Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I just stopped buying Pokemon games the moment I realized they were going down hill hard. That was over 10 years ago.
blog - scores - collection
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I just stopped buying Pokemon games the moment I realized they were going down hill hard. That was over 26 years ago.
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BareKnuckleRoo
- Posts: 6607
- Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
- Location: Southern Ontario
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Mechanically, the multiplayer aspect was always the most unique gimmick they had. The combat mechanics outside of multiplayer weren't really spectacular, and building a team for optimal multiplayer was a dreary slog or needed external tools.
I recommend this FAQ that generally goes in depth for PvP while summing up the problems of its PvP: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gameboy/9 ... faqs/20844
It's much the same with deckbuilding games like Magic the Gathering, except unlike where MtG forces you to spend untold amounts of money, Pokémon expects you to spend untold amounts of time (unless playing in a level limited tourney, but even then it's a slog to teach a multiple team members the TMs that show up once per game).
As far as a single player game goes, once you realized the core of the game was "let's market cockfighting to children" the games aren't terribly appealing. Much of the popularity I suspect is more down to the cute/cool monster designs, and nobody stopping to think terribly hard about the ethics of capturing them and forcing them to fight each other.
We had far better RPGs at the time Pokémon was made such as the SaGa games.
I recommend this FAQ that generally goes in depth for PvP while summing up the problems of its PvP: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gameboy/9 ... faqs/20844
It's much the same with deckbuilding games like Magic the Gathering, except unlike where MtG forces you to spend untold amounts of money, Pokémon expects you to spend untold amounts of time (unless playing in a level limited tourney, but even then it's a slog to teach a multiple team members the TMs that show up once per game).
As far as a single player game goes, once you realized the core of the game was "let's market cockfighting to children" the games aren't terribly appealing. Much of the popularity I suspect is more down to the cute/cool monster designs, and nobody stopping to think terribly hard about the ethics of capturing them and forcing them to fight each other.
We had far better RPGs at the time Pokémon was made such as the SaGa games.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
How in God's name does the 3DS not have a Phantasy Star Online? Every 3D handheld except the best suited one got one.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I'm having a really good time with Eiyuden Chronicle. Characters have strong personalities, the story is not bad (just starts off slow), party building is a lot of fun because of all the options you get with dozens of selectable characters. Side quests are fun because unlocking new characters and base upgrades feels really rewarding. The dungeons are actually dungeons with puzzles that require some thought and decision making, no fast travel until quite a while into the game, playing on hard actually has some challenging parts (though might be highly dependant on your party setup) - this is actually a game and not a bad movie in disguise.
Probably the best JRPG I have played in years. Shame the internet is ripping it apart.... for reasons I can't comprehend to be honest.
Been playing on PS5 and haven't had a single crash or glitch occur while playing this. Makes me wonder if all the people complaining about crashes are just bots.
Probably the best JRPG I have played in years. Shame the internet is ripping it apart.... for reasons I can't comprehend to be honest.
Been playing on PS5 and haven't had a single crash or glitch occur while playing this. Makes me wonder if all the people complaining about crashes are just bots.
So Pokemon Yellow ruined it for you?
blog - scores - collection
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
No, whatever came before Yellow 
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Yeah that was some legendary kinds of fuck awful. Some of those areas in that game were so hilariously hideous and most of the game was Bethesda kinds of broken. But it still sold 20 million! :)))
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BareKnuckleRoo
- Posts: 6607
- Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
- Location: Southern Ontario
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Something I've wanted to do for a while is play the Japanese version of the first Mother for the Famicom. I've always been a fan of the series but the original release of Mother has several differences compared to the English NES version of Earthbound which was finished but unreleased (and was later discovered and released by a hacking group as "Earthbound Zero", followed by a later official digital release by Nintendo as "Earthbound Beginnings"). I've always wondered if there's anything significant that'd make the original release better to experience (there's at least 3 areas where the map is tweaked). And I've finally gone through and beaten it in Japanese and have my answer: not really.
Generally speaking, I highly recommend the English version's quality of life changes, and it's the version worth playing. The original Japanese release has a few minor changes to some of the maps, but they're not substantial and don't make navigation that much harder.
Spoilers ahead if you haven't played:
Generally speaking, I highly recommend the English version's quality of life changes, and it's the version worth playing. The original Japanese release has a few minor changes to some of the maps, but they're not substantial and don't make navigation that much harder.
Spoilers ahead if you haven't played:
Spoiler
• The English version's various interface changes are really, really good. It's a shame it was unreleased as it's generally a very good Dragon Quest style game with a lot of potent abilities and tricks. In the original JP version, if you want to use the Map you have to carry it with you as a separate item rather than it being always available and mapped to a button, there's no button to Run (which was likely a debug function added to help quickly playtest the game they realized simply made things better), and there wasn't even a menu option to examine items; you had to figure out what items did what based on the game manual, or by their name and trial and error. Enemies also didn't give you any description when examining them! You got their stats and that was it. Feels very barebones in M1 JP, the English version's additions add up to a LOT of extra text for every single item and enemy.
As a side note, Mother 2/Earthbound SNES kind of does both with the Map. You have to find the Map and it takes up an item slot, but you can look at it with the push of a button, rather than going through the menus each time to select and use it. You also have way more item slots to work with so it's less of an issue having one taken up by the Map.
