Aostia82
Chain Chomp
- Pronouns
- He
-
Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
-
Do you have audio editing experience and want to help out with the Famiboards Discussion Club Podcast? If so, we're looking for help and would love to have you on the team! Just let us know in the Podcast Thread if you are interested!
StarTopic RPGs |ST| Our Home Base For All Role Playing Game Discussions!
- Thread starter xghost777
- Start date
The final boss is THE PITS.
THE PITS.
(I swear I've had more exposure to that word in a single playthrough of MHS2 than all the rest of my life combined, and now it's stuck in my vocabularly even though it's entered that stage of overuse where I'll forever be keenly aware of how weird it sounds said out loud and repeatedly.)
lightning16
Bob-omb
I decided to play SMT4 after finishing up SMT5. I loved SMT5 and I'd been sitting on SMT4 for years so I decided to finally give it a shot. Man, this is a very very different type of experience in pretty much every way.
I do like that SMT4 has a far more fleshed out cast and setting, but the steep decline in quality in the gameplay has been a bit sad to see. This game honestly confuses me a bit as to the series' reputation for stellar combat and high difficulty: I've found it's failed to deliver either one. The game is actually quite easy. So long as you survive a boss's initial attacks, you'll set a few buffs up and the rest of the fight will be a cakewalk. Heck, the HP totals of some bosses is so low that I've legitimately killed bosses before they've even had the chance to attack. But the low difficult honestly isn't that disappointing for me. I appreciate a difficult game every now and then, but it's not something I seek out. The most disappointing thing about this game's combat is just how weirdly unbalanced it is, which was probably the truly surprising thing given the series' reputation. This game feels extraordinarily random. The difficulty of the game is easy, but that's not stopping the wrong coin flips on initiative and crits giving you the occasional random death to a random encounter 5 levels below you. On the opposite end, you can feasibly defeat level 75 demon domain bosses at level 30 because HP totals are extremely low and stats don't feel like they matter as much as getting lucky with crits/misses/initiative. Sometimes I feel like I'm just sorta swept away by this game's random flow and that the outcome of numerous fights have been outside my hands as RNGesus takes the wheel. It's not always frustrating and it's not always unfun, but it's rarely satisfying. It's a marked decrease in quality compared to SMT5's.
And the issue with gameplay doesn't really stop at the way the battles function, either. Perhaps just as important as the fairly janky battles is the complete and utter lack of individuality of the demons here. I'm surprised at how generic demons function in battle. I was expecting SMT5 to feature a number of improvements just because it's the next game in the series and it's not unusual for games to tighten ideas up over time, but whereas SMT5's demons felt almost Pokemon-esque in their individuality as far as it pertained to things like which spells make sense on a given demon, their specializations, their stats, and the such, here demons feel like pretty blank slates where the biggest differences are simply which jpg is displayed. If you're anything like me, you'll pass down 95%+ of the same skills every time you fuse a demon in a mixture of generically strong skills you want to keep on your roster and skills you want to strengthen on your protagonist through the demon whisper mechanic. This has resulted in me really just keeping the same exact skills on demons as I fuse them on many occasions, and the only reason I'm actually fusing demons is to get a fresh one to level up a few times to initiate a new whisper and fill out the compendium a bit more. Demons don't specialize in anything. Stats are far more uniform: I've noticed 3-4 different stat "archetypes" in this game and as far as I can tell demons in the same archetype are almost exactly the same stats. Demon weaknesses often feel picked entirely at random.
Despite the pretty scathing account of the game's more combat-focused gameplay mechanics, I'm actually still somehow enjoying myself. The biggest similarity between this game and 5 is the fact that I've just zoned out and spent hours at a time completing as many sidequests as I can find and exploring every nook and cranny I see. I've completed almost every Challenge Quest available to me at this point (I'm level 46), and I enjoy completing them all as I go. This loop for me has been the game's saving grace. It certainly doesn't prop the game up to the heights of 5 for me, but it's at least made it something I don't regret pushing my way through, and it's enough that I may still consider going through Apocalypse at some point. I've heard, as far as gameplay mechanics go, Apocalypse is an improvement over 4. I'd also be interested in hearing how 3 compares to both 4 and 5 in some of the ways I've touched on if anybody has a chance to talk about it. I'm still interested in checking out more of the series even if 4 has dampened my excitement a little bit.
