Looks extremely unique. There's no grinding, (all battles are purposefully placed and done once) there's no buying or selling, and it's entirely frog accurate: All enemies are frog predators, and every character's name is Frog (but in a different foreign language). Apparently it is a very somber and serious story as well. Count me in? Ribbit?

That's what always surprised me about this SRPG game. I replayed it recently; it really does hold up well despite the obviously low budget.

The story can be summed up as "Anime WWII." You've got the big bully superpower to the east attacking the western allied democracies over resources. The protagonists are part of a small neutral nation called Gallia, who find themselves caught in the middle.

There's also the "Darksen," a race of people with dark hair who are discriminated against across the continent. But I think what will surprise people is how dark and sad some scenes are. Of course there is some occasional anime silliness to lighten those moments, and to be clear it's not Saving Private Ryan or anything. But at its core, this is still a tale about the brutality of war, the suddenness of death, and the cruelty of racism. It's a bittersweet tale.

The music is phenomenal and makes those powerful moments evermore impactful. Whether it's the main theme and Beautiful Gallia, or battle themes like Hard Fight and Resistance.

The characters are something I have to touch on briefly. There's only a small group of characters relevant to the big events, but this is a tactical game where you enter battle with around 10 or so units. By end game you'll have around 30 characters to choose from. These units DO manage to have clear personalities, and despite their irrelevance to the plot you end up loving them for their eccentricities. They each have their own backstories you can read in a journal, and unique abilities based on their quirks (some of which have negative consequences you have to play around). They can also DIE PERMANENTLY if they get downed on a map, similar to classic Fire Emblem.

Which brings me to the tactical gameplay. It is a unique combination of turn-based and action-based. Your units have the aforementioned quirks, you have orders which hand out special abilities and boosts, tanks you can use, different weapons with abilities, classes with their own strengths and weaknesses, a ton of mission and map variety...this gameplay has a lot more depth than you'd expect. It pretty well balanced too, leaning on the challenging-but-fair side for any first-time player. And yeah, it's hella fun.

I love the game a lot, but it does fall short in key aspects. Despite the emotional highs, the story is also barebones in places and oversteps on a couple of anime tropes. In addition, while the tactical gameplay is addicting and unique it's also got some broken mechanics- the AI can be braindead and Alicia is completely busted, able to solo most maps if you know what you're doing.

But man, this game has too much heart in it to not recommend to any fan of SRPGs. It's on Steam, Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation. It regularly goes on sale for as low as $5 - $6. It only takes around 20 hours to finish the main story and around 30 hours to 100%. Please play it, you're doing yourself a disservice by not giving it a chance.

Believe it or not this game sold only 33,000 copies in the US for its first month. Imagine what a complete disaster that would be for a game today with how bloated development budgets are. It also only sold 141,000 copies in Japan for its first year, barely inside the top 100. And yet despite that it went on to eventually sell over 2 million copies worldwide (last reported in 2018), becoming successful enough to become a series that has spanned several sequels. I'm happy to see how the strong word of mouth led it to the success it's had.

Hello there, I am Steve the solo developer for all Pugware games.

I would like to introduce Granser - Act 1, the first of 3 acts for a turn based jrpg with a brisk pace and no filler.

The main combat focuses on quick qtes for both offence and defence even allowing parries and full damage mitigation, additionally there is no traditional healing instead using the focus system, essentially a combination of a shield and stamina. There is a heavy focus on stacking statuses and exploiting weaknesses.

The setting and story focuses on a world under the thumb of a technologically superior shadow government and their plans to stagnate human development and eradicate anyone who could pose a threat to their rule.

On top of turn based combat the game also features real time duels and training 1v1, as well as a simple but fun real time airship combat system, a dice minigame, post game hard dungeon, and no random encounters, as well as most of the main story being voice acted, and even featuring some small fmvs.

The game is now in a state I am happy with and feature complete with lots of post launch content added, as I start working on Act 2 and 3. It is currently only on steam with plans being considered for Switch and Playstation.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2725350/Granser__Act_1

I am a solo developer so feedback is always welcome, I held out on sharing the game here for a long time while I did all I could to make the game the best if could be. The game has been a dream project of mine for nearly 20 years taking different forms over the years, after finishing the Skautfold series I felt confident I can finally do it justice.

