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StarTopic RPGs |ST| Our Home Base For All Role Playing Game Discussions!

I already posted this in the hard pics thread but I feel like the RPGfam needs to see it as well.
FUhQ_JLWYAAff2f

I wanna hang out with this guy so bad
Sakaguchi seems like such a cool guy to drink a beer with.

And I just want to thank the guy for Final Fantasy IX.
 
I've been playing Cold Steel 3, and honestly I've been having such a blast!

Only a long running series can make me feel this type of way.. seeing older characters making their reappearance, stuff like that is my weakness, I love it so much!!

And the world building in the game is so interesting too!
Very interested in seeing what will come out of all these different parties gathering in one place hehe.

Now that I'm over my urge to blast through the series as fast as I can, I'm definitely enjoying this game playing at a slower pace and appreciating all the details put into it!
 
I've been playing Cold Steel 3, and honestly I've been having such a blast!

Only a long running series can make me feel this type of way.. seeing older characters making their reappearance, stuff like that is my weakness, I love it so much!!

And the world building in the game is so interesting too!
Very interested in seeing what will come out of all these different parties gathering in one place hehe.

Now that I'm over my urge to blast through the series as fast as I can, I'm definitely enjoying this game playing at a slower pace and appreciating all the details put into it!
My favorite part of Cold Steel III is the never ending parade of reunions. Just so cool checking in with everyone and the big team ups are always so cool :)
 
I finished my Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door Replay today! It was awesome! My in game clock said I finished at 38 hours, but I had to let it idle quite a bit so I’m guessing closer to 35. TTYD was always my favorite Paper Mario game and it still holds that title. The story, setting and adventure are super rich compared to the other games because it takes place in a fully realized land that is very different in tone from normal Mario games. I forgot how tight it was too as the story offers great hints to how it will play out and even ties up a lot of loose ends through a character who offers oral history of the backstory. There’s even a cool, tragic backstory for those seemingly random black chests that curse you with paper powers if you look for it. The characters in the proper story are awesome and I loved saying one last goodbye and reflecting on the journey during and after the final battle.

I discussed it in my last post a bit and previously in my original Paper Mario posts, so I’ll just say briefly again I love the elegant battle system in this game. Adding the theater to it, giving partners health, and adding a perfect counter, really complete the battle system and makes it such a joy to play from beginning to end. There’s fun resource management and bosses keep you well on your toes. It hadn’t sunk in yet on my previous post, but I like the variety in star powers you get in this game and that they all require action commands / minigames to use. It’s yet another thing that keeps battles more exciting.

What I really want to mention in this post though are the things I enjoyed even more this time. While Vivian is still my favorite partner character off and on the battlefield, Goombella is now firmly my second favorite. I used Tattle not just in battle, but on every character I met this time which really brought her great personality forward and has some of the game’s best lines and jokes. While I previously fondly enjoyed Luigi’s tales of his off screen adventures in the Waffle Kingdom, this time I paid extra attention and collected all of the books. Just incredible, often hilarious stuff in there and I loved the transition of all his partner characters hating him initially to being fully won over. Other things I really appreciated more this time was Flavio (he’s hilarious!) and the post game where most of the characters in Rogueport at least have new dialogue.

I’m happy I did a very thorough playthrough and completed every side quest except the last one. You need to reach floor 50 of the Pit of 100 Trials to blow up some graffiti and I had planned to do it together with fighting Bonetail on Floor 100. Even though I had all of my best items ready to go, I had previously done 50 floors earlier to get the expanded item pouch, so when I reached the Pit I ended up deciding to call my playthrough there since replaying the first 50 floors would have been a slog. I didn’t want another Final Fantasy VI Dinosaur Forest moment for me this replay lol. Usually I don’t know what big game I’ll play next, but I’m 100% starting my Super Paper Mario Replay tomorrow! I only played that game once and I barely remember any of it except that I really enjoyed it at the time. Though it’s the least RPG game of the series, I’ll probably write at least a post here when I finish it as it will conclude my Paper Mario replays and I’m looking forward to comparing it to the games both before and after it. (It feels too soon for Color Splash and Origami King replays for me and I barely beat Sticker Star for the first time last year.)
 
My in game clock said I finished at 38 hours, but I had to let it idle quite a bit so I’m guessing closer to 35.
I love that on the Switch, going to the home screen will always pause the game you're playing. It makes it so much easier to get that coveted accurate in-game timer that I crave so much. Meanwhile, t's not a guarantee that PS4 games will pause if you go to the home screen, which is one of the first things I test when I play a new PS4 game. (I'm not sure about PS5 because I don't have one yet.)
 
Ok, since I don't have enough in my backlog, is Tales of Arise good for $20? I have never played a Tales game before.

I finished my Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door Replay today! It was awesome! My in game clock said I finished at 38 hours, but I had to let it idle quite a bit so I’m guessing closer to 35. TTYD was always my favorite Paper Mario game and it still holds that title. The story, setting and adventure are super rich compared to the other games because it takes place in a fully realized land that is very different in tone from normal Mario games. I forgot how tight it was too as the story offers great hints to how it will play out and even ties up a lot of loose ends through a character who offers oral history of the backstory. There’s even a cool, tragic backstory for those seemingly random black chests that curse you with paper powers if you look for it. The characters in the proper story are awesome and I loved saying one last goodbye and reflecting on the journey during and after the final battle.

I discussed it in my last post a bit and previously in my original Paper Mario posts, so I’ll just say briefly again I love the elegant battle system in this game. Adding the theater to it, giving partners health, and adding a perfect counter, really complete the battle system and makes it such a joy to play from beginning to end. There’s fun resource management and bosses keep you well on your toes. It hadn’t sunk in yet on my previous post, but I like the variety in star powers you get in this game and that they all require action commands / minigames to use. It’s yet another thing that keeps battles more exciting.

What I really want to mention in this post though are the things I enjoyed even more this time. While Vivian is still my favorite partner character off and on the battlefield, Goombella is now firmly my second favorite. I used Tattle not just in battle, but on every character I met this time which really brought her great personality forward and has some of the game’s best lines and jokes. While I previously fondly enjoyed Luigi’s tales of his off screen adventures in the Waffle Kingdom, this time I paid extra attention and collected all of the books. Just incredible, often hilarious stuff in there and I loved the transition of all his partner characters hating him initially to being fully won over. Other things I really appreciated more this time was Flavio (he’s hilarious!) and the post game where most of the characters in Rogueport at least have new dialogue.

I’m happy I did a very thorough playthrough and completed every side quest except the last one. You need to reach floor 50 of the Pit of 100 Trials to blow up some graffiti and I had planned to do it together with fighting Bonetail on Floor 100. Even though I had all of my best items ready to go, I had previously done 50 floors earlier to get the expanded item pouch, so when I reached the Pit I ended up deciding to call my playthrough there since replaying the first 50 floors would have been a slog. I didn’t want another Final Fantasy VI Dinosaur Forest moment for me this replay lol. Usually I don’t know what big game I’ll play next, but I’m 100% starting my Super Paper Mario Replay tomorrow! I only played that game once and I barely remember any of it except that I really enjoyed it at the time. Though it’s the least RPG game of the series, I’ll probably write at least a post here when I finish it as it will conclude my Paper Mario replays and I’m looking forward to comparing it to the games both before and after it. (It feels too soon for Color Splash and Origami King replays for me and I barely beat Sticker Star for the first time last year.)

