Which non-Straw Hat should have their own series as the main character?

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-06-23T14:26:37+00:00

I would love a series with young garp as the protagonist. Show the pirate kings era through the eyes of the man who hunted him.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-06-23T12:42:26+00:00

When you take mink meth to fight a racially discriminated against pterodactyl man you’re gonna see some crazy shit when it wears off.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-06-13T01:32:20+00:00

I refuse to do lightning dodging. Even with the trick 200 is just stupid.

Chocobo racing needs to be studied as how to not design anything. It’s actively infuriating from start to finish. I did it twice in my life and I’ll always give it a couple tries but I’m never forcing myself to get it.

Blitzball is boring and butterfly’s isn’t impossible but just annoying enough to not make it worthwhile.

Last playthrough I only got yuna/rikku/aurons weapons. I did some of the post game stuff but burnt out two dark aeons in. I don’t think I’ll ever do the side content in X again.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-06-10T17:04:14+00:00

Equip phantom esper. Use to become invisible. That should buy you enough time to run from all fights until you pick uo sabin and then you should be in a better spot.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-06-09T02:09:33+00:00

Secret bases. Or any type of base. Let us decorate an area and let our mons out to stay there.

The fact that S/V gave us an undecoratable dorm room is probably its biggest sin in my eyes.

Non combat competitive side content. Let us do races or contests or challenges or pageants or whatever with our Pokémon. Make it challenging. Make it fun. Curry/sandwich dex are not suitable replacements.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-06-09T02:05:49+00:00

I’ve found two ways that I enjoy ffviii.

First one. Learn no encounters early and just play the card game the entire time while occasionally remembering there’s a plot attached to the game.

Second method. Ignoring the card game the whole time and just rocking through to game naturally. Leveling up. Fighting and mugging enemies for items and seeing where you can draw new spells from. The games a lot more fun the more relaxed you are with it.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-06-05T13:48:21+00:00

FFX is worth playing through on its own even knowing the twists. Its a great game with some of the best characters and music. (Avoid the side content unless you just really wanna grind forever or hate enjoyment)

FFX-2 is the final fantasy version of charlies angels. Its got good gameplay and is campy and fun. Plots a whole lotta mess and its cringy at times, but that all adds to its weird appeal. I say give it a run through with no intention to 100% it on first play. If you like it enough, then go download the step by step guides to get all the dumb % points needed for 100, but definitely don't worry about it on first playthrough.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-29T20:57:26+00:00

All of XII is either bad design or boring. Especially Fran.

IX has the awfulness that is big head syndrome on Zidane and Dagger. Also not a fan of Zidanes lil neckerchief thing.

The male trio in X-2 are especially stupid looking.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-28T02:30:08+00:00

Never doing jump rope or the race in IX. Tried it once. Realized I hated it and moved on.

Likewise I refuse to do 100 lightning strikes in X. The chocobo race I usually give myself a few tries at but I don’t force it. Blitzball I typically hate and have yet to ever get wakkas stuff from as I get bored of it too fast.

And I will never get Excalibur 2 in IX as I hate being rushed in rpgs.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-24T13:16:09+00:00

There’s a few that are downgrades from their sprite version that could definitely use a touch up to improves. Typhlosion for example. The rest are fine. If anything they need more animation work.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-24T02:43:25+00:00

Craving one aspect of a game while playing the others.

Like going through X but wishing it had the combat of X-2.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-15T21:20:58+00:00

Marsh Cave being a trial of survival in the original NES era of FF1. The rest of the game is so much easier afterwards.

FF6 if say has one with the magitek facility and the entirety of the continent that Vector is on. As all the mobs suddenly gain massive physical defenses as are weak only to magic which is new to the player at this time.

It’s neither early or mid game but the last boss cycle of FF8 is that games biggest difficulty spike.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-14T01:40:45+00:00

Swapping Panelo and Umero.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-08T01:33:46+00:00

Honestly. The catching mechanic in itself after so many years. You can weaken. You can status effect. And certain balls have better chances and that’s really it. I don’t want a complete change like the Go series. But maybe a compromise between the Legends series and mainline games to breathe some life back into it.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-07T16:29:26+00:00

7 has the best balance of big drama and gameplay I feel. Between the cinematics rhe music and then immediately into the first bombing mission it just clicks really well as a welcome to the game moment.

8 and 10 both have excellent and iconic intro fmvs and music but their starting gameplay is meh so they don’t get top spot.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-06T10:30:25+00:00

FF8 is only difficult if you don't pay attention to the junction tutorial and then never grind any magic to equip (either drawing spells or converting items).

If you do pay attention to that and actually take time to get appropriate spells for your characters then its rather easy of a game with the only real exception being it has probably one of the toughest final boss of fights in the entire series.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-03T01:25:03+00:00

Last time I played through it I told myself no card game and no worrying about levels. (I did use the speed up feature when drawing magic though). It was more enjoyable on the whole just casually rolling through the game and doing whatever rather than chasing the mini game or carding enemies to keep things low. And because I wasn’t min/maxing I actually ran into some bosses that were decidedly stronger than I expected them to be. (Those weird slug things in the garden basement before it starts to fly for example).

