Random thoughts on whatever JRPG you're currently playing?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Trails in to Reverie/Hajimari no Kiseki

It seems there has been a running trend since the Crossbell games. The Trails franchise depicts cities as being the source of warmongering populaces. In Crossbell you had the cityfolk becoming zombies en masse and then later supporting Dieter's one world order. In CS3 and CS4, the Great Twilight not only takes the most root in Heimdallr and Crossbell, the protagonists also comment "seems he has been affected by the curse" on several NPCs in cities such as Saint-Arkh, Ordis, and Raquel. You can find nary an NPC losing their minds in the rural villages like Milsante, Leeves, Eryn, Saint Ursula's Hospital, etc. Only the mayor of the village of Alster becomes affected. And then here again in Reverie, you have the cityfolk of Crossbell going crazy (for the fourth time in three years!) while the rural populace of Armorica keep their heads on straight. I'm guessing in the Kuro games, we will see the city populations of Calvard - particularly the capital of Edith - thirst for blood.

Spoiler

The clownshow always begins in the urban hellhole. The reclamation always begins out in the boonies.

 

[Lincolnberry]

Finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna expansion. I had played XC2 a few months back and eventually circled back around.

Overall I can easily see why it's better liked than the base game - it's sped up across the board, gacha elements are mostly gone, but also builds on some of the base game's strengths in the art and music in a fresh way with some of the remixes and the new continent.

It's fairly startling to play after FF16, my most recent prior JRPG. This game just has so much more going for it in the characters and writing department, even if I still think the combat system is pretty meh (if improved vs XC2). Feels like a proper adventure. Hard to overly recommend story as a prequel where you know where things end but I quite enjoyed it for what it is.

Not sure when I'll do XC3 - but I've enjoyed both prior mainlines enough to give it a go eventually.

 

[Puukko]

I dropped Torna when it told me to go do a dozen more side quests to be allowed to fight the final boss.

 

[deuxhero]

I've gotten stuck at the end of chapter 2 (of 3) in Tales of Vesperia. The boss of the chapter has a special attack that kills or nearly kills everyone in my party. It's not elemental, so I can't resist it, XP gaIns at this point are so shit I can't really grind past the problem in a meaningful amount of time.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Not sure when I'll do XC3 - but I've enjoyed both prior mainlines enough to give it a go eventually.

Good luck with that, sharp decline.

 

[Lincolnberry]

I dropped Torna when it told me to go do a dozen more side quests to be allowed to fight the final boss.

Very fair criticism, definitely the worst part of the game bar none. I was able to do enough in maybe an hour or two but completely unnecessary padding in an otherwise fairly streamlined experience.

 

[TalgoTheYank99]

2 Hours into Xenosaga Episode 1. Cutscenes, cutscenes and more cutscenes... Also what the fuck KOS MOS you've done Virgil dirty.

 

[Reinhardt]

finally played SRW T while sitting without internet again. out of all modern super robot wars it's my favorite. probably because characters are mostly from old animus, without modern isekai shit and original characters are adults. played as golddigger office lady and she and her lesbian harem were pretty entertaining. liked rudi woman too, even remembered her name after 10th introduction, pity i can't recruit her in main campaign.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

finally played SRW T while sitting without internet again. out of all modern super robot wars it's my favorite. probably because characters are mostly from old animus, without modern isekai shit and original characters are adults. played as golddigger office lady and she and her lesbian harem were pretty entertaining. liked rudi woman too, even remembered her name after 10th introduction, pity i can't recruit her in main campaign.

Switch Emulator? Does it run well? I tried like 2 years ago in Ryujinx and everything is ultra laggy

 

[Reinhardt]

finally played SRW T while sitting without internet again. out of all modern super robot wars it's my favorite. probably because characters are mostly from old animus, without modern isekai shit and original characters are adults. played as golddigger office lady and she and her lesbian harem were pretty entertaining. liked rudi woman too, even remembered her name after 10th introduction, pity i can't recruit her in main campaign.

Switch Emulator? Does it run well? I tried like 2 years ago in Ryujinx and everything is ultra laggy

yuzu. zero problems.

