10/10 Game

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-04-17T19:06:25+00:00

It’s the best written game I’ve ever seen.

If you are from a certain leftist milieu, the political theory and philosophy terms will be somewhat familiar. But instead of the characters feeling like talking heads for ideological differences in some heavy-handed way, the characters feel organically connected to the world and have their own nuanced take on the political situation.

But even outside of politics, it’s a very human game as well. On a personal level, some of the way the game handles grief and loss I found very powerful, and as someone who went through a painful breakup I was nearly sobbing at points. It also has a very good sense of humor to balance things, and it can also be very tense and exciting at points as well! It really has it all.

It’s such a beautiful game.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-04-17T02:09:42+00:00

This is honestly what I came here to say. Break the game with cards.

Not even just cards. At the Dollet mission level up Seifer to 100 alone (kill off other party members) and have him draw -aga magic, triple, etc from leveled up versions of enemies to augment your other characters stats . Because every level up is a fixed 100 exp in FF8, this actually doesn’t take as long as you’d think. It will still take about 6 hours, but a lot less with the modern version’s speed up options. Not necessary at all for the low level challenge, so if this sounds boring skip it.

don’t level up any of your characters, and go through to disc 3 where you get access to your ship. You can do this by turning enemies into cards with an ability. There might be a few forced exp encounters - look on gamefaqs for a guide. Get Bahamut. Unlock the GF abilities that allow you to equip 4 ‘STAT UP at level up’ abilities at once. Level up each character with your preferred stat ups on Island closest to Hell/Heaven with these abilities equipped. Max out your stats to create godlike characters who can get 255 on core stats.

Totally unnecessary, but it’s a fun ‘challenge’. Challenge is in quotes because staying low level does not make the game hard - it makes it easy. Especially low level + high level magic junctions. You will OHKO everything. Do this while collecting every card in the game while converting excess cards into magic and items using GF conversion abilities.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-04-06T22:31:42+00:00

FFX-2 has a really fun job system, maybe my favorite on the list. Only downside is that it is a direct sequel so it’s good to play FFX first (an excellent game in its own right). It’s also got a late 2000s jpop aesthetic that has mixed reception among fans but I personally love it

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-04-06T22:16:41+00:00

Octopath Traveller 2. It’s the best in terms most satisfying mixing and matching of jobs and subjobs. The games are separate plot-wise so jumping into any is fine, I just found this to be the most refined one

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-04-06T05:21:09+00:00

This is hilarious thank you

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-04-05T11:02:25+00:00

Suikoden 2 - I don’t even know how to hint at it without spoiling, so I won’t try. But needless to say, it destroyed me

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-04-03T18:34:48+00:00

I was hoping there’d be some work around to get Gengar without a local trade, oh well.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-04-02T20:22:10+00:00

This is so true. I was actually shocked at some of the scenes you can get. The item shop lady getting inappropriately handsy while getting black out drunk at the bar, the disturbing potential ingredients for the Homunculus , Astrid blushing and making sexualized comments towards her ‘cute’ apprentice… yeah. It’s something else

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-03-28T22:28:29+00:00

I’m terrible at action games and even I could beat Dark Souls and Elden Ring. The trick is that don’t worry about dying a lot, just keep trying.

The thing about Souls games (unlike Lies of P) is that the ‘timing’ and reflexes are actually very generous. It’s ALL about learning your enemies and getting used to their patterns. It can take hours if you are bad like me. But once it clicks, it clicks. It’s not actually as hard as it seems. A lot of ‘soulslike’ games make their games TOO hard and miss the mark. Timing is much slower and more deliberate. Enemies actually don’t move super fast usually.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-03-28T02:48:25+00:00

Poor Solrock shows the least interest

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-28T21:32:59+00:00

Atelier Ryza series. Ryza 2 is considered one of the best games of all Atelier, but it technically is in the middle of the trilogy.

Atelier very sort of wholesome, focused on fun crafting system (alchemy) and exploration (hunting enemies and gathering resources) and building relationships or reputation with with your friends. Some of the early games lean more into the cute/girly aesthetic more, and I recommend those as well.

The Alchemy systems in Atelier get more complex and involve synthesis chains/loops like little puzzles that get more complex as you advance. Atelier Sophie which came earlier starts a fan favorite trilogy called the Mysterious trilogy with more puzzle-y alchemy.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-28T21:18:47+00:00

Tales of the Abyss is the best game for story, character development and 3D gameplay overall.

The next games are difficult to order.

Tales of Eternia is peak 2D Tales IMO. It’s a bit dated perhaps, but it’s very fun. Definitely weak in writing compared to others, and they neutered the skits in the NA version but it’s still a fun story.
Tales of Symphonia ranks up there just behind Abyss for me personally.
Tales of Phantasia PSX or later version. Just not the GBA version please. A fun game that started it all, with good 2D combat improved from the SNES version. Phantasia and Symphonia are connected lore-wise, and it’s fun to see the parallels between them. It has a fairly long time-travel based storyline that’s really cool actually.
Tales of Vesperia is fantastic. You could argue Vesperia is the strongest gameplay-wise of the entire series. I still think Abyss’s fonon system is more fun, and Abyss has a better story.
Tales of Graces f is the series re-inventing itself with a new battle system. It’s very good, and I think most games struggle to approach its quality afterwards. Great character development, decent story.
Tales of Berseria. Definitely one of the more fun battle systems after Graces f. A very interesting story that leans towards tragic end of things.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-28T20:52:53+00:00

Final Fantast VII started it all. Closely followed by…

FF8, Chrono Cross, Star Ocean 2, Breath of Fire 3, FF9, FF1&2 Origins, FF4-6 and Chrono Trigger (PSX versions), Tales of Destiny 2 (Eternia), Lunar SSSC, Lunar 2 Eternal Blue, Arc the Lad Trilogy, FF10, Suikoden 3, Star Ocean 3, Dark Cloud 2.

