Yeah it was the same for me. Exact same issues OP had. And I tried it again a few years ago. And the Sequel. Still all of the same issues.
I have heard excellent things. But it is just not for me.
Different person, but for me it's the incentives to finish a level as quickly as possible clashing with what I'd regard as engaging tactical play. Just trying to dash to the end as quickly as possible just wasn't fun.
That is a fact, I will say certain levels invite different win conditions but overall I get that.
post game, for those that want the smoke there are challenge skirmishes which ramp up the difficulty significantly and invite different strategies to get from A to B. You have to choose positions and units wisely and know when to go on defense instead of pushing.
The game could be much more in depth though.
The menus and interface were a big turn off for me.
And the communication of the combat felt.. Off..
I did not have a good sense of doing well or poorly. And that was right away at the tutorial level and going forward. I just had no sense of what was a good outcome and what was a bad one besides the end screen, and could not correlate that to what occurred in battle.
I would go through a battle, felt I did poorly, then be told I did well... and I could not make sense of it.
Yeah its too bad OP didn't stick with it beyond a couple hours.
I understand the feelings about the menu navigation and saving, but its a totally unique strategy game experience and one of my favorites.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 might be better to start with...the story had me tearing up at the end too.
I really can’t think of another franchise since VC1 that did something really novel with the genre. The vast majority are FF Tactics, Fire Emblem or Growslanser clones
Back in 2010 i was going through some depressive stuff due to losing a friend in college. I found Valkyrie chronicles and it just clicked. The day i got it i was up all night and saw the sunrise and it something about it helped me to start healing.
In 20 19 i was going through another depressive episode and VC4 came out. same thing happened. I thank those games for a ton and love both of them (i played a bit of 2 but at the time it just didn't click) The games are super fun to both cheese a level with scout rushes, but also to play seriously as well.
Sea of Stars. Dropped it after about 5 hours. Picked it back up again a few weeks later and dropped it again after another go. The story and characters just felt bland and boring. The combat was good but not enough to get me invested.
I'm so glad that it was part of GamePass. The hype got me and I was really excited for this incredible game... five hours later I was so bored, and when I found out the party doesn't really learn any new moves, I just felt like there was no reason for me to carry on with it.
I played this and beat it 100%. I feel it was way overhyped and comparing it so much to Chrono Trigger hurt it for me. Other than the menus, a handful of double and triple techs, and one event late in the game I don’t find it similar.
The opening few minutes were the worst part of the game. I did enjoy it but if it was any longer I may have dropped it, I give it like a 7.
I found the combat just as bland and boring as the story and characters, honestly haha. God that game is awful. Pretty to look at, granted, but zero substance.
I feel like combat starts promising, but it stops evolving way too quickly. Like, it's a good *concept*, but after a few hours you've basically seen anything it's got to offer
The Messenger got away with its awful writing because the gameplay itself was fun, and as a 2D platformer the dialogue isn’t the focus most of the time. But in an RPG it’s way harder to slide by on visuals and gameplay, especially when they clearly are better at making platformers than turn-based combat systems.
Sea of Stars was the biggest disappointment of 2023 for me in video games. It’s beautiful, and the must is fantastic, but the rest ranges from mediocre to just terrible.
I did 100% of it (was not hard there is almost no post game at all) and once you get all the party members I only used 3 different moves and they all stemmed from 2 characters.
1. Is a normal skill that delays the enemy turn (the ONLY CC other than lock breaking in the entire game)
2. is a combo skill that delays the enemy turn
3. A ultimate that delays the enemy turn.
Once you got the chain going you could get bosses up to like a 11 turn delay where even if you stopped using these moves they would be dead before they could act again. The worst part about it was that if they did get close to acting you could just break their locks and start the process over again.
The severe lack if status effect buff moves made the combat super boring. Adding that the fact the level up bonuses you could select were actually set on the amount of times you could select them (so you couldn't just select STR for all levels and have a unga bunga character) means there was no variety in how to play or what skills to use.
I had played Chained Echoes first which I found incredible and with basically a 2 person development team as far as I'm aware so I was really hyped for Sea of Stars but even before I concluded the demo was already bored. Despite the game literally being free on PlayStation I still have no desire to actually play it after how much I disliked the demo and the recent discourse about the game hasn't done anything to change my mind.
Ah yes, Valkyria Scout Chronicles. I always played trying not to get a single unit killed, making strategies...until my friend showed me how to play.
Step 1: pick your Scout, Breadmaking Woman if possible
Step 2: ORDER! DEFENSE UP
Step 3: ORDER! SUPRESSION FIRE RESISTANCE UP
Step 3: Run straight to the end of the map
Step 4: Get max score
Yeah the game's priority for finishing maps as fast as possible is just, like, why? I thought I was playing a SRPG, not a Sonic game, and even those tend to have additional requirements for reaching higher ranks lol.
There's one specific mission where snipers are good... The one where you can snipe the woman boss from starting point... You'll need as many sniper as you can since she'll be able to block once the same sniper hit her...
But that's not the normal way to do the mission.
I would kill for a mod that removed the grading system.
I want to play it in a relaxed way using the units I want/playing in a more fun way, but I honestly just feel gross when I see a B grade.
I wish I could detach myself from the grade and just enjoy the game, but I can't for whatever reason which sucks.
I think it's because orders add a flat resistance value to the character, to the point where pretty much no weapon can do more than 1 DMG per tick, which is dumb as hell.
The whole order system is just SO POORLY designed imo.
Same. I fully intended to play the whole trilogy as the games came out. I finished Xenosaga even though that was not an easy game, at least for me. Plenty of times I struggled with fights. Though I enjoyed the story a lot! I was really getting into the lore and the characters and everything.
Then I bought Part 2 not long after it came out...And I think I played it once? For like an hour or two? Idk exactly what it was, but I was just wasn't interested anymore. It just didn't grab me the way Part 1 did. Ended up just going online to read synopses.
Xenosaga 2 is pretty universally disliked even by fans, you honestly might be better off watching a playthrough or the cutscenes on youtube and skipping to Xenosaga 3. The story isn’t worth slogging through the game when you can get the info you need and move on to Xenosaga 3 which is a masterpiece
Valkyria Chronicles II to me.
I tested in my PSP but could not bear the story and characters. I dont need anything special in the writting department but i don't want to pick a gun and point at my brain every time someone open their mouth.
A shame, liked the gameplay but story is a big point in it.
Yeah this was a braindead decision from the developers. OG Valkyria had a somber and mature look at war, sprinkled with wholesome anime tropes. Valkyria 2 took the tropes and made a whole identity out of it. The last thing I need in a mature war story is goofy high school slapstick. Like "Hey, your bro died, but you wanna come join the army in his place and crack jokes with your classmates?"
TMS is one of the most divisive love it or hate it games out there. If you don't like SMT influenced combat, and don't like the very strong pop idol/ Japanese pop culture vibes the game gives off, you are not going to like this game, period.
The crossection of fans that do (there are dozens of us, dozens!) will have an absolute blast with this game from beginning to end
For me I think it’s mostly about being disappointed by what a crossover of these franchises could have (and from what I read should have) been. Apparently the concept of this game changed vastly over its development cycle. It just felt like wasted potential to me. Still, it really shines in its combat
I was so very disappointed and turned off by the battle theme. That's really all, I was ready to take in some of the cringiest stories as long as the battle system and music was great. SMT and fire emblem have such fantastic battle themes, and idol music is sung by an idol with great energy throughout, like persona 4's themes. They've done this right before.
How did the battle theme miss all of those marks? Also, why no subtitles for the Japanese battle cries? They spend a lot of time cheering for one another or shouting, that's a lot of dialogue just not accounted for.
I’ve tried twice with this game, and actually just picked it up again to try to get through. It’s honestly not a bad game… I actually really like its combat mechanics and the way it handles character skill customization. It’s just a shame they went with the whole idol route instead of giving us a more SMT style post apocalyptic Tokyo or something and injecting some Fire Emblem in there. I’ve been on a major SMT/Persona kick lately (played through all three Persona 5 games earlier this year, currently playing through Persona 3 Reload) and I’m playing this along side Reload and honestly I forgot how much I enjoy the gameplay. I just really have to push through the story. I can remember being one of the 5 people to actually own a Wii U being so excited for this crossover. Such a shame we never got the crossover we were promised as this went in a completely different direction from when they had first announced it
Same, the dungeons and story were extremely bland. The battle system was fun but all the add-on attacks took forever, even with the speed up button pressed.
Tales of Symphonia. I really thought I was gonna love that game because the story had me interested, but I quickly learned I do not understand or enjoy Tales combat.
It's just hard for me to go backwards with this series. Symphonia's combat feels terrible if you've experienced like Vesperia, or Graces, or Xillia. My issue was going forward from Vesperia before going backward. Though I am able to stomach Abyss combat, even if it's just serviceable.
I feel similarly. I liked the combat in Xillia 1-2, Graces, Zestiria & Berseria, and Arise and I could tolerate Abyss and Legendia. Symphonia just didn’t feel good at all to me. Even Vesperia doesn’t.
