The GWJ JRPG Club Version 2.5 HD Remaster: Announcing our Q2 2024 Game!

Favourite club game
If I had been around for FFXII, that would be my pick, but since I didn't play it for the club, I'll go with Nier Automata.

Least favourite
Earthbound. I wanted to like it, but some of the mechanics drove me nuts and I quit a bit after I got to the fourth town.

Biggest hate completion
Persona 5. I hated the game at the start, I was loving it around the mid point, and went back to hating it by the end.
Also I could not date Ryuji.

Biggest surprise
Suikoden. I liked that it really just moves along, and the gameplay and graphics aged pretty well! I might play 2 at some point in the future.

Thanks for everything you've done for the club, bobbywatson. Good luck with your personal endeavours!

Glad to be a part of this

Thank you for the effort and dedication bobbywatson! Best of luck with all your goals!

Thanks for helping keep the club going, bobbywatson! Best of luck with your goals!

Thanks bobbywatson!

Good luck, bobbywatson! It's been a pleasure sharing this little corner of the internet with you, and sharing our love of JRPGs! Enjoy the time away and I hope those projects go well.

Mr GT Chris, I was away from the forums for several days, but congrats on finishing Bravely Second! I've leveled you up.

bobbywatson wrote:

Favourite club game
If I had been around for FFXII, that would be my pick, but since I didn't play it for the club, I'll go with Nier Automata.

I would definitely have loved to join in for FFXII. I couldn't make time for a non portable game unfortunately. Of course, now it's on Switch at least!

bobbywatson wrote:

Least favourite
Earthbound. I wanted to like it, but some of the mechanics drove me nuts and I quit a bit after I got to the fourth town.

I guess I'd say FFX-2. Just because I bounced off after about 2 hours and we didn't have the club levelling system at the time that might have got me over the hump. I should really try it again sometime.

bobbywatson wrote:

Biggest hate completion
Persona 5. I hated the game at the start, I was loving it around the mid point, and went back to hating it by the end.
Also I could not date Ryuji.

Ouch! One of my favourite club games, just tough to find time playing it at home. I literally averaged an hour less sleep over 2 months or so just to get that game done.

bobbywatson wrote:

Biggest surprise
Suikoden. I liked that it really just moves along, and the gameplay and graphics aged pretty well! I might play 2 at some point in the future.

2 is so good! I was surprised at the length of 1. I remember reading back in the day that it was super short, like 10 hours, which was 100% the reason why I didn't buy it at the time (seemed sh*tty value at 90 AUD). But, in game club I'm pretty sure I was about 30 hours in and still hadn't beaten it before I got distracted. Wish I'd pushed through.

LastSurprise wrote:

Mr GT Chris, I was away from the forums for several days, but congrats on finishing Bravely Second! I've leveled you up.

So when are you going to skip a game so I can catch you!

Maybe this time, if Fire Emblem Three Houses proves too tempting! Then again, due to the US's disastrous response to the pandemic, I'm home all the time. So ... probably not soon?

Are you going to create a new thread so that you can keep the OP updated, or can the mods give you ownership of this one?

I'm a bit late here but thank you bobbywatson!

Thanks bobbywatson! All the best.

Favourite club game
So far? Trails of Cold Steel II. It's been really interesting discussing the writing with everyone. I'm also just having a lot of fun playing it! I usually burn out near the end of lengthy games, no so here.

Least favourite
I really bounced off Bravely Second, and I'm not sure why. I enjoyed it at the start, but it was a chore to play pretty early on. The magic wasn't there.

Biggest hate completion
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. I can see why so many people love this game, and it's got a lot going for it...But the balance didn't suit me and the end was a massive slog. I really had to force myself to see it through.

Glad I did, but oof.

Biggest surprise

I haven't been around long enough to have a big one. Maybe Kingdom Hearts? It wasn't quite what I expected and I was so charmed by it. I don't think it's a particularly good game at all, but for a game to charm me to the point of being able to ignore its major faults was a first.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Are you going to create a new thread so that you can keep the OP updated, or can the mods give you ownership of this one?

That's a great question! I'll have to figure it out by the end of the month, I guess.