• The lack of a Run button isn't a major issue though. You get the Teleport PSI about halfway into the game, and creative use (crash into something right before you run far enough to teleport) allows you to skip large parts of the game without getting into encounters, making for fairly breezy movement even in the JP Mother 1. The final dungeon has many areas with straight lines you can race through without enemies using Teleport.
Mother 2 / Earthbound (SNES) also has Teleport PSI but it strictly denies the use of it when indoors, so no bypassing enemies with it. ;w;
• Names of cities and places are changed. Holy Loly Mountain to Mt. Itoi is the only change I'm on board with. Otherwise I thought the naming after holidays was cute, but apparently the English localizers thought it was lame and thus renamed places like Mother's Day to Podunk, Valentine to Ellay, Thanksgiving to Merrysville, Easter to Youngtown, Santa Claus Station to Union Station, and so on.
• The Map item you find in your house in the JP version was changed into Bread in the English version. That explains why your family is storing a loaf of bread in a present in the basement, I guess. >w>;
• Every time you learn a new melody there's a flashy visual effect to signal its importance. Helpful for deaf players I guess?
• Various bits of minor censorship in enemy sprites to remove blood, cigarettes, a knife that Teddy is brandishing, crosses from churches, etc. The knife Teddy's holding looks awkward originally, and without it it looks more like he's wanting a fistfight, which actually isn't too bad.
• Enemy stats appear unchanged. I remember reading the order you get some PSI is also changed from Mother (Famicom) to Earthbound (NES) but I didn't notice any significant changes. You can still beat the final boss long before Ninten is high enough level to learn Lifeup Beta for instance!
• In the original Mother, the benevolent old man at the fountain in Magicant strictly acts as a healer, either curing poison or petrification. This is entirely worthless as the healer in town will do the exact same thing, and no enemies in the outer area of Magicant use either of these attacks. The English version addresses this by turning him into an ATM, one that doesn't require carrying around your ATM Card to use any more, making him extremely handy and freeing up an item slot once Magicant is available. It's actually quite annoying in the original Japanese version; if you go to Magicant but forgot to withdraw money ahead of time, you'll have no way of buying any of the equipment there until you exit Magicant, go to an ATM, then come back to Magicant!
• The bottom floor of Magicant's caves were originally much less linear in the JP version and the position of the Sword is in the branching tunnels at the start of the caves, meaning you have to go hunting for it to find it, rather than it showing up along the way to the exit. I kind of prefer how it's more open rather than a linear path, and it's not too hard to navigate.
• The path leading to Holy Loly Mountain/Mt. Itoi from Valentine/Ellay is a bit more complex. There's a small shortcut you can take in the JP version that bypasses a bit of walking if you go north past the last bridge through some trees, but it's still usually better to take the longer path and stop at the doctor's house along the way. It's not a significant change, it's just a bit more curvy.
• The location of the Sea Pendant is slightly different but still easy to find. More significantly, there's no final cave to go through to the final boss where you can find the people who've been abducted and are in the stasis tubes. Rather, they're found in an easily missable cave just before the cave to the Sea Pendant and you can take EVE with you to talk to them.
• The drop rate for certain items, particularly Flamethrowers which drop from from the Black Blood/Bla Bla gang members, feels better in the English version. I had to grind a long time to get any Flamethrowers in Mother 1 Famicom.
• The science teacher in the school does NOT sell Super Bombs originally. The English version took out a joke item, the Time Machine, which warps you back to the room where the science lab's been destroyed and then immediately reverts when you leave. Super Bombs are extremely handy in the endgame sequence and are basically the only useful thing worth spending money on, as they will instantly end fights, and gives Lloyd something fairly useful to do even when the physical powerhouse Teddy is gone. They also mean you don't have to waste a ton of time farming for Flamethrowers if you don't want to.
The science teacher still sells Sticky Machines but they're significantly less useful I find than Super Bombs or a Flamethrower. I think the bomb enemies found high up on Holy Loly Mountain/Mt. Itoi can still drop Super Bombs...? I never saw or used one in Mother (Famicom).
• There's a bug in the JP version involving the Flea Bag item that lets you lower the offense of enemies you're not supposed to be able to affect, thus being able to defeat enemies that are supposed to beat you in scripted sequences. This lets you make it to the final boss with EVE if you want. This was fixed in Earthbound (NES).
• Something that was NOT changed and frankly should have been addressed in the English version was the Franklin Badges. You can accidentally drop them in all versions of the game as far as I'm aware, which is a very bad thing given how useful they are and how you can't obtain them again if you drop one by accident. Fortunately, they're flagged so that they cannot be sold or stolen, so why they didn't also set the "no drop" flag is beyond me. They're the only thing that blocks (and reflects!) PK Beam Gamma, which otherwise instantly kills. I managed to accidentally drop one shortly after recruiting Lloyd (I don't really read Japanese well), didn't notice until after I'd saved, and was stuck the rest of the game using just the one you can find in Duncan's Factory. Having two of them is a lot better as you can equip them on the two characters who can use Super Healing, your revival PSI.
