This has quickly become not only my favorite content on the site but something I legitimately look forward to as part of my day. Seeing another scheduled for tomorrow makes me happy to an embarrassing degree.
This is a nice little story that's definitely worth a read. For whatever it's worth it's also devoid of the aggressive fanservice that one would typically expect from this genre and style.
This trailer manages to say so much without really saying anything. Maybe it's just me but I still have no idea what the basic story premise of the game even is from this; just seems like a collection of typical shounen anime lines thrown together from various parts of the game...
SO3 is among my favorite games of all time but I hated 4 and hearing that this seems to be going the same way is very disheartening.
One other tip I haven't seen mentioned yet - when you stun him with the music box, it's possible to get behind him and hit him with a charged R2, which will then stagger him and leave him open for a visceral (riposte) attack. The timing on this can be tough to get down but you'll deal way more damage than you've been doing with those normal swings.
Yeah, this was exactly what I meant. The first several hours I played were all just helping random townspeople and getting dialogue exactly like that. It also seemed like every time I met someone new I would have to sit through yet another conversation that boiled down to nothing more than Estelle doing something dumb but well-intentioned and then Joshua and that character laughing about how she was dumb but well-intentioned. The "idiot hero" and "boke and tsukkome" tropes are so tired to me at this point.
Anyway at this point this has veered far off topic and this really isn't the place for my rants so with this I'll make my exit from this thread.
Sigh. Looks like yet another modern JRPG with beautiful character design and ultra low budget repetitive combat in flat empty environments, with a dearth of storyline and the majority of its gameplay in compartmentalized grinding missions.
I don't know when exactly this became the norm (even super linear games of the past like FFX still had some sense of like, verticality, variety, a feeling of life, etc, in their environments), but it has ensured I always watch gameplay videos before ever buying a game in what used to be my favorite genre. The one-two punch of Neptunia and Agarest War forever scarred me.
Come on now, you are comparing a gigantic franchise that almost everyone knows to a couple really niche ones. I am not saying this game is a masterpiece but this is a really silly comparison.
I only mention FFX because it's the most common example brought up as a counterargument when people say how they enjoyed old RPGs more, due to its linear corridors. I can also compare these games unfavorably to much more niche titles like Radiata Stories and Radiant Historia. Frankly I don't think Neptunia compares favorably to anything and am not sure its level of quality can even be justified with the niche defense considering just how many of those titles they have popped out in the last couple years. Maybe they would make a better game if they consolidated their time and budget a bit but they don't seem to care because people keep buying them.
Xenoblade X sounds like it might be right up your alley (If you have a Wii U.). There's no generic, empty dungeons in that game. All the things to do and explore almost get a little overwhelming at times.
I can't recommend the Legends of Heroes: Trails in the Sky games enough. They're not the prettiest games, but the characters and the world they live in couldn't be more well written.
Lost Dimension is something that kind of flew under the radar. The battle system is unique and fun. The story is a little weak, but the characters are good. And it's got a ton of that ATLUS styyyyle.
I just started playing Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel and am about 15 hours in. It's got a Persona 3/4 style game-play loop with a calendar and social links. What I've played of that so far seems really good. I think Falcom might have figured this JRPG thing out.
There's still some good ones out there. You just have to dig through more junk to find them then you used to.
I will check those out, thanks. Honestly, I actually have already tried the first Trails in the Sky game and found the main characters pretty boring. It seems to get glowing recommendations pretty much everywhere though so I should give it another shot.
The one-two punch of Neptunia and Agarest War forever scarred me.
There's a been a whole handful of fantastic JRPGs released over the past couple of years. Don't let what are literally the two worst franchises in the history of the genre get you down.
Do you have any recommendations specifically? Those 2 series are notably bad yes but I have still found little in general that holds my interest lately outside of Persona and Devil Survivor (and even Persona has the "empty hallways and rooms with no variety" issue, there is just enough compelling content surrounding it to cover it up).
Used to be a big Tales fan, tried Zestiria, hated it. Pretty much all the same issues except it also included giant empty fields you had to walk through to get to the dungeons comprised of small empty hallways with a single texture throughout. Was often several hours of this stuff between story beats. And needing to grind gear drops to improve your armor and weapons? I really don't think I'm just being nostalgic when I say that Symphonia, Abyss, and Vesperia were not like this.
Tried Atelier Rorona, felt like the grind was literally the entire gameplay arc, quit.
I dunno, maybe I am just no longer a fan of the genre in general.
Sigh. Looks like yet another modern JRPG with beautiful character design and ultra low budget repetitive combat in flat empty environments, with a dearth of storyline and the majority of its gameplay in compartmentalized grinding missions.
I don't know when exactly this became the norm (even super linear games of the past like FFX still had some sense of like, verticality, variety, a feeling of life, etc, in their environments), but it has ensured I always watch gameplay videos before ever buying a game in what used to be my favorite genre. The one-two punch of Neptunia and Agarest War forever scarred me.
Anyone have the time stamps for when Best Moment begins and ends? I've skipped around in the previous casts when I think spoilers may be coming up but I don't want to risk accidentally jumping into the middle of that segment since I'd imagine it will be spoilers throughout.
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