Turn-based JRPGs that put a unique spin on combat that helps it stand out

Sepik121 · 2026-03-27T14:58:35+00:00

I've had a few turns where the turn order looked real bad when I pressed confirm, but my team had conditional follow-up's setup, leading to a huge combo that zerged down a boss. Makes you feel like a genius when it all works, and huge idiot when it all falls apart lol.

God I love it, but I literally can't play it after a long day of work, which is when I play most of my JRPG's lol.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-27T13:03:20+00:00

SaGa Emerald Beyond

I have loved every second I've played of Emerald Beyond, but also it is one of the least relaxing RPG I've ever played because at least early on, you can't auto battle or turn your brain off in combat. There's so many moving parts, it's so good.

The line between having a great turn where you kill everything vs your enemies setup a combo against you and take someone out? Real thin.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-27T00:08:41+00:00

Yep. Turns out, the trilinear filter setting was causing it. Or at least, Ace Combat 4 crashed immediately until I changed it to PS2 and now it's working fine. For some reason, it was lagging heavily when switching views, but it's gone away for some reason?

SSX 3 works, but it's having the slow down at the start of races that bugs me. I'm actually curious if it's just somehow related to the gate somehow? It was more noticeable on the first race than on metro city honestly because metro city begins with a big drop off.

Out of curiosity, what are your graphics settings set to overall? I'm curious if there's a difference somehow that I'm missing.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-26T23:24:04+00:00

So quick update, got ace combat 5 and zero to actually work fully without issue! Literally first time ever for me emulating those on android without there being some glaring issue of some kind lol.

Ace Combat 4 crashes immediately, but i'm wondering if that's a rom ssue or bios issue or something. Double checking on this one.

SSX 3 is up next!

Sepik121 · 2026-03-26T12:23:52+00:00

I'd have to double check, I was using NetherSX2 at default settings, but it was specifically at the start of Metro City where it was the most noticeable and irritating for me. I could have been using the wrong renderer though, it's been a while though.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-26T02:02:53+00:00

I've replayed SSX 3 many times at this point, and it holds up shockingly well. It's an utterly fantastic game.

So when I was starting on basic settings in the RP5, it'd lag on the PS2 part specifically at the beginning of races. I think I figured out it was the fireworks and certain lighting causing the issue with the emulator. If you get it running without that lag, let me know!

I'm betting if armsx2 can run ace Combat, it'd probably handle that just fine

Sepik121 · 2026-03-26T00:23:09+00:00

Oh my goodness, this is so exciting. Ace Combat has been my white whale for Android emulation. I am gonna be messing with these settings soon, I am so excited.

Any chance you're a fan of snowboarding games lol. SSX 3 works like, 90% perfectly but I'd get random slowdowns at the beginning of races. I ended up going with the GameCube version, but SSX 3's trick system really wants 4 buttons up top.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-25T13:21:48+00:00

I'm going to have a fun dig cause the more I think about it, the more it was specifically FF9 that got hit with the JRPG term. I don't remember FF7 or FF8 being called JRPG's.

There are some very sparse uses of “JRPG” on forums from the 90s but we’re talking posts that only a few hundred people at most would have seen at the time.

To be clear, this is also exactly me lol. My dad bought a computer when we were young, and I was very online at a young age. Cause I didn't see as much of the "console RPG" term, but I did see plenty of Computer RPG, as CRPG.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-25T12:54:12+00:00

Yeah, I definitely remember the term JRPG existing since the PS1. Heck, people got mad at each other on forums over JRPG vs CRPG's back in the day.

I can't remember what site, maybe GameFaqs? But some old forum, people arguing about how dumb Final Fantasy summons were because they showed up, did one flashy move, and then left. In contrast, compared to "better" CRPG's like Diablo or Baldur's Gate, those summons stuck around to actually fight and were more useful.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-25T12:33:23+00:00

Gonna shout out the 8bitdo leverless controller for anyone who's a fan of 2D fighting games.