• Another issue that appears to be in all versions of the game is the R7038 fight; it's a scripted encounter you're meant to lose as part of the plot, but you lose half of your money as though you got a game over. Granted, at that point in the game money's not a huge issue, but you still want to deposit all your money before you do this event. Also note that the R7037 robot blocking the entrance to the Monkey Cave in the desert is invisible in all versions, and if you try to go there without the tank it'll beat you up mercilessly, as it did to me when I tested it. It was the only gameover in my playthrough at least!
• Once you get the 7th melody from EVE, you're abruptly warped to Magicant in Queen Mary's throne room where she heals you, then reveals she knows the 8th melody herself. You're warped immediately back to the top of the mountain, well past EVE, to the tombstone on the mountain, which can't be meaningfully interacted with. From there, the cave immediately starts the final boss; there's no path you have to walk down filled with Final Starman encounters to get to Giegue, rather the final boss fight starts immediately after you walk into the opening of the cave! Note that you're not forced to get the 7th melody from EVE once she's been destroyed, so you could simply not examine EVE to avoid triggering the final sequence if you're not ready.
This felt very weird to me, and the English version more sensibly makes you go up the rest of the mountain to find the tombstone, which gives you some background details when interacted with as well as the final melody. You're also not forced to go immediately to Magicant or anything, to start the endgame sequence and make Magicant disappear, you have to go to Queen Mary's castle yourself once you have all 8 melodies to talk to her, thus making Magicant disappear, and warping you to the top of the mountain.
• In the original version of Mother 1, there are no enemies in the train tunnel. Thus, you can walk through it and sequence break if you like, getting Ana long before you get Lloyd. It's still possible to get Ana before Lloyd in the English version, but there are enemies in the train tunnel roughly equivalent in difficulty to the desert that can instantly petrify you, and Ninten needs to be about level 18 with a PSI Stone to have enough speed to go first in fights and have enough PP to use 4th D. Slip to escape fights and make it out the other side. Considering the game can be beaten with Ninten as low as level 25, this is a lot of levelling just to get a character out of order.
• The ending is extremely abrupt and is simply a credit roll in the final boss room. When the credits end, you can press a button to make the characters disappear (they don't even walk offscreen!) and it says "TO BE CONTINUED...". The English version has a proper ending sequence before the credits play, and instead of simply "TO BE CONTINUED..." there's a screen of your dad giving you a phone call saying something "new has come up".
• The GBA release of M1 found on the Mother 1+2 cart is essentially a Japanese translation of the English version of the game. It has all the quality of life additions and bugfixes, including the run button, descriptions for all items and enemies, the map layouts are based on the English version, a proper ending sequence, and so on. There's also one new item you get after EVE is destroyed that functions like the Onyx Hook does and warps you to EVE's position from wherever you are, giving you a quick way to return to Mt. Itoi if you need to leave and restock. Because EVE can be destroyed in one of two positions, either near the healer's shack by the lake, or high up the mountain before the final boss, where EVE is destroyed affects where this teleports you. It's handy, but isn't a gamebreaking addition or anything, and you could kind of do the same thing before with breadcrumbs. If you can read Japanese, this is likely the best version to play as it's a handheld version, aside from the audio quality not quite being as good as on the NES.
The only other difference in the GBA version is the credits sequence plays the song you get when riding the train, rather than the song for when you're in the airplane.
As a side note, Mother 2/Earthbound SNES kind of does both with the Map. You have to find the Map and it takes up an item slot, but you can look at it with the push of a button, rather than going through the menus each time to select and use it. You also have way more item slots to work with so it's less of an issue having one taken up by the Map.
• The lack of a Run button isn't a major issue though. You get the Teleport PSI about halfway into the game, and creative use (crash into something right before you run far enough to teleport) allows you to skip large parts of the game without getting into encounters, making for fairly breezy movement even in the JP Mother 1. The final dungeon has many areas with straight lines you can race through without enemies using Teleport.
Mother 2 / Earthbound (SNES) also has Teleport PSI but it strictly denies the use of it when indoors, so no bypassing enemies with it. ;w;
• Names of cities and places are changed. Holy Loly Mountain to Mt. Itoi is the only change I'm on board with. Otherwise I thought the naming after holidays was cute, but apparently the English localizers thought it was lame and thus renamed places like Mother's Day to Podunk, Valentine to Ellay, Thanksgiving to Merrysville, Easter to Youngtown, Santa Claus Station to Union Station, and so on.
• The Map item you find in your house in the JP version was changed into Bread in the English version. That explains why your family is storing a loaf of bread in a present in the basement, I guess. >w>;
• Every time you learn a new melody there's a flashy visual effect to signal its importance. Helpful for deaf players I guess?
• Various bits of minor censorship in enemy sprites to remove blood, cigarettes, a knife that Teddy is brandishing, crosses from churches, etc. The knife Teddy's holding looks awkward originally, and without it it looks more like he's wanting a fistfight, which actually isn't too bad.
• Enemy stats appear unchanged. I remember reading the order you get some PSI is also changed from Mother (Famicom) to Earthbound (NES) but I didn't notice any significant changes. You can still beat the final boss long before Ninten is high enough level to learn Lifeup Beta for instance!