I do like that SMT4 has a far more fleshed out cast and setting, but the steep decline in quality in the gameplay has been a bit sad to see. This game honestly confuses me a bit as to the series' reputation for stellar combat and high difficulty: I've found it's failed to deliver either one. The game is actually quite easy. So long as you survive a boss's initial attacks, you'll set a few buffs up and the rest of the fight will be a cakewalk. Heck, the HP totals of some bosses is so low that I've legitimately killed bosses before they've even had the chance to attack. But the low difficult honestly isn't that disappointing for me. I appreciate a difficult game every now and then, but it's not something I seek out. The most disappointing thing about this game's combat is just how weirdly unbalanced it is, which was probably the truly surprising thing given the series' reputation. This game feels extraordinarily random. The difficulty of the game is easy, but that's not stopping the wrong coin flips on initiative and crits giving you the occasional random death to a random encounter 5 levels below you. On the opposite end, you can feasibly defeat level 75 demon domain bosses at level 30 because HP totals are extremely low and stats don't feel like they matter as much as getting lucky with crits/misses/initiative. Sometimes I feel like I'm just sorta swept away by this game's random flow and that the outcome of numerous fights have been outside my hands as RNGesus takes the wheel. It's not always frustrating and it's not always unfun, but it's rarely satisfying. It's a marked decrease in quality compared to SMT5's.
And the issue with gameplay doesn't really stop at the way the battles function, either. Perhaps just as important as the fairly janky battles is the complete and utter lack of individuality of the demons here. I'm surprised at how generic demons function in battle. I was expecting SMT5 to feature a number of improvements just because it's the next game in the series and it's not unusual for games to tighten ideas up over time, but whereas SMT5's demons felt almost Pokemon-esque in their individuality as far as it pertained to things like which spells make sense on a given demon, their specializations, their stats, and the such, here demons feel like pretty blank slates where the biggest differences are simply which jpg is displayed. If you're anything like me, you'll pass down 95%+ of the same skills every time you fuse a demon in a mixture of generically strong skills you want to keep on your roster and skills you want to strengthen on your protagonist through the demon whisper mechanic. This has resulted in me really just keeping the same exact skills on demons as I fuse them on many occasions, and the only reason I'm actually fusing demons is to get a fresh one to level up a few times to initiate a new whisper and fill out the compendium a bit more. Demons don't specialize in anything. Stats are far more uniform: I've noticed 3-4 different stat "archetypes" in this game and as far as I can tell demons in the same archetype are almost exactly the same stats. Demon weaknesses often feel picked entirely at random.
Despite the pretty scathing account of the game's more combat-focused gameplay mechanics, I'm actually still somehow enjoying myself. The biggest similarity between this game and 5 is the fact that I've just zoned out and spent hours at a time completing as many sidequests as I can find and exploring every nook and cranny I see. I've completed almost every Challenge Quest available to me at this point (I'm level 46), and I enjoy completing them all as I go. This loop for me has been the game's saving grace. It certainly doesn't prop the game up to the heights of 5 for me, but it's at least made it something I don't regret pushing my way through, and it's enough that I may still consider going through Apocalypse at some point. I've heard, as far as gameplay mechanics go, Apocalypse is an improvement over 4. I'd also be interested in hearing how 3 compares to both 4 and 5 in some of the ways I've touched on if anybody has a chance to talk about it. I'm still interested in checking out more of the series even if 4 has dampened my excitement a little bit.
OP
OP
Didn’t get to respond earlier beyond a Yeah as I got pulled away, but I wanted to say I enjoyed reading your big write up on SMT4. I never made it out of the first dungeon in that game since it didn’t click with me right away, but I’ve always been meaning to go back to it. Interesting to hear about the differences between 4 and 5 in particular since I still haven’t started the latter yet. After reading your impressions, I’m definitely planning to give 5 a shot first before I go back to 4.
I ended up getting invested in a New Game + run of Blue Reflection Second Light. I’m more than halfway through and having a great time, so it’s still going to be a while longer before I focus on my next RPG. Yet, I do have a lot of time tonight, so maybe I’ll start something new finally?
Leica
Paratroopa
- Pronouns
- he/him
Apocalypse is a massive improvement over 4 in terms of gameplay, not just combat either. The world map is better, navigating through levels is better, demons are less like blank slates and more like they're in V. SMT IVA edges out 5 for me in terms of gameplay but it's everything else that's kind of mediocre (if not outright bad), the vibe feels decidingly not SMT at times. If you enjoy the combat in these games enough to the point you can ignore everything else you should give it a shot, imo.
Last edited:
PixelKnight
Observing the process
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I agree entirely with this- mechanically SMTIVA is a great game and its a series where you spend a lot more time in combat than you do on the story. The party and everything around it’s dynamics sucks but I found that pretty easy to ignore when, unlike most JRPGs, those tedious hangers-on aren’t your battle party, the demons are.
lightning16
Bob-omb
Alright I hit a point in SMT4 tonight where I'm just going to stop doing side content and plow through to the end. I just sorta want the game to be over at this point, but I did happen to land on the Neutral path which is cool so I'll see it to the end. My enjoyment of this game peaked after the Kelpie bridge. The game opened up in a very satisfying way after that, and it was sorta fun beating bosses 10's of levels above my own, even if it was further showing the absolutely massive flaws in the combat in this game. But now I'm just sorta sick of the combat and navigation in this game and I can't even really enjoy exploring areas and doing side quests anymore.
