What JRPG are you playing right now?

[Sadist]

Final Fantasy XV

Probably people will hate me for it, but I'm enjoying this game far more than I expected. Don't get me wrong, there are some negative aspects to this game. I mean, for an adventure involving four long time friends, the dialogue is stiff which makes the story somewhat meh to enjoy.

However, driving around, getting off at places and just discovering the wonderfull World of this game is really something. Even the battlesystem is starting to click with me.

 

[Redcrayon]

I'm playing Tales of Vesperia, but struggling a bit to keep going after five hours. I like the characters, just finding the plot a bit dull. I think a couple of decent sessions will hook me into it, I've only been able to dip in and out so far.

 

[ghibli99]

It kinda counts I guess, but I just finished Deltarune Ch. 1 on Switch. Wonderful. Reminded me of why I love Undertale so much.

Unfortunately, I've tapped out on Octopath Traveler for now, after literally falling asleep playing it this weekend. I was initially pretty excited about my 'breakthrough' (here's my thread on it), but the repetitive loop and activities are just grinding my fun to a halt. Glad I played it (about 30 hours, halfway through Ch. 2), but I hope their next effort goes beyond what's on display here.

Going to start Ys VIII, Phantasy Star IV, Cosmic Star Heroine, Bravely Default, or get back to Torna: The Golden Country next. I'm overwhelmed with my choices. :P

 

[Wood Man]

Just finished Marenian Tavern Story: Patty and the Hungry God. It was cute. Nice little time waster during my breaks at work. Later in the game battles become a waste of time since leveling up comes from eating, not fighting. The only benefit is getting ingredients and by that time you can buy a lot of what you need to cook. Also money becomes a non-issue at that point as well.

Thinking about Phantasy Star on Switch for my next little adventure. Besides the online versions I never played an entry in the series. Does it hold up? Would it be good to kill time & level grind mindlessly? That's kinda what I want.

 

[SugarNoodles]

I did end up sticking with Tactics Ogre LOCT long enough to finish it. To be clear, I don't think the game is irredeemable or awful by any means, I just find its flaws to be bad enough that it didn't hold up for me. The similarities in story structure to FFT kind of caught me off guard at first, but unfortunately I don't think it managed to create any sense of weight that FFT did. The main players feel like props that follow the whims of the plot, and it's a bit difficult to get behind characters whose actions vary so wildly with the story path. Denam is either a proto-Ramza with his justice ideals, or a an evil war criminal depending on player choice. Vyce just does whatever Denam doesn't, forcing one of the main characters to be a cartoonishly evil ass hat, and Catiua simply throws wrenches into the gears with vaguely sexist indecisiveness that the hero must rescue her from with the right dialog choices. The story is serviceable, but the characters were just so... present and nothing more.

The game's bigger offenses were definitely gameplay related. There were some cool ideas but man did this game get in the way of itself. The way leveling classes work is completely baffling. It's really not any different from playing an RPG with a huge roster of characters, but every time it introduces a new character they start at level one and remain completely useless until you grind them up to your party's current level. Completely baffling. What should have felt like an exciting new gameplay feature ended up feeling like a chore. By the end of the game I stopped bothering with new classes because I just couldn't bring myself to spend the time.

To be clear, you didn't NEED to use any new or special classes to get through the game. In fact, you're far better off staffing your roster with a bunch of archers than you are spreading your roster evenly over the classes available. There's no reason you can't just go through the game with a mix of knights, archers, wizards, and a cleric or 2, but that's not interesting, and there's far too much content to be limited so severely simply because of how inconvenient new classes are.

Another glaring flaw that I couldn't look past is how unintuitive and volatile the damage formulas were. The damage you deal varies wildly with slight adjustments to your stat numbers. An increase in attack power from 260 to 275 could easily double the damage you're dealing or more. What's worse is that the same variance plagues different spells from the same caster. I had situations where my mage would deal 1 damage (yes, one) with fireball 1 but deal 20 damage with fireball 2. The same mage might deal 70 damage to a diferent target with fireball 1, but deal 100 damage with fireball 2.

The damage ranges are completely unintuitive and make the difference between a mid range unit and a finely tuned offensive unit far too vast, and encourages a very singular style of setup for your party. The "strengthen" abilities aren't just there to be assigned to units that you want to be especially effective at dealing physical damage; they are mandatory staples of physical units because they raise your attack stat by 70+ whereas new equipment upgrades are only going to give you an extra 10-15.