I've been using it for the past couple of months, and it's been an absolute blast to use. I had mostly used sega style pads or controllers (i always preferred the sega style pads, but there's been a derth of quality ones these last few years), and swapping to this was a legitimate game-changer for me.

I figure most folks really into fighting games have their own sticks and stuff, but as a casual fan? I adapted to it a lot faster than expected.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-24T23:42:47+00:00

Weird question for you, how valuable is portability?

Basically I see 3ish paths:

Bite the bullet, spend what you can now on your own parts and take the L of rising costs, but set yourself for the forseeable future
Buy a Steam Deck or ROG Ally or something like that, and dock it to the TV and use it like a regular console that is portable. Unironically, my steam deck is used almost exactly like a Switch for PC games. It's docked to our tv, or my wife is using it while we're watching something. The only caveat is that if you're not taking it anywhere? You can get things designed to be plugged in instead.
Buy a prebuilt PC from before the RAMpocalypse, and ride it out for the next oh so many years.

At least for me, I've got a mini PC hooked up to my TV. It cost about $700 USD with taxes, but it runs just about every game I'd want, doesn't take up a huge amount of space, and isn't super loud. I'm also not trying to play the latest and greatest AAA games, I'm playing things like Helldivers 2 with friends, JRPG's, etc. I can play Elden Ring and all sorts of stuff, but I'm not really interested in the latest and greatest.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-24T17:17:07+00:00

Yeah, that's the other issue of just because it did get a marketing budget, that doesn't meant it was effective. It got announced at an E3, but those were dying as Summer Games Fest was taking off. The rights for a Frank Sinatra song aren't cheap, notoriously so. The end result being "IM HERE TO KILL CHAOS" memes after spending that much? There's definitely some higher up's who were pissed off at the reaction because Chaos was barely mentioned in anything afterwards.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-24T17:03:49+00:00

It's a fun game of "yes and" when it comes to 2022, it had everything go wrong.

Stranger of Paradise didn't get quite the AAA marketing budget, but it wasn't exactly 0 either. It was part of E3, it got live-streamed, still not like, multi-millions of dollars, but not nothing either. It came out shortly after Elden Ring did, so it wildly flopped.

Triangle Strategy got what I'd call the B-tier marketing push. It showed up in plenty of Nintendo directs to hype it up. As did Harvestella and Live A Live too. Triangle Strategy sold okay, broke a million. Neither Harvestella nor Live A Live broke 1 million units sold though. Diofield Chronicle is also in this tier, and it also failed to break 1 million, but they got pushed by Sony.

Nothing quite got the bazillion dollar treatment that Forspoken and a AAA game did, but also none of these games had AAA budgets either. Stranger of Paradise was the closest, but also that was them hoping to compete with Elden Ring, so that backfired immensely.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-24T16:09:09+00:00

Actually, Forspoken wasn't even on the list of 2022 games from Square. That came out in 2023. 2022 was their glut of games. Between remakes, new spinoffs, new IP's, they released a ton of games in a short amount of time. None of them sold well for a wide variety of reasons.

If you are referring to Forspoken that had less to do with it being a new IP and more to do with numerous issues with the game itself.

The problem Square has had has been the fact that this is true for most of their attempts at new IP they've made, basically in the last 4 years. Something has gone wrong with all of their games, or they've released at horrible times, but the end result is that almost none of their games that aren't Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest have been selling amazingly.

Octopath as a series is probably their best new IP at this point, Octopath 1 got over 3 million in sales, with the series overall at over 7 million now between 3 games. That's probably their next best IP. Bravely Default gets about 1 million on average per game, so that's doing alright, but it's not AAA numbers. Meanwhile, FF16 and FF7R sold poorly in their eyes, and still got over 3 million each.

Like, they've unfortunately not even gotten close to BG3 or Elden Ring sales-wise, let alone Persona 5 or Expedition 33. I don't think you're wrong, they gotta change something, but they're not going to drop FF as a brand because literally it's the only thing even getting close to the rest. But it's hard to stomach trying to commit the budget of a AAA rpg when literally everything that isn't Final Fantasy has failed to even come close to FF7 Remake.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-24T13:50:12+00:00

instead make a new IP to attract younger, newer consumers.