Encouraging to hear Apocalypse is a lot better in this regard. I would very happily trade story quality for gameplay quality in this game (I don't really find the story in this game to be all that great anyway). Hearing you guys saying it's even better than SMT5's gameplay is pretty exciting.
Encouraging to hear Apocalypse is a lot better in this regard. I would very happily trade story quality for gameplay quality in this game (I don't really find the story in this game to be all that great anyway). Hearing you guys saying it's even better than SMT5's gameplay is pretty exciting.
That list is solid all around.Have a ton in my backlog, FFIX won the poll so that’s what I’m working on now(when I’m not working on SRWX) still pretty early on tho
Edit for anyone wondering this was the final poll results
If you never played Secret of Mana 1/2 I highly recommend that next. Also, I’m a huge Atelier fan and adored Ryza! Sequel is great also.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Played most of the second game on the SNES classic tho I’m not sure I ever got around to beating it, still haven’t played the first or third game tho. Yeah been curious about Atelier thanks to Fairy Tail of all things so when it was on sale for BF I decided to grab it. There’s more jrpgs (I started or incomplete and I started in my backlog but those were the ones I wanted to work on the most)
OP
OP
I voted Final Fantasy IX in your poll so glad to see it wonHave a ton in my backlog, FFIX won the poll so that’s what I’m working on now(when I’m not working on SRWX) still pretty early on tho
Edit for anyone wondering this was the final poll results
Hope you enjoy it!
OP
OP
I posted this in the visual novel thread last night, but I wanted to share here too because I think there is some crossover for Gnosia and RPG fans. If you haven’t heard about it, Gnosia is a single player Mafia/Among Us game with a cool sci-fi story. As you play, there’s 14 distinct characters you square off against and a growing number of roles to play/face off against. The crew ultimately wants to vote out the monsters/Gnosia, who pick off the crew one at a time at night. There are special roles such as the engineer who can identify one character as human/Gnosia between rounds and the Guardian Angel who can protect one person from attack each night. Anyway outside of RPG fans just loving cool stories and characters, an interesting thing here is you have stats that you level up that make you more effective at the Mafia/Among Us game and help unlock new actions/skills. Even games you lose you still get XP from so you are always pushing forward. It is much more a game than a visual novel if you are curious.
Anyway outside of that I did start Shin Megami Tensei V. I played the first hour or so, but wasn’t really feeling it, so I’m putting that down for now. I’ll probably be trying Tales of Arise next after I finish my New Game+ run of Blue Reflection Second Light that I haven’t been in a rush to finish. I’m in chapter 7 again and I’m starting to see new events more regularly I couldn’t access on my first playthrough which is exciting. I really want to finish my New Game+ run before 2021 is over, so I’m going to be focusing on it again heavily.
OP
OP
After 106 hours between my two playthroughs, I’m finally done with Blue Reflection Second Light! I really enjoyed my New Game+ playthrough as I finally got the difficulty balance options I wanted, I enjoyed seeing all of the character stories through (I only saw 2/9 in my first run), I claimed the Platinum Trophy, and tackled the island DLC map (neat big area to explore, meh story, no new enemies/items, but a neat boss fight mode as a reward). The true ending is only two altered cutscenes and I really don’t believe it was worth having a normal/true ending split, but on its terms it was nice to get very brief closure. Definitely one of my favorite games of the year and I do think hardcore JRPG fans should check out despite the lacking difficulty balance of the core playthrough being a core flaw. It’s Gust’s best game for sure regardless and I’m walking away fully satisfied.
pastry knife
Rattata
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Blue Reflection SL looks cool! Quick question though, is it a fanservice-y kinda game?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think you're suffering from recency bias due to having played a more modern version of the game. That's why I would generally recommend a newcomer to start with SMT3 instead of 5.
Most of the things you mentioned are changes in 5 specifically. The buffs and debuffs being permanent, the bosses having less HP, insta kills happeniong more frequently (with mudo and hama being solely about that) are the ways things have always been in the series. 5 is different but isn't necessarily better, it's just a different flow.
Personally, I'm a bit diappointed with the buffs being nerfed, they play a much smaller role in the game, and I actively dislike how much the bosses are damage sponges, they have way too much HP. While battles in 3 and 4 were a matter of figuring out how to break the boss and go to town from there, 5 is a matter of which will run out first, the boss' HP or your MP. They are looooong, and I'm getting used to it, but I prefer how it used to be.
I think you would benefit from taking some time away from SMT and going back to 4 later with a cleaner slate, aopproaching it as its own thing instead of a similar experience to 5 because 5 is a lot different.
lightning16
Bob-omb
Yeah the biggest difference between SMT4 and SMT5 is that boss battles are marathons in SMT5 and very very short in SMT4. I personally prefer the way SMT5 does it, because the boss fights in SMT4 tend to be over in 2-3 turns and feel extremely dependent on who had initiative and if the boss unfortunately crit you the first turn. I think I actually would have preferred permanent buffs in SMT5 because interestingly I think if anything it would make more sense in 5 compared to 4 (I don't think you'd notice 3 turn buffs in 4 99% of the time), but 5 was also entirely balanced around not having permanent buffs so I guess it's hard to say.