Lastly, the battles are just. So. Dense. You often have 12 units on your team, who all need to be placed into a compact 3x4 rectangle at the beginning of battle, and the battles tend to feel like trench warfare, where you're throwing units at the enemy in order to carve through their HP sponges in an attempt to end the battle in a timely manner. There isusually a distance of a couple of turns between the enemy and your own team, making every battle feeling like it begins the same way, particularly because of the MP system, which at first seemed new and exciting, but ended up being a curse. By the end of the game I was rolling my eyes at the way every. Single. Battle began with my magic users tossing MP restorative items at each other for a couple rounds just so that they could participate in the battle without standing around and waiting.

Don't even get me started on a crafting system designed to require save scumming just to avoid wasting the player's time. And while I'm at it, I'll say that I've never played a single player RPG that benefitted from gatekeeping equipment using level requirements. If I found a cool piece of equipment, let me use it. That, or balance the game so that I can't get it until later on.

Don't get me wrong, I can see why it holds a special place in some people's hearts, but MAN the gameplay did not age well.

 

[leder]

I did end up sticking with Tactics Ogre LOCT long enough to finish it. To be clear, I don't think the game is irredeemable or awful by any means, I just find its flaws to be bad enough that it didn't hold up for me. The similarities in story structure to FFT kind of caught me off guard at first, but unfortunately I don't think it managed to create any sense of weight that FFT did. The main players feel like props that follow the whims of the plot, and it's a bit difficult to get behind characters whose actions vary so wildly with the story path. Denam is either a proto-Ramza with his justice ideals, or a an evil war criminal depending on player choice. Vyce just does whatever Denam doesn't, forcing one of the main characters to be a cartoonishly evil ass hat, and Catiua simply throws wrenches into the gears with vaguely sexist indecisiveness that the hero must rescue her from with the right dialog choices. The story is serviceable, but the characters were just so... present and nothing more.

The game's bigger offenses were definitely gameplay related. There were some cool ideas but man did this game get in the way of itself. The way leveling classes work is completely baffling. It's really not any different from playing an RPG with a huge roster of characters, but every time it introduces a new character they start at level one and remain completely useless until you grind them up to your party's current level. Completely baffling. What should have felt like an exciting new gameplay feature ended up feeling like a chore. By the end of the game I stopped bothering with new classes because I just couldn't bring myself to spend the time.

To be clear, you didn't NEED to use any new or special classes to get through the game. In fact, you're far better off staffing your roster with a bunch of archers than you are spreading your roster evenly over the classes available. There's no reason you can't just go through the game with a mix of knights, archers, wizards, and a cleric or 2, but that's not interesting, and there's far too much content to be limited so severely simply because of how inconvenient new classes are.

Another glaring flaw that I couldn't look past is how unintuitive and volatile the damage formulas were. The damage you deal varies wildly with slight adjustments to your stat numbers. An increase in attack power from 260 to 275 could easily double the damage you're dealing or more. What's worse is that the same variance plagues different spells from the same caster. I had situations where my mage would deal 1 damage (yes, one) with fireball 1 but deal 20 damage with fireball 2. The same mage might deal 70 damage to a diferent target with fireball 1, but deal 100 damage with fireball 2.

The damage ranges are completely unintuitive and make the difference between a mid range unit and a finely tuned offensive unit far too vast, and encourages a very singular style of setup for your party. The "strengthen" abilities aren't just there to be assigned to units that you want to be especially effective at dealing physical damage; they are mandatory staples of physical units because they raise your attack stat by 70+ whereas new equipment upgrades are only going to give you an extra 10-15.

Lastly, the battles are just. So. Dense. You often have 12 units on your team, who all need to be placed into a compact 3x4 rectangle at the beginning of battle, and the battles tend to feel like trench warfare, where you're throwing units at the enemy in order to carve through their HP sponges in an attempt to end the battle in a timely manner. There isusually a distance of a couple of turns between the enemy and your own team, making every battle feeling like it begins the same way, particularly because of the MP system, which at first seemed new and exciting, but ended up being a curse. By the end of the game I was rolling my eyes at the way every. Single. Battle began with my magic users tossing MP restorative items at each other for a couple rounds just so that they could participate in the battle without standing around and waiting.

Don't even get me started on a crafting system designed to require save scumming just to avoid wasting the player's time. And while I'm at it, I'll say that I've never played a single player RPG that benefitted from gatekeeping equipment using level requirements. If I found a cool piece of equipment, let me use it. That, or balance the game so that I can't get it until later on.