• In the original Mother, the benevolent old man at the fountain in Magicant strictly acts as a healer, either curing poison or petrification. This is entirely worthless as the healer in town will do the exact same thing, and no enemies in the outer area of Magicant use either of these attacks. The English version addresses this by turning him into an ATM, one that doesn't require carrying around your ATM Card to use any more, making him extremely handy and freeing up an item slot once Magicant is available. It's actually quite annoying in the original Japanese version; if you go to Magicant but forgot to withdraw money ahead of time, you'll have no way of buying any of the equipment there until you exit Magicant, go to an ATM, then come back to Magicant!
• The bottom floor of Magicant's caves were originally much less linear in the JP version and the position of the Sword is in the branching tunnels at the start of the caves, meaning you have to go hunting for it to find it, rather than it showing up along the way to the exit. I kind of prefer how it's more open rather than a linear path, and it's not too hard to navigate.
• The path leading to Holy Loly Mountain/Mt. Itoi from Valentine/Ellay is a bit more complex. There's a small shortcut you can take in the JP version that bypasses a bit of walking if you go north past the last bridge through some trees, but it's still usually better to take the longer path and stop at the doctor's house along the way. It's not a significant change, it's just a bit more curvy.
• The location of the Sea Pendant is slightly different but still easy to find. More significantly, there's no final cave to go through to the final boss where you can find the people who've been abducted and are in the stasis tubes. Rather, they're found in an easily missable cave just before the cave to the Sea Pendant and you can take EVE with you to talk to them.
• The drop rate for certain items, particularly Flamethrowers which drop from from the Black Blood/Bla Bla gang members, feels better in the English version. I had to grind a long time to get any Flamethrowers in Mother 1 Famicom.
• The science teacher in the school does NOT sell Super Bombs originally. The English version took out a joke item, the Time Machine, which warps you back to the room where the science lab's been destroyed and then immediately reverts when you leave. Super Bombs are extremely handy in the endgame sequence and are basically the only useful thing worth spending money on, as they will instantly end fights, and gives Lloyd something fairly useful to do even when the physical powerhouse Teddy is gone. They also mean you don't have to waste a ton of time farming for Flamethrowers if you don't want to.
The science teacher still sells Sticky Machines but they're significantly less useful I find than Super Bombs or a Flamethrower. I think the bomb enemies found high up on Holy Loly Mountain/Mt. Itoi can still drop Super Bombs...? I never saw or used one in Mother (Famicom).
• There's a bug in the JP version involving the Flea Bag item that lets you lower the offense of enemies you're not supposed to be able to affect, thus being able to defeat enemies that are supposed to beat you in scripted sequences. This lets you make it to the final boss with EVE if you want. This was fixed in Earthbound (NES).
• Something that was NOT changed and frankly should have been addressed in the English version was the Franklin Badges. You can accidentally drop them in all versions of the game as far as I'm aware, which is a very bad thing given how useful they are and how you can't obtain them again if you drop one by accident. Fortunately, they're flagged so that they cannot be sold or stolen, so why they didn't also set the "no drop" flag is beyond me. They're the only thing that blocks (and reflects!) PK Beam Gamma, which otherwise instantly kills. I managed to accidentally drop one shortly after recruiting Lloyd (I don't really read Japanese well), didn't notice until after I'd saved, and was stuck the rest of the game using just the one you can find in Duncan's Factory. Having two of them is a lot better as you can equip them on the two characters who can use Super Healing, your revival PSI.
• Another issue that appears to be in all versions of the game is the R7038 fight; it's a scripted encounter you're meant to lose as part of the plot, but you lose half of your money as though you got a game over. Granted, at that point in the game money's not a huge issue, but you still want to deposit all your money before you do this event. Also note that the R7037 robot blocking the entrance to the Monkey Cave in the desert is invisible in all versions, and if you try to go there without the tank it'll beat you up mercilessly, as it did to me when I tested it. It was the only gameover in my playthrough at least!
• Once you get the 7th melody from EVE, you're abruptly warped to Magicant in Queen Mary's throne room where she heals you, then reveals she knows the 8th melody herself. You're warped immediately back to the top of the mountain, well past EVE, to the tombstone on the mountain, which can't be meaningfully interacted with. From there, the cave immediately starts the final boss; there's no path you have to walk down filled with Final Starman encounters to get to Giegue, rather the final boss fight starts immediately after you walk into the opening of the cave! Note that you're not forced to get the 7th melody from EVE once she's been destroyed, so you could simply not examine EVE to avoid triggering the final sequence if you're not ready.
This felt very weird to me, and the English version more sensibly makes you go up the rest of the mountain to find the tombstone, which gives you some background details when interacted with as well as the final melody. You're also not forced to go immediately to Magicant or anything, to start the endgame sequence and make Magicant disappear, you have to go to Queen Mary's castle yourself once you have all 8 melodies to talk to her, thus making Magicant disappear, and warping you to the top of the mountain.
• In the original version of Mother 1, there are no enemies in the train tunnel. Thus, you can walk through it and sequence break if you like, getting Ana long before you get Lloyd. It's still possible to get Ana before Lloyd in the English version, but there are enemies in the train tunnel roughly equivalent in difficulty to the desert that can instantly petrify you, and Ninten needs to be about level 18 with a PSI Stone to have enough speed to go first in fights and have enough PP to use 4th D. Slip to escape fights and make it out the other side. Considering the game can be beaten with Ninten as low as level 25, this is a lot of levelling just to get a character out of order.
