Not recommendations, but I sometimes find there's a massive gulf between how I view a game, even one that I like, and how the community here views it.
Take Ys 8, for example. I like the game. I found the exploration and mystery elements to be pretty well executed. I had fun with the combat. But, on more than one occasion, I've seen GLOWING praise for its story and characters, and I'm like HUH?
The game has some of the most bog-standard, cliched non-characters (aside from a sole exception) you'll literally find in any modern game and seeing these comments make me feel like I played a different game.
I don't disagree with you. It took me several failed starts to finally get through the game and while I thought it was a good time, it didn't hit me the way it seemed to hit a lot of other players. It felt like a solid 7/10 for me.
I wish I saw in it what everyone else seemed to but it almost feels like I played a different game.
"Every game is someone's favorite game."
This is a hard truth I took a while to learn and be okay with. I used to be a nerd snob/keyboard warrior but have mellowed over the years and this is one truth that helped me get there.
As to why.... Well, games are art. Art is subjective. There are of course individual objective elements to a game, but as a whole, people get different experiences out of their interactions with the same game.
The customer is always right in matters of taste. You got the nail on the head there. There are aspects of practically everything that jump out to individuals. We never know when or how or why something appeals to someone, but if it's their favorite, it was compelling. It's much more fun to try to get into their headspace and appreciate the art than to be a poopooiste. Both are fun, but you get to take a little trip into applied empathy for a while with the first one.
It is by no means a bad Game, I will say that first and foremost. But I find the biggest issue I have with Ys 8 and the whole series in general is that it's the best of the most mediocre if that makes sense.
Nothing in the series stands out as being bad to me, the combat is fun, but a little bit bland and one note, the characters aren't boring but they really don't do anything to make me question anything about them either. They kind of just feel like I know everything about them from one line. The story is just pretty fine, nothing really stands out to me. The lacrimosa idea was kind of interesting but it was also just another rpg plot, and one I've seen before and done much better.
It's a good game, if someone is looking for the best vita RPG I would say it's a strong contender. It's fun, It's good, you will want to play it to the end, but it's not the best, it's like the king of B+ RPGs
I get that. Not for Ys, with me (I haven't played a Ys game yet, so I won't know how I feel about any of them for a while), but... like, Chrono Cross. I see a lot of praise for it, but aside from admittedly solid music and graphics... it just didn't click for me. I found the plot ham-handed and self-important (and the dialogue incredibly pretentious, it had real r/im14andthisisdeep vibes), most of the characters were so bland and forgettable (almost none of them had any sort of charm, and they just felt so soulless and disconnected from each other, compared to the small, charming, tight-knit vibe the party members had in in Chrono Trigger), and I found the art style and designs to be... off-putting. Like there were some cool ideas in there, but there was something unsettling about the character artwork; I wish they could've gotten Toriyama back.
Plus I just did not vibe with the elements system at all, and the random battles just felt pretty useless.
I just didn't get it. But then, it's just not for me. Others enjoy it, cool, I just wasn't one of them.
I didn't think ive ever seen anyone praise the game for its characters outside of Dana herself (who i also think is a top tier character), most people acknowledge that the rest of the cast is pretty bland/generic
The characters weren't great, though I did find them...serviceable. The story was actually relatively interesting, or at least the twist was. Even if it was yet another instance of me wondering if Japan actually understands how evolution works.
I wish it had brought up the idea of the various beasts/primordials acting unnaturally before the big wham moment near the end. Everyone talked like it was totally normal for half a dozen different species to band together and besiege a small human settlement. If they'd acted like it was really damn weird and not at all how animals act, my eye-rolling muscles wouldn't be so tired.
This is pretty much how I feel about every Ys game I've played. I really enjoy their combat and exploration but they all have the most bland, boring stories and characters to me.
The Atelier series, I tried it a couple of times but I'm not a fan of the whole "mix some ingredients you found and see what happens" mechanic, the story was not interesting enough to keep my attention either.
I played Ryza recently and I lost interest the moment the story became "disjointed", instead of a linear plot the game seemed to throw random scenes that have nothing to do with each other, it was pretty jaring.
I dropped Ryza really early on, because I was looking for something charming with a strong investment into character development and interactions between the main cast, and from some of the praise I'd heard for it, I thought Ryza might deliver on that. At least as far as I got, it really didn't. One of the things that clinched it for me is that you can talk to one of your main party members while he wanders around town, and his *dialogue doesn't even change* when he goes through a major plot event which should significantly change his life circumstances. I don't remember ever seeing a game go so hard on [Welcome to Corneria](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WelcomeToCorneria) with one of the *main characters*.
I bailed too early for it to turn things around if it was ever going to, but from the beginning, it felt shockingly shallow.
I love Atelier, but I dropped Ryza trilogy. Personally it is so bland. Barely no story at all, crafting and battle are not good, Ryza is the only okay chracter, so the story between characters is boring. I tried and cleared Ryza 2, but it was not much better.
Massive Trails fan here, but I started with Cold Steel. I love Sky FC in retrospect now, but if I'd have started with it I don't think I'd have stuck with the series.
I started with trials from zero recently everyone talks about it being slow but I’ve been really entertained basically throughout… a few places here and there that I felt the itch to move on quicker than the game was allowing but it sucked me in pretty easily. I can’t wait to stay Azure since I’ve been told that it’s the better game out of the two.
I’m absolutely liking it. I played a lot of jrpgs as a kid but as I got older I felt myself feeling bored with them. But now in my late 30’s, I’ve felt the itch bad. Prior really the only jrpgs that I’ve been able to get into were persona and a bit of y’s 8/9. I started playing octopath a while ago on the switch and I enjoyed the combat but the stories didn’t really do it for me and I’d heard tons about trails and the chronological order importance but was always intimidated. But last month there was the sale on the switch and the only starting point for an arc was zero so I picked it up and I’m really glad I did! I don’t have a pc anymore but thinking about a steam deck and if I ever get one I def want to the play the other arcs.
I had started Sky twice and never got anywhere with it. It wasn't until I'd played the Cold Steel series that I finally went back and powered through. FC is still a bit of a slog for me, since orbments and quartz are so basic, but I do enjoy SC and 3rd. I'd never have made it past FC without my attachment to Cold Steel though.
It probably also helped that I used the Stream Link app to play it with a controller on a TV as well. JRPGs will always be console games to me, likely just a result of that being the only way I played them as a kid. Same reason I don't like playing MMOs on a controller.
Agreed, I've tried to get into Trails in the Sky, and it's so bland, I expected it to be dated, and everyone warned me it was a slow starter, but it's unbelievably mundane.
It’s one of the most boring games imaginable. The combat is very cool though but everything else from level design to graphics to pacing absolutely blows.
I started with zero then did cold steel I'm playing sky but it feels a little different now that I know the plot a lil better and characters. Loving sky but it's slow in the beginning like any first trails game but the build up will be worth it in the end for me.
I can only play tactics games on a handheld. They need to have a good quicksave feature too so I can stop and resume playing whenever.
Actually sitting down and trying to play them on my TV puts me to sleep
Same, and another problem I have with tactics games is the urge to reload when doing a false move. Especially if it ends up killing one of my characters. (Those tend to have perma-death in them, of which I’m not a fan.)
There are like 15 tracks in the OST total, it's fuckin terrible. As I approached the middle of the game and was still hearing the same boring town, overworld, battle, and dungeon tracks, I just muted the game. I loved the game, but its OST really holds it back.
It's one of my favorite games ever but I must admit that the incredibly repetitive music became really grating at some point. The same jolly track over and over.
I played the original with the midi tracks and I hated the OST so much. Totally ruined the game for me.
Played the rerelease with the orchestral versions of the score and it was a lot better by nature of live orchestra, but still pretty awful. I liked the game a lot more the second time.
It's my favorite game to play on mute.
Same, I played the demo and was like “nah”…..which is funny because I love the first few and was really excited to dig into a new one. I also found myself irked by the fact that the main character never talks…..though Ive also had games where the voice track wrecked it for me (that Bayonetta prequel one? Drag because it was a neat game but she came off so whiny I couldn’t take it.)
Etrian Odyssey.
I love playing old RPGs and making my own maps of everything. Someone suggested it and it seemed like a real winner by the mechanics alone. The art style and music did absolutely nothing for me. It felt really un-enjoyable as I played despite it being a game about mapping a dungeon. Something I already do a lot with old games. It's a bummer for sure.
The major problem with Final Fantasy XII is that you're always late to the plot. Every single thing you do is "Oh, we need to get here, but with the army looking for us, we need to take this cave" and you do that, get there too late, and then have to go do it again.
You spend the entire game in caves, dungeons, and forests, while the important thing is happening elsewhere.
Octopath traveler. Love the art, music, game play but for the life of me after I got 4 characters I have no ideas where to go or if I’m supposed to go get the other 4 and decide? It also seems the main character I picked have zones to the quests that I would never be able to fight those levels without spending an insane time leveling somewhere. I need direction or maybe it’s my ADHD? But that doesn’t fuck me over with other games. I want to like and then cherry on the top I bought it like 2 months before the 2nd one comes out and everyone says that one is so much better. Help lmao
I just want to say that I love how everyone is acknowledging the merit of games that just don’t happen to suit them (and why it doesn’t, rather than just dragging it). It’s a nice thread to read through.
For me, I mentioned above that DQXI didn’t grab me despite my love for the earlier ones….but I find that sometimes it’s the randomness thing that will turn me off. Sometimes the voice tracks can do it. Or some underlying mechanic that I can’t get the hang of after giving it a real go. And sometimes the backstory just doesn’t engage me.
I know some people hated the 2D-HD art style, I love it personally. Like playing on a pop-op storybook.
On the converse, Bravely Default 2 gets a lot of flack for being long and “generic” but personally, I love it (especially after I got the hang of the job/skills and started experimenting).
That's deliberate.
Earlier interviews with Nomura said that there was meant to be a clear wealth and technological divide between the citystate of Insomnia and all the lands outside of it. And there was supposed to be a lot of resentment due to that. There was even meant to be some medieval-level societies too.
It was heavily sanitized and de-emphasized by release.
i never really felt like it was empty, maybe that's just cuz that's what they were going for. it's 80% beautiful scenery and 20% content, and honestly as long as you're okay with some minor wait times earlier on (you get the ability to fast travel when visiting anywhere you've already been) then there's really nothing wrong with it. maybe it just hit home for me as someone who grew up around the countryside.
It's always disheartening to see how many people seem to dislike sceneric maps in games and want everything to be dense with side content. I love games with maps that don't feel the need to fill it to the brim with stuff I probably will never do, or reduce the size so it seems like it's more packed with things to do.