Don't get me wrong, I can see why it holds a special place in some people's hearts, but MAN the gameplay did not age well.

Click to shrink...

You're more dedicated than I as I never saw the end, but yeah I agree with all of this.

 

[TYRANITARR]

It kinda counts I guess, but I just finished Deltarune Ch. 1 on Switch. Wonderful. Reminded me of why I love Undertale so much.

Unfortunately, I've tapped out on Octopath Traveler for now, after literally falling asleep playing it this weekend. I was initially pretty excited about my 'breakthrough' (here's my thread on it), but the repetitive loop and activities are just grinding my fun to a halt. Glad I played it (about 30 hours, halfway through Ch. 2), but I hope their next effort goes beyond what's on display here.

Going to start Ys VIII, Phantasy Star IV, Cosmic Star Heroine, Bravely Default, or get back to Torna: The Golden Country next. I'm overwhelmed with my choices. :P

Click to shrink...

I recommend CSH or Bravely Default, but all your choices are good there.

I never finished Torna myself. I think after 115 hours in Xenoblade 2, I'm just burnt out on XB period and Torna did not get me interested in it's characters.

 

[trippyturtle]

About to start the Radiant Historia remake. Gameplay looks interesting, and I've been looking for good JRPG stories lately. I've also been told the voice acting is pretty good too.

 

[ghibli99]

I recommend CSH or Bravely Default, but all your choices are good there.

I never finished Torna myself. I think after 115 hours in Xenoblade 2, I'm just burnt out on XB period and Torna did not get me interested in it's characters.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for narrowing down my recs! I did end up restarting Torna last night and dumped a pretty quick two hours into it. I'm bummed that field skills are still a thing, but I do like the more straightforward (so far) Vanguard/Rear Guard combat system, and it reminds me of how much I enjoy exploring Monolithsoft worlds. So many little nooks and crannies to discover, and the vistas are always worth stopping for a moment to take in. I really do wish there had been a feasible way to have patched XBC2 with this improved engine. It does seem to look quite a bit better than the base game.

 

[tiesto]

Finally platinumed Cosmic Star Heroine on the second hardest difficulty. Took me 19 hours. Was frustrating because the trophies got glitched and I had to redo some parts, including the extra hard bosses. I couldn't beat "T" but he doesn't count for a trophy. Taking a bit of an rpg break to catch up on platformers - namely, Monster Boy and The Messenger.

Also noticed that a number of people in this thread are thinking of playing some of the Phantasy Star games... go for it! It's my favorite series :)

 

[The Artisan]

Still haven't finished Yakuza Kiwami 2 if that counts

 

[Mudo]

It kinda counts I guess, but I just finished Deltarune Ch. 1 on Switch. Wonderful. Reminded me of why I love Undertale so much.


Going to start Ys VIII, Phantasy Star IV, Cosmic Star Heroine, Bravely Default, or get back to Torna: The Golden Country next. I'm overwhelmed with my choices. :P

Click to shrink...

Damn that's a great list of games so you really can't go wrong. My thoughts:

1. Phantasy Star 4: it's a jrpg classic. One of the best looking Genesis games and a really good soundtrack. Story is ok nothing crazy but the classic town/dungeon loop is addictive. Game is briskly paced and battles are lots of fun. 20-30 hours to beat.

2. YS8: My personal favorite YS. It's action rpg heaven. It's like the culmination of the genre. A huge world with a fun "survive on stranded island" where you build a town and explore a vast world. It's fast paced, Sublime gameplay, and A+++ soundtrack. 30-50 hours to beat.

3. Cosmic Star Heroine: an homage to 16 bit rpg days. Battle system is something new fresh and fun. Soundtrack is just great. Story is fine nothing amazing but the it is balls to the wall paced with no filler and around 20 hours long. Huge cast of playable characters. Wonderful SNES style graphics. Very sci-fi setting with some fantasy mixed in.

4. Torna: I'm still playing XC2 but I hear if you loved the main game you will love this and I love that we get to see what happened 500 years ago. Excited to play this. Around 20-30 hours I hear.

5. Bravely Default: I'm about halfway through this and like CSH, it has a very unique fun battle system. Graphics are really stylized and neat. Soundtrack is greatttt. Story seems really good to me so far. Suppose to be a longer game maybe like 30-50 hours? If you want a really fun new battle system that's the thing that shines here. Dungeons are really boring unfortunately. You build up a town in this also which is something I love in all games.

So, you really can't go wrong. Coming off Deltarune and Octopath, I'd recommend YS8 for a change of pace but seriously play all of these games!!