• The ending is extremely abrupt and is simply a credit roll in the final boss room. When the credits end, you can press a button to make the characters disappear (they don't even walk offscreen!) and it says "TO BE CONTINUED...". The English version has a proper ending sequence before the credits play, and instead of simply "TO BE CONTINUED..." there's a screen of your dad giving you a phone call saying something "new has come up".
• The GBA release of M1 found on the Mother 1+2 cart is essentially a Japanese translation of the English version of the game. It has all the quality of life additions and bugfixes, including the run button, descriptions for all items and enemies, the map layouts are based on the English version, a proper ending sequence, and so on. There's also one new item you get after EVE is destroyed that functions like the Onyx Hook does and warps you to EVE's position from wherever you are, giving you a quick way to return to Mt. Itoi if you need to leave and restock. Because EVE can be destroyed in one of two positions, either near the healer's shack by the lake, or high up the mountain before the final boss, where EVE is destroyed affects where this teleports you. It's handy, but isn't a gamebreaking addition or anything, and you could kind of do the same thing before with breadcrumbs. If you can read Japanese, this is likely the best version to play as it's a handheld version, aside from the audio quality not quite being as good as on the NES.
The only other difference in the GBA version is the credits sequence plays the song you get when riding the train, rather than the song for when you're in the airplane.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I've been playing a bunch of RPG Maker games, and some of them are quite solid. Here are a few of my favorites:
Hat World - An RPG combining SaGa-like combat and character building with sidescrolling platformer exploration. Has a solid battle system and plenty of challenging boss fights. There are six different campaigns to play through, each full of likable characters and interesting stories. For my money this is the best conventional JRPG ever made.
You can get it at the link in this image. Click on it to go there:
Demon King Chronicle - Exploration-focused RPG. Doesn't have a lot of dialogue, but what's there is good. Has solid, attrition-based gameplay, and a unique equipment system that adds a lot of strategy. The English version is no longer officially available, but unofficially you can get it here:
https://archive.org/details/demon-king-chronicle
Backup download:
https://files.catbox.moe/l02ghi.zip
I've got a longer review of it up here: viewtopic.php?p=1358550#p1358550
Enchant Farm - An exploration-focused game, conceptually similar to Demon King Chronicle. Takes heavy inspiration from King's Field and Souls games. You play as one of 8 elementals and must break an ancient curse of immortality on an inescapable island. Extremely open exploration and a unique combat system. One of my favorite features is that side quests that you ignore tend to progress on their own, and you can get some surprising outcomes by rushing to high level areas and putting low level areas off until later.
Download link in the image, click the image to go there:
Ruina: Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins - Dungeon crawling RPG inspired by tabletop RPGs. Great exploration, thick atmosphere, lots of choices in how to handle events, and outstanding lore writing. The combat is unfortunately the default RPG Maker system, which holds back what is an otherwise near flawless game.
Get it here:
https://dinklations.wordpress.com/2021/ ... h-version/
Helen's Mysterious Castle - Great and unique duel-based combat system. Lots of charm. Its character building system is based entirely around equipment and gives the game plenty of replay value. It's only like 5 hours long but it's top notch. It's on steam for $2. Full playthrough here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNDrte4GfwQ
Standstill Girl - Similar combat to Helen's. I don't think it's quite as good as Helen, but it's worth playing. Get it here: https://vgperson.com/games/standstillgirl.htm
Liar Jeannie in Crucifix Kingdom - By the author of Standstill Girl. Party-based dungeon crawler where you control two human characters and can summon up to two defeated enemies as undead. Good combat and interesting equipment strategy. Has the best status ailment system I've ever seen in an RPG. Get it here: https://vgperson.com/games/liarjeannie.htm
Touhou Wandering Souls - A collectathon/brawler/platformer/RPG. I have no idea why RPG Maker was used for this, but it's very long, good, and challenging. Lunatic difficulty is recommended for those who can handle it. Download it here: https://moriyashrine.org/files/file/808 ... ing-souls/
Longer review here: viewtopic.php?p=1385783#p1385783
Human Quest - A short and funny game which excels in choices and consequences. There are no random encounters and no real grinding. Every fight in the game is a one-time thing. Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/9jd57l74f ... st_1.2.zip
Hat World - An RPG combining SaGa-like combat and character building with sidescrolling platformer exploration. Has a solid battle system and plenty of challenging boss fights. There are six different campaigns to play through, each full of likable characters and interesting stories. For my money this is the best conventional JRPG ever made.
You can get it at the link in this image. Click on it to go there:
Spoiler
https://archive.org/details/demon-king-chronicle
Backup download:
https://files.catbox.moe/l02ghi.zip
I've got a longer review of it up here: viewtopic.php?p=1358550#p1358550
Enchant Farm - An exploration-focused game, conceptually similar to Demon King Chronicle. Takes heavy inspiration from King's Field and Souls games. You play as one of 8 elementals and must break an ancient curse of immortality on an inescapable island. Extremely open exploration and a unique combat system. One of my favorite features is that side quests that you ignore tend to progress on their own, and you can get some surprising outcomes by rushing to high level areas and putting low level areas off until later.