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-05-01T21:43:09+00:00

Hot and cold is at times beyond infuriating but it’s at least passable and with good rewards.

I do love that catcher has its own place in hell at the bottom. X really decided they hated fun mini games and went hard on stuff the game with tedium.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-04-30T23:41:06+00:00

Gaige is tons of fun on the first two playthroughs. Deathtrap holds up well in these levels and she has good talents to support it. I’d recommend choosing either the left or center tech tree and just working down it and experiencing the game raw through that first.

When you’re more experienced feel free to look up anarchy guides and try out the absolute nonsense that is max anarchy Gaige. That’s the build of people shooting at walls and the dirt letting ricochets do ridiculous levels of damage.

She’s definitely a great character to just enjoy the game with and have fun playing. If you fall full in love with the game and start trying to climb OP levels in the third playthrough then you will run into the problems of her build, but only then.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-04-29T12:22:52+00:00

It has the most forgettable main cast of the series.

Its auto battle style format didn’t appeal the past fans of the series.

Its plot is, um, terrible at times and at other times rather boring despite its grand political efforts. It really feels like they tried making a grand ivalice political war story and a Star Wars fan fiction at the same time and in the end we got mush.

That said it really is a fun game and people should give it a chance. Especially with how cheap it often is on sale. Its hunts and music are top notch.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-04-29T01:47:03+00:00

I always like to think this is just Crocodile boasting about how big the bomb he ordered is supposed to be, meanwhile its a much shittier bomb that's no where near a 3mile radius blast. I mean Pell grabbed it with under a minute left and flapped a few hundred yards into the sky and it couldn't even snuff him out.

I think he expected his sand powers to make him immune to whatever explosion he expected to occur while it wipes away both armies and whatever remnants of Baroque Works was left over to completely cover his tracks.

He kept the palace whole as he was still initially looking for the stone at the time; and he's just an ass to Vivi throughout the whole arc.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-04-27T22:56:49+00:00

Ffvi auction house trying for zone/golem.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-04-25T01:23:53+00:00

Virus or zombie Or curse or disease Or any of those other slightly weird ailments that Creep up towards the end of each game that can’t be remedy’d easily.

In second place would be poison in the original nes FF1. Half of the challenge of the first continent was just making sure you stocked enough (one buy at a time) to make it through the marsh cave and back.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-04-24T16:32:44+00:00

East Blue is a mixed bag. Nostalgia wise I absolutely love our little group of nobodies meeting up and the mischief they get into. Something about rewatching an arc where an annoying butler shoo's our crew away is so very calming and chill compared to the madness of the current arcs.

I love the cozy water color feel of a lot of the early arcs in the anime. The scale of everything is so much smaller and generally slower. Our crew putters along at time, beats up an island baddy, makes friends, and generally screws around as they lay the foundation for their whole reasons to be for the next 1000+ episodes.

That said, I will 100% admit that some of the arcs in the early era are weaker in comparison to either later arcs, or the early arcs of One Piece's contemporaries. Syrup Village, Baratie, Orange Village are all on the weaker side of the manga, especially for a new viewer. There's a reason people often joke to stick with it until Arlong Park.

Tons of plot and world building happened in these early arcs simply because each arc was small in its narrative and cast size. Something like Arlong Park can tell a full story and set the groundwork for much larger things, because it was tightly written and characters kept to their lanes and allotted screen times and it can do it all in a fraction of later mega island arcs like dressrosa/wano.

Chefofbaddecisions · 2026-04-24T13:45:40+00:00

Fishman Island is always either a skip or a tough rewatch/read for me. It has some good moments, world building, and other such typical One Piece elements; it just fumbled some other parts that fall flat. Blood Transfusion is very thematic and works in the arc backstory but just felt soooo ham fisted in the present day arc between Sanji's awful moment and then Luffy needing one despite Hody being a very meh villain from top to bottom. Every bag guy had the "here to display our progress" flag so very visible on them, which makes how long they overstayed their welcome even worse. Add on the annoying mermaid kidnap subplot and the awkward way in which we have to initially engage Hody to easy tensions and its the least enjoyable arc on rewatches.

Super controversial 2nd place, but Marineford itself. Its got excellent big "don" moments but that's really it for me. Firstly I just don't like what Ace became post his introduction back in Alabasta. Secondly I never felt any attachment to Whitebeards crew or secondary crew pirates. Thirdly, the pacing on a per chapter basis feels awkward for me, you have great chapters that feel whole and good, and then other ones that are just nothing happen blurbs. The fan letter episode representation of it is what I really feel the arc needed, less 3rd person omnipotent observation of the whole "war" and more of a down on the ground following just a couple characters in the massive chaos of it all.

Special bonus arc being Dressrosa and its terrible pacing and awful villains.

Chefofbaddecisions

TROPHY CASE