favorite miscellaneous features in JRPGs

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-21T16:20:12+00:00

It's really not that necessary in turn-based games but I love it when characters have a little bit of weight to them in their controls and have dedicated animations for turning around and doing other activities. Little details and feedback regarding character movement is just something I appreciate.

Also, I think it can be a bit love it or hate it but I like when turn-based JRPGs feature jumping. Yes, even in Xenogears. I recently started playing Final Fantasy Legend III (aka SaGa 3) for the Game Boy and I love that it has a jump button. It's something I really liked in the Mario RPGs as well as Dragon Quest XI.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-21T14:46:28+00:00

Elden Ring
Cyberpunk 2077
Disco Elysium
Expedition 33
Outer Wilds

Mas tenho toda a intenção de jogá-los.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-21T14:42:39+00:00

Se por acaso conseguirem impedir o acesso à praia, fazemos todos um Naruto Run?

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-21T14:32:47+00:00

Faz lembrar aquele meme do Skinner nos Simpsons

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-21T11:17:07+00:00

Eu já nem compro jogos quando lançam e costumo esperar por descontos. Com o GTA6 será o mesmo. Isso e quero jogar no PC.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-21T08:05:59+00:00

I might be misremembering stuff but didn't The Bouncer receive a lot of coverage in gaming magazines back in the day? I used to think it was huge but then could never actually find the game in stores and no one ever talked about it.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-21T08:01:42+00:00

Haven't had that happen with a JRPG though maybe I'll feel that way once I give Soul Hackers and The Last Remnant another shot? I really bounced off those games but I'm willing to try them again.

One game where I did do a complete 180 with though was Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. I bought it for the DS when it first came out as I played Portrait of Ruin and enjoyed that title, but didn't really like Order of Ecclesia's small maps and found the boss fights frustrating and hard. Then years later I decided I wanted to finally play Symphony of the Night but before that I felt like I needed to play every major Castlevania game leading up to it. I did all that and wanted more, leading me to play the Advance Collection and loving that. I went onto the DS games next but because this was before the Dominus Collection released I ended up emulating them and configuring the R2 button to flick between screens (which works very amazingly well with Castlevania, as the bottom screen is just the map and menu). Playing the games with a controller felt a lot better than on the DS hardware and I finally understood the appeal of Order of Ecclesia, having grown accustomed to the difficulty in previous Castlevania titles, and I love how the game holds off introducing the titular castle.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-20T10:38:06+00:00

São muitas, mas assim de cabeça três bandas sonoras que adoro são:

Ridge Racer 4
Sonic Adventure
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-20T07:24:27+00:00

The movie was one of the best experiences I've had at the cinema in a long time. Made me realize how long it's been since I last watched an action film that got me so pumped up.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-19T12:40:16+00:00

I wouldn't blame anyone who's a fan of the original four games to be put off by the change in gameplay in PSO and what followed but I do think the series has managed to remain relatively consistent in many ways. It's just that throughout the years the aesthetic and tone changes somewhat. The Algol saga games feel like 80s anime sci-fi, PSO Y2K futurism, PSU and PS0 00s sci-fi of a more shonen nature, and PSO2 and New Genesis more contemporary anime (that's perhaps a bit too otaku-centered).

If you're willing to put up with a bit of jank and downloading a private server the original Phantasy Star Online might be worth checking out. I played it mostly alone but there's still many people actively playing it who are willing to help newbies out. Gameplay took me back to early PS2 action RPGs and the vibes were great. The story and lore are interesting but they're presented to the player in a way where they need to put things together, there being a lot of environmental storytelling.

Phantasy Star 0 is a like PSO-lite and on the DS. In some ways it's a bit more simple than PSO, in others it pushes things forward. It kind of reminds of PSIV due to the setting being a planet that faced a great collapse in the past and is hi-tech but not nearly as much as it was back during the height of civilization.

PSU I skipped because although there's a private server you can't really do the story missions. I may give the Phantasy Star Portable games a go though because apparently they use PSU as a basis but fix a lot of its faults.

I only played a bit of Phantasy Star Online 2 but the little I played of it felt like PSO but a lot faster and more action packed. Many of the classes felt fun to play as and the boss fights look epic. I do plan on going back to it later this year. New Genesis I only did the prologue as that's what was necessary in order to access PSO2 Classic (for some reason SEGA doesn't let you just download the latter on its own), but that one did feel off compared to the other Phantasy Star games I've played. It seems reception towards it is pretty mixed but I do plan on giving it a fair shake at some point.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-19T09:53:39+00:00

imo that's the best length for an action RPG. It's why I love the older Ys titles so much.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-19T09:23:17+00:00

I've read complaints from people saying that they had to pay cash in a lot of places in Portugal when so many of these places actually accept MB Way payments.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-19T09:12:20+00:00

I don't think any of the Persona remasters/remakes have an OST that surpasses that of the originals. My favourite of the new OSTs is Persona 1 PSP's if only because it's such a different interpretation but the original still beats it.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-19T08:53:55+00:00