Download link in the image, click the image to go there:
Spoiler
Get it here:
https://dinklations.wordpress.com/2021/ ... h-version/
Helen's Mysterious Castle - Great and unique duel-based combat system. Lots of charm. Its character building system is based entirely around equipment and gives the game plenty of replay value. It's only like 5 hours long but it's top notch. It's on steam for $2. Full playthrough here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNDrte4GfwQ
Standstill Girl - Similar combat to Helen's. I don't think it's quite as good as Helen, but it's worth playing. Get it here: https://vgperson.com/games/standstillgirl.htm
Liar Jeannie in Crucifix Kingdom - By the author of Standstill Girl. Party-based dungeon crawler where you control two human characters and can summon up to two defeated enemies as undead. Good combat and interesting equipment strategy. Has the best status ailment system I've ever seen in an RPG. Get it here: https://vgperson.com/games/liarjeannie.htm
Touhou Wandering Souls - A collectathon/brawler/platformer/RPG. I have no idea why RPG Maker was used for this, but it's very long, good, and challenging. Lunatic difficulty is recommended for those who can handle it. Download it here: https://moriyashrine.org/files/file/808 ... ing-souls/
Longer review here: viewtopic.php?p=1385783#p1385783
Human Quest - A short and funny game which excels in choices and consequences. There are no random encounters and no real grinding. Every fight in the game is a one-time thing. Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/9jd57l74f ... st_1.2.zip
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Sengoku Strider
- Posts: 2475
- Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:21 am
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I finished the Sega AGES version of the original Phantasy Star on Switch. I've beaten the game before, but I wanted to give the game a go in Japanese to see if it made more sense (for the most part it does) and with the FM soundtrack, which I found hit or miss. Some tracks sounded better like the dungeon theme, some worse like the title screen theme which I adore in PSG, but overall it's quite good and clean sounding. The addition of hiragana was one of the other advertised features (though apparently the Saturn port already had this?) but TBH I don't know why Japanese players wanted it, the game is full of foreign words or just plain made-up nonsense which is what katakana is for, so after a brief while I just restarted and went with that.
I played through in AGES mode, which increases walk speed and lowers the encounter rate, while also granting more xp & meseta (65535 is the max you can hold, it turns out). Combined with the automapping this makes the game much easier and comparatively brief - though this had the effect of letting me fly through to the end while skipping a bunch of major items so I ended up doing a bunch of backtracking anyway. But I wouldn't say this is the way to play the game on anyone's first time through unless you just don't have the patience for 1980s rpgs. I think they did a great job with their scanlines & pixel smoothing, the artwork looked sharp & vibrant. It's amazing to see these huge enemies on the Switch's OLED and how much bigger and better animated they are than so many 16 bit rpgs ended up being. All in all quite a good experience, and since you can turn off the mapping and play the original version, this is the definitive release of the original game. The only thing missing (I think) is the gallery from the Saturn collection.
I played through in AGES mode, which increases walk speed and lowers the encounter rate, while also granting more xp & meseta (65535 is the max you can hold, it turns out). Combined with the automapping this makes the game much easier and comparatively brief - though this had the effect of letting me fly through to the end while skipping a bunch of major items so I ended up doing a bunch of backtracking anyway. But I wouldn't say this is the way to play the game on anyone's first time through unless you just don't have the patience for 1980s rpgs. I think they did a great job with their scanlines & pixel smoothing, the artwork looked sharp & vibrant. It's amazing to see these huge enemies on the Switch's OLED and how much bigger and better animated they are than so many 16 bit rpgs ended up being. All in all quite a good experience, and since you can turn off the mapping and play the original version, this is the definitive release of the original game. The only thing missing (I think) is the gallery from the Saturn collection.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Helen's Mysterious Castle, one of the best JRPGs ever made, is on sale for 81 cents on steam right now.
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Sengoku Strider
- Posts: 2475
- Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:21 am
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Does anyone know what the "Special Double Seal" version of Tengai Makyo Ziria is? Was there a SKU in a single jewel case as opposed to the usual double size?
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Feel like a pretty obscure game to obtain that sort of information about. But for what it's worth, I have a copy in a double sized box, and have never seen anything else.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Elin, the prequel to Elona, which I had long believed to have been abandoned, has finally been released, more than 15 years after Elona came out.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2135150/Elin/
For my money, these are the best sandbox RPGs ever made. They're something like what you would get if you combined ADOM's traditional roguelike gameplay with Daggerfall's open world adventurer life sim elements, in a bizarre and insane anime world. People will put in urgent requests for you to deliver them assault rifles because their sister is coming to visit, and they will offer to pay you to go out and kill sheep purely due to their deep racial hatred of ovines. Just like in Elona, you can play as a farmer, a musician, a shop owner, or if you want to be unoriginal, a traveling adventurer, among many other possibilities. Major changes from Elona include a mostly mouse driven UI, base building and crafting, and a lot of QoL improvements.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2135150/Elin/
For my money, these are the best sandbox RPGs ever made. They're something like what you would get if you combined ADOM's traditional roguelike gameplay with Daggerfall's open world adventurer life sim elements, in a bizarre and insane anime world. People will put in urgent requests for you to deliver them assault rifles because their sister is coming to visit, and they will offer to pay you to go out and kill sheep purely due to their deep racial hatred of ovines. Just like in Elona, you can play as a farmer, a musician, a shop owner, or if you want to be unoriginal, a traveling adventurer, among many other possibilities. Major changes from Elona include a mostly mouse driven UI, base building and crafting, and a lot of QoL improvements.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
SMT Vengeance on PS let's you choose what confirm button to use. Took them long enough to finally implement this. I hope this will become a standard for JP games.
