Going back to play RPGs on the DS....has been difficult.

Deleted member 17627 · Oct 23, 2020

Sort of stopped playing DS titles after that amazing year of 3DS releases in 2013, so I decided to go back to playing them last week since I don't really have anything else to play, lol.

And man....it's been difficult.

Like I get this is handheld hardware from over a decade and a half ago, but wow, these games run SO slowly. Tried playing Luminous Arc 2 and while the presentation held up, the battles almost made me fall asleep. Almost everyone took forever to move and perform their actions. And this isn't a short game either, most of my friends have said it took them over 30 hours to complete it.

After playing for two hours, I just couldn't continue and moved onto some other RPGs, but the feeling was still there: these games just felt like they took forever to actually do anything.

Anyone else feel similarly about going back to RPGs on the DS? Or older consoles altogether honestly.

BasilZero · Oct 23, 2020

Been easy for me.

The DS RPGs I played this year were Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded and Tales of Innocence

I can play old RPGs fine, its bit of a hassle/grind compared to modern RPGs but still doable.

I'm planning to do some NES and SNES RPGs soon.

Mr.Deadshot · Oct 23, 2020

Not at all. Try different games. The Dragon Quest Remakes are a good start. Final Fantasy XII-2: Revenant Wing is a gem. SMT: Strange Journey and Radiant Historia are also fantastic.

AppleBlade · Oct 23, 2020

I go back and play old school JRPG's and I don't understand how i was able to do it. It's like torture now.

bunikerrim · Oct 23, 2020

I've played Chrono Trigger lately and it runs waaay faster than on the PS1, seems like a problem of the game in particular

kurahador · Oct 23, 2020

Even back then Luminous Arc is pretty slow for me. You want DS SRPG that run smoothly, play FFT A2.

Hobbun · Oct 23, 2020

I just started up playing Fantasy Life again on my 3DS and am totally hooked. So can't say I agree.

Granted, it's 3DS, but playing it in 2D mode.

SonicRift · Oct 23, 2020

I go back to the DS Pokemon games pretty frequently, and beyond a few QoL features that show up and disappear from this iteration to that, I don't really feel the age of them. Same goes for the Etrian Odyssey games.

Mozendo · Oct 23, 2020

I say this as someone who played Luminous Arc, that game was always slower paced.
What other games are you basing this on?

Deleted member 17627 · Oct 23, 2020

SonicRift said:
I go back to the DS Pokemon games pretty frequently, and beyond a few QoL features that show up and disappear from this iteration to that, I don't really feel the age of them. Same goes for the Etrian Odyssey games.

Mr.Deadshot said:
Not at all. Try different games. The Dragon Quest Remakes are a good start. Final Fantasy XII-2: Revenant Wing is a gem. SMT: Strange Journey and Radiant Historia are also fantastic.

SonicRift said:
I go back to the DS Pokemon games pretty frequently, and beyond a few QoL features that show up and disappear from this iteration to that, I don't really feel the age of them. Same goes for the Etrian Odyssey games.

Atlus, Pokemon, and Square Enix really had some amazing output on the DS. I miss Final Fantasy Tactics, now that was a SRPG that had good pacing.

Mr.Deadshot · Oct 23, 2020

King of Dreamland said:
Atlus, Pokemon, and Square Enix really had some amazing output on the DS. I miss Final Fantasy Tactics, now that was a SRPG that had good pacing.

Did you play Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA) and Advance 2 (NDS)? Both are great as well. They don't have the serious setting and are more kid-friendy, but still very charming and great games.

Mandos · Oct 23, 2020

bunikerrim said:
I've played Chrono Trigger lately and it runs waaay faster than on the PS1, seems like a problem of the game in particular

I need to finish that... Um and restart since it's been 2 years and I accidentally screwed up recruiting the extra team member. Plus it's not that long

FantaSoda · Oct 23, 2020

This happened to me when trying to play the first Trails in the Sky game. I was super hyped for it, but in practice it felt like a total slog. It isn't just an issue with the genre though, just certain games. I was replaying Cosmic Star Heroine and it is remarkably snappy. I wish someone would give Zeboyd games a AAA budget and let them run wild.

werezompire · Oct 23, 2020

ImpossibleDunk said:
This happened to me when trying to play the first Trails in the Sky game. I was super hyped for it, but in practice it felt like a total slog. It isn't just an issue with the genre though, just certain games. I was replaying Cosmic Star Heroine and it is remarkably snappy.

I spent a lot of time looking at old SNES RPGs when making Cosmic Star Heroine and our action time in combat is a lot faster than most. It's been a couple years, but IIRC, an average move in CSH is probably at least twice as fast as an average move in Chrono Trigger since there's a lot of downtime in CT (moving to and from targets, slow animations, waiting for damage values to appear, etc.).

I remember noticing that SMT: Nocturne has a very fast action speed in combat. No running up to targets, just fast cuts to the character performing the attack & the on-target visual effect. It's a big reason why combat in that game feels so good. Modern Persona is pretty fast too although not as fast as SMT:N.

I wish someone would give Zeboyd games a AAA budget and let them run wild.

Me too! ;)

bunikerrim · Oct 25, 2020

Mandos said:
I need to finish that... Um and restart since it's been 2 years and I accidentally screwed up recruiting the extra team member. Plus it's not that long

Finished it in 20 hours or so, abolutelly loved everything about it

cyklisten · Oct 25, 2020

I´m kind of put off by the visual quality of the New 2DS XL. Coming from a Switch to that is.. not so good. The games are incredible though.

Going back to play RPGs on the DS....has been difficult.

Zeboyd Games