 

[Lincolnberry]

Finished Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon.

Overall: 4/5.

I am a fan of Yakuza games in general and a big fan of dragon quest, particularly the ones with robust job systems (especially 7, uncommon though that opinion is). This game makes a number of small references that I found very endearing and are probably positively coloring my view more than most. If you like Yakuza and DQ, as I do, I can't imagine you won't like this one.

Positives:
- I am a fan of turn based in general and I like this direction for Yakuza, especially since the brawler combat was never very interesting
- Good characters and motivations (other than business chick who feels almost like DLC)


I do have a number of criticisms I hope they improve on for the next game:
- Story is less tight than other Yakuza games. Sort of all over the place. 3 was about nothing at all but this one felt like trying to do too many twists that just didn't make sense.
- Battle system needs some tweaks. You're strong incentivized to brute force/most buffs don't matter meaningfully and are risky to use as they burn a turn with low/unknown probability, especially on bosses.
- No particularly interesting jobs or upgrade paths. Pretty mundane. In addition, you're generally best off sticking with one or a small handful of jobs per character given the job scaling and limited overlap abilities between jobs.
- The game's main mini game is functionally required and pretty boring.
- Grinding isn't bad necessarily but I wish it were more diverse. You basically have to do the Battle Arena to clear the Chapter 12 bossfight, which is a gigantic difficulty spike.

I still like it, but Etrian Odyssey or even DQ7 this is not (yet). I do think there's a lot of potential here if they keep digging, though.

 

[Puukko]

Fate Samurai Remnant. I know very little about Fate so whatever fanservice flies right above my head, I don't know the vast majority of these servants. I really liked Three Hopes so this game has lofty boots to fill.

And yeah, so far it works. It's more of a limited open world structure with parts of the city being mostly free to visit. They mix it up with a strategy leylines minigame where you take control of nodes while defending your own territory, it's simple at first but they pile on the mechanics.

Combat is standard Omega Force musou fare. Light/heavy combos, stances, several gauges to fill for a big damage nut. Big skill trees. I'm about 8 hours in and so far I only have one servant which I'm hoping changes soon. The game has teased me with several rogue servants but funnily enough the ones I've actually gotten to play have all been ones with masters, and they've been the most fun so far. I can only hope I'll acquire them somehow once I beat their masters and they're not just one-offs.

On a technical level the game is mediocre at best. It's on the PS4 and Switch but even then the game looks rough, even when considering anime styled games can get away with making up for it with the artstyle. I haven't had any bugs or technical issues but I don't think the game runs well enough for how it looks.

Now, good visual flair is my weakness and on that front the game delivers, some of those servant specials get really elaborate. This series really just is Naruto powerlevel ninja wizard battles with historical figures, except they're hot babes now. Except when they're traps. There has been not one, not two, but three male characters I thought to be girls at first, two of them even having female VAs. What is it with this series?

 

[Kuruwin]

Fate then

Fate Now

 

[Reinhardt]

Fate Samurai Remnant. I know very little about Fate so whatever fanservice flies right above my head, I don't know the vast majority of these servants.

i only know half of them despite playing fgo for years. in chapter 3 right now.
don't really like seiba replacement. from all servants i had to play so far immortal roach cu is da best boy.

 

[True Ukrainian]

Finished Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon.

Overall: 4/5.

I am a fan of Yakuza games in general and a big fan of dragon quest, particularly the ones with robust job systems (especially 7, uncommon though that opinion is). This game makes a number of small references that I found very endearing and are probably positively coloring my view more than most. If you like Yakuza and DQ, as I do, I can't imagine you won't like this one.

Positives:
- I am a fan of turn based in general and I like this direction for Yakuza, especially since the brawler combat was never very interesting
- Good characters and motivations (other than business chick who feels almost like DLC)


I do have a number of criticisms I hope they improve on for the next game:
- Story is less tight than other Yakuza games. Sort of all over the place. 3 was about nothing at all but this one felt like trying to do too many twists that just didn't make sense.
- Battle system needs some tweaks. You're strong incentivized to brute force/most buffs don't matter meaningfully and are risky to use as they burn a turn with low/unknown probability, especially on bosses.
- No particularly interesting jobs or upgrade paths. Pretty mundane. In addition, you're generally best off sticking with one or a small handful of jobs per character given the job scaling and limited overlap abilities between jobs.
- The game's main mini game is functionally required and pretty boring.
- Grinding isn't bad necessarily but I wish it were more diverse. You basically have to do the Battle Arena to clear the Chapter 12 bossfight, which is a gigantic difficulty spike.

