7 JRPGs With Memorable Stories, but Rough Gameplay
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- 7 JRPGs With Memorable Stories, but Rough Gameplay
Many JRPGs can strike a good balance between gameplay and story, however there are others that are remembered for one of the aspects, but struggles in the other. Here are 7 JRPGs that have memorable stories, but rough gameplay
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🎵 M U S I C U S E D 🎵
Ar Tonelico OST - Vidarr
Xenoblade Chronicles OST - Satorl Marsh (Night)
Sen no Kiseki OST - The Sound of Rainfall in the Academy
Atelier Sophie 2 OST - Sometime in Between
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⌚T I M E S T A M P S ⌚
0:00 - Intro
0:40 - 1
3:02 - 2
5:21 - 3
8:15 - 4
10:08 - 5
12:21 - 6
14:51 - 7 - Ігри
I, being part of a minority, absoluetly LOVED the gameplay of Trails in the Sky the 3rd. I loved the combination between dungeon crawling, unlocking new characters, getting more stories out of the doors. I would even argue that Reverie made it even better with like the biggest roster a JRPG has seen aside from the Suikoden games. I really hope they will do another game in the style of 3rd and Reverie or, perhaps, create an entire franchise around it.
I love Sky 3rd WAY MORE than Sky 1/Zero/Azure! Kevin was an AWESOME main character in Sky 3rd and it REALLY saddened me he didn't show-up in Reverie when they were concluding multiple arcs at the same time. 😢
Kevin is the GOAT and I agree with you on all the points 👍 Plus it has an enotional story and awesome soundtrack 👍
"With a fair few of them being infamous to this day." Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. It's kind of telling that you didn't need to say anything more for everyone who knows the game to know exactly which door in particular you might have been referring to.
As the saying goes: If you know, you know.
Crystar was definitely a treat. At first I definitely found it to be pretty repetitive to play, so I usually only played it for like 2 hours at a time otherwise I knew I'd just burn out. I knew it had multiple endings, so I figured I'd just get the first one and be done (of course I didn't know how the game was structured at the time). But once I got that first ending the story really sunk its hooks into me. That day that I expected to be the last time I played to get the first ending DID end up being the last day I played it, but instead of just the 2 hours to finish the first ending like I expected, it ended up being nearly 10 hours straight to get all of the endings. I'd put Crystar right next to Tales of Legendia's character quests at the top of the list for games with the largest gap between story and gameplay quality.
Do not skip Sky the 3rd! It's so good!
Sky 3rd is probably my favorite with Reverie, expecially due to the Door system. Pretty much making all the side content easy to access as long as you've found the door. Once you have the requirements, you can teleport right in front of it and I can do it. I don't need a flippin guide to know where to go and talk to access to a hidden quest that only people who are super obsessed with the game world would remember.
Sky Third is one of those games you cannot miss. One hell of a story from Kevin's tragic past to Renne's messed up and heart-crushing early childhood. Any die-hard Trails fan will tell you not to skip the game. It really shows how important Kevin is to the series given an entire game was dedicated to him. I think he will have a big role to play in Kai. I just feel it.
YES! I love Sky 3rd WAY MORE than Sky 1/Zero/Azure! Kevin was an AWESOME main character in Sky 3rd and it REALLY saddened me he didn't show-up in Reverie when they were concluding multiple arcs at the same time. 😢
The worst thing about Sky 3rd to me is the fact they added instant death as a random affect that could happen during a turn.
Yeah but it was easy enough to effect the turn order, and get it pushed onto an enemy
You could either use AT Delay to push it back or counter with earth wall or deathblow accessories. Granted they are not available in the beginning but the game was meant to be for players that finished FC and SC so it is more challenging.
I did not like the dungeon crawling part, but it would open up as the game progresses through the story. I liked how none of the characters are obsolete in the final dungeon due to the fact that you have to divide into four different parties of four. I loved it.
I had more pleasure playing sky the 3rd than most trails games.
I actually loved what they did with Sky 3rd! Not only did they redeem a character I otherwise thought was annoying, being Kevin. I would have hated traveling the entire continent of Liberal again for the third time. So I was extremely pleased that it didn't feel like the same game again with a new story. The thing I didn't like about it, was the sheer number of characters when you can only use 4. Which I think is a problem in Trails game as a whole! Its nice they fully flesh out these characters through multiple games, but that makes it all the more frustrating that you don't get to use them all or worse if you got my problem feel like you should level/equip them all! With the amount of characters they have in these games I almost wish they took a page out suikodens book where you got base building and tactical gameplay army wars or something so it feels fun to have all those characters.
Shocked to see Ni No Kuni on this list. Absolutely love everything about that game. World map is gorgeous too!
I played Crystar this year. Gameplay is not that good, but I saw people online saying to switch the difficulty to Easy, and that really made this, well, easier to get through.
The story is good, but VERY depressive, in chuuni ways I mean. It's something I would 100% recommend it if someone was into Mirai Nikki (although this game is not as bloody).
Being able to braindead spam luminous ogre slash with (spoiler) made me forgive sky the 3rd's gameplay no problem
Thanks to that (and grail sphere) I easily beat that impossible boss duo in my 2nd playthrough
My nomination is Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Talk about a game that was so bad to play, they turned it into a clip show on the HD collections.
Little tip for twewy: take off the screen and use it as a handheld touch screen. Basically turns it into the mobile version which makes it feel much better than controler. You can't play 2 player but you can call in and combo your partner yourself anyway.
I love 13 sentinels combat.
i agree w/ a lot of people here - i personally loved trails the 3rd dungeon grind and having to equip multiple parties. it really wrapped the series beautifully and made the final encounters feel more meaningful
the jrpg that really stands out in the great story/rough gameplay department for me is FF8 - the characters, music and overall plot was really well done but the gameplay became extremely boring having to spam junction magic for hours. the game really could have benefitted from a modern remaster w/ a more thoughtful combat system.
Always wanted to try Crystar. Didn't expect it has a good story. Looked a lot like neptunia writing. I might try it after all
Trails 3 really clicked for me in New Game Plus - the total lack of interaction with the wider world and external threats uncoupled from the main plot effectively means that it's an entire game of character development, closure and experimenting with party lineups for fun interactions. There's so little complexity to the actual plot (there's plenty of thematic and character complexity, but if you boiled down the story to its actual plot points you could do so in maybe four sentences and miss nothing) that the character work can take up the vast majority of the interactions and nobody has to compete with the plot for space. I also found it a bit rough on the first playthrough, but when you're much too powerful for anything to hurt you until the very end of the game and you can keep mechanically weak characters like Josette in your party with no problem, you start to understand its strengths a lot more.
Ouch. Not playing Solo Co-Op (having one joycon in each hand) will definitely make Final Remix hard. Loved reaching 100% on Final Remix. I'm pretty sure I dropped Final Remix thrice when I wasn't playing solo co-op.
Even if u just watch a lets play DO NOT skip sky 3rd it adds so much
13 Sentinels gameplay was super compelling imho - it just wasn't a great fit for the game, and the complete hard separation between narrative bits and gameplay bits was super fucking jarring.
In terms of pure gameplay though, it's like one of those strangely compelling mobile phone strategy games where you play them for ten hours straight, forget to eat dinner, and then never touch them again.
I personally didn't have an issue with Crystar. Combat was definitely stiff when you compare it to a similar style game like Tokyo Xanadu but I didn't really mind the gameplay loop personally. It is mundane and repetitive but my interest in the story and characters was enough for me to just hack and slash my way through the combat to get to the story progression.
Jeepers these were all in my backlog 😂 Except TWEwY, which I didn’t like on DS either… and xenosaga 2 which I never did finish back in the day :( I didn’t even mind it… loved the first one. Sadly never played the third. Shoulda pushed through!
While I appreciate Sky 3rd being featured with a glowing review, I'd say it has a memorable story and contentious gameplay, rather than rough. It's still Trails just without the nature Trails.
Valkyria Revolution, Persona 2 Duology.
I actually prefer Xenosaga 2's combat over 1 which I think is a bit too repetitive. Also as the spritual sequel to Crystar, Crymachina has improved gameplay but still quite rough on the edge, especially when considering how brilliant its storytelling is.
Played all of these being 40 years old been playing jrpgs since the 80s. Cenosaga will always hold a special place in my heart. And 13 sentinels was amazing.
- I heard people recently come out and say that the combat in Nier: Automata was not that good.