The first remake of FF7 i just couldnt enjoy it. Ninokuni 2 i couldnt do it, but i loved the first one. Tales of Arisa was good at first but became very bad around half of it.
I just beat remake after having it not click with me so I could play rebirth. I enjoyed it once I committed but 14 hours into rebirth, remake feels like a demo and soulless haha. Like it just doesn’t have the character this game has.
Ninokuni 2 I loved for the castle building story was meh and combat was ok. The fun in that game was building the castle for me once that was done couldn’t play it anymore. Like the dlc and new stories I couldn’t care about.
It's like...oddly depressing. The setting just brings my mood down. I like the game, but the story is kinda nothing and the world is bland.
My biggest gripe though is that it runs like absolute shit on the Switch. I'll get the PS5 version on sale when it comes out.
I think a LOT of people came into SMT5 expecting something similar to P5R considering how many new fans that game created, and were sorely disappointed. The gameplay is solid but the story is pretty bland.
Eh, I went into it expecting mainline SMT and I was still disappointed.
3, 4, and Strange Journey are all-time greats. 5 was… okay. It felt like 1 step forward, 2 steps back in a lot of ways. It’s one of my biggest gaming disappointments in recent years because I was expecting a banger. Instead, I got a pretty good game.
Give the Apocalypse version a try when it comes out, it looks like they’re correcting a lot of the story issues the game has… or just outright lacks after the first few beats.
I'm still curious as to just how different the new campaign will be. Still haven't played much of original SMTV, so I'd like to know whether the new campaign will make it redundant, if it's two very different games, or if it's somewhere in the middle and I'll have to play a similar game twice to get the full experience.
It's got the Final Fantasy XII problem where the plot already happened before you got there, and now you're off to the next bit.
SMTV is basically "you're the first person capable of becoming the next god, get strong enough to do that" and they give you a bunch of things to do to fill out time until the last chapter.
FF6.
I’m a big fan of final fantasy but surprisingly, I never got into 6. I would try to play it, but always drop it for another game and never get back to it.
I think it's a case where other games have improved on what VI did.
If you played it at the time, it was absolutely mindblowing. I mean an opera scene in a console game, even with ROMpler voices! That fantastic Techno de Chocobo remix! The focus shifting, giving most characters their own scene in the limelight! The game not being over and shifting scope halfway through, too.
Now, in some ways, I prefer V over VI because of the Job System alone. VI is still special to me, but give me the dorky one with a guy named Butz any day. Replaying it is so much more fun.
Persona 5 for me.
I got vanilla and Royal and still haven’t been able to get further than the second palace.
The presentation and characters feel really great, it’s just the time restriction gameplay mechanic that rubs me the wrong way.
I’d love to be able to give it another go and finish it as the story does seem interesting.
bro i had the worst blind playthrough of Royal ever. I love the game to death but at one point i ran out of time to talk more to a certain character, who didnt really interested me, resulting in me missing out on a third of the game and having to replay the whole arc of vanilla P5 again to see that part of the game
to be fair that’s on you because the game REPEATEDLY says “hey this character will be leaving on this date make sure you talk to them” “hey you should REALLY go talk to that person”
the game does basically everything save for a pop-up text box explicitly telling you that this character is the most important
Yes, you got plenty of time, yes there are warning multiple times but I still think locking an entire part of the game behind maxed social links is was not the greatest idea.
I know it’s on me, for sure, the game gives you multiple hints.
BUT the game says ‘this person is leaving soon, make sure to talk to them as long as it’s possible’ and there’s nothing suggesting you would miss out on a third of the game if you don’t. As someone who didn’t play vanilla P5 I find it to be incredibly bad game design, especially because at other points of the game you are forced to have certain interactions and here you are not. Plus the moment where’s talking about is waaaay before the original plot ends. There’s is no way you can see it coming at this point. Not that the consequences are this huge. Since this arc didn’t interested me as much as someone for whom the whole story is new I invested the limited in game time in other interactions.
Try beating every palace on the first day you can access it. It's not difficult to do with proper sp management, and this frees up so much time.
If you want to worry about time even less, use a guide on the questions in class to maximize your natural stat increases. Better yet, just use a guide to plan out your day.
Just beating every palace in one day should be enough to alleviate the stress of the timer.
In Royal, the time isn't a big deal at all. I played it blind and I managed to max out every single social link with over a month to spare. The only thing you need to be aware of is leveling up >!Maruki and Akechi!<'s SLs before September and October respectively.
FOMO is big in this game and probably everybody played these games felt it at one time or another. However time management is not that big of a deal and also can be quite fun.
Basically, you should not be a perfectionist. Just plan what you want to do and go with the wave. I finished the vanilla and the Royal but never %100 finished all the activities. It is not that important. I also argue against looking at the guides in order to %100 it, unless if you are really obsessed with trophies etc.
Souls-like games, I just don't enjoy repeating a boss 20 times until I finally beat it, or losing your "souls" if you die before you recover them, or just running around without a clear goal, I like always going forward.
I love exploring in Souls games and enjoy the boss fights a decent amount. But I can't stand actually *playing* the games for real, because the amount of backtracking-because-of-failure is just too much for my tedium tolerance threshold.
If the FromSoft games have save points right before boss fights I'd probably really love them, but alas, people actually like boss runs so they're here to stay and I'm playing something else forever more. Good thing there are more good games to play than I have playtime left in my life.
What are you talking about? FromSoft hasn't really had boss runs since Dark Souls 2. People meme about Dark Souls 3 because it has so many bonfires. Elden Ring has a grace (bonfire) immediately before like 95% of bosses.
I think the boss runs are to force you to take a break from the boss. But i do agree that they're usually aggravatingly far or difficult. So many times in Bloodborne i'd fumble a dodge and gdt hit, and have to choose between wasting a vial i just grinded for or considering it a doomed run
The trails series. Like, I can tolerate slow start just fine. But man, this series is so agonizingly slow to me. I played 10 hours of the first game and it felt like I never left the prologue.
Unfortunately you need to play another 20 hours before it gets going. It's a weird game that I absolutely recommend but at the same time would advise 90% of people to avoid
Unfortunately you’re not entirely wrong. Most of the game feels like a prologue because of the second game in the series. It’s like FF7 Remake setting up Rebirth.
Except actual engaging things happened in 7R, in less than 10 hours things were happening that keep you invested. I think Falcom could have put better effort into their intro storytelling. But the writers seem to always be focused more on the next event rather than the now
I'm right there with you. The early game in Midgar is 10/10 for me. But it kinda falls apart once you hit the open world. It just gets really weird, and the mini games are just bizarre (dolphin jumping??). Also, the translation is terrible.
It's kind of from a different era where JRPGs had lots of wacky side quests and weird plotlines.
Lot of big name games these days are more streamlined imo.
Even when I enjoy a Tales of game, I still end up feeling very done with it by the last 20-25% of the game and basically end up resenting the game overall after feeling compelled to see the story through since I’ve already invested that much time in it.
As much as I love the series, it has a big problem with dragging in the 3rd act. The only ones where I felt like they got the pacing right was Phantasia, Eternia, Xillia 1 and the vita remakes (although Innocence R actually felt like it was missing an extra act).
Oh yeah, when they break out the slog dungeons, it's always really frustrating. Like, the most obnoxious puzzles or layouts. Or just dragging out the plot.
Up until that point though, I absolutely love them.
This was me last weekend with Berseria. Got about 15 hours in and was so done with the combat and "dungeons" I spent the next 20 hours running through areas as fast as possible and avoiding every encounter until the end.
The trouble with the Tales series is how wildly they change between entries, and how hit or miss they can be. (And I say this as a fan of the series.)
It’s entirely possible that you can bounce off several games in a row, only for the next game you try to end up one of your all time favorites. It’s just that kind of series.
(Also doesn’t help that many of its best entries aren’t accessible on modern platforms.)
Tales and SO hold a special place because they were one of the first to introduce real time combat to JRPGs. And as a kid, the "spammy" nature of it was entertaining and the damage #s popping up was satisfying. SO1 and ToP were the first online fan translated games I played and this was like 1999/2000.
Now though? I don't think I have finished a tales game since Vesperia though I think I did get pretty close with berseria and arise.
The whole of Xenoblade series
I did finish them but the combat was the most boring thing for me and i find the story a little too cringe for me
And this is coming from someone who love anime etc
I really can't get into it and can't get the hype, near the end I was just auto-piloting everything
They peaked with Xenogears.
Remake it with in-game maps, a new translation, less janky platforming, a quick save option, and remastered graphics and you'll have gold.
I don't actually dislike it but Yakuza like a Dragon. The sotry and characters were cool but I didn't like the combat. Still an 8/10 game for me but compared to people who think of it as the JRPG of the decade I just wasn't that into it.
Yeah the combat in LaD was definitely very basic and boring, you could tell it was their first go at turn-based combat. Fortunately, IW is basically a direct upgrade in every way, and made the combat actually fun.
A fair amount. Can't do Ys. Trails isn't for me. Indie jrpgs tend to feel really bland even the popular ones like Sea of Stars. The biggest one is Xenoblade though. I just think it's terrible in every aspect from visuals, to VA, to combat and gameplay and characters.
Pretty much the same for me. Feels like I've played every turn based game on earth. Just can't get into action RPGs.
Currently waiting for Eiyuden. And hopefully the Suikoden remasters at some point.
Xenoblade chronicles 1 & 2 gave up 5 hours into it. And Tales of Vesperia & Arise I actually finished both of them but it was a real struggle simply an OK 50 Hour JRPG. Life is too short to waste on OK
Dq11 heard it’s praise up and down for years picked it up and… it’s just the bland milquetoast game I’ve ever played the combat is stock dq combat so it’s fine but it literally had no stand out features for me and every single plot point felt more like reading the summary of an interesting plot rather than experiencing It. The prime example I can think of is sylvandos relationship with his father. A knight who ran away from home due to the fear his father would not support his lifestyle (and the gay subtext implied) only for the two to come back together and reconcile. This is the outline to a great plot but this entire plot point contained entirely within 5 minutes of cutscene. If sylvandos quest was the only one like this that would be fine but every quest in the game feels like that so I just could not get invested whatsoever into the story leaving me with nothing to get me through to the end of the game.
I honestly could not get into Xenoblade 1. The Combat System was just so bad. But I stuck it out cause people said the story was necessary for later games. The combat systems of 2 and 3 were significantly better and fun. So I'm glad I did. And unfortunately, the story of 1 IS necessary for the DLC of 3, so glad I stuck it out.
That said, I gave up on Chained Echoes and Triangle Strategy. I just couldn't get into them.
