JRPGs that Aren't Final Fantasy Catch-All 2.0

NISA made the mistake of dropping their prices instead of merely cutting them during sales. To get attention during Steam sales and the like they need to have higher prices in order to show higher discounts.

So, Ys VIII will be 80% off instead of 60% off, resulting in more sales during a sale.

It's a bad look, but they're basically acknowledging that in order for visibility they need to game the system. And that gaming the system generates more $$$ than the bad press from this.

Blue Reflection Tie, sequel to magical-girl JRPG Blue Reflection, is official and releasing in Japan this October. No official US release yet. I've been curious to play the first, but it never hits impulse-buy territory on Steam sale. Given Koei-Tecmo recently dropped Ryza 2 in the summer steam sale while the original game continued to sit at full-price $50 or $60 range has me thinking that Koei-Tecmo is allergic to low prices.

Yeah, seems like Blue Reflection doesn't go on sale very often. I managed to catch it on sale earlier this year (or maybe the the end of last year) and played through it before the anime premiered. It was alright.

It's a gorgeous game, despite some very noticeable animation problems. Game-play wise it has some interesting systems, but basic battles very quickly become repetitive where you just end up spamming the same few moves every battle, even more so than other JRPGs. I think the enjoyment of the game really comes down to whether you can get interested in the characters and their relationships and the little bit of mystery surrounding the motivation of the first two Reflectors.

Does it have difficulty levels? I feel like I heard it mentioned that it is more interesting if you play on Hard, but I might be thinking of something else. I know that was true for Caligula Effect: Overdose.

I does. I played through the entire game on hard, but after two or three chapters I hardly noticed. Only the boss fights offered a challenge, and even then the last three or four were just prolonged battles rather than dangerous ones.

Blue Reflection is pretty high up on my "to play" list. Sometimes it's nice to play something different and a little rough around the edges. The setting really intrigues me.

Hopefully they can iron out a few of the issues with the new release.

Just shy of the 76 hour mark, beat Trails to Azure.

What. A. Ride. Total rollercoaster of twists and turns.

So I’m trying to think about how to even talk about what I think about this game. I’ve now played the Sky and Crossbell arcs of the Legend of Heroes series, and I think Sky SC is a good comparison to Azure, since both are the big climactic bow on their respective stories. They're what Sky FC and Zero were building up to, respectively. So for a brief aside, Sky SC is maybe one of my favorite JRPGs ever, in terms how it take this nice little adventure and world building game, and was able to grow into this giant cataclysmic thing with great character growth and great twists and character payoffs.

Well, I think I can make the case that this is at least as good as Sky SC was, and probably even better. The music is equal if not better (and there are some absolute bangers, especially the boss music); the characters are generally better; the way it tells the story is better; the twists were as good if not better (and they get crazy and they keep coming); the way character arcs are handled is better; and the way it ties many of the threads hanging throughout the 100+ hour journey from things you’ve done and people you’ve met between the two games is much more satisfying. So I think this one is really good.

I do have one gripe, ironically about there not being enough dialogue. That’s not a problem that this series has very often, but there were a few key moments where our band of heroes stood opposed to something that was going on, but with not enough explanation as to why. There are any number of reasons for it, but adding a few more lines to explain their thoughts would have helped with the characterizations and tell us why they are fighting, especially since I think there was room for the team to disagree, which I think could have been interesting. But I don’t think this takes away from the whole.

I don’t know if I love it quite like I did with the Sky games, since that level of character interaction and development in a non-Persona game was kind of a revelation to me at the time, but I do think this one is a better game across the board. I’m going to have to think about where it would fit into my pantheon of games for awhile.

In the meantime, for those who are fans of the Trails series, you should make a point to get around to this one. Doesn’t matter if it’s with the fan translations now or with the NISA releases in 2022. I think it's worth it.

Also, if I can call back to a few pages ago....

bobbywatson wrote:

The worst boss fight in a Trails games, so far, goes to this boss in Trails to Azure (chapter 2, day 2):

Spoiler:

My party got surprise attacked by eight birds that can (and will) cause freeze close to 100% of the time for 3 turns. Of course, I did not put any freeze protection against my characters, so all I could do was watch them get attacked repeatedly, with their HP going down and down, until I got a party wipe before I could do anything.