I still like it, but Etrian Odyssey or even DQ7 this is not (yet). I do think there's a lot of potential here if they keep digging, though.

Grinding jobs is meant to access post game content, in particular if you want to challenge Amon in the true millennium tower. You need the cumulative small stat boosts to be able to match Amon's strength. Business chick is again meant for post game content. At high level she's as good a healer as main girl, has higher initiative and more damage.

 

[Nikanuur]

It's funny how an average action game for kids teds to be so much better in terms of raw gameplay than an average action game for grown ups.

 

[Reinhardt]

There has been not one, not two, but three male characters I thought to be girls at first

my trapometer is better calibrated. only 1 mistake out of 3 - white-haired master. other two are seiba and chinese archer, i guess?

 

[Reinhardt]

got first ending. babiloni-ya boss. technically it's still ending because credits roll.

 

[Reinhardt]

There has been not one, not two, but three male characters I thought to be girls at first

my trapometer is better calibrated. only 1 mistake out of 3 - white-haired master. other two are seiba and chinese archer, i guess?

so akshully white-haired samurai is a woman. and saber's gender is ? i.e. it's never confirmed if it's man or woman, even by developers themselves when asked. japan...
need to fix my trapometer again...

 

[Abu Antar]

I reinstalled Dragon Quest XI again. I really like the game, bought it day one, but for some reason never beat it. I hope to finish it before the end of the year.

I really hope they don't stray too much from the series formula, despite what they have said about DQXII.

On another note, I am playing the 3DS version of Dragon Quest VII. If you don't like slow paced games, you should skip. I'm two hours in, and I haven't had a single encounter yet. My party is mostly planned out, but I read that there are some changes for how spells and such work.

 

[flyingjohn]

On another note, I am playing the 3DS version of Dragon Quest VII. If you don't like slow paced games, you should skip. I'm two hours in, and I haven't had a single encounter yet. My party is mostly planned out, but I read that there are some changes for how spells and such work.

Skip it for the psx version, 7 3ds is a dumbed down version. It is still slow, but it actually has some difficulty.

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm sticking with it for the portable aspect.

PSX version is best, otherwise.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I reinstalled Dragon Quest XI again. I really like the game, bought it day one, but for some reason never beat it. I hope to finish it before the end of the year.

I really hope they don't stray too much from the series formula, despite what they have said about DQXII.

On another note, I am playing the 3DS version of Dragon Quest VII. If you don't like slow paced games, you should skip. I'm two hours in, and I haven't had a single encounter yet. My party is mostly planned out, but I read that there are some changes for how spells and such work.

I tried it out but put it down in disgust and got a refund after watching an insanely long cutscene of a dog barking at a guard that served no purpose except to pad playtime. I wish they'd go back to the more open world exploration roots the series originally had.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Skip it for the psx version, 7 3ds is a dumbed down version. It is still slow, but it actually has some difficulty.

The psx version lets you stack classes though. There's never any challenge after the class system unlocks. At least the 3ds version limits your abilities somewhat.

 

[Lincolnberry]

Skip it for the psx version, 7 3ds is a dumbed down version. It is still slow, but it actually has some difficulty.

The psx version lets you stack classes though. There's never any challenge after the class system unlocks. At least the 3ds version limits your abilities somewhat.

This was so much fun though. Loved how you had to unlock the higher tier classes (and monster classes!) by mastering the lower ones. Admittedely overpowered to carry your skills over to new classes but what I can say, this was the game that made me a DQ fan and the class system in 7 was the top reason by far.

(as was the strange obtuseness of the beginning - 3+ hours to your first fight!? But such a reward once you figure out the temple puzzles)