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! 

1. Agree

2. Sort of agree. Most games offer a way to get the short version if it's a problem. I love the spectacle, but yeah, I don't want to see it all the time.

3. Agree

4. Sort of agree. I hate the idea of losing a character I was invested in, but the roleplaying part requires you to deal with things that happen. If the gameplay doesn't reflect what's going on with the story, it's kinda a bad RPG in my mind.

5. Sort of agree. I liked Final Fantasy XI. It had crazy dungeons and no hud. You could find or buy maps but even then, it wasn't so easy to navigate (like looking at a map). But because the dungeons had a purpose and you worked with others, there was strategy to what you're doing. It wasn't just a maze to get through to move onto the next area without dying. So for 99% of the RPGs, I hate windy dungeons with no hold handing.

6. Definitely disagree. I am so tired of the hold handing in games. The older RPGs had an element of exploration. Sure, it could be frustrating some times, but most of the time I enjoyed finding what to do next on my own. Now, everything has a triangle over the head (beat this thing) or some icon on a map to travel to. No sense of roleplaying or existing in that world whatsoever.

One of my issues with JRPGs is the melodrama. Sure, many of these games have great stories, but they can get a little hammy and silly. Some parts can make me feel like I'm playing a soap opera. But most of the parts in between keep me invested.

If only all games were LoD...

I don't care what people say about "handholding", I welcome it if I can avoid the infuriating experience of not knowing where to go.

Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga was the worst offender of this in my experience. I really liked the mechanic and quirkiness of the game but there is one instance early on in the game where some villagers are working on a bridge and they don't tell you much else but "Come back later."

You can leave your GBA on for a million year and they'll still tell you to come back later.

"But just explore or talk to other NPCs".

The game should hint or point at me to do something else. "Go see  the village's Great Elder" type of dialogue or whatever. That would be good enough. I remember distinctly going in circles talking to NPCs or going to different locations trying to get something to trigger with no success. Wandering around and talking to NPCs to get something trigger is not fun unless it's done in a a way where the game naturally guides you to do so. 

And it gets so much worse if you play games where random encounter rates are 10 times higher. FF VII and IX had some really annoying instance of me not knowing where to go and there would be countless of boring, pointless and repetitive battles that would take place. And this would needlessly stretch gameplay time for hours and by that point I don't even  find exploring the world of a game fun because of it. Older RPGs were really bad with not only communicating where the players had to go, but also making those locations accessible (janky 3D graphics overworld or sometimes the layout of the world was messy). 

People criticized the linearity of FF XIII, but I for one was happy it didn't waste your time giving cryptic information or direction and just led you exactly where you needed to go to advance further in the game. 

I was wondering if I should try the latest one...

Guess I'll give it a miss XD