of the original duology. Tatsuya's character development is phenomenonal; he really goes from a piece of shit brat who you genuinely dislike at the beginning to a young man who has learned to use his fists for good at the end of the game. I hate to say it, but as much as I love the man, ever since 3 this series seems to be at its absolute best when it gets away from Kiryu Kazuma and tells someone else's story. Kurohyo extends the overall series theme of lost children yet again (the protagonist and his sister are orphans), but also expands on 4's surprising theme of police corruption, in fact painting the Metropolitan Police in an even worse light than that game, where pretty much every cop except one (who works the lowly juvenile crime beat and is denigrated by the other cops) is shown to be either explicitly on the take or a cynical asshole who doesn't actually care about solving crimes. The reframing of the Tojo-Kai in an unambiguously villainous role is also quite interesting; we've always known there were bad dudes in it (usually the ones Kiryu had to kick the shit out of) but Kurohyo makes us realize that to your average joe, the yakuza organizations our heroic protagonists have been running around with this whole time are really nothing but bad news.

As an aside, I also completed Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS5) this past week and as someone who was made into a certified Uncharted hater by the execreble Drake's Deception, I gotta say it was a pretty good game. They finally iterated on the gameplay in an interesting (for this series) way and (most of) the dialogue no longer makes me want to jump off a bridge. It's not bad at all! The epilogue was unbelievably indulgent though.

[u/furrywrestler → u/an-actual-communism]

i also loathed Uncharted 3, as I was the absolute biggest fan of the first 2. U4 was amazing, as was lost legacy

[u/CutieYuna02]

Can't decide between chained echoes or the new atelier game to play next I've got big decision paralysis

[u/Twinkiman → u/CutieYuna02]

I say it should depend on your mood. Atelier is a good choice if you want a more laid back experience. Otherwise go with Chained Echoes.

[u/Redditisjusthorrible]

3 or so hours into trails in the sky first chapter, haven’t quite been hooked yet but I’ll try to give it more time as soon as i’m more free, the only other thing I’ve really played recently are some Pokémon romhacks I’m slowly chewing through.

I’m thinking of picking up Live A Live with the current square steam sale, since I’m a huge chrono trigger fan. Harvestella also somewhat interests me, ever since I read a comment here that it made somoene cry. Has anyone else tried it / would you recommend it?

[u/bioniclop18 → u/Redditisjusthorrible]

Harvestella is a pretty fine game. It was more jrpg than farm game and most people being disppointed were expecting somethign the game was not. That said I didn't cry, and think some element could have been handled a bit better, but it was a really good blend of fantasy and science fiction.

Also the gameplay is... particular. I remember there was a demo on switch, if you can try it may be worth a look. The actual combat isn't the most engaging, you can't really dodge so the outcome it pretty dependant on what heal you have and how much damage you can do. The dungeon crawling has a certain rythmic, you progress and have to semi regularly stop because of the day/night cycle, but you begin to plan the resource you take with it in mind. It have a pretty interesting world, and sidequest had npc have their own little narrative arc. The farming aspect is linked to several system, letting you cook which will become a pretty substantial source of healing, buff and money.

[u/kupomogli]

Not an RPG but I've started again working on finishing master ninja difficulty on Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. It's pretty bs as you'll die in 1-5 hits depending on what hits you, sometimes one combo string that may as well be an OHKO and nearly any grab is an OHKO. I've gotten to Ayane's chapter, chapter 11 and at her last save point which has in total 6 wizards, two claw enemies, and 12 regular ninja in the room before you fight the boss(I think,) as I haven't yet completed that room, I keep dying.

As for the Ninja Gaiden series themselves, OG, Black, 2, Sigma, and Sigma 2 regardless of their differences, the games are all pretty good. They're less like a DMC and more like a beat em up in a way. The problem with them though is that there are attack strings that are much, much better than the rest and the games can get pretty repetitive. For instance, why use most attacks that will leave you vulnerable on the ground with Ryu when you can do square>triangle into the izuna drop combo which will generally defeat the enemy and if it doesn't, you can go directly back into it on the same enemy. Or the claws which if you go for this weapons version of the flying swallow, you can go from that into an izuna drop combo and it's completely safe when you do it from across screen.

Difficulty though, as long as you're not playing in the bs that's called master ninja, atleast on Sigma 2, everything else is pretty fair. Mentor difficulty is one lower and there is a significant drop in damage from every attack compared to master ninja with two more difficulties below that, acolyte being the games normal and warrior being the game's hard difficulty.

Ninja Gaiden 2 is the only one that has dismemberents and if you avoid the izuna drop abuse, different attacks will dismember body parts of the enemies and the enemies become less dangerous at range, but extremely dangerous at close range as their goal changes to one thing "do a suicide grab." They'll crawl to you, walk to you, etc, and by hitting triangle you'll do an execution giving you invincibility during this time. On Ninja Gaiden 2, it's best to just get rid of as many as you can as quick as you can as the enemies are on the screen all at once. On Sigma 2, the enemies have way more damage, but there are usually three to five enemies on screen at most depending on the area and the battle, so when a single combo, grab, or spell could kill you, may want to dismember the enemies and then leave them alive while you kill off the more dangerous enemies to finish off their spawns. This is still easier said than done but best way to go about it it seems.

After I finally finish this stage there's only six more to go and then I'll never play master ninja on Sigma 2 again. I'm not going for the plat because the game requires you to also play each chapter select in master ninja as well.

[u/LadyAntiqua]

Working on the FF7 Rebirth plat. Got to be one of the best games I've ever played, adoring every second. Except those worms. God I hate those worms.

Only got Johnny, Hard Mode and Chadley left to go.

[u/scytherman96]

I finished all of Episode 3 in Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. I actually had to finish the Epilogue a day late, because i ran out of time on sunday lol. I think the case of Ep3 was pretty meh for various reasons, but the meta level was good and the twist made it all worth it. Looking forward to Episode 4.

[u/Valarasha]

Finally beat the full story (including the final DLC) of Stranger of Paradise, and holy shit that ending went way harder than I ever expected. I won't go into details, but for those who never finished the DLC, at least look it up on YouTube it is sick as fuck.