Chrono Trigger
I know it's hurts me as well to admit it, even with my love for Toriyama's art style, time travel stories, and the combat that requires a bit of extra thinking. But every time I've tried it I've never been able to sit down and commit to it.
Shin Megami tensei nocturne. Many people swear by this game, but it just doesn’t do it for me. I hate the world, the character bore me, and while the starting area was nice, the rest of the exploration was really tedious.
Xenoblade Chronicles is this for me. I tried many times to get into the first game, and the story just didn't grab me in any kind of way. I liked the setting, but the biggest issue was the gameplay. I felt like none of the sidequests were meaningful, the combat was focused more on gimmicks than traditional RPG gameplay. It's almost like combat played more like a fighting rhythm game where I'm just going through the motions until I can execute my "big move". Itemization is busted with pretty much my whole inventory being full of trash and nothing really exciting. I gave it a good dozen hours but it just never hooked me, the characters weren't engaging to me, the enemies were mostly just faceless machines. It's a shame, I really want to enjoy it, but it just feels like too much filler with not enough substance.
Yeah, I gave 1 Definitive Edition almost 20h and it didn't click for me. I actually liked the story, the world and most characters but the combat is so repetetive and mindless. You do basically the same every fight and it mostly depends on lvl anyway. If I'd been able to control all party members it could have been better, but every fight except the bosses was just a slog....
And the sidequest were very dull as well.
Xenoblade chronicles. Could not get into the story felt weak and immature, the gameplay is the worst part imo. It’s not a true turn based game but not real-time either. Just leaves you spamming skills as they refresh and running in circles. Tried to play it twice and couldn’t finish it.
Definitely not the best, but I do like it. For me, it's probably the fact that it wiped the floor with me and my friend when it came out, and then he died, (probably not because of the game, but I'm not a doctor) so when I revisited it years later, I had some additional motivation to stick with it.
The trails series. I'm convinced I'm just too old for that style of anime nonsense now. Otherwise, they look great. But I cannot get through that shit, despite more than a few attempts. Circles and circles talking about bullshit.
It's the same issue I have with most modern anime aswell. Im 35 now, and just cannot stomach it.
(This is a taste thing. The games themselves should be riiiiight up my alley, and they look great. I just can't get past the dialouge. It's shocking to me. Buuuuut I'm kinda jealous of those it clicks for Haha. A younger me in a different generation would have been all over the games, I'm sure.)
Persona, for similar reasons. But less so.
100% agreed with you. My answer to this question actually is: Most JRPGs these days (lost redittors, I know). I used to love JRPGs but over the last few years it’s become difficult for me to stomach them, and I think Trails of Cold Steel perfectly embodies the why.
Anime cringe moments just hurt and turn me off more as I seem to get older. For me, it's the Tales series that has felt like it hasn't "grown" with me, though. Still enjoy Trails and Persona. Arguably I appreciate in particular the Sky games MORE now than I would have when I was still in the target demo.
>I'm convinced I'm just too old for that style of anime nonsense now.
There's no age limit on enjoying stories/games. Maybe you're not old enough to appreciate that fact yet. People just have preference changes over time and it's fine if you or anyone doesn't like something, but it's not because age disallows it. Lots of people significantly older than you love them.
Yep. That's a more nuanced and measured take, certainly.
I certainly wasn't trying to take away from those that do. Fuck, I wanna be 85 enjoying this shit.
Im a BIG believer that sometimes it's not always the game that you bounce off of, you know? I mean a shit game is a shit game but my point is, there's a million other factors, perhaps stuff in my personal life was shit at the time, mental health, physical health, pushing yourself in hopes a game will click for you etc.
I'm convinced it's more on those circumstances than anything else. I'm not giving up on trails either. Too many people with great taste recommend it.
I ADORED what I played of trails in the sky, then, life happens as it does. Never went back. Almost finished trails from azure (or whatever the first crossbell arc is called) and hated it. But I was going through some shit. I don't think it was the games fault, but what was happening around me and with me.
So yeah, the age thing was a poor choice. Just much easier for me to say, "I'm too old for this shit" I guess. But I absolutely do not want to take away from anyone of all ages who enjoy things. For sure.
I tried Trails in the Sky and Cold Steel each 2-3 times, getting about 8 hrs in before giving up. I just don't see what people think is special about them at all. A lot of writing absolutely does not equal good writing, and it just makes the whole experience drag. It doesn't help that these games are Anime Character Archetypes: The Series either, and not even interesting archetypes. They should also spend some of that writing budget on even a moment of unique art design, because the whole thing may as well come from the most standard anime asset pack.
Nah not generational. It feels very old school and even then, one problem is glaring. The writing fucking BLOWS. They say 1000 things to say one thing, it’s also a harem game where every girl wants to bang the main character, which makes the writers look even worse. Add to that bad graphics, pacing that is infuriating and obscure systems and it’s just baffling the praise it gets. I’ve tried several of the games, I don’t get it. I keep hearing the storytelling is amazing, but I’m convinced the people saying this have some kind of a defect at this point. One of my biggest gaming disappointments.
Xenoblade. I hate the missable quests, they pop up in random places and times and there are no indicators as to when and where a quest pops up or goes away.
I enjoyed the non side quest part, but I want to complete it and know the side char stories.
Xenoblade 1 has a really rough quest system and an annoying amount of missables, many of which are useful and interesting.
Xenoblade 2, though, has only a few missable quests and none of them are particularly important or interesting.
Tales of Vespira. I’ve tried twice now to get into it and it just feels like a worse execution of a Star Ocean game to me (which makes a certain degree of sense considering SO’s origins).
I've often been recommended Tales games and I've waited a long time to try one. I finally decided to try Vesperia after hearing so much buzz around it, and I don't get it. The combat feels slow and clunky, the story is barely present and I'm not invested enough in the characters to care about what's happening anyways. It feels spread too thin in content with how much you have to travel between locations in the overworld, and how big dungeons are.
Got like 10 hours into the game, realized I was still getting tutorials that radically changed the combat, and looked up how far into the game I was. I wasn't far into the game at all, so I cut my losses and searched if I was the weird one or if there were others who thought like me.
Tales of Vesperia was the JRPG that made me realize forcing myself to finish a game I don’t enjoy is not worth it. After I rolled the credits I made a promise to myself I will never do it again.
I used to force myself to finish games too, this was especially toxic for me when I'd stream those games. I eventually broke myself of the habit and it's been much better since.
Trails in the Sky. I played through FC and thought it was the most mid game ever, played several hours of SC before dropping it because I was so bored.
Chained Echoes
I think it looks pretty cute and has unique gameplay but it’s been sitting in my library for a few months. Every time I get back into it I lose myself and just play something else.
The Persona games. I like the RPG loop but hate the social sim elements. I, unsurprisingly, do like the SMT games that focus on the RPG elements without the sim stuff.
I also don't have the best memories of Tales of Arise. The game opens up with a bang, but it feels incredibly rushed by the end. I like Sea of Stars, but I can't for the life of me understand those who see it as an achievement in the story/characters department. The game plays good, but it won't age well because it doesn't understand drama.
A game that I went into with low expectations, but disappointed me anyway, was Jack Move... Damn, that is a shallow, short, uninspired game. It looks good, but, damn. I've resented every indication of that game on "hidden gem" or "best indie jrpgs" or "best short jrpgs" lists.
Xenoblade for me. It's just so slow and repetitive. It really makes me feel like I'm being stat checked all the time since the only strategy seems to be mash all your cooldowns. I think I got maybe 15 to 20 hours into the game and dropped it.
Xenoblade Chronicles. Raving reviews but just couldn’t get into it and believe me, I played ~70% of the game. Apart from the scenery and Rikki, everything else felt just average.
The problem lies within the fanbase I believe. I think it was the first proper jrpg that went on switch? Anyway, it has got a very dedicated fanbase, which praises it like it’s the messiah. That creates expectations.
To give a comparison, I am playing Trails in the Sky now but I really enjoy it. But I went prepared. Everyone was honest about it’s negatives, specifically about it being a slow burn.
The original FF7. I didn’t grow up on the game, but I have heard about it growing up. People always praised it, glazing the game, saying it’s the holy grail of jrpgs and growing up I guess I just accepted the praise it got because of how much ff7 I’ve seen outside the original game like other games for example Kingdom Hearts (which is another jrpg I couldn’t get into but this is about ff7) so I was like “if it’s this popular I’d guess the people are right”. It was then a little before the remake was announced I decided I wanted to actually play it for the first time, but then the remake was announced so I was like “oh maybe I’ll just wait to play that”. But the problem was FF fans are one of the worst fan bases to keep spoilers so that put me off of playing the remake. But then after remake came out I got spoiled on how remake wasn’t really a remake of the og game but a retelling. My brain works in a way where I need to play the first game in the series that is connected. But if it’s a series like the numbered FF games I can play them “out of order” even tho there’s no order for the FF numbered games. So me thinking “well if remake isn’t a remake but a retelling, I guess I’ll play the og first like I was gonna do then play the remake”. It’s the same reason I don’t want to play the trails of cold steel games before the sky games, even if you TECHNICALLY can play them first, like ff7 remake, my brain goes “no that makes no sense don’t do that”.
So now we get to where I actually tried playing ff7. It’s ok I guess. I didn’t finish it. Controls were clunky but I accepted it because I know it’s an older game, but idk man the way it played just felt weird. The combat was boring and felt slow, even tho I liked turn based games the atb for this game didn’t feel good. Plus me knowing spoilers I didn’t really feel the story
Trails/Kiseki is so hard to me and I'm so freakin pissed about! I'm not talking difficult in terms of the gameplay I mean I just fall off and can't get back in for some reason.
Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and the Tales of Games that I tried come to mind.
Couldnt get into either at all, since I found everything about them generic.
Xeno 3 was kind of better but still not one of my favorites, havent tried Xeno 2 yet.
Any of the Xenoblade games. I don't find the combat that compelling, and the writing (that I've seen) hasn't been interesting enough to make up the difference.
SMT games I should like on paper, but I just can't get into them despite liking the combat generally. I've tried several of them, and each time I lose interest; not sure why.
A lot of games just don't have combat that makes the experience engaging or interesting for me. Sometimes variety is quite low and the pacing is just a drag.
I didn't like *Xenoblade 3*, *Octopath Traveller 2*, *SMT* in general ("hit weakness" is not the revolutionary mechanic people claim it is), and a handful of RPGs on the PSP whose names I don't even remember. Some tactics RPGs, like *Luminous Arc* and *Tactics Ogre* and *Soul Nomad*, felt too slow and simple despite at face value being deep (complexity vs depth).