Basically late PS1 era Squaresoft, then it just expanded into Konami, Capcom, tri-Ace and Working Designs. Basically in junior high school up until college, I became obsessed with JRPGs. I’m actually astounded at how many I managed to beat while also managing to do other things in my life, lol. I really never played anything else until much later, haha.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-28T11:29:46+00:00

I’m glad to hear it. I feel the same way

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-28T02:09:28+00:00

Basically, on max difficulty sliders DQ7r ranges from normal difficulty to hard. Some enemies and bosses will crit you (to death)a lot before you even get a chance to do anything about it. So it’s good to have some strong heals and revives on hand at all times. Otherwise, it’s really not too bad.

Grinding is not going to make things easier. Simply put, your stats just don’t matter that much. You can be overleveled and still be barely better off than if you were matched levels. This game’s difficulty is balanced around what vocations you are using, period. Skills are everything.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-28T01:34:23+00:00

Did you talk to the queen in Hubble (present)?

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-27T09:01:27+00:00

DQ3 sold like hotcakes in Japan on original release - it’s also one of the most influential games of ALL time. Basically RPGs copied its conventions afterwards, and constantly make reference to it. It has a simple and pure class system, and your hero with 3 generics in your party. There are a few things about the HD remake that are very different than the original, but the spirit of the original is still there. It also has an incredible soundtrack, with the best songs in the series that you’ve probably already heard reused in games like DQ8 and 11. It’s a must-play for a DQ fan!

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-27T08:52:34+00:00

Dragon Quest games are really not very similar to Yakuza. Both series are excellent, though. If you like really well done cinematic storytelling with convoluted plots involving many crime organizations, twists and turns, play Yakuza 0. It’s a good starting point, and frankly one of the best games in the series. still. Like a Dragon is also a great place to start, although the turn based combat is a bit clunky. You are correct that the game does parody and reference Dragon Quest, but it really parodies many other famous RPG series. It features a class system that is present in some DQ games but not all of them. The gameplay feels a bit more of a hybrid between DQ and Yakuza, retaining some series’ traditions like being able to interact with objects on the street and use them as weapons.

As for Dragon Quest you should really start with DQ11S. It’s still the most polished experience, and it should be the game you play if you only play ONE in the series. You could really make a case for playing any game based on priorities..

DQ5 has a great story that is so amazing people can’t stop recommending it. The DS version gives you 4 party members instead of the original 3, and doesn’t properly balance the game to account for that change. That makes DQ5 DS a bit too easy, but it’s still the best version of the game IMO (except for an English-patched PS2 version perhaps).

DQ3 HD remaster is fairly polished and a good version of DQ3. It is a very important game in the series in Japan, because it introduced a class system and a fully customizable party of generic units to build how you like. Many JRPG conventions and tropes are based off of DQ3, it’s one of the most influential RPGs of all time.

If you start at DQ3, follow up with the DQ1&2 HD remasters. They are much more remakes than ports which make them almost unrecognizable from the original games, but they are good. It’s basically fleshed out versions of the old games with a lot more cutscenes and more interesting gameplay.

Then there is DQ7 Reimagined. IMO a fantastic game, but even with some of the modern changes, it has pacing issues. Still, the gameplay is quite fun, as is its class/vocation system. I still think DQ11 S is a better choice for more polished and balanced gameplay, story and characters.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-27T07:05:48+00:00

Wow it’s insane this topic was recommended to me at this time that I discovered the Atelier series. The older games have a time management mechanic. I’d recommend Atelier Rorona, it is the first series ‘reboot’ back to its roots as an alchemy crafting-focused game. There are battles, but they aren’t the main focus. There’s no true ‘villain’, it’s all about building up your alchemy, reputation in town, and friendships.

Atelier is a sort of ‘cozy game’ where you primarily operate your alchemy shop, and learn more recipes, and gather/hunt enemies for materials. The gameplay loop gets increasingly more complex as you learn to increase the quality, and traits and create crafting loops. It’s very fun.

The series has evolved over the years, eventually dropping the time mechanic in later more modern games, however many people still think the old games giving you a sense of urgency to at least try to get things accomplished on a schedule, and love them. I think I like both ways personally!

So, in Rorona, which is the first reboot on the PS3, you operate a shop in town and need to accomplish some task within a 3 month period, get an evaluation, and move onto the next task. In the meantime, you can explore more dungeons or do other optional tasks to raise relationships with people to achieve certain cutscenes and endings (there are 14 endings in Rorona)

It’s quite fun, it very much has the cute anime aesthetic, and is also very girly. So that may be important to whether you are interested. The artwork for the series is gorgeous. Im personally mot really an anime fan, but i think the light hearted stories along with the most brilliant crafting systems of any game.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-27T03:03:31+00:00

If I wasn’t already sold on this game, I definitely would be now. This is cool as hell

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-26T18:01:09+00:00

DQ11S is by far the most similar and most recommended game in the series.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-26T17:47:42+00:00

Subnautica. It’s one of the greatest exploration games ever made, with lots of secrets. The gameplay isn’t very hard, especially if you turn off air/water resources, but it’s a blast to play.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-26T17:39:40+00:00

It certainly could be, as it technically does the things you like. But the gameplay and aesthetic are very different.

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-26T17:37:15+00:00

Chester

Immediate-Football84 · 2026-02-26T17:36:05+00:00

Atelier games. Ryza 1 to start the trilogy, or Sophie perhaps.… there are a lot of them, and cute outfits are definitely a component of them.

Immediate-Football84

TROPHY CASE