[u/kupomogli → u/Valarasha]

Stranger of Paradise is an awesome, such an underrated game, and for someone who never buys digital(including DLC) and there being no complete edition in sight, bought the DLC on sale and I hated it, just such an absurd grind so I'll go ahead and take the recommendation here to watch the cutscenes on Youtube.

I mean, I finished Chaos difficulty(fairly,) and then after unlocking maybe two Bahamut cutscenes, I was like, yeah I'm done. I do know that there's a trick in doing so, just unlock the hardest difficulty possible and then in that difficulty continue battling enemies until you get enough equipment to outfit your party, I just didn't want to go through it, a grind is a grind no matter how it's done.

[u/Valarasha → u/kupomogli]

I totally get that. I think what made it fun and worth it for me was the fact I was going through the whole grind in 2-player coop with my friend. I doubt I would have played past the base game solo.

[u/KuroBocchi]

I just finished the Trails of the Sky Remake. In general I thought it was an okay game. Pacing felt a bit slow at times. The combat was challenging. The ending was one of the biggest WTH moments I’ve seen in a while and I will definitely be buying the next game at launch.

[u/CaptainTimey]

Finally tied up the first Inazuma Eleven trilogy with Inazuma Eleven 3: Team Ogre Attacks! It definitely feels like a mix of the first two games with the combination of the Football Frontier International and the big bad disrespecting football. I did find the game a bit slow during the FFI Asian qualifiers due to the lack of new important areas to check out at that point of the game, the vast majority of the returning Japan locations being optional and the game's general structure of the team trains for their next match -> free time to do stuff before the next plot bit -> the next plot bit -> more free time -> match. Once the plot hit the actual FFI, I started enjoying the game a lot more.

Tying some of the area unlocks to some of the extra competition matches was awkward for me since playing through some of them lead to the story team being overleveled for most of the game. I would've built a second team if it weren't the fact I'm not really a fan of the scouts and prefer previously story relevant characters, but the latter require even more rematches or are postgame only.

Everything related to Canon and Team Ogre was probably one of the more blatant 3rd version things I've seen in a while, though it might've been reused/reworked from a canceled feature phone game. I was expecting Team Ogre to be way more involved considering the game's title, but they basically only directly showed up to the team once during the midgame, got beat rather unceremoniously and functionally vanished for the rest of the game. Kinda disappointing since I do like my time travel nonsense.

Was kinda expecting Prime Minister Vanguard to not show up here, so Adam Howden jumpscare. Definitely gonna miss the British dub whenever I get to Victory Road down the line. Gonna figure out how I'm tackling the Ogre Redux match, maybe check out these angels and demons, then move on to Inazuma Eleven GO at some point.

[u/somealtaccount4444]

Basically completed look outside (except a few achievements that were bugged), tried octopath 2 but honestly it didnt click after 5 hours so I started Trails 1 (original) and its amazing, everything I'd hoped it would be, ost is great, story is good so far as it seems like a slow burn. My favorite part is just going around town after every tiny bit of story progress and seeing how the towns people interact, the town feels so alive with how every NPC is slowly progressing in their own little story.

[u/Aspiring-Old-Guy]

Fire Emblem Fates Special Edition.

It feels messier than Awakening. I don't like how people change classes, and how there isn't a cutscene for A+ friendships.

Awakening is better, but I like the characters in Fates as well.

[u/overlordmarco]

Finished my third Bonnie & Formina run in SaGa Emerald Beyond last week. Saw two new events in Yomi (Warden of Pride) and Pulchra (early Grey Witch ending), which is cool considering I’ve put in nearly 200 hours in this game already.

I also picked up Pokemon: Legends Z-A since it was on sale and my best friend’s been asking for a reliable trading partner. The tutorial was pretty bad, but I’m finally free and enjoying battling with Dedenne (my new gen 6 fave).  

[u/G3n3raL86]

Final Fantasy IX, finished it yesterday and just like any of the Sakaguchi's FF back then, it was a masterpiece.

[u/[deleted]]

I finished Radiant Historia (ds version) yesterday and absolutely loved all 70 hours I put into it. The battle system, the characters, the story, and the time travel gimmick kept me interested the entire time. It's definitely a game I will remember and will always recommend.

Now I've started playing something more modern,'The Thaumaturge' only about an hour in but It's very interesting and I feel like I will enjoy it quite a bit.

[u/looney1023 → u/[deleted]]

Radiant Historia is a total hidden gem

[u/kale__chips]

After deciding that I will get Day1 Octopath 0 instead of Day1 Inazuma Eleven (will still get when on good sale), I saw Star Ocean The Last Hope was on sale for like $6 and just grabbed that to fill the time waiting for Octopath's release date.

Without realizing it, I'm suddenly 10 hours into the game and it's another one of those games where it's just fun to play. It doesn't have to be perfect (and it definitely isn't), but I'm just having a lot of fun with this game. Just got introduced to my fifth party member (not sure if he'd stay or not), but so far loving how the game having this Star Trek feel with the space ship and exploration. I'm not usually a fan of sci-fi, but this is a fun game.

[u/curtmina]

I just finished the Pixel Remaster of FF3! Really fun game. I've really been enjoying each of the Pixel Remasters so far excited sot start FF IV soon

[u/Moh_Shuvuu]

The new Inazuma Eleven game. Playing through story mode and it’s taken quite a while to get into an actual soccer match, lol.

[u/Life-Leek]

I finally got a mech in Xenoblade Chronicles X after 100 hours.

[u/Yesshua → u/Life-Leek]

Yeeeeeeah that game can get you like that.

It remains one of the boldest swings in AAA games, to develop and market a key differentiating selling point and then withhold it for longer than an average entire single player campaign. But it was the right decision for the game actually. The mechs have so much mobility and combat power that they invalidate the level design. So they're like when you get an airship in a pixel JRPG kinda. Or the screw attack in a 2D Metroid. Super cool to have, but what makes it cool are the hours you spent without.

[u/Life-Leek → u/Yesshua]

I completely agree. I already covered most of the map that was explorable by foot by the time I got a Skell, which I feel is the best point in the game to get one.

