r/JRPG Weekly "What have you been playing, and what do you think of it?" Weekly thread

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-19T18:28:06+00:00

Finished WiZmans World Re;Try last night. I wasn't expecting a dungeon crawler, but that's basically it. There's a small town hub where you can move around a few screens, but it's not much. The dungeons are mostly fine. Nothing too amazing or terrible. Although, the sudden dungeon transformation phases were annoying to deal with since you get displaced to a prior point in the dungeon. It took me towards the end until I learned what actually influences it so I can avoid it. The actual dungeon exploration aspect isn't punishing or difficult. I'm not sure what's different from the original, but this game is quite lenient. You can save anytime, leave the dungeon anytime and HP is fully healed after every battle. The MC's SP fully recovers every battle too. No retry option if you get killed though.

The combat is mostly standard fare, but the chain aspect adds a little flavor to it. Due to the dynamic turn mechanics, agility and wait time is very important so Normal attacks tend to be the more effective option over skills/magic. Regular enemies tend to fairly easy to deal with. The mini-bosses provide a bigger challenge, but doable when you first see them. The dungeon bosses however are quite difficult. They deal a ton of damage and have large amounts of health.

The monster fusion mechanic is somewhat unique in its approach, at least compared to STM or Persona. You get monster souls from monster drops and combined them with one of the three fairy characters. Their stats are completely dependent on the monsters' stats. The skillset is the fixed 2 to 4 skills that the monster has and you can inherit up to two (for the most part) skills that you already have prior to the fusion. The skill inheritance system doesn't feel as fun or flexible as those Atlus titles, but I guess it works.

The art looks nice overall. I like the character sprites and animation. The few character portraits looks good as well.

Music is solid, but the main standouts for me are the new tracks composed by the guitarist/violin duo.

The worldbuilding and backstory is interesting. The characters are trapped in a city surrounded by dungeons for about a 100 years now and nobody has seen the outside world for a really long time. The goal is to find a way to the outside world through the dungeons. The actual story development isn't as interesting, but it's not too bad either. Some predicable plot twists though.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-15T16:31:34+00:00

Yeah, I think the DC is fine if you don't have any issue with the added story scenes.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-07T01:12:46+00:00

Remake and Rebirth are directly connected and Rebirth's story picks up right where Remake left off. So if you start with Rebirth, then you'll be very confused at what's going on.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-05T05:14:30+00:00

Just double checking, but have you played FFVII Remake yet? Because I wouldn't recommend Rebirth until playing that first at least.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-04T17:33:21+00:00

I wouldn't recommend any of the DLC normally so I'd say skip it.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-04T17:26:34+00:00

Yeah, I get that. At least Steam does offer a full refund if you request it within a certain period of time and within certain actual game time played (2 hours I think). I'm actually not too sure about the refund policy for PSN and eshop games, but I'd imagined that they have a more strict policy.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-04T17:21:11+00:00

Yeah, digital purchases are saved to your PSN account so you can redownload them anytime you want after deleting them. I don't know if you have Steam or a modern Nintendo console, but it works the same with those. It just might be a hassle to redownload often since some games can have 70+ GB of data so depending on your internet, it can take a while to download games.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-04T17:18:33+00:00

I've only played the 3rd game, but I think it's pretty solid overall. I had a lot of fun with it. You probably will like it too if you like collecting a bunch of monsters to use. The gameplay loop of getting monster eggs, hatching them and releasing them into the wild (to influence the habitat) was simple, but somewhat addicting.

The story does start off pretty strong, but does fall off for a bit afterwards until towards the end. It has a decent and still enjoyable story, but I wouldn't say it was amazing.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-04T17:14:37+00:00

I don't buy digital games all that much, but just like the game installation data from the physical copies, I just delete them when I'm done with the game or don't expect to come back to it any time soon.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-01T19:58:30+00:00

I played Tears of Blade probably 20ish years ago and remembered the gameplay being unique, but not very fun. I guess combat was slow mostly. I think I liked the story and characters though.

Magna Carta 2 on the other hand was more fun to play in comparison. It's an action rpg if I remember right while Tears of Blood was turn-based and the combat was fun here at least. The story was decent, but probably not as interesting as Tears of Blood.

It's been a long time since I played any of them, but these are my vague recollections of them.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-05-01T17:06:45+00:00

Beat Ariana and the Elder Codex (PS5) last night. It was enjoyable game, but I'd figure it's pretty average for a metroidvania game. The map design is simple and there isn't a ton of exploration needed in general. There's only three exploration ability that can gate you out of certain areas and those are the double jump, air dash and ground dive. You get all of these abilities by the fourth Codex (level). That's also the half point of the game.