I will say I don't think my issues with SMT4's balancing are an issue of recency bias. I've played a large number of JRPGs over the years and it's my favorite genre and I have a pretty strong idea of what I like and don't like that I don't think it's so tethered to SMT5. I don't see a world in which I enjoy the chaotic randomness of SMT4 random encounters and the insanely swingy first turn of boss battles even if I had played this game before SMT5. I'm actually pretty happy I did play SMT5 first because I think it gave this game a much longer leash for me and I'm not convinced I would have completed it otherwise. I find the battles of SMT4 lack player agency a shockingly large amount of the time. That's not to say all or even most battles have this issue, but when the difference between getting destroyed by a boss and very easily coasting through a boss is just a matter of if the game gave me initiative or gave the boss initiative (and he crits me and kills half my party first turn!), then I just don't think it's very well designed at all. And this was disturbingly common with boss fights.
I will say that my previous post in this thread on SMT4 was a bit on the negative side and overall I think the game was pretty good. I'm definitely going to put some more time between this one and Apocalypse, but I'm also pretty hopeful I'll enjoy Apocalypse's gameplay quite a bit more. In terms of the Atlus games I've played, I'd definitely place the quality of SMT4's battles on the lower end next to Persona 3 and Persona 5 and not on the higher end with SMT5 and Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but SMT4 at least makes up for the shortcoming in a few ways that those games don't. I enjoyed doing the side content in particular, and I laughed when I saw that you needed to do a massive number of side quests to get the neutral ending and I had already pre-fulfilled the requirement and then I looked online and saw that this requirement was universally hated for being ridiculous lol.
OP
OP
There isn’t much fan service in Second Light. Gust thankfully got rid of more than 90% of the fan service from the first game which was a huge problem there. Second Light is the game the first one should have been.
There’s a very lengthy demo of the game on both Switch and PS4 that lets you play the full two hour prologue and a section from the middle of the game. It gives a very solid look about what you can expect from the game’s tone and focus.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So, uh, next to playing some Great Ace Attorney…
I’ve been putting in some time with FF VII Remake and I have to say, I’m really enjoying my time with this game. Its certainly the best big budget Square-Enix game I’ve played in years. And I’m one of those people who like XV, warts and all.
While I do know about the twist at the end, for now the game is super respectful to the source material. Characters behave as they should, the designs are impeccable and I really like how they expanded on Midgard. Cloud is still the dick we know, Barret is still very loud and theatrical, Tifa and Aerith are Great. One of my gripes with the game is that the dialog can be a bit stiff; it’s been almost thirty years and sometimes S-E still isn’t up to snuff in regards to localization. Some lines are odd, maybe a tradition?
Its great exploring Midgard again though.
I’ve been putting in some time with FF VII Remake and I have to say, I’m really enjoying my time with this game. Its certainly the best big budget Square-Enix game I’ve played in years. And I’m one of those people who like XV, warts and all.
While I do know about the twist at the end, for now the game is super respectful to the source material. Characters behave as they should, the designs are impeccable and I really like how they expanded on Midgard. Cloud is still the dick we know, Barret is still very loud and theatrical, Tifa and Aerith are Great. One of my gripes with the game is that the dialog can be a bit stiff; it’s been almost thirty years and sometimes S-E still isn’t up to snuff in regards to localization. Some lines are odd, maybe a tradition?
Its great exploring Midgard again though.
pastry knife
Rattata
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Thank you for the info! I tried the prologue today and it seems up my alley. Now I'm just debating physical vs. digital haha but I'll probably pick it up.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The characters (and the music) are the best thing about FF7R, IMO, they both work very well. The biggest issue for me was the combat, though; I feel like if I had just liked the combat then I would have really enjoyed the game, but sadly I did not. Something about it just never clicked with me, to the point that in nearly every fight I always had this nagging feeling that I was doing something wrong. By near the end of the game I was convinced that I really just wanted it to be either pure turn-based or pure action, and I stand by that. The weird middle ground it sits in just doesn't work for me.
But I did enjoy a lot of the character moments (other than the ending...) so I'm looking forward to Part 2, especially since all my favorite parts of FF7 happen after leaving Midgar. I always enjoyed it when it was more fantasy/magic/cool locations, and much less tech/city.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think the only time where I thought that the combat wasn’t the best is a fight I had yesterday, but that’s mostly because of the enemy design and attack pattern
Chapter 9 spoilers
I entered in the colosseum battle with Aerith and the final battle with Hell House… is just purely crap. Cloud is virtually unusable, so it eventually was a twenty minute battle where I healed, did minimal damage (apart from when I timed the elemental damage correctly) and it just being dumb.
