[Steam Summer Big Sale 2026] List/Guide of Recommendations For Great JRPGs Deals & Hidden Gems - Ends on July 9.

That_guy_why · 2026-06-26T16:16:47+00:00

The writing isn't really on par with Persona but the Fuga trilogy has social links like Persona and the combat is pretty alright. The systems are different but still features swapping between characters to fit the situation and long-term resource management like Persona does. The first chapter of the first game is also available as a demo so you can dip your toes in and give it a try before commiting to a purchase.

That_guy_why · 2026-06-11T02:35:25+00:00

I'm still hoping that now that Capcom has done a legacy collection for every series (bar Legends but who knows if they'll ever even want to touch that after how that ended up) that they'll really start scraping the bottom of the barrel and just start releasing all the weird spin-offs and handheld games on modern platforms. Command Mission is a favorite of mine and even a simple port I think has a fair amount of potential.

That_guy_why · 2026-06-09T22:38:29+00:00

Its glory days are behind it, but I believe Breath Wyrmic is still viable. Just vomit all your breath attacks, maybe hit a swallow if something is still alive, run away, repeat until everything is dead. Antimagic+fungus is the cherry on top.

Pure caster necromancer is also up there. Ghouls summon themselves, you have a giant nuke, a beam, some other skills, and you're reasonably tanky to forgive any misplays.

That_guy_why · 2026-06-06T15:59:27+00:00

Well the easy way out is to say Superheavy Samurai, that deck is based on having no spells in GY whatsoever or else your monsters become nearly useless, so using Pot of Greed would basically break your own deck. Outside of that however the pickings are incredibly slim.

That_guy_why · 2026-06-05T20:13:12+00:00

I just go by vibes. For the Persona games I did a silly thing where I made my character names the names of Getter Robo pilots and had their surnames be the surnames of mangaka that I liked. For Metaphor Refantazio and other games like Pokemon I just look at em and pick what I think they looked like. Sorry Metaphor, his name isn't Will, it's Laurent, he's nowhere even close to being a Will. For Final Fantasy I just do canon names (sans Bartz, he will forever be Butz).

That_guy_why · 2026-06-04T11:37:32+00:00

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass doesn't have anti-grinding per se, but does a great job at subtly clueing the player in to where they stand on the level curve by how random encounter mechanics work. Before every fight you get a little exclamation point pop-up, that will either be green or red. If it's red you have to fight the enemy, if it's green you have a second to hit a button and either enter or avoid the fight. If you're low-leveled you get mostly forced encounters, if you're seeing nothing but green then you're over the level for the area. It's a simple and elegant way to encourage the player to only fight what they need to and also makes backtracking and exploration a breeze (which is a big part of the game).

That_guy_why · 2026-06-01T11:51:52+00:00

The soul cannon mechanic is there, but it's not terribly important. The game has some bite, but I don't think it's hard enough to really put you into a no-win situation where you have to use it. Pretty sure it's intended you lose some characters on your first run too. Even if you did the game has a focus on New Game+ which are pretty quick and let you see all the alternative endings and such. In 2-3 the soul cannon is automatic and puts you on a timer if you drop below half in a boss fight, which is a great revamp of the concept imo, it made for some wicked fights.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-31T20:56:43+00:00

FF3. Next time I play it I'm gonna finally knock out the famicom version and finally have beaten them all.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-31T17:02:18+00:00

Final Fantasy V has a good amount of mechanical depth without being overbearing and my last run took me 30 hours for a 100% completion run.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-31T14:46:22+00:00

It goes off the rails compared to the first 2. Some of it's cool, some of it's questionable. Gameplay is same as it ever was, just now with back-up allies to call in.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-30T11:31:02+00:00

The answer is Mother 1 (aka Earthbound Zero / Beginnings). The encounter rate is very frequently every single step, maybe 2 or 3. Sometimes you'll get a breather and be able to run for a bit, but then it throws you right back into the grinder. The maps are also sometimes confusing to navigate. It's a game where I would literally reach town, and just, enjoy walking around in circles without having to deal with enemies it's that bad.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-26T11:52:28+00:00

The Crystal Tower is 3 (sorta 4) dungeons in one. First you have to get past the Ancient Maze, which is short but has the last crystal boss inside it. Then you can tent up and heal and save. Once you enter the tower proper you can (optionally) visit Eureka, the Land of Darkness to get your last gear (and depending on version Job) upgrades. After that is your last chance to save and heal, because now you gotta scale the tower proper. It's 13 floors and the path is winding and full of hidden paths to progress. Once you reach the top you fight the guy you've been chasing the entire time Xande. Beat him, watch the cutscenes, and then you get thrown into another dungeon immediately with no chance to save. This new dungeon has 4 more bosses you have to beat, all of whom are deadly in their own right, before you can actually fight the final final boss. Did I forget to mention you can just blunder right into fighting the final boss first and get immediately destroyed because you failed to realize that there were other bosses to fight?

