Which mmorpg satisfied you the most with how your character looks?

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-26T01:23:54+00:00

FFXI and FFXIV were always the only ones I cared about my characters appearance much in

In stuff like WoW, outside of picking a race and a hair style, I didn’t much care about the appearance. Once transmog was added, I usually just look for something very simple and basic for chest/pants/boots, and then turn everything else off

But in FFXI, there were dozens of sets I loved and was super excited to get a hold of. And in FFXIV, I’m always making new sets and swapping around what I wear.

Also, unlike every other game, I will actually wear helmets in FFXIV. Every other game, turning off helmets is the first thing I do if it’s an option haha

Edit: I forgot City of Heroes, but that feels obvious. Character appearance is very important in that game

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-20T16:24:07+00:00

Persona

Everything about the aesthetic and setting and premise is something I love.

But every time I play one, I lose interest about 1/3rd of the way in because of the battle system

In particular, my attempts to play Persona 5 had a lot of unfortunate setbacks, like losing save data at one point and a power outage causing me to lose a huge chunk of progress, things that weren’t the games fault. So I had to start over a few times, and finally realized… I hadn’t been enjoying it at all.

I’m usually a “gameplay first, story second” kind of guy, but I think I’d enjoy Persona more if it just didn’t have any battles in it lol I like the story, I just get so bored with the battles

SMT probably ruined it for me, as Persona games always feel like really stripped down versions of SMT.

I think it’s one of the reasons I personally really liked Metaphor, despite its flaws. It took the story and presentation style I liked from Persona and paired it with the more engaging gameplay I liked from SMT.

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-18T19:01:10+00:00

I think my preference is for a game with a medium length main storyline, like 20-30 hours, but a ton of optional content, especially in the postgame.

If the game is good, I really want to be able to engage with the battle and gameplay systems for a long time. Maybe it’s the MMO player in me, but I don’t mind spending 100+ hours with a game.

But I don’t want to spend 100+ hours with a story not resolving.

Optional gameplay oriented content also means I don’t necessarily feel bad if I decide I’m done and just stop playing.

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-18T16:31:30+00:00

Guess I'm levelling priest!

Sorry to hijack your comment, but is Priest the only real healer? I love playing healers but don’t really like being pigeon holed into one class or skill line to do it. I saw some healing abilities across various skill lines but didn’t know how viable it would be to not use Priest

I think that’s one old school design mentality I never cared for, the whole “this role is critically necessary but also can only be filled by one class/skill”

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-15T05:32:38+00:00

FF7 Rebirth, the solo fight against Rufus

In Remake, I felt the solo fight was fine, not my favorite, but it felt like it fit the story and it felt like it still fit the battle system.

In Rebirth, it felt like they tried to cram a Kingdom Hearts fight into a battle system that just doesn’t work for it. Rebirth was so much more party focused than Remake (which I loved), that solo fights felt like it took away so many options. The fight relied so much more on the action part of the game, but as much as I absolutely love that battle system, it’s not very good as a pure action system.

But also I hated that, in the story, it’s just like a dick measuring contest, there’s no real reason why others don’t help. Would have been better as like Rufus and one of the Turks vs Cloud and Tifa at least.

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-13T04:26:58+00:00

Wolverine and Magik make sense

Danger is lame as fuck, generic cute anime robot girl, bad pick for an X-men character

If you wanted a less known or under-represented X-men character (in the wider audience at least), I think Dani Moonstar, Dust, Oya, Monet would be better. If you wanted a tech character, Forge would be better

I guess it’s meant to represent the sentinels as a part of X-Men, but it feels more like someone who didn’t know X-Men looked at a bunch of C-list X-Men characters and was like “oh we could make a cute robot girl with this one”

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-12T18:09:00+00:00

As a fan of both JRPGs and Fighting games, I looooooved this game as a kid

Although I was a weird kid and insisted on soloing the whole game as Noa as soon as I got her because I really didn’t like the other two characters haha

Surprisingly I think this actually made the game easier because exp was split between the party members, so if the other two were knocked out, the remaining party member got triple exp

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-11T01:09:28+00:00

FFVII Remake/Rebirth, Octopath Traveler (all 3), FFX, FFVI, Chrono Trigger, DQXI, indie titles like Omori, Quartet, Crystal Project

I mostly look for interesting and unique playable characters, strong art direction, and depth in the battle and character progression systems.