 

[ghibli99]

Damn that's a great list of games so you really can't go wrong. My thoughts:

1. Phantasy Star 4: it's a jrpg classic. One if the best looking Genesis games and a really good soundtrack. Story is ok nothing crazy but the classic town/dungeon loop is addictive. Game is briskly paced abs battles are lots of fun. 20-30 hours to beat.

2. YS8: My personal favorite YS. It's action rpg heaven. It's like the culmination of the genre. A huge world with a fun "survive on stranded island" where you build a town and explore a vast world. It's fast paced, Sublime gameplay, and A+++ soundtrack. 30-50 hours to beat.

3. Cosmic Star Heroine: an homage to 16 bit rpg days. Battle system is something new fresh abs fun. Soundtrack is just great. Story is fine nothing amazing but the is balls to the wall paced with no filler and around 20 hours long. Huge cast of playable character. Wonderful SNES style graphics. Very sci-fi setting with some fantasy mixed in.

4. Torna: I'm still playing XC2 but I hear if you loved the main game you will love this and I love that we get to see what happened 500 years ago. Excited to play this. Around 20-30 hours I hear.

5. Bravely Default: I'm about halfway through this and like CSH, it has a very unique fun battle system. Graphics are really stylized and neat. Soundtrack is greatttt. Story seems really good to me so far. Suppose to be a longer game maybe like 30-50 hours? If you want a really fun new battle system that's the thing that shines here. Dungeons are really boring unfortunately. You build up a town in this also which is something I love in all games.

So, you really can't go wrong. Coming off Deltarune and Octopath, I'd recommend YS8 for a change of pace but seriously play all of these games!!

Click to shrink...

Thanks a lot! As you might have seen above, I did decide to start Torna last night and I'm really liking it, so I'll stick with that. Glad it's on the shorter side. I've been playing a lot of really long games in recent months, so I'm really looking forward to some games that are more manageable in length. :) 1-3 are definitely high priority as of right now.

 

[TYRANITARR]

Thanks for narrowing down my recs! I did end up restarting Torna last night and dumped a pretty quick two hours into it. I'm bummed that field skills are still a thing, but I do like the more straightforward (so far) Vanguard/Rear Guard combat system, and it reminds me of how much I enjoy exploring Monolithsoft worlds. So many little nooks and crannies to discover, and the vistas are always worth stopping for a moment to take in. I really do wish there had been a feasible way to have patched XBC2 with this improved engine. It does seem to look quite a bit better than the base game.

Click to shrink...

XBC2 was actually my least favorite XBC game to explore. I really feel like the game let me down in exploration because the map is already filled in for you. One of my favorite things in XBC and XBX was filling out the map, and finding Landmarks and opening up more of the map. I was BUMMED when I played XBC2 and saw that it was already revealed to you.

Because honestly, there's really nothing too exciting to see in the world. There's lots of farming points, but just getting items from those isn't super exciting. I mean, it also wasn't exciting in XBC1 or X either, but at least you could fill out the map and each Hex in XBX gave you something to look out for: a special treasure, a rare monsters, or that BoTW Tower thing to unlock more of the map. XBX had amazing exploration, and XBC1 had Landmarks that could fill out the map too.

Exploration in XBC2 was my least favorite part, which is too bad, because yeah, the vistas and landscapes looked amazing in XB2.

 

[ghibli99]

XBC2 was actually my least favorite XBC game to explore. I really feel like the game let me down in exploration because the map is already filled in for you. One of my favorite things in XBC and XBX was filling out the map, and finding Landmarks and opening up more of the map. I was BUMMED when I played XBC2 and saw that it was already revealed to you.

Because honestly, there's really nothing too exciting to see in the world. There's lots of farming points, but just getting items from those isn't super exciting. I mean, it also wasn't exciting in XBC1 or X either, but at least you could fill out the map and each Hex in XBX gave you something to look out for: a special treasure, a rare monsters, or that BoTW Tower thing to unlock more of the map. XBX had amazing exploration, and XBC1 had Landmarks that could fill out the map too.

Exploration in XBC2 was my least favorite part, which is too bad, because yeah, the vistas and landscapes looked amazing in XB2.

Click to shrink...

That all makes sense to me given that XBC2 is the only game in the series I've finished. LOL I'm about 30 hours into XBC3D, but man, I spent SO much time in Gaur Plains/Bionis' Leg that I burnt myself out by the time I got to Eryth Sea, and I haven't been back to it in about 5+ months. :( I do hope I can go back to it and pick up where I left off, because I was really enjoying it (my thread about it here).