blog - scores - collection
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Would be a lot more useful if western PS games implemented that, though, since they are the ones that tend to get it wrong
Last edited by Sumez on Thu Nov 14, 2024 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Yeah, but I'd sooner expect Nintendo to adapt the american layout. :/
blog - scores - collection
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I prefer the japanese button layout for games.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
This Last Armageddon game is quite avant-garde. Like the exact opposite of the youth's journey fare of the time. Melty slime monster characters, etc. Barely anything humanoid. Almost completely anti-waifu. (I think waifu jRPGs really only became a thing around the Playstation/Playstation 2 era? Are there any examples of those before then? Tokimeki and Sailor Moon don't count.) I can't stop listening to its battle theme.
While I don't think we missed out on much with all the cancelled late-stage famicon jRPGs... I do feel a bit of a sting from the Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti RPG not making it.
While I don't think we missed out on much with all the cancelled late-stage famicon jRPGs... I do feel a bit of a sting from the Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti RPG not making it.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Set up my Super Famicom to play some Lufia II ancient cave runs. I forgot the game had very limited inventory space, got confused by the inventory management screen that popped up after my first two runs and ended up losing more blue chest items than I found in the cave lol
blog - scores - collection
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I'm playing FFXVI and Scarlet Nexus, leaving aside that the boss fights with the eikons in FFXVI are the most spectacular thing I've ever seen in a video game since I don't know...Asura's Wrath?
haha
and that Scarlet Nexus is sublime stylistically...
what are the best JRPGs to get on PS5?
I know that here on the forum you have very refined tastes in general on practically everything.
haha
and that Scarlet Nexus is sublime stylistically...
what are the best JRPGs to get on PS5?
I know that here on the forum you have very refined tastes in general on practically everything.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
Metaphor ReFantazio was really good. I would say it’s my #1 JRPG and maybe even #1 game of 2024, if it weren’t for Smt v vengeance also coming out this past year.. what a year for ATLUS.Lemnear wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 10:29 pm I'm playing FFXVI and Scarlet Nexus, leaving aside that the boss fights with the eikons in FFXVI are the most spectacular thing I've ever seen in a video game since I don't know...Asura's Wrath?
haha
and that Scarlet Nexus is sublime stylistically...
what are the best JRPGs to get on PS5?
I know that here on the forum you have very refined tastes in general on practically everything.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I prefer the original, but the Persona 3 remake is also good. Then there's the Tales of Graces f remaster.
blog - scores - collection
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I tend to avoid Persona (and similar games) because of their excessive length...which is intimidating levels right D; [same for Disgaea].nogden wrote: ↑Tue Mar 04, 2025 2:22 amMetaphor ReFantazio was really good. I would say it’s my #1 JRPG and maybe even #1 game of 2024, if it weren’t for Smt v vengeance also coming out this past year.. what a year for ATLUS.Lemnear wrote: ↑Mon Mar 03, 2025 10:29 pm I'm playing FFXVI and Scarlet Nexus, leaving aside that the boss fights with the eikons in FFXVI are the most spectacular thing I've ever seen in a video game since I don't know...Asura's Wrath?
haha
and that Scarlet Nexus is sublime stylistically...
what are the best JRPGs to get on PS5?
I know that here on the forum you have very refined tastes in general on practically everything.
Despite playing Scarlet Nexus which is partly made by the Tales of team (I appreciate that the game runs in 4K 60fps), I have never really liked Tales Of, especially those from the last 10 years excluding remakes/remasters.
Is Grace F cute? I love the soft color palette, but it is a bit ugly to look at and the combat system seems boring and the plot rather banal.
If it wasn't excessively expensive, I would buy Dragon Quest III HD 2D Remake with my eyes closed...anyway it's a shame because it's almost a waste to run games on PS5 that have PS2 graphics...and there are very few JRPGs that push the hardware
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
The guy making dog noises in the Persona 3 remake always makes me laugh. If you haven't spent much time around dawgs you might not notice, but it really isn't possible for the human sound organs to recreate their sound very well.
I hope everyone here already knows about the Final Fantasy 5 ancient cave romhack.
I never feel like devs ever get the balance on these quite right. But that might be a consequence of the jRPG game engine: you can't avoid taking hits so if you put up hard walls, you have to also include grinding and healing inns or whatever. It's just intrinsic to the battle system that you get worn down, so these kinds of game modes tend to err on making the early enemies trivial so you can establish a foothold.
Always had a softspot for Lufia: The Legend Returns. It wasn't super great, but I appreciated they tried to do something a bit different from the norm.
Disgaea (and their similar games like Phantom Brave) games aren't really that long. 30 to 50 hours.
If you count the post game grindathon, sure they can last around ~100 hours. Lemme check my Disgaea 5 save file that I grinded the hell out of...