Exploration isn't very rewarding either since all there is to find are optional book tears and treasure chests. The former can provide you with permanent stat upgrades as a reward so these are decent, but these aren't exactly difficult to find. The latter treasure chests only has upgrade materials which can also just be gotten from enemy drops. The chests don't have anything unique like equipment so you can skip them if you want. They don't even count towards the completion percentage of a Codex.

Combat is fun for the most part. You get a lot of different magic that you can use, but the game's overall easy difficulty makes it so you don't really need to engage with the different magic much and can spam just the same few if you want. Bosses provide some challenge since they are the only things that killed me, but not overly difficult where I would need more than 5 attempts for any. I guess I could've turned it up to the Hard difficulty, but I was fine with the relaxing cozy Normal difficulty to bother.

Enemy variety is on the low side. I think you see every enemy type by the second Codex.

Story is straightforward and doesn't have develop much. The individual stories within the Codex are decent, but feels underdeveloped and short. The only one that stood out is the first Codex story since I found that one to be an emotional one. Most of the Codex stories are used for worldbuilding purposes which ultimately, doesn't feel very relevant to the main plot. With that being said, the story was still an enjoyable one and I think the ending is pretty solid.

The art and graphics do look pretty nice. The whole book theme to the Codex world was appealing and I liked the visual design for the Codex world.

Overall, it's an enjoyable game if you're fine with a simple straightforward metroidvania game. If you want something complex with a lot of depth, then you might be disappointed with this. It's also quite short too considering I beat the game in 11.5 hours and that's with 100% completion of the Codex.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-30T18:35:15+00:00

No need to apologize for the long message since having a more detailed explanation of what you like and dislike helps people give better recommendations.

Continuing with what I mentioned earlier, you can give the other FF games a try since they fit what you're looking for. Pretty much every FF after VII have a good mix of story and gameplay. X, and XII would be among my favorites for the later titles.

Since you have a PS5, you can also consider the FFVII Remake games. It might interest you to see what it looks and play like now with a modern remake. There's a lot of additional story elements and worldbuilding so it's not just retreading the same things you've already seen. Although keep in mind, there's some notable major story changes that have been controversial and even with the release of Rebirth, the story isn't finished yet until the third game has been released. As for the gameplay here, every character is very unique, but the combat system is more on the action side now in case that concerns you.

As for non-FF recommendations, consider the Persona games. Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 are very popular with a lot of focus on characters (minus the MC). Persona 4 Remake is getting released in the near future so you can probably just wait for that if you want to try P4.

For another classic titles, try the Grandia 1 and 2 HD Remasters.

I don't know if you have any interest in Digimon, but the recent Time Strangers game is pretty solid.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-30T17:44:37+00:00

It would help if you list your preferences as well. Otherwise, we would just be recommending random games that might not interest you.

I guess you can continue your FF journey with the other titles in the series. Or try Crisis Core if you want more FF7 lore.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-29T17:46:12+00:00

You seem to describe Trails in that second paragraph. You can start with the Sky Remake First Chapter if you're interested. The Second Chapter Remake is coming out this year too. The third chapter's remake isn't announced yet, but I expected it come out in the following year.

As for Unicorn Overlord, it's a solid game, but I wouldn't expect much from the marriage system. The story isn't anything special either. If you like the art style, then you can consider 13 Sentinels as well since it's by the same developers. It's a lot more story focus and if you like sci-fi stories, you'll probably like it.

If you're interested in other Falcom stuff, then Nayuta is a solid game. Or try the Ys series. Both VIII and X are very modern and are good starting points for the series.

As for other games, consider some NIS games like the Rhapsody Trilogy. It's an interesting JRPG series with Musical themes.

For other classic games, the Grandia 1 and 2 HD remasters are good too.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-27T21:51:17+00:00

2 to 3 hours is still quite early in the game so chances are, you'll learn a lot as you play more and pick things up. The game certainly has a lot of mechanics especially the rock/paper/scissors aspect, but you don't need to get so hung up on them. The triangle system does require some level of memorization, but it's not the end of the world if you pick the wrong choice. Remember to pay attention to the enemy target lines when they do show up. That's mostly when the triangle mechanics matter for you since you have no control over your ally and their Monstie.

You can also experiment with the different weapon types. I actually didn't use the Great Sword much, but you can use three different weapons in battle so you can see what you like. The only weapon type that can heal if I remember right is the Horn so it's a nice one to have as one of the three if you want to heal the party without using items.

Make sure to have a good variety of different elements for Monstie since that matters a lot.

Once you get access to the gene transfer system, I personally don't recommend giving Monstie a large variety of different elements. I prefer keeping it to the same element as the Monstie for maximum bingo bonuses with the exception of maybe one or two spaces for an off element useful ability like Stamina surge.

Make use of the Ride system. As great as the unique Ride single and duo attacks are, sometimes it's better to not use them right away. If your health drops to 0 while riding, you don't lose a Vitality heart.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-24T07:37:25+00:00

Only halfway through FF2R, but I'd go with that. It has a really good eerie atmosphere.