 

[Silent_but_Deadly]

I was playing Dragon Quest XI recently, about 30 hours in. I was enjoying it, but I've been having a hard time going back to it now. Not sure why, I'm just not feeling it anymore.

 

[Deleted member 30681]

SMRPG's platforming is really starting to tick me off lol.

 

[thecaseace]

Octopath traveller is pretty good even when you jump back in after months out

 

[Ignatz]

Trails in the sky FC on PC. Cold steel I & II on PS3 were enough to got me hooked on series and buy the starting trilogy from Steam.

I started CS I accidentally on hard and after getting steamrolled by one of the early bosses had to grab the basics of party placement etc. quite quick. On the other hand, keeping playing on hard gave me almost Souls-like feeling of achievement. Just missed the corpse runs.

Trails in the Sky arc should keep me busy gaming wise for a quite a good while.

 

[Valkerion]

So I wrote my thoughts on Octopath after finishing it that you can see here if interested.
https://valkrion.wordpress.com/2019/03/15/octopath-traveler-review-8-stories-one-game/

If anyone has tips or suggestions let me know. It's just something I do in my downtime so I don't fall asleep at work but sending me a pm about it would be interesting imo (be nice if you do!)

 

[Dreamboum]

I did end up sticking with Tactics Ogre LOCT long enough to finish it. To be clear, I don't think the game is irredeemable or awful by any means, I just find its flaws to be bad enough that it didn't hold up for me. The similarities in story structure to FFT kind of caught me off guard at first, but unfortunately I don't think it managed to create any sense of weight that FFT did. The main players feel like props that follow the whims of the plot, and it's a bit difficult to get behind characters whose actions vary so wildly with the story path. Denam is either a proto-Ramza with his justice ideals, or a an evil war criminal depending on player choice. Vyce just does whatever Denam doesn't, forcing one of the main characters to be a cartoonishly evil ass hat, and Catiua simply throws wrenches into the gears with vaguely sexist indecisiveness that the hero must rescue her from with the right dialog choices. The story is serviceable, but the characters were just so... present and nothing more.

The game's bigger offenses were definitely gameplay related. There were some cool ideas but man did this game get in the way of itself. The way leveling classes work is completely baffling. It's really not any different from playing an RPG with a huge roster of characters, but every time it introduces a new character they start at level one and remain completely useless until you grind them up to your party's current level. Completely baffling. What should have felt like an exciting new gameplay feature ended up feeling like a chore. By the end of the game I stopped bothering with new classes because I just couldn't bring myself to spend the time.

To be clear, you didn't NEED to use any new or special classes to get through the game. In fact, you're far better off staffing your roster with a bunch of archers than you are spreading your roster evenly over the classes available. There's no reason you can't just go through the game with a mix of knights, archers, wizards, and a cleric or 2, but that's not interesting, and there's far too much content to be limited so severely simply because of how inconvenient new classes are.

Another glaring flaw that I couldn't look past is how unintuitive and volatile the damage formulas were. The damage you deal varies wildly with slight adjustments to your stat numbers. An increase in attack power from 260 to 275 could easily double the damage you're dealing or more. What's worse is that the same variance plagues different spells from the same caster. I had situations where my mage would deal 1 damage (yes, one) with fireball 1 but deal 20 damage with fireball 2. The same mage might deal 70 damage to a diferent target with fireball 1, but deal 100 damage with fireball 2.

The damage ranges are completely unintuitive and make the difference between a mid range unit and a finely tuned offensive unit far too vast, and encourages a very singular style of setup for your party. The "strengthen" abilities aren't just there to be assigned to units that you want to be especially effective at dealing physical damage; they are mandatory staples of physical units because they raise your attack stat by 70+ whereas new equipment upgrades are only going to give you an extra 10-15.

Lastly, the battles are just. So. Dense. You often have 12 units on your team, who all need to be placed into a compact 3x4 rectangle at the beginning of battle, and the battles tend to feel like trench warfare, where you're throwing units at the enemy in order to carve through their HP sponges in an attempt to end the battle in a timely manner. There isusually a distance of a couple of turns between the enemy and your own team, making every battle feeling like it begins the same way, particularly because of the MP system, which at first seemed new and exciting, but ended up being a curse. By the end of the game I was rolling my eyes at the way every. Single. Battle began with my magic users tossing MP restorative items at each other for a couple rounds just so that they could participate in the battle without standing around and waiting.