Classy. Hopefully I have some accessories to protect against that, because otherwise it means I have to go back out, buy some, and then redo the dungeon. Luckily it's not that long.

If you don't like status ailments, wait til you fight (spoilers obviously)

Spoiler:

Campanella; Even my “no status ailments” equipment couldn’t save me from him.

Well smack my gob and toss me in a wood chipper, they're actually releasing Super Robot Wars 30 in the States.

No sh*t? Oh, just Steam. That's cool.

And this is coming in November of this year:

NISA's localization teams are clearly a well-oiled machine now. NISA might make more money than NIS...

Son of a gun, I was expecting that to be early 2022. That's not only sooner than anticipated, but not even a month after Lost Judgment.

Speaking of NISA. Going through

Spoiler:

Criminal Girls

. It isn't too horny except for that whole motivate stuff. The game is pretty boring with no extra skills you get from the motivate stuff. I wish the character you play as wasn't so clearly a cypher for you.

Wait, an actual SRW game... which is licensed? I thought the reason why we didn't get English/NTSC versions was because it was in anime licensing hell for the 324 series each game mashed together.

Apparently you can do it on Steam. They're probably releasing it on Steam (or wherever) under a different region and Steam will allow them to sell in NA/Europe/etc, thus bypassing the licensing issues.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/8...

Gawd, I can't wait for the Switch 2 and the end of shimmering. The image quality seems to vacillate between amazing and budget title. Very confusing.

But! Demons looks awesome, combat effects in general look incredible. And the music continues to be on point.

Looks pretty darn snazzy. Will defo get it for Xmas as a gift from me to moi.

Weekly Famitsu has released, and with it a bunch of new info it seems.

First comes Dragon Quest XII and the statement that it is being developed to "shape the next 10 to 20 years of Dragon Quest". Sounds like they're looking to shake things up but also trying to assure everyone that they're not going to abandon core or traditional aspects of the franchise. What that means, who knows. It's always tough to walk that line between traditional and evolved.

Then there's a whole slew of things from Atlus.

  • “In addition to the Persona 25th anniversary project, we hope to share a few other surprises.”
  • “We would like to hold events for Persona where possible. Not just for Japan, but also overseas.”
  • “We’re continuing to put our efforts into Vanillaware titles and other Atlus intellectual properties.” (Editor’s Note: A new project with Vanillaware was teased back in March 2019.)
  • “We’re working on a variety of titles, both announced and unannounced, and hope to release them as soon as possible. We also hope to bring you some surprises in the future.”
  • “There are currently five or six development lines in effect. Or about 10 when you include Vanillaware and other external companies we’re working with, plus technological research and development.”
  • “Project Re Fantasy is progressing little by little, and we hope to deliver it when the timing is right.”
  • “We hope to be able to share more news on Etrian Odyssey to everyone as soon as possible.”
  • “There are other big unannounced projects moving forward that will also surprise everyone. We’re excited to tell you about them when we can. Please give us a bit of time before the announcement.”

All I want to know is what the heck they're doing with Project Re: Fantasy that's causing it to take so long. First guess: they announced it before a prototype had even been built, which is always the problem with announcing your game super early.

Interested in knowing whatever the other Vanillaware title is, and I know Etrian Odyssey has some fans around here, too.

DQXII is probably more of the same, I'm sorry to say. That's their MO. They'll probably come up with some interesting twist, but my guess is they'll make the games a little more user friendly while keeping the rest with tradition. The talk of 10-20 years I bet is tech. And that's cool.

Or perhaps just a voiced protagonist.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what Vanillaware has cooking next after the wonderful insanity that was 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.

Nah, I expect some big changes to the series. 11 was the big anniversary game and went very traditional to cap off the series up to this point. I expect DQ 12 to go with an action combat system similar (but different) to FF VII to grow the series. They were originally going to make DQ IX an action RPG way back in 2009, but backed off due to heavy backlash by Japanese gamers.