The combat though in other fights was pretty fun. Fighting Reno and Rude were two very different fights, but enjoyable for different reasons.
The combat though in other fights was pretty fun. Fighting Reno and Rude were two very different fights, but enjoyable for different reasons.
The music is superb, I agree. Its so good.
OP
OP
That’s a bummer Hell House was one of my favorite fights in the game. I think if you didn’t walk in with the right equipment you can have a bad time like you did. I love the commentators going wild and seeing the house come back was awesome. IIRC I think you needed every element with you so you could make it vulnerable, but it’s been too long so I don’t remember.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Last night I started my first playthrough of Final Fantasy III (SNES). 7 1/2 hours in and I am enjoying it so far. My complaint is that the NPC's movements in towns can be really annoying though.
Side-note: This is easily the most I have used my SNES mini since I purchased it four years ago.
Side-note: This is easily the most I have used my SNES mini since I purchased it four years ago.
gtrwll
Rattata
Glad to see other "latecomers" to the Trails madness. I started with the series on spring 2020 with Cold Steel I and it was so perfect for the time, that slowly unveiling story. Hell, it even partially ruined Xenoblade Chronicles DE for me, since all I wanted was to get to the sequel, but didn't want to drop XCDE. After CSII I hopped to the Sky trilogy for the rest of 2020 (Sky SC being the best game in the series, that ending...), and then the unofficial Geofront localizations of the Crossbell duology and CSIII last year. I've still yet to play CSIV, but that's only because I don't want to rush it, since Reverie is still so far off.
They get a fair bit of criticism being so daunting for newcomers and for having the games so closely connected to each other that you pretty much have to play everything to understand it all, but I love how much it gives back to us who have played all the previous games. Fantastic series.
They get a fair bit of criticism being so daunting for newcomers and for having the games so closely connected to each other that you pretty much have to play everything to understand it all, but I love how much it gives back to us who have played all the previous games. Fantastic series.
Shingi_70
Rattata
I'm currently at the end of the Outer Worlds. I have about 4 main quests left so I just started the first of the two DLCs. Should be wrapping up the game by tomorrow.
On the other side I fell into the trap of playing too many rpgs at the same time as wanting too replay the Halo series.
I'm currently at the halfway point in Tales of Arise, Braverly Default 2, and Pokemon. So January will be mostly about finishing that stuff up
On the other side I fell into the trap of playing too many rpgs at the same time as wanting too replay the Halo series.
I'm currently at the halfway point in Tales of Arise, Braverly Default 2, and Pokemon. So January will be mostly about finishing that stuff up
- Pronouns
- he/him
Been in a mood to play DQ again so in the past few weeks I've played through IV (great) and V (fantastic, best in the series). I was debating whether I should complete my Zenithia trilogy replay for a bit... and then just started DQVI. Oh well.
Which Pokemon?
Also, more generally, this raises a question I've had to struggle with on RPGs more than any other genre. What do you all consider "finishing" a RPG. Rolling the credits is the clearest demarcation, but if I enjoy the game to any extent that's never where I stop. And as soon as it gets into the post-game, drawing the line between "done enough" and "one more thing needed" becomes increasingly hard.
Any rough, fast, loose tests or rules-of-thumb the thread has developed to help curb crippling completionitis in the kind of games where going for 100% often means the difference between 80 hours and 150+?
AngryNopon
Water?
I've been playing Scarlet Nexus lately and...it's okay.
It looks and sounds good and the combat is a lot fun (even if things can get really messy), but i don't really think it was worth it to split the main story between two characters. Pacing is all over the place and it all feels so...disjointed i guess? Characters just come, dump on you a bunch of plot, leave and then onwards to the next plot dump. A lot of "telling" and not a whole lot of "showing" in general, as the game still needs to inform about what happened in the other campaign.
I don't think the actual plot is that good tbh, but it could still have been somewhat enjoyable if only it was told in a better way.
It looks and sounds good and the combat is a lot fun (even if things can get really messy), but i don't really think it was worth it to split the main story between two characters. Pacing is all over the place and it all feels so...disjointed i guess? Characters just come, dump on you a bunch of plot, leave and then onwards to the next plot dump. A lot of "telling" and not a whole lot of "showing" in general, as the game still needs to inform about what happened in the other campaign.
I don't think the actual plot is that good tbh, but it could still have been somewhat enjoyable if only it was told in a better way.
Shingi_70
Rattata
Shining Pearl and for me rolling credits counts as beating an RPG.
OP
OP
I generally always go for thorough playthroughs. I never leave a treasure chest unopened and I do every quest that comes my way. Once I’ve decided to roll credits, that’s probably it for me.