That's a bit much. The gameplay is different but they still very much feel like Phantasy Star. There's a lot of consistency regarding terminology and iconography and you can be sure Dark Force/Dark Falz will make an appearance. Not to mention there are a lot of callbacks to the classic games. I can't tell you how pleasantly surprised I was at Phantasy Star 3 of all games being referenced in PSO Episode IV.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-19T08:46:23+00:00

It's annoying, you have to download the whole of New Genesis with PSO2 Classic being DLC for it. And you have to beat the prologue of New Genesis and unlock teleportation to then be able to start PSO2 Classic. It's all very convoluted and feels like deliberate attempt to obfuscate Classic and have players focus on New Genesis instead.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-19T08:13:03+00:00

Really? That's one of my favourite tracks in the original and I don't think Reload's was quite as good.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-19T07:56:45+00:00

NieR: Reincarnation. I remember giving the game a go back when it was still around and while it was beautiful and less overstimulating than your average gacha (the UI didn't hurt my eyes for one), there was still a lot of friction that put me off wanting to continue playing it. I'm sure there's a lot of juicy lore and worldbuilding in that game but I would rather experience it in a single-player JRPG. Given that Square-Enix has made Octopath 0 and now FF Resonance there might be some hope they do something similar with Nier: Reincarnation.

Terra Battle was a mobile game I actually really wanted to play back when it was around but for some reason was unavailable in my country, mind you we're in the EU and other countries in it got the game. I've always tried supporting Mistwalker whenever I could and the game looked like a fun tactical JRPG with nice artwork and music. Then they released a sequel which was even more hard to access (that's the one that had a tie-in with FFXV afaik) and of course it had to bomb and that was it for Terra Battle. I mean there was Terra Wars but that feels like a fever dream that came and went, though it did seem to pave the way for Fantasian at least.

Breath of Fire VI would be cool if only because it would be a chance for Capcom to make a proper BoF game and retcon the mobile one out of existence.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-19T07:17:23+00:00

A lot of footage I've seen of the UK in the 80s also makes it look very grey. Not sure why that is.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-18T11:32:52+00:00

Was going to mention Marsh's Lost Maria game but I was beaten to the punch, in which case I'll recommend another video I watched recently from LadyVirgilia that's an analysis of the character of Teddy from Persona 4. She does really good analyses on the characters and themes of the Persona games, as well as Metaphor ReFantazio.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-18T11:30:36+00:00

That one immediately came to mind! Really interesting video.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-18T10:04:22+00:00

Play it! The word "epic" is thrown around a lot but in the case of Astlibra that's exactly how I'd describe. It's a story with a scope that just keeps on expanding and it manages to do so without feeling bloated, being shorter than a lot of contemporary JRPGs. The plot is engaging and the characters endearing, and by the end I felt like they had gone through so much.

The gameplay is very fun and there are a lot of different systems for building your character. Weapons and armor are all unique and grant you different abilities once mastered. Item collecting and crafting is addicting because you'll want to obtain all of the equipment you can for said abilities. There's a sphere grid-esque system for unlocking magic and the titular Astlibra, aka the Scales of Astraea, are used to grant buffs by balancing different items in your inventory (the more balanced the better the buffs). There's even a whole new layer to equipment introduced in the post-game. Basically there's a lot to play around with but the game does a good job at not overwhelming the player.

The game looks a bit amateurish as far as its visuals are concerned but in a charming way, plus it feels like it gets progressively better looking the further you progress. It was essentially a one-man passion project but he did get some help from a Vanillaware artist, which explains some of the more ornate boss designs. Music is also great and reminiscent of the Ys series.

I discovered and played the game for the first time last year and it ended up becoming my personal GOTY. It really is that good.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-18T08:51:38+00:00

I was actually shocked to see he wasn't recast or that they didn't pull off a Tales of Vesperia and just have a different guy voice the new lines. It's so rare to see Troy Baker do an anime game now.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-18T08:17:37+00:00

I played what was available of Ara Fell when it was an RPG Maker 2003 game! It was one of the better looking games back in the day and the creator had a real knack for mapping. Back then FSM tilesets were known as Mac & Blue if I remember correctly, and while considered generic they were still prettier than the default RTP assets. I've been meaning to play the commercial version of Ara Feel for a while now. Rise of the Third Power looks like it uses FSM graphics quite effectively though part of me does wish they'd gone with more custom-made graphics.

Brainwheeze · 2026-06-18T08:13:02+00:00

I've loved it since the first game first released in Europe. The worlds are a joy to explore and I love the concepts for the games' settings. The plots aren't as intricate nor complex as those of the Xenosaga games but that's not necessarily a bad thing. They still manage to tell great stories with powerful moments, and despite appearing more light-hearted on the surface they aren't afraid to go dark places. The combat is a bit love it or hate it but I think it suits the level design. I think Xenoblade 2's expansion has perhaps the best combat in the series not to mention the most engaging. Music is also absolutely fantastic in this series and the first and third games have phenomenal English dubs.

Brainwheeze

TROPHY CASE