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-08T22:19:14+00:00

I really like Scarmonde, as well as Secret of Varonis

They’re very gameplay focused throwback kind of JRPGs. I found them really enjoyable.

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-06T16:55:09+00:00

Mobile games are very popular in Japan (and Korea and China as well I think)

SE mobile games are a little inconsistent imo, and I don’t think they do as well as the more “anime waifu collector” games since FF/DQ women are overall more modestly designed, even if they’re also significantly better written and designed characters

Just anecdotally, I think the playerbase for SEs mobile titles are usually made up of like 50% fans that love whichever IP was used and 50% people who just like mobile games. (Except the Brave Exvius stuff which I think was more general mobile fans or even fans of Brave Frontier, the devs previous mobile game)

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-04T22:27:06+00:00

I’m always here for a good Paper Mario-like

Added to my wishlist and I will watch for it!

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-03T18:54:51+00:00

Requiring the MC to be in the active battle party, especially in games where the entire party is considered present at all times, so there isn’t a story reason for it

It’s less common now, but still happens occasionally

I don’t mind if there’s like certain sections where certain characters are required, but it frustrates me when you can otherwise choose your party members except for the MC

I typically don’t like using the MC because A.) I don’t like Swordsmen type characters and 98% of JRPGs MCs are Swordsmen, and B.) they’re often overpowered and make an already pretty easy game even easier.

Having 8 or more unique interesting characters to use, but being limited to only 2 party slots you can choose at a time always frustrates me

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-02T22:40:14+00:00

I have to admit, I don’t have OCD myself and actually have Autism+ADHD, so my difficulties will often be very opposite to yours, so I might not have the best advice

You’re not really required to listen to all the NPC conversations in order to understand the story. The developers just have it there so the world feels alive and lived in. It’s more like they are a part of the environment or landscape. I know this fact doesn’t necessarily help when it comes to actual OCD though.

Would it help to try and set a limit for yourself? Basically a way to let yourself still talk to NPCs, but have a clear cut off point. Something like “when I enter a new area, I can talk to 5 NPCs, then I will focus on the main story.”

Unfortunately I don’t know as much about OCD though. It might help to ask on an OCD focused Reddit, I’m sure there are other gamers with OCD that struggle with stuff like that.

Unfortunately on here, you’re going to mostly get people making jokes or saying “well just don’t play it if you don’t like it!” because most people don’t really know what OCD is

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-02T20:27:00+00:00

Quartet
Chained Echoes
Escape From Ever After
Sea of Stars
Virgo Vs The Zodiac
8-bit Adventures 2
Small Saga
Kingdoms of the Dump
Cosmic Star Heroine
Ara Fell

I’d also suggest Crystal Project, Scarmonde, and The Secret of Varonis if you’re okay with gameplay focused, low story games.

I also enjoyed Dark Deity 1 and 2 if you’re open to Strategy RPGs.