- I agree with your choice picking 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.
- I agree with your opinion that the “Doors” story content was the best part of Trails in the Sky the 3rd.
Nice video. I like your footage.
Resonance of Fate came to my mind. I was so intrigued by the story but I never got to stick till the end. The combat can be enjoyable but some parts and quests are so frustrating. The hexagonal parts that you had to use to fill the maps were so annoying as well.
YES. I clicked when I saw Crystar. It's the first game that comes to mind where I was like, "Yeah, this game was done showing me new stuff at 10 hours and I'm at hour 50"
I didnt play final remix but i have the original one on ds and this was the game that scratched my ds screen to oblivion because i didnt use a screen protector at that time
For me it was the Pokemon Ranger series.
I liked Sky 3rd. Combat was really good, you had a huge roster. Granted, you had to farm a ton to get everyone equipped for the final fight or you just cheated some sepith to waste less time. If anything, Sky FC would be my 'great story rough gameplay' gripe if the series has any due to how limited you are.
Despite all my whining about having the wrong tastes, one benefit seemingly is that I can just enjoy most games others seemingly are unable.
"Crystar" is one example where I constantly hear about how bad the gameplay is. Heck, to some, even the story and writing is grade-school tier apparently. But I loved the game and even enjoyed the combat. At worst, it was just simple. And that's including the fact that I was purposely replaying levels to get all the Memoirs and even fully upgrading every weapon/armor for their evolving descriptions. Kind of funny cause another example that gets the exact same criticisms is "Drakengard"...which is stated to be one of "Crystars" main inspirations. Loved that game too.
Oh well, I guess I should count my blessings. I might have grew up playing and appreciating the wrong games but those very games are what taught me to be mildly more tolerant of imperfections and aspects being average.
Am I the only one who can’t open the Steam version of the Crystar? It gets stuck on a black screen whenever I try to open it 😅 It’s been a while since I tried and I’m open to suggestions as to how I can run it.
I can absolutely agree with you about The World Ends With You and it's sequel. The story is great but the gameplay for me honestly made it less fun.
The whole Sky trilogy fits into this category for me. The story's stellar, and the battles are fun, but there's so much tedious backtracking, to the point that it starts to feel like wasting the player's time is an honest to god design goal. I get that having no fast travel makes the world feel bigger, but level design has never really been Trails' strength, and a lot of it just feels like running back and forth over near-identical stretches of road over and over again. Especially since the criteria for unlocking side quests (which, this being Trails, are actually good and do a lot to develop the world and characters) are deeply opaque and require you to either revisit every town in the current sub-region every time the plot advances, or just throw your hands up and use a walkthrough.
I think the other issue with the gameplay of Aegis Rim is... Fine. Not horrible, doesn't excel, just okay. Which is only a problem when you compare it to EVERY OTHER PART OF THE GAME.
The main 2 for me was definitely trails in the sky 3rd, after the playing with the 1st and 2nd with 3-4 new game plus each, I was expecting a grand ending to the trails saga. It was bad but it becomes more about just learning more backstory. For crystal, I brought it initially for the gameplay but ended up for the short stories of the souls, such as one guy who was poor, he grew up eating this plain vegetable shop and hated it. He work hard but one day he lose his taste and his business and ended his life with his last meal being the soup he hated.
I have no doubt that The World Ends with You is a great game. Played it on the DS. But strongest point of it is the character writing. The plot itself is only good if you turn off your brain and ignore multiple plot holes. These plot holes are somewhat fixed by some multiverse nonsense in the endgame, which explain stuff but in the process cheapens the original impact with Tetsuya Nomura nonsense on the level of Kingdom Hearts.
