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[xghost777]

I haven't written a post here in a while about RPGs I've been playing. When the Famiboards backlog challenge was going on last month, I finally played through my first Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem Awakening. I always thought I'd like the series since I love Advance Wars and like fantasy, but I had never gotten farther than a few hours into any of them. I decided just to make sure I got the experience under my belt, I'd play on Normal Casual where I'd still try to keep everyone alive, but not feel too bad about it if things went wrong. This was definitely the right call since I did finally beat it! I definitely found a lot to like in Awakening which makes me eager to play another one soon. I wasn't always invested in the story, but there were lots of cool cutscenes. I thought I'd like the characters a bit more, but I guess since permadeath is a thing it makes sense only the core characters showed up in most cutscenes (who I did like!). My go to squad eventually morphed into a good deal of people who couldn't become friends with each other so sadly support conversations dried up early on. Most amusingly, I ended up marrying Chrom so Lucina was my daughter, which definitely is going to forever change how I view Robin, Chrom, and Lucina in Smash Bros lol (no one else got married in my playthrough). As for the gameplay, I did feel a lot of the more clever maps were front loaded and eventually it felt like I was just fighting the same goons over and over which was disappointing. But even still, I did walk away largely enjoying my time with Awakening. I think if I was more into it when it first came out, I would have spent a lot of time with it. I'm eager to dive into another Fire Emblem relatively soon and I have a lot of options.

The other thing I just finished last night was the Live A Live demo which I was determined to play to get a jump start on the game (I really want to beat it before Xenoblade 3 consumes me). At first I wasn't really feeling it because I picked Ancient China first and then the Far Future second. The strengths of the game were not apparent in the start of these two chapters as they both ended right when it felt like something interesting was about to happen. The third story, Twilight of Edo Japan however, made me a do a complete 180 on the game. This scenario is very complex and interesting. Basically you are a Shinobi infiltrating a big fortress and you are presented with accomplishing your objective however you please (stealth, killing, or a mix of both). The fortress layout is very complex and there are enemies and prizes to claim. I took a stealth approach at first until I got pulled into an optional boss encounter and got destroyed. Here I swapped to a mix of killing which I think is pretty fun. Combat takes place on a giant grid and you have to move around constantly to set up your special attacks and avoid your opponents. Since you are just one character here who can die easily, you really have to plan carefully to hit multiple enemies at once, take advantage of tile effects (sometimes taking a hit yourself is even the right call), and set up the right spacing to heal when things are going south. You can save anytime outside of battle and you start every battle with full health, so you can really do a lot of experimenting to overcome obstacles. I don't know how I'll feel about the rest of the game ultimately, but I'm very excited to continue the Edo Japan chapter when the game comes out.

 

[AngryNopon]

I think the Steam version is also getting Lenneth?

No, the only thing included in the """"Deluxe Edition"""" on Steam is a dumb sword skin lol

 

[Deleted member 2258]

I am playing a Pokemon game for the first time!

After about 4 hours with SoulSilver, my first six Pokemon are Totodile, Hoothoot, Kakuna, Onix, Gastly & Ekans. The creepy ones are my favorite, especially Gastly.

It's an interesting experience playing an old game that's a new version of an even older game.

 

[39Subrosia]

It took until after the school play for me to realize I had to hold down a key to use turbo mode in Trails...

 

[xghost777]

It took until after the school play for me to realize I had to hold down a key to use turbo mode in Trails...

I’m glad I played my first few Trails games without Turbo mode, but I’m not sure I could ever play one again without selectively using it. It’s very fun as a dash and to speed up battle animations. Makes the bigger games far less daunting.

The city you are in is my favorite in Sky. Love the music and scenery!

 

[39Subrosia]

I’m glad I played my first few Trails games without Turbo mode, but I’m not sure I could ever play one again without selectively using it. It’s very fun as a dash and to speed up battle animations. Makes the bigger games far less daunting.

The city you are in is my favorite in Sky. Love the music and scenery!

I definitely won't use it my first time going through an area, but it's nice to use with how often you have to go back and forth between areas in this game.

Yeah that city is easily my favorite so far, and I'll definitely be listening to the music for it long after I've finished this game. It was actually earlier in my play session yesterday when I posted that, so I'm a fair bit further now. I had just met Tita in the tunnel on the way to Zeiss before I stopped playing for the day.

I'm really enjoying just how connected everything feels, even outside of the main story. Stuff like Estelle having to smooth things over when the Duke wanted to rent every room at the Air-Letten during a sidequest after doing the same to her and Joshua at the hotel earlier in the chapter, or Maybelle being in Ruan for the school festival because she was an alumna of Jenis. Also how pretty much every NPC has their own little story, and will even frequently comment on other characters. I've already experienced this a little with the few Ys games I've played, but it feels on another level here. As exhausting as it is for NPCs to constantly have new dialogue, the attention to detail is staggering. The writing has mostly been pretty standard so far, but there's so much care put into it that the game is extremely charming. I don't really feel all the reading I'm doing in this game...and there are definitely some games where I've felt it haha.

Something I heard a lot before playing FC was that it's a slow burn, but I was completely on board from the beginning since I'm viewing it with the context that it's the beginning of a much larger story. I guess that's one benefit of waiting so long to get into the series; the bits I've heard about the games over the years are enough for me to have an idea of what to expect while still not knowing any major spoilers (that I'm aware of/would remember). It also helps that the game has just been really solid so far.

 

[xghost777]

I definitely won't use it my first time going through an area, but it's nice to use with how often you have to go back and forth between areas in this game.

Yeah that city is easily my favorite so far, and I'll definitely be listening to the music for it long after I've finished this game. It was actually earlier in my play session yesterday when I posted that, so I'm a fair bit further now. I had just met Tita in the tunnel on the way to Zeiss before I stopped playing for the day.

I'm really enjoying just how connected everything feels, even outside of the main story. Stuff like Estelle having to smooth things over when the Duke wanted to rent every room at the Air-Letten during a sidequest after doing the same to her and Joshua at the hotel earlier in the chapter, or Maybelle being in Ruan for the school festival because she was an alumna of Jenis. Also how pretty much every NPC has their own little story, and will even frequently comment on other characters. I've already experienced this a little with the few Ys games I've played, but it feels on another level here. As exhausting as it is for NPCs to constantly have new dialogue, the attention to detail is staggering. The writing has mostly been pretty standard so far, but there's so much care put into it that the game is extremely charming. I don't really feel all the reading I'm doing in this game...and there are definitely some games where I've felt it haha.

Something I heard a lot before playing FC was that it's a slow burn, but I was completely on board from the beginning since I'm viewing it with the context that it's the beginning of a much larger story. I guess that's one benefit of waiting so long to get into the series; the bits I've heard about the games over the years are enough for me to have an idea of what to expect while still not knowing any major spoilers (that I'm aware of/would remember). It also helps that the game has just been really solid so far.

I’m glad you are enjoying Sky so much, that’s awesome! Yeah there really is nothing else quite like Trails in the way it so meticulously builds its world. I also really love how NPCs move around the world and fit in so well. No idea ultimately how Falcom keeps track of everyone especially as the games go on. Beyond NPCs, one of my favorite things is the books and newspapers you can collect in each game. Lots of cool stuff with them.

 

[Cubs017]

Alright…looking for a turn-based RPG that has good customization - I like games where when you change a character’s class or equipment they look different, that sort of thing. My favorite Switch RPGs are probably Three Houses, Arceus, DQ XI, and Octopath Traveler.

Been looking into Triangle Strategy but it looks like an insane amount of cutscenes/dialogue.

Preferably not something that’s insanely long. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Sheldon]

Alright…looking for a turn-based RPG that has good customization - I like games where when you change a character’s class or equipment they look different, that sort of thing. My favorite Switch RPGs are probably Three Houses, Arceus, DQ XI, and Octopath Traveler.

Been looking into Triangle Strategy but it looks like an insane amount of cutscenes/dialogue.

Preferably not something that’s insanely long. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Triangle Strategy doesn't have a lot of cosmetic customization. Each units upgrades along a linear path and the three classes typically don't look that different in sprite art.

The Bravely series, on the other hand, is all about classes and costumes. Haven't played Bravely Default 2 myself, but from the look of things it continues the tradition of giving you four dolls, erm, heroes, to play dress-up with.

 

[39Subrosia]

I’m glad you are enjoying Sky so much, that’s awesome! Yeah there really is nothing else quite like Trails in the way it so meticulously builds its world. I also really love how NPCs move around the world and fit in so well. No idea ultimately how Falcom keeps track of everyone especially as the games go on. Beyond NPCs, one of my favorite things is the books and newspapers you can collect in each game. Lots of cool stuff with them.

The books are actually somewhat related to one of my complaints with the game haha. I like reading them, but I'll have to check the wiki for a couple of the Carnelia chapters because I missed them. Xenoblade is my favorite JRPG series, so missables have never been a dealbreaker for me, but even trying to be thorough I've already missed a few things.

 

[ermitron2]

Alright…looking for a turn-based RPG that has good customization - I like games where when you change a character’s class or equipment they look different, that sort of thing. My favorite Switch RPGs are probably Three Houses, Arceus, DQ XI, and Octopath Traveler.

Been looking into Triangle Strategy but it looks like an insane amount of cutscenes/dialogue.

Preferably not something that’s insanely long. Any thoughts or suggestions?

God Wars is a decent one, it doesn't overstay (around 30 hrs for the main story) with characters being able to hvae primary and secondary jobs. Although they don't change their looks when you change jobs

 

[paranoodle]

Alright…looking for a turn-based RPG that has good customization - I like games where when you change a character’s class or equipment they look different, that sort of thing. My favorite Switch RPGs are probably Three Houses, Arceus, DQ XI, and Octopath Traveler.

Been looking into Triangle Strategy but it looks like an insane amount of cutscenes/dialogue.

Preferably not something that’s insanely long. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I swear I'm not saying this as a joke, but if you're not put off by it you might enjoy Miitopia? There's a lot of visual customization, it's not super super long by RPG standards, fairly light on story, and the combat system is non-trivial and interesting to figure out imo.

I'll second checking out the Bravely series, but those are pretty long (and absolutely worth it imo, but still long).

 

[Sheldon]

I swear I'm not saying this as a joke, but if you're not put off by it you might enjoy Miitopia? There's a lot of visual customization, it's not super super long by RPG standards, fairly light on story, and the combat system is non-trivial and interesting to figure out imo.

I'll second checking out the Bravely series, but those are pretty long (and absolutely worth it imo, but still long).

Bravely Default and Bravely Second at least could be super long, but didn't need to be. Between ignoring optional bosses, automated grinding, random encounter toggles and difficulty settings, a story-focused playthrough could cut a lot of time off a 100% completion run. I know some of that quality of life stuff is gone in Bravely Default 2. Did that change things so much the game no longer falls in the middle range between "breezy for an RPG" 30ish hours and "mandatory epic story starts here" 80+ hours?

 

[shoptroll]

Bravely Default and Bravely Second at least could be super long, but didn't need to be. Between ignoring optional bosses, automated grinding, random encounter toggles and difficulty settings, a story-focused playthrough could cut a lot of time off a 100% completion run. I know some of that quality of life stuff is gone in Bravely Default 2. Did that change things so much the game no longer falls in the middle range between "breezy for an RPG" 30ish hours and "mandatory epic story starts here" 80+ hours?

Doesn't look like it according to HLTB: https://howlongtobeat.com/?q=bravely default#search

Both games clock in around 50 hours for "Main Story" on average, with BD2 being the shorter of the two

EDIT: Also I'm chuckling at 30 hours being "Breezy for an RPG". I remember when that was pretty much the norm for a game in the 16-bit era

 

[Sheldon]

Doesn't look like it according to HLTB: https://howlongtobeat.com/?q=bravely default#search

Both games clock in around 50 hours for "Main Story" on average, with BD2 being the shorter of the two

EDIT: Also I'm chuckling at 30 hours being "Breezy for an RPG". I remember when that was pretty much the norm for a game in the 16-bit era

Final Fantasy VII warped what expected length means for an JRPG to this day and simultaneously enshrined Chrono Trigger as the forever GOAT of pacing.

Edit: Although... checking FF7 on HLTB... it's not as long as I remember. 36 hours for the main story?

Edit edit: That can't be right. I spent that many hours in Gold Saucer alone!

 

[paranoodle]

Bravely Default and Bravely Second at least could be super long, but didn't need to be. Between ignoring optional bosses, automated grinding, random encounter toggles and difficulty settings, a story-focused playthrough could cut a lot of time off a 100% completion run. I know some of that quality of life stuff is gone in Bravely Default 2. Did that change things so much the game no longer falls in the middle range between "breezy for an RPG" 30ish hours and "mandatory epic story starts here" 80+ hours?

That's true, the first two games definitely had a lot of options to help them go faster, but even then I remember spending well over 80 hours on Default (and I set Second aside after around 50 hours because the game crashed on me and I lost over an hour of progress, took a break in frustration, and never got back to it after), with a completionist playstyle that used a lot of those settings to speed things up. You can definitely finish them faster than that, but they still don't strike me as especially short by JRPG standards? I don't imagine you could get much faster than 40-ish hours on a first playthrough even if you ignore all side content.

No idea on the length of BD2, I haven't gotten around to playing that one (yet?) but like @shoptroll said HLTB has it around 50 hours for main story only, so it seems like it's in a similar ballpark at least.

They're definitely not The Longest by JRPG standards (love me some 80+ hour Mandatory Epic Story Starts Here), I just wanted to err on the safe side since Cubs mentioned not wanting something too long.

 

[Sheldon]

They're definitely not The Longest by JRPG standards (love me some 80+ hour Mandatory Epic Story Starts Here), I just wanted to err on the safe side since Cubs mentioned not wanting something too long.

Absolutely. And as @shoptroll pointed out, there's hardly a way to tell what any one person might count as long by RPG standards.

I'm an especially bad judge, given my playstyle where I've learned to add 25% to what the average estimate might say it's gonna take to beat a game.

 

[paranoodle]

Absolutely. And as @shoptroll pointed out, there's hardly a way to tell what any one person might count as long by RPG standards.

I'm an especially bad judge, given my playstyle where I've learned to add 25% to what the average estimate might say it's gonna take to beat a game.

Yeah for sure, I've seen some people think 30 hours is already on the long side, and I'm over here spending 100 hours on a game and being surprised that I'm at the end.

I tend to be a bad judge also, but just because I'm a weird combo of fast reader and completionist, so it fluctuates wildly in both directions depending on the amount of side content.

 

[SammyJ9]

Yeah for sure, I've seen some people think 30 hours is already on the long side, and I'm over here spending 100 hours on a game and being surprised that I'm at the end.

I tend to be a bad judge also, but just because I'm a weird combo of fast reader and completionist, so it fluctuates wildly in both directions depending on the amount of side content.

I'm also not the best at judging, since it seems to vary a LOT by how much I'm enjoying the game. Which isn't super surprising, I suppose, but it makes my opinions on runtimes vary a lot. Most of the time, I'm fine with 100+ hour games; I've put 100+ into XC1, 2, X, Persona 5 (twice), FETH, etc. and loved every minute. But at the same time I've definitely played games where 30-40 hours felt too long.

 

[NabiscoFelt]

I'm also not the best at judging, since it seems to vary a LOT by how much I'm enjoying the game. Which isn't super surprising, I suppose, but it makes my opinions on runtimes vary a lot. Most of the time, I'm fine with 100+ hour games; I've put 100+ into XC1, 2, X, Persona 5 (twice), FETH, etc. and loved every minute. But at the same time I've definitely played games where 30-40 hours felt too long.

