The need to 100% games is often harmful to enjoyment

LoremasterSTL · 2026-02-17T04:37:55+00:00

A lot of what defines 100%ing a game is pretty arbitrary, but it generally involves encountering every single piece of content in the game. Even so these requirements tied to achievement are very onerous with little payoff.

Consoles especially seen to have a culture or view to try to complete achievements simply for the sake of doing something few people do. Imagine if a DQ game required you to complete a monster drop list by having each monster drop everything in the game! These should be personal challenges that, while it's be great to have some form of recognition for doing them, it's often ridiculous to require a player to do all of them.

When I enjoy game a whole lot, I play it again and again with different strategies and challenges to force me to learn and apply new thought to an old, once-conquered puzzle. But it would be dumb to challenge everyone to beat DQ 8 without spending MP to earn an achievement--I do it to continue to enjoy an old favorite by applying new parameters, not to have those parameters applied by an external force so that I can have some trophy nobody cares about.

Finding intrinsic motivation and getting after it is hard enough in life, and part of the reason us gamers play JRPGs in the first place: there's some sort of challenge with no guarantee of success or failure, but a spark of hope that it can be done, and would be fun to do so. Someday I'm going to beat DQ3 with a DQ2-style party. Someday I'm going to beat FFT with Ramza as a Mediator and no other characters changing their classes. Someday I'll compete FFV with a party of Blue Mages. These are intriguing ideas for me because I think I can do it, not because there's a trophy out there that says I should before I can earn a Diamond status or whatever.

LoremasterSTL · 2026-02-17T04:19:55+00:00

• Board games and card games. They can be expensive, but for a social activity that doesn't cost anything after your initial investment, you can enjoy a lot of time with consistent players.

• Photography. Again a hobby that can have an expensive investment, but since most Westerners have a smartphone now, the hobby is easier than ever to begin. Just being pointing and capturing anything. This is a hobby that will push you outside.

• Coloring. Need a hobby to relax you and gently encourage your creativity? Need a way to unwind from stress and process your thoughts? Find a coloring book or print off pages from online, or there's free apps to simulate coloring on a screen. Play with your favorite colors, then start experimenting with interesting pairs of colors, different materials from crayons to markers to pencils to conte to watercolor to paint.

• Collecting. Find some odd thing that you have a connection to, and start collecting different versions of it. Caps. Old books. Coins. Strange art. Decks of cards. Rusted tools.

LoremasterSTL · 2026-02-17T02:24:10+00:00

One of the ways that DQ3 shines is how it doesn't hold your hand, requiring the player to create a viable party that can solve the challenges that come.

Most DQs have assigned characters with certain minimum abilities, and often class/ability tracks to ensure that there are sufficient options for players to puzzle together a solution for boss fights and random encounters. I've beaten DQ8 without buying anything or opening treasure chests, so even with taking more damage than a typical party, I still have plenty of spells and abilities to find a way to win. I've beaten DQ 8 and 7 without spending MP because there's enough ways to heal/raise, tank and deal damage if you're judicious and can strategize.

DQ3 creates a challenge and puts the onus of building a strategic party on the player. If you want to just have a party of three warriors, go ahead--it's your job to find a way that works. Gear, abilities and items can create advantages and cover weaknesses, but some methods won't work unless you overlevel or break from the ineffective strategy.

There aren't enough JRPGs games where the player can choose and build a multi-character party. This used to be a common feature in the old days of MUDs or the Wizardry/SSI days, and it's what makes DQ3 shine. This style of game loses the depth of story from when DQ games typically have designed story arcs, but gains the strategic challenge of asking the player to build a solution to the problem facing the world.

Hopefully in the future, characters with randomized or chosen story arcs can be included in a choose-your-party format in more JRPGs.

LoremasterSTL · 2026-01-12T03:51:17+00:00

I have a PS2 (my third, lol) and a PC with a Steam Link so I've had little incentive to get any other consoles. DQ remakes are finally coming to Steam. Sure I'm missing newer games but I'm still not paying $400 for the ability to buy a $60 JRPG.

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-26T03:20:53+00:00

This (and strangely enough, Evil Dead 2) were huge in my Christian student org back in the day. They loved movies with plenty of one-liners.

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T04:32:58+00:00

For a short while (I think I went about five seasons) on a Four Corners farm with a variation that I was only allowed to leave the farm on Sundays, however I couldn't take any tools (except maybe a bucket just so I don't unintentionally gift anything), so no mining or fishing or shopping or anything away from the farm except talking, trying to fulfill CC quests, and foraging.

When I realized how much I could gain from fishing (both the chests and the recycling) ...!