... oh shit, just shy of 200 hours.
... hey, it was really cold that year alright, and my bed is really warm.
Anyway, all the post-game stuff is like a mindless flow state, it doesn't really consume much more mental energy than breathing air does. It's orders of magnitude less burdensome than consuming chatter.
Ignoring the story completely and just playing the Item world like a roguelike, climbing ranks, is like a game unto itself. Pure battle shonen jRPG gameplay.
I hope everyone here already knows about the Final Fantasy 5 ancient cave romhack.
I never feel like devs ever get the balance on these quite right. But that might be a consequence of the jRPG game engine: you can't avoid taking hits so if you put up hard walls, you have to also include grinding and healing inns or whatever. It's just intrinsic to the battle system that you get worn down, so these kinds of game modes tend to err on making the early enemies trivial so you can establish a foothold.
Always had a softspot for Lufia: The Legend Returns. It wasn't super great, but I appreciated they tried to do something a bit different from the norm.
Disgaea (and their similar games like Phantom Brave) games aren't really that long. 30 to 50 hours.
If you count the post game grindathon, sure they can last around ~100 hours. Lemme check my Disgaea 5 save file that I grinded the hell out of...
... oh shit, just shy of 200 hours.
... hey, it was really cold that year alright, and my bed is really warm.
Anyway, all the post-game stuff is like a mindless flow state, it doesn't really consume much more mental energy than breathing air does. It's orders of magnitude less burdensome than consuming chatter.
Ignoring the story completely and just playing the Item world like a roguelike, climbing ranks, is like a game unto itself. Pure battle shonen jRPG gameplay.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
The graphics are dated because it was originally a Wii game and Bandai Namco only does the bare minimum to get their remasters working on new hardware. Is the game cute? I don't know. I liked some of the characters, others I didn't like. The story really is banal but I really liked the combat.
Another JRPG for the PS5 that comes to mind is Star Ocean 6. It's not great but was decent enough for me.
blog - scores - collection
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Don't worry about it. You can travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda and back 1500 times before the sun explodes.
Re: Jarpig pride worldwide (Let's talk about JRPGs)
I've heard of people who have 600+ hours on Persona/SMT...and it terrified me (sometimes even over 1000...BryanM wrote: ↑Tue Mar 04, 2025 2:59 pm The guy making dog noises in the Persona 3 remake always makes me laugh. If you haven't spent much time around dawgs you might not notice, but it really isn't possible for the human sound organs to recreate their sound very well.
I hope everyone here already knows about the Final Fantasy 5 ancient cave romhack.
I never feel like devs ever get the balance on these quite right. But that might be a consequence of the jRPG game engine: you can't avoid taking hits so if you put up hard walls, you have to also include grinding and healing inns or whatever. It's just intrinsic to the battle system that you get worn down, so these kinds of game modes tend to err on making the early enemies trivial so you can establish a foothold.
Always had a softspot for Lufia: The Legend Returns. It wasn't super great, but I appreciated they tried to do something a bit different from the norm.
Disgaea (and their similar games like Phantom Brave) games aren't really that long. 30 to 50 hours.
If you count the post game grindathon, sure they can last around ~100 hours. Lemme check my Disgaea 5 save file that I grinded the hell out of...
... oh shit, just shy of 200 hours.
... hey, it was really cold that year alright, and my bed is really warm.
Anyway, all the post-game stuff is like a mindless flow state, it doesn't really consume much more mental energy than breathing air does. It's orders of magnitude less burdensome than consuming chatter.
Ignoring the story completely and just playing the Item world like a roguelike, climbing ranks, is like a game unto itself. Pure battle shonen jRPG gameplay.
).Disgaea already seems more acceptable...I also liked the DioField Chronicles demo (and I haven't tried the Unicorn Overlord one yet) nor any "new" Atelier.
I would have bought YS VIII because everyone is raving about it, but already on PS4 I was like "oh god it looks like a PS2 game", so imagine on PS5
.BTW I'm really liking Scarlet Nexus at the moment, it's visually pleasing, the plot is interesting even if I smell a cliché, but I still can't figure out what clichés they will be
. I like that it has moments of intimacy, it's something I look for a lot in JRPGs (Safe and intimate HUB, more "slice of life" moments, alternating with epic moments/battles)FFXVI on the other hand is perhaps one of the best FF of the last 10-15 years, the story is written and told in a sublime way, even the secondary quests make sense and fit perfectly into the main story, the boss fights are incredibly memorable and I'm really enjoying the combat system, you can really go wild with the combos and I'm still looking for the most DPS combos possible.
The only flaw I can say about the game is the lack of elemental damage typical of FF, and many iconic spells, too bad, it really took very little to make it perfect.
In both I'm completing ALL the secondary tasks, for FFXVI I'm at DLC 2, I still have to start DLC1, I wanted to see the incredible setting of Mysidia! so for FFXVI I don't think I have much left to complete it all (i'm at 97%).
I would also get a nice new fighting game, but in the end the choice comes down to SF6 or GranBlue Fantasy Versus Rising (I tried the demo and it's...strange, especially how it's animated
)I have no idea what Tekken 8 is like but I have the impression that it's something abominably complex...