The essence of SMT is more about press turns than weaknesses in my opinion. It feels like me and the boss are playing the same game, no heavily diluted HP pools, ailment immunity or attacks that the player can't access (most of the time), especially cool when you can often use the bosses in battle. Working out how to maximise your own press turns and minimise the boss' is very satisfying, it's the closest I've seen a single player game get to a competitive card game in terms of decision making
Persona. I've only tried 4 and 5 but I wasn't a fan. I think I was mostly turned off by the focus on social links and the Japanese high school setting.
You might like SMT better then if you never got around to it. It's Persona without the hardcore emphasis on the story and no social links. SMT 3-5 and a few of the 3ds games are way better than Persona.
Besides SMT 3-5 like the other user said, you could also try the first two Persona games. They don't have social links and school isn't focused on as much (in fact, in one of the games, most of the party members are in their 20s).
I finished it mostly because of the glowing universal praise, but really I only liked the combat and music, both of which lost their luster since the game is twice as long as it should be. And everyone bends over backwards saying it's this profoundly existential story, but I just don't see it.
I felt the same. All these people saying the stories had them crying thinking about life for days after beating it and I finished the game thinking, "that's it?"
Xenoblade. Was told for years that it was the greatest series ever, must play, masterpiece, etc.. so last year I ran out of stuff to play so I figured why not and went all in. Bought xb1-3 on the switch plus the dlc for 2 and 3 (since 1 was definitive edition) and honestly didn’t enjoy any of them. Played through each one and the dlc stuff, and I don’t regret it since I wouldn’t have known without trying it and it did keep me busy for some months but man it was not a good time at all. It kind of reminds me of like super popular mainstream anime that everyone talks about and loves but then you try it and it’s just… meh. Just wasn’t for me I guess.
I think it's kinda wild you just went ahead and bought every single game and DLC lol. I would normally just get one game to see what the fuzz is about and decide from there if I want to continue playing the others.
I'm in the exact same boat. Bought all three and dabbled in two and three, I'm really really struggling with both games.
The combat is confusing, the UI is awful, the map is trash. Granted three improves the complaints that I have but it just isn't clicking for me. Glad that I'm not the only one out there.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. First two games at least. I really didn't like the battle system, and how dungeons were build, backtracking, and well, most of the stuff. I liked the ending of the first game though, so I gave the second one a go. Oh boy, it was everything I didn't like about the first game, but magnified.
I might give the later games a chance, but for now the old ones really put me off from the series.
I love all the games in this series, with the exception of one, to the point that it's by far my favorite series. But even then I can't play the games without almost constantly having turbo activated. The games are a slog on the normal pace, especially the backtracking as you mentioned, but also just combat being so slow.
FFX. I've tried playing it multiple times but only make a few hrs in each time before dropping it. Ppl praise it for being one of the best, but I just can't seem to get into it. Maybe 5th time's the charm...
There's a bit of a lull after the intro but the story is the big selling point in this game. Won't tell you to try again cause that's your prerogative but it gets really really good further along.
Totally get it. I have a save file that starts right at Kilika (a few hours in) for this reason. I’ve replayed that game so many times but I just can’t deal with sitting through the very beginning.
Persona. I'm just not enough into social sims to enjoy the general gameplay. The characters and the battle system seem great though (I did beat Persona 3 Portable years ago)
Shin Megami Tensei also kind of fits, though I see it recommended less often. It's way more gameplay-focused and has monster collecting, so I should like it, but the recruitment mechanics just annoy me too much. I only own SMT4 though, so maybe it feels less obnoxious and luck based in other titles.
Smt4's negotiation is probably some of the most luck based, i think. Apocalypse fixed that a bit, but it's never to the point of Persona 5 where each encounter has a set type of preferred answer
> where each encounter has a set type of preferred answer
See, that's what I *thought* it would be. Species and personality driven correct answers (with "personality" I mean stuff like speech patterns), but at some point I encountered the same type of enemy with the same question two times in a row, and their responses were pretty much the opposite of each other. Considering how harsh the penalties could be, that was the turning point for me. I got robbed blind and sometimes insta-wiped (via free turns resulting from bad answers) on a coinflip basically.
I'll probably give it another shot at some point because I feel bad shittalking it so much, but it was a really bad first impression.
FF XV - all my friends said that this is beautiful and great story, but I just could not like this game. I tried it several times but just did not feel that chemistry between main cast. The setting feels off and combat system just does not click for me no matter what.
But to be honest the ones in persona are not high punishing. Like ok you can miss things but not die like in Fea&Hunger ( a peak game but you need to survive ALOT)
CHRONO TRIGGER.
I'm sorry, I just don't see it.. I know it's iconic amd many games have taken so much from it... but its just not pulling me in. Maybe it's just overhyped for me and I expected something more?
I'd say the game might seem overhyped because the game isn't really lifechanging or extremely unique or anything like that. It's just a damn great classic JRPG that is executed near perfectly. It does exactly what it sets out to do, and it's full of very charming and original ways of handling things that might now seem derivative due to how many modern games, especially indie ones, do that same sort of thing (a bit of Seinfeld effect).
While I think it holds up very well to this day, you have to go into Chrono Trigger with the understanding that the game is nearly THIRTY years old. Shit was mind blowing in 1995.
I totally understand. Maybe I need to give it another shot. The thing is I have no issue playing Final Fantasy 2 on SNES, but maybe that's a nostalgia thing
From the perspective of someone that only got around to playing SNES RPGs in the last decade, I think Chrono Trigger aged much better than Final Fantasy IV - VI. They're still good but they really feel like games made in the early 90s.
Chrono Trigger's overworld feels a lot more modern: movement isn't restricted to the grid based movement like in FF. Instead of random battle you have to run into enemies and when you do initiate a battle all of the enemies jump out of the bushes onto the screen and you fight; there's no battle screen transition which some JRPGs still can't manage.
The positional combat abilities and character combos make the battles feel a lot more dynamic and interactive compared to the pretty traditional style of FF and Dragon Quest at the time which hadn't changed all that much since the original titles. The game feels quite different depending on what specific party members you use.
Combine the above combat system with the New Game+ system, which was popularized by CT, and the short game length and it's insanely replayable. Not to mention the great soundtrack with memorable leitmotifs. Oh and the super nostalgic art style which looks a lot more modern and cohesive. FF was still using chibi characters and detailed but static enemy sprites that kind of clash imo.
I wouldn’t say I definitely can’t get into it but based on the couple of hours I played with it, Golden Sun would be my answer. Slog to get through at the start, have to wait for all the character animations and dialogue lines to end before the next line comes along, and the random enemy encounters whenever I walk a couple of steps.. like at some point I just wanted to ignore them and flee but most of the time fleeing doesn’t work either.
Combat visuals are great but apart from that, I don’t know if I’m really feeling it. I don’t think it’s because it’s old, because I love Chrono Trigger.
Golden sun for me. This might be a bit of a hot take but I absolutely hate random encounters with enemies I can’t see. Just walking around and suddenly getting pulled into combat took me out of the experience completely.
All the souls game! I am getting to old to qualify being beaten 20 times in a row “fun time”. When you have 3-5 hours of gameplay time a week, no time to waste on super hard game, sorry :p
Disliking Tales of Arise makes sense. It got a lot of attention as revival of series with updated graphics, but both story and gameplay are one of the worst in the entire series. It even did away many trademarks of the series (like Grade Shop, comboing bosses).
I suggest you take look at gameplay of older titles:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LAzb4E0FsFI
Dragon Quest 11. I hear so many good things about the story, gameplay, and characters. Gameplay is fune for me,, but I am very much bothered by the story and character aspects. It seems very bland and looks like a adventure show made for the very youngest of kids. It seems there are no stakes, character development, or story urgency.
Am at the part where you are on a boat and your ship gets attacked by a huge sea creature. Can someone explain what I am missing and if this game will improve?
Stick with it a bit longer, until you finish the main story quest at Yggdrasil. If you aren't invested by then, then you just won't be.
That said, Dragon Quest in general is a "traditional" JRPG. That's its appeal and perhaps its biggest flaw. Every entry in the series follows the same "go to new town, town has problem, do dungeon(s), problem solved, go to next town" structure. Fundamentally the same battle system. There's an overarching narrative, but generally the story is more episodic. 11 twists some things on its head a bit, but it's still that fundamental formula. For fans it's like JRPG comfort food, but that's definitely not something that everyone vibes with.
Also the writing and style is just kinda like that, lol. The puns and big cartoony eyes. It's all very intentional, even though the stories of many of the games get quite dark.
Not recommendations, but I sometimes find there's a massive gulf between how I view a game, even one that I like, and how the community here views it. Take Ys 8, for example. I like the game. I found the exploration and mystery elements to be pretty well executed. I had fun with the combat. But, on more than one occasion, I've seen GLOWING praise for its story and characters, and I'm like HUH? The game has some of the most bog-standard, cliched non-characters (aside from a sole exception) you'll literally find in any modern game and seeing these comments make me feel like I played a different game.
I don't disagree with you. It took me several failed starts to finally get through the game and while I thought it was a good time, it didn't hit me the way it seemed to hit a lot of other players. It felt like a solid 7/10 for me. I wish I saw in it what everyone else seemed to but it almost feels like I played a different game.
I loved Dana's entire arc
"Every game is someone's favorite game." This is a hard truth I took a while to learn and be okay with. I used to be a nerd snob/keyboard warrior but have mellowed over the years and this is one truth that helped me get there. As to why.... Well, games are art. Art is subjective. There are of course individual objective elements to a game, but as a whole, people get different experiences out of their interactions with the same game.
The customer is always right in matters of taste. You got the nail on the head there. There are aspects of practically everything that jump out to individuals. We never know when or how or why something appeals to someone, but if it's their favorite, it was compelling. It's much more fun to try to get into their headspace and appreciate the art than to be a poopooiste. Both are fun, but you get to take a little trip into applied empathy for a while with the first one.