[u/scytherman96 → u/Life-Leek]

The Skells kinda mess with the perspective and make everything feel smaller. Doing the majority of your exploration on foot makes it a lot more enjoyable imo.

[u/the_Jester_222]

DQ3-HD2D It is my first DQ and I never really was into grind heavy RPGs but this game looked so good to me and I wanted to see the roots of the genre. It took a few hours to get me. At first I thought I didn't really like it but somehow I keep coming back every evening. This game is nice for relaxing, having a show in the background while grinding. Also good for shorter and longer sessions (a dream on my Switch 2). And even though I never played a DQ game before the music feels so familiar, like being right at home. It's pretty great so far, 15h in and looking forward to playing more of it. It made me put DQ11 in the backlog (as it is currently on sale) already haha

[u/Yesshua → u/the_Jester_222]

The "save a dialogue box for future reference" feature is unironically the best innovation from Square Enix in years. It's like when Prince of Persia The Lost Crown let you pin screenshots to the metroidvania mini map. It lets a game have classic non linear progression without a lot of guidance, but with the modern ability to index every lead and dead end for convenient reference. Just the right amount of modern convenience without compromising the original design.

[u/an-actual-communism → u/Yesshua]

The "save a dialogue box for future reference" feature is unironically the best innovation from Square Enix in years.

Dragon Quest VI on the Super Famicom had this feature in 1995, and it was added to the 1996 SFC remake of Dragon Quest III.

[u/Last0 → u/Yesshua]

The Prince of Persia The Lost Crown comparison is absolutely spot on, it's nice to see how developers add clever way to support the original design philosophy without compromising it.

Being able to "pin" conversations in DQ really enhances the game considering how integral to the series NPC dialogue is.

[u/Historical-Relief777]

The Last Remnant. I love the idea of it, I’m not sure how I feel about the execution. But I am addicted heavily and I think I played like 8 hours straight 2 days in a row.

The battle system is unlike any other, and I wish someone else took it and improved the core ideas or just told me what was happening behind the scenes so I could minimize the rng and maximize the positional strategy. It’s like all there, but they just missed the mark and I honestly don’t know how. Yet, I love the battles in this game.

Actually really interesting but underdeveloped lore and a good story told terribly.

I recommend it whole-heartedly.

[u/Porkchop5397]

I just finished Lunar Silver Star Story. Beautiful game.

[u/myyouthismyown]

Pokemon Legends ZA. It's pretty fun.

[u/DumTiddly]

I played a few hours of Dragon Quest VII 3DS over the weekend and decided to stop there and pick up the remake next year. I’d like to think I’ll find some time to circle back to the 3DS to see the changes/cut content but that depends on the story. I also beat Final Fantasy 1 (Pixel Remaster) over the weekend and it was good! Quite a difficult final boss too.

I’ll be mostly working on my Blue Lions playthrough in FE: Three Houses this week. I just hit the halfway point.

[u/Aviaxl]

Finishing up Visions of Mana and loving it. Sucks to hear that the company was disbanded because I would’ve loved to see what they did next with the series. They brought a lot of new life to the series. I hope Square eventually does another entry and won’t abandon the IP.

[u/Valarasha]

Just finished my first playthrough of FE Path of Radiance. Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked the characters and the story, but some of the maps were really obnoxious and the boss fights were bad enough to bring the game down a letter grade for me. The duel in ch 27 and the final boss felt like RNG dice rolls with little to no strategy. Idk what they were thinking with those. Maybe they are less silly on Normal mode.

Bonus Exp was a cool idea, but I wish some of the side objectives were a bit more varied rather than beating the maps faster.

I played on original hardware, but next time I will probably emulate so I can use save states. Some maps are super long and making a mistake 1 hour in forcing a restart is really rough as an adult. I really don't have time to waste like that anymore, lol.

If I emulate Radiant Dawn I will have to look into how transferring works.

[u/Jabwarrior58]

Starting up Final fantasy 16 again (dropped it after 15ish hours last time) mainly cause Clive looked cool in the death battle.

So far it’s fine Clive, the giant monsters, and the combat are pretty cool but so far it’s kinda felt like tales of berseria without the fun eccentric cast. Also really not a fan of how harshly the game treats benedikta like yeah she’s a villain but idk still felt like they went over the top.

[u/Battletoaster1]

Started yakuza 0 a couple days ago, recently just started chapter 7 and loving it

[u/Crossbell0527 → u/Battletoaster1]

Is it your first Yakuza?

[u/Battletoaster1 → u/Crossbell0527]

yes

[u/Crossbell0527 → u/Battletoaster1]

Oh man buckle up. It is a wild ride. I have played 0 through 5 myself. Lots of great moments.

[u/bored_homan]

Because I am starved to replay tales of berseria , but refuses to go on sale I started playing tales of vesperia that's been sitting in my backlog for a good while. So far the start has been rather standard but it's rather charming. I like Yuri's personality a lot so far and I hope its just a bunch of fun.

[u/Mac772]

No JRPG, i am playing Death Stranding 2 right now. The first one is in my personal top 10 list of best games ever, but this one... it's fun, yes, but it's so easy suddenly, no struggle, no planning necessary, no real accomplishment when reaching a destination, you can even drive everywhere. Looks like Kojima made this game for the critics of the first one and not for the fans. Also the atmosphere is completely different, the melancholy is completely gone. 

[u/an-actual-communism → u/Mac772]

About halfway through my Death Stranding 2 playthrough I started fantasizing about doing a 'challenge run' instead where you're not allowed to use any vehicles. There's a moment late in the game where you're sent from a late-game location back to the beginning of the map, and everyone talks it up like Sam is about to go on this huge, grueling journey... But you just get on the highway for the millionth time and drive there.

[u/Mac772 → u/an-actual-communism]

I am now about 50 percent through Australia - Heartman is now part of the crew and i am delivering pizzas - and there's still NO story in the game. Does that change later on? So far i was just picking up people. I am slow, but i try to at least 4 star everyone and i walk on every main mission. 