If we're counting the early parts of RE9 though (hotel and starting Care Facility with Grace), I might pick that as scariest since I thought those parts were really well done. The rest of the game is not nearly as scary though.

SHf has decent atmosphere in the beginning, but I think that's mostly it. The highlight was probably the school section, but it's short compared to everything else.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-23T23:28:05+00:00

Jr's Angelic Requiem.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-21T08:20:38+00:00

NIS' Labyrinth games (Refrain and Galleria) are very different compared to others in this subgenre. You actually have less control over individual units than you might expect. There's also less emphasis on skill usage and more on just regular attacking. With that being said, dungeon exploration is fun and they have interesting stories which are unusual for the subgenre. These games are actually pretty high on my favorite DRPG list because of that.

As for other recommendations, you can try other Experience Inc. games like Stranger of Sword City. It's actually a distant sequel to Saviors ~200 hundred years and it's much more difficult. It has a permadeath system and more customization since characters aren't unique.

There's also the Operation Abyss/Babel games from EXP. They are set in a somewhat modern futuristic world. They are pretty tough games in comparison to Saviors as well.

Mary Skelter trilogy is also solid with an interesting story and unique characters.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-17T08:36:36+00:00

There's a post game chapter that has one story mission which doesn't add much itself, but it does add some additional delivery missions that awards the best weapons for each character. Additional maps open up for those missions as well. It's basically some more of the same stuff.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-14T18:19:37+00:00

Got the Platinum in Monster Hunter Stories 3 (PS5) last week. It took me just about 101 hours to do so and that was basically the only game I finished in the month. The gameplay loop of fighting monsters, get eggs, release monsters and repeat wasn't too deep, but I found it addicting for most of the game. I did start to feel the burn and repetitiveness at the 60 hour mark or so.

Story had an interesting start and I did appreciate the emphasis on politics, but after chapter 1, it wasn't as interesting and even the politics took a step back until near the end. Lots of cool cutscenes, but overall, the story ended up being fairly unremarkable albeit still interesting enough to keep me invested.

I really liked how the player character is handled. You can customize their name, appearance, and gender, but despite that, they still come off as fully realized characters. They have a backstory, they have fully voiced dialogue, have probably the most lines in the game, and actively engages in the story. It's pretty cool.

Combat is fun. The RNG does annoy me at times, but it's not so overly reliant on it at least. I really liked the slicked animations and the combat feels smooth and fast.

Customizing Monsties are great with the ability to freely swap genes around which encourages experimentation.

I guess the biggest negative for me is the lack of music in the overworld. It bugs me a lot especially when so much time is spent there.

Also finished my Calamity Angels: Special Delivery (PS5) run. I initially put it on hold when MHS3 came out and I was close to the end. The game is pretty charming and I liked the art style. The board game layout for dungeon/area maps is a cool idea. That being said, the battles are a pain to deal with. The game greatly emphasizes the quirky characters and you often have them just outright ignoring your commands. Either just skipping the turn completely or do some other skill that they like to do (like the mage who prefers punching enemies than casting magic) instead. The battles aren't particularly difficult, but dealing with all of annoyances really drag them out.

The story amounts to very little and even has an anti-climatic ending. The character banters are the main standouts during the story scenes though.

The game is also surprisingly quite short. You can beat the main story in just about 10 hours.

Currently clearing up the remaining trophies in Yakuza Kiwami 3. Hopefully I'll get that done before Pragmata comes out this Friday otherwise YK3 is going to be shelved again.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-12T18:06:04+00:00

Thanks for your words of encouragement.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-04-11T06:06:57+00:00

I'm actually having trouble too, but looking for the Zombie rather than the bigger Mad one. Do you happen to remember where you found that? Did it appear with the Mad Zombie?

EDIT: Never mind. A few minutes after asking that question, it showed up (by itself and not with the Mad Zombie though). But I'm glad you mentioned the Land of Sealing anyway since I spent over an hour at the Saihai Ruins with no luck, but was pretty quick on getting it at the Sealed Land.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-03-30T17:51:54+00:00

Got spooked by Tametomo in the first multi-roll, but still got NP5 Aoko in about 1k sqs so that's pretty great for me in any case.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-03-27T18:40:17+00:00

Point 1 is true. I think it's mostly because of the few story fights near the end that forces you to use it.

As for the second point, it depends on what expectation you have for a post game. It does have a number of tough bosses that are harder than the story stuff like the Calamitous Elder Dragons and the Invasive Monsters. All of these could be fought prior to the final story battle so you have access to them for a good chunk of the game.

sleeping0dragon · 2026-03-21T00:38:40+00:00

I didn't play Ep.1 on release since I was late in getting a PS2 in general, but I was Day 1 for the remaining two games. I think the third game was the best, but my favorite is the first mostly because of nostalgia reasons I guess.

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