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JRPG general discussion

Retr0gamer

Hmm let's see how a thread like this works.

Anyway for the first post I'd like to let people know that ATB podcast with its host Kat Bailey is back on 1up. The first episode might be Western RPG focused but the podcast is well worth a listen.

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Retr0gamer

Well the post game of FF13-2 is a grindy mess. Thinking of stopping the grind and plowing ahead to see how far I can get before I need to grind again. Game is taking waaaaaay longer than the HLTB estimate!

Retr0gamer

You're kind of at the halfway point. Loads to go.

skerry

So after my rage inducing efforts to beat the boss last night

it was Solidum Telethia and Tyrea

, I managed to beat the backstards this morning. Fight forces you into changing up your party for sure. The game kept pushing me to use casual mode but I resisted.

On to Chapter 9 now but no idea how much is left in the game. Not sure if we need some time apart or I should just plough on to the next frustrating boss. Maybe I need some better gems or something cos I'm a couple levels above where I need to be but still having difficulty with bosses.

skerry

Think I'm done with Xenoblade Chronicles. Steam rolled my way to the next big boss fight and I'm 2 levels above the boss and no way can I beat him/ her. There's probably some mechanic I'm missing or some party setup or something else of the 1000 systems going on that Im not using but I think I've lost interest at this point. Enjoying the story but the annoying boss thing seems to be a trend

super_furry

noodler wrote: »

It's a little more Persona style social interaction so far than I was hoping for (definitely want more geo-political machinations).

I think you really have to wait for the second for that. There's lots of scenes setting and world building here and you can definitely see that they're putting the pieces in place to tell that huge epic story.

It starts getting there towards the end and everything is in place by then for that kind of story-telling, which by all accounts, is what the next couple of games are all about.

noodler

super_furry wrote: »

Finally finished the first Trails of Cold Steel after putting 70-odd hours in. It's the most anime game I've played in years and it's a bit all over the place but on the whole I really enjoyed it. I think if I'd played it before Fire Emblem Three Houses I would have liked the setting and story a bit more but they're so similar, whichever you play first is probably going to colour the other.

Think I'll wait a little bit before jumping straight into 2, and I've got Cross Code on the Switch waiting for me.

I finished the prologue on Sunday and did a bit of academy exploring in chapter 1 this evening.

It's a little more Persona style social interaction so far than I was hoping for (definitely want more geo-political machinations).

super_furry

Finally finished the first Trails of Cold Steel after putting 70-odd hours in. It's the most anime game I've played in years and it's a bit all over the place but on the whole I really enjoyed it. I think if I'd played it before Fire Emblem Three Houses I would have liked the setting and story a bit more but they're so similar, whichever you play first is probably going to colour the other.

Think I'll wait a little bit before jumping straight into 2, and I've got Cross Code on the Switch waiting for me.

skerry

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Yeah there's way too many things to keep track of. It's the one weakness of the game. The collectopedia for instance I never knew existed until I stumbled across it in a menu near the end of the game. I had been selling a lot of materials and didn't realise I could have been registering them in the collectopedia.

Systems upon systems upon systems. XC2 was no improvement on that front. I've over 100 hrs put into that game and I still have no clue what 90% of the materials I picked up are for, and I never will. I'm about 20 hours into XC now and I've yet to sell anything cos I have no clue whats needed and whats junk.

Retr0gamer

Yeah there's way too many things to keep track of. It's the one weakness of the game. The collectopedia for instance I never knew existed until I stumbled across it in a menu near the end of the game. I had been selling a lot of materials and didn't realise I could have been registering them in the collectopedia.

skerry

Retr0gamer wrote: »

2 levels should be grand. Whatever maths the game does it severely penalises you if you aren't very close in levels. The way to play the game really is to just take all the quests and spend your time exploring the area before moving on. Because of the way the levels work you'll just end up brickwalling the next boss.

Wrapped up a good few side quests and started up the whole Colony 6 thing so by the time I got back to him last night I was the same level as him at 36. Beat him first go but fight took a good while still. Must look into increasing my chain attack damage, was able to pull off massive damage numbers in XC2 but not getting the hang of it at all in XC. I do wish the map traversal was as snappy as XC2 also, pretty sure you could run around a lot quicker in that. Must stick with it now for the week and try make a decent dent in it. There's a lot of mechanics going on and I tend to play a few hours ans not play it again for a while and I've forgotten a lot of it then when I pick it back up.

Retr0gamer

2 levels should be grand. Whatever maths the game does it severely penalises you if you aren't very close in levels. The way to play the game really is to just take all the quests and spend your time exploring the area before moving on. Because of the way the levels work you'll just end up brickwalling the next boss.

skerry

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Farming enemies doesnt give much exp. Completing sidequests and finding landmarks is the best way to get exp.

Also xenoblade is weird in that a level or two makes a massive difference. Going up against an enemy 6 levels higher than you will be a disaster. But get closer to them and you'll find it much easier.

Spent a couple hours there working backwards through the quest log doing most recent quests that give the most xp and unlocking area's so I'm up 2 levels to 33 now. Should manage 34 later and I think at 2 levels below him he might be worth a bash as the negative effects the game applies for being under levelled should be cancelled out then. Mighy try spend a bit of time doing the colony 6 stuff after that.

Retr0gamer

Farming enemies doesnt give much exp. Completing sidequests and finding landmarks is the best way to get exp.

Also xenoblade is weird in that a level or two makes a massive difference. Going up against an enemy 6 levels higher than you will be a disaster. But get closer to them and you'll find it much easier.

skerry

Kiith wrote: »

I vaguely remember that being the first boss that i had a hard time with as well. Had to do a bit of grinding iirc.