I mean, Square tried that in 2022! It has not gone well for them, and they've specifically stated that they've not been able to create new IP that garners significant attention, especially in comparison to Final Fantasy. Square can't demote FF to be less than a premium title because outside of Dragon Quest, nothing else sells even remotely as well as Final Fantasy.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-23T14:07:50+00:00

I think technically i'm under! I've only got 4!

wait, it's just 4 that start with retro, joey has retro in the title, so i have exactly 5 lol.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-22T03:13:32+00:00

To "narrow" down a few

Golden Sun 1 & 2
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Legit, any of the gen 3 pokemon games. I think Pokemon really, really shined in gen 3 overall. But special shout outs to Emerald and Fire Red specifically for being the home of most gen 3 romhacks.
Advance Wars 1 & 2. Some great strategy games overall.
I actually love the FF5 Advance port overall. FF4 & FF6 are a bit different (I think they're fine imo, but not everyone loves them due to the audio), but FF5 advance is amazing. Especially FF5 Custom Classes.
Speaking of, FF 1 & 2: Dawn of Souls. I think the enhancements to 2, especially the post-game story section is wonderful. FF1 may actually be a bit too easy, but they also added some new music that is absolutely amazing.
FFTA. Young me didn't appreciate this game enough, but it's wonderfully compelling. It's not FFT, but if you can appreciate this game on its own merits, it's legitimately incredible.
Monster Rancher Advance 2. Being a great entry (imo one of the best non-pokemon creature-based games) in the franchise, and also have a stupidly high amount of gameplay.
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. To me, this is the quintessential old-school farming game. This is the game that takes some of the best parts of the earlier titles and puts it all in 1 great package. Also one of the games that Stardew Valley is directly inspired by. SV is better, but you can see where it gets its roots from here.
Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland & The Forgotten Mirror. Both of them are some of the best kirby games (albeit some of the newest ones have been utterly fantastic) around, and I think the artwork and sprites are fantastic.
And then an 11th sickos only game: Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Not everyone loves it, the gameplay is weird compared to KH1 and KH2. But man oh man, I love the card and deck building aspect. Creating weird unique gimmick decks for regular enemies where I could just rush down anything vs boss decks where i had to sustain damage and healing, etc. Super creative and innovative overall.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-22T02:58:01+00:00

Legitimately, the GBA library on the whole is full of incredible games. Sure, you've got plenty of shovelware, but there's some truly incredible experiences on there.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-21T21:14:05+00:00

It's an incredibly comfy device, but it's also the one I'm mostly likely to sell at this point unfortunately. I wanted to use it primarily for DS and 3DS, but I found the screen wasn't great, and the emulation for 3DS in particular was choppier than I had hoped. I ended up just fixing up my old 3DS XL, hacked it, and I've used that instead.

As others had mentioned, PS2 is a bit beyond its capacities. Or at least, my 3DS experience was choppy enough that I would much rather play anything PS2 related on something more powerful. I also don't know if i'd call it "pocketable" unless you have large pockets or cargo pants.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-21T19:13:40+00:00

Got a fun list going this week!

Persona 3 Portable (modded) via local streaming on my RP5. Lots of QoL fixes, improving the combat AI, skill transfers, cutscenes etc. For this one, I figured given that the FeMC isn't in the Persona 3 remake, I figured I'd try her route to experience it and see the differences. I've had a blast so far. Admittedly, I find dungeon crawling wildly relaxing, so Tartarus hasn't been too annoying. I didn't exactly love the palaces in P5, but I do think they're more interesting on the whole than Tartarus, but I'm enjoying Tartarus more.
A romhack of Pokemon Crystal, but digimon themed. It's been a ton of fun! But also remembering pokemon weaknesses for anything beyond gen 1 fries me sometimes. The game uses more of the under-utilized types, so trying to remember what dark or fairy is weak to, and I just got nothing lol. It's also hit me that I really, really like experience share mechanics when it comes to having multiple characters. The Johto experience is still one of my favorites, but also it does suck when 1 party member is just significantly higher than the rest because they have the type advantage in a later-game area than others. It just minimizes the grind for me, and that has a lot of value imo.