I played through this game last year and enjoyed it. I probably leaned way too heavy into a guide, but I'm not apologizing. The back and forth banter was hilarious. I agree with what you said about the story. This is one of those "we need it on the Switch" games. I would gladly replay it and go for 100%.

I still have Super, Color Splash and Origami King in my backlog. I tried Sticker 3DS a few times but gave up.
 
Ok, since I don't have enough in my backlog, is Tales of Arise good for $20? I have never played a Tales game before.



I played through this game last year and enjoyed it. I probably leaned way too heavy into a guide, but I'm not apologizing. This is one of those "we need it on the Switch" games. I still have Super, Color Splash and Origami King in my backlog. I tried Sticker 3DS a few times but gave up.
I have some issues with Tales of Arise but $20 is a really good deal, I'd recommend it for that price honestly.
 
0
I love that on the Switch, going to the home screen will always pause the game you're playing.
Yesssss yesyesyes

Drives me crazy on my Xbone that pressing the home button doesn't freeze anything, just brings up a transparent menu over the top and whatever game or video you had going just keeps going, except now without any control.

Last night I was in the middle of a pivotal cutscene in Nier with no way to pause, something came up IRL and I instinctively hit the home button (which would pause the cutscene on Switch) but my Xbone just kept the scene going under the menu. So I went totally out to another app hoping that would stop it, but then when I came back to the game it turned out going out to another app had cancelled the cutscene and I had to go back and pick that shit up on YouTube.

It's so dumb.
 
Ok, since I don't have enough in my backlog, is Tales of Arise good for $20? I have never played a Tales game before.
It's okay for $20 if you're set on trying that one first, but from what I've played of it so far I would recommend checking out some of the rest of the series first, Arise is one of the weaker entries (especially writing-wise). It doesn't really show off the strengths of the series but it highlights a lot of its weaknesses.

If you're looking on PS4/PS5, Tales of Berseria is one of the better entries and it's easy to find for cheap. Tales of Vesperia has excellent characters but is a mixed bag in terms of story and gameplay. On other consoles (or PC), Tales of the Abyss is generally regarded as the best entry, and Tales of Symphonia is also among the favorites (but not its sequel).

Yesssss yesyesyes

Drives me crazy on my Xbone that pressing the home button doesn't freeze anything, just brings up a transparent menu over the top and whatever game or video you had going just keeps going, except now without any control.

Last night I was in the middle of a pivotal cutscene in Nier with no way to pause, something came up IRL and I instinctively hit the home button (which would pause the cutscene on Switch) but my Xbone just kept the scene going under the menu. So I went totally out to another app hoping that would stop it, but then when I came back to the game it turned out going out to another app had cancelled the cutscene and I had to go back and pick that shit up on YouTube.

It's so dumb.
Yeah for real... It's the new version of "does the start button pause or skip the cutscene" Russian roulette. Thank you switch 🙏
 
Lately I've been playing Berwick Saga and I wanted to talk about it, but I wrote a ton and I've decided to put all of it behind a spoiler so that people on their phones don't have to scroll for ages to get passed it. Google Docs tells me it's at 2,611 but that's before editing, so it might end up shorter or longer.

Between July 24, 2021 and August 4, 2021, I played Shin Megami Tensei III. It was a good time, but back then I wasn't sure if I was going to play more games in the series. I had a backlog of other games to play, and looking at a list of all the MegaTen games out there was intimidating. However, I finished my backlog later in the year and had to go on the hunt for a new one. At that time, Shin Megami Tensei V was on sale during the holidays, so I picked it up but didn't immediately get to it. Some time went by, and I eventually made the decision that as a part of my new backlog, I would play every mainline MegaTen game before playing SMT V. I started my journey with back on December 14, 2021, and in April of this year, I had played all the mainline MegaTen games except for SMT V. There was nothing standing between me and my copy of SMT V that sits on the shelf mocking me every day.

So anyway, I haven't played it yet, but I have been playing TearRing Saga Series: Berwick Saga: Lazberia Chronicle Chapter 174 (referred to as Berwick Saga), and it's wonderful!

A little background first, and I'll be repeating myself from a previous post. Shouzou Kaga came up with the idea for Fire Emblem, was a designer for the first game, and directed the second through fifth games. After that, he left Intelligent Systems and created TearRing Saga: Yutona Eiyuu Senki (referred to as TearRing Saga). Nintendo sued over TearRing Saga, and while I'm thankful Nintendo lost that lawsuit as it could have created a scary precedent, I don't blame them for trying. Having beaten the game, it's straight up just a Fire Emblem game. In fact, if you make it a goal for yourself to play every Fire Emblem game, I would insist that you include TearRing Saga because it is a Fire Emblem in everything but name, though its name was originally meant to be Emblem Saga before the lawsuit. Also, it's a great game and worthy of being played even without its connections to Fire Emblem.

The next game Kaga made was Berwick Saga for the PS2, and while TearRing Saga was a great game, Berwick Saga is a masterpiece. I am about halfway through and I just want to rave about it.

While TearRing Saga was the true sixth Fire Emblem game, Berwick Saga is a game clearly inspired by Fire Emblem, but very much its own thing. It also does a few things well before Fire Emblem would do them, but I'll get to that later. The biggest difference is how turn order works. Instead of having a player phase and an enemy phase, you take turns moving your units. For example, at the start of the turn I can move any one of my units that I want, and then the enemy will move any one of their units, and then I move any unit that I haven't moved yet, and that repeats until every unit on both sides has moved and then a new turn begins with all units refreshed and able to move again. The exact turn order depends on army size, meaning if my army is twice as large as the enemy army then I get to move two units for every one unit the enemy gets to move, and vice-versa if the enemy army is bigger, though I will always have the first move on any turn. This took me a while to get used to because it completely changes the flow of the game compared to Fire Emblem, but I am now in love with it. You are never safe and movement order becomes a major decision.

That change alone would make Berwick Saga massively different from Fire Emblem because it changes a core part of Fire Emblem identity. Something wonderful about Fire Emblem is that you can look at the map and all the stats and, with a relatively high degree of certainty, know exactly how your turn will go and how safe you're going to be on enemy phase afterwards. For that reason, I think the enemy aggro lines in Three Houses are a natural extension of this core part of Fire Emblem. On the other hand, Berwick Saga gets rid of a lot of that certainty. You don't know which enemy is going to move and when, so you spend a lot of time thinking about the worst case scenario and planning around that, instead of thinking about your glorious and victorious strategy and if the enemy even has a response to it, like in Fire Emblem. So while I love the Berwick Saga way of doing things, I would not want Fire Emblem to adopt it because it would be too different from what I believe Fire Emblem is.

Another difference that you will notice immediately just by Googling the game is that the maps use hexagons for tiles instead of squares. This changes everything and the game is built around it. Hit rates kind of suck in Berwick Saga, which I believe is to mitigate how easy it would be for both your own units and the enemy units to get grouped up on on a hexagonal grid. Also, a round of combat typically ends immediately when either unit takes damage, or just when the round and over and neither unit has taken damage. There are roughly a million exceptions to this, but I don't want to explain them and let's pretend the exceptions don't exist for now. The point is, I believe that is also due to the hexagonal grid because when you or the enemy can be surrounded on six sides, it would be rather unpleasant to be doubled by multiple enemies. This also makes it safer for the aggressor because, if you hit, you do not have to worry about taking counter damage and being in a weakened state now that you're in enemy range. Without the low hit rates and the changes to combat, Berwick Saga would be an overly defensive game unless they got rid of the hexagonal grid. (Yes, there are other ways to prevent the game from being overly defensive, but this is the way Berwick Saga went with and it works. And it allows for the strategies I'm going to talk about in the next paragraph, which are a lot of fun.)