Don't even get me started on a crafting system designed to require save scumming just to avoid wasting the player's time. And while I'm at it, I'll say that I've never played a single player RPG that benefitted from gatekeeping equipment using level requirements. If I found a cool piece of equipment, let me use it. That, or balance the game so that I can't get it until later on.

Don't get me wrong, I can see why it holds a special place in some people's hearts, but MAN the gameplay did not age well.

Click to shrink...

I think having all the routes complements well considering how they act differently based on one single action. I also think you get to see how they interact differently considering how one decision could have put them on another entirely different path. For example Catiua denying that she would have followed her brother had he chose to act in Balmamusa, which she actually does. Or how Vyce sees his father differently when he chooses a path that is closer to his footsteps.

 

[Doomtrain]

Right now im playing Another Eden on iOS

 

[Nikus]

It's legit hilarious and fantastic all around.

 

[DarkChronic]

Absolutely loving Dragon Quest XI right now. I got it at launch but put it aside due to getting busy with life stuff, but finally had some down time to pick it back up.

What a beautiful and charming game. Story isn't anything special 15 hours in, but that's okay - still really enjoying my time with it.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

World of FF. Basically FF pokemon . It's decent.

 

[StarStorm]

Finished Valkyria Chronicles Remastered not too long ago. Will start .Hack GU Last Recode, but not for a while. Kinda burnt out after binging VC4, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters and VC1 Remastered.

 

[Lindsay]

Week 1 Ni no Kuni WotWW report! Up over 26 hours an heading to a town in the colder parts of the world! Feels like i've explored most of the world by now cause it looks like theres just 1 town aside from the one I'm about to enter left so I'd guess I'm at least mid-game? Were I not doing every errand, bounty, and familiar hunting I can only imagine how short this game could be! Also been making battles alil tougher an thus longer since I'm holding back "promoting" my familiars until they hit max level. Thats the good old Shining Force player in me creeping out o.o!

 

[Femto0]

Mother 3 ch4

 

[TFGB]

Finally downloaded FF IX today on PS4 and I've forgotten so much of it as it's been years since I played the game....which is great as it feels like a new experience. 🤗

Managed to get the Hail to the King trophy for 1000 jumps on the skipping game out of the way right at the beginning of the game which should pave the way for a fairly easy Plat now.

 

[Cess007]

Started Ni No Kuni II on last weekend and so far, it has been good. A bit on the easy side, but overall I am liking the game, and thank god they changed the combat system. I never grasped the one from the 1st one, and I am enjoying this one.

Click to shrink...

I continue Ni No Kuni 2, and finally completed the chapter 5. I just barely started Chap 6, but there's a very noticeable spike in the enemies levels. I think I will go around leveling up before going to the next city.

 

[XodiousBlack]

Final Fantasy XV

Probably people will hate me for it, but I'm enjoying this game far more than I expected. Don't get me wrong, there are some negative aspects to this game. I mean, for an adventure involving four long time friends, the dialogue is stiff which makes the story somewhat meh to enjoy.

However, driving around, getting off at places and just discovering the wonderfull World of this game is really something. Even the battlesystem is starting to click with me.

Click to shrink...

Honestly just wondering around the beautiful half real half fantasy world is my favorite part of the game. I'll take a hit with you because its easily one of my fav FF to date and I've played all of them.

 

[Tailzo]

Tales of Vesperia for Switch. Loving it, I'm close to the end.

 

[Deleted member 59]

45 hours into Xenoblade 2. Part way through Chapter 6. Hopefully this playthrough i can actually finish the game (my first ended after 30 hours midway through Chapter 4,).

So glad i decided to go back to this after finishing the excellent Torna DLC a couple weeks back.

 

[tiebreaker]

Just finished DMC V and now I'm in the mood for a PS4 JRPG. Surprisingly, I don't have many in my backlog.

Kingdom Heart: BBS, not really in the mood for all the friendship babble, but maybe the gameplay could rope me in?
Final Fantasy Type-0, Not liking the camera when I first tried it.But I don't know, feel like giving it another try.
Akiba's Beat. supposed to be 50 hours long, which I thin will turn repetitive quickly.,
Atelier Sophie.only played Rorona, and I though it was decent at best. Is this one any better?

Any suggestion?

 

[ccieag]

Finished FFIX, and am considering picking up either I am Setsuna or Earthlock ... suggestions?

 

[Disclaimer]

Finished FFIX, and am considering picking up either I am Setsuna or Earthlock ... suggestions?

Click to shrink...