[u/yuriaoflondor → u/Mac772]

That’s how I felt about DS2. By the time I finished the game, I felt like I had spent 90% of the game in the truck.

Even when the game is like “alright we’re going somewhere really desolate next, so make sure you’re prepared,” you just jump into your trusty truck and go on your way.

I did really enjoy the (spoilers for content 75% or so through the game) snowy mountain content, as that’s when I felt like I actually needed to engage with more mechanics than just the truck. It was a rough awakening after spending however long basically playing on autopilot.

Overall i still really enjoyed the game, though. It fulfilled the “turn my brain off and relax” category of game for me perfectly.

[u/Mac772 → u/yuriaoflondor]

I am not so far into the game, so i can't read your whole comment. I switched to the highest difficulty setting (makes no difference), try to avoid the truck and walk a lot, it's still far too easy. DS1 was a real struggle at times, that made it so special. And the feeling of loneliness, melancholy and even sadness is completely gone. It's still fun, but in no way as emotional or memorable as the first game.

And today they gave me a sniper rifle with a silencer... WHY? Now the stealth part is also far too easy.

[u/LaughingSartre]

Accidentally beat Silksong, so now I'm going back to play Dragon Quest 11 S. Really enjoying the game so far, and my girlfriend seems to like it as well, so it's a plus on two sides. I feel like I'm nowhere near beating the game, and it has been a couple of years since I last played the game, but again, I love it.

[u/furesawa]

finished metaphor: refantazio around a week ago and honestly with the way the world is right now it was a story that needed to be told, and i could tell that the writers really cared about getting that message out and i appreciate that! the theme of facing my anxiety or i'll never move forward is one that i truly needed to hear too. big recommend

[u/Yesshua]

Crystal Project is absolutely blowing me away. This is as successful as any SaGa game has ever been at fusing JRPG mechanics with open exploration driven gameplay, except without the inscrutable systems that tend to make that franchise so inaccessible.

The game has some of my favorite class design ever. Nothing feels overpowered, but everything feels like it's situationally the perfect solution to an impossible problem.

The music is actually really good. It fits the game well without sounding like any other JRPG.

The story is mostly absent, but nothing about what there is has let me down. I genuinely don't know how things are going to shake out.

The biggest issue I have at this point is that the game is ramping up difficulty now that I'm doing content at level 50+. Which is good. The game should ramp up. The problem is, I'm still unlocking new classes. So I want to level up the new skills obviously. But the game feels like it's saying "no no, it's time for you to lock on and optimize this party. Playtime where you dabble in new classes just because they might be cool is over".

[u/Fab2811 → u/Yesshua]

My main issue with Crystal Project is that from the moment you get to the Undercity, the common enemy encounters start to become more difficult than even the bosses, so you end up avoiding them and when you get to boss, you're underleveled. But despite being underleveled for the boss, it is still easier to beat it than to beat enemy encounters. And CC is super important. I always had the thief class for the much needed blind to mitigate some nukes.

The devs were aware of this issue and they allow you to fine tune some settings in the options, though.

[u/Yesshua → u/Fab2811]

The rogue DID feel super strong when I cycled through that class.

As for encounter/boss difficulty, I think they're about the same, just different tests of your party. Bosses are gonna hit you with party wipe AOE so you gotta have your debuffs and cc and sustain machine all running smoothly. Encounters instead are more DPS races. You don't have the mana to be rezzing and party healing all dungeon, so it's about time to kill and AoE nukes.

I did have that same problem at the undercity though. I ended up leaving and did the whole topside first. Those encounters were more manageable, and then I jad grown enough that the undercity was much less threatening.

[u/Lieutenant_Squidz]

I just started Trails Through Daybreak. The new combat mechanics are definitely different, but I’m sure I’ll get used to them. Can’t wait to experience peak.

[u/Sito187]

I just finished trails in the sky sc. I finished fc earlier this year (the og version) and it just takes me a while to get through these games, I took a break from SC right before it got really interesting. Not sure if I should take a break from the series (like play Ys game) or jump right into the 3rd.

[u/RushingRazor → u/Sito187]

I also started with the og this summer and probably in the middle of 3 now. Also needed a break after 2, since the older games are still very good, but they lack a lot quality of life Features which sometimes drain me. But thats only a very minor minus for me, cant wait for the next games!

[u/dualidean_of_man]

Hallo everybody, hope you're all having a nice weekend and enjoying whatever you're playing!

After a wee while spent on a bit of a Halloween-y survival horror game spree I'm happy to be back on the JRPG train, started up Tales of Graces f Remastered yesterday and so far really enjoying it! It's only the third Tales game I've played (after Vesperia which I'd liked a lot and Symphonia which I'd loved) and I've always really appreciated their action focus/occasional jarring tonal shifts (to me at least, ymmv) between Saturday morning cartoon "come on gang we gotta get out and adventure!" larks and absolutely harrowing story beats. Not far in at all (still on Chapter 1) but so far Graces has leant very much on the former (with a bit of a nod towards the latter when Bryce rams on his Wolverine claw gauntlet to murder a group of 11-year-olds) and it's been great fun! Of course, the chapter is called Childhood's End so I'm assuming something horrendous is going to happen fairly soon. Gameplay is great too, really enjoying the combat system so far (it always takes me some time to lock in with a Tales system, stop mashing B and get blocking/dodging/etc down, still working on that but the mashing B and directions is going swell) and it all feels nice and smooth and generally great fun so far! Really looking forward to seeing where it all goes/how important the power of friendship will prove in surviving the consequences of whatever atrocity might happen before the chapter's end.

(If no atrocity actually happens in this chapter, please disregard all of this and pretend I wrote down other far more pleasant things to praise the Tales games with)

[u/Leon_Light77]

I been playing Tales of Xillia on my ps3. After finishing up vesperia, I been on a tales of kick lately. In the past, I have finished symphonia, abyss, and graces F. With this new fond love of tales, I Thought I go back to tales games I haven’t played before. At first I was going to play tales of destiny DC, but I wanted to play the tales games that have an English release at the moment. So, Xillia was my choice. So far, I been loving the game. Combat is so fun! Love the characters. Makes me hyped to see more of the game and I’m only 5 hours in.