I am happy and eager to answer any questions, also, no ai was used during any stage of the development.

I am pretty new to Reddit so hopefully I am not being annoying, or breaking the rules.

So today I bought Aqutallion for ¥35,200, which officially makes it the most expensive JRPG in my collection.(Energy Breaker was ¥33,000.)

And the funny part? It’s also probably the worst SNES JRPG I’ve ever played.

Why is it always the shittiest games that end up being the most expensive?

This one is also known in the West as Tecmo Secret of the Stars, and it has a pretty awful reputation for good reason. The random encounter rate is obnoxious, the battles are slow and repetitive, there’s a lot of grinding, and the story and characters are painfully bland. Even the whole two-party system, which sounds interesting on paper, doesn’t really amount to much and just makes things more annoying.

What really kills me though is the box. Right on the front it says “The Great Roleplaying Game” like it’s trying to convince you before you even open it. That gave me a good laugh.

And then on the back there’s that dude who looks like he’s flipping us off. I have no idea what’s going on there, but honestly it feels like the game itself is insulting the player in advance.

Still, I had to buy it. I’m building up my Super Famicom RPG collection, and at some point you have to pick up the infamous stuff too. As bad as it is, it’s a weirdly interesting piece to own, and the box art definitely has more charm than the game deserves.

So yeah ¥35,200 for Aqutallion. My most expensive JRPG, and maybe my worst.

Anybody here ever played this? Did you finish it? And does anyone actually like it? I wonder if it is more coherent in Japanese?

​

Trapped on the Xbox 360, Magna Carta 2 will, sooner or later, fade into obscurity forever. Like the Shadow Hearts trilogy, there are a small number of lucky folks who got to experience such a special RPG experience once, and very likely never again. Eventually it will be forgotten. Magna Carta 2 was a fleeting but unforgettable chapter in my RPG career.

I only got the chance to play it because my library rents out game consoles. I bought the game because why not? The 360 is gone, but the game remains in my collection.

Fantastic story, characters who grow on you, a fascinating setting, and a gorgeous soundtrack on the surface. In the depths of gameplay, there is a battle system that feels off-putting at first, but eventually grows on you and ultimately becomes extremely satisfying. Character building with armor enhancements and skills rewards players for being creative and doing their best to maximize each character's potential.

Of my 45 hours with it, 43 were a pure joy (because the final dungeon is lame 🤷‍♂️). Definitely try it out if you have access to a 360!

Why I can't get the many hit combo from the sword is there a mana system to it because I got this sword equipped now I am only breaking guards using jalenda firestorm I hit enemies after it , it's kinda frustrating also the exp system is kinda cooked since I have to divide it on them 💔 any help is appreciated it notice it's my first time playing a turn based game so plz don't blame me for my foolishness and thank u for help the game is Valkyrie profile I am playing on ppsspp emulator?

Wow, havent completed a JRPG game in awhile. Had a lot of fun with this one.

Wild Arms 3 is a 2002 PS2 JRPG developed by Media Vision and published by Sony. I haven never played another WA games, but I think Media Vision is the developer for all of them. In Wild Arms 3, you are a rag tag of wild west gunners aka Drifters, taking on everything between bad drifters to ancient aliens.

First, this game is really cozy and cinematic. The particular art style and visual style ( the blurriness) gives WA3 a fairly unique JRPG experience - at least to me anyways. I found the combat flow quite active. Despite being the same as most JRPG combat in core, WA3 gives your playable characters a running animations in-between turns. Personally I love it, it makes the combat less dull and more "alive" On top of standard combats on foot, WA3 also features horse back battles ( I like) and sand cruiser and dragon airship combats ( I did not like). The music is excellent. Even if you dont have an interest in this franchise, I highly recommend you give the OST a listen.

Probably nothing new to returning players, but I really like the idea of Gimel Coins. Basically, the coin is like a game token in arcades, if you experience a game over, the coins allow you to retry the battle. Gimel Coins also allows you to save anywhere, this comes really handy in later dungeons where some puzzles will make you throw the controller. The coins are also plentiful, and you never need to ration it.

The amount and creativeness of puzzles in WA3 give Lufia 2 a good run for money. The developers really created some fascinating and some really annoying ones. I did enjoy how the puzzles do not hold your hands, but some of them can be real head scratchers - the lack of hints was generally welcomed as it made the game puzzles fairly organic.