I believe they already stated an action combat system when they announced it in May, so that's definitely the direction they'll be going. I expect it to be closer to a Tales of experience than anything going on in FFVII Remake, though.

Dyni wrote:

I'm really looking forward to seeing what Vanillaware has cooking next after the wonderful insanity that was 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.

I think Elder Scrolls 6 will be out before the next Vanillaware game.

Djinn wrote:

Nah, I expect some big changes to the series. 11 was the big anniversary game and went very traditional to cap off the series up to this point. I expect DQ 12 to go with an action combat system similar (but different) to FF VII to grow the series. They were originally going to make DQ IX an action RPG way back in 2009, but backed off due to heavy backlash by Japanese gamers.

Considering the relative success of DQXI, I doubt they're still trying to chase the NA market like they were back when DQIX was in the works. Fairly sure the point of saying "we're shaking things up, but not too much" is because they're sticking with turn based.

But I could be wrong. DQ development isn't something I have a good line on. Hori could be saying things that I would otherwise be able to interpret, but I don't have a huge history with his hints and whatnot.

I double-checked the Anniversary stream in which it was announced and I made assumptions. All Hori said was they were changing the command battle system but didn't really go into detail regarding it. Other comments focused on the game having a bit more of an "adult" focus and having options and making choices that impact your life, but really, nothing substantial.

So really, there's too much unknown to really speculate or make predictions.

Yeah, we'll have to wait and see, but I do think following up a traditional anniversary title with something different is the right thing to do. You don't want to make the same game twice in a row, especially when the last title was so well received. And we do know that Squeenix wanted to turn Dragon Quest into an ARPG years ago, so this seems like the best time to make that transition. I've got nothing to back that up, but that's what my gut is telling me.

Well, apparently Horii said it's going to be command based still on the stream. Whether that's a pausable action game who knows.

I have a feeling that Final Fantasy is going to be their pioneer, multi-million selling, worldwide action RPG franchise going forward and that the days of turn-based/ATB Final Fantasy are dead. It has its own "Wait" mode systems and I know they got their fans (hi Beeporama!), but to me FFXV and VII Remake both felt designed to be action RPG first and foremost. With Dragon Quest they tried to transition, likely failed to expand the audience, and instead got gripes from their traditional audience.

So, they'll try to evolve, but even with Dragon Quest XI likely being their biggest Dragon Quest hit outside of Japan (I don't have numbers so can't prove it), I imagine they're fine with that being for a less mainstream/broadly appealing audience.

At least, that's me giving them the benefit of the doubt. We know that Square Enix knows how to diversify to an extent, unlike some big time publishers.

ccesarano wrote:

I have a feeling that Final Fantasy is going to be their pioneer, multi-million selling, worldwide action RPG franchise going forward and that the days of turn-based/ATB Final Fantasy are dead. It has its own "Wait" mode systems and I know they got their fans (hi Beeporama!), but to me FFXV and VII Remake both felt designed to be action RPG first and foremost.

You're probably right. I know my tastes are not universal, and there is appeal to more traditional turn-based (or close) systems. I am sorry for people who like them that they probably won't be seeing any more big-budget / numbered Final Fantasy games catering to those tastes.

Although I am a defender, and I do like pointing out how I use "wait" mode to play them as strategically as possible, I can't deny that FFXV and VII seem designed action first. The "wait" mode that I love in FFXV wasn't even in the demo, as I recall.

You guys! The March of the Athletes in the 2021 Olympics began with the Dragon Quest Overture. So cool. (Then the Final Fantasy Victory Fanfare and I think a tune from Tales of Zestiria).

Monster Hunter also, 3 songs I think.

Paper Mario: Origami King. It has such a cool style to it. I know Nintendo has done this with Kirby but wow they just crushed it. Everything fits so well and nothing is glaringly off. The combat is meh to me. I like the whole combat arena with the Toads but I could go without the fights. If they went more puzzles I would like it more.

You don't really need to do it other than the forced fights.

The music though is so good and smooth. It is catchy and a little bassy at times. The writing is fantastic and punchy. They made a Another M reference in this game?

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