This puts a premium on units that can consistently deal damage. For example, a foot-locked axe unit is one of the best units in Berwick Saga because he has a skill called Desperation. When he uses this skill, his hit rate is dramatically increased, usually to 100% or very close to it, but the enemy is guaranteed to counter (unless they're dead, of course), the enemy's hit rate will be 100%, and your defense when taking that counter attack will be 0. So there's a risk to it, but if an enemy is weak or weakened, it's a good way to reliably kill. There are plenty of other skills that help get kills or increase hit rates, like the main lord increasing the hit rate of units near him by 10%, but you get the idea.

I haven't even discussed the main flow of the game yet. There are 15 chapters in Berwick Saga, but don't think of chapters as the same thing as maps. A chapter starts with a main mission that is like the more complex Fire Emblem maps, and they're wonderful. Before going on these missions, you will be able to go through the city where your home base is. In this city, you will buy items, receive side quests (people asking you to accomplish certain objectives during the main mission, which is great because it gives you more to think about and often causes you to divide your army a bit to get everything), craft items, buy and manage horses for mounted units, feed your army, view little events, get bounty rewards, hire mercenaries, and more. That hiring mercenaries thing is important, but I'll get to it later.

After you finish your preparations, you go on your mission and it's great but also kind of difficult. Berwick Saga is a tough game, and to compensate you are able to save every five turns. This isn't a special save either; you can save in any save slot and load it at your pleasure. And you probably will load a save many times throughout the game if you are trying to do all of the side quests and keep everyone alive and all the usual stuff. I know that sounds bad, but due to the way turn order works, one different move can create a chain reaction. This makes it so that loading a save still keeps the game engaging because you're not just going through the same steps to get back to where you were and try again, you are going to face new challenges and feel really good overcoming them.

I'm going to mention this here because I'm not sure where else to put it, but units only get experience if they land the killing blow on an enemy, or if they use healing magic. Again, that's something that sounds bad, and for a while I thought it was and would heavily favor certain units, but I'm halfway through the game and my army is leveling up just fine and/or dandy, so it somehow worked out. Though the level cap is 30 in this game and not 40. Also, the units in this game usually promote by reaching a certain level and having certain skill benchmarks. For example, one character promotes if he is at least level 10 and his spear rank is at least 30 and his small shield rank is at least 20. After the mission where they reach their promotion requirement, there will be a story event in the city where they get promoted.

After the main mission is over, you return to the city and you can immediately go to the next chapter and next the main mission, but you're not going to do that! You need to go turn in the side quests and get the coveted side missions! Almost every chapter has 2 side missions that you can do after each main mission, and along with 4 of what I'll call gaiden missions, that gives Berwick Saga 41 missions in its 15 chapters. These side missions are usually smaller and simpler than the main missions, but I've noticed that several of them have difficult side objectives you can attempt for item drops and materials and the like. Interestingly, the main lord and his advisor cannot go on these side missions, and the story reason given is that they need to stay in the city to be on call for any important missions from the king. Don't worry, both the lord and the advisor remain viable throughout the game.

I mentioned the mercenaries earlier, and I'll talk about them more now. Berwick Saga gives you several units for your army in typical Fire Emblem fashion. However, most of the units you get will be in the form of mercenaries. Each chapter you can hire any mercenary that you want, and they will stay with you for the entire chapter (and their fee is cut in half if you wait until after the main mission is over to hire them for side missions). That can be a big drain on your money if you are hiring everyone in every chapter, but you are able to permanently recruit every mercenary. Each one has their own requirement, like having them reach a certain level, get a certain number of kills, completing certain map objectives, and more. A common part of recruiting mercenaries is getting their happiness to a certain point. This is a, sadly, invisible stat that you raise by hiring mercenaries, taking them on missions, feeding them, and other ways. Once all the requirements are met, the mercenary will permanently join your army after a story event or a gaiden mission.

Okay, I've talked a lot about Berwick Saga, but you don't care about that. Let's talk about the latest hotness (until the new game is announced), Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Early on in this novel of a message, I noted that Berwick Saga does some stuff that Fire Emblem would later do as well, and what I meant is that there are several similarities to Three Houses. I'm going to go over 6 of them right now, but I'm sure there are others if I thought about it more.

1. You might have been thinking this while I was talking about it, but obviously the city is a lot like the monastery. People often say that the monastery is like the castles in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, but I push back against that a bit. While there are certainly similarities, I feel like they are used to accomplish different purposes and are integrated into the gameplay in different enough ways. The castles more of a centralized point for services usually scattered about Fire Emblem maps and serve a gameplay purpose during battle, while the monastery is designed to be totally separate from the maps. The monastery is where you live, get side quests, bond with your units, start auxiliary battles and gaiden chapters, recruit characters from other houses, and view supports. Yes, the castles and monastery have a lot of similarities, but I feel like they're two steps removed from each other, and the step between them is the city in Berwick Saga. The city is where you get side quests, bond with your units, start side and gaiden missions, recruit mercenaries, and view optional story events that are the closest thing the game has to supports. And the city and monastery simply feel integrated into the game in a much more similar way than the castles and monastery.

2. As already mentioned, you can eat with your units in Berwick Saga. This gives units temporary stat boosts, each unit has likes and dislikes, and it increases a unit's happiness. Sounds a lot like the dining hall in Three Houses.

3. Again previously mentioned, you promote in Berwick Saga by reaching a certain level and having certain skill benchmarks. Very similar to class changing in Three Houses, though you don't have any teaching sessions to help raise ranks in Berwick Saga.

4. The mercenaries are a lot like recruiting students from other houses in Three Houses. You can hire mercenaries temporarily for missions, just like getting an adjutant in Three Houses, and you can permanently recruit mercenaries by getting them to like you and doing some other things as well.

5. Both games have side quests, though the side quests in Berwick Saga are usually something like getting a certain item during the mission and bringing it back to the quest giver in the city, but it's similar enough that I'm going to mention it. The closet thing to side quests in Fire Emblem games before Berwick Saga was making it to a town before a bandit got there.

6. The chapter system in these games are similar. Berwick Saga and Three Houses have fewer chapters than your average Fire Emblem game, but that's misleading. Both games have a structure of each chapter having a main mission with smaller missions that you do before (Three Houses) or after (Berwick Saga) the main mission.

I am not trying to make any point by pointing out these similarities, I just think they're interesting.

In conclusion, Berwick Saga is great, I love it, I love talking about it, and everyone should play it. Thank you for making it this far, and remember to call your parents every now and then. #TeamJanuary
 
Yesssss yesyesyes

Drives me crazy on my Xbone that pressing the home button doesn't freeze anything, just brings up a transparent menu over the top and whatever game or video you had going just keeps going, except now without any control.

Last night I was in the middle of a pivotal cutscene in Nier with no way to pause, something came up IRL and I instinctively hit the home button (which would pause the cutscene on Switch) but my Xbone just kept the scene going under the menu. So I went totally out to another app hoping that would stop it, but then when I came back to the game it turned out going out to another app had cancelled the cutscene and I had to go back and pick that shit up on YouTube.

It's so dumb.
It's okay for $20 if you're set on trying that one first, but from what I've played of it so far I would recommend checking out some of the rest of the series first, Arise is one of the weaker entries (especially writing-wise). It doesn't really show off the strengths of the series but it highlights a lot of its weaknesses.