I think I feel a game is too long when it outlives the variety and depth of the gameplay and story. When exactly that is depends on the game itself, which is why games like Xenoblade and Persona can handle 100+ hour runtimes whereas other games can feel bloated at 30 hours.

 

[SammyJ9]

I think I feel a game is too long when it outlives the variety and depth of the gameplay and story. When exactly that is depends on the game itself, which is why games like Xenoblade and Persona can handle 100+ hour runtimes whereas other games can feel bloated at 30 hours.

Definitely. For me, it's usually when you start to reach the end of when you make meaningful gameplay decisions and, importantly, progression. As much as I love FE:TH, for example, once you get near the end of the game and have everyone fully promoted into master classes and don't really have anything meaningful to teach to anyone or much to do other than crank through the last couple story battles, the game goes (just a bit) downhill for me. But a game can still be carried by the story and characters even if that's the case, too. It all depends on the game and how much I'm invested.

 

[Gengar]

I started Final Fantasy VI the other day and man... I could say so many good things but the soundtrack is amazing!!!! I've always enjoyed FF music but this just hit different somehow.

I don't think I've really tried any SNES era RPGs other than Earthbound, so it seems like there's a lot I can dig into whenever I have extra time.

 

[shoptroll]

I started Final Fantasy VI the other day and man... I could say so many good things but the soundtrack is amazing!!!! I've always enjoyed FF music but this just hit different somehow.

I don't think I've really tried any SNES era RPGs other than Earthbound, so it seems like there's a lot I can dig into whenever I have extra time.

Oh yea, 1994 and onward Squaresoft is amazeballs between the better samples they started using for their music plus the new "house style" of double height character sprites. It's such a shame the lag on localization was so high and JRPGs were still a very niche market because it would've been nice to have more games get released during that time so we could've experienced them in the proper context. Fortunately, Square and other companies are trying to rectify that now which is super amazing to see.

 

[TheWolvesDen]

I am loving FF9's battle system, I love learning from weapons, shifting them out to give different party members options to learn from that equipment... I love the ATB system, I even am starting to like Quina... but IT IS SLOW. I thought people were overstating that the game was slow but even this remaster is slow. Luckily enough everything else in this game is truly on point and that the options to speed up for small grinding sessions helps. I just got to the outer continent. I really am excited for whats next. I can def see how the elements of this game really influenced my fave FF : Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

 

[shoptroll]

I remember growing up and seeing IX’s combat engine chug was when I realized going down to 3 party members in the previous two games was likely caused by a hardware performance issue rather than being something they wanted to do. But since IX was supposed to a throwback to 1-5 they really had to throw in that 4th party slot or it wouldn’t feel right.

 

[TheWolvesDen]

I remember growing up and seeing IX’s combat engine chug was when I realized going down to 3 party members in the previous two games was likely caused by a hardware performance issue rather than being something they wanted to do. But since IX was supposed to a throwback to 1-5 they really had to throw in that 4th party slot or it wouldn’t feel right.

You know that makes sense, having not played 7 & 8 I didnt know that. It probably was a tough trade off going to 7 . But yeah IX is very much pushing PS1 to its limts, its interesting cause it means that they really didn't want to repeat issues since 10 is 3 party members on screen at a time.

 

[shoptroll]

You know that makes sense, having not played 7 & 8 I didnt know that. It probably was a tough trade off going to 7

So here's the interesting thing, because II, III, and V weren't released outside of Japan it kinda looked like the natural evolution at the time. 1 had a party of 4, 2 had a party of 5, 3 had a party of 4, so 7 having a party of 3 kinda felt like they were continuing to tune the party size downward with each game after a 5 character party being too much.

I think if we had seen the rest of the NES and SNES games it would've been clearer this was a constraint put in place by the hardware rather than "oh this is just where they're going design-wise".

And then Kawazu kept using sprites for everything in their games so SaGa Frontier still retains the 5 or 6 party limit like the SNES days despite being on the same hardware as 7

Also, I think a full party of 4 with the materia and junction systems would've allowed for some fairly busted games.

