What JRPG's have you played this year? What's your favorites or maybe what game disapointed you?
I already read, that people think 2023 was not the stronges year for this genre. But maybe you have still something that surprises you in a positive way or you play and older game again?
Sea of Stars. A lot has been said recently on this game, don't feel I need to say more. Thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Well worth the price and hours spent to me.
Oriental Blue: Ao no Tengai. This game was very interesting. Released in Japan only for the GBA, I had to find a fan-translated version. It has a lot of interesting mechanics, like a gem-slotting mechanic on all of your weapons and armour to vastly improve them, and other things going for it. It doesn't hold your hand, and you can accomplish some things in different orders. That can be frustrating for some, but I enjoyed the freedom and felt it allowed me to explore more.
Truthfully there were points where it was a bit confusing, but I don't hold that against the game. I'd recommend any JRPG fan to give this one a try.
Final Fantasy IV. Speaking of giving things a try, I've tried to play FFIV several times over the years. People really recommend the game, and I honestly can't see why. This latest attempt I made it just over an hour in before calling it quits. The amount of random battles is annoying, and how specific some of those battles needs to be is annoying. For example, you'll run into a pack of 6 zombies. Magic is the only thing to hurt them, and fire is the magic that'll do the most damage. So one of your characters can't do anything but 1 damage, since they just have physical attacks. Your other character doesn't have fire magic, so it takes them at least 2 attacks to down a zombie, using 10 of your 50-70mp for one enemy, and the other character can down them in 1 with their fire and being slightly higher level. And thats just one example. It's just... the combat feels poorly designed to me, and like something I want to just get through, not enjoy my time with.
However, I've been playing Final Fantasy VI now, and I've made it much further in. This one is a lot more enjoyable (so far).
I love FF4, but I think at this point it's more historically important than anything. Random battles in general aren't always popular and it's very much a prototype for later JRPG design. The reason for encounters like that is FF4 was the first time Square made an RPG where the player character roles were set in stone. They felt they could make encounters more targeted towards a certain character class, or make them puzzly in general. I think it's mostly fine (the encounter design creates a contrast between going up and going down a certain mountain that I think is pretty cool), but it can also be kind of a disaster. Looking at you, Magnetic Cavern. It doesn't help that the 2D versions are among the easiest JRPGs ever made, so it's less of a challenge thing and more going through the motions.
FF6 is great for getting more of the party involved, though. One of my overall favorites in the genre.
I definitely understand it's a game that pioneered a lot of concepts, so I don't necessarily blame it or think it's bad, but future games improved a lot on it to make it manageable. I don't have a problem with random battles, either. But these ones were definitely testing my patience. Thank you for the little history lesson! If I make it through FF6 I'm interested to try the 3D ones for the first time.
Replayed Final Fantasy 9 and played Persona 5 for the first time!
I have started another attempt to play Chrono Trigger again. I have never played it all the way through because of new games coming out and my general disinterest in games with turn-based combat. But I keep restarting hoping that maybe the next time I will finish the game.
If Alundra counts as a JRPG, I have been enjoying that. I never owned PlayStation, so I am playing through games on that lately.
I started Rogue Galaxy. PS2 game. It's got a nice cell shaded style. The battles are pretty much like FF12. Haven't got very far yet.
I just look up some images, but this style seems to be like something that's can't get really old. But if you say FF12 battle system i probably don't want to play it. FF12 just played itself while running arround in my opinion and i could even beat most bosses without doing something. Is this here different?
The only two I played that actually came out this year were Trails to Azure and Trails into Reverie. And those were replays for me since I'd already played them before this year's official release. Also replayed Xenogears, which I'm happy to say is still my favorite story in the genre. That gameplay, though. Oof. Does not age well.
I also finished:
Overall, among the JRPGs I played this year, I had the best time with Persona 5 Royal. Not a big surprise since I've really come to love this series. Excited about what's next from Hashino with Metaphor next year.
Baten Kaitos Origins was disappointing. It felt cozy early on since I have (mostly) fond memories of the original game. Between the new stuff (an enby character!) and the combat feeling much better, I had a good feeling early on, but I just couldn't handle the dungeon design. Didn't make it very far.
Sea of Stars and Chained Echoes are both fantastic takes on the genre.
I also played Persona 5 Royal this year, which was a total vibe. Had me playing the music driving around.