If you're looking on PS4/PS5, Tales of Berseria is one of the better entries and it's easy to find for cheap. Tales of Vesperia has excellent characters but is a mixed bag in terms of story and gameplay. On other consoles (or PC), Tales of the Abyss is generally regarded as the best entry, and Tales of Symphonia is also among the favorites (but not its sequel).


Yeah for real... It's the new version of "does the start button pause or skip the cutscene" Russian roulette. Thank you switch 🙏
I agree so heavily with both of you. The first time I found out that going to the home screen on PS4 doesn't guarantee pausing the game is when I was playing Resident Evil 4, which I embarrassingly had never played before playing it on the PS4. Thankfully, there is no shortage of videos of the cutscenes on YouTube. However, there is also no shortage of times where I would have loved to pause a cutscene and couldn't on the PS4.

And in regards to "does the start button pause or skip the cutscene," I do three things whenever I start a game. I turn subtitles on, I turn motion blur off, and I Google what the start button does during cutscenes.
 
On that note, my friend and I are probably gonna drop Tales of Arise around halfway through. The issues with the combat design are making certain encounters (especially bosses) extremely frustrating on normal, but dropping it to an easier difficulty just makes it boring instead. And the reward for persevering against those fights... is more bad writing, so there's really just no incentive to not just drop it at this point.

Combat-wise, some of the ideas in the new system are fun, and a lot of the animations are really nice. The three main issues we're running into are bosses requiring interrupts significantly more often than their cooldowns allow, party member AI being so bad it's actively detrimental, and the limitations of the new CP system. The first is kind of self-explanatory - most bosses have an attack that requires you to interrupt/mitigate it with a specific boost, but sometimes they use those attacks every 5-10s when the boosts are on ~20-30s cooldowns, so you're guaranteed to eat a lot of unavoidable damage. The party members are constantly standing in easily-avoidable AoEs and taking a ton of damage, and just frequently dying in ways you have no control over. And both of those things play into the biggest issue with the CP system, which is that you have very limited amounts of healing without resorting to consumables, and that healing is constantly being used up by unavoidable damage from the first two issues. It's just a really frustrating mix,

Writing-wise... I wanted to like it and I wanted to meet it halfway, but the obsession with badly-written fantasy racism and the frankly offensive takes on slavery are real real bad. And there isn't much variation because every story beat (for the first half, at least) laser-focuses on the topic, and the vast majority of skits bring it up as well even when it seems like the skit is going to be about something else for once. And unfortunately that means the characters get very little fleshing out and it's hard to care about them when they feel more like stand-ins for Fantasy Racism Opinions than anything tangible. Shout-out especially to the only dark-skinned character being a slave owner, very classy guys (/s). The writing quality is also just not great in general, and the English version at least has a staggering amount of typos and spelling/grammar mistakes.

So yeah, with all that... we're just not motivated to keep at it, and we're going to cut our losses instead of getting more annoyed. Not sure what game we'll play together next, we've got a lot of RPGs on our backlog, but probably something multiplayer?
 
I love that on the Switch, going to the home screen will always pause the game you're playing. It makes it so much easier to get that coveted accurate in-game timer that I crave so much. Meanwhile, t's not a guarantee that PS4 games will pause if you go to the home screen, which is one of the first things I test when I play a new PS4 game. (I'm not sure about PS5 because I don't have one yet.)
It’s very rare, but there are a few Switch games that don’t pause! It’s usually one of the first things I check. I love having accurate clocks too! In general the feature is super nice. Usually I test games during an early cutscene to know if it truly paused or not. It’s generally safer hitting home than hitting pause which might skip the cutscene instead lol.
Ok, since I don't have enough in my backlog, is Tales of Arise good for $20? I have never played a Tales game before.



I played through this game last year and enjoyed it. I probably leaned way too heavy into a guide, but I'm not apologizing. The back and forth banter was hilarious. I agree with what you said about the story. This is one of those "we need it on the Switch" games. I would gladly replay it and go for 100%.

I still have Super, Color Splash and Origami King in my backlog. I tried Sticker 3DS a few times but gave up.
I didn’t need or use it much this time, but I had my old Nintendo Power strategy guide right by my side for this playthrough! Definitely cut down on potential tedium in a few spots :) 100% this game should be on Switch (with Super and Color Splash!), a lot of Gamecube games could fit right it on Switch with a quick up-rez, but TTYD still looks fantastic today thanks to its timeless art style.

I love Super, Color Splash, and Origami King, so yeah you are in for a treat when you get to them. I was ruggedly determined to finish Sticker Star last year and I found while the first half is generally awful (I got stuck in Wiggler’s Forest on two prior attempts), the back half is genuinely the game it wants to be and is fun. You’ll have to decide yourself if that’s worth putting up with lol.
 
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Neat! Been really glad they’ve been pushing forward with the series. I hope one day they make an Ys V remake since it’s the only one not really available anymore, but I vastly prefer they just keep making all new games. VIII and IX were awesome!
Ys V was really high on a recent official pool of games fans wanted to be remade, I expect them to make a remake with the new engine at one point soonish (by Falcom standards)
 
Neat! Been really glad they’ve been pushing forward with the series. I hope one day they make an Ys V remake since it’s the only one not really available anymore, but I vastly prefer they just keep making all new games. VIII and IX were awesome!
Absolutely. Also, Trails needs a break. Hajimari, Kuro and Kuro 2 three years in a row is a bit much. Falcom should give Ys and other IPs a chance too.
 
Absolutely. Also, Trails needs a break. Hajimari, Kuro and Kuro 2 three years in a row is a bit much. Falcom should give Ys and other IPs a chance too.
Ys X will probably be that, they tend to use Ys as a release in Trails break years , at least they did with Ys VIII and Ys IX
 
Ys X news coming on June 23rd from a Famitsu interview with Kondo.



https://noisypixel.net/ys-x-info-arriving-late-june-2022/

That's cool! Although it seems like Ys 9 just happened, at least in my mind. I hope Ys 10 goes back to having more location variety than 9 did. Maybe something like a world more similar to 8, but with the movement abilities from 9? Looking forward to seeing more about it, no matter what.
 
Ys X will probably be that, they tend to use Ys as a release in Trails break years , at least they did with Ys VIII and Ys IX
It is. But personally, Falcom should only release 2 Trails games back-to-back max. Ys and another IP are a welcome change.
That's cool! Although it seems like Ys 9 just happened, at least in my mind. I hope Ys 10 goes back to having more location variety than 9 did. Maybe something like a world more similar to 8, but with the movement abilities from 9? Looking forward to seeing more about it, no matter what.
Keep in mind that Ys IX was already released in September 2019 in Japan and in February 2021 on PS4 in the West and in July 2021 on Switch. Expect a gap of at least one year for Ys X.
 
Seem like we might get Trails To Azure release date news on Friday. NISA made a similar tweet for the Zero release date news. Very exciting since I thought the order would be Zero > Nayuta > Azure > Reverie. But it looks like Azure will be second.

 
It is. But personally, Falcom should only release 2 Trails games back-to-back max. Ys and another IP are a welcome change.
I agree . They said they wanted to bring back a lot of their old IPs so they seem like they also want to have a more diverse lineup, we can only hope they deliver. I also remember Zwei 2 being at the top of the remake pool they made so I hope we get a remake in 2-3 years.
Seem like we might get Trails To Azure release date news on Friday. NISA made a similar tweet for the Zero release date news. Very exciting since I thought the order would be Zero > Nayuta > Azure > Reverie. But it looks like Azure will be second.