 

[39Subrosia]

I finished Trails in the Sky FC last night, and against my better judgement, I'm going to start SC later today. I'll probably have to wait a little after release before starting Xenoblade 3 because of that, but I don't want to wait a couple months to continue this story (especially after that fucking cliffhanger). My thoughts aren't too different from what I posted here. This is a series I've been interested in for a very long time, and FC made me feel like it was for a good reason. I finished with 353/368 bracer points and only missed one sidequest (the Amberl Tower one), so most of those points I didn't get were bonuses from other quests.

 

[xghost777]

I finished Trails in the Sky FC last night, and against my better judgement, I'm going to start SC later today. I'll probably have to wait a little after release before starting Xenoblade 3 because of that, but I don't want to wait a couple months to continue this story (especially after that fucking cliffhanger). My thoughts aren't too different from what I posted here. This is a series I've been interested in for a very long time, and FC made me feel like it was for a good reason. I finished with 353/368 bracer points and only missed one sidequest (the Amberl Tower one), so most of those points I didn't get were bonuses from other quests.

I am jealous of anyone who can roll right into SC these days. I had to wait four years to play it as XSeed took a long while to bring it over lol.

 

[Deleted member 2258]

Up next: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore

It's been high on my wishlist since it came out, and I found it today at a decent price! I'll try to give some updates and impressions as I go.

 

[ermitron2]

Up next: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore

It's been high on my wishlist since it came out, and I found it today at a decent price! I'll try to give some updates and impressions as I go.

Good choice. More people should be playing TMS

 

[Bokuringo]

Played more Definitive Edition and reached the point of no return. But because of the way I am, I need to finish all quests. Thing is, the enemies you need to defeat are up to level 99 and that means I have to grind a lot of levels in between quests. Starting to understand what took me so long on my original playthrough. And only 2 weeks left until 3.

I finished Trails in the Sky FC last night, and against my better judgement, I'm going to start SC later today. I'll probably have to wait a little after release before starting Xenoblade 3 because of that, but I don't want to wait a couple months to continue this story (especially after that fucking cliffhanger). My thoughts aren't too different from what I posted here. This is a series I've been interested in for a very long time, and FC made me feel like it was for a good reason. I finished with 353/368 bracer points and only missed one sidequest (the Amberl Tower one), so most of those points I didn't get were bonuses from other quests.

Glad you liked it. I had the same feeling when I finished First Chapter. I had to immediately jump to SC. I only missed a few BC because I took the wrong answer during the escort request.
If you stay with the series, you will have a nearly endless amount of games ahead of you lmao.

 

[39Subrosia]

I am jealous of anyone who can roll right into SC these days. I had to wait four years to play it as XSeed took a long while to bring it over lol.

I was actually looking at that earlier because I knew the localization was super late, but had forgotten the exact year it finally came over. Almost 10 years is rough. Localization times for Falcom games still aren't even close to ideal, but I have to wonder how many of the people complaining about not getting recent games sooner realize how much worse things used to be haha.

Glad you liked it. I had the same feeling when I finished First Chapter. I had to immediately jump to SC. I only missed a few BC because I took the wrong answer during the escort request.
If you stay with the series, you will have a nearly endless amount of games ahead of you lmao.

Going through the entire series is the plan, but I'm definitely not keeping this current pace lol. I'm most likely only finishing the Sky trilogy this year, and waiting until closer to Azure's official localization before starting Zero.

 

[Tatsu]

Ive started Disco Elysium and the writing is phenomenal im playing a dumb brute. Man i hope they make more games with that writer. Its the first game in years thats made me laugh out loud.

 

[MissingNo.]

Made it to Chapter 7 of my first FF13 playthrough. I can see how some people would be annoyed by some of its quirks, but I am really enjoying my time with it.

Yeah, I would like to have a full party of three, rather than two parties of two you constantly switch between throughout different story segments, but other than that I have little to complain about. Corridors are whatever, I am not too bothered by them (yet). Overall, presentation and combat make me see past those quirks with ease so far.