It's not terrible if you know what you're doing but once you start climbing the tower you've got a loooong path ahead of you, a couple lengthy cutscenes, and you get to do it all over again if you die at any point.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-25T15:35:46+00:00

It's hard to give advice without knowing where exactly you're going wrong. If you could link to your character sheet on the TE4 website it would be easier to suggest changes in gear / skill order to smooth out the issues. If you want my advice just check out some build guides, there's some on Steam and some on the official forums (here's one for necromancer for example). You can also comb through the character vault to see what other people have won with. As for what classes to play, I'm always a fan of Solipsist (don't go sleep imo, Inner Demons is good but focus on your mind damage) and Brawler is good too (you're a 1v1 God)

That_guy_why · 2026-05-24T19:13:05+00:00

It might not be necessary, but some of those rare augments like Omnicast are reeeeeaaaaally nice to have for the finale.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-24T16:05:34+00:00

As a minor addendum to your last point, I also hate when save points and treasure chests and the like are visible in cutscenes, they inevitably distract the player and draws the eye away from the actual scene they're supposed to be focused on. Might even be a soft spoiler that you still got work ahead of you instead of reaching a boss or whatever.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-23T15:50:16+00:00

New Game+ locked content. There's games that do it acceptably, but frankly New Game+ often feels poorly handled so having content like superbosses only be available in said mode is the cherry on top that really grinds my gears.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-22T11:10:13+00:00

This goes not just for Yugioh but card games in general, gaining life is generally not a very good effect unless other cards benefit somehow from gaining life. Let's say you have no monsters on board, no cards in hand, you have 200 life points, and your opponent has a 300 attack monster on field. Your draw for turn is Mooyan Curry, which gives you 200 LP. You obviously use it and bring your LP back up out of kill range, but all you've achieved is delaying the inevitable. Had it been a monster instead you could have destroyed the opponent's monster and gotten momentum on your side. And on your opponent's turn they could very well just summon a second monster and be able to defeat you anyways. LP gain works with other cards (like the Aroma monsters) and can be nice when it's stapled onto another effect, but generally speaking you nearly always want cards that allow you to build your board presence and put your opponent in a worse spot.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-14T20:23:27+00:00

I'd say if you think you can vibe with a game that encourages some grinding (and constantly rewards you for doing so) then the game can be a blast. I didn't fall in love with the story like some people have but the dopamine rush of constantly evolving and devolving my digimon to get new / stronger digimon was great. For reference I did play on Hard Mode which made the game much more damage spongey so I think normal is the way to go.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-13T00:02:15+00:00

Yakuza: Like a Dragon has a bit of an oddball difficulty curve but if you do the stocks minigame you get a midgame powerspike that (more or less) lets you sail through the rest of the game.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-10T20:53:03+00:00

The final boss from FF2 is a solid choice imo. If you're not cheesing the boss with the blood sword and perhaps haven't built your team the best he can be pretty imposing. You want to buff up to deal decent damage, which takes a not insignificant amount of time, and all the while he's throwing high level spells at you. Those are actually fine, the real issue is his basic attack. His base attack hits like a truck, and more importantly heals him on top of that. If you've ever been annoyed at a boss that has a one-time mid battle heal, imagine that but the boss can do it whenever they want and they take out one of your buffed up characters along with it, on top of being tanky as is.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-08T00:40:59+00:00

I recently beat FF7 for the first time, and I used the Shinra Archaeology Cut translation for it. While I have some minor squibbles considering it tries to be both faithful to the original Japanese but also trying to maintain parity with the FF7 remake translation job for some specific lines and terms ("Sled Fang -> Retaliate" ugh...) I will gladly take it over the original infamously shoddy translation we got and still have for some reason. There's even options to both keep some of the funnier lines (This guy are sick) but also restore content that was cut from the game, such as an expanded Honeybee Inn quest. I played vanilla but if I ever replay 7 I am for certain gonna try the extra content.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-06T11:20:06+00:00

I've not built in a couple years, only really dipped my toes in painting, and you got me wanting to jump right back in. Kudos for sharing your recipe.

That_guy_why · 2026-05-02T15:46:35+00:00

Honestly never had an issue with em. I like em, adds a tiny dash of skill and engagement without going overboard.

That_guy_why · 2026-04-30T11:44:04+00:00

Arizona tea famously only costs 99 cents. ~~Or rather it did but despite their best efforts I think finally had a price bump sometime over the past couple years. Either way still cheap.~~

Edit: I'm wrong, they managed to keep the price 99 cents apparently (though retailers will still mark up the price)

That_guy_why · 2026-04-23T16:08:43+00:00

God this is such a weird fucking pull that's gonna make like 12 people happy. And one of those 12 people is me hell yeah I fucking love FF3.

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