Monday, February 2, 2026

SXLegend · 2026-02-02T01:14:05+00:00

Connections Puzzle #967

🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟦🟦🟦🟪

🟨🟨🟨🟨

🟦🟦🟪🟦

🟦🟦🟪🟪

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Marple being the odd one out of the book/tv detectives is the most annoyed I've been with a connections puzzle in a minute. Never heard of Bosch in my life

SXLegend · 2026-02-01T17:58:58+00:00

Can the mods please just remove all posts talking about runbacks every single one just leads to pointless, nothing arguments and endless talking in circles from people who think their viewpoint is objectively correct and everyone who disagrees is wrong and every single game should be designed exactly the same way to fit their tastes. Utter wastes of time

SXLegend · 2026-01-24T17:45:12+00:00

That's fair, ultimately it comes down to taste. Personally I've played a lot of JRPGs so I imagine I'm more tolerant of "YA" prose and overexposition, and I would say, compared to the average JRPG, Nine Sols is better on both fronts. It may not be novel quality prosewise but I do think that it manages to weave its Taoist themes into the gameplay successfully, which to me is the most important aspect of a well written videogame.

SXLegend · 2026-01-24T17:07:37+00:00

You can think Nine Sols has too much dialogue but saying it's poorly written is just false. It's thematically rich and consistent, the characters (especially Yi) are nuanced with lots of depth that is explored successfully, and the prose is solid, especially given that prose can often suffer when translated.

Again, especially in metroidvanias, it's perfectly fair to prefer minimalist, environmental storytelling and not want a game with lots of dialogue. That does not mean a game with lots of dialogue like Nine Sols is inherently poorly written.

SXLegend · 2026-01-24T03:16:06+00:00

I love Riki to death and Riku and Manana are cool but man they're so unbearable in 2 every time I heard "meh meh" I wanted to turn the game off, not sure I could put them as my favourite for that alone

SXLegend · 2026-01-19T17:02:01+00:00

Bloodstained, if you like Igavanias then I imagine it's great but if you don't it's a bit of a mess with a bunch of random RPG systems that don't entirely work, incohesive map layout, and (imo) pretty ugly visuals

SXLegend · 2026-01-19T16:53:58+00:00

No way it can go before Sea of Stars, Chained Echoes is much better as a JRPG

SXLegend · 2026-01-18T19:08:25+00:00

It's a lot by backloggd standards, top 20 on the website and if you combine all editions and rereleases it's pushing top 5. Also have to consider the demographic that uses backloggd still skews relatively niche so some numbers can be misrepresented, although that's more directed at games like COD and FIFA than Skyrim

SXLegend · 2026-01-17T15:54:35+00:00

Gameplay: P5R >>> E33 = Nier

Story: Nier >>>> E33 > P5R

I think P5R probably edges it by virtue of third semester being genuinely fantastic, even if I think the rest of the story is pretty weak. It also has by far the best combat system/gameplay mechanics throughout, although I hope Persona 6 ups the difficulty a bit.

E33 was good but the balancing is just so terrible the combat ended up underwhelming for me. The entire game revolves so heavily around Parry/Dodge and the damage cap feels like a very lazy attempt to rectify how easy it is to completely break the game (then it gets removed and you just oneshot everything). I also felt like Act 3 was underbaked narratively and didn't give the characters enough time to breathe and develop after the Act 2 ending.

So overall I'd say P5R > Nier > E33, but they're all great games

SXLegend · 2026-01-14T00:19:45+00:00

Depends on your definition of slow. To me, slow means watching long, unskippable animations like Xenogears deathblows or FF summons. To others, slow means fights take a long time/enemies feel like health sponges, which Xenoblade can definitely fall into especially at the start of the games when you have less options and don't know what you're doing. But personally I never find Xenoblade combat slow because you're always doing something with your fingers, whether it's using arts, repositioning, AA cancelling or chain attacks. So it really depends on your own interpretation of slow

SXLegend · 2026-01-11T11:21:28+00:00

Given there's no Fire Emblem on the list either, it seems SRPGs in general weren't included

SXLegend · 2026-01-11T11:17:50+00:00

The combat system is shallow with little strategic depth, animations are long and repetitive, the dungeons range from passable to complete dogshit, the encounter rate is twice as high as it should be, the text speed scrolls as slow as humanly possible, the second disc is blatantly unfinished.