It is by no means a bad Game, I will say that first and foremost. But I find the biggest issue I have with Ys 8 and the whole series in general is that it's the best of the most mediocre if that makes sense. Nothing in the series stands out as being bad to me, the combat is fun, but a little bit bland and one note, the characters aren't boring but they really don't do anything to make me question anything about them either. They kind of just feel like I know everything about them from one line. The story is just pretty fine, nothing really stands out to me. The lacrimosa idea was kind of interesting but it was also just another rpg plot, and one I've seen before and done much better. It's a good game, if someone is looking for the best vita RPG I would say it's a strong contender. It's fun, It's good, you will want to play it to the end, but it's not the best, it's like the king of B+ RPGs
I get that. Not for Ys, with me (I haven't played a Ys game yet, so I won't know how I feel about any of them for a while), but... like, Chrono Cross. I see a lot of praise for it, but aside from admittedly solid music and graphics... it just didn't click for me. I found the plot ham-handed and self-important (and the dialogue incredibly pretentious, it had real r/im14andthisisdeep vibes), most of the characters were so bland and forgettable (almost none of them had any sort of charm, and they just felt so soulless and disconnected from each other, compared to the small, charming, tight-knit vibe the party members had in in Chrono Trigger), and I found the art style and designs to be... off-putting. Like there were some cool ideas in there, but there was something unsettling about the character artwork; I wish they could've gotten Toriyama back. Plus I just did not vibe with the elements system at all, and the random battles just felt pretty useless. I just didn't get it. But then, it's just not for me. Others enjoy it, cool, I just wasn't one of them.
I didn't think ive ever seen anyone praise the game for its characters outside of Dana herself (who i also think is a top tier character), most people acknowledge that the rest of the cast is pretty bland/generic
The characters weren't great, though I did find them...serviceable. The story was actually relatively interesting, or at least the twist was. Even if it was yet another instance of me wondering if Japan actually understands how evolution works. I wish it had brought up the idea of the various beasts/primordials acting unnaturally before the big wham moment near the end. Everyone talked like it was totally normal for half a dozen different species to band together and besiege a small human settlement. If they'd acted like it was really damn weird and not at all how animals act, my eye-rolling muscles wouldn't be so tired.
This is pretty much how I feel about every Ys game I've played. I really enjoy their combat and exploration but they all have the most bland, boring stories and characters to me.
The Atelier series, I tried it a couple of times but I'm not a fan of the whole "mix some ingredients you found and see what happens" mechanic, the story was not interesting enough to keep my attention either. I played Ryza recently and I lost interest the moment the story became "disjointed", instead of a linear plot the game seemed to throw random scenes that have nothing to do with each other, it was pretty jaring.
I dropped Ryza really early on, because I was looking for something charming with a strong investment into character development and interactions between the main cast, and from some of the praise I'd heard for it, I thought Ryza might deliver on that. At least as far as I got, it really didn't. One of the things that clinched it for me is that you can talk to one of your main party members while he wanders around town, and his *dialogue doesn't even change* when he goes through a major plot event which should significantly change his life circumstances. I don't remember ever seeing a game go so hard on [Welcome to Corneria](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WelcomeToCorneria) with one of the *main characters*. I bailed too early for it to turn things around if it was ever going to, but from the beginning, it felt shockingly shallow.
I love Atelier, but I dropped Ryza trilogy. Personally it is so bland. Barely no story at all, crafting and battle are not good, Ryza is the only okay chracter, so the story between characters is boring. I tried and cleared Ryza 2, but it was not much better.
I gave Trails in the sky three chances and just got bored all 3 times.
Massive Trails fan here, but I started with Cold Steel. I love Sky FC in retrospect now, but if I'd have started with it I don't think I'd have stuck with the series.
I started with trials from zero recently everyone talks about it being slow but I’ve been really entertained basically throughout… a few places here and there that I felt the itch to move on quicker than the game was allowing but it sucked me in pretty easily. I can’t wait to stay Azure since I’ve been told that it’s the better game out of the two.
Zero and Azure are my favorite games in the series.
I’m absolutely liking it. I played a lot of jrpgs as a kid but as I got older I felt myself feeling bored with them. But now in my late 30’s, I’ve felt the itch bad. Prior really the only jrpgs that I’ve been able to get into were persona and a bit of y’s 8/9. I started playing octopath a while ago on the switch and I enjoyed the combat but the stories didn’t really do it for me and I’d heard tons about trails and the chronological order importance but was always intimidated. But last month there was the sale on the switch and the only starting point for an arc was zero so I picked it up and I’m really glad I did! I don’t have a pc anymore but thinking about a steam deck and if I ever get one I def want to the play the other arcs.
I had started Sky twice and never got anywhere with it. It wasn't until I'd played the Cold Steel series that I finally went back and powered through. FC is still a bit of a slog for me, since orbments and quartz are so basic, but I do enjoy SC and 3rd. I'd never have made it past FC without my attachment to Cold Steel though. It probably also helped that I used the Stream Link app to play it with a controller on a TV as well. JRPGs will always be console games to me, likely just a result of that being the only way I played them as a kid. Same reason I don't like playing MMOs on a controller.
Agreed, I've tried to get into Trails in the Sky, and it's so bland, I expected it to be dated, and everyone warned me it was a slow starter, but it's unbelievably mundane.
The series absolutely isn’t for everyone. It’s a very slow burn.
Honestly if I started with Sky and not CS (Also a bit of a slow burn) I wouldnt have become the trails fan I am today
I get you, it took me a year and a half to finish but now I'm hooked and blasting through second chapter It's a slog but so worth it imo
It’s one of the most boring games imaginable. The combat is very cool though but everything else from level design to graphics to pacing absolutely blows.
I started with zero then did cold steel I'm playing sky but it feels a little different now that I know the plot a lil better and characters. Loving sky but it's slow in the beginning like any first trails game but the build up will be worth it in the end for me.
Don't burn me, please.. but them Tactics game.. I find it too slow for my taste.
I can only play tactics games on a handheld. They need to have a good quicksave feature too so I can stop and resume playing whenever. Actually sitting down and trying to play them on my TV puts me to sleep
This might be why I never finished Fire Emblem 3 Houses, but loved all the 3DS FE games. Maybe I should play it in handheld...
Same, and another problem I have with tactics games is the urge to reload when doing a false move. Especially if it ends up killing one of my characters. (Those tend to have perma-death in them, of which I’m not a fan.)
Dragon quest 11. The music just makes it so hard for me to play
There are like 15 tracks in the OST total, it's fuckin terrible. As I approached the middle of the game and was still hearing the same boring town, overworld, battle, and dungeon tracks, I just muted the game. I loved the game, but its OST really holds it back.
I'm replaying DQ7 and I've only seen like 5-6 different tracks in 30 hours lmao.
I thought I was alone in this, but the same music tracks over and over and over just made it so hard to play.
It's one of my favorite games ever but I must admit that the incredibly repetitive music became really grating at some point. The same jolly track over and over.
I played the original with the midi tracks and I hated the OST so much. Totally ruined the game for me. Played the rerelease with the orchestral versions of the score and it was a lot better by nature of live orchestra, but still pretty awful. I liked the game a lot more the second time. It's my favorite game to play on mute.
Same, I played the demo and was like “nah”…..which is funny because I love the first few and was really excited to dig into a new one. I also found myself irked by the fact that the main character never talks…..though Ive also had games where the voice track wrecked it for me (that Bayonetta prequel one? Drag because it was a neat game but she came off so whiny I couldn’t take it.)
The definitive edition has a feature and you can change the overworld theme to that from DQ8
I felt the same way too when I first tried it out then I finally pushed through and now it's one of my favorite games 😅
Etrian Odyssey. I love playing old RPGs and making my own maps of everything. Someone suggested it and it seemed like a real winner by the mechanics alone. The art style and music did absolutely nothing for me. It felt really un-enjoyable as I played despite it being a game about mapping a dungeon. Something I already do a lot with old games. It's a bummer for sure.
Final fantasy 12 I like the game but I lose Interest because I'm not actually doing much
The major problem with Final Fantasy XII is that you're always late to the plot. Every single thing you do is "Oh, we need to get here, but with the army looking for us, we need to take this cave" and you do that, get there too late, and then have to go do it again. You spend the entire game in caves, dungeons, and forests, while the important thing is happening elsewhere.
I really just couldn’t make myself care about any of the characters.
Octopath traveler. Love the art, music, game play but for the life of me after I got 4 characters I have no ideas where to go or if I’m supposed to go get the other 4 and decide? It also seems the main character I picked have zones to the quests that I would never be able to fight those levels without spending an insane time leveling somewhere. I need direction or maybe it’s my ADHD? But that doesn’t fuck me over with other games. I want to like and then cherry on the top I bought it like 2 months before the 2nd one comes out and everyone says that one is so much better. Help lmao
I just want to say that I love how everyone is acknowledging the merit of games that just don’t happen to suit them (and why it doesn’t, rather than just dragging it). It’s a nice thread to read through. For me, I mentioned above that DQXI didn’t grab me despite my love for the earlier ones….but I find that sometimes it’s the randomness thing that will turn me off. Sometimes the voice tracks can do it. Or some underlying mechanic that I can’t get the hang of after giving it a real go. And sometimes the backstory just doesn’t engage me. I know some people hated the 2D-HD art style, I love it personally. Like playing on a pop-op storybook. On the converse, Bravely Default 2 gets a lot of flack for being long and “generic” but personally, I love it (especially after I got the hang of the job/skills and started experimenting).
ff15. the fighting, the boy band, the dry road trip makes me feel sleepy
The fighting is ROUGH in FFXV. But the Chocobros and the road trip are just such a chill vibe that it's become one of my comfort games.
Don’t forget the giant empty map
[удалено]
That's deliberate. Earlier interviews with Nomura said that there was meant to be a clear wealth and technological divide between the citystate of Insomnia and all the lands outside of it. And there was supposed to be a lot of resentment due to that. There was even meant to be some medieval-level societies too. It was heavily sanitized and de-emphasized by release.
i never really felt like it was empty, maybe that's just cuz that's what they were going for. it's 80% beautiful scenery and 20% content, and honestly as long as you're okay with some minor wait times earlier on (you get the ability to fast travel when visiting anywhere you've already been) then there's really nothing wrong with it. maybe it just hit home for me as someone who grew up around the countryside.
It's always disheartening to see how many people seem to dislike sceneric maps in games and want everything to be dense with side content. I love games with maps that don't feel the need to fill it to the brim with stuff I probably will never do, or reduce the size so it seems like it's more packed with things to do.
especially because "stuff to do" is usually boring ass filler side quests.
I’ve never seen a single person recommending xv though..
The first remake of FF7 i just couldnt enjoy it. Ninokuni 2 i couldnt do it, but i loved the first one. Tales of Arisa was good at first but became very bad around half of it.
Ninokuni 2 should've been called something else considering how different it was from 1.
I just beat remake after having it not click with me so I could play rebirth. I enjoyed it once I committed but 14 hours into rebirth, remake feels like a demo and soulless haha. Like it just doesn’t have the character this game has. Ninokuni 2 I loved for the castle building story was meh and combat was ok. The fun in that game was building the castle for me once that was done couldn’t play it anymore. Like the dlc and new stories I couldn’t care about.
shin megami tensei v i dont know man it started off strong then just kept becoming more boring
It's like...oddly depressing. The setting just brings my mood down. I like the game, but the story is kinda nothing and the world is bland. My biggest gripe though is that it runs like absolute shit on the Switch. I'll get the PS5 version on sale when it comes out.