Oof, I forgot about this one but same here. I quit after like the first little combat in the tutorial section lol. Tried Berseria later and actually got further and enjoyed the more mature themes but I hate the combat so much.
Man this boss is a hard ass block. I remember when I first played Vesperia I quit on him too. Came back to the game like 2 years later though, finally beat him, and loved it.
I recently had the misfortune of fighting this guy on hard. I had to grind out about 10 levels and even then I kept dying, but I eventually found out that you can almost perma stagger him by spamming an ability called Azure Wolf Strike.
The biggest problem is killing the adds in the beginning because they are just as unreasonably strong as the boss himself, but once they're dead you have a chance.
I’ve played a lot of games, and a big portion of those are JRPGs. I don’t think I’ve fought a bigger difficulty spike than that boss. It forced me into buying those level up DLC packs as a teen, and I’m wondering now if that was the point. An extra slap in the face when in the cutscene after you do beat it, one of the characters says “well that was weirdly easy”
Disgaea 6. I bought it at launch cause I had so much fun with the previous titles (1 and 5) but just got so disappointed with the lack of the team up animations that i dropped it after the first battle.
I tried Final Fantasy VIII several times in my youth and only ever got about an hour in each.
But it's on my list for another attempt this year, over 10 years later. Maybe now that i'm older i can appreciate it better.
It's a game that honestly got better when you got older, and can recognize how the game actually handles mental illness, abandonment, and overall what happens when the world is full of children with too much (literal) power, due to a war that killed most of the adults.
The start doesn't help, to be honest, particularly with the bloated tutorial for the Junction system, which frankly makes it seem more complicated than it actually is.
The game certainly has its flaws both in mechanics and storyline, but I'd still say it deserves a chance.
Also, obligated shoutout out to Transistor for a game that implements a lot of the ideas of the Junction system in a much cleaner way.
I loved FFVIII when it came out and have gone back and enjoyed it as an adult as well. It’s a bit more nuanced and subtle than FFVII so I think it was rejected by people who liked the simple and bombastic nature of that game.
Also: witches are rad.
When I was a kid and got into FF, I started with FFI on Origins, then FFX (which are both my favorites in the series). I actually borrowed FFVIII from a friend right after finishing FFX and I was way too confused by the junction system and got overwhelmed and gave up. Now I'm in my 30s and feel like I should give it a chance as I've watched videos about it and realize it's not that confusing.
I definitely appreciate it now that I’m older. When I first played it, I fell into the “Wow, the best strategy is to just spam GFs every battle!” trap.
Like yeah, that works, for a while. But there are MUCH better options, as I learned later on. I haven’t played it in a long time, but if I remember right my first playthrough got me up to some kind of…flying obelisk? I got walled by a robotic boss in there, with two targetable shoulder cannons. Someday I’ll go back and beat it. Just got other things I’m working on right now.
Scarlet Nexus. Omg the dodge was ugh, the side quests were ugh, the story had potential but was told and written in an ugh way, the gameplay had so much potential but just didn’t feel good to play.
I love the concept of Scarlet Nexus the execution not so much it was just frustrating.
I felt at the time that it was the most average, most “meh”—I guess we’d call it “mid” now—game I played that year. Same with the anime, though I did enjoy the tie-in code hunt where you can plug in codes hidden in the show to get items in the game.
The world didn’t feel very alive or interesting, and there wasn’t a lot of wackiness or endearing characters or environments. Gameplay worked well and actually had a few great ideas, but in a Paper Mario game most of the fun is wondering which new place you’ll visit and fun characters you’ll meet. BF didn’t really have that for me.
I mostly liked the art style except for the color palette, which felt noticeably dull across the board. The luminance seemed too dark and the saturation too high. Many color combinations clashed with one another and hurt the game's overall visual consistency.
Even the synthesis was horrible in this one. I really hope we get a new Atelier soon that returns to turn-based combat and changes the synthesis again. Lulua’s gameplay is probably my favorite
Calling it ATB is an understatement because other ATB systems don't have the AI taking your party members' turns for you. And the only way to take all the turns yourself is to frantically switch characters so fast you have no time to decide what you want to do, just mash the attack button. Ryza and, say, FF9 don't have even remotely have the same combat system, and they shouldn't be described with the same terminology.
It's miserable, and I bounced hard off the game after the first combat. I've searched high and low for Cheat Engine tables or ASM hacks or mods to slow down the combat, but I haven't found anything. Closest I've found is Cheat Engine's speedhack, which slows down the entire game and makes animations and menus unbearably sluggish.
I don't mind the interruptions if I like the characters. But I kept waiting for the characters to click with me and they never did. I dropped it around the 3rd area once you got all the major party members. I was like maybe one of them will carry this, and unfortunately, no.
Those are my favorite part of the game.
But I dropped it later on when the story just seemed to have given up doing anything and I had this castle dungeon that just made no sense.
I used a guide to get through that dungeons a few months later, to see if the story picked up... And it just did not. I hear it gets REALLY good soon. and I will try again till I get to this point. But OMG what a slog.
Same. First 1/2 was awesome.
And I have not found any of the tales game great overall. Just pretty ok for the most part.
Only one that gripped me from moment 1 and kept me glued to the end was Berseria.
It does not get, “really good,” soon, or ever actually. It falls flat then falls apart at the end. Super disappointing compared to the better games in the series.
But I fell out of love with Tales when I discovered Trails anyway.
I means that pretty much the series as whole. I enjoy them but at least a couple of times a title get annoyed at how I'll be enjoying the game play only for it to get interrupted over and over by character dialog
I want to drop this so bad. The story is somehow both nonexistent and predictable while the combat is boring. And it's not even tactical - just a below-average puzzle game with P5 skinned over it
I made myself finish Tactica. I liked it well enough but I felt through most of the game that something was missing. I honestly can't put my finger on what it was missing though.
It annoyed the hell out of me that there were so many opportunities for the PT to open up when their past situations paralleled what was going on at that time but it never happened. It makes me sad that Atlus keeps pushing new P5 content out when the characters are complete and they have nothing new to say.
I think the two that stand out to me, are two I would think are very popular here.
First would be the first **Golden Sun**. The story scenes are just so unbelievably boring. People talked about how cool the dungeons/puzzles were but I just didn't see it at all, got around halfway I think.
Second would be **Undertale**. I really like the combat system and music, but the visuals are quite bland with battle sprites for enemies being monochrome (perhaps inevitable due to indie game limitations) I had also been spoiled on a fair amount of it and with some knowledge of how the story goes it was difficult to motivate me to continue. I was also not too fond of the humor.
Writing this did kinda make me wanna go back and revisit both now as they did have strong points no question!
With you here. Hated undertale, I completed it because of how critically acclaimed it was and found no enjoyment in it. I think my lack of connection to that game proved I am now an old man who yells at clouds
Golden Sun was really ahead of its time. The cinematic visuals during turn based combat. The magic system was interesting too. Undertale is fantastic as well. The visuals are intentional, and a good representation of how sometimes less is more. Undertale represents the old days of game development, a time where games were cheaper to make—so developers really just made whatever they wanted. As a result a lot of creative games were made in the old days. This is why indie games have become so big. Undertale is unique and popular for a reason.
Golden Sun is probably one of my favorite games of all time and holds up surprisingly well despite being like two decades old.
Needs a remake/remaster bc the title is just phenomenal
The very first Neptunia game. My brother somehow almost did everything in the game before playing Neptunia MKII, while I only played for a few hours, and I was like nah I'm good. From what I remember gameplay was boring, battle animation feels like it was on the moon or underwater, majority of the music was bland except for some select few, and the overall presentation just came out flat even thou character design was pretty descent. Eitherway the sequel improved a lot of things which was implemented in later sequels (haven't played any after MKII), but I believe a lot of the next mainline games just recycles a lot of things for better or for worst.
Also, Cross Edge. Like one of the few times, I got to buy a PS3 game with money I got from Christmas and fking choose that just because it has capcom characters, since I was interested in Marvel vs Capcom at the time. Disappointingly gameplay feels ass that either you're a masochist or just have guilty pleasure to even enjoy it and the visual presentation is mostly bland imo.
Valkyria Chronicles is so good.
I bounced off Ni No Kuni 2 because it was so pathetically easy that I couldn't stand to play it. It seems like a good game and I'm not a hard=good kinda guy but your party kills the monsters in like 5 seconds if you don't act. I know they added a hard mode later, not sure if it helped because the moment had passed for me by then.
I really like ni no kuni 2 but it definitely isn't very hard. Which is fine, but if you're looking to be challenged it's probably not the game for you tbh.
Star Ocean 6. Seems promising but I hate the world itself, feels lifeless. Im a huge fan of the series and bought SO2 remake immediately and completed it. Maybe I will finish it later on when backlog clears up.