I thought it was already confirmed the order was Zero>Azure>Nayuta>Reverie? Maybe I missread it though
 
I bought a giant Dragon Quest mouse pad. I have no room for it, no use for it, and, most importantly, no regrets over buying it. 😍
IMG_4394.jpg
 
Looks super dope, I want to get it myself now lol.
For you or anyone else interested, there are several Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest options. Here's a link to the Square Enix store, but you should also be able to find them on Amazon, where I got mine.

Edit: And here's a slightly better view of the size, with a laptop and mouse for scale. Should I have used a keyboard for scale as intended with this thing? Yes, but I thought of that after taking the picture.

IMG_4399.jpg
 
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For you or anyone else interested, there are several Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest options. Here's a link to the Square Enix store, but you should also be able to find them on Amazon, where I got mine.

Edit: And here's a slightly better view of the size, with a laptop and mouse for scale. Should I have used a keyboard for scale as intended with this thing? Yes, but I thought of that after taking the picture.

IMG_4399.jpg
Ok I need one now
 
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Azure limited editions.




100% getting the Azure Switch Limited Edition and I think I’ll get the puzzle this time. I loved doing CS4’s, but skipped Zero’s. Wish the picture was more exciting, but it has most of the characters on it.
 
I agree . They said they wanted to bring back a lot of their old IPs so they seem like they also want to have a more diverse lineup, we can only hope they deliver. I also remember Zwei 2 being at the top of the remake pool they made so I hope we get a remake in 2-3 years.

I thought it was already confirmed the order was Zero>Azure>Nayuta>Reverie? Maybe I missread it though

nayuta is last
 
I’m playing Elden Ring on ps5. It’s fun, but I’m surprised how similar it is to Demon’s Souls that I beat half a year ago. Just bigger, not as good looking and running worse? Still a great game though.
 
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Didn’t have time to write a post yesterday, but I wrapped up my Super Paper Mario replay! I’m a little less high on it than I used to be mainly because the controls are little less tight than I remembered and the flow is a little off in certain spots, but overall I still had a blast playing through the game. It’s a very fun game that mixes it up a lot between levels and scenarios and the big story moments still hit well today. I had forgotten large chunks of the game (world 5 almost completely lol) so it was fun getting to revisit it. At times it just feels like Mario with a health bar, but when it leans into the more RPG/Adventure angle it still feels special. Collecting the characters (Luigi is the MVP), the Pixls that grant new abilities, and leveling up all feels good. Items feel like an afterthought, but I do think it’s neat seeing some of the Paper Mario items in particular in a different context. Flipping between 2D and 3D feels interesting for both puzzles and combat even if the view isn’t often spectacular in 3D. There aren’t a ton of side quests in the game, but unlocking the full town is interesting as you unlock more abilities. I did do the Piccolo side quest, played all four arcade games, and cleared the Flipside Pit of 100 trials to unlock Dashell (who is excellent). I had a lot of fun with the Pit of 100 Trials because it is fast paced and immediate unlike TTYD’s, but I didn’t bother with the harder Pit of 100 Trials.

Even though the game is over 15 years old, I’m not sure how widely played or remembered this game is (you can still download it on Wii U for the next 8 months or so). Since I’d like to discuss some of my favorite story elements in a little more detail, I’ll throw it behind a spoiler tag here:

This game has some wild stuff in it like when Mario is forced into paying off a massive loan in ostensibly a prison camp with manual labor which I had completely forgotten about. Mimi who runs it, has this wildly dark animation too where her neck snaps and twists around before sprouting spider legs lol. I can see why the Mario council had to be formed at the time, but I miss this feeling of never knowing what a Mario adventure will bring. I wonder in light of Mario Strikers Battle League being so shockingly violent (I did not think they’d bring back the electric fences or make tackles more intense), if the infamous council isn’t as strict anymore.

My favorite part of the game though is still the transition from World 6 to World 7. First you have the giant Samurai tournament interrupted by the world being sucked into the black hole which is very gnarly and then Dimentio straight up violently murders Luigi and then Mario, Bowser, and Peach! We never get anything this crazy these days lol. I love the Underwhere too as a spin on the Underworld. There’s a fun bit of build up to it too as characters from the start of the game talk about when your games are over, so it isn’t out of nowhere. I totally forgot Luvbi was the final Pure Heart. So her giving up her existence was relatively shocking.

I do love the very end of the game with Count Bleck’s redemption and his reunion with Timpani. There isn’t a ton of text that leads up to it, but what’s there is effective enough to make the big climax work. Cool final shot at the end of the credits too.

So yeah, I do think this game is definitely far more in the spirit of the first two games than the three that come after when the Toads consume everything. SPM trades in much of its obvious RPG mechanics and instead turns a normal Mario game into more of an RPG. Outside of the mostly blah villagers, it still has so many fun, original characters to meet (especially the villain group, Tippi, and Luvbi) and perhaps has the most over the top scenarios of all the games with strong writing that really brings it altogether. I wish we got more games like Super Paper Mario.

I wrote a lot here, so I’ll just say quick it might be a few more days until I pick my next RPG, but I’m hoping to get something going before Ai NirvanA Initiative comes out. If I stick with wrapping up my Wii U Virtual Console games to fully retire the console, ten of my nineteen remaining games are RPGs, so I have a lot to choose from.
 
Hello, I have never written in this thread before (I think at least)
I'm a huge JRPG fan (expecially turn based or strategic JRPGs) and I was trying to decide what new game should I play next, since tomorrow I'll have my last exam before the summer.
Any recommendation? In the spoilers I'll put what I have already played (to understand my taste lol) and what I have in the backlog, but I accept also recommendation of games that aren't in it.

  • Persona 3-4-5 (Masterpiece, I love them.)
  • Persona Q-Q2 (Liked them but not a lot, probably a lot of the enjoyment was for the cast and not for the gameplay itself)
  • Devil Survivor 2 (I liked it maybe as much as P5, not as much as P3 and P4 but they are really near)
  • Bravely Series (Best turn based gameplay imho, please if you know of games with a job system like this one I'm sold)
  • Fire Emblem Fates-Echoes-TH (Fates meh, Echoes is one of my fav games and TH is my fav switch game atm)
  • Tales of Arise - Xillia (the only action JRPG that I loved lmao, I always give up at some point, I managed to finish this two and I love them)
  • Trails in the Sky FC-SC (my beloved, I'll surely play the 3rd before Zero comes out)
  • Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light (the artstyle was so cute and I liked the gameplay and the story a lot)
  • Ys Chronicles 1-2 (I liked this two, probably because they are really Zelda-like)
  • Triangle Strategy (I played only one route so far but I liked it a lot, I still prefer FE gameplay tho)
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (I'm on chapter 3 rn, the gameplay is fun and I like the dungeons. The story isn't great but it's enjoyable)
  • Final Fantasy 13 (dropped, I can't stand this game)
  • Dragon Quest 7-11 (dropped, this series is good but the artstyle is really not my thing at all)
  • Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (dropped, way too easy and the story was boring. I'm also a huge Digimon (anime) fan but this game is definitely not for me)
  • Octopath Traveler (dropped because I can't stand the fact that these are completely unrelated stories. Also I wanted more interactions...)
Probably there are others that I don't remember... in that case I'll add them later

  • Tales of Symphonia
  • Tales of Hearts R
  • Tales of Graces f
  • Tales of Xillia 2
  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Tales of the Abyss (yeah I know, a lot of Tales of. I bought a bundle lol)
  • Devil Summoner: Souls Hackers
  • Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2
  • Fire Emblem Awakening
  • Persona 1
  • Devil Surviver Overclocked
  • Etrian Odyssey 5
  • Digital Devil Saga 1
  • Radiant Historia
  • Trails in the Sky the 3rd (I'll play this one for sure during summer)
  • The Alliance Alive
  • Disgaea PC
  • Ys Origin

EDIT: I forgot. Platforms: PC, Switch, 3ds, DS, PSVita, GBA, PS3, PS4.
 