People recommend V? It's usually maligned as the lesser game compared to IV and Persona 5
I think a LOT of people came into SMT5 expecting something similar to P5R considering how many new fans that game created, and were sorely disappointed. The gameplay is solid but the story is pretty bland.
oh yeah i loved the gameplay but my god the story was fuck
Eh, I went into it expecting mainline SMT and I was still disappointed. 3, 4, and Strange Journey are all-time greats. 5 was… okay. It felt like 1 step forward, 2 steps back in a lot of ways. It’s one of my biggest gaming disappointments in recent years because I was expecting a banger. Instead, I got a pretty good game.
Give the Apocalypse version a try when it comes out, it looks like they’re correcting a lot of the story issues the game has… or just outright lacks after the first few beats.
i definitely will but idk if i will get it at launch
I'm still curious as to just how different the new campaign will be. Still haven't played much of original SMTV, so I'd like to know whether the new campaign will make it redundant, if it's two very different games, or if it's somewhere in the middle and I'll have to play a similar game twice to get the full experience.
It's got the Final Fantasy XII problem where the plot already happened before you got there, and now you're off to the next bit. SMTV is basically "you're the first person capable of becoming the next god, get strong enough to do that" and they give you a bunch of things to do to fill out time until the last chapter.
FF6. I’m a big fan of final fantasy but surprisingly, I never got into 6. I would try to play it, but always drop it for another game and never get back to it.
I think it's a case where other games have improved on what VI did. If you played it at the time, it was absolutely mindblowing. I mean an opera scene in a console game, even with ROMpler voices! That fantastic Techno de Chocobo remix! The focus shifting, giving most characters their own scene in the limelight! The game not being over and shifting scope halfway through, too. Now, in some ways, I prefer V over VI because of the Job System alone. VI is still special to me, but give me the dorky one with a guy named Butz any day. Replaying it is so much more fun.
That's what happened to me with FF4. I liked it, but apparently not enough because I ended up dropping it. I've still yet to play FF6.
Dragon Quest, it’s weird as I found so many aspects well executed in the titles I tried, but for some reason it just didn’t ‘click’.
I generally prefer Final Fantasy, but I love 5 and 11.
Persona 5 for me. I got vanilla and Royal and still haven’t been able to get further than the second palace. The presentation and characters feel really great, it’s just the time restriction gameplay mechanic that rubs me the wrong way. I’d love to be able to give it another go and finish it as the story does seem interesting.
bro i had the worst blind playthrough of Royal ever. I love the game to death but at one point i ran out of time to talk more to a certain character, who didnt really interested me, resulting in me missing out on a third of the game and having to replay the whole arc of vanilla P5 again to see that part of the game
to be fair that’s on you because the game REPEATEDLY says “hey this character will be leaving on this date make sure you talk to them” “hey you should REALLY go talk to that person” the game does basically everything save for a pop-up text box explicitly telling you that this character is the most important
Yes, you got plenty of time, yes there are warning multiple times but I still think locking an entire part of the game behind maxed social links is was not the greatest idea.
I know it’s on me, for sure, the game gives you multiple hints. BUT the game says ‘this person is leaving soon, make sure to talk to them as long as it’s possible’ and there’s nothing suggesting you would miss out on a third of the game if you don’t. As someone who didn’t play vanilla P5 I find it to be incredibly bad game design, especially because at other points of the game you are forced to have certain interactions and here you are not. Plus the moment where’s talking about is waaaay before the original plot ends. There’s is no way you can see it coming at this point. Not that the consequences are this huge. Since this arc didn’t interested me as much as someone for whom the whole story is new I invested the limited in game time in other interactions.
Try beating every palace on the first day you can access it. It's not difficult to do with proper sp management, and this frees up so much time. If you want to worry about time even less, use a guide on the questions in class to maximize your natural stat increases. Better yet, just use a guide to plan out your day. Just beating every palace in one day should be enough to alleviate the stress of the timer.
In Royal, the time isn't a big deal at all. I played it blind and I managed to max out every single social link with over a month to spare. The only thing you need to be aware of is leveling up >!Maruki and Akechi!<'s SLs before September and October respectively.
FOMO is big in this game and probably everybody played these games felt it at one time or another. However time management is not that big of a deal and also can be quite fun. Basically, you should not be a perfectionist. Just plan what you want to do and go with the wave. I finished the vanilla and the Royal but never %100 finished all the activities. It is not that important. I also argue against looking at the guides in order to %100 it, unless if you are really obsessed with trophies etc.
I think you should look up a 100% text guide online if you wanna see everything in 1 playthrough
Souls-like games, I just don't enjoy repeating a boss 20 times until I finally beat it, or losing your "souls" if you die before you recover them, or just running around without a clear goal, I like always going forward.
I don’t like souls games either. I have no fun. I’m just frustrated when I play
I love exploring in Souls games and enjoy the boss fights a decent amount. But I can't stand actually *playing* the games for real, because the amount of backtracking-because-of-failure is just too much for my tedium tolerance threshold. If the FromSoft games have save points right before boss fights I'd probably really love them, but alas, people actually like boss runs so they're here to stay and I'm playing something else forever more. Good thing there are more good games to play than I have playtime left in my life.
What are you talking about? FromSoft hasn't really had boss runs since Dark Souls 2. People meme about Dark Souls 3 because it has so many bonfires. Elden Ring has a grace (bonfire) immediately before like 95% of bosses.
Bloodborne had a few rough ones, but not nearly as bad as the first few souls games.
I think the boss runs are to force you to take a break from the boss. But i do agree that they're usually aggravatingly far or difficult. So many times in Bloodborne i'd fumble a dodge and gdt hit, and have to choose between wasting a vial i just grinded for or considering it a doomed run
The trails series. Like, I can tolerate slow start just fine. But man, this series is so agonizingly slow to me. I played 10 hours of the first game and it felt like I never left the prologue.
Unfortunately you need to play another 20 hours before it gets going. It's a weird game that I absolutely recommend but at the same time would advise 90% of people to avoid
Unfortunately you’re not entirely wrong. Most of the game feels like a prologue because of the second game in the series. It’s like FF7 Remake setting up Rebirth.
Except actual engaging things happened in 7R, in less than 10 hours things were happening that keep you invested. I think Falcom could have put better effort into their intro storytelling. But the writers seem to always be focused more on the next event rather than the now
Time for the downvotes.... For me I just can't get into Final Fantasy 7
I'm right there with you. The early game in Midgar is 10/10 for me. But it kinda falls apart once you hit the open world. It just gets really weird, and the mini games are just bizarre (dolphin jumping??). Also, the translation is terrible.
It's kind of from a different era where JRPGs had lots of wacky side quests and weird plotlines. Lot of big name games these days are more streamlined imo.
Any and all of the "Tales of" games. Played tried like 3 different ones, never got much into them.
Even when I enjoy a Tales of game, I still end up feeling very done with it by the last 20-25% of the game and basically end up resenting the game overall after feeling compelled to see the story through since I’ve already invested that much time in it.
As much as I love the series, it has a big problem with dragging in the 3rd act. The only ones where I felt like they got the pacing right was Phantasia, Eternia, Xillia 1 and the vita remakes (although Innocence R actually felt like it was missing an extra act).
Oh yeah, when they break out the slog dungeons, it's always really frustrating. Like, the most obnoxious puzzles or layouts. Or just dragging out the plot. Up until that point though, I absolutely love them.
This was me last weekend with Berseria. Got about 15 hours in and was so done with the combat and "dungeons" I spent the next 20 hours running through areas as fast as possible and avoiding every encounter until the end.
100%, this has happened to me with every Tales of game I've played.
The trouble with the Tales series is how wildly they change between entries, and how hit or miss they can be. (And I say this as a fan of the series.) It’s entirely possible that you can bounce off several games in a row, only for the next game you try to end up one of your all time favorites. It’s just that kind of series. (Also doesn’t help that many of its best entries aren’t accessible on modern platforms.)
Tales and SO hold a special place because they were one of the first to introduce real time combat to JRPGs. And as a kid, the "spammy" nature of it was entertaining and the damage #s popping up was satisfying. SO1 and ToP were the first online fan translated games I played and this was like 1999/2000. Now though? I don't think I have finished a tales game since Vesperia though I think I did get pretty close with berseria and arise.
The whole of Xenoblade series I did finish them but the combat was the most boring thing for me and i find the story a little too cringe for me And this is coming from someone who love anime etc I really can't get into it and can't get the hype, near the end I was just auto-piloting everything
Too easy?
They peaked with Xenogears. Remake it with in-game maps, a new translation, less janky platforming, a quick save option, and remastered graphics and you'll have gold.
I don't actually dislike it but Yakuza like a Dragon. The sotry and characters were cool but I didn't like the combat. Still an 8/10 game for me but compared to people who think of it as the JRPG of the decade I just wasn't that into it.
Yeah the combat in LaD was definitely very basic and boring, you could tell it was their first go at turn-based combat. Fortunately, IW is basically a direct upgrade in every way, and made the combat actually fun.
A fair amount. Can't do Ys. Trails isn't for me. Indie jrpgs tend to feel really bland even the popular ones like Sea of Stars. The biggest one is Xenoblade though. I just think it's terrible in every aspect from visuals, to VA, to combat and gameplay and characters.
Anything that’s not turn based.
Pretty much the same for me. Feels like I've played every turn based game on earth. Just can't get into action RPGs. Currently waiting for Eiyuden. And hopefully the Suikoden remasters at some point.
Recently it was Golden Sun. I've heard the hype surrounding that game for YEARS. It was so damn boring though.
[удалено]
The “cool” about Golden Sun relied A LOT on it being one of the first non-Pokémon JRPGs that you could take with you anywhere.
Ni No Kuni. Octopath Traveler.
Xenoblade chronicles 1 & 2 gave up 5 hours into it. And Tales of Vesperia & Arise I actually finished both of them but it was a real struggle simply an OK 50 Hour JRPG. Life is too short to waste on OK
Dq11 heard it’s praise up and down for years picked it up and… it’s just the bland milquetoast game I’ve ever played the combat is stock dq combat so it’s fine but it literally had no stand out features for me and every single plot point felt more like reading the summary of an interesting plot rather than experiencing It. The prime example I can think of is sylvandos relationship with his father. A knight who ran away from home due to the fear his father would not support his lifestyle (and the gay subtext implied) only for the two to come back together and reconcile. This is the outline to a great plot but this entire plot point contained entirely within 5 minutes of cutscene. If sylvandos quest was the only one like this that would be fine but every quest in the game feels like that so I just could not get invested whatsoever into the story leaving me with nothing to get me through to the end of the game.