I had a good time playing Bravely Second Alongside you and equally enjoyable Trails of Cold Steel II with you guys

Just realized I'd yet to share my answers to the current question game!

Favourite club game
Final Fantasy XII - it was the perfect excuse to play what is possibly my favorite in the series.

Least favourite
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix - Learned the hard way how outdated the gameplay is and, in truth, how terrible the writing even in this first in the series. The series has only really gone downhill in the story department.

Biggest hate completion
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix - Not really a hate completion, since if I don't like the game, I simply leave it, but it comes close enough.

Biggest surprise
Ys: Origins - I like Ys in general, but didn't expect this one to be as fun.

Of interest to some people from this thread: NIS America is having a sale on Steam at the moment, and both Ys VIII and Trails of Cold Steel III are included in it.

I spoke with one of the mods, got the authorship of the thread changed over, and it looks like I'll be able to edit it. So, we'll be able to stick with this thread!

Biggest surprise
Ys: Origins - I like Ys in general, but didn't expect this one to be as fun.

I actually forgot this one, it's probably tied with Tactics Ogre as my biggest hate completion, lol!

It was a fantastic game the first time around, second time...Started to wear thin after a few hours. Third time? I was well and truly done, so I put it on easy and smashed through the story.

But you know what? I never would have seen all of the story if it wasn't for the club, and I'm really glad I did because Ys IX is right around the corner, and having the added context of Origins is so nice. The JRPG club really helps me push through games like this and I appreciate that a hell of a lot.

Thought I might chime in.

Favourite club game
NieR: Automata - This is still in my top few games from the past couple of years. I loved the characters, setting and music.

Least favourite
Dragon's Crown - I enjoyed elements of this, but as the game moved on it felt more limited and repetitive. To little RPG and too much mindless action for me.

Biggest hate completion
I guess Dragon's Crown by default, because I have really enjoyed the other 4 games I have finished and even Dragon's Crown had the decency of being quite short.
I try hard to drop games rather than battle to the end of something I'm not enjoying otherwise Bravely Second would have been a contender here. I loved the first 20 or so hours here but after that, it felt too grindy (which I understand is kind of the point but it didn't work for me)

Biggest surprise
Ys: Origins - I had never played a Y's game before and found this to be a fantastic experience. I think there is a lot to be said for keeping a game focused and tight.

Held off answering since I thought it was just for Bobby since he is taking a break. But since everyone else is, thought I would jump in.

Favourite club game
Going to have to give this one to Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. I played Trails in the Sky way back with the first club and liked it, but had trouble getting into Second Chapter after playing the game twice for full completion. But after playing Cold Steel, I fell in love with the series and was eager to play Cold Steel 2.

Least favourite
Kind of boring if this is the same as the hate completion entry, so I am going to go with Final Fantasy XII. The club was the third time I tried to play this game, and I think I made it about as far as my initial attempt when the game came out brand new. I am not sure what it is, but I think my lack of interest in the world, the characters, and the completely boring combat just create a perfect storm of me being unable to complete it. I have been a long time Final Fantasy fan, but have struggled with all their releases post X (only a handful of hours in 13, never touched 15, and 7R's combat makes me wary to pick it up).
Maybe I will find some time when I am really bored and pick up where I left off and charge through to completion. Maybe it will forever remain the last Final Fantasy I picked up but never completed.

Biggest hate completion
This would have to go to Bravely Second: End Layer. I started out pretty strong on the game, but starting around chapter 3 or 4 I started to really have problems wanting to play it. I love the idea of the variety of jobs and mix and matching them to do something cool, but especially on normal, you really don't need anything beyond "do lots of damage" so you just stick Two-Hand or Dual Wield on everyone. It was also hindered being on the 3DS, which is my least favorite gaming system of all time.

Biggest surprise
This one goes to Suikoden. I knew nothing about this one going in, but found an entertaining game with a cast of characters that was shallow but interesting (only like 5-10 of the 108 get any real development). Combat was crisp and clean, with some interesting twists in the union attacks that made me want to try different characters and see how things interacted. It was short enough that it didn't overstay its welcome, making me want more and jump into Suikoden 2 right away.

