Topic: General JRPG Thread

@VoidofLight So would I still be able to start the free trial if I wanted? Or am I going to have to wait? 😅 I was thinking about starting it since winter break is finally here.

God, I can’t imagine how janky those sequels must be, if the first one is the most simple of them.

@Vortexeo I'd wait. They put restrictions on those who have the free trial, where they can only play on the hours that not many others are playing. Basically normal work/school hours or really late at night. They did it so that people who paid for the game can easier get into it.

@Pizzamorg 1 and X have some really good combat, it's just that 2 overcomplicates the combat, and adjusts things that never needed to be adjusted.. like forcing you to stand in place in order to use auto-attacks.

@VoidofLight Healing and TP management were annoying enough in X that I actually stopped playing. Felt like I was constantly left without the resources to keep myself alive.

XC2 is definitely on the complicated side, but, IMO, it has the best combat system is the series once you understand how to manipulate it. XC1 feels shallow in comparison.

@Pizzamorg I would describe XC2 as less janky, actually, if only because actions are mapped to button presses in that game. No more awkwardly navigating a command bar. But it's a LOT to take in, and the game explains itself very poorly. I could see someone like yourself finding it to be overwhelming mid-game.

@Ralizah Eh, maybe it's because I never figured it out, but I just hated the fact that you had to stand in place constantly, and could only get new weapons through the Gacha. The blade Combos made no sense either, and they poorly explained the orbs. I never once used a pouch item in game, since I never knew what it was meant for, unlike Gems which were really easy to get my head around.

Torna feels better, since it's faster pace, and the blades actually have a genuine role in combat other than just standing there, providing power to the driver.

As for X, I didn't get too far into it, but the stuff I did get to felt more like an expansion upon the original game's combat, so I have a feeling I'd probably like it a bit more than I would with Xenoblade 2's stuff.

I know it isn’t a popular opinion, but the combat just isn’t for me. Give me either a turn based game, a CRPG style game or an action game, don’t give me some weird blend in between that has all of the weaknesses and none of the bonuses.

I don't mind Xenoblade, since it's combat is effectively like playing a singleplayer MMO. Ni No Kuni, on the other hand, just felt frustrating from the bit I played of it. Didn't help that the game itself didn't really click with me in the first few hours. I wasn't really invested or big on the story of the first game, and I read it doesn't get any better down the line either, so I shelved it for another game I wanted to play, and haven't touched it since. I own Ni No Kuni 2, and heard it was different from the first, but I also heard that it was bad, so I'm unsure if I want to play that either.

I am quite enjoying NNK’s story so far, it just feels really really slow. Just reams and reams of text and tiny smidgens of mostly repetitive gameplay in between. Not sure why this wasn’t just a movie, really.

@VoidofLight Torna's a little simple, but I also enjoyed the combat in that a lot.

The pouch items are just design bloat, IMO. No need to worry about them for basic gameplay. Although you'll want to use them when filling out the affinity charts for your blades, as some of them are reliant on pouch items.

So, when you initiate a blade combo, you notice how there's a flowcharts on the upper... right hand of the screen? That shows what elemental specials you need to use in the combo to trigger specific combo finishers, which will seal specific abilities the enemy has available to them for a period of time. It will also create an orb corresponding to the element of the finisher. Once you create multiple orbs and you build up your chain attack gauge, you can use abilities those orbs are weak to in order to pop them and inflict massive damage, and also continue the chain.

Blade combos can also be used in conjunction with driver combo timers to inflict fusion combos.

It's complicated, but not unfair, like, IMO, much of XCX is, at least early in the game. Although I might return to that someday and give it another chance.

The only Level 5 JRPG I really enjoy is Yokai Watch honestly. I tried some of their others, like Fantasy Life and Ni No Kuni, and they just don't really mesh with me as much. Fantasy Life is good in terms of Gameplay, but the story is extremely disappointing, and then Ni No Kuni's battle system is so rough feeling, that I just rather not play it.

Yokai Watch 4 does a Ni No Kuni-like battle system way better, allowing control between the human character and the yokai, but not forcing you to control both at the same time, or make an attempt to do so.