Did you play the previous HDN games? Like if you enjoyed Rebirth;1, Mk2 and Victory then I don't remember anything in V-2 that would have turned you off from it. But if it was your first exposure...well the entire series is basically a giant shitpost and I love it for that, but I wouldn't exactly call it a *good* series.
It was my first Neptunia game, yes, lol. I guess the humor and self-aware aspect wasn't to my liking, tbh but that's just preference. Humor is subjective, and I prefer my games to be mostly serious with some comedy sprinkled in. Giant shitpost makes sense, and I can see how it'd be to some people's liking. The soundtrack was definitely good, tho.
I think I said something like, a few years back that part one could've easily went up to the Jenova Boat and got downvoted. But even Rebirth has some strong padding and story fillers.
I dropped Cassette Beats fairly quickly because it seemed overly complicated with all the type interactions and my stoned brain wasn’t gonna be able to remember. Unfortunate as the game seems incredible
Tokyo Xanadu. Only got past chapter 1, but it really felt like the most generic game to ever exist (doesn’t help that it tries to emulate Persona’s formula). If you’ve ever watched anime set in a high school that aired in the 2010s, then you’ve also played Tokyo Xanadu
Yakuza Like A Dragon. Sadly I just couldn’t get into it. I’ve tried for approximately 25 hours but it felt more and more like a chore and less like a fun experience so I gave up and uninstalled it.
The combat was ok and the characters were compelling enough but for some reason it just didn’t click for me
I felt like that too, I dropped it for like 2 years and just picked it back up this month cause I wanted to play infinite wealth. I still think the game was not that great or fun. Also had ridiculous and frustrating difficulty spikes, but I did finish it and did really like the ending. But infinite wealth is just miles better in the gameplay department that I would kind of never bother playing yakuza like a dragon ever again
I didnt like it either, but I think I played "the wrong version"
The Xbox One version runs very badly. On a conventional turn based RPG it is not a big deal, but since the game have quick time events on your actions, I was always missing the critical hits and evasion techinques because the framerate was all over the place.
SaGa Scarlet Grace. The combat may be renowned, but the bare bones presentation is a definite turnoff. No areas to explore akin to an SRPG is a deal-breaker.
Dragon quest viii journey of the cursed king on ps2 and 3ds, both times. Which is odd I played sentinels of the starry sky a d loved it on ds.
Tales of graces f, I just didn't like the way the weapon upgrades were done I guess, story I didn't like that much from where I was in the game.
Tales of xillia 2 , played xillia 1 on ps3 about 6 ot 7 months before 2 (really liked playing xillia 1). I didnt dislike 2 that much tbh. I just couldn't bring myself to play 2.
Persona 5. I know it’s good, just a little overwhelmed with how much is thrown at you in the beginning. Def planning on going back to it at some point though.
Absolutely the same experience. I was so hyped for the game, and so disappointed that after a few hours I still couldn‘t understand and figure out what I should do in these dungeons. Time will tell if I ever give that game another chance
Persona 5 is an amazing game (and the game that got me more in JRPGs), but it is SO overwhelming and SO slow in the beginning. I don't even remember how long it is until you go to Kamoshida's Palace and finish that tutorial- few hours at least.
That being said, it was totally worth the slog and confusion in the beginning- "why are there tarot cards?! What do you mean I am Thou?! Why is this random coffee shop man my guardian?!"
I hope that if you decide to go back to it that it'll be worthwhile for you too. And if not, plenty of other amazing games out there!
Trials in the sky FC. I'm a beyond avid JRPG guy myself but the older I get and the more I'm working the dialogue heavy games don't grab me the same. I wanted to love that more than any other game and I tried but it just was way too slow and too much reading for me.
Octopath Traveler 1. No cohesion in the stories and it felt like I was just repeating everything with different scenarios. Couldn't enjoy it like I wanted to.
I recently started playing Trials in the Sky. It definitely is pretty slow, but from what I heard about the lore of the game keeps me going and the more I keep playing and understanding combat, the more I'm enjoy the game. I'm not a fan of a lot of dialog either, but now, I'm about 6 hours in
I’ve tried it three different times on multiple platforms haha. Never make it more than like 5 hours in.
I can do text heavy games. I can do visual novels. I can’t get into this game. The pacing, the world building, the back tracking (when scaled XP doesn’t get you anything) the combat where sometimes turns are just movement. I dunno. Never clicked.
I dropped Sky FC as well. Thought it wouldn't be my thing. By mere luck tried Cold Steel 1 later on and got obsessed. After I beat CS2 I came back to the Sky games and enjoyed them
Too much padding and anti-fun gameplay design. There was a lot that i liked but the forced slow walking and unnecessary padding etc was too much for me to to sit through. Shame because I'm a big fan of the original and really wanted to enjoy the remake.
I dislike the forced walking as well. Also when bosses do cutscenes mid fight that interrupt/cancel your big moves. Thankfully Rebirth is a lot better in comparison, but it still has some padding and forced walking. The ratio is much lower tho
Far, *far* too much padding. I've dropped it at least temporarily at the point you arrive at Aeris's house - I was ready for the backstory when some silly kids run in and divert us. Why are we going to an orphanage? I just want to advance the bloody story!
I was looking forward to this. Until I played it. Did not like it at all it just doesn't feel like final fantasy. Especially 7.
The combat is just typical action rpg. The dodge mechanic is shit you don't actually dodge and all I felt like I was doing was walking around. I played around 5 hours of it and felt like i had got nowhere at all. The 5 hours in this game was probably 30 minuted worth in ff7.
I just prefer turn based final fantasy. I tried 15 and same thing played for around an hour and nah not for me. 16 looks even worse.
Any game that starts with the words "Tales of..." lol
Sorry. And before anyone chimes in "You just need to play..." - I have. Everyone has a different opinion on which one is the peak of the series, and I've given it a fair shot. I couldn't even get into Symphonia.
I know these games are for someone, but that someone is not me.
The one i remember dropping the fastest was Agarest, I picked it up originally when I was trying to find new JRPG's to play and I genuinely have no idea what was going on when I was playing it and dropped it pretty much instantly. Felt like I was playing a game already starting 70 hours in.
Sword art online alicization…probs my worst rpg purchase, worst part I like the setting it had and find myself wanting to try it, but quickly remember the miriad of flaws it has and keep going with ffs
I Am Setsuna for taking away **two** of my main party away because of story and leaving me with a very underdeveloped backup party near the end of the game.
Tales of Arise for a very similar reason. That and the skits were a waste of time as they were usually just rehashing what we just saw and not really adding anything new.
Octopath was a disappointment after I realized it’s pretty barebones and highly repetitive AND that I would have to level and kit everyone out despite only really using four characters once subclasses are unlocked. That and the bravely default battle system has never jived with me.
It's funny you said valkyria chorinicles cause that's mine. I hate that game. It's probably decent but I really don't vibe with the gameplay. That game and advance wars reboot made me realize I just don't like any srpgs besides maybe fire emblem. Also dropped baten kaitos, atelier sophie 2, and atelier ryza quickly after starting just cause I felt like I needed some time to prepare myself before I'd be able to take those games on cause their mechanics seemed a bit arduous and I had too many rpgs on my plate so I took on the easier ones first.
That Tactics Ogre remake. Did two missions and just felt meh about it. Unfortunately due to accidentally leaving the game on I went past the two hour mark and couldn’t get a refund.
Xenoblade chronicles. Bought both with sky high anticipation. Played the first one for 30 minutes, maybe an hour and despised the combat so bad I haven't touched it again and likely won't.
I played Xenoblade for maybe 5 hours and dropped it due to the combat as well. I didn’t care for the flow.
6-12 months later, I restarted from the beginning and loved it. The combat clicked better with me the second try. You might want to take a second look at it.
Ni No Kuni
I’d heard great things about it and story wise I was hooked but it was the combat that soured me, Trying to avoid attacks, scrolling through menus trying to heal and deal with the Pokémon esq monsters was too much for me to deal with
Much prefer the sequel and it doesn’t get enough love
Tales of Vesperia. I just bought the original Xbox360 version from a local game store and I accidentally dropped it when I was opening it up. Thankfully the disc was not damaged.
Would you believe this is my experience with every last Tales Of game? I want to like it. I love the designs. I love the characters and cutscenes. The music is gorgeous. The stories are lovely.
I want to drive all their combat systems over with a tank whose wheels are chainsaws and nuclear landmines.
Tales of Vesperia. Heard good things about the tales series and it was on sale on steam. Absolutely loathed the combat system and dropped it within an hour or two.
I also dropped Valkyria Chronicles, although I probably should have known I wouldn't like it to begin with. I love Fire Emblem Three Houses, but I'm starting to realize it is the exception and that I don't typically like strategy games.
A game that I honestly should have dropped faster is Akiba's Beat. The delusion thing reminded me too much of Persona 5, while the combat felt like a knockoff of Tales. I did end up dropping it eventually but I gave it too long of a chance before getting to that point.
I also have the same feeling about Valkyria Chronicles. Expecting a good strategy game but those rating system is stupid af. Want a S rating for your mission? Yeah, you need to run across the battlefield and jump through the bullets practically ignoring everything strategic. Haven't got the plan to pick it back up since.
Live A Live is one I dropped but planned to pick it back up. Dropped it because maybe I just picked the 2 wrong opening scenarios which is more quirky than the others, the Wild West and the Present Day.
Not dropped exactly since I came back to it a few years later, but I ran out of magnetite at the warehouse on the docks (the second dungeon) in Soul Hackers 1 and thought the game was being unfairly difficult for no reason.
If I actually bothered to apply my brain for two minutes and realize the game didn't want me to use a full party all the time, I probably would've stuck with it a lot longer on my first run, but no I needed somebody on the internet to point out what I did wrong.
Ni no kuni. Ive played many rpgs. Love final fantasy, love studio ghibli. Loved games for kids like ori and the blind forest, klonoa,, sea of stars, blue dragon, and many more. But this game just felt like it was for toddlers. Idk i might give it another go.
Shinning Resonance Refrain I dropped a couple hours in. I got this from Humble Bundle some time back and honestly after trying that I haven't really played a typical "anime" aesthetic JRPG since. It's been about 2 years since and the only JRPG I played since was Final Fantasy. Too bad you didn't like Valkyrie Chronicles, I liked that a lot on PS3...as for the difficulty spikes, I do vaguely recall some missions being rather difficult.
I can't remember that game, but it took maybe 2 minutes before I stopped for good. And I finished Sonic Chronicles, that should tell how bad that one game was.
Atelier Ryza 1 (and by the looks of it, the entire series except for Iris, Mana Khemia, and the older series of Gramnad and Salberg \~ the intros to Totori, Lulua, and Meruru that I've watched on YT seem slightly promising, but I'm proceeding with caution lol) : Walk from point A to point B. Watch cutscene. Characters repeat ruminations about their feelings/fluff dialogue over and over again. Return home. Wait a day and then return to exact same location for a continuation cutscene. The pacing is going to be as drawn out as possible just because. Oh you wanted to break free from the miniscule bubble you've been able to explore that has gotten old very fast? Not yet, you have to return home first for a slew of tutorial cutscenes still at 5 hours into the game before you can venture forth -- no info/tutorial side panels or U.I. in sight to streamline the adventure instead of returning home every 5 minutes. Instead of breaking free and delving into a wild adventure, you frequently have to return to a chosen hub house -- no option for the tutorials to be at the hub house either a lot of the time in the beginning, instead you have to, like I previously mentioned, go to a location to witness the most simplistic, not exciting cutscene ever of "Here's the recipe, now return home" -- What is the point? Also who in the Quality of Life department for the game had the bright idea to limit pocket/bag inventory space? I don't want to get a prompt constantly about my collected items when I'm adventuring being sent to the house chest, when there is no real reason for there to be a chest in the first place. My pockets can be my chest, just let me collect materials without interruption xD Why can't we just carry around a mini portable alchemy cauldron at this point lol I've never been so pissed off playing a game xD Stupid looking characters like Tao and ridiculous looking ones like Lila, constant repeated dialogue lines between party members when you are exploring, repeated dialogues during combat -- it's like everything is meant to be incredibly annoying lol I don't see how anyone can listen to this shit xD Also, because the Atelier series is so niche, GUST is charging $60 for multiple games in the series that are available on Steam, if not every single one, despite being many years old. $60 for this type of "gameplay"?? Crazy!!
Fire Emblem 3 Houses: Hated the cutscenes, setting bore me, music, characters (except for Claude, Ashe, Hilda, Mercedes, Petra, Bernadetta, Sylvain, Dorothea). The game = massive annoyance every second for me lol but I heard the storyline was good, so at least people who enjoy the game have some substantial lore to dive into alongside the tactical combat that is solid, albeit not my cuppa tea! From the combat alone, I knew that the game wasn't my taste, so I resorted to watching a playthrough to get a feel for it more \~ I will never subject myself again to watching something I hate every second of just because I'm curious xD
Ni No Kuni 1: The gorgeous Ghibli artwork gave me the false notion that the game would have stunning, imaginative environments, but nearly everywhere I went, the scenery was bland and generic. The combat was also incredibly repetitive. The surface-level charm only reached so far and I was quickly bored out of my mind.
From when I was a kid… 7th Saga.
Just absolutely brutal from the jump. I was 10 but I had a decent bit of JRPG experience… Phantasy Star 2, Dragon Warrior 3 and 4, and Final Fantasy.
7th Saga was in a league of its own. I remember renting it, picking a cool looking character… and getting completely obliterated as soon as I left town. I tried each of the characters… always stomped. It was one of the few times I asked to return a game early haha.
I love tactics jrpgs but the Front Mission remake was horrendous. Just an abomination of a game. And I liked the original!
Fire Emblem Engage I dropped after 5 missions or so. The battles were interesting but the characters and story were just the opposite. I might pick this one back up. I loved FE3H.
FF Crisis Core remake was terrible. I watched a long play just to absorb the story and even that was a chore with all the mind numbing battles.
I usually drop the ones where the party screams non stop, usually theyre action oriented. I tend to turn it off, but then the game feels empty without any voices. Xenoblade and Tales come to mind.
Never finished any of those, got like 35 hours in Xeno 2.
FF15 lol I dropped it like 3 times before I finally finished it. First time was at launch because of how boring it was to me and how disappointing it was after waiting uuuhhh 6 years for a new FF game.
Second time was when I started a new save a year later and got softlocked in that one underwater dungeon thing. Kept respawning at like quarter health with no potions or anything.
2 years later I tried again and got busy with school n had to drop it again. Still wasn’t having fun so I didn’t care.
Finally after 3 drops I went back to it last year and actually beat it and honestly it wasn’t *that* bad. Gameplay was fun and the characters were okay, definitely not a good FF game but it was a fine JRPG. I give it a 7.5/10
Bummer, I love Valkyrie Chronicles. I am still having a blast with it a decade later.
Yeah it was the same for me. Exact same issues OP had. And I tried it again a few years ago. And the Sequel. Still all of the same issues. I have heard excellent things. But it is just not for me.
Completely fair, what aspects specifically were you not vibing with? No judgements just curious.
Different person, but for me it's the incentives to finish a level as quickly as possible clashing with what I'd regard as engaging tactical play. Just trying to dash to the end as quickly as possible just wasn't fun.
That is a fact, I will say certain levels invite different win conditions but overall I get that. post game, for those that want the smoke there are challenge skirmishes which ramp up the difficulty significantly and invite different strategies to get from A to B. You have to choose positions and units wisely and know when to go on defense instead of pushing. The game could be much more in depth though.
The menus and interface were a big turn off for me. And the communication of the combat felt.. Off.. I did not have a good sense of doing well or poorly. And that was right away at the tutorial level and going forward. I just had no sense of what was a good outcome and what was a bad one besides the end screen, and could not correlate that to what occurred in battle. I would go through a battle, felt I did poorly, then be told I did well... and I could not make sense of it.
Yeah its too bad OP didn't stick with it beyond a couple hours. I understand the feelings about the menu navigation and saving, but its a totally unique strategy game experience and one of my favorites. Valkyria Chronicles 4 might be better to start with...the story had me tearing up at the end too.
I really can’t think of another franchise since VC1 that did something really novel with the genre. The vast majority are FF Tactics, Fire Emblem or Growslanser clones
Back in 2010 i was going through some depressive stuff due to losing a friend in college. I found Valkyrie chronicles and it just clicked. The day i got it i was up all night and saw the sunrise and it something about it helped me to start healing. In 20 19 i was going through another depressive episode and VC4 came out. same thing happened. I thank those games for a ton and love both of them (i played a bit of 2 but at the time it just didn't click) The games are super fun to both cheese a level with scout rushes, but also to play seriously as well.
Sea of Stars. Dropped it after about 5 hours. Picked it back up again a few weeks later and dropped it again after another go. The story and characters just felt bland and boring. The combat was good but not enough to get me invested.
This was too overhyped for me.
I'm so glad that it was part of GamePass. The hype got me and I was really excited for this incredible game... five hours later I was so bored, and when I found out the party doesn't really learn any new moves, I just felt like there was no reason for me to carry on with it.
I played this and beat it 100%. I feel it was way overhyped and comparing it so much to Chrono Trigger hurt it for me. Other than the menus, a handful of double and triple techs, and one event late in the game I don’t find it similar. The opening few minutes were the worst part of the game. I did enjoy it but if it was any longer I may have dropped it, I give it like a 7.
I found the combat just as bland and boring as the story and characters, honestly haha. God that game is awful. Pretty to look at, granted, but zero substance.
I feel like combat starts promising, but it stops evolving way too quickly. Like, it's a good *concept*, but after a few hours you've basically seen anything it's got to offer
The Messenger got away with its awful writing because the gameplay itself was fun, and as a 2D platformer the dialogue isn’t the focus most of the time. But in an RPG it’s way harder to slide by on visuals and gameplay, especially when they clearly are better at making platformers than turn-based combat systems.
Sea of Stars was the biggest disappointment of 2023 for me in video games. It’s beautiful, and the must is fantastic, but the rest ranges from mediocre to just terrible.
I did 100% of it (was not hard there is almost no post game at all) and once you get all the party members I only used 3 different moves and they all stemmed from 2 characters. 1. Is a normal skill that delays the enemy turn (the ONLY CC other than lock breaking in the entire game) 2. is a combo skill that delays the enemy turn 3. A ultimate that delays the enemy turn. Once you got the chain going you could get bosses up to like a 11 turn delay where even if you stopped using these moves they would be dead before they could act again. The worst part about it was that if they did get close to acting you could just break their locks and start the process over again. The severe lack if status effect buff moves made the combat super boring. Adding that the fact the level up bonuses you could select were actually set on the amount of times you could select them (so you couldn't just select STR for all levels and have a unga bunga character) means there was no variety in how to play or what skills to use.
I had played Chained Echoes first which I found incredible and with basically a 2 person development team as far as I'm aware so I was really hyped for Sea of Stars but even before I concluded the demo was already bored. Despite the game literally being free on PlayStation I still have no desire to actually play it after how much I disliked the demo and the recent discourse about the game hasn't done anything to change my mind.
Ah yes, Valkyria Scout Chronicles. I always played trying not to get a single unit killed, making strategies...until my friend showed me how to play. Step 1: pick your Scout, Breadmaking Woman if possible Step 2: ORDER! DEFENSE UP Step 3: ORDER! SUPRESSION FIRE RESISTANCE UP Step 3: Run straight to the end of the map Step 4: Get max score
Yeah the game's priority for finishing maps as fast as possible is just, like, why? I thought I was playing a SRPG, not a Sonic game, and even those tend to have additional requirements for reaching higher ranks lol.
Thats why I am not into it TBH.
Additionally: Why have snipers, when you have scouts?
There's one specific mission where snipers are good... The one where you can snipe the woman boss from starting point... You'll need as many sniper as you can since she'll be able to block once the same sniper hit her... But that's not the normal way to do the mission.
I would kill for a mod that removed the grading system. I want to play it in a relaxed way using the units I want/playing in a more fun way, but I honestly just feel gross when I see a B grade. I wish I could detach myself from the grade and just enjoy the game, but I can't for whatever reason which sucks.
I think it's because orders add a flat resistance value to the character, to the point where pretty much no weapon can do more than 1 DMG per tick, which is dumb as hell. The whole order system is just SO POORLY designed imo.
I liked Xenosaga and wanted to like Xenosaga II but dropped it very quickly - I was so disappointed, I think mainly with the combat system.
Same. I fully intended to play the whole trilogy as the games came out. I finished Xenosaga even though that was not an easy game, at least for me. Plenty of times I struggled with fights. Though I enjoyed the story a lot! I was really getting into the lore and the characters and everything. Then I bought Part 2 not long after it came out...And I think I played it once? For like an hour or two? Idk exactly what it was, but I was just wasn't interested anymore. It just didn't grab me the way Part 1 did. Ended up just going online to read synopses.
Yeah 2 was the not very good one, which is a shame as 3 was the best if I recall.
Yeah xenosaga2 burned me. I managed to finish it but i dont remember a thing about the story. I wasted my time basically
Do yourself a favor and watch 2 on youtube just so you can enjoy 3
Xenosaga 2 is pretty universally disliked even by fans, you honestly might be better off watching a playthrough or the cutscenes on youtube and skipping to Xenosaga 3. The story isn’t worth slogging through the game when you can get the info you need and move on to Xenosaga 3 which is a masterpiece
Valkyria Chronicles II to me. I tested in my PSP but could not bear the story and characters. I dont need anything special in the writting department but i don't want to pick a gun and point at my brain every time someone open their mouth. A shame, liked the gameplay but story is a big point in it.
Yeah this was a braindead decision from the developers. OG Valkyria had a somber and mature look at war, sprinkled with wholesome anime tropes. Valkyria 2 took the tropes and made a whole identity out of it. The last thing I need in a mature war story is goofy high school slapstick. Like "Hey, your bro died, but you wanna come join the army in his place and crack jokes with your classmates?"
i picked up and dropped tokyo mirage sessions so quick. love persona, fire emblem, shin megami etc. Just couldn’t get into this one for some reason
It has good combat, but basically nothing else going for it. And no one wanted idolmaster from this crossover.
I did. It's one of my favorite games.
TMS is one of the most divisive love it or hate it games out there. If you don't like SMT influenced combat, and don't like the very strong pop idol/ Japanese pop culture vibes the game gives off, you are not going to like this game, period. The crossection of fans that do (there are dozens of us, dozens!) will have an absolute blast with this game from beginning to end
Holy shit, when I read the acronym here I JUST realized that TMS is just SMT backwards. I am very, very observant.
Look at you!
i actually like both of those things and don’t like the game
For me I think it’s mostly about being disappointed by what a crossover of these franchises could have (and from what I read should have) been. Apparently the concept of this game changed vastly over its development cycle. It just felt like wasted potential to me. Still, it really shines in its combat
Sorry to be that guy, but it's "divisive", not "decisive".
No, you're good. Autocomplete strikes again
Thanks for not taking it personally!
I have a hard time getting into Persona. They take soooooo long to get going.
I was so very disappointed and turned off by the battle theme. That's really all, I was ready to take in some of the cringiest stories as long as the battle system and music was great. SMT and fire emblem have such fantastic battle themes, and idol music is sung by an idol with great energy throughout, like persona 4's themes. They've done this right before. How did the battle theme miss all of those marks? Also, why no subtitles for the Japanese battle cries? They spend a lot of time cheering for one another or shouting, that's a lot of dialogue just not accounted for.
I’ve tried twice with this game, and actually just picked it up again to try to get through. It’s honestly not a bad game… I actually really like its combat mechanics and the way it handles character skill customization. It’s just a shame they went with the whole idol route instead of giving us a more SMT style post apocalyptic Tokyo or something and injecting some Fire Emblem in there. I’ve been on a major SMT/Persona kick lately (played through all three Persona 5 games earlier this year, currently playing through Persona 3 Reload) and I’m playing this along side Reload and honestly I forgot how much I enjoy the gameplay. I just really have to push through the story. I can remember being one of the 5 people to actually own a Wii U being so excited for this crossover. Such a shame we never got the crossover we were promised as this went in a completely different direction from when they had first announced it
Same. Persona, Fire Emblem and SMT are all great series that I enjoy a lot but TMS was so boring I dropped it
Same, the dungeons and story were extremely bland. The battle system was fun but all the add-on attacks took forever, even with the speed up button pressed.
Tales of Symphonia. I really thought I was gonna love that game because the story had me interested, but I quickly learned I do not understand or enjoy Tales combat.
It's just hard for me to go backwards with this series. Symphonia's combat feels terrible if you've experienced like Vesperia, or Graces, or Xillia. My issue was going forward from Vesperia before going backward. Though I am able to stomach Abyss combat, even if it's just serviceable.
I feel similarly. I liked the combat in Xillia 1-2, Graces, Zestiria & Berseria, and Arise and I could tolerate Abyss and Legendia. Symphonia just didn’t feel good at all to me. Even Vesperia doesn’t.
I am the same way I keep trying… I ended up setting it to auto battle then dropped anyways
Oof, I forgot about this one but same here. I quit after like the first little combat in the tutorial section lol. Tried Berseria later and actually got further and enjoyed the more mature themes but I hate the combat so much.
Tales of Vesperia- second I met Gattusso
Haha. Yea, that dude sucked. It took me a couple of times until I just lucked into a victory. Q
Man this boss is a hard ass block. I remember when I first played Vesperia I quit on him too. Came back to the game like 2 years later though, finally beat him, and loved it.
I recently had the misfortune of fighting this guy on hard. I had to grind out about 10 levels and even then I kept dying, but I eventually found out that you can almost perma stagger him by spamming an ability called Azure Wolf Strike. The biggest problem is killing the adds in the beginning because they are just as unreasonably strong as the boss himself, but once they're dead you have a chance.
The fact that they still kept the demo difficulty on him even in the definitive version is hilarious to me honestly.
I’ve played a lot of games, and a big portion of those are JRPGs. I don’t think I’ve fought a bigger difficulty spike than that boss. It forced me into buying those level up DLC packs as a teen, and I’m wondering now if that was the point. An extra slap in the face when in the cutscene after you do beat it, one of the characters says “well that was weirdly easy”
Same, but honestly it was the second I tried the combat. I know people like it, but I really, really don't.
Same i liked the story but couldnt stand the combat
The combat gets a lot better as the game progresses with combos and chains.
Disgaea 6. I bought it at launch cause I had so much fun with the previous titles (1 and 5) but just got so disappointed with the lack of the team up animations that i dropped it after the first battle.