Hey folks, the end of the quarter is coming up soon! I know very few of us are even close to done with Cold Steel 2, but even so, it's time to start thinking about the next game.

Borrowing from the CRPG Club, I'm going to change up the schedule a bit. In the past, we've allotted about a week for nominations and a week for voting. But, because we're nor a large club and the responses tend to come in early, I think that length of time is unnecessary and leads to the conversation around voting fizzling a bit. So, we're going to compress that period. Second, the last few times, we've had a large number of games up for voting, which I think makes it harder for us to arrive at consensus about what we want to play. In response, I'm going to make two changes: I'm no longer going to roll forward the top vote-getters from a prior quarter, and we'll use the Pick Six method to winnow the field (unless we only get 6 contenders to begin with).

Here's the schedule:
Sept. 19: Nominations Open
Sept. 22: Close Nominations, Open "Pick Six" Round Voting
Sept. 25: Close "Pick Six" Nominations; Open Ranked-Choice Voting
Sept. 28: Close Ranked Choice Voting; Declare Winner!

LastSurprise wrote:

Hey folks, the end of the quarter is coming up soon! I know very few of us are even close to done with Cold Steel 2, but even so, it's time to start thinking about the next game.

Borrowing from the CRPG Club, I'm going to change up the schedule a bit. In the past, we've allotted about a week for nominations and a week for voting. But, because we're nor a large club and the responses tend to come in early, I think that length of time is unnecessary and leads to the conversation around voting fizzling a bit. So, we're going to compress that period. Second, the last few times, we've had a large number of games up for voting, which I think makes it harder for us to arrive at consensus about what we want to play. In response, I'm going to make two changes: I'm no longer going to roll forward the top vote-getters from a prior quarter, and we'll use the Pick Six method to winnow the field (unless we only get 6 contenders to begin with).

Here's the schedule:
Sept. 19: Nominations Open
Sept. 22: Close Nominations, Open "Pick Six" Round Voting
Sept. 25: Close "Pick Six" Nominations; Open Ranked-Choice Voting
Sept. 28: Close Ranked Choice Voting; Declare Winner!

Seems like a good call, to me.

These are horrible changes and everything needs to get back to the way it was! It's an outrage!

Just kidding

Sounds good, looking forward to it.

bobbywatson wrote:

These are horrible changes and everything needs to get back to the way it was! It's an outrage!

Just kidding :)

IMAGE(https://66.media.tumblr.com/25a16521ef4047e5875984d55834d85b/tumblr_my95ekrf2M1t5kfcwo1_250.gif)

The power is already going to his head!

And, it's time! Nominations for our final game of 2020 open now, and will stay open until 12:00 Eastern on Monday, 9/22.

I am going to change things up a bit and nominate Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling! I'd love to get the group's take on this, because the studio is not Japanese, but from everything I've read, the game sounds like a love letter to Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door -- and, it sounds well-written and fantastic.

I don't think we need to actually have the RPGs come from Japan; I recall Battle Chasers was nominated before, and I'd also put things like Child of Light in the JRPG category. But, if everyone else thinks there's not enough J in this choice, I'll come up with another.

The "J" in JRPG doesn't matter to me. It's just a way to know what general style the game is to me, i.e. it's not a CRPG.

With the recent Monster Hunter news, I'd like to nominate Monster Hunter Stories. Available on 3DS and mobile devices. I fired it up a little while ago and, while immediately charmed, didn't get a chance to play further. I think it's also got some sort of multiplayer (like Pokemon) which could be great with a group! Doubt I'd get a chance to battle otherwise.

Would be nice to knock that one out before the sequel, haha

IMAGE(https://www.gamingboulevard.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/monster-hunter-stories-screenshot-mounted-combat-3ds.jpg)

Roar!

I’m extra late, but wanted to say thank you to bobbywatson as well.

I’d be fine with Bug Fables for a similar reason to Unicycle. It’s also one of those interesting little games that I’ve heard about for a bit now and want to try at some point. The only objection I’d have is on a technicality, since the Wikipedia page says it first launched on Steam in November 2019, less than a year ago. If you just google for Bug Tales launch date it says something about and initial date of May 2019, but I don’t see that supported anywhere.

In the meantime, I’ll nominate Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana.