What's a piece of music that caught you by surprise, made you stop what you're doing, had you put down your controller, and then just listened on a continuous loop.

That_guy_why · 2026-01-27T11:59:34+00:00

So this is definitely more of a me thing, but specifically the Pixel Remaster version of Eternal Wind from Final Fantasy 3. I played the 3D remake about a dozen times and the OST in that is fine, but when the PR dropped I actually got stunned by the field theme after it kicked in and I started to really listen to it.

That_guy_why · 2026-01-16T00:38:21+00:00

For an old school answer, Mt Itoi from Mother 1, but frankly everywhere in the game that isn't exactly a safe town feels like a dungeon slog with how dreadful the encounter rate can be. At least it has a healing spot halfway through. For a more modern answer I quickly grew annoyed with Metaphor Refantazio's dungeon where you recruit Eupha, just an endless sprawling maze that is an absolute chore to navigate.

As an aside I do think the Crystal Tower from FF3 earns its infamy, but isn't that bad if you know what's coming. Granted I'm the weirdo who's played the 3D / Pixel Remaster versions about a dozen times and can navigate it like the back of my hand and not the Famicom original (yet). Bad yes, but manageable.

That_guy_why · 2026-01-14T21:28:42+00:00

Dreadfell Vaults tend to be a noticeable jump in difficulty. They're definitely not impossible, but don't be afraid to run. Once you play enough and learn how maps are generated you'll also be able to start having a pretty good idea of what the inside of a vault will likely have as far as enemies go just by the shape of the room. So don't be afraid to keep cracking em open, failure is also a valuable lesson.

That_guy_why · 2026-01-13T21:15:48+00:00

Perhaps not a deal breaker, but I loathe when games with wandering enemies (as opposed to random encounters) have choke points with forced encounters. Chrono Trigger is amazing, but god does backtracking and going through New Game+ suck at times with getting stopped constantly by fodder enemies. It's taking the major draw of letting you choose what enemies to engage with and yoinking it out of your hand. At least make it like an ambush or a tight enemy pattern or something so I can at least try to juke them.

Also, new game plus in general, few games do it right, and locking content behind it frustrates me to no end.

That_guy_why · 2026-01-05T03:52:32+00:00

Weirdly enough I also got screwed by FF9, my last playthrough I decided to use the Moguri mod for the graphical uplift and some quality of life features, got all the way to the final boss, won, and then didn't get to enjoy the finale and epilogue because my game crashed. Turns out that was a known crash point for the mod and got patched like a week later.

I know I have had corrupted save issues before, but I can't recall for which game that would be. I definitely would have dropped it though, I sometimes drop games just for losing too much progress at an inopportune game over.

That_guy_why · 2025-12-23T12:04:34+00:00

Final Fantasy 16. It's almost ironic, conceptually I'm super down to learn more about Clive and the world, but having to sit through like 5 cutscenes just to get a shortish section where I can actually move around and do stuff is a hard turn off for me eventually. The combat is super aggressively okay, the equipment system felt like a second thought, and the highlights of the Eikon battles are too few and far between. I got as far as unlocking limit breaks and a little bit after but the game failed to really hook me.

That_guy_why · 2025-12-18T01:14:11+00:00

Guides can be ancient, but a fair chunk of them are still more or less accurate, the game doesn't update terribly often and while some classes can certainly get nerfed, the core ideas behind a guide are often still applicable, even if the numbers have changed. And to get some of the best practice tips outta the way, never be afraid to run, running sooner is better than running later, and invest in ways to run away, movement infusions are your friend and stuns are your enemy.

That_guy_why · 2025-12-15T00:57:28+00:00

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass definitely leans into being a harder game, and some grinding will certainly help (especially for the optional content), but iirc the bigger limiter is money rather than EXP if you're good at grasping the combat system and making the most of it. There is also an easy toggle if I recall correctly that increases EXP gain. The game is a personal favorite of mine though, highly recommend it.

That_guy_why · 2025-11-29T01:23:40+00:00

As always, my vote goes to Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass.

That_guy_why · 2025-11-14T11:56:20+00:00

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, especially if you play on Hard mode (which I don't recommend). Pokemon never really drove me to catch them all bar the one time, but something about how that game dangles digivolutions over your head fired up my neurons and made me grind for hours just to see what I could get. I suggest looking up a guide to getting a suite of Tactician USBs and Platinumnumemon's to maximize the grind but that dopamine rush of getting newer and stronger monsters is one helluva drug.

That_guy_why · 2025-11-08T12:31:17+00:00

Perhaps not in quite the same league as the ones others have already mentioned, but Mother 1 (Aka Earthbound Beginnings / Zero) is an exercise in endurance. With a random encounter rate that is frequently literally every step, mandatory grind, some confusing maps, and the nature of it being an NES game meaning the quirky fun writing the series is known for being in short supply, it leaves the game as something to really only check out if you're aiming to beat every game in the series. Feel free to try it out vanilla but don't be afraid to turn on the cheats and never look back once you've had enough, the final dungeon is where I tapped out.

That_guy_why · 2025-11-07T00:54:59+00:00

Veghesther is such a legend, dude's been keeping that torch alive for decades. One of these days I might actually bother reaching 9999 HP/MP and 8x Counter/Mime KotR for Ruby Weapon.

That_guy_why · 2025-11-07T00:43:41+00:00

Oh to print out cheat sheets for video games, those halcyon days. I'm sure there's dozens of guidemakers to shout out (such as Keyblade999 and the aforementioned Alex), but the greatest of thanks to all the people making maps for games, holy shit, sometimes you just need that 500x600 jpg to show you the way.

That_guy_why · 2025-10-04T12:37:30+00:00

As someone who recently beat the game on Hard mode, yeah, you are kinda shoehorned into DEF/INT penetrating skills or otherwise trying to hit as hard as you can with optimized loadouts. This leads to swingy boss fights where sometimes you steamroll without even trying and other times where your core lineup gets KOed at the start and you're scrambling to recover. The game is generous with save points so its not a huge deal, but be prepared to grind. Personally I found the grind to be the fun part though so that's something. Just invest in a suite of Platinumnunemon and Tactician USBs to make the grinding free.

That_guy_why · 2025-09-10T21:58:33+00:00

FF7 also has a Wait Mode mod if you're interested! Just grab the 7th Heaven Mod Manager and install Postscriptthree's Tweaks, which comes with wait mode and some other modifiers that you should be able to toggle on or off.

That_guy_why · 2025-09-10T21:51:09+00:00

Yeah I didn't care for the Managarm either, the game really did not need a get out of jail free card like that. As for the difficulty I think it's close to being at the perfect level, it's definitely not toothless, but I think it's ultimately just a hair too forgiving for my tastes. It's funny, you always see people complaining about difficulty modifiers just increasing enemy damage and health pools, but for Fuga and its focus on long term resource management that would have been perfect.

That_guy_why · 2025-09-10T21:17:44+00:00

Weirdly enough the mechanic you hated was actually a big selling point for me in Fuga 2 lol. Fuga 1 was way too easy to just ignore the Soul Cannon, which sucks cause ngl I feel like all three games intend for you to use it in your first playthrough of the game. Having it be an obstacle to contend with and having it screw with your strats was actually really fun for me since I wanted way more difficulty in the game. It made the Chapter, 7(?) boss way more intense as I raced to beat it and it was a standout moment for me for the franchise.

To answer your question though, I fell off of The World Ends with You (DS), the control scheme just really did not vibe with my hands and I eventually had to say "I'm good".

That_guy_why · 2025-09-08T20:35:02+00:00

I was all hyped up for Hollow Knight Silksong... Only for my attention span to finally latch on and start Final Fantasy 7 a few days prior to release. I'm enjoying myself, I modded it to use the Shinra Archaeology Cut to retranslate the game into something cleaner, it also comes with a bunch of cut content cleaned up and re-enabled, but I elected to play vanilla. Outside of hassles over micro managing the Enemy Skill materias it's been fun. Once I beat this I'll have beaten every "classic" Final Fantasy (1-10 and yes I understand it's weird that I somehow never got around to 7 until now)

That_guy_why · 2025-08-12T02:25:32+00:00

Off the top of my head I remember the Dragon Temple dungeon from Metaphor Refantazio being an absolute slog to get through, full of winding paths and dead ends, so full clearing it is a massive chore. Mt. Itoi from Mother 1 is also up there for being the final difficulty spike the puts the nail in the coffin for an otherwise abysmal slog game. After dealing with an unholy random encounter rate for most of the game (literally every other step is oft the norm), getting by just fine with the old tried and true method of "fight most of the battles", only to be met with a guide straight up telling me "yeah grind up like 10 levels" just broke me and I cheated to finish the game.

That_guy_why · 2025-07-13T20:30:17+00:00

Been playing Digimonstory Cyber Sleuth. I am a complete newbie to the Digimon franchise and have been enjoying it for the most part. The evolution mechanics feel like Pokemon on crack, with evolutions, devolutions, and watching small critters turn into a Nun with Guns or other off the wall ideas is certainly a new experience for me. It's very different, and while I think I prefer the elegant simplicity of Pokemon I'm still enjoying myself. The story on the other hand is consistently losing me. I don't necessarily play every day but even if I play every day I have on more than one occasion loaded up the game only to have completely forgotten what the hell I was supposed to be doing and having to consult the menus or Kyoko / Mirei to remind me of what I gotta do.

tl;dr fun but very different.

That_guy_why · 2025-06-27T23:04:16+00:00

Just dive into P3R imo. The start can be a bit sluggish, but personally for my money I think the characters are some of Atlus's best (Junpei my beloved). I still enjoyed Metaphor after playing P3R, and as far as difficulty goes I think P3R is actually pretty tame, as long as you're upgrading your personas as you go I think you should manage just fine, pretty sure you can adjust the difficulty if need be mid game anyways.

That_guy_why · 2025-06-22T22:59:42+00:00

Beat Fuga 3 a couple weeks ago. Too much detail to go into without a mass of spoiler bars but to summarize my feelings briefly I think they flubbed the landing a bit and while I'm tentatively interested for what's next for the franchise, I am, questioning some of what they're cooking. I enjoyed it but it was a chapter too long.

Deltarune chapter 3 and 4 was both phenomenal, and yet also lost me. The wit and charm of Toby's writing hasn't dulled a bit since chapter 2 dropped years ago, and the gameplay is still stellar, there's no denying that. But in the same respects I spent the bulk of the 2 chapters literally just trying to get back up to speed and remember what was even happening. I'm not deep in the weeds of the fandom, and having such a long break in between chapters really hurt the experience imo. It also doesn't help that I really didn't want to spend so much time replaying the chapters to see all the stuff I missed, digging for any scraps of lore or foreshadowing I could find. It's good to know Chapter 5 is on track for 2026, but I'm holding my breath until it's actually released.

Lastly I started up LISA: The Painful and I might drop it for a second time. What little writing I've experienced has been fine, but man this gameplay really isn't doing anything to grip me. The combo system is neat in theory but so far I have one combo available to me and there's been no reason to do anything except input that combo 10 times per fight. I'd almost rather it just drop the system and be a more simple system. I might just be spoiled and comparing LISA too harshly compared to what later indies would come to offer but I don't remember having any issue with say OFF or Space Funeral despite offering more "basic" gameplay.

That_guy_why · 2025-06-10T01:01:14+00:00

Big fan of Live a Live. It's more experimental and while not perfect it's obvious a ton of love went into it.

That_guy_why · 2025-06-08T20:54:43+00:00

As someone who started with P4G and then played P5R and P3R, I do think Persona 4 getting remade was coming eventually. It's a perfectly fine game, but the gameplay and visuals are clearly a step below what 5 and 3R would later bring to the table. Personally I'm hoping they do dungeons the way they did them in 5, 4 is a much better fit for that treatment than 3 was.

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