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danasider on 27 February 2019
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Cerebralbore101 said:

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! 

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.