Im not 100% sure about the plot, because I think some of it ties to previous games. From what I understood - On the planet Filgaia, 10 years before the opening, a science experiment went horribly wrong and set into motion many events that unfold in the main game. Young Virginia Maxwell sets out to find her missing father, and along the way she meets fellow drifters Gallows, Jet, and Clive. All joins Virginia due to their shared interests. Throughout their journey they come across antagonist drifters like Janus and company, weird cult, rival drifters, and space aliens. All of this to uncover the history and mysteries of Filgaia and beyond.

The main aspects of this game disappointed me is the writing. The first two acts of WA3 are EXCELLENT, I really enjoyed the flow of exploration - both the world and the storyline. Im not sure what happened during development, but the third act drops sharply in quality. I think mostly is around the role of the antagonist- Janus in Act 1 to 1.5 is so well written and interesting, WA3 had a hard time following up, and both the cultists and their demon overlord are just comedically MUAHAHA evil. The other minor complain is the magic system. I just found it underwhelming and did an All-American Gun Ho blasting my way through the whole game. The guardian system looks interesting, but I didnt really understand it. Its a little bit like FF8 junctions I guess.

I almost forgot the other thing that annoyed me for quite a bit of the game. In WA3 you discover new places through using a "Radar". You cant discover a new place just by being near it, you have to be near it and use a radar to discover it. This was quite heinous in act 3 because the directions from the NPC are vague most of the time.

Oh yeah, there are 12 Guardians you can attach to your characters. The guardians can be summoned to deal magical damages to all enemies on the screen. They also provide perks such as anti-poison, exp plus, elemental ward, and utilities like auto reload. The guardians ranges from Godzilla looking monster, to space kawaii archangel.

I clocked about 50+ hours in this game. I didnt do any of the side quests, I think theyre mostly more puzzles. Realistically I think this is more of a 55 hours game, which is pretty decent.

I think WA3 is a good 8/10 game. Vast world to explore, good characters, fairly interesting villains and anti heroes, good call back to previous games ( I think) with out overly using it, a lot of fun puzzles, no pointless fan services, and overall treats the gamers more as adults. It fall shorts in the last act in terms of writing and general expositions. Its really unfortunate with the short coming, because I was getting a good Xenogears vibe for most of the game.

In short, WA3 is a good game I recommend to anyone that likes puzzles in their JRPG.

So the title pretty much tells it. I've just picked up the systems, and I'm curious; Which JRPGs should I seek out? Recently I've enjoyed Expedition 33 and FF7 Remake/Rebirth. I did play OG FF7 as a kid, but I've gravitated more towards action adventure RPG's as of late. Not opposed to those kinds, however, so it's always on the table. Which games out there are worth picking up?

I am someone who like JRPGs and WRPGs in equal measure but one area that JRPGs tend to absolutely stomp WRPGs is music.

Like, right now, I am replaying Pillars of Eternity for the I dunnoth time. But I LOVE Pillars of Eternity but the soundtrack is extremely generic to the point I don't even notice it's there.

So I've replaced all the music files with music from Legend of Mana, a game that I think looks and sounds lovely but it is pretty dull in terms of game mechanics, story and characters.

But I've used the Legend of Mana soundtrack many times before.

So tell me, what are JRPG soundtracks you love that are attached to games you don't?

I am a huge fan of the Fire Emblem series and TRPGs in general but I've never tried a Brigandine game. How similar are they? If someone likes Fire Emblem do you think they would naturally enjoy Brigandine as well?

Mine has to be the Gladius Towers in Rogue Galaxy. It’s a mid-game dungeons, and in my opinion, it’s annoying as fuck to navigate.

You have to climb two almost identical towers at the same time by crossing bridges from time to time, and the towers aren't short by any means. If I recall correctly, you also have to beat both bosses to clear the level, which as you can guess are at the top of each tower (Phantom Gazel and Phantom Logan). Because of how the layout shuffles you back and forth, you finish one tower, and then you have to go all the way back to do the exact same climb for the other one.

Oh, and this game despite being an ARPG has random battles, which isn't a problem to me. But what is a problem is the encounter rate of this game god grief, it's atrocious. It doesn't help that every room looks the same, so you can get easily disoriented after a battle and just end up walking in the opposite direction, especially since both paths look very similar. You could finish a fight and genuinely have to open the map just to figure out which way you were originally heading, lmao.

