What parts of JRPGs really annoy you? Here's mine in no real order...
1. Easy pointless battles
Some JRPGs will make their fights so easy that you can just turn on auto-attack, and win the fight within the first turn. No strategizing required.
2. Long attack animations
Performing a big attack shouldn't take up a 5 to 10 second animation. And if it does, then it should be your strongest attack. One that you only intend to use on a boss.
3. A random battle every three steps
Yep. I am not a fan of this. Maybe having one every 5 to 10 steps is fine. Every three though? That's grind.
4. Being forced to use/lose a party member, because plot raisins demand it.
Yeah, just let me use whatever characters I want. Oh, you've been leveling up this one character forever? It would be a shame if he suddenly became unavailable for 1/3rd of the game due to plot raisins!
5. Windy confusing dungeons, with no map HUD.
Oh, man I really hate it when I'm in a dungeon with a thousand forks in the road. Only one of them leads to the boss, and the others lead to dead ends or treasure. Combine this with frequent fights, and you can just get lost for ages.
6. Not knowing where to go next.
Some older JRPGs give you almost no real direction. You have to go to a certain area to trigger a cutscene, and before you do the game is just locked down.
I love the Etrian Odyssey series, because it skips all of this and more. There's always a point to fights, even if it's to kill enemies in a certain manner to get good item drops. Attack animations are fast, and to the point. Random battles are once every ten or so steps, which is a nice pace. Your entire party is always accessible. No plot raisins needed. A customizable HUD map on the bottom screen, so you never get lost. Where do you go next? To the next stratum of course!