The main rule of thumb I have for full 100% completion or not generally is does this sound like a huge pain in the neck / am I doing extensive grinding/replaying content or not to complete this and/or is there needle in a haystack searches. I hate grinding in RPGs and generally consider that a sign to be poor playing if you ever remotely feel that’s necessary outside of short kill quests.
It’s really a case by case basis, for example I adored Neo: The World Ends With you last year. I was really excited to take on all the super bosses and post game challenges because I was having so much fun with all the systems and combat, so I ended up doing a full New Game+ replay on Ultimate. I got all the secret reports and got to see all the true ending scenes. What I didn’t do was go beyond that and find/grind every pin. There’s no story reward there and there’s no challenge to overcome so I moved on.
Another example I guess would be Octopath Traveler which I played a few years ago. I think you roll credits after seeing four characters through, but there’s so much more beyond that! I of course saw all eight characters through, but there’s a big difficulty gap between the end of the main story content and the true ending. I’m sure the community found a good way to cross that bridge, but I felt satisfied and ended it there since I felt I got what I wanted from the game already.
So yeah I guess that’s another big thing, do I feel I got everything I wanted out of the game or not? Once I feel yes I did, I typically move on.
It counts!
Pokemon is an example of a game where I pick and choose what counts as completing the post-game for my own sake. Catching all legendaries? Yes. Completing the pokedex? Depends. Doing every side activity like battles and contests? Not at all.
I recognize myself in this. I'm willing to go to some length to wrap up a game I enjoyed. Even if it means playing for a few hours longer after I've actually stopped enjoying it. But my tolerance for it is exhausted way sooner than it is for proper platinum-chasing, achievement-hunting completionists.
Like, ideally, I'd want to finish every RPG with every party member at level 99. And I did that in Bravely Default because the game made it easy. Then I didn't in Octopath Traveler because the required time investment was beyond what I could stomach.
It's also influenced by external factors like:
1. Do I have another game waiting in the queue I'm itching to move onto?
2. Do I have a backlog of television shows, movies, podcasts or YouTube video to binge while playing?
3. Is the game on cartridge so I'll be too lazy to switch it back in once I start another on-cartridge game or is it digital so I may dip in for short play sessions here or there to cross small tasks off the check lists?
And, yeah, it's hugely case by case. In a game I play for the combat, I want to beat post-game combat challenges as part of beating the game. In a game I play for the story and characters, I may skip extra battles in favor of concentrating exclusively on optional story stuff.
Your point about Neo: TWEWY made me realize NG+ is really one of the best inventions to help me put a game down. Because I can always tell myself I'll come back eventually and start another playthrough and I'll finish up whatever busywork I didn't the first time around then. Instead of feeling like if I walk away now I'll never pick the game back up again, knowing I'll have forgotten how to play it and where I was by next year.
OP
OP
I just posted a thread asking what RPGs are everyone most excited about walking into 2022 for those interested!
famiboards.com
Also I think it's going to be a while for the official Fami GOTY thread to cover RPGs, so while I don't want to step on their toes by making a dedicated thread, I figured I'd ask here, what RPGs did you most enjoy in 2021?
Neo: The World Ends With You, Trails to Azure, Lost Judgment, Ys IX Monstrum Nox, Blue Reflection Second Light, and Nier Replicant all made my top ten favorite games in general this year.
What RPGs Are You Most Excited About Walking Into 2022?
RPGs are probably my favorite genre of video games and as one of the most active genres there is always tons of upcoming RPGs to look forward to. Famiboards has an awesome passion for RPGs and with the start of a new year, now seems like an excellent time to check in and see what everyone is...
famiboards.com
Also I think it's going to be a while for the official Fami GOTY thread to cover RPGs, so while I don't want to step on their toes by making a dedicated thread, I figured I'd ask here, what RPGs did you most enjoy in 2021?
Neo: The World Ends With You, Trails to Azure, Lost Judgment, Ys IX Monstrum Nox, Blue Reflection Second Light, and Nier Replicant all made my top ten favorite games in general this year.
Twilight
One & only #1 fan of Sparks of Hope and FFXVI
What I enjoyed the most was my replay of Atelier Ayesha.
Also replayed Ys Origin, still the peak of the series.
As far as new releases go, Deltarune Chapter 2, and Monster Hunter Rise, both excellent.
Also got into FFXIV, played through A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, and Stormblood, solid game, with a good amount of cool highs, have a good number of issues with it, but I remain engaged on it, which says something about it for me after 300 hours and counting.
Got KOTOR on Switch, haven't finished it yet, but is a pretty nice adventure, combat is not good, but all the little stories keep me going.
And I'll throw Tales of Arise under the bus, haven't finished it, but so far my impression of it is that is the worst Tales of since Graces, in different ways to that, Graces was just a constant annoyance, Arise I just feel sad while playing it.
I think that was it.
Also replayed Ys Origin, still the peak of the series.