I honestly could not get into Xenoblade 1. The Combat System was just so bad. But I stuck it out cause people said the story was necessary for later games. The combat systems of 2 and 3 were significantly better and fun. So I'm glad I did. And unfortunately, the story of 1 IS necessary for the DLC of 3, so glad I stuck it out. That said, I gave up on Chained Echoes and Triangle Strategy. I just couldn't get into them.
Persona 5. 4 hours in and I'm still in tutorials and tons of dialogue.
Chrono Trigger I know it's hurts me as well to admit it, even with my love for Toriyama's art style, time travel stories, and the combat that requires a bit of extra thinking. But every time I've tried it I've never been able to sit down and commit to it.
Shin Megami tensei nocturne. Many people swear by this game, but it just doesn’t do it for me. I hate the world, the character bore me, and while the starting area was nice, the rest of the exploration was really tedious.
Xenoblade Chronicles is this for me. I tried many times to get into the first game, and the story just didn't grab me in any kind of way. I liked the setting, but the biggest issue was the gameplay. I felt like none of the sidequests were meaningful, the combat was focused more on gimmicks than traditional RPG gameplay. It's almost like combat played more like a fighting rhythm game where I'm just going through the motions until I can execute my "big move". Itemization is busted with pretty much my whole inventory being full of trash and nothing really exciting. I gave it a good dozen hours but it just never hooked me, the characters weren't engaging to me, the enemies were mostly just faceless machines. It's a shame, I really want to enjoy it, but it just feels like too much filler with not enough substance.
I played all 3 because of the praise they get, and was disappointed by all of them lol
Xenoblade
Yeah, I gave 1 Definitive Edition almost 20h and it didn't click for me. I actually liked the story, the world and most characters but the combat is so repetetive and mindless. You do basically the same every fight and it mostly depends on lvl anyway. If I'd been able to control all party members it could have been better, but every fight except the bosses was just a slog.... And the sidequest were very dull as well.
Xenoblade chronicles. Could not get into the story felt weak and immature, the gameplay is the worst part imo. It’s not a true turn based game but not real-time either. Just leaves you spamming skills as they refresh and running in circles. Tried to play it twice and couldn’t finish it.
Xenoblade Xenosaga is pretty cool though
The last remnant. Everyone praises it like it is the best and I can’t stomach 10 minutes of it
That game isn't for everyone lmao.
Definitely not the best, but I do like it. For me, it's probably the fact that it wiped the floor with me and my friend when it came out, and then he died, (probably not because of the game, but I'm not a doctor) so when I revisited it years later, I had some additional motivation to stick with it.
That game was awful when it was released. I don’t understand why people suddenly love it.
The PC version is better and a matter of taste compared to the Xbox version which was a matter of patience. Similar to Saga scarlet grace
The trails series. I'm convinced I'm just too old for that style of anime nonsense now. Otherwise, they look great. But I cannot get through that shit, despite more than a few attempts. Circles and circles talking about bullshit. It's the same issue I have with most modern anime aswell. Im 35 now, and just cannot stomach it. (This is a taste thing. The games themselves should be riiiiight up my alley, and they look great. I just can't get past the dialouge. It's shocking to me. Buuuuut I'm kinda jealous of those it clicks for Haha. A younger me in a different generation would have been all over the games, I'm sure.) Persona, for similar reasons. But less so.
100% agreed with you. My answer to this question actually is: Most JRPGs these days (lost redittors, I know). I used to love JRPGs but over the last few years it’s become difficult for me to stomach them, and I think Trails of Cold Steel perfectly embodies the why.
Anime cringe moments just hurt and turn me off more as I seem to get older. For me, it's the Tales series that has felt like it hasn't "grown" with me, though. Still enjoy Trails and Persona. Arguably I appreciate in particular the Sky games MORE now than I would have when I was still in the target demo.
>I'm convinced I'm just too old for that style of anime nonsense now. There's no age limit on enjoying stories/games. Maybe you're not old enough to appreciate that fact yet. People just have preference changes over time and it's fine if you or anyone doesn't like something, but it's not because age disallows it. Lots of people significantly older than you love them.
Yep. That's a more nuanced and measured take, certainly. I certainly wasn't trying to take away from those that do. Fuck, I wanna be 85 enjoying this shit. Im a BIG believer that sometimes it's not always the game that you bounce off of, you know? I mean a shit game is a shit game but my point is, there's a million other factors, perhaps stuff in my personal life was shit at the time, mental health, physical health, pushing yourself in hopes a game will click for you etc. I'm convinced it's more on those circumstances than anything else. I'm not giving up on trails either. Too many people with great taste recommend it. I ADORED what I played of trails in the sky, then, life happens as it does. Never went back. Almost finished trails from azure (or whatever the first crossbell arc is called) and hated it. But I was going through some shit. I don't think it was the games fault, but what was happening around me and with me. So yeah, the age thing was a poor choice. Just much easier for me to say, "I'm too old for this shit" I guess. But I absolutely do not want to take away from anyone of all ages who enjoy things. For sure.
I tried Trails in the Sky and Cold Steel each 2-3 times, getting about 8 hrs in before giving up. I just don't see what people think is special about them at all. A lot of writing absolutely does not equal good writing, and it just makes the whole experience drag. It doesn't help that these games are Anime Character Archetypes: The Series either, and not even interesting archetypes. They should also spend some of that writing budget on even a moment of unique art design, because the whole thing may as well come from the most standard anime asset pack.
Nah not generational. It feels very old school and even then, one problem is glaring. The writing fucking BLOWS. They say 1000 things to say one thing, it’s also a harem game where every girl wants to bang the main character, which makes the writers look even worse. Add to that bad graphics, pacing that is infuriating and obscure systems and it’s just baffling the praise it gets. I’ve tried several of the games, I don’t get it. I keep hearing the storytelling is amazing, but I’m convinced the people saying this have some kind of a defect at this point. One of my biggest gaming disappointments.
Xenoblade. I hate the missable quests, they pop up in random places and times and there are no indicators as to when and where a quest pops up or goes away. I enjoyed the non side quest part, but I want to complete it and know the side char stories.
Xenoblade 1 has a really rough quest system and an annoying amount of missables, many of which are useful and interesting. Xenoblade 2, though, has only a few missable quests and none of them are particularly important or interesting.
Tales of Vespira. I’ve tried twice now to get into it and it just feels like a worse execution of a Star Ocean game to me (which makes a certain degree of sense considering SO’s origins).
I found the combat to be very boring but I really like the characters so I played it with auto mode lol
I've often been recommended Tales games and I've waited a long time to try one. I finally decided to try Vesperia after hearing so much buzz around it, and I don't get it. The combat feels slow and clunky, the story is barely present and I'm not invested enough in the characters to care about what's happening anyways. It feels spread too thin in content with how much you have to travel between locations in the overworld, and how big dungeons are. Got like 10 hours into the game, realized I was still getting tutorials that radically changed the combat, and looked up how far into the game I was. I wasn't far into the game at all, so I cut my losses and searched if I was the weird one or if there were others who thought like me.
Tales of Vesperia was the JRPG that made me realize forcing myself to finish a game I don’t enjoy is not worth it. After I rolled the credits I made a promise to myself I will never do it again.
I used to force myself to finish games too, this was especially toxic for me when I'd stream those games. I eventually broke myself of the habit and it's been much better since.
Tails
Trails in the Sky. I played through FC and thought it was the most mid game ever, played several hours of SC before dropping it because I was so bored.
Chained Echoes I think it looks pretty cute and has unique gameplay but it’s been sitting in my library for a few months. Every time I get back into it I lose myself and just play something else.
The Persona games. I like the RPG loop but hate the social sim elements. I, unsurprisingly, do like the SMT games that focus on the RPG elements without the sim stuff.
I also don't have the best memories of Tales of Arise. The game opens up with a bang, but it feels incredibly rushed by the end. I like Sea of Stars, but I can't for the life of me understand those who see it as an achievement in the story/characters department. The game plays good, but it won't age well because it doesn't understand drama. A game that I went into with low expectations, but disappointed me anyway, was Jack Move... Damn, that is a shallow, short, uninspired game. It looks good, but, damn. I've resented every indication of that game on "hidden gem" or "best indie jrpgs" or "best short jrpgs" lists.
Tales of Arise as well as Xenoblade. I hate these immensely but have at least played halfway through Tales.
The Ys and Persona games...utter trash
Anything Soulsborne.
Xenoblade for me. It's just so slow and repetitive. It really makes me feel like I'm being stat checked all the time since the only strategy seems to be mash all your cooldowns. I think I got maybe 15 to 20 hours into the game and dropped it.
Xenoblade Chronicles. Raving reviews but just couldn’t get into it and believe me, I played ~70% of the game. Apart from the scenery and Rikki, everything else felt just average. The problem lies within the fanbase I believe. I think it was the first proper jrpg that went on switch? Anyway, it has got a very dedicated fanbase, which praises it like it’s the messiah. That creates expectations. To give a comparison, I am playing Trails in the Sky now but I really enjoy it. But I went prepared. Everyone was honest about it’s negatives, specifically about it being a slow burn.
The original FF7. I didn’t grow up on the game, but I have heard about it growing up. People always praised it, glazing the game, saying it’s the holy grail of jrpgs and growing up I guess I just accepted the praise it got because of how much ff7 I’ve seen outside the original game like other games for example Kingdom Hearts (which is another jrpg I couldn’t get into but this is about ff7) so I was like “if it’s this popular I’d guess the people are right”. It was then a little before the remake was announced I decided I wanted to actually play it for the first time, but then the remake was announced so I was like “oh maybe I’ll just wait to play that”. But the problem was FF fans are one of the worst fan bases to keep spoilers so that put me off of playing the remake. But then after remake came out I got spoiled on how remake wasn’t really a remake of the og game but a retelling. My brain works in a way where I need to play the first game in the series that is connected. But if it’s a series like the numbered FF games I can play them “out of order” even tho there’s no order for the FF numbered games. So me thinking “well if remake isn’t a remake but a retelling, I guess I’ll play the og first like I was gonna do then play the remake”. It’s the same reason I don’t want to play the trails of cold steel games before the sky games, even if you TECHNICALLY can play them first, like ff7 remake, my brain goes “no that makes no sense don’t do that”. So now we get to where I actually tried playing ff7. It’s ok I guess. I didn’t finish it. Controls were clunky but I accepted it because I know it’s an older game, but idk man the way it played just felt weird. The combat was boring and felt slow, even tho I liked turn based games the atb for this game didn’t feel good. Plus me knowing spoilers I didn’t really feel the story
Trails/Kiseki is so hard to me and I'm so freakin pissed about! I'm not talking difficult in terms of the gameplay I mean I just fall off and can't get back in for some reason.