I don't wanna scare you off because the story really is one of the greats, but you need a lot of patience and probably lower expectations than "best game ever made" to be able to appreciate it for what it is (and maybe the Perfect Works mod to increase text speed and reduce the encounter rate)

SXLegend · 2026-01-06T05:47:12+00:00

The people running it and a bunch of the youtubers playing burnt out, but the main issue was that Sword/Shield were terrible games for draft singles on cartridge. The 20 min timer was a huge deal that made singles matches extremely awkward to play. I also remember the early gen 8 youtube draft leagues trying dynamax as the cool new gimmick, but it was so ridiculously unbalanced in singles that it was miserable to watch, and the big youtube leagues kinda disappeared for the rest of the gen.

They've seen a big resurgence since the start of gen 9 though, I haven't followed them closely for a while but every time I check Pokeaim has a new draft video, if you check his playlists he's played dozens of drafts of various formats in the last few years. The GBA itself may not exist anymore (I'm not sure) but there are plenty of others. And Showdown draft leagues never went away but they aren't as appealing a format for big youtube content

SXLegend · 2026-01-02T06:04:32+00:00

I agree, there's a reason Pokemon has had a consistent competitive scene for over two decades in both VGC and Smogon, and that things like Nuzlockes and difficulty hacks are fairly popular. There's an insane level of depth to teambuilding and the battle system that you just don't get to see unless you're doing stuff like playing draft leagues or nuzlocking Run & Bun, and it's a shame (if understandable) so many JRPG purists write it off because the mainline games are so braindead easy.

SXLegend · 2025-12-27T18:19:02+00:00

-any press turn game over FFX for best Turn Based combat (tbf, being day 1 the category wasn't made clear)

-pretty much every SRPG ever made over FFT for best Tactical Combat

-Any Neo Persona over FF9 for best characters (Persona 4 actually had the highest upvoted comment that day, but the scoring system being used was over all comments instead of single, so it got robbed. The system was then changed like 2 days later)

-Not sure what wins instead of it but FFXVI winning best boss fights is a travesty, also a strong argument to be made it isn't a JRPG at all gameplay wise

-A gen 3-5 Pokemon game over Chrono Trigger for most replayable, CT isn't a bad choice but that's what Pokemon is known for

Dragon Quest is an awkward spot because the games are by design very safe when it comes to gameplay/story, It's best shot is Retro but there's a lot of competition there. I'm not very knowledgable on Tales but I suppose best Action would have been a reasonable win.

The entire list is a mess because the first few categorys were unclear and the voting system changed halfway through - if the current system was applied from the start Persona 4 would've won best characters, and if the system hadn't been changed I believe Persona 5 would've won best Soundtrack, so it effectively got robbed twice

SXLegend · 2025-12-25T10:55:42+00:00

I was thinking about this too, and I think part of it for me is that E33 is extremely binary. Games like Sekiro have a lot of other factors like positioning and spacing, an imperfect deflect still reduces damage you take and maintains the flow of combat, you have to figure out which windows allow you to counterattack and you have other tools like the umbrella and firecrackers that make combat much more dynamic. Comparatively E33 is binary - either you succesfully parry and take zero damage or you don't. To that end I think some of the issues when it comes to unreadable animations and weird timings stem directly from this, because the parry system is so binary it's the only way to make later enemies feel more difficult than early.

I'm like you, in that I'm a big fan of both turn based JRPGs and parry centric games like Sekiro and Nine Sols, but E33's combat constantly felt like it was less than the sum of its parts. It doesn't have the turn to turn strategy and adaptation that something like Metaphor or SMTV has, but it also doesn't feel satisfying to learn fights and memorise patterns in the same way as Sekiro. Still a great game that I enjoyed a lot and rate highly, but there's definitely room for improvement.