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Hello, I have never written in this thread before (I think at least)
I'm a huge JRPG fan (expecially turn based or strategic JRPGs) and I was trying to decide what new game should I play next, since tomorrow I'll have my last exam before the summer.
Any recommendation? In the spoilers I'll put what I have already played (to understand my taste lol) and what I have in the backlog, but I accept also recommendation of games that aren't in it.

  • Persona 3-4-5 (Masterpiece, I love them.)
  • Persona Q-Q2 (Liked them but not a lot, probably a lot of the enjoyment was for the cast and not for the gameplay itself)
  • Devil Survivor 2 (I liked it maybe as much as P5, not as much as P3 and P4 but they are really near)
  • Bravely Series (Best turn based gameplay imho, please if you know of games with a job system like this one I'm sold)
  • Fire Emblem Fates-Echoes-TH (Fates meh, Echoes is one of my fav games and TH is my fav switch game atm)
  • Tales of Arise - Xillia (the only action JRPG that I loved lmao, I always give up at some point, I managed to finish this two and I love them)
  • Trails in the Sky FC-SC (my beloved, I'll surely play the 3rd before Zero comes out)
  • Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light (the artstyle was so cute and I liked the gameplay and the story a lot)
  • Ys Chronicles 1-2 (I liked this two, probably because they are really Zelda-like)
  • Triangle Strategy (I played only one route so far but I liked it a lot, I still prefer FE gameplay tho)
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (I'm on chapter 3 rn, the gameplay is fun and I like the dungeons. The story isn't great but it's enjoyable)
  • Final Fantasy 13 (dropped, I can't stand this game)
  • Dragon Quest 7-11 (dropped, this series is good but the artstyle is really not my thing at all)
  • Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (dropped, way too easy and the story was boring. I'm also a huge Digimon (anime) fan but this game is definitely not for me)
  • Octopath Traveler (dropped because I can't stand the fact that these are completely unrelated stories. Also I wanted more interactions...)
Probably there are others that I don't remember... in that case I'll add them later

  • Tales of Symphonia
  • Tales of Hearts R
  • Tales of Graces f
  • Tales of Xillia 2
  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Tales of the Abyss (yeah I know, a lot of Tales of. I bought a bundle lol)
  • Devil Summoner: Souls Hackers
  • Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2
  • Fire Emblem Awakening
  • Persona 1
  • Devil Surviver Overclocked
  • Etrian Odyssey 5
  • Digital Devil Saga 1
  • Radiant Historia
  • Trails in the Sky the 3rd (I'll play this one for sure during summer)
  • The Alliance Alive
  • Disgaea PC
  • Ys Origin
My recommendation would be Ys VIII. It’s an action game, but it’s not very difficult, and the ‘castaway on a deserted island’ theme is very fitting for a summer break.
 
Hello, I have never written in this thread before (I think at least)
I'm a huge JRPG fan (expecially turn based or strategic JRPGs) and I was trying to decide what new game should I play next, since tomorrow I'll have my last exam before the summer.
Any recommendation? In the spoilers I'll put what I have already played (to understand my taste lol) and what I have in the backlog, but I accept also recommendation of games that aren't in it.

  • Persona 3-4-5 (Masterpiece, I love them.)
  • Persona Q-Q2 (Liked them but not a lot, probably a lot of the enjoyment was for the cast and not for the gameplay itself)
  • Devil Survivor 2 (I liked it maybe as much as P5, not as much as P3 and P4 but they are really near)
  • Bravely Series (Best turn based gameplay imho, please if you know of games with a job system like this one I'm sold)
  • Fire Emblem Fates-Echoes-TH (Fates meh, Echoes is one of my fav games and TH is my fav switch game atm)
  • Tales of Arise - Xillia (the only action JRPG that I loved lmao, I always give up at some point, I managed to finish this two and I love them)
  • Trails in the Sky FC-SC (my beloved, I'll surely play the 3rd before Zero comes out)
  • Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light (the artstyle was so cute and I liked the gameplay and the story a lot)
  • Ys Chronicles 1-2 (I liked this two, probably because they are really Zelda-like)
  • Triangle Strategy (I played only one route so far but I liked it a lot, I still prefer FE gameplay tho)
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (I'm on chapter 3 rn, the gameplay is fun and I like the dungeons. The story isn't great but it's enjoyable)
  • Final Fantasy 13 (dropped, I can't stand this game)
  • Dragon Quest 7-11 (dropped, this series is good but the artstyle is really not my thing at all)
  • Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (dropped, way too easy and the story was boring. I'm also a huge Digimon (anime) fan but this game is definitely not for me)
  • Octopath Traveler (dropped because I can't stand the fact that these are completely unrelated stories. Also I wanted more interactions...)
Probably there are others that I don't remember... in that case I'll add them later

  • Tales of Symphonia
  • Tales of Hearts R
  • Tales of Graces f
  • Tales of Xillia 2
  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Tales of the Abyss (yeah I know, a lot of Tales of. I bought a bundle lol)
  • Devil Summoner: Souls Hackers
  • Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2
  • Fire Emblem Awakening
  • Persona 1
  • Devil Surviver Overclocked
  • Etrian Odyssey 5
  • Digital Devil Saga 1
  • Radiant Historia
  • Trails in the Sky the 3rd (I'll play this one for sure during summer)
  • The Alliance Alive
  • Disgaea PC
  • Ys Origin

EDIT: I forgot. Platforms: PC, Switch, 3ds, DS, PSVita, GBA, PS3, PS4.

From the ones that I have played

Fire Emblem Awakening is much better than Fates. From what I remember it is better than Echoes but there might be some rose tinted glasses with that statement. Awakening is still my favorite game in the series (and my first ironically)

Ys Origin- The only game in the series that I have played, but it is a lot of fun. Shorter experience (~10 hours). The bosses were a little difficult, but once you figure out their pattern it isn't bad. Just remember to save and don't blow two hours like I did.

Xenoblade 1/2- I prefer 1 over 2. Go with that one!
 
Xenoblade Chronicles or Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Both have great stories, fun characters and amazing worlds to explore. It doesn't really matter which one is played first IMO.
 
Hello, I have never written in this thread before (I think at least)
I'm a huge JRPG fan (expecially turn based or strategic JRPGs) and I was trying to decide what new game should I play next, since tomorrow I'll have my last exam before the summer.
Any recommendation? In the spoilers I'll put what I have already played (to understand my taste lol) and what I have in the backlog, but I accept also recommendation of games that aren't in it.