Hey utawarerumono shout huh ? Ty for that
13th sentinel gameplay was for me, bery enjoyable, despite the mecha theme. I did enjoy the turn based add on or the chess like setup when u have to adjusts to incoming game
The va dub carry the gameplay as well
Also the backlash that occur for not taking care of ur units was a interesting backlash feature imo
Crystar and crymachina had eye catching character design and voices (prefer crymachina) but yes the gameplay had me turn off so ;D
P.s. another game that had great character, chemistry and lore was "process of elimination" but the gameplay aspect felt too stale, and mundane, not of their attribute for each of the characters was translated good toward the gameplay Unfortunately
I instantly think of the .Hack quadrology
Agree with the games from the list I’ve played. For me the difference between 13 Sentinels and Utawarerumono is that the battles in Uta felt relevant and part of the story while 13 Sentinels felt shoehorned because a story with giant mechs can’t not have battles. I’d add the game I’m currently playing to the list which is Secret of Mana. Like what I’ve seen so far of the world and story but can’t wrap my head around the idea of an atb gauge in an action game, it just slows things down way too much 😪
I have to disagree:
Trails TC doesn't have rought gameplay, it's a breath of fresh air to the series. I totally prefer TC over Reverie if I have to be honest
Agree with 13 Sentinels but i just take it more as a Visual Novel and less as a JRPG so absolutely 0 problems with it
But hey everyone has their tastes so no worries!
Fair complain about Nier Replicant, It's one of my favorite game but it gets kinda repetitive if you want to get every ending (as you should do)
Trails in the Sky 3rd, that game is really great. Kevin being the great protagonist and Ries is really great character. Kevin and Ries voice actor in Japanese is great vibe with each other.
The story and door is good but the door that include mini game not good.
The gameplay i think more simple than usual Trails, i don't get it why people will skip it because of new MC and linear. Edit : I play the game in PC with mods that include EVO Music, EVO Character Potrait, and Voice Actor.
Ni no Kuni, i kinda get it the combat can be weird.
I think if i choose, i will pick Valkyria Chronicles when you battle against Valkyrie that kinda hard or maybe i kinda bad play the game. I know the gameplay is like XCOM.
Interesting I felt Replicant was better than Automata lol
I hate dungeon crawlers however I loved Sky 1&2 so I kept going and I'm so happy I did, it was the perfect conclusion to the trilogy.
Two days I wanted to get into Utawarerumono thanks to your review about said trilogy, and everything was sailin' smooth till I got to the first combat... Ugh, my god, it's the most uninspired combat system I've seen since From The Abyss.
Man, they should REALLY have sticked to the VN style and maybe add some point & click sections like many, many other VNs out there. This is truly a shame since I really wanted to get into the series cuz the characters, dialogue, pacing and ambience were just so good..
I really wanted to love Xenosaga 2, but the gameplay was such a snoozefest I LITERALLY fell alseep playing it.
Having played the Original Nier, I was wondering why you included Nier Replicant Remake because the combat got upgraded to be similar to Nier Automata but as soon as you mentioned the side quests, I had to agree with you. They were terrible, boring and we had to do some of the tougher ones to unlock all the endings.
I've uploaded a playthrough of Crystar years ago and I agree with you on everything. The story is fantastic, the English VAs did a great job, the combat is decent but the dungeons are bland and exploration isn't that exciting. Maybe 5 videos in I just started editing out most of the exploration and combat with trash mobs and just went straight for the story and boss fights. I was originally planning to just stop the playthrough with the 1st ending but I decided to unlock the others and it was a good decision as the story is that good.
Sky 3 is my favorite in the trilogy. Completely understand why it’s polarizing. I found saga2 to be insufferable
I just couldn't stand NEO. But still would play all Sky games if they're ported.
It may just be a me thing but if the story in a game is bad I genuinely can't play it. On the other hand if the story is good and the gameplay is not the greatest I can tolerate it cause I want to see where the story goes
Here's my bad take, i haven't gotten to playing more then 10mins of sky 3rd when i realized Kevin was the protagonist. I hated him so much in the second game i couldn't bring myself to play it.
I watched "The World Ends with You anime" back when it released (after seeing Neku in "Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance") and while the anime was "fine" for the most part, it felt like they cut a lot of content (from the game) that would've been more helpful in understanding the overall story and connect the series of events throughout the anime. Now, I haven't played the game version because, from what I've seen of it, it didn't appeal to me gameplay-wise, but should they do a *3D remake of the 1st TWEWY* (like *NEO TWEWY),* then I'd love to check it out then!
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is simply a perfect game to me. Its gameplay isn't for anyone, but that applies to literally every game to ever exist. The story, atmosphere, music and characters are one of the strongest I've seen in a videogame. Heck, the story might be my absolute favorite. I did finish Crystar and I really enjoyed the characters, theme and story. I did find the gameplay repetitive, but that's why I just played for a few hours, stopped and played some more the next day.
