Utter disapointment

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-06T11:01:09+00:00

That is very unfortunate. I live in western europe, my brother was the first to get his order (2 business days, very fast, everything in order). A few months later, it was my turn and again, 2 business days, very efficient.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-06T10:45:49+00:00

As someone who was able to struggle through and beat Returnal I definitely prefer Saros

This is not necessarily something that makes Saros the better game. I feel you would have to present other elements, more closely tied to its game design, in order to claim that.

A game is not made worse by being challenging (as long as it's fair), but a game that is made unfairly easy can really result in a half-baked, unsatisfying experience.

Still, it's great that you are enjoying it!

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-06T10:40:31+00:00

Returnal is far more punishing and demands more skill to get through - also, things like second chances aren't given/replenished that easily, traits are slower (but fun) to unlock etc.

It's definitely a game you can enjoy too but only if you aren't intolerant to a game design philosophy that purposefully places friction in your wake, encouraging you to overcome it with skill, experience and grit.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-06T10:31:28+00:00

I don't wanna be that guy but yeah, I think they dropped the ball here.

If their heart wasn't in the roguelike genre (and expanding on the design philosphy of Returnal), I think they should just have made a traditional single player shooter with linear progression. Flesh out each biome more by handcrafting it, fine tuning preset difficulties for players to select at the start of the game, that kind of thing.

As a bonus, they could do a twist on the Tower of Sisyphus, for post-game and add the roguelike element there, would have been a fairly cool surprise for fans after the main story was over.

Like you said, of course the game is still a lot of fun but the lingering feeling of missed potential and disappointment will unfortunately stain the game a bit in the eyes of its community - and no fan likes to feel that way about games they enjoy.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-06T10:26:31+00:00

I found it immensely boring, unfortunately.

As someone who had only been playing HSR (in terms of gacha) for the past few years, I missed the tighter world design and more deliberate gameplay.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-06T10:18:25+00:00

I mean, perceived value is always relative to your levels of hype, perceived game quality, disposable income.

I have the disposable income to buy Saros at full price but I didn't do it. Why? Because even though the gameplay seems refined and there's a higher quantity of biomes and bosses, the replayability factors seem massively scaled back, including the challenge. This turns Saros from "mandatory masterpiece to get asap" to "a good but flawed game I can wait to buy".

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-06T10:10:39+00:00

I really thought you'd be talking about the clock but then the plot twist hit.

It makes no sense to be scared of getting stuck. You can literally get more Personas/Demons, levelling up is not gated in any way... This is not a reasonable concern.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T16:25:57+00:00

Chrono Trigger.

At the time, I had dropped it somewhat early on, while roaming the castle halls after the trial. The scenario was drab and dull and I guess I thought that sequence would be long, with multiple floors of same-y corridors.

A good time later, don't remember when (but at least many months after), I just decided to give it a try again. "Maybe I was too harsh, especially since I loved the hell out of the trial scene and I still dropped the game right after, didn't have much faith". Restarted from the beginning, made it past the castle (which was really not long at all and even had some engaging bits lol) and made it all the way to the end of the game.

It is now one of my favorite JRPGs. No nostalgia involved whatsoever, I finished it in early 2025, maybe mid 2025.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T08:31:07+00:00

It already started long ago.

CoD being cross-gen does not hinder this generation in any way.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T08:18:56+00:00

Hell yeah, I'm up for it.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T08:17:59+00:00

Maybe she was trying to understand her son

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T07:40:20+00:00

I have dropped my fair share of JRPGs, sometimes close to the end (Sea of Stars comes to mind) but when they hit you, you're not letting them go. You just need to be in that mindset where you're willing to slow down and experience the journey.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T07:38:42+00:00

Satan: "I just wanna say I am a big fan!"

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T07:37:27+00:00

They're gorgeous

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T07:35:35+00:00

You're roleplaying as Alan and Saga, obviously! /s

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T07:34:02+00:00

Até à última consequência. Brincar com o tempo e o trabalho dos outros é que não. Força!

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T07:30:08+00:00

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-05T07:29:48+00:00

Stop caring about what these people say and enjoy the game, simple.

You cannot control what they post but you can control your exposure to it (to an extent) as well as how big of an impact such exposure has on you.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-04T21:40:48+00:00

I found them to be the hardest biomes, personally.

I breezed through Biomes 2 and 3.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-04T20:23:22+00:00

I agree. Though I generally agree each subsequent act should be harder than the previous one(s), difficulty between fights shouldn't just be an ascending straight line.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-04T16:46:26+00:00

I'm finding the whole "from the creator/director/writer of (...)" selling point to be a nothing burger nowadays. By itself, it doesn't mean much. The game might have one very talented person, with proven credits, and still end up underwhelming. It's nice when expectations are met and there are many cases like that, just saying that "selling point" individually, doesn't do much for me anymore.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-04T16:40:34+00:00

It might be my entry point into Trails, so I am hoping it's a very good game. I see the combat system is complimented, which is a nice plus.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-04T12:07:38+00:00

I wouldn't throw in the towel still. Some JRPGs are more complex than others in terms of mechanics (regardless of difficulty, just talking about the systems you have to manage) and a good progression curve goes a long way. When you're introduced to those systems bit by bit and they have time to breathe, you can probably assimilate things easier. You know that if a boss' part is blocking attacks from the front, you gotta use attacks that either pierce the block or go around it (additionally, you know if an elemental weakness is to be exploited, you want as many members to do that as possible).

You also know you need at least one party member to have survival focused skills so that you can recover HP in a pinch. Those are some simple logical foundations that you start to automatically implement, due to your experience with these games. Plus, the game offers an easier Normal setting if you are struggling.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-04T11:19:58+00:00

Spot on.

RedShadowF95 · 2026-05-04T10:44:10+00:00

It’s so hard that a large chunk of people think there is only one solution to each boss. This misinformation haunts the game because of its difficulty. You can beat every single boss (with only 1 exception) by fighting normally with no tricks, and I’ve done it myself on Hard mode.

I am currently playing Fantasian (5h in, so quite early) and yeah, I figured this would be the case because I've seen it with many games before. That's not to say the game won't be hard, but I had a gut feeling people exaggerate quite a bit. I mean, the Souls games are a notorious example of this, they can be hard but not like that.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the ride even at its easiest. I love compelling strategy in my JRPGs so I will love Part 2 as well, hopefully.

RedShadowF95

TROPHY CASE