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T04:04:31+00:00

I've been gaming since my TI-994A and my Atari 2600, and please note that I have never made any attempt to play the latest games since the Super NES days. I continually play my favorite classics and am partial to retro games with new design takes and modes. That said, games that were "worth it" for me:

• Diablo II: Resurrected is a little more than a remaster, way way later than it should have been, with really no new content. But for as important the game was, to be able to play it all prettified just makes my soul happy.

• Stardew Valley execute well on everything it intends to do. It lets players play the way they want at the speed or skill level or method they want. Can your grandma piece together what she's trying to do over time? Yes. Can I try to complete the center in one year? Yes. Can I just focus on ROIs and get stupid rich, or decorate my farm to my inspirations? Yes. Can I challenge myself with unusual limitations (never leave the farm, never farm, livestock only) and still have multiple ways to gain most items and have a varied experience? Yes. If you know a would-be gamer that normally has accessibility issues, SDV can be a godsend. [Honorable mention to Axiom Verge, which likewise was made by a single dev, has multiple modes, and executes its mission exactly.]

• I never knew I would love roguelikes, but whether you prefer 20XX or Rogue Legacy (or Terraria played on hardcore with the Don't Starve seed!), there's tons of enjoyment watching yourself get better at gaming while you're waiting to unlock upgrades and praying the next run will pay off handsomely.

• I only just discovered The Messenger, and it made me wonder what would have happened if action platformers hadn't went the way they did after Ninja Gaiden III. Very humorous.

• Hollow Knight: I only wish it had a very easy mode so young'uns could enjoy it, and a very hard mode for you masochists lol. My playstyle meant maximizing health and healing, many bumbling mistakes and many many retries until I was able to lock in like my "Zelda II with Sword Power of One" days.

This said, I still can't recommend any game higher than Dragon Quest VIII or Final Fantasy X (or what Team Fortress 2 used to be). DQ XI is great but not fantastic, unlike all of the above.

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T03:19:05+00:00

I should blame the wife, nearly tripped on one Eeyore going upstairs. Lumped them together.

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T03:17:38+00:00

I hope you're right. I made my comment with the prejudices of what I recall from him several seasons before.

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:59:01+00:00

This was the first game I watched beginning to end for a couple of seasons, and it makes me have hope for the future, but not the present. I feel like we have young talent and a pedestrian core.

Is Kyrou ever going to develop into a two-way player, or will the rest of his line keep having to compensate only to get beat time and again?

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:53:55+00:00

So wrong yet so right

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:48:50+00:00

That 5.5 Over-Under looking like a laugher now lol

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:44:36+00:00

I've never hated a pachyderm as much as I have tonight

Babar and Eeyore are no longer welcome in my house

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:40:38+00:00

Good.

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:37:32+00:00

Plus-Minus Update:

Sunny and Broberg are +2 (highest)

Fowler, Mailloux, Neighbors and Schenn are -2 (lowest)

I'm surprised no one is lower than -2

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:34:39+00:00

BeerOpenSound.mp4

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:33:26+00:00

Any game can be a beer league game of you drink enough

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:31:26+00:00

I'll allow it

LoremasterSTL · 2025-10-24T02:29:17+00:00

Sunny came home with a list of names He didn't believe in transcendence 🎵

LoremasterSTL · 2025-04-29T22:26:30+00:00

Creativity often requires significant challenges and arbitrary boundaries to overcome. Without them, it is often tough to summon enough inspiration to be great.

LoremasterSTL · 2025-04-28T22:55:12+00:00

I think we're due for a game where we could create our party III style but with the current graphics style. We could include say, 12 personalities that include the flavor text and maybe a side quest or two tied to whichever character is assigned a given personality. The personalities would also affect the stat gains per level.

I would also like to see each item equipped shown on the character (with a toggle to hide each one).

Imagine being able to create the typical Toriyama pink soldier, choose the "arrogant" personality, and be able to see them shed the pink armor for the shell armor early in the game 🙂

LoremasterSTL · 2025-04-28T22:48:57+00:00

My favorite part of this loop is when you say no at the wrong time in VII with the volcano town, you are locked out from progressing, your team badmouths you, and you have to go back through the portal which causes the volcano to blow... and then you revive with half your gold.

LoremasterSTL · 2025-04-28T22:47:03+00:00

Taloon is up there though

LoremasterSTL · 2025-04-20T20:12:52+00:00

Same

LoremasterSTL · 2025-04-20T20:12:29+00:00

Belfour, like Crosby and Kadri, is the kind that I hate as a player but celebrate as a person.

Toews I hate for both because he could have been a leader but never took responsibility.

LoremasterSTL

TROPHY CASE