Xenosaga 2 bummed me out so much compared to the first that I never finished the trilogy. The news they weren't doing 6 games, also bummed me out. I also didn't like that they had different actors for major characters and even the art change sort of bugged me. The didn't have the same Space Opera music.
I found Xenosaga's original combat to be dull and too simple, anyway, but the story was so damn good. siiiiiigh.
Also, Crystar has the worst "fist weapon" combat I've ever seen. That character has, as I remember, only two combos. A two hit combo, or a three hit combo. All their specials were one hit strikes. AND ALL attacks were soooooo slow. But damn is that story worth the trip. And well acted.
The world ends with you controls very well on the DS, it sucks that it couldn’t translate well to the port.
I really liked the story in Tales of Berseria, but I hated the combat. So much so that I just turned on the auto combat mode so I wouldn't have to do it.
It's weird because I previously played Tales of Arise and did enjoy its combat.
Damn, I love the combat in Berseria xD.
I didn't hate the combat in Berseria, but to me the game felt extremely rushed and especially the combat. In most Tales of games all the characters are fun to play and their combos weave together well. But in Berseria other than Velvet all the characters felt extremely klunky and almost impossible to play on harder difficulties.
I would have put the original Trails in the Sky on this list, as the utterly boring combat is the reason I bailed on the game.
I dont know if this is controversial, but i think Xenogears fit this category
C'mom! Hod did the caligula effect games didnt make it to the video!? those are the quintessential games with memorable Story but Rough Gameplay
A prime example for me would be Final Fantasy VIII. It actually has my favourite story in FF. Some might call it convoluted, but I love convoluted. It makes me feel smart.
The combat on the other hand... not so great.
The character building was equally convoluted. Who would normally think that optimally you never gain experience. At least not until you get stuff to get you bonuses on levelling up.s
@@obake6290 Yeah, sorry, I badly worded that. I like convoluted story but not convoluted gameplay. A least with a convo story you can still play the game even when you don't understand it all, whereas if you're bad at the gameplay it grinds you to a halt. But I guess I'm just not the target audience.
The combat and character building is quite complex as you say, and so are other features like catching chocobos. I missed being able to just walk up and grab one rather than playing a whole minigame for it.
@@giuseppeparry1365 That's fair. I'm kind of the opposite. I like convoluted gameplay a lot of the time because it lends itself to breaking. i enjoy feeling like I'm breaking the game over my knee, it's fun.
I usually don't like convoluted stories so much. They are also prone to breaking - this time in the form of plot holes, missing motivations, things that just don't make sense. And that stuff drives me up the wall when I notice it.
I do own Sentinels but haven't tried it due to having heard about its story/gameplay ratio. There's only so much dialogue I can tolerate without some bonking.
13 sentinels is great. But the last fight i mean it's ok but the two preceding it are total rubbish, I'd like a sequel but honestly I'd be happy without it. Also I loved nier replicant enough to platinum it.
Getting through poor gameplay to enjoy the story. It's like reading a book with sharp pages. These JRPGs are long too.
There are only 2 games that come to mind in regards to this topic and one of them I even abandoned because I got stuck.
The first game is Kid Icarus Uprising. The characters and story were great. Not the most deep or refined but I loved how the Gods interacted with Pit and each other and the writing was great. But then there are the controls. The attack button is a shoulder button and your hands need to hold the shoulder button, the D pad, the right side buttons and the stylus and the touch screen, all at the same time. This control scheme is terrible and the way your hands need to hold the DS is just bad. I still finished the game somehow. The controls still suck. My poor hands.
The second game is Kingdom Hearts Days for the DS. It portraits the time Roxas spent with Organization 13 before KH 2 happens. The story and characters are actually great. I love interacting with the guys in the hub and seeing how Roxas was at the start and how he gained a personality. But the gameplay is atrocious. Or maybe I just suck at it. The main part of the gameplay is the tablet/block system where Roxas can put item and spells and weapons. You acquire new blocks throughout the game and need to somehow fogure it out. This probably works better when you actually have an idea on what you are doing. The worst part is that you have to equip your levels. You get these level blocks and unless you put them into your inventory you will not have the appropriate level. If leveling worked like in other games I might have been able to finish the game. But I got stuck in a