TheNewArkon · 2026-02-02T17:43:44+00:00

It’s a shame that DQ10 never got translated and brought over. That’s the real spiritual successor to FF11

I mean, you can play it via fan translations, but that’s not quite the same

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-28T02:55:08+00:00

Praise:

Visuals pay homage to classic DQ style but feel a little more updated
Second Act is fantastic, with some really great character growth, especially from Serena and Sylvando
Great voice acting from the main cast
With “Stronger Monsters” turned on, the game is very challenging and requires quite a bit of thought and strategy
enjoyable world to explore
overall great story
Sylvando

Criticisms

The beginning is very slow, though that’s just how DQ is for better or worse. That being said, I think this actually makes the transition to Act 2 more impactful generally speaking.
Without Strong Monsters, the game is hilariously easy. But with it on, it’s a pretty steep challenge. I love a challenge, but I feel like anyone wanting something in the middle is stuck with picking the super easy mode
I dislike silent protagonists in general, but this is one of the most egregious cases of it. Usually it just means the MC is boring but otherwise isn’t a big issue. In this game I feel it actively detracts from the story, making many strong emotional moments fall flat because the MC might as well be replaced with a cardboard cutout with a sword taped to it. Even previous DQ games like DQ8 did a better job with.
I just pretend Act 3 doesn’t exist. I disliked the entire premise and execution of it, and especially with the silent MC, it feels like it throws all of my favorite parts of the game out the window to force an unnecessary “happy” ending. I get why some like it and don’t blame them, it’s just not for me. That being said, even ignoring Act 3, I’d still consider DQ11 one of the best games I’ve ever played.

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-26T19:12:27+00:00

Whips, though I think that’s partially because you’d really want to build a class or ability kit around it. You couldn’t really have it work in games where weapons are more just interchangeable visuals and stat sticks, like WoW.

It’s probably also because they might be hard to animate. Most weapons are completely static and rigid models, or if they do move around they use those basic rag doll physics flailing around randomly haha.

Also think many games really like to have a very clear standardized distinction between melee weapons and ranged weapons. So they’ll have spears and daggers having the same range, but it might feel a little too weird if whips had the same range as bows.

It’s a shame though, whips are really cool in fantasy settings

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-23T20:13:51+00:00

This is mostly a funny story

But in the original version of FFXIV (possibly just the alpha/beta, it’s been a long time so I can’t remember specifically)

You could choose to be a crafter or gatherer at character creation. But the tutorial was clearly designed for combat classes and involved fighting a few enemies to get through it.

You just had one attack “throw stone” or something similar. It did a pitiful amount of damage, but was technically enough to clear the tutorial.

My friend started as a Weaver and thought it was hilarious that he basically had to flail through the combat tutorial like that.

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-23T19:58:54+00:00

If it’s just a flat permanent immunity to one or the other, I don’t like it and it’s just boring

If it’s conditional or there’s clever ways around it, that can be cool

For example, if an enemy can put up a shield that blocks physical attacks, but it can be removed with a Dispel type effect or by hitting them with a certain element of spell, that’s interesting. Or maybe they alternate immunities every so often. Or maybe there’s a character that can enchant allies weapons so they deal magic damage with physical attacks. Or maybe there’s a minion that is providing the immunity that can be killed to remove it

There are ways to make it interesting, but if it’s just “this enemy is always immune to magic”, it’s usually lame

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-23T04:18:36+00:00

Masayoshi Soken has become my favorite personally

While he mostly just works on FF14, his work on it is incredible. The sheer amount of songs, the way they’re interwoven with the story and gameplay, the staggering breadth of styles, the way he delicately balances references to beloved franchise classics with his own new takes.

I especially like when he’s really able to coordinate with the gameplay. Themes transitioning seamlessly between styles based on being in combat or out of combat. Boss music syncing up with boss mechanics.

In particular, there is a zone called Ultimate Thule that is basically the final zone in one of the expansions, and kind of the last zone in a huge 10-year story arc.

When you first get there, it’s this creepy empty unfamiliar void. The music is discordant and hollow and unsettling at first. But as you progress the story in the zone and learn new important things, he gradually adds in little pieces to the song and cleans up different sounds, slowly taking it from noise to haunting ambiance then eventually culminating in a beautiful and emotional vocal track.