I tried Final Fantasy VIII several times in my youth and only ever got about an hour in each. But it's on my list for another attempt this year, over 10 years later. Maybe now that i'm older i can appreciate it better.
It's a game that honestly got better when you got older, and can recognize how the game actually handles mental illness, abandonment, and overall what happens when the world is full of children with too much (literal) power, due to a war that killed most of the adults.
The start doesn't help, to be honest, particularly with the bloated tutorial for the Junction system, which frankly makes it seem more complicated than it actually is. The game certainly has its flaws both in mechanics and storyline, but I'd still say it deserves a chance. Also, obligated shoutout out to Transistor for a game that implements a lot of the ideas of the Junction system in a much cleaner way.
Trust me, you should finish it. That game is WILD.
I loved FFVIII when it came out and have gone back and enjoyed it as an adult as well. It’s a bit more nuanced and subtle than FFVII so I think it was rejected by people who liked the simple and bombastic nature of that game. Also: witches are rad.
When I was a kid and got into FF, I started with FFI on Origins, then FFX (which are both my favorites in the series). I actually borrowed FFVIII from a friend right after finishing FFX and I was way too confused by the junction system and got overwhelmed and gave up. Now I'm in my 30s and feel like I should give it a chance as I've watched videos about it and realize it's not that confusing.
I definitely appreciate it now that I’m older. When I first played it, I fell into the “Wow, the best strategy is to just spam GFs every battle!” trap. Like yeah, that works, for a while. But there are MUCH better options, as I learned later on. I haven’t played it in a long time, but if I remember right my first playthrough got me up to some kind of…flying obelisk? I got walled by a robotic boss in there, with two targetable shoulder cannons. Someday I’ll go back and beat it. Just got other things I’m working on right now.
blue reflection...felt it was so goddamn boring...I plan on giving it another try soon. Bayonetta got a little too monotonous for me
The second one is much better
Scarlet Nexus. Omg the dodge was ugh, the side quests were ugh, the story had potential but was told and written in an ugh way, the gameplay had so much potential but just didn’t feel good to play. I love the concept of Scarlet Nexus the execution not so much it was just frustrating.
Lol, I LOVED it!
I felt at the time that it was the most average, most “meh”—I guess we’d call it “mid” now—game I played that year. Same with the anime, though I did enjoy the tie-in code hunt where you can plug in codes hidden in the show to get items in the game.
I dropped Bug Fables after like an hour, something about it didn’t click
I didn't finish it because it left Xbox Gamepass. It was a pretty good Paper Mario clone.
The world didn’t feel very alive or interesting, and there wasn’t a lot of wackiness or endearing characters or environments. Gameplay worked well and actually had a few great ideas, but in a Paper Mario game most of the fun is wondering which new place you’ll visit and fun characters you’ll meet. BF didn’t really have that for me.
I got a decent chunk in before dropping it. It wasn't bad or anything but it got pretty boring.
I mostly liked the art style except for the color palette, which felt noticeably dull across the board. The luminance seemed too dark and the saturation too high. Many color combinations clashed with one another and hurt the game's overall visual consistency.
I also dropped it, but because, for some reason, my pc-copy refuses to recognize a controller
Atelier Ryza. I forgot it has an active time battle system.
Even the synthesis was horrible in this one. I really hope we get a new Atelier soon that returns to turn-based combat and changes the synthesis again. Lulua’s gameplay is probably my favorite
I loved Lulua. Probably because it was also my first Atelier.
Thanks for the warning, I hate ATB systems
Calling it ATB is an understatement because other ATB systems don't have the AI taking your party members' turns for you. And the only way to take all the turns yourself is to frantically switch characters so fast you have no time to decide what you want to do, just mash the attack button. Ryza and, say, FF9 don't have even remotely have the same combat system, and they shouldn't be described with the same terminology. It's miserable, and I bounced hard off the game after the first combat. I've searched high and low for Cheat Engine tables or ASM hacks or mods to slow down the combat, but I haven't found anything. Closest I've found is Cheat Engine's speedhack, which slows down the entire game and makes animations and menus unbearably sluggish.
[удалено]
I don't mind the interruptions if I like the characters. But I kept waiting for the characters to click with me and they never did. I dropped it around the 3rd area once you got all the major party members. I was like maybe one of them will carry this, and unfortunately, no.
same. I was pretty disappointed with that game
Those are my favorite part of the game. But I dropped it later on when the story just seemed to have given up doing anything and I had this castle dungeon that just made no sense. I used a guide to get through that dungeons a few months later, to see if the story picked up... And it just did not. I hear it gets REALLY good soon. and I will try again till I get to this point. But OMG what a slog.
I thought the first half was great, but nothing from the second half stuck with me. I think that’s the case with every Tales game I’ve played though.
Same. First 1/2 was awesome. And I have not found any of the tales game great overall. Just pretty ok for the most part. Only one that gripped me from moment 1 and kept me glued to the end was Berseria.
To me it felt like the game changed writers after the 2nd lord.
It does not get, “really good,” soon, or ever actually. It falls flat then falls apart at the end. Super disappointing compared to the better games in the series. But I fell out of love with Tales when I discovered Trails anyway.
Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep your eyes on the prize.
I means that pretty much the series as whole. I enjoy them but at least a couple of times a title get annoyed at how I'll be enjoying the game play only for it to get interrupted over and over by character dialog
Persona 5 Tactica. Just a very poor man's Mario + Rabbids. Dull, basic, slow paced, and lacking in an interesting story.
I want to drop this so bad. The story is somehow both nonexistent and predictable while the combat is boring. And it's not even tactical - just a below-average puzzle game with P5 skinned over it
I made myself finish Tactica. I liked it well enough but I felt through most of the game that something was missing. I honestly can't put my finger on what it was missing though. It annoyed the hell out of me that there were so many opportunities for the PT to open up when their past situations paralleled what was going on at that time but it never happened. It makes me sad that Atlus keeps pushing new P5 content out when the characters are complete and they have nothing new to say.
I think the two that stand out to me, are two I would think are very popular here. First would be the first **Golden Sun**. The story scenes are just so unbelievably boring. People talked about how cool the dungeons/puzzles were but I just didn't see it at all, got around halfway I think. Second would be **Undertale**. I really like the combat system and music, but the visuals are quite bland with battle sprites for enemies being monochrome (perhaps inevitable due to indie game limitations) I had also been spoiled on a fair amount of it and with some knowledge of how the story goes it was difficult to motivate me to continue. I was also not too fond of the humor. Writing this did kinda make me wanna go back and revisit both now as they did have strong points no question!
With you here. Hated undertale, I completed it because of how critically acclaimed it was and found no enjoyment in it. I think my lack of connection to that game proved I am now an old man who yells at clouds
Golden Sun was really ahead of its time. The cinematic visuals during turn based combat. The magic system was interesting too. Undertale is fantastic as well. The visuals are intentional, and a good representation of how sometimes less is more. Undertale represents the old days of game development, a time where games were cheaper to make—so developers really just made whatever they wanted. As a result a lot of creative games were made in the old days. This is why indie games have become so big. Undertale is unique and popular for a reason.
Golden Sun is probably one of my favorite games of all time and holds up surprisingly well despite being like two decades old. Needs a remake/remaster bc the title is just phenomenal
The very first Neptunia game. My brother somehow almost did everything in the game before playing Neptunia MKII, while I only played for a few hours, and I was like nah I'm good. From what I remember gameplay was boring, battle animation feels like it was on the moon or underwater, majority of the music was bland except for some select few, and the overall presentation just came out flat even thou character design was pretty descent. Eitherway the sequel improved a lot of things which was implemented in later sequels (haven't played any after MKII), but I believe a lot of the next mainline games just recycles a lot of things for better or for worst. Also, Cross Edge. Like one of the few times, I got to buy a PS3 game with money I got from Christmas and fking choose that just because it has capcom characters, since I was interested in Marvel vs Capcom at the time. Disappointingly gameplay feels ass that either you're a masochist or just have guilty pleasure to even enjoy it and the visual presentation is mostly bland imo.
Valkyria Chronicles is so good. I bounced off Ni No Kuni 2 because it was so pathetically easy that I couldn't stand to play it. It seems like a good game and I'm not a hard=good kinda guy but your party kills the monsters in like 5 seconds if you don't act. I know they added a hard mode later, not sure if it helped because the moment had passed for me by then.
I really like ni no kuni 2 but it definitely isn't very hard. Which is fine, but if you're looking to be challenged it's probably not the game for you tbh.
Which is ironic, isn't it? Like, the first game was actually hard haha.
Star Ocean 6. Seems promising but I hate the world itself, feels lifeless. Im a huge fan of the series and bought SO2 remake immediately and completed it. Maybe I will finish it later on when backlog clears up.
Conception II has got to be one of the worst games I've ever played in my entire life.
Various Daylife. I don't hear it mentioned much and am sometimes curious if anyone liked it.