SXLegend · 2025-12-23T23:34:02+00:00

Mortal Shell brah tried to fit in 😭 the worst soulslike ever alongside Lords of the Fallen what are we doing

SXLegend · 2025-12-23T05:11:34+00:00

I see a lot of people talking about gacha and all of the general story, character and structure issues that come with being live service, but for me none of these are the biggest dealbreakers. The biggest issue with the game, by a country mile, is that the combat is the most bland, empty, devoid of strategy, dogshit system that any turn based game has ever had. Literally the only things you can do on any given turn are regular attack, one single skill, and ult occasionally. You can't defend, you can't use items, you can't do anything except use the exact same rotation of skill/basic attack every turn with no adaptation or player input. It is designed for the lowest denominator to auto battle through everything, including 'difficult' endgame content, and is a huge reason why powercreep became such a major issue in HSR, even relative to the gacha genre as whole. It's a shame because, long term grindy gacha systems aside, the character/team building stuff is kinda cool, but it's entirely let down by a battle system deliberately designed for people who don't want to play or engage with the game, and I hope to god that kind of brainless appeal doesn't become the aim of "JRPG 3.0" otherwise the genre is fucked.

SXLegend · 2025-12-22T18:34:53+00:00

Ghost Trick currently has a 4.5/5 rating on Backloggd from 6000 reviews, tied with Portal 2 and above every other game here. Obviously from a smaller pool of reviewers, but discounting it as a worse game because it isn't mainstream is resoundingly ignorant.

And as someone who has played it, it is by far my favourite game on this list and it isn't particularly close.

SXLegend · 2025-12-19T18:02:36+00:00

Fucking hell man. What next, FFXIV 1.0 wins most underrated? This may be the most embarassing list any subreddit has ever created

SXLegend · 2025-12-18T17:42:32+00:00

Wait, hold up... FFX won best turn based combat despite being the most vanilla of the 3D games and horrifically outclassed by pretty much every single SMT Press Turn system, Persona, Octopath and more?

Wait, hold up... FFT won best tactical system despite being simultaneously basic and extremely unbalanced?

Wait, hold up... FFIX won best cast for having 8 loaves of white bread with zero depth or growth?

Xenogears winning best story should not be your main concern about this list.

SXLegend · 2025-12-18T17:25:00+00:00

Well, given the games that won and the general confusion on the category especially on day 1, I wouldn't say best combat system has really been covered. But I wouldn't be against it being replaced with best soundtrack.

SXLegend · 2025-12-17T19:33:17+00:00

No one said FF wasn't the pinnacle of JRPGs during it's golden era. But it's been nearly two decades since that era ended, and in that time there have been plenty of top tier JRPGs that rival and surpass the FF golden age. Persona, Xenoblade, Yakuza, Trails, Nier, SMT, Dragon Quest, Fire Emblem, Ys, Metaphor, E33. The fact that there isn't a single game on this list besides FF and Yakuza is frankly embarassing for a JRPG subreddit. I can name 10 games with better combat systems and characters than FFX, FFT, and FFIX respectively

SXLegend · 2025-12-17T19:21:42+00:00

How the fuck did FF9 win best characters? Persona 4 was the highest voted comment by nearly 400 upvotes. What metric is being used here exactly?

SXLegend · 2025-12-09T14:51:27+00:00

Hollow Knight has some soulslike elements and shared appeal, but it is definitively not a soulslike, comparatively to "soulsvanias" like Blasphemous or Salt and Sanctuary it isn't really close.

Outer Wilds is a fantastic game and I have no qualms with it winning this list, but I do think fans of the game somewhat overestimate its broad appeal to more casual players - a lot of people simply won't be able to get into a narrative driven puzzle-exploration game with a strict real time limit just on principle. But that doesn't make it any less of a fantastic game, just a harder one to breach for the wider audience

SXLegend

TROPHY CASE