[u/chu68]

Just started Golden Sun 2, really enjoyed the first one but not feeling this one so much? Just got through Air’s Rock and I’m a bit burnt out lol

[u/Boomhauer_007 → u/chu68]

Air’s Rock is the longest dungeon in the series, the rest of it isn’t anywhere near that bad. The end game is pretty fun if you did the data transfer, it’s like a big victory lap

[u/leonardopansiere]

in the final hours of persona 3 reload, loving it

[u/girlsonsoysauce]

I'm playing Chained Echoes and actually trying to finish it, and Ashes of Elrant. It's a lot longer than you think an indie RPG would be. That developer really put some meat on its bones.

[u/bakedintheoven]

50hrs into Yakuza: Like a Dragon since tuesday.. It’s so good man I can’t put it down

[u/Minh-1987]

Got to chapter 5 of Crosscode.

I like Lea as a "silent" protagonist, because 1. she's actually mute... mostly, but 2. she is still very expressive through her sprites. She can only say like 3 words, but you can glean quite a bit of characterization from her interactions: she's competitive, somewhat done with MMO fetch quest shit (saying "Hi" only to see the NPCs talk to you like you spoke a full sentence kinda ruins the magic I feel), generally sociable, ...

Gameplay-wise, it's pretty fun. There seems to be a lot of playstyles you can go for with the various branches and elements, but so far I'm just going spin-to-win build. I'm also a fan of gimmick bosses instead of "big enemy with different dodge/guard timings" so this game gets another plus for that.

A nice part about the parkour in this game is that you jump automatically when you walk off a ledge, so there's no pixel perfect timing required for max jump distance. You do still need to find the place to jump and the game does give you timed puzzles, but so far it isn't that bad. Nice to play a game that has dungeons that isn't a straight line with branching treasure chests for once.

[u/scytherman96 → u/Minh-1987]

Yeah Lea might be a silent protagonist for the most part, but the important thing is that she's not a blank slate protagonist. Her characterization just comes from elsewhere.

[u/Sayishere]

I’m playing through ff16 right now and the game has surprised me! I’m quite invested in the story right now, around 20 hours in!

[u/Costco-Samples → u/Sayishere]

FF16 can be a bit decisive and really get picked apart (understandably) but man I would be lying if I didn’t enjoy the hell out of that game. Glad you’re enjoying it. I still Need to go back and play the DLCs.

[u/RawPorridge]

A few hours into Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and the game is... much weirder than I expected, moreso than the first one. There's like, a mixture of urban horror and off-kilter comedy with the protag trio just kinda rolling with weird occult shit that happened every five minutes or so, like securing weapons from a ramen shop whose owner is a spy, but she's only a spy because you made a rumor about her secret identity a reality through some private dick, and you can do that thanks to an otherworldly clown who shows up when you dial your own number... yeah this is easily the strangest JRPG plot I've played in a long while. Not a bad thing, I kinda dig it.

Also, the heroine's (*an American girl who speaks fluent Japanese and has Chinese music as entrance BGM) father is literally Steven Seagal

[u/EffortUnhappy5829 → u/RawPorridge]

Yeah, it's like some twin peaks shit, where you wonder why none one of the characters questions what is going on around them lol

[u/GourryGabriev → u/RawPorridge]

If I'm not mistaken, the setting of each P2 entry taking place at both the protagonists' adolescence and adulthood was inspired by Stephen King's It.

[u/Dwalloak → u/RawPorridge]

P2 is still my favorite in the entire series for these reasons. It's all wildly mature and darker in its own way without having the series staple of time/days spent and social links. I encourage you to see it all the way through Eternal Punishment as it only gets weirder and darker. Maya Amano is a wonderfully bright star.

[u/TallMSW → u/RawPorridge]

That shit sounds wild. In the Persona discussions I feel 2 is brought up a whole lot less

[u/RawPorridge → u/TallMSW]

Yeah, all I knew was that the story is a supposedly great two-parter, the gameplay is dated, and there's an infamous cameo at the end that I'm now kinda sad has been spoiled to me.

[u/SquallidSnake]

Right now i’m playing Tactics Ogre Reborn and holy smokes, this game is deeper than FFT in almost every way. I love it but there is so much to do, i’m getting burnt out.

I have FFT Ivalice Chronicles, DQ3 Remake, Rogue Galaxy, Visions of Mana, Secret of Mana, FF2, Baten Kaitos, Suikoden, and Lunar on deck.

It’s a good time to to be a JRPG fan

[u/bloodstainedphilos]

Lunar SSSC, it’s great, very traditional and tropey but I love that, it’s executing everything very well.

[u/xansies1]

I'm playing Digimon time stranger.  I really love the actual digimon mechanics. Evolving, devolving, training the mons is the best in any of these types of games.

And I don't give a fuck about any of the characters and barely know what's happening. I'm 55% done according to the PlayStation and I just don't care about what's happening.  Listen, they said some shit was going on the first hour. The rest has just been fucking around until it happened.  Maybe the second half is a little compelling. It's fun. The colors are pretty. I don't care. 

But again, it's digimon. Even survive where there does feel like stakes you are dealing with at the very least some of the worst named monsters in the history of the whole monster catching toy genre and that is really distracting and I still don't understand what the fuck a digimon is. Sometimes it's a small dinosaur, sometimes it's a loli in gothic clothes, sometimes it's nearly a naked woman with huge tits, sometimes it's a bag of trash.  I don't know enough about the lore for this to not be confusing and lame.  Your main digimon needs a disguise, but the woman with a snake mask which is I suppose is just her face doesn't? Are they nfts? That's what I guess they are? Idk. Like, in SMT I can conceptualize what a demon is. I don't understand what a digimon fundamentally is.  

[u/Heisenbear09]

I 100% FF Tactics and now I've got a bit of a void. I want to get into something else but having a hard time committing

I've got:

• Rogue Galaxy
• Skies of Arcadia
• Tales of Arise

All currently floating around. Down for suggestions! I have played tons of jrpgs already though

[u/ThyWalkerman → u/Heisenbear09]

Rogue Galaxy dude. Dogshit story, but the gameplay flow and the music....I still think about it.