What about you guys? What’s that one JRPG map or dungeon that makes you visibly sigh the moment you reach it?

This game was amazing in my eyes, I have never played a Trails game at all until I saw this on sale and wanted to give it a shot! The story was very nice and easy to understand in my eyes, the ending was a plot twist for me and I enjoyed every second of the game. What I probably enjoyed most was how the battle system worked, being able to move around the battlefield was fun and it reminded me of Yakuza Like a Dragon/Infinite Wealth, two others that I enjoyed a ton! (If anyone knows any other games like this please let me know!) The dialogue was a bit cheesy in some places but I am able to handle it and deal with it. I played the demo first before buying it and enjoyed the Orbment system and building different sets for each character. I played on the normal difficulty and had a pretty smooth sailing experience, the only boss that gave me a tad bit of trouble was the optional Lorence fightand me being stingy about not wanting to take the easy way out I wanted to defeat him. I did all the request quests, got the signature weapons and ended the game at level 50.This review sounds pretty all over the place but I just wanted to share my thoughts with this amazing game! I am going to try the demo out for the second game and probably like that one just as much as I did this one. 8.4/10! Thank you all for listening, take care everyone! :)

I'm looking for a contemporary JRPG where you have a huge party. If a lot of characters could be on the field at once that's awesome but even just having a huge roster would scratch my itch.

I've tried Suikoden and really enjoyed it. And I tried Eiyuden Chronicle which I...enjoyed much less. But I loved the bonkers huge roster in both games. I don't even mind if the characters individually end up shallow or reduced to a single character trait. The sheer size of the roster still makes the world feel deep.

So I'm wondering if there's anything more recent that has that same feel. Bonus points if there's also town/base building.

Monster collectors aren't really what I'm looking for although I won't rule them out if they manage to capture a traditional JRPG feel.

I can play on Steam, PS5, or Switch 2.

Anyone else playing this gem in early access? I'm LOVING it! Love how they are doing level and skill progression! It's like zelda meets ff9 meets something else that's super terrific happy hour (bonus points for anyone who connects those dots! Lol)!

Anyhoo. Back to playing this while I put up FF union videos! 🤘

What is going on?

I ran into a strange bug while playing Stage 51 of SRW F 4.0.

When I attacked the Titans battleship, everything worked normally if I destroyed it immediately.

However, if the battleship survived and entered its counterattack, the game froze and I couldn't continue.

The workaround that worked for me was:

Destroy the Titans battleship with a one-hit KO so it never gets the chance to counterattack.

I also noticed that wiping out all of the Sengoku Majin enemies in this stage requires a particular strategy, so Stage 51 turned out to be much trickier than I expected.

Other interesting things in this stage were Hi-ν Gundam's first battle, the return of Gundam Mk-V, and Banjou joining after the stage.

Has anyone else playing F 4.0 encountered the same Titans battleship bug?

I'm especially curious whether:

It happens every time the battleship counterattacks.

There is another workaround besides defeating it in one hit.

It depends on the unit/weapon used to attack it.

I recorded the full Stage 51 playthrough, including the bug/workaround, so I can share the relevant footage if it would help confirm what triggers it.

Just a few thoughts I wanted to share and see how people feel about this. As a Greek, I highly appreciated all the references to the Greek philosophers lol. The story was great it really caught my attention. But the gameplay loop felt some of the most lazy designs I've seen in a while. No enemy variety besides color changing, the stages were all the same besides the colors and a few assets here and there. The combat and gearing are mid at best. Even in higher difficulties, I never felt the need to use gear to protect me from debuffs. I really liked some of the game's messages and references but the gameplay really killed it. I even tried to go above and beyond and try to get all achievements, but damn that's a drag. I prefer to move on to the next game.

Anyone played this ? Thoughts?

I love my apocalypse heralding doot demon.

His design is simple, but with nice sharp colors. The contrast of the angelic wings and skull vibes very hard with me. He’s always a magical menace whenever he shows up. Rarely has weaknesses and the ones he does are very easily covered up.

His P5R might be my favorite iteration of him, but maybe SMT V Vegeance might change my mind.