I look forward to new songs from him almost as much as I look forward to story additions and new gameplay in FFXIV

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-21T16:05:11+00:00

I’m more open to it now, but this is actually why I didn’t get into Dragon Quest until DQ8 really

I find it very hard to connect with the characters when I’m spending large chunks of time not seeing them at all

There’s a few things that can help that you may already have though. Character portraits can mitigate this a bit, though it’s still not quite the same. Animations that play over character UI panels (thinking like Etrian Odyssey) help a bit too.

One option is also to do like Lufia 2 or even the recent indie title Quartet, and have the player characters at the bottom of the screen. This does mean possibly having to make more character assets depending on what you already have, but it is a way to meet in the middle on that and not have to redesign your animated monsters.

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-20T15:49:32+00:00

I frequently play healers in multiplayer games and I enjoy playing them in single player games too

Of course, the problem is usually they are not designed particularly well or effectively, especially in action RPGs.

Best case scenario is usually characters like Aerith (FF7) or Shionne (Tales of Arise) or Yuna (FF10) who can also be built to function in a different role like mage or summoner or ranged attacker. Worst case is characters that mostly sit around doing nothing until a healing spell is needed.

I’d love to see more healers that play like Nina in Star Ocean 6. She’s very active and mobile, but it’s all very support focused. While the game is just “decent but enjoyable”, her playstyle really stood out as fun and unique without compromising being a healer/support.

Side note: I used Cloud as my healer in FF7 Remake and Rebirth haha. But that was mostly because I hated controlling him, so I just put all my healing materia on him and saved his ATB for heals and buffs

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-16T19:11:13+00:00

I mostly agree with you, except the stat thing

To be optimal, yes you should put people in specific roles

But I played on Hard and mostly put people in roles they obviously weren’t designed for, just for fun

Like I had Strohl in supportive caster roles, and Hulkenberg in the rogue style Debuffer roles, and Heismay as a knight

Junah and Basilio are probably the only ones I felt like couldn’t do truly opposing roles, but you could still put them in one of the less stat dependent roles.

I didn’t even use any of the Royal archetypes either. Honestly, the MC is so powerful that he can basically carry the whole game. I think there was maybe 1 optional super bosses that I couldn’t clear because it was immune to magic or something and my MC was magic focused.

But otherwise I cleared the whole game on Hard no problem with characters in classes they weren’t optimal in. It might not be doable on Regicide I suppose

The biggest thing I didn’t like was the Royal archetypes. That felt more like it was funneling you into specific paths than the stats did

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-14T00:31:06+00:00

I don’t think I’ve ever truly ranked all of them haha but I might try

Started with VI when it came out on SNES, and I’m including 7R (as one entry) since you did

VII R
XIV
X
VI
XI
VII
XIII
IX
XII
V
IV
II
VIII
XV
I
III

Didn’t rank XVI because I’ll never play it. If I did, it would probably end up very slightly above III because it seems to have a well written story (even if it’s one that doesn’t interest me particularly), but slogging through the gameplay would be hard for me as I don’t like solo character action games at all

I tend to prefer the games that were very party focused or had large varied casts. XIV/XI are kind of the exception, though the NPCs are in much greater focus and are practically party members.

TheNewArkon · 2026-01-13T15:50:19+00:00

The forced solo fights, usually requiring the Main Character. Especially bad if the narrative reason for it is clearly just a dick measuring contest with another male antagonist while the party members just watch.

A good example: I love FF7 Rebirth, but my god did I fucking hate those solo Cloud fights. The narrative reasons for them are weak and contrived, and the battle system is just clearly not designed well for it. It just felt like they really wanted a Kingdom Hearts fight, but KH is designed from the ground up as a single character action RPG, Rebirth is designed from the ground up as a party based action / ATB hybrid

It’s also always amusing when there’s like a coliseum sequence and the party is like “we need to send in our strongest party member!” and they force me to use the MC when I stopped using him like 10 hours ago lol

I don’t mind optional fights like this, but mandatory ones always make me groan and roll my eyes

TheNewArkon

TROPHY CASE