The only Level 5 series I really wish I could experience is Layton, since I heard those games were great, but I can't get ahold of them, due to a lot of them being on an ancient system by now, and I heard you have to play them in a certain order as well, given they're apparently all connected with an over-arching plot.. so I can't just start with the 3Ds ones.

@Ralizah Ah.. I see. I just wish they explained that in game before I beat it, since the tutorials barely explain how these systems truly work in 2.

This could describe like half of the genre tbh.

@kkslider5552000 More than half honestly. It's just the way of JRPGs. They usually start out very slow and boring in the first hour or so, but end up getting better and better as the game goes on, both gameplay-wise and story-wise.

It's a rare modern RPG, Japanese or Western, that isn't tough to get into on account of bombarding new players with a massive amount of complex and poorly explained systems while simultaneously having a story that's slow to get going.

Some get better, some don't. Or maybe some players just get Stockholm Syndrome?

@kkslider5552000 Not untrue, but it's also true that one can only really see the appeal of some of games after playing deeply into them because of some quirk of how they're designed/paced/etc.

@VoidofLight The first three Layton games are on mobile, and are fairly good conversions. Probably the best way to play those games unless you really just can't abide mobile games.

DS copies also aren't outrageous on sites like Ebay. If you have a 3DS, you can play them that way as well.

@Pizzamorg I mostly agree about mixing battle systems, but some games do it well. FF7R's fusion of real-time and menu-based combat is superb, for example, and ends up feeling superior to the system in the original PS1 game.

You're right that NnK just mixes the worst aspects of both approaches, though.

@Ralizah Ah, got it. I'll check for some used copies then! Also, yeah, there are some games that really get the hybrid approach, and then others that try and go for it, and fall flat. Xenoblade was always weird to me, given that it feels like a Singleplayer MMO, but playing through other MMO's, I honestly can't say I hate or even dislike Xenoblade's systems, aside from the stuff in 2.. which was probably just due to poorly explained tutorials. Ni No Kuni is probably one of the only JRPGs I just can't get into combat-wise. I know that there's Digimon Cyber Sleuth, but I can't get into that because of the digivolution mechanics moreso than the battles themselves.

@Matt_Barber I like to think of JRPG's as books. Most stories start relatively slow, laying groundwork, then get better later down the line, building off said ground work. Final Fantasy XIV is one prime example of a RPG that doesn't get good for a while. In XIV, the base game is relatively basic, and sets everything up pretty much, but other than that it's something that feels like a slog to get through. Then you have Heavensward, which people say is really good, but to me feels way better than the base game, yet isn't entirely the best writing I've ever seen in gaming, like some people claim it to be. Each expansion with XIV gets better and better from what I've heard, starting off the busywork that laid the foundation out in the first game.

So I got my second familiar in NNK and yeah… I was wrong. This battle system SUCKS. Even with the pause, there is just simply too much to focus on here already, I am trying to understand what all the abilities do and what order I am supposed to be doing things in and trying to remember who to rotate where while the enemies are just absolutely smashing my doors in the whole time and I just die every time before I can do anything.

Are there any proper CRPG style games on Switch? I know there is Pillars of Eternity, but I heard the performance sucks.

If not, are there any good exclusively turn based (no twist) games on Switch? I’ve played Digimon, Stories 2, Pokemon, SMT, Mario Rabbids, Miitopia, I am Setsuna, Wargroove, Fire Emblem and I’ve played things like the new Dragon Quest and Disgaea on other systems. I know there is Tokyo Mirage, which I am waiting for a sale on and there are Cold Steel games on the Switch but they are absurdly expensive for some reason?

Is there anything else? Or is that everything?

Hmm, that's probably all the games that meet your criteria on Switch, @Pizzamorg .... I'd generally recommended the Baldur's Gare enhanced editions but I haven't played Switch versions, if those would otherwise do?

@Pizzamorg Octopath Traveler is fantastic IMO, and I think it has a demo as well.

And if you've not played the older Final Fantasy games, I highly recommend X.