  • Persona 3-4-5 (Masterpiece, I love them.)
  • Persona Q-Q2 (Liked them but not a lot, probably a lot of the enjoyment was for the cast and not for the gameplay itself)
  • Devil Survivor 2 (I liked it maybe as much as P5, not as much as P3 and P4 but they are really near)
  • Bravely Series (Best turn based gameplay imho, please if you know of games with a job system like this one I'm sold)
  • Fire Emblem Fates-Echoes-TH (Fates meh, Echoes is one of my fav games and TH is my fav switch game atm)
  • Tales of Arise - Xillia (the only action JRPG that I loved lmao, I always give up at some point, I managed to finish this two and I love them)
  • Trails in the Sky FC-SC (my beloved, I'll surely play the 3rd before Zero comes out)
  • Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light (the artstyle was so cute and I liked the gameplay and the story a lot)
  • Ys Chronicles 1-2 (I liked this two, probably because they are really Zelda-like)
  • Triangle Strategy (I played only one route so far but I liked it a lot, I still prefer FE gameplay tho)
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (I'm on chapter 3 rn, the gameplay is fun and I like the dungeons. The story isn't great but it's enjoyable)
  • Final Fantasy 13 (dropped, I can't stand this game)
  • Dragon Quest 7-11 (dropped, this series is good but the artstyle is really not my thing at all)
  • Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (dropped, way too easy and the story was boring. I'm also a huge Digimon (anime) fan but this game is definitely not for me)
  • Octopath Traveler (dropped because I can't stand the fact that these are completely unrelated stories. Also I wanted more interactions...)
Probably there are others that I don't remember... in that case I'll add them later

  • Tales of Symphonia
  • Tales of Hearts R
  • Tales of Graces f
  • Tales of Xillia 2
  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Tales of the Abyss (yeah I know, a lot of Tales of. I bought a bundle lol)
  • Devil Summoner: Souls Hackers
  • Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2
  • Fire Emblem Awakening
  • Persona 1
  • Devil Surviver Overclocked
  • Etrian Odyssey 5
  • Digital Devil Saga 1
  • Radiant Historia
  • Trails in the Sky the 3rd (I'll play this one for sure during summer)
  • The Alliance Alive
  • Disgaea PC
  • Ys Origin

EDIT: I forgot. Platforms: PC, Switch, 3ds, DS, PSVita, GBA, PS3, PS4.
Caligula Effect 2 is a must, especially if you love (or even hate, for others out there) Persona and would like to see a different take on its themes and storytelling.
 
Hello, I have never written in this thread before (I think at least)
I'm a huge JRPG fan (expecially turn based or strategic JRPGs) and I was trying to decide what new game should I play next, since tomorrow I'll have my last exam before the summer.
Any recommendation? In the spoilers I'll put what I have already played (to understand my taste lol) and what I have in the backlog, but I accept also recommendation of games that aren't in it.

  • Persona 3-4-5 (Masterpiece, I love them.)
  • Persona Q-Q2 (Liked them but not a lot, probably a lot of the enjoyment was for the cast and not for the gameplay itself)
  • Devil Survivor 2 (I liked it maybe as much as P5, not as much as P3 and P4 but they are really near)
  • Bravely Series (Best turn based gameplay imho, please if you know of games with a job system like this one I'm sold)
  • Fire Emblem Fates-Echoes-TH (Fates meh, Echoes is one of my fav games and TH is my fav switch game atm)
  • Tales of Arise - Xillia (the only action JRPG that I loved lmao, I always give up at some point, I managed to finish this two and I love them)
  • Trails in the Sky FC-SC (my beloved, I'll surely play the 3rd before Zero comes out)
  • Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light (the artstyle was so cute and I liked the gameplay and the story a lot)
  • Ys Chronicles 1-2 (I liked this two, probably because they are really Zelda-like)
  • Triangle Strategy (I played only one route so far but I liked it a lot, I still prefer FE gameplay tho)
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (I'm on chapter 3 rn, the gameplay is fun and I like the dungeons. The story isn't great but it's enjoyable)
  • Final Fantasy 13 (dropped, I can't stand this game)
  • Dragon Quest 7-11 (dropped, this series is good but the artstyle is really not my thing at all)
  • Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (dropped, way too easy and the story was boring. I'm also a huge Digimon (anime) fan but this game is definitely not for me)
  • Octopath Traveler (dropped because I can't stand the fact that these are completely unrelated stories. Also I wanted more interactions...)
Probably there are others that I don't remember... in that case I'll add them later

  • Tales of Symphonia
  • Tales of Hearts R
  • Tales of Graces f
  • Tales of Xillia 2
  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Tales of the Abyss (yeah I know, a lot of Tales of. I bought a bundle lol)
  • Devil Summoner: Souls Hackers
  • Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2
  • Fire Emblem Awakening
  • Persona 1
  • Devil Surviver Overclocked
  • Etrian Odyssey 5
  • Digital Devil Saga 1
  • Radiant Historia
  • Trails in the Sky the 3rd (I'll play this one for sure during summer)
  • The Alliance Alive
  • Disgaea PC
  • Ys Origin

EDIT: I forgot. Platforms: PC, Switch, 3ds, DS, PSVita, GBA, PS3, PS4.

Tales of Symphonia, Xillia 2, Abyss, and I'll add Vesperia, can't go wrong with either, they are the best modern entries in the series.

Ys Origin is peak Ys.
 
I'm at that point where I have so many options for what I could play next that I kind of don't want to start any RPG just to avoid thinking about it haha.
Hello, I have never written in this thread before (I think at least)
I'm a huge JRPG fan (expecially turn based or strategic JRPGs) and I was trying to decide what new game should I play next, since tomorrow I'll have my last exam before the summer.
Any recommendation? In the spoilers I'll put what I have already played (to understand my taste lol) and what I have in the backlog, but I accept also recommendation of games that aren't in it.

  • Persona 3-4-5 (Masterpiece, I love them.)
  • Persona Q-Q2 (Liked them but not a lot, probably a lot of the enjoyment was for the cast and not for the gameplay itself)
  • Devil Survivor 2 (I liked it maybe as much as P5, not as much as P3 and P4 but they are really near)
  • Bravely Series (Best turn based gameplay imho, please if you know of games with a job system like this one I'm sold)
  • Fire Emblem Fates-Echoes-TH (Fates meh, Echoes is one of my fav games and TH is my fav switch game atm)
  • Tales of Arise - Xillia (the only action JRPG that I loved lmao, I always give up at some point, I managed to finish this two and I love them)
  • Trails in the Sky FC-SC (my beloved, I'll surely play the 3rd before Zero comes out)
  • Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light (the artstyle was so cute and I liked the gameplay and the story a lot)
  • Ys Chronicles 1-2 (I liked this two, probably because they are really Zelda-like)
  • Triangle Strategy (I played only one route so far but I liked it a lot, I still prefer FE gameplay tho)
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (I'm on chapter 3 rn, the gameplay is fun and I like the dungeons. The story isn't great but it's enjoyable)
  • Final Fantasy 13 (dropped, I can't stand this game)
  • Dragon Quest 7-11 (dropped, this series is good but the artstyle is really not my thing at all)
  • Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (dropped, way too easy and the story was boring. I'm also a huge Digimon (anime) fan but this game is definitely not for me)
  • Octopath Traveler (dropped because I can't stand the fact that these are completely unrelated stories. Also I wanted more interactions...)
Probably there are others that I don't remember... in that case I'll add them later

  • Tales of Symphonia
  • Tales of Hearts R
  • Tales of Graces f
  • Tales of Xillia 2
  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Tales of the Abyss (yeah I know, a lot of Tales of. I bought a bundle lol)
  • Devil Summoner: Souls Hackers
  • Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2
  • Fire Emblem Awakening
  • Persona 1
  • Devil Surviver Overclocked
  • Etrian Odyssey 5
  • Digital Devil Saga 1
  • Radiant Historia
  • Trails in the Sky the 3rd (I'll play this one for sure during summer)
  • The Alliance Alive
  • Disgaea PC
  • Ys Origin

EDIT: I forgot. Platforms: PC, Switch, 3ds, DS, PSVita, GBA, PS3, PS4.
Radiant Historia and the Xenoblade games are some of my favorite JRPGs of all time, so one of those is what I would recommend.
 