As far as new releases go, Deltarune Chapter 2, and Monster Hunter Rise, both excellent.
Also got into FFXIV, played through A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, and Stormblood, solid game, with a good amount of cool highs, have a good number of issues with it, but I remain engaged on it, which says something about it for me after 300 hours and counting.
Got KOTOR on Switch, haven't finished it yet, but is a pretty nice adventure, combat is not good, but all the little stories keep me going.
And I'll throw Tales of Arise under the bus, haven't finished it, but so far my impression of it is that is the worst Tales of since Graces, in different ways to that, Graces was just a constant annoyance, Arise I just feel sad while playing it.
I think that was it.
OP
OP
Ys Origin is amazing! I've played that game multiple times and I'm kicking around another replay soon. It's tied with Ys VIII for my favorite game in the series. Hard to compare them since they are so different.
- Pronouns
- he / him
Probably Monster Hunter Stories 2 for me, or nier replicant if you count remakes. On paper 2021 should've been a dream year, since bravely default and twewy are among my favorites, but bravely default 2 and neo twewy both fell flat for me (neo twewy picked up a lot during the last arc).
PixelKnight
Observing the process
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Last year I played-
Bravely Default 2
Monster Hunter Stories 2
MH Rise (does this count?)
SMTV
Hmm. Hard to pick a favourite. I reckon I’d just about give it to MH Stories 2 but SMTV was excellent too, and I definitely enjoyed Bravely Default 2 as well. It was a really good year for me.
The only RPG I played that I wasn’t overly keen on was Ys IX, which pasted a lot of secondary systems and mechanics from Ys VIII onto a generic fantasy city full of boring NPCs with a lot to say that could have come straight out of Trails, and which mostly took place in generic grey dungeons. That was a 6/10 for me, the combat was still fun, and performance rarely bothers me at all, but I was just hoping it would finish soon by the end.
Bravely Default 2
Monster Hunter Stories 2
MH Rise (does this count?)
SMTV
Hmm. Hard to pick a favourite. I reckon I’d just about give it to MH Stories 2 but SMTV was excellent too, and I definitely enjoyed Bravely Default 2 as well. It was a really good year for me.
The only RPG I played that I wasn’t overly keen on was Ys IX, which pasted a lot of secondary systems and mechanics from Ys VIII onto a generic fantasy city full of boring NPCs with a lot to say that could have come straight out of Trails, and which mostly took place in generic grey dungeons. That was a 6/10 for me, the combat was still fun, and performance rarely bothers me at all, but I was just hoping it would finish soon by the end.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I completed Final Fantasy VII Remake tonight.
That was something alright. And honestly… I liked it a lot. Let me start with the things I didn’t like; the dialogue at times is still pretty eh, but functional. Its just feels a bit off and compared to the amazing presentation of the rest of the game it’s just rather strange. The game kind of dragged in the final hours too.
Now for things I like;
The games visuals are fantastic (even with the doors being ugly and textures popping up here and there), especially the character models are fantastic. Midgar is fantasticly detailed. Combat, while not super special is really functional. And the most important thing of all, they respected the original FF VII in a fantastic way.
Even if the story…
That was something alright. And honestly… I liked it a lot. Let me start with the things I didn’t like; the dialogue at times is still pretty eh, but functional. Its just feels a bit off and compared to the amazing presentation of the rest of the game it’s just rather strange. The game kind of dragged in the final hours too.
Now for things I like;
The games visuals are fantastic (even with the doors being ugly and textures popping up here and there), especially the character models are fantastic. Midgar is fantasticly detailed. Combat, while not super special is really functional. And the most important thing of all, they respected the original FF VII in a fantastic way.
Even if the story…
Goes into alternate reality territory. I do like the idea of playing FF VII-2 and not knowing what happens[/spoiler:”]
OP
OP
Probably my favorite thing about FF7R is how much respect it has for the original Final Fantasy VII while looking forward to the future. All the care they took bringing it to life makes me very excited to see what the second game will look like. Are you planning to play the Yuffie DLC?
OP
OP
I started Horizon Zero Dawn over again four days ago and I’m at a little over 42% completion. I barely played it much at launch since I dropped it hard once Zelda BOTW came out. I don’t think I ever even made it out of the tutorial area. Guess it worked out I waited, since Sony gave away the complete version free last year and that PS5 patch. With that patch, even five years old the game looks and runs very spectacularly.
I’ve been really avoiding the main quest, so I barely made it to the big town on the west side of the map. The Far Cry-like system for upgrading and trading is really weird, but I like that you can make a big trade you are working toward a side quest for you to track missing items. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.
I’ll share more impressions when I beat it, but my favorite thing so far has been clearing out the map (I cleared out the entire East Side already) and rushing into dangerous areas. Fighting hordes of robot dinosaurs is fun and while it took a while it feels like Aloy is getting more powerful through both leveling and getting new equipment which is cool.