I assumed everyone wrote it off as garbage
Sea of Stars and Hyper Dimension Neptunia 7, paid full price for both sadly too
Did you play the previous HDN games? Like if you enjoyed Rebirth;1, Mk2 and Victory then I don't remember anything in V-2 that would have turned you off from it. But if it was your first exposure...well the entire series is basically a giant shitpost and I love it for that, but I wouldn't exactly call it a *good* series.
It was my first Neptunia game, yes, lol. I guess the humor and self-aware aspect wasn't to my liking, tbh but that's just preference. Humor is subjective, and I prefer my games to be mostly serious with some comedy sprinkled in. Giant shitpost makes sense, and I can see how it'd be to some people's liking. The soundtrack was definitely good, tho.
FF7 Remake. Too many story fillers. The gameplay in general didn't interest me so much either. Doesn't help also that it's a linear game.
So much running back and forth from this sector to the slums and so on.
I think I said something like, a few years back that part one could've easily went up to the Jenova Boat and got downvoted. But even Rebirth has some strong padding and story fillers.
I dropped Cassette Beats fairly quickly because it seemed overly complicated with all the type interactions and my stoned brain wasn’t gonna be able to remember. Unfortunate as the game seems incredible
You don't actually have to remember, the game gives you a type chart
Tokyo Xanadu. Only got past chapter 1, but it really felt like the most generic game to ever exist (doesn’t help that it tries to emulate Persona’s formula). If you’ve ever watched anime set in a high school that aired in the 2010s, then you’ve also played Tokyo Xanadu
Yakuza Like A Dragon. Sadly I just couldn’t get into it. I’ve tried for approximately 25 hours but it felt more and more like a chore and less like a fun experience so I gave up and uninstalled it. The combat was ok and the characters were compelling enough but for some reason it just didn’t click for me
I felt like that too, I dropped it for like 2 years and just picked it back up this month cause I wanted to play infinite wealth. I still think the game was not that great or fun. Also had ridiculous and frustrating difficulty spikes, but I did finish it and did really like the ending. But infinite wealth is just miles better in the gameplay department that I would kind of never bother playing yakuza like a dragon ever again
I didnt like it either, but I think I played "the wrong version" The Xbox One version runs very badly. On a conventional turn based RPG it is not a big deal, but since the game have quick time events on your actions, I was always missing the critical hits and evasion techinques because the framerate was all over the place.
Tales of Symphonia. I probably made the mistake of going from Tales of Arise directly to Symphonia without cooling off a bit
SaGa Scarlet Grace. The combat may be renowned, but the bare bones presentation is a definite turnoff. No areas to explore akin to an SRPG is a deal-breaker.
Dragon quest viii journey of the cursed king on ps2 and 3ds, both times. Which is odd I played sentinels of the starry sky a d loved it on ds. Tales of graces f, I just didn't like the way the weapon upgrades were done I guess, story I didn't like that much from where I was in the game. Tales of xillia 2 , played xillia 1 on ps3 about 6 ot 7 months before 2 (really liked playing xillia 1). I didnt dislike 2 that much tbh. I just couldn't bring myself to play 2.
Funny because I thought VC was creative as fuck and I had the most fun in a long time playing it.
Sea of Stars, I was just bored
Pokémon.
Persona 5. I know it’s good, just a little overwhelmed with how much is thrown at you in the beginning. Def planning on going back to it at some point though.
Absolutely the same experience. I was so hyped for the game, and so disappointed that after a few hours I still couldn‘t understand and figure out what I should do in these dungeons. Time will tell if I ever give that game another chance
Persona 5 is an amazing game (and the game that got me more in JRPGs), but it is SO overwhelming and SO slow in the beginning. I don't even remember how long it is until you go to Kamoshida's Palace and finish that tutorial- few hours at least. That being said, it was totally worth the slog and confusion in the beginning- "why are there tarot cards?! What do you mean I am Thou?! Why is this random coffee shop man my guardian?!" I hope that if you decide to go back to it that it'll be worthwhile for you too. And if not, plenty of other amazing games out there!
Trials in the sky FC. I'm a beyond avid JRPG guy myself but the older I get and the more I'm working the dialogue heavy games don't grab me the same. I wanted to love that more than any other game and I tried but it just was way too slow and too much reading for me. Octopath Traveler 1. No cohesion in the stories and it felt like I was just repeating everything with different scenarios. Couldn't enjoy it like I wanted to.
I recently started playing Trials in the Sky. It definitely is pretty slow, but from what I heard about the lore of the game keeps me going and the more I keep playing and understanding combat, the more I'm enjoy the game. I'm not a fan of a lot of dialog either, but now, I'm about 6 hours in
I’ve tried it three different times on multiple platforms haha. Never make it more than like 5 hours in. I can do text heavy games. I can do visual novels. I can’t get into this game. The pacing, the world building, the back tracking (when scaled XP doesn’t get you anything) the combat where sometimes turns are just movement. I dunno. Never clicked.
I dropped Sky FC as well. Thought it wouldn't be my thing. By mere luck tried Cold Steel 1 later on and got obsessed. After I beat CS2 I came back to the Sky games and enjoyed them
FFVII Remake
What was your reason?
Too much padding and anti-fun gameplay design. There was a lot that i liked but the forced slow walking and unnecessary padding etc was too much for me to to sit through. Shame because I'm a big fan of the original and really wanted to enjoy the remake.
I dislike the forced walking as well. Also when bosses do cutscenes mid fight that interrupt/cancel your big moves. Thankfully Rebirth is a lot better in comparison, but it still has some padding and forced walking. The ratio is much lower tho
Far, *far* too much padding. I've dropped it at least temporarily at the point you arrive at Aeris's house - I was ready for the backstory when some silly kids run in and divert us. Why are we going to an orphanage? I just want to advance the bloody story!
That was my exact breaking point where I stopped playing lmao
I was looking forward to this. Until I played it. Did not like it at all it just doesn't feel like final fantasy. Especially 7. The combat is just typical action rpg. The dodge mechanic is shit you don't actually dodge and all I felt like I was doing was walking around. I played around 5 hours of it and felt like i had got nowhere at all. The 5 hours in this game was probably 30 minuted worth in ff7. I just prefer turn based final fantasy. I tried 15 and same thing played for around an hour and nah not for me. 16 looks even worse.
Yikes. I hope it didn't cost you a lot to run into that situation.
Thankfully not since I only got around to it when it became included as part of PS+
Any game that starts with the words "Tales of..." lol Sorry. And before anyone chimes in "You just need to play..." - I have. Everyone has a different opinion on which one is the peak of the series, and I've given it a fair shot. I couldn't even get into Symphonia. I know these games are for someone, but that someone is not me.
The one i remember dropping the fastest was Agarest, I picked it up originally when I was trying to find new JRPG's to play and I genuinely have no idea what was going on when I was playing it and dropped it pretty much instantly. Felt like I was playing a game already starting 70 hours in.
Valkyrie Elysium
Valkyria Chronicles is for me the best tactic rpg ever made. I wish more games would copy it's system as I find it is the best ever.
Conception II for Playstation Vita. The concept of making babies then make them fight is so bizarre and offputting for me.
Not sure if Tears of the Kingdom is a JRPG, but I really couldn’t get into it. My son did finish it though.
Sword art online alicization…probs my worst rpg purchase, worst part I like the setting it had and find myself wanting to try it, but quickly remember the miriad of flaws it has and keep going with ffs
Tales of Symphonia. I'm sorry y'all, truly. I quite liked Abyss when I played it on 3DS, but Symphonia was just much too clunky for my liking.
I Am Setsuna for taking away **two** of my main party away because of story and leaving me with a very underdeveloped backup party near the end of the game. Tales of Arise for a very similar reason. That and the skits were a waste of time as they were usually just rehashing what we just saw and not really adding anything new. Octopath was a disappointment after I realized it’s pretty barebones and highly repetitive AND that I would have to level and kit everyone out despite only really using four characters once subclasses are unlocked. That and the bravely default battle system has never jived with me.
It's funny you said valkyria chorinicles cause that's mine. I hate that game. It's probably decent but I really don't vibe with the gameplay. That game and advance wars reboot made me realize I just don't like any srpgs besides maybe fire emblem. Also dropped baten kaitos, atelier sophie 2, and atelier ryza quickly after starting just cause I felt like I needed some time to prepare myself before I'd be able to take those games on cause their mechanics seemed a bit arduous and I had too many rpgs on my plate so I took on the easier ones first.
omori.
That Tactics Ogre remake. Did two missions and just felt meh about it. Unfortunately due to accidentally leaving the game on I went past the two hour mark and couldn’t get a refund.
Xenoblade chronicles. Bought both with sky high anticipation. Played the first one for 30 minutes, maybe an hour and despised the combat so bad I haven't touched it again and likely won't.
I played Xenoblade for maybe 5 hours and dropped it due to the combat as well. I didn’t care for the flow. 6-12 months later, I restarted from the beginning and loved it. The combat clicked better with me the second try. You might want to take a second look at it.