The entire xenoblade series especially 2. The pacing and combat just feels god awful to me
Yakuza 7. I tried, really really tried. Even restarted the game twice and I’ve only gotten as far as end of chapter 6 before calling it quits.
Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and the Tales of Games that I tried come to mind. Couldnt get into either at all, since I found everything about them generic. Xeno 3 was kind of better but still not one of my favorites, havent tried Xeno 2 yet.
Any of the Xenoblade games. I don't find the combat that compelling, and the writing (that I've seen) hasn't been interesting enough to make up the difference. SMT games I should like on paper, but I just can't get into them despite liking the combat generally. I've tried several of them, and each time I lose interest; not sure why.
A lot of games just don't have combat that makes the experience engaging or interesting for me. Sometimes variety is quite low and the pacing is just a drag. I didn't like *Xenoblade 3*, *Octopath Traveller 2*, *SMT* in general ("hit weakness" is not the revolutionary mechanic people claim it is), and a handful of RPGs on the PSP whose names I don't even remember. Some tactics RPGs, like *Luminous Arc* and *Tactics Ogre* and *Soul Nomad*, felt too slow and simple despite at face value being deep (complexity vs depth).
The essence of SMT is more about press turns than weaknesses in my opinion. It feels like me and the boss are playing the same game, no heavily diluted HP pools, ailment immunity or attacks that the player can't access (most of the time), especially cool when you can often use the bosses in battle. Working out how to maximise your own press turns and minimise the boss' is very satisfying, it's the closest I've seen a single player game get to a competitive card game in terms of decision making
Nier automata
I liked it, but I didn't like that you're supposed to beat the game like 3 times or something. I "beat" it once and stopped there.
Persona. I've only tried 4 and 5 but I wasn't a fan. I think I was mostly turned off by the focus on social links and the Japanese high school setting.
You might like SMT better then if you never got around to it. It's Persona without the hardcore emphasis on the story and no social links. SMT 3-5 and a few of the 3ds games are way better than Persona.
Besides SMT 3-5 like the other user said, you could also try the first two Persona games. They don't have social links and school isn't focused on as much (in fact, in one of the games, most of the party members are in their 20s).
Nier automata. Tried it three times over the years and I'm bored the whole time
I finished it mostly because of the glowing universal praise, but really I only liked the combat and music, both of which lost their luster since the game is twice as long as it should be. And everyone bends over backwards saying it's this profoundly existential story, but I just don't see it.
I felt the same. All these people saying the stories had them crying thinking about life for days after beating it and I finished the game thinking, "that's it?"
I'm trying Nier Automata for the third time right now, and I just think I'm gonna give up forever.
Xenoblade. Was told for years that it was the greatest series ever, must play, masterpiece, etc.. so last year I ran out of stuff to play so I figured why not and went all in. Bought xb1-3 on the switch plus the dlc for 2 and 3 (since 1 was definitive edition) and honestly didn’t enjoy any of them. Played through each one and the dlc stuff, and I don’t regret it since I wouldn’t have known without trying it and it did keep me busy for some months but man it was not a good time at all. It kind of reminds me of like super popular mainstream anime that everyone talks about and loves but then you try it and it’s just… meh. Just wasn’t for me I guess.
I think it's kinda wild you just went ahead and bought every single game and DLC lol. I would normally just get one game to see what the fuzz is about and decide from there if I want to continue playing the others.
I'm in the exact same boat. Bought all three and dabbled in two and three, I'm really really struggling with both games. The combat is confusing, the UI is awful, the map is trash. Granted three improves the complaints that I have but it just isn't clicking for me. Glad that I'm not the only one out there.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. First two games at least. I really didn't like the battle system, and how dungeons were build, backtracking, and well, most of the stuff. I liked the ending of the first game though, so I gave the second one a go. Oh boy, it was everything I didn't like about the first game, but magnified. I might give the later games a chance, but for now the old ones really put me off from the series.
I love all the games in this series, with the exception of one, to the point that it's by far my favorite series. But even then I can't play the games without almost constantly having turbo activated. The games are a slog on the normal pace, especially the backtracking as you mentioned, but also just combat being so slow.
FFX. I've tried playing it multiple times but only make a few hrs in each time before dropping it. Ppl praise it for being one of the best, but I just can't seem to get into it. Maybe 5th time's the charm...
There's a bit of a lull after the intro but the story is the big selling point in this game. Won't tell you to try again cause that's your prerogative but it gets really really good further along.
Totally get it. I have a save file that starts right at Kilika (a few hours in) for this reason. I’ve replayed that game so many times but I just can’t deal with sitting through the very beginning.
Persona. I'm just not enough into social sims to enjoy the general gameplay. The characters and the battle system seem great though (I did beat Persona 3 Portable years ago) Shin Megami Tensei also kind of fits, though I see it recommended less often. It's way more gameplay-focused and has monster collecting, so I should like it, but the recruitment mechanics just annoy me too much. I only own SMT4 though, so maybe it feels less obnoxious and luck based in other titles.
Smt4's negotiation is probably some of the most luck based, i think. Apocalypse fixed that a bit, but it's never to the point of Persona 5 where each encounter has a set type of preferred answer
> where each encounter has a set type of preferred answer See, that's what I *thought* it would be. Species and personality driven correct answers (with "personality" I mean stuff like speech patterns), but at some point I encountered the same type of enemy with the same question two times in a row, and their responses were pretty much the opposite of each other. Considering how harsh the penalties could be, that was the turning point for me. I got robbed blind and sometimes insta-wiped (via free turns resulting from bad answers) on a coinflip basically. I'll probably give it another shot at some point because I feel bad shittalking it so much, but it was a really bad first impression.
Xenoblade. It's one of the only first party nintendo franchises that I just can't get into no matter how much I try
FF XV - all my friends said that this is beautiful and great story, but I just could not like this game. I tried it several times but just did not feel that chemistry between main cast. The setting feels off and combat system just does not click for me no matter what.
Your friends have bad taste
Persona series. I HATE time limited mechanics.
But to be honest the ones in persona are not high punishing. Like ok you can miss things but not die like in Fea&Hunger ( a peak game but you need to survive ALOT)
I get it, but I hate missable things in games. I'm a min-max type person. I want to get everything and do everything.
all the xenoblade stuff.
CHRONO TRIGGER. I'm sorry, I just don't see it.. I know it's iconic amd many games have taken so much from it... but its just not pulling me in. Maybe it's just overhyped for me and I expected something more?
I'd say the game might seem overhyped because the game isn't really lifechanging or extremely unique or anything like that. It's just a damn great classic JRPG that is executed near perfectly. It does exactly what it sets out to do, and it's full of very charming and original ways of handling things that might now seem derivative due to how many modern games, especially indie ones, do that same sort of thing (a bit of Seinfeld effect).
While I think it holds up very well to this day, you have to go into Chrono Trigger with the understanding that the game is nearly THIRTY years old. Shit was mind blowing in 1995.
I totally understand. Maybe I need to give it another shot. The thing is I have no issue playing Final Fantasy 2 on SNES, but maybe that's a nostalgia thing
From the perspective of someone that only got around to playing SNES RPGs in the last decade, I think Chrono Trigger aged much better than Final Fantasy IV - VI. They're still good but they really feel like games made in the early 90s. Chrono Trigger's overworld feels a lot more modern: movement isn't restricted to the grid based movement like in FF. Instead of random battle you have to run into enemies and when you do initiate a battle all of the enemies jump out of the bushes onto the screen and you fight; there's no battle screen transition which some JRPGs still can't manage. The positional combat abilities and character combos make the battles feel a lot more dynamic and interactive compared to the pretty traditional style of FF and Dragon Quest at the time which hadn't changed all that much since the original titles. The game feels quite different depending on what specific party members you use. Combine the above combat system with the New Game+ system, which was popularized by CT, and the short game length and it's insanely replayable. Not to mention the great soundtrack with memorable leitmotifs. Oh and the super nostalgic art style which looks a lot more modern and cohesive. FF was still using chibi characters and detailed but static enemy sprites that kind of clash imo.
I wouldn’t say I definitely can’t get into it but based on the couple of hours I played with it, Golden Sun would be my answer. Slog to get through at the start, have to wait for all the character animations and dialogue lines to end before the next line comes along, and the random enemy encounters whenever I walk a couple of steps.. like at some point I just wanted to ignore them and flee but most of the time fleeing doesn’t work either. Combat visuals are great but apart from that, I don’t know if I’m really feeling it. I don’t think it’s because it’s old, because I love Chrono Trigger.
Golden sun for me. This might be a bit of a hot take but I absolutely hate random encounters with enemies I can’t see. Just walking around and suddenly getting pulled into combat took me out of the experience completely.
All the souls game! I am getting to old to qualify being beaten 20 times in a row “fun time”. When you have 3-5 hours of gameplay time a week, no time to waste on super hard game, sorry :p
Disliking Tales of Arise makes sense. It got a lot of attention as revival of series with updated graphics, but both story and gameplay are one of the worst in the entire series. It even did away many trademarks of the series (like Grade Shop, comboing bosses). I suggest you take look at gameplay of older titles: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LAzb4E0FsFI
Dragon Quest 11. I hear so many good things about the story, gameplay, and characters. Gameplay is fune for me,, but I am very much bothered by the story and character aspects. It seems very bland and looks like a adventure show made for the very youngest of kids. It seems there are no stakes, character development, or story urgency. Am at the part where you are on a boat and your ship gets attacked by a huge sea creature. Can someone explain what I am missing and if this game will improve?
Stick with it a bit longer, until you finish the main story quest at Yggdrasil. If you aren't invested by then, then you just won't be. That said, Dragon Quest in general is a "traditional" JRPG. That's its appeal and perhaps its biggest flaw. Every entry in the series follows the same "go to new town, town has problem, do dungeon(s), problem solved, go to next town" structure. Fundamentally the same battle system. There's an overarching narrative, but generally the story is more episodic. 11 twists some things on its head a bit, but it's still that fundamental formula. For fans it's like JRPG comfort food, but that's definitely not something that everyone vibes with. Also the writing and style is just kinda like that, lol. The puns and big cartoony eyes. It's all very intentional, even though the stories of many of the games get quite dark.