 

[xghost777]

Normally I start over games if I haven’t touched a playthrough in over a year, but in hopes of tackling my massive 3DS RPG backlog I picked up my unfinished playthrough of Bravely Default yesterday from eight years ago (I think it said 2014 when I overwrote the save?). I was about 25 hours in and had that really good monster (the Japanese Mamon) that you can steal infinite elixers from protected in my town and I’m aware the game has a lot of repeat content so it seemed like the right call. It was a bit tough picking this game back up since there’s a lot going on, I have no idea what my levels should be, or had a sense of what I was going for when building my party.

After staring at a guide and poking around the menus for a while I think I’m back on track. I freed the fire crystal, beat the Swordmaster and Ninja, and just got the airship. In part I’m sure because I take full advantage of altering the encounter rate, boss fights are downright brutal. Usually one party member is getting wiped out each turn and it’s a struggle to keep a healing rhythm while still dealing good damage. With that in mind, to increase my damage output my current short term goal is to have one of my members learn the sword mastery skill from the Knight class and then switch them to a dual wielding Ninja paired with sword magic skills to exploit weaknesses. I do really appreciate the challenge here, so I’m eager to play more. I have less time for games at the moment, so while I’m hoping to beat it before Live A Live hits, I’m not certain I will. Regardless, I’m dropping everything else when Xenoblade 3 drops, I’m super hyped for that game.

 

[shoptroll]

Normally I start over games if I haven’t touched a playthrough in over a year, but in hopes of tackling my massive 3DS RPG backlog I picked up my unfinished playthrough of Bravely Default yesterday from eight years ago (I think it said 2014 when I overwrote the save?). I was about 25 hours in and had that really good monster (the Japanese Mamon) that you can steal infinite elixers from protected in my town and I’m aware the game has a lot of repeat content so it seemed like the right call. It was a bit tough picking this game back up since there’s a lot going on, I have no idea what my levels should be, or had a sense of what I was going for when building my party.

I'm in a similar predicament although I don't have anything good locked in town. But I think the last time I tried to get back into BD on my save (which isn't nearly as far along) everything felt very disconnected because I had no recollection of the story or where I was heading. I think if I go back I'm going to restart at this point because the lack of having the momentum of the story at your back really makes RPGs in that style kinda hard to return to and get excited to keep moving along.

 

[Tailzo]

Do you have any rpgs you go back to and finish more than once?

If you count Shenmue and Shenmue II, my answer is yes. I’ve finished those games more than 10 times each.

But otherwise I tend tend to return to an rpg often. Except if it’s many years later, like Skies of Arkadia, Grandia, Phantasy Star IV, Final Fantasy VII, Suikoden and Shining Force II.

 

[chocolate_supra]

Do you have any rpgs you go back to and finish more than once?

I've played each of the Xenoblades twice, FFVIII three times, Chrono Cross probably three or four, and Chrono Trigger.. lord, probably dozens?

If you count Shenmue and Shenmue II, my answer is yes. I’ve finished those games more than 10 times each.

Hell yes

 

[Blue Monty]

Do you have any rpgs you go back to and finish more than once?

If you count Shenmue and Shenmue II, my answer is yes. I’ve finished those games more than 10 times each.

But otherwise I tend tend to return to an rpg often. Except if it’s many years later, like Skies of Arkadia, Grandia, Phantasy Star IV, Final Fantasy VII, Suikoden and Shining Force II.

I have played all Ys games bar Ys IX 4-5 times each, they are in the short-end length wise of JRPGs so it is quite easy to replay them multiple times

 

[ermitron2]

Do you have any rpgs you go back to and finish more than once?

If you count Shenmue and Shenmue II, my answer is yes. I’ve finished those games more than 10 times each.

But otherwise I tend tend to return to an rpg often. Except if it’s many years later, like Skies of Arkadia, Grandia, Phantasy Star IV, Final Fantasy VII, Suikoden and Shining Force II.

Wild Arms 3, it's amazing how the game still holds up with the time and the theme and its system and I haven't found anything similar at all

 

[39Subrosia]

This is the best one yet

Spoiler

 

[merp]

I'm curious: can you shut off the army battles in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous?