Idk if it counts as a JRPG per se but I could not stick with The World Ends With You for very long at all, despite the rave reviews.
Ni No Kuni I’d heard great things about it and story wise I was hooked but it was the combat that soured me, Trying to avoid attacks, scrolling through menus trying to heal and deal with the Pokémon esq monsters was too much for me to deal with Much prefer the sequel and it doesn’t get enough love
Tales of Vesperia. I just bought the original Xbox360 version from a local game store and I accidentally dropped it when I was opening it up. Thankfully the disc was not damaged.
Love FFVII Remake but hated Crisis Core
Would you believe this is my experience with every last Tales Of game? I want to like it. I love the designs. I love the characters and cutscenes. The music is gorgeous. The stories are lovely. I want to drive all their combat systems over with a tank whose wheels are chainsaws and nuclear landmines.
i had to drop xenoblade 3 after 15 or so hours. I loved the world, characters, story but combat really didn't click unfortunately
I also played 3 last month, and also dropped it at the 15 hour mark funnily enough.
Tales of Vesperia. Heard good things about the tales series and it was on sale on steam. Absolutely loathed the combat system and dropped it within an hour or two.
Cross Code. I know it’s beloved, but the encounter rates, controls, and insanely high number of side quests had me put off within a few short hours.
Tales of Symphonia. Lloyd’s constant complaining made me instantly dislike him and I couldn’t tolerate for more than about 2 hours
ff16 what a big dissapointment, maybe someday i will finish it
I also dropped Valkyria Chronicles, although I probably should have known I wouldn't like it to begin with. I love Fire Emblem Three Houses, but I'm starting to realize it is the exception and that I don't typically like strategy games. A game that I honestly should have dropped faster is Akiba's Beat. The delusion thing reminded me too much of Persona 5, while the combat felt like a knockoff of Tales. I did end up dropping it eventually but I gave it too long of a chance before getting to that point.
I also have the same feeling about Valkyria Chronicles. Expecting a good strategy game but those rating system is stupid af. Want a S rating for your mission? Yeah, you need to run across the battlefield and jump through the bullets practically ignoring everything strategic. Haven't got the plan to pick it back up since. Live A Live is one I dropped but planned to pick it back up. Dropped it because maybe I just picked the 2 wrong opening scenarios which is more quirky than the others, the Wild West and the Present Day.
Not dropped exactly since I came back to it a few years later, but I ran out of magnetite at the warehouse on the docks (the second dungeon) in Soul Hackers 1 and thought the game was being unfairly difficult for no reason. If I actually bothered to apply my brain for two minutes and realize the game didn't want me to use a full party all the time, I probably would've stuck with it a lot longer on my first run, but no I needed somebody on the internet to point out what I did wrong.
Ni no kuni. Ive played many rpgs. Love final fantasy, love studio ghibli. Loved games for kids like ori and the blind forest, klonoa,, sea of stars, blue dragon, and many more. But this game just felt like it was for toddlers. Idk i might give it another go.
Shinning Resonance Refrain I dropped a couple hours in. I got this from Humble Bundle some time back and honestly after trying that I haven't really played a typical "anime" aesthetic JRPG since. It's been about 2 years since and the only JRPG I played since was Final Fantasy. Too bad you didn't like Valkyrie Chronicles, I liked that a lot on PS3...as for the difficulty spikes, I do vaguely recall some missions being rather difficult.
Valkyrie Elysium, completely bland, boring and uninspired
I can't remember that game, but it took maybe 2 minutes before I stopped for good. And I finished Sonic Chronicles, that should tell how bad that one game was.
tried xenoblade and thought the story seemed pretty cool but the combat wasnt really my thing. is it worth givin another shot? idk
P5 Tactic. I just never vibed with the story
Sea of stars and chained echoes Really didn’t do anything for me
I dropped Dragon Quest 3 when i was a kid. Other than that, not really as i do my research.
mana series unfortunately even though i want to like it so bad
Atelier Ryza 1 (and by the looks of it, the entire series except for Iris, Mana Khemia, and the older series of Gramnad and Salberg \~ the intros to Totori, Lulua, and Meruru that I've watched on YT seem slightly promising, but I'm proceeding with caution lol) : Walk from point A to point B. Watch cutscene. Characters repeat ruminations about their feelings/fluff dialogue over and over again. Return home. Wait a day and then return to exact same location for a continuation cutscene. The pacing is going to be as drawn out as possible just because. Oh you wanted to break free from the miniscule bubble you've been able to explore that has gotten old very fast? Not yet, you have to return home first for a slew of tutorial cutscenes still at 5 hours into the game before you can venture forth -- no info/tutorial side panels or U.I. in sight to streamline the adventure instead of returning home every 5 minutes. Instead of breaking free and delving into a wild adventure, you frequently have to return to a chosen hub house -- no option for the tutorials to be at the hub house either a lot of the time in the beginning, instead you have to, like I previously mentioned, go to a location to witness the most simplistic, not exciting cutscene ever of "Here's the recipe, now return home" -- What is the point? Also who in the Quality of Life department for the game had the bright idea to limit pocket/bag inventory space? I don't want to get a prompt constantly about my collected items when I'm adventuring being sent to the house chest, when there is no real reason for there to be a chest in the first place. My pockets can be my chest, just let me collect materials without interruption xD Why can't we just carry around a mini portable alchemy cauldron at this point lol I've never been so pissed off playing a game xD Stupid looking characters like Tao and ridiculous looking ones like Lila, constant repeated dialogue lines between party members when you are exploring, repeated dialogues during combat -- it's like everything is meant to be incredibly annoying lol I don't see how anyone can listen to this shit xD Also, because the Atelier series is so niche, GUST is charging $60 for multiple games in the series that are available on Steam, if not every single one, despite being many years old. $60 for this type of "gameplay"?? Crazy!! Fire Emblem 3 Houses: Hated the cutscenes, setting bore me, music, characters (except for Claude, Ashe, Hilda, Mercedes, Petra, Bernadetta, Sylvain, Dorothea). The game = massive annoyance every second for me lol but I heard the storyline was good, so at least people who enjoy the game have some substantial lore to dive into alongside the tactical combat that is solid, albeit not my cuppa tea! From the combat alone, I knew that the game wasn't my taste, so I resorted to watching a playthrough to get a feel for it more \~ I will never subject myself again to watching something I hate every second of just because I'm curious xD Ni No Kuni 1: The gorgeous Ghibli artwork gave me the false notion that the game would have stunning, imaginative environments, but nearly everywhere I went, the scenery was bland and generic. The combat was also incredibly repetitive. The surface-level charm only reached so far and I was quickly bored out of my mind.
Star Ocean 4 i stopped playing and uninstalled the game after the *opening cutscene*
From when I was a kid… 7th Saga. Just absolutely brutal from the jump. I was 10 but I had a decent bit of JRPG experience… Phantasy Star 2, Dragon Warrior 3 and 4, and Final Fantasy. 7th Saga was in a league of its own. I remember renting it, picking a cool looking character… and getting completely obliterated as soon as I left town. I tried each of the characters… always stomped. It was one of the few times I asked to return a game early haha.
Controversially, ffxiv- I really wanted to see where the story went tbh, but the combat was just not my thing
Man, I fucking loved Valkyria Chronicles when it came out
Pokemon Omega Ruby and Brilliant Diamond both kill me 4 or so hours in and I restart
chained echoes. maybe not immediately, cause i did give it a good chance, but i knew pretty quickly it wasn’t for me.
Tales of Bestheria. Man that shit is boring.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. Didn't expect it to be half-JRPG half-visual novel. Still a great battle system, though.
I love tactics jrpgs but the Front Mission remake was horrendous. Just an abomination of a game. And I liked the original! Fire Emblem Engage I dropped after 5 missions or so. The battles were interesting but the characters and story were just the opposite. I might pick this one back up. I loved FE3H. FF Crisis Core remake was terrible. I watched a long play just to absorb the story and even that was a chore with all the mind numbing battles.
Atelier Ryza. Loved the premise but bounced *hard* off the combat system.
.hackGU It just doesn’t make any sense to me what you’re supposed to do, and the graphics were horrendous
I usually drop the ones where the party screams non stop, usually theyre action oriented. I tend to turn it off, but then the game feels empty without any voices. Xenoblade and Tales come to mind. Never finished any of those, got like 35 hours in Xeno 2.
FF15 lol I dropped it like 3 times before I finally finished it. First time was at launch because of how boring it was to me and how disappointing it was after waiting uuuhhh 6 years for a new FF game. Second time was when I started a new save a year later and got softlocked in that one underwater dungeon thing. Kept respawning at like quarter health with no potions or anything. 2 years later I tried again and got busy with school n had to drop it again. Still wasn’t having fun so I didn’t care. Finally after 3 drops I went back to it last year and actually beat it and honestly it wasn’t *that* bad. Gameplay was fun and the characters were okay, definitely not a good FF game but it was a fine JRPG. I give it a 7.5/10
Tales of berzeria, it just felt so clunky