I bought both of those at release and ended up dropping each after a handful of hours. While they have redeeming qualities, if you're just looking for a turn-based (J)RPG on Switch, there are better options.

- Tangledeep (my preferred recommendation): I'm currently engrossed in this, and it's my favorite game of the year so far. It's a combination of JRPG and roguelike, but if you're unfamiliar or unenthused by the latter genre, don't let that dissuade you. You control a single character, who begins as one of twelve jobs, but you can change between them to combine their abilities. You explore procedurally-generated dungeons, collecting loot and getting stronger, occasionally advancing the plot as you reach certain floors.

It's a ~20hr game, but one whose gameplay loop you can enjoy infinitely. The game has (optional) perma-death, but it feels freeing, rather than punishing, because it's just license to try a new character build — and you'll want to, because all the jobs are great fun. Because the dungeons are procedurally generated, and the loot random, each playthrough is different from the last. Even if you play with perma-death enabled, there are avenues of long-term progression, because the town you're based from keeps its upgrades (new characters will have access to older ones' banked items, banked money, monster corral pets, food-producing trees, etc.).

Overall, I can't recommend the game enough. It's very beginner friendly, has a boppin' OST straight out of a '90s SNES classic, beautiful pixel art, an awesome job system, addicting gameplay, and endearingly well-written dialogue. What more could one ask for?

- Octopath Traveler: Listing this for posterity, because you've probably already played it or decided against it. It was my GOTY last year.

- World of Final Fantasy: This actually just came off of a sale, so I'd wait for another, but it's a superb mix of Pokemon-like monster catching and Final Fantasy ATB combat. If you're familiar with more Final Fantasies, you'll love all of its homages, and if you aren't, it just might pique your interest in them.

- Cosmic Star Heroine: Good little indie darling. It has a tightly designed combat system, visuals that harken back to Chrono Trigger, a bubbly personality reminiscent of Lunar, and a (too) briskly-paced story.

- West of Loathing: Another fun indie. This one focuses on its comedic writing — and comedy being subjective, that'll be hit or miss — but it's lovely with fun but simplistic turn-based combat.

- Undertale & Deltarune: Haven't personally played these, but everyone gushes over them.

There are various great turn-based SRPGs, too, but I won't list them.

 

[ccieag]

I have played and love Octopath Traveler, and Cosmic Star Heroine. I have purchased but not yet played World of Final Fantasy. I was just looking at the fact that Lost Sphere, I am Setsuna, and Earthlock are all on sale. Obviously I am getting FFVII at the end of the month, but was considering one of the three that are on sale as well

I am leaning toward I am Setsuna right now, but advice is helpful

 

[FallenGrace]

I have played and love Octopath Traveler, and Cosmic Star Heroine. I have purchased but not yet played World of Final Fantasy. I was just looking at the fact that Lost Sphere, I am Setsuna, and Earthlock are all on sale. Obviously I am getting FFVII at the end of the month, but was considering one of the three that are on sale as well

I am leaning toward I am Setsuna right now, but advice is helpful

Click to shrink...

I kickstarted Earthlock and while it's OK it has no real soul, iit lacks any story or meaningful characters especially past the first few hours that you'll forget about it in six months.

I am Setsuna I found as generic as c can be. The soundtrack is nice at first but by the end I was begging for variety.

I didn't like either game much but if I had to choose, I am Setsuna is better. Not played Lost Sphere....due to I am Setsuna.

 

[Deleted member 37233]

I'm replaying Pandora's Tower right now. Played it back when it released in Europe (2012 I think?).
Luckily I've forgotten about most of the game, so it feels like a relatively fresh experience.

But I've not forgotton how good it is! I really like the setting and the few characters in it. The combat ist okay, not great, but not too bad either. The music is outstanding and it looks quite nice for a Wii game.

After that I want to clear my backlog a bit, so I will play The Last Story and Xenoblade Chronicles 1.

 

[tiesto]

Still playing KH1, at level 86 and having trouble with the Phantom. I hate using spells in this game, and this fight relies on that heavily. Still have to beat Sephiroth and Unknown too. I think I'll just grind the rest of the way to 99 and then re try Phantom and Sephy.

Also I'm planning a big backlog playthrough in chronological order, starting when I finish KH, Monster Boy, and The Messenger, and after my Chronicles of Radia War repro arrives. I'll solicit some ideas of what to play when the time comes :)

 

[Kevers]

I finished Tales of Berseria the other day and was thinking of Xillia or Graces F as my next possible JRPG. I don't really know anything about either game as I only recently got into the Tales of series, I could also probably borrow my friends copy of Symphonia as I missed that as well. I also have a save in Abyss on the 3DS like 10 hours in, that's probably the one I should actually finish before starting a new one.