 

[shoptroll]

Do you have any rpgs you go back to and finish more than once?

Not recently, although I do try to do a Parasite Eve run around Christmas every couple of years since it's the Die Hard of JRPGs.

When I was a kid I cycled through FF IV, FF VI, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Mario RPG regularly, with the occassional dip into Breath of Fire. Haven't really replayed games aside from when they're re-released since the PS1 era when school started taking up more time and then adulting.

 

[paranoodle]

Do you have any rpgs you go back to and finish more than once?

If you count Shenmue and Shenmue II, my answer is yes. I’ve finished those games more than 10 times each.

But otherwise I tend tend to return to an rpg often. Except if it’s many years later, like Skies of Arkadia, Grandia, Phantasy Star IV, Final Fantasy VII, Suikoden and Shining Force II.

I've definitely played my favorites more than once! 100%ed Fantasy Life twice (out of ~4ish playthroughs of the base game), and I have several replays of CRPGs so I can make different choices (Pathfinder, Dragon Age, Divinity, etc).

The biggest offender is Star Ocean 3 though, last I checked I was on my 9th or 10th? I'm not great at keeping track.

I'm curious: can you shut off the army battles in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous?

Unless they've changed things with patches at some point, you can but only if you turn off the entire crusade management mechanic.

 

[merp]

I've definitely played my favorites more than once! 100%ed Fantasy Life twice (out of ~4ish playthroughs of the base game), and I have several replays of CRPGs so I can make different choices (Pathfinder, Dragon Age, Divinity, etc).

The biggest offender is Star Ocean 3 though, last I checked I was on my 9th or 10th? I'm not great at keeping track.


Unless they've changed things with patches at some point, you can but only if you turn off the entire crusade management mechanic.

Oh.

That's it?

Because that sounds even better.

 

[xghost777]

Do you have any rpgs you go back to and finish more than once?

If you count Shenmue and Shenmue II, my answer is yes. I’ve finished those games more than 10 times each.

But otherwise I tend tend to return to an rpg often. Except if it’s many years later, like Skies of Arkadia, Grandia, Phantasy Star IV, Final Fantasy VII, Suikoden and Shining Force II.

It’s definitely more difficult for RPGs today since they are longer, but I’ve replayed Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, and Kingdom Hearts II many times. If you count Zelda games, A Link to the Past as well. A little less often, but still more than twice for sure Final Fantasy VI, Ys Origin, and Tales of Symphonia. I did a fresh round of replays for the SNES games this year. The rest I mentioned, plus Trails in the Sky (which I’ve beaten twice) I’m eager to replay in the near-ish future.

 

[Mudo]

I’m 25 hours into Rune Factory 5 on PC after 2 days lol. I also played 80 hours on Switch. Having it running at 4K120 with all the performance issues knocked out has been a revelation. So yeah I’ll be playing this til Live a Live releases

I still need to beat XC1/2 so I’m not going to buy 3 until I’ve done that but I am excited for it

 

[paranoodle]

Oh.

That's it?

Because that sounds even better.

I liked it haha, but I know it's definitely not the case for everyone. The only thing to watch out for (again, unless they've patched it, I haven't played it since october) is that that does mean you can't use any of the crusade management cards to choose the outcomes of side quests, and last I heard that locks you out of a couple questlines? But I never tried it myself.

 

[SammyJ9]

Made it to Chapter 7 of my first FF13 playthrough. I can see how some people would be annoyed by some of its quirks, but I am really enjoying my time with it.

Yeah, I would like to have a full party of three, rather than two parties of two you constantly switch between throughout different story segments, but other than that I have little to complain about. Corridors are whatever, I am not too bothered by them (yet). Overall, presentation and combat make me see past those quirks with ease so far.

If you're liking it well enough at Chapter 7, I think you're probably in good shape. It starts to really expand and open up before too terribly long, and IMO you're past the worst parts of the game by now. Glad you're enjoying it!