Didn’t have time to write a post yesterday, but I wrapped up my Super Paper Mario replay! I’m a little less high on it than I used to be mainly because the controls are little less tight than I remembered and the flow is a little off in certain spots, but overall I still had a blast playing through the game. It’s a very fun game that mixes it up a lot between levels and scenarios and the big story moments still hit well today. I had forgotten large chunks of the game (world 5 almost completely lol) so it was fun getting to revisit it. At times it just feels like Mario with a health bar, but when it leans into the more RPG/Adventure angle it still feels special. Collecting the characters (Luigi is the MVP), the Pixls that grant new abilities, and leveling up all feels good. Items feel like an afterthought, but I do think it’s neat seeing some of the Paper Mario items in particular in a different context. Flipping between 2D and 3D feels interesting for both puzzles and combat even if the view isn’t often spectacular in 3D. There aren’t a ton of side quests in the game, but unlocking the full town is interesting as you unlock more abilities. I did do the Piccolo side quest, played all four arcade games, and cleared the Flipside Pit of 100 trials to unlock Dashell (who is excellent). I had a lot of fun with the Pit of 100 Trials because it is fast paced and immediate unlike TTYD’s, but I didn’t bother with the harder Pit of 100 Trials.

Even though the game is over 15 years old, I’m not sure how widely played or remembered this game is (you can still download it on Wii U for the next 8 months or so). Since I’d like to discuss some of my favorite story elements in a little more detail, I’ll throw it behind a spoiler tag here:

This game has some wild stuff in it like when Mario is forced into paying off a massive loan in ostensibly a prison camp with manual labor which I had completely forgotten about. Mimi who runs it, has this wildly dark animation too where her neck snaps and twists around before sprouting spider legs lol. I can see why the Mario council had to be formed at the time, but I miss this feeling of never knowing what a Mario adventure will bring. I wonder in light of Mario Strikers Battle League being so shockingly violent (I did not think they’d bring back the electric fences or make tackles more intense), if the infamous council isn’t as strict anymore.

My favorite part of the game though is still the transition from World 6 to World 7. First you have the giant Samurai tournament interrupted by the world being sucked into the black hole which is very gnarly and then Dimentio straight up violently murders Luigi and then Mario, Bowser, and Peach! We never get anything this crazy these days lol. I love the Underwhere too as a spin on the Underworld. There’s a fun bit of build up to it too as characters from the start of the game talk about when your games are over, so it isn’t out of nowhere. I totally forgot Luvbi was the final Pure Heart. So her giving up her existence was relatively shocking.

I do love the very end of the game with Count Bleck’s redemption and his reunion with Timpani. There isn’t a ton of text that leads up to it, but what’s there is effective enough to make the big climax work. Cool final shot at the end of the credits too.

So yeah, I do think this game is definitely far more in the spirit of the first two games than the three that come after when the Toads consume everything. SPM trades in much of its obvious RPG mechanics and instead turns a normal Mario game into more of an RPG. Outside of the mostly blah villagers, it still has so many fun, original characters to meet (especially the villain group, Tippi, and Luvbi) and perhaps has the most over the top scenarios of all the games with strong writing that really brings it altogether. I wish we got more games like Super Paper Mario.

I wrote a lot here, so I’ll just say quick it might be a few more days until I pick my next RPG, but I’m hoping to get something going before Ai NirvanA Initiative comes out. If I stick with wrapping up my Wii U Virtual Console games to fully retire the console, ten of my nineteen remaining games are RPGs, so I have a lot to choose from.

SPM is a real monkey paw game for me. As much as I loved the first two Paper Marios and their enemy-based partners, I wanted another Mario RPG with party members pulled from the usual Mario Kart/Party/Sports line up, which I got here with Peach, Bowser and Luigi joining the playable line up, but of course it had to come with a wildly divergent style of gameplay.
 
Hello, I have never written in this thread before (I think at least)
I'm a huge JRPG fan (expecially turn based or strategic JRPGs) and I was trying to decide what new game should I play next, since tomorrow I'll have my last exam before the summer.
Any recommendation? In the spoilers I'll put what I have already played (to understand my taste lol) and what I have in the backlog, but I accept also recommendation of games that aren't in it.

  • Persona 3-4-5 (Masterpiece, I love them.)
  • Persona Q-Q2 (Liked them but not a lot, probably a lot of the enjoyment was for the cast and not for the gameplay itself)
  • Devil Survivor 2 (I liked it maybe as much as P5, not as much as P3 and P4 but they are really near)
  • Bravely Series (Best turn based gameplay imho, please if you know of games with a job system like this one I'm sold)
  • Fire Emblem Fates-Echoes-TH (Fates meh, Echoes is one of my fav games and TH is my fav switch game atm)
  • Tales of Arise - Xillia (the only action JRPG that I loved lmao, I always give up at some point, I managed to finish this two and I love them)
  • Trails in the Sky FC-SC (my beloved, I'll surely play the 3rd before Zero comes out)
  • Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light (the artstyle was so cute and I liked the gameplay and the story a lot)
  • Ys Chronicles 1-2 (I liked this two, probably because they are really Zelda-like)
  • Triangle Strategy (I played only one route so far but I liked it a lot, I still prefer FE gameplay tho)
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (I'm on chapter 3 rn, the gameplay is fun and I like the dungeons. The story isn't great but it's enjoyable)
  • Final Fantasy 13 (dropped, I can't stand this game)
  • Dragon Quest 7-11 (dropped, this series is good but the artstyle is really not my thing at all)
  • Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (dropped, way too easy and the story was boring. I'm also a huge Digimon (anime) fan but this game is definitely not for me)
  • Octopath Traveler (dropped because I can't stand the fact that these are completely unrelated stories. Also I wanted more interactions...)
Probably there are others that I don't remember... in that case I'll add them later

  • Tales of Symphonia
  • Tales of Hearts R
  • Tales of Graces f
  • Tales of Xillia 2
  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Tales of the Abyss (yeah I know, a lot of Tales of. I bought a bundle lol)
  • Devil Summoner: Souls Hackers
  • Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2
  • Fire Emblem Awakening
  • Persona 1
  • Devil Surviver Overclocked
  • Etrian Odyssey 5
  • Digital Devil Saga 1
  • Radiant Historia
  • Trails in the Sky the 3rd (I'll play this one for sure during summer)
  • The Alliance Alive
  • Disgaea PC
  • Ys Origin

EDIT: I forgot. Platforms: PC, Switch, 3ds, DS, PSVita, GBA, PS3, PS4.
Of the ones in your backlog, and off your notes about those you've played:
  • Definitely recommend The Alliance Alive if you're looking for something in a similar vein to Bravely Default - it doesn't have the same job system, but it has a similar degree of versatility in team building and some similar aesthetic decisions.
  • If you want to hop into more Tales, my two biggest recommendations out of your backlog are Symphonia and Abyss - Abyss is overall considered the strongest game in the series but it can be a little rough to go back to Symphonia after it given that Abyss has some QoL Symphonia didn't have yet. But they're both fantastic. Zestiria I enjoyed a lot but it's a bit more divisive. Graces has combat most people like but it's one of the weaker entries writing-wise.
 
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Awesome day for RPG fans with both Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Remake Part 2/3) and Dragon’s Dogma 2 getting announced. I made a thread below for Rebirth or just hang here :)

 


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