 

[Rbz]

I'm in the postgame of DQXI now. It's been a wonderful adventure. I played DQVIII but bounced off it after only a couple hours, so this is my first real Dragon Quest game. I've adored it and will definitely be hyped for the next one. Looking forward to continuing to find new treasures and power my characters up to absurd heights!

 

[Blade24070]

Still playing KH1, at level 86 and having trouble with the Phantom. I hate using spells in this game, and this fight relies on that heavily. Still have to beat Sephiroth and Unknown too. I think I'll just grind the rest of the way to 99 and then re try Phantom and Sephy.

Also I'm planning a big backlog playthrough in chronological order, starting when I finish KH, Monster Boy, and The Messenger, and after my Chronicles of Radia War repro arrives. I'll solicit some ideas of what to play when the time comes :)

Click to shrink...

You should be able to beat Phantom. I hate to ask, but you know you can use Stop on the clock hand to prevent doom right? Just stock up on ethers and it shouldn't be too hard.

 

[Mudo]

I have played and love Octopath Traveler, and Cosmic Star Heroine. I have purchased but not yet played World of Final Fantasy. I was just looking at the fact that Lost Sphere, I am Setsuna, and Earthlock are all on sale. Obviously I am getting FFVII at the end of the month, but was considering one of the three that are on sale as well

I am leaning toward I am Setsuna right now, but advice is helpful

Click to shrink...

Thoughts:

-World of FF: classic jrpg with towns, dungeons, great music, and a worlds-colliding of the FF games. The big draw is the battle system. You catch monsters then stack them up into different configs and it's these stacks you battle with. Very cool and different. I give it 8/10

-I Am Setsuna: Tokyo RPG Factory's first game. The graphics are a bit bland. The whole world/game is snow-based. I love snowy games so it worked for me. Turn based battles ATB style. Music is ALL piano and I love it but some won't. Story is ok nothing to write home about. It's not too long 20-39 hours. I liked it and you should play it at some point (7/10) but....

- Lost Sphear: Tokyo RPG Factiry second game. No longer all snow but still the graphics are a bit bland. Music is good, not godly but really good. Battles are now like Chrono Trigger there are character combos, you can move around the battlefield. There are mechs :) a bit longer than Setsuna. I love the story. The world is literally disappearing and you have to save it. I really like this game 8/10 and think you should play this first!

TL;DR - Play all 3 but Lost Sphear first

 

[ElOdyssey]

I've been in a huge jrpg kick lately.

Recently picked up World of Final Fantasy Maxima and wasn't expecting it to so damn good! The stacking of the monsters to enhance your stats and customize your characters is really fun. I also appreciate turbo mode while in battle (why don't most jrpgs have this function btw!?).

I am also finally coming around to playing (more) of Trails in the Sky SC and its been fun. Just hit chapter 3. I also ended up picking up Trails in the Sky 3rd chapter, Cold Steel 1 and Cold Steel 2 along with a bunch of other jrpgs. Trying to catch up on my forever long backlog.

 

[Mcmanicman]

80 hours into Xenoblade 2 and only at episode 6!

 

[noyram23]

Steven universe: Save the light, it's a great jrpg and it's a lot closer to older Paper Mario games than the sticker star one. Is EARTHLOCK good?

 

[EarthPainting]

I started playing Shadow Hearts last week, but progress is rather slow. I'm not really feeling the balance of this game. I'm only a few hours in and bosses hit like a truck. The boss I beat last in the fishing village hit twice the amount of damage I could heal, and the game took my healer away. I was pretty much forced to put two characters on permanent healing duty with items.

I am a little worried about my ability to progress now. When I beat it, I looked up a guide to see if I was missing anything, and it seems like the only difference is that I'm incapable of getting crits in the wheel. If the game ever makes that a requirement to progress, I'm pretty much boned. I don't think I can pull that off, and even attempting it makes me miss quite often.

 

[Ufaowl]

Ni No Kuni 2. Strugling through. The plot, i think, is the poorest I've ever seen. It makes me even want to play Assasins creed or DQ11, it's so bad(

 

[ccieag]

I started World of FF Maxima last night - like it a lot so far. Still debating on Lost Sphear, but I did go ahead and purchase FFVII in advance so it is downloaded and ready to go. I have a week or so to make up my mind

Thanks for the suggestions!