I’ve been really avoiding the main quest, so I barely made it to the big town on the west side of the map. The Far Cry-like system for upgrading and trading is really weird, but I like that you can make a big trade you are working toward a side quest for you to track missing items. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.
I’ll share more impressions when I beat it, but my favorite thing so far has been clearing out the map (I cleared out the entire East Side already) and rushing into dangerous areas. Fighting hordes of robot dinosaurs is fun and while it took a while it feels like Aloy is getting more powerful through both leveling and getting new equipment which is cool.
Leica
Paratroopa
- Pronouns
- he/him
Glad to see some more positive posts about FF7R here, I really enjoyed my time with it despite the issues some have with the story (which is very understandable admittedly). FF7 was a pretty special game to me when I was much younger so I went in worried that some of those memories would get tainted but I ended up loving it overall. What impressed me most is main characters, their interactions with each other are really fun and it made me want more.
edamame
Koopa
I took advantage of the recent Atlus/Sega 3DS sale and picked up a few SMT games (IV, Devil Survivor: Overclocked and Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers) as well as 7th Dragon.
I started Soul Hackers and I already love the game's atmosphere. That late 90s imagining of a futuristic internet world is cool and nostalgic at the same time. Also, looking through modern, nerdy eyes it's amusing that there is a character named Masahiro Sakurai in the game! He totally could have put himself in Smash if he wanted, haha.
I started Soul Hackers and I already love the game's atmosphere. That late 90s imagining of a futuristic internet world is cool and nostalgic at the same time. Also, looking through modern, nerdy eyes it's amusing that there is a character named Masahiro Sakurai in the game! He totally could have put himself in Smash if he wanted, haha.
Apenheul
Rattata
2021 was a great year for RPGs for me. I played Bravely Default 2, Ryza 2, Neo: The World Ends With You, Ys Origin, Dragon Quest II, Dragon Quest Builders, Fairy Fencer F, FE Three Houses: Cindered Shadows, Tales of Arise, Super Robot Wars V, Super Robot Wars T, Shin Megami Tensei V and Pillars of Eternity.
My personal top 3 would be Pillars of Eternity, Shin Megami Tensei V and Ryza 2; in that order.
For my next game I'm considering trying a SaGa title for once, or maybe The Alliance Alive first.
My personal top 3 would be Pillars of Eternity, Shin Megami Tensei V and Ryza 2; in that order.
For my next game I'm considering trying a SaGa title for once, or maybe The Alliance Alive first.
- Pronouns
- he/him
I jumped back into Octopath Traveler over the holidays because I had been jonesing for some 16-bit JRPG goodness after the Dread and ACNH 2.0 tag-team pulled me away from Neo TWEWY.
Getting back into this game is like slipping back into a nice warm bath. I am absolutely loving how the game is just a big huge love letter to the games of yore. I remember all the hyperbole at launch with the comparisons to Final Fantasy VI and I think that approach is absolutely wrong and that's not a bad thing. If you come into this expecting something that's Final Fantasy, let alone VI, you're going to be in for a rough time. Because it's not just Final Fantasy. It's SaGa. It's Dragon Quest. It's SMT. It's Chrono Trigger. It's a bit of everything, and then adds its own ingredients into the mix. And I just love that.
When I came back to it I had 3 stories complete after about 70-75 hours of play. I finished off Tressa's (my main) a couple days ago and now working towards the 4th segments for the remaining four. I'm hoping I can maintain my focus and fully finish this one before Triangle Strategy lands in March.
It's not a perfect game to me, would probably give it as a strong B or B+, but as a foundation for a new series it's a hell of a strong start. I think if they can tighten up the narrative structure, make the path actions more interesting, tweak the job balance, adjust the trash mob stats a bit lower, in a sequel they'll have one of the all-time greats on their hands.
Getting back into this game is like slipping back into a nice warm bath. I am absolutely loving how the game is just a big huge love letter to the games of yore. I remember all the hyperbole at launch with the comparisons to Final Fantasy VI and I think that approach is absolutely wrong and that's not a bad thing. If you come into this expecting something that's Final Fantasy, let alone VI, you're going to be in for a rough time. Because it's not just Final Fantasy. It's SaGa. It's Dragon Quest. It's SMT. It's Chrono Trigger. It's a bit of everything, and then adds its own ingredients into the mix. And I just love that.
When I came back to it I had 3 stories complete after about 70-75 hours of play. I finished off Tressa's (my main) a couple days ago and now working towards the 4th segments for the remaining four. I'm hoping I can maintain my focus and fully finish this one before Triangle Strategy lands in March.
It's not a perfect game to me, would probably give it as a strong B or B+, but as a foundation for a new series it's a hell of a strong start. I think if they can tighten up the narrative structure, make the path actions more interesting, tweak the job balance, adjust the trash mob stats a bit lower, in a sequel they'll have one of the all-time greats on their hands.