Don't remember it happening much after that though.

I've been pretty much fighting my way around the map so haven't been skipping past enemies. I must see if there are any big side quests I've picked up and never finished. I pick up so may side quests I lose track. Must have missed something major. I tried farming a few enemiea in the area that were about 4 levels above me but taking way too long to level that way.

Kiith

I vaguely remember that being the first boss that i had a hard time with as well. Had to do a bit of grinding iirc.

Don't remember it happening much after that though.

skerry

About 20 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive now and level 31. Next boss is Level 36 and is smashing me so zero point taking it on. I've been picking up a decent amount of side quests and don't think Ive been ripping though the main quest so not sure why I'm so under leveled for this guy. Its the boss in Makna Forest. Does the game throw higher level bosses at you a lot or am I just not levelling right. I don't recall having any issues with the bosses to this point. And grinding 5 levels is gonna take a good while so I'm liable to lose interest if that's the case

rejkin

Retr0gamer wrote: »

My advice if you don't want to do all the sidequests is to take all of them on that you can and go exploring. You'll end up completing sidequests just wandering around collecting stuff and getting into fights. Sidequests and discovering areas are the best source of EXP and once you are ready to move the story on you should be levelled up enough to face the boss.

You're right, they're not too bad now and I definitely have noticed that it helps with leveling up than just grinding away.

sniper_samurai

LRG giving Grandia a physical release on Switch, 4 week open order.

https://twitter.com/LimitedRunGames/status/1291376032772231173?s=19

Retr0gamer

My advice if you don't want to do all the sidequests is to take all of them on that you can and go exploring. You'll end up completing sidequests just wandering around collecting stuff and getting into fights. Sidequests and discovering areas are the best source of EXP and once you are ready to move the story on you should be levelled up enough to face the boss.

Xenji

rejkin wrote: »

Finished Dragon Quest XI on the Switch and started into Xenoblade Chronicles.
Dragon Quest was amazing and so far Xenoblade is just as addictive.
Seems to be a tonne of side quests in Xenoblade unlike Dragon Quest.

About 90% of quests are side quests and a lot of them are easy to miss which can leave you a tad under leveled at times.

I used a guide for the definitive edition and could not believe how much stuff I had actually missed first time around.

rejkin

Finished Dragon Quest XI on the Switch and started into Xenoblade Chronicles.
Dragon Quest was amazing and so far Xenoblade is just as addictive.
Seems to be a tonne of side quests in Xenoblade unlike Dragon Quest.

Retr0gamer

Finally finished faffing about and finished FF13-2. You need to get into the post game anyway to get a lot of post game items and abilities. Still have the DLC and post game content to do as well as pick up a load of fragments.

Overall had a blast with the game. It's a great example of how to handle being handled a poison chalice. They took what was great about the first game, music and battle system, doubled down on that and added improvements of their own to that with the monster catching system, although the grind and complexity of levelling up the monsters is a bit too complex.

The story is complete and utter garbage but unlike FF13 which was straight faced and took itself too seriously, FFX13-2 just has a lot of fun. Plenty of light hearted moments even if I couldn't care less about the characters and storyline. The time travelling was also a good idea to let the developer reuse assets given their limited budget, although it's very obviously a low budget game.

The variety and sheer weirdness keeps the game going although not everything works, the chocobo racing, lucky 7777 fragment, monster compendium fragments are all bull****. And keep a clock puzzle solver web app open on your phone because the clock puzzles are rubbish.

Kiith

Finished Cold Steel 2 today. Really enjoyed it, even if the end dragged on a bit. Think i'll hold off diving into the 3rd game, as i know there isn't a release date for CS4 on pc yet. Think i'll try Persona next anyway, or maybe go back and finish the Trails in the Sky series.

Retr0gamer

Apparently there's rumours of a Live A Live english release in the works.

Panzer Dragoon Saga is the big one I'm hoping for. Such an amazing game that feck all people have played.

Xenji

I would love to see a complete Shining Force III getting the same treatment as Seiken Densetsu 3 and maybe Live a Live as well.

Oriental Blue: Ao no Tengai probably has no hope of ever getting a western release but it is one of the best games on the GBA.

Sieghardt

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Moon: Remix RPG has a release date of 27th of August on Switch.

If you don't know, it's a game most japanese RPG fans would rank up with Earthbound as one of the best RPGs of all time.

I'm still shocked it's coming out in English as it's been a translation holy grail for a long time. Between this and Seiken Densetsu 3 english releases it's a such a weird time for official holy grail translations. Maybe we will also get Linda3 and the Trails Crossbell saga eventually as well?

and SEGA seem to be considering the old Sakura Wars games even. a lot of 20+ year old lists are getting crossed off!

megaten

Good chances of Crossbell coming over I'd say as oe of the major reasons Falcom did the Ps4 ports was so that it could be licensed to other regions. Not that that necessarily means English since Trails is popular in Asia too.

Retr0gamer

Moon: Remix RPG has a release date of 27th of August on Switch.

If you don't know, it's a game most japanese RPG fans would rank up with Earthbound as one of the best RPGs of all time.

I'm still shocked it's coming out in English as it's been a translation holy grail for a long time. Between this and Seiken Densetsu 3 english releases it's a such a weird time for official holy grail translations. Maybe we will also get Linda3 and the Trails Crossbell saga eventually as well?

Doodah7

Just coming up to what I think is the end of Trails of Cold Steel II. Does the game ever actually finish? Every time I think this is it, it keeps throwing more content at me!!

Sieghardt

the battles look 100% suikoden, love to see it.

I feel confident this one will turn out well too, this will be another bloodstained, not another project phoenix. They have enough to show and a solid plan that I'm happy to throw in a slab of cash