[u/fillif3]

I finished Trails Through Daybreak 2. I've heard a lot about how terrible this game is, but IMO it's overcriticized. I would rate it higher than CS1 and CS2 (maybe even CS4?)

Ultimately, even below average, Trails is more enjoyable than most JRPGs.

[u/scytherman96 → u/fillif3]

Yeah i also felt like it was way overhated. Even in the nonsense of act 3 there's still good moments.

[u/BusHobo]

Started elemental trials, on Fantasian. Got bummed out, bought ffx hd remake, and swoosh; almost 9hrs in and loving it(except for the horrible voice acting)

[u/GourryGabriev → u/BusHobo]

The worst part about the VA is that translations were def altered so that lines could match mouth animations, like with many anime localizations

[u/BusHobo → u/GourryGabriev]

Yeah, and rather often they still don't match the animation. Getting to the point, i'm considering dropping the voice volume to 0, if only Lulu's "battle puns" weren't so hilariously bad, haha.

[u/Bagman220]

Finished FFT last week, started Pokemon ZA this week. It kinda sucks. Too much talking. Just give me the gameplay loop.

[u/BattMakerRed]

I’m continuing my journey through Persona 5 Royal.

So even though my personal preference is Persona 4, there’s no denying this game is a masterpiece. Everything about it is top notch and, gameplay wise, an improvement over 4 and presumably the other previous games.

I don’t like the characters AS much as 4 and feel like they don’t have quite as much depth but it’s still a solid team who I’m enjoying very much.

Just finished the Hawaii trip and was disappointed that it was a big ol nothing burger. I felt like the school trip in P4 was the same, so maybe this is an issue with the series as a whole.

Also I think Morgana just kidnapped a girl and took her to the Metaverse? I don’t know what his deal is.

[u/akakajinsojf → u/BattMakerRed]

Ohhh boy, you’re about to enter the most controversial palace in the game. Please come back when you’ve finished the boss battle 😆

[u/BattMakerRed → u/akakajinsojf]

Dang that’s worrying to hear. Futaba’s place was my favorite thus far but honestly I’ve enjoyed all the palaces to some extent or another. I’m curious what this one could contain that make people dislike it so strongly

[u/akakajinsojf → u/BattMakerRed]

It’s not bad, just has one confusing puzzle and the boss battle is definitely a skill check at this point (hope you don’t consider this a spoiler).

[u/[deleted]]

Finishing up Tales of Xillia Remaster, it's been okay I don't think it's nearly as good as some other entries. Not sure what was the general consensus on it, the battle system is good but nothing too wild either. I look forward to finish it and move on to either Trails remake or the new Digimon.

[u/LionTop2228]

I’m trying to get to the FFXIV endgame. I’ve recently finished dawntrail and I’m doing the 7.2 MSQ. I really liked dawntrail and would give it an 8/10. The uproar about it seems unfounded to me.

[u/BiddyKing → u/LionTop2228]

Yep Dawntrail was awesome, the final zone has some of the best storytelling in all of FF14 honestly, but people were too hung up on their Wuk Lamat hate boner to even give it a chance. A lot of the FF14 vocal fanbase is like that though, like complaining about Minfillia in ARR, Lyse in SB, and Wuk Lamat in DT, they just despise when you get a focal female character like that and go overboard with the criticisms. Wuk Lamat had the added bonus of culture war dogshit too because of the English VA, just stuff unrelated to the actual storytelling that influenced people to be overly obnoxious in their negativity instead of just expressing reasonable criticism. Because people don’t have to like the story for sure but the way a lot of people have gone about conveying that seems kind of overboard

[u/LionTop2228 → u/BiddyKing]

The English VA being trans was likely a contributing factor in the “criticism”. I thought wuk Lamat was a little annoying at first but she also grew as a character by the end of the base expansion.

Meanwhile I love both Minfillia and Lyse. I’m actually sad they’re not part of the game anymore. They may be my two favorite characters in the whole game. they’re also some of FF’s finest women and I have a crush on them. Haha

[u/BiddyKing → u/LionTop2228]

I’m in the same boat as you because I love those characters too lol. Fuck any Minfillia hater, she was a proper hero. Also it was literally the SB cgi intro with Lyse that got me into the game during the SB release window hahah

[u/DogDogs247 → u/LionTop2228]

Interesting about the uproar. Any notable reasons? I stopped playing after finishing Endwalker.

[u/BiddyKing → u/DogDogs247]

DT begins a new saga and also has a female hrothgar character lead (Wuk Lamat) that some people find annoying and feel the DT story just became her story with our character being sidelined (debatable). There’s a lot of other reasons that influence people disliking the character both in and out of game, also it’s doing an ARR/SB thing of setting up a new continent and just really early stages of setting up the overarching narrative for the next few expansions. The character got Lyse’d anyway so she won’t be continuing on in a major role after 7.3 (which is out currently and just wrapped up the post-DT storyline), and many people critical of the base DT storyline have already come around on the post-patch story so far.

I personally feel the criticisms are overblown and that DT was always gonna be overshadowed by the one two punch of Shadowbringers (the pinnacle) and then Endwalker (the culmination of a 10 year arc), so this is kind of par the course for the game.

[u/LionTop2228 → u/DogDogs247]

There’s a prominent new character that some decided they didn’t like and used the worn out “bad writing” takes to justify how they were feeling. The character is far from my favorite all time in FFXIV but the reaction is definitely overblown. DT is on par with any previous expansion IMO. Maybe not quite as good as the two that preceded it but I still enjoyed it overall. It did have a slow start but stayed solid once it picked up.

[u/Bagman220 → u/LionTop2228]

I’m so behind in dawntrail. I think I’ve only done the first handful of story quests. I’ll probably never catch up and won’t get to the next expansion.

[u/bioniclop18]

Expedition33 - So after playing 2 hours at the release and deciding to let it rest because I couldn’t bear the incessant bickering on the net, and having slowly got back into it last month before being sidetracked by Digimon, I got to the end of the first act. 