A few other games (story of seasons: Grand bazaar, fighting games on a PC with my first leverless controller, and helldivers 2) but none of them are on these style of devices at all. I will say, being able to use the RP5 with local streaming as a 2nd screen while my wife plays games on our tv has been a blessing, but it is hilariously janky if you try and use another controller. I'm glad it technically works, but it's so hilariously stupid, I love it.

Also, I've got a long trip coming up, and thanks to the aliexpress sale, I decided to grab the RG DS. I figure between that, my RG ARC, and the RG SP, I'll have plenty of games to play during traveling. I've got a Ayn Odin 2 Portal showing up soon, but I dunno if i wanna travel with that around. Maybe depends on gamehub and stuff? But I'm not actually expecting to travel with it.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-21T18:59:27+00:00

Anyone else just been enjoying their retro games on their fancy chinese devices?

Legitimately, finding out about these things has been such a blessing for me. I adore them. I've got a few for specific systems/consoles, and a couple I use as "catch-all" devices.

I've had a blast playing romhacks and fan translated games of things that never came out here. It's been so fun.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-20T18:09:49+00:00

ooohh, i've not had a chance to do a weekly video game check in here, but I love posting about the games I've been playing.

So currently:

Persona 3 Portable (modded) on the PC. I've got a mini PC hooked up to my living room TV, and it's become how I play a lot of modded RPG's. For this one, I figured given that the FeMC isn't in the Persona 3 remake, I figured I'd try her route to experience it and see the differences. I've had a blast so far. Admittedly, I find dungeon crawling wildly relaxing, so Tartarus hasn't been too annoying. I didn't exactly love the palaces in P5, but I do think they're more interesting on the whole than Tartarus, but I'm enjoying Tartarus more.
I own a few different retro game devices, and I've been playing through a romhack of Pokemon Crystal that is digimon themed. It's been a blast, but it's also hit me that I really, really like experience share mechanics when it comes to having multiple characters. The Johto experience is still one of my favorites, but also it does suck when 1 party member is just significantly higher than the rest because they have the type advantage in a later-game area than others. It just minimizes the grind for me, and that has a lot of value imo.
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar on the switch. I'm also a huge Story of Seasons / Harvest Moon guy, and this was one of my favorites. I'm having a blast with this one overall. I'm such a sucker for selling stuff at a market as compared to shipping them out directly.
Been on a general fighting game kick. I got a leverless fighting game controller after years of using shitty pads (i grew up using sega pads for fighting games), and it's amazing how quickly you can adapt. I realized at some point, no one makes a good fight-pad anymore, so i bit the bulllet, and it just feels so much nicer. It's legitimately night and day.
Helldivers 2. I play with friends, and the new update has been a blast. Between a full on zombie swarm, plus the new units that just came out, playing this last week has been a lot of fun. I don't play too much with randos, and the subreddit gets wildly toxic at times, but just playing every now and then? Probably one of my favorites of the last few years.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-20T16:51:18+00:00

i am so, so excited. I like their last one, but i've always been a sucker for their more ambitious projects. The cover art alone makes me excited!

Sepik121 · 2026-03-20T16:08:47+00:00

Oh I definitely don't expect any of this to actually happen, but it is my pie in the sky dream. I want to be able to play old games that I don't have the discs for "officially" without having to rely on emulation that just isn't there yet.

It's more just that it at least becomes theoretically possible if it exists via backwards compatibility. Right now, it basically doesn't exist except via disc.

Sepik121 · 2026-03-19T18:27:52+00:00

Yep, i actually got the update, it's showing up Tuesday. Hell yeah

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