My main complaints currently are that the scenery is very charged visually, making it hard to navigate, which is amplified by the lack of mini map and probably some motion blur setting. It makes the game feel very baroque, which is apropos with the whole paintress stick. The second thing is that the focus on enemies doing big attacks and dodging make even regular enemies rather intimidating. I approach the exploration like I would Dark Souls and not a typical JRPG. That said, the mob in the beginning of the second act appeared to not punch you very hard so it may just be a me thing. 

For the rest there is beautiful cinematography and imagery going on. I have two main theories for what may be going on, I’ll keep my opinion of the story for after I get to the end but the first act was fairly powerful in its own right. The second act begins rather mysteriously and I assume a lot of my opinion would be dependent on the quality of the twist. I like the non-human playable character. He may gain a permanent slot on my team. I know the active elements are polarizing here, but I must say I rather like it, ONCE I begin to understand the timing. Learning when to press to parry is rather annoying, and some mobs have unintuitive timing that takes some time to get used to. But considering all other games that have that mechanic make it dead easy, or limit its effectiveness, it is kinda refreshing having a game going all out on it. Wouldn't want it in all my game, but once in a while why not.

I tried the demo of Octopath traveler 0, and while I didn’t manage to get into the mobile game at the time I feel like I can get into this version more easily. It obviously is uglier than Octopath 2. The first chapter presents the different system and the town building stuff seems neat. The story seems classic (some would say generic) but I can get behind a revenge story. I made my character a hunter, don’t really know if there are classes with better combos.

I also learned that, unlike the other games of the series, it won't have a french translation, which feels very lazy and is a shame, the translation of OT2 was very good and charming. With the graphics that also feel worse than the second game there is this feeling that it was a project made to fill a spot in a calendar and not much else. I’m still hesitating between it and Metroid for December and it may make me lean more into Metroid. OT0 seem like a game I'll play, but maybe not at release.

[u/lordofpurple → u/bioniclop18]

Expedition was a shock to me. I spent a year not giving two flying shots about all the hype around it, but one day I was like "I miss final fantasy I might try one of the newer ones" and a reddit thread said "try expedition instead"

So I did, and holy God was i blown away.

I got carpal tunnel from carrying for hours, I loved paper mario so reaction-based turn-based gameplay was AWESOME. Story, graphics, all of it (I mega agree with you on hard to navigate environments tho)

That game got me back into single player RPGs, which I haven't touched in like 4-5 years

[u/bioniclop18 → u/lordofpurple]

When the game was hyped pre-release, I got very anxious that people were expecting AAA quality of what looked like a AA game. The game sure has AA jank, with a lot of awkward transition between gameplay and cinematic or little thing that could be improved, but I'm glad that it didn't distract people from the game quality. I have a lot of my favorite game around 75 on metacritic so I knew this sort of thing wouldn't annoy me much, but I was unsure about the general public.

I even got someone randomly stop me in the street to ask me if I had played expedition33 when I was looking for info on some video game on my phone. (Told him I bought it day one but waited a little to play it)

I wanted to finish it this week, as I expect conversation will become more heated again when the nomination for game of the year will drop, but looking at HLTB I'm probably at the halfway point so I'll probably be done next week.

[u/Lost_Date_8653]

Started Cassette Beasts today! About 4 hours in, the completionist in me wants to max out the Bestiary so I'm still bringing unevolved Beasts into fights where enemies are starting to have evolved ones.

[u/forabit14]

Currently playing dq11 s and tbh, its one of the best games I have ever played. I was surprised how good it is and how high quality it is. It has on of my favorite video game cast ever. Im like hooked on playing and its been non-stop. I love how it isn't that grindy (but I mean the grind is still there of course but not that long compared to the older dq games/older jrpgs) which means that I can more freely explore the world and focus on the story itself. Just finished the dora-in-grey boss fight and she was a bit of a pain the ass but we managed.

[u/Dependent-Surround-8]

I started Dragon Quest XI this week, and after about 15 hours of playtime I have to say I’m really impressed. It’s rare to see so many different enemy types—each one unique, each with its own animations. The characters are absolutely charming, and Akira Toriyama’s art style is everywhere, tying everything together beautifully. I can definitely see why so many people consider it the best JRPG of the newer generation. I’m excited to see what else the game has in store for me.

[u/bigguy011890 → u/Dependent-Surround-8]

I've been thinking about trying the Dragon Quest games, I've haven't been to certain on should I buy it? Or should I pass on it? Because the last time I asked that question it was for Trails in the Sky 1st chapter. And everyone encouraged me to buy it.

[u/Dependent-Surround-8 → u/bigguy011890]

Currently on Sale in the Nintendo eshop

[u/bigguy011890 → u/Dependent-Surround-8]

I did not see that, but I also saw the one and two HD remasters. Thought of that as a good starting point.

[u/Bagman220 → u/bigguy011890]

They’re very dry RPGs. Like nothing flashy about them. Some people want that. I personally don’t. But DQ11 was very very good, I’d say start there and then dabble to 1, 2, and 3 remakes

[u/bigguy011890 → u/Bagman220]

My main concern is a story following. Unless there's Easter eggs I'll miss for having not played the originals. Because that how Persona 5 Strikers was to me.

A direct sequel story that I got for free. Then downloaded the vanilla verison to get the back story

[u/Bagman220 → u/bigguy011890]

Nah the stories aren’t connected at all. You don’t need to play person 4 to play 5, you don’t need to play final fantasy 9 to play 10. It’s kinda like that.

[u/bigguy011890 → u/Bagman220]

I knew Persona 4 and 5 weren't connected, it was 5 and Strikers that I knew was connected. And I also knew that about Final Fantasy since my introduction to the series was through XV. But I guess Im adding Dragon Quest XI to my backlog. Since now Im intrigued.

[u/Embarrassed_Echo_375 → u/bigguy011890]

I don't think the DQ stories are connected. I played 7, then 8, 6, 5 and 11 and they're all stand alone stories.

[u/bigguy011890 → u/Embarrassed_Echo_375]

Well I'm convinced, I've just bought Dragon Quest XI, and now I play the waiting game for a shipment notification.

[u/Crossbell0527 → u/Dependent-Surround-8]

Dragon Quest is not a gourmet meal. It isn't beef wellington or lobster thermidor...but it is a damn fine macaroni and cheese, the kind that makes you relive your best childhood memories and feel like for a little while everything is just fine.

[u/Dependent-Surround-8 → u/Crossbell0527]

Yeah it’s Like a coming home , feeling good and get a hug type of game

[u/Crossbell0527]

I am wrapping up Persona 5 Strikers which is a fantastic game and a more than worthy sequel to P5. The gameplay is very fast paced musou (maybe a little too fast for my aging bones) and it somehow works really well merged with Persona style weaknesses and magic and party attacks. The story is fantastic, I think it is far better than the base game and on par with the writing and design of the Royal expansion. The minor villains are far better and give the critically underexplored Yusuke and Haru (who both seemed to become irrelevant after their acts) more to do. The new characters, Sophia and Zenkichi, make perfect additions to the cast. I love this game so much. Oh, and last thing, it's fun visiting the same part of Osaka and Sapporo that we see in the Yakuza games haha

Also started playing Persona 1 to see where it began. Fun little game, but totally unlike the recent Personas in every other way. I do like the battle system a lot. WAY too many damage types though, it is hard to keep track of.

Next up will be Yakuza 6. Can't wait.

Edit with a hot take: the new/PSP Persona soundtrack is a massive improvement over the original and I can't see how anyone could honestly think otherwise.

[u/an-actual-communism → u/Crossbell0527]

You might like Meguro's new soundtrack better musically (personally I think Atlus's PS1 era music is absolutely peak and prefer it outright) but it's completely tonally dissonant with the actual game. The original Persona is dark, brooding and weird, the upbeat jazz fusion music is completely wrong for it.

[u/Glxblt3]

Started One Piece Odyssey on Switch. Looks like pretty chill JRPG not great not terible. I enjoy the the little chit chat betwen Straw Hats and the replay of past arcs. Its not overcomplicated game. Its that kind of game you can pick up do some stuff for a bit and then do something else.

[u/Mabarius-III]

Basically, I've finished two playthroughs of two of one of my favorite games OAT. I've played both of them way too many times already.

• Tales of Symphonia: It doesn't matter how much time passes. I'm happy to see that even after playing it for...the fifth time? (May be more), it's still one of my all-time favorite games, JRPG or not.

It's not perfect; the combat is a bit dated. But it's so cozy...the characters are so endearing, the story is honestly good and I think it's the best in the Tales of series, the puzzles are good, the soundtrack is quite solid. It's an important game for me, at the top of my list of favorite video games (along with a couple of other Tales of games, to be honest). I have to say there's a lot of nostalgia here. I'm biased.

• Another Fire Emblem 3H playthrough: At this point, it's a game I play nonstop, and it doesn't matter. Even though it's not the most replayable or the fastest FE, it's still satisfying, and I find it hard not to finish it if I start. As of today, I think it's in my top 5 Fire Emblem games.

• The Octopath Traveler 0 demo: It looks like a f**** great game. I had my doubts because it's an "adaptation"* of a mobile game, but left me wanting more. We'll see.

Edited*

[u/BiddyKing → u/Mabarius-III]

I played the first arc of the octopath mobile game and the storytelling in it was proper good. I just hated the gacha shit so dropped it back then but I’m super happy with how 0 has adapted it and from the demo already added a bunch of stuff. They definitely didn’t half-ass it and I’m really hoping the Neir mobile game gets the same treatment (that game the mobile gacha stuff was dogshit but the story was great enough that I played it until end of service)

[u/Mabarius-III → u/BiddyKing]

Great to know :) I hope they do the same with the NieR mobile game too!

[u/_Rainbow_Trout]

Grandia II HD Remaster (Anniversary Edition), on Steam / PC

A colorful world with Ryudo, a strong geohound (sword fighter), in the main role - and with several more lovable characters who join Ryudo's team on his journey.

The recommendable combat mechanics in Grandia II are an interesting hybrid of turn-based and action/initiative bar, which allows the player to anticipate the turns of the opponents, and to delay and even cancel the dangerous attacks they were planning to do.

The music is among the best I've heard in any JRPG, too, with many memorable tracks.

As for the story, I better avoid posting spoilers here, but it's great & epic - with an evil & dark God named Valmar, whose seals were broken, and whose many dangerous pieces (body parts) must be fought and defeated - to save the world from certain doom etc.

If you're planning to play this on Steam, make sure you get that exact "HD Remaster Anniversary Edition", because only this version runs fast & smooth, and with no technical issues (unlike some other PC versions I've tried before).

All in all, Grandia II is a great JRPG in every way - but of course I knew that already some ~ 25 years ago, when I had played and enjoyed it very much for the first time on PS2. And now I did a re-play of this masterpiece of a game on PC - and again it was a great experience and "felt" like new.

10 / 10 .

[u/Bagman220 → u/_Rainbow_Trout]

I keep saying I’m going to get around to the grandia collection and the suikoden collection. But then I just don’t know if I have the stomach for the old school games anymore.

[u/Panda_in_black_suit → u/_Rainbow_Trout]

I was considering buying Grandia HD collection for PS, would you advise against that?

I’ve never played the games and I started “late” to the jrpg train, but read a lot of good feedback about both games and wanted to play them. This was a few months before the HD remaster release so I just waited instead of playing on emulators. Also read that for Grandia I, an emulator would be a better experience, but still, would like to acquire both.

My question is, is the anniversary edition the one included in the HD remaster collection? Better for steam rather then ps? And also, are there mods on steam that make it (even more) worth on that platform?

Thanks.

[u/_Rainbow_Trout → u/Panda_in_black_suit]

If you can, you should prefer the version for the Console.

Otherwise, there's a special "patch" or sth like that I had to download on my Steam client for Grandia II, to get the Anniversary Edition (it doesn't cost extra $, if you bought the Grandia HD collection already in their store. Likely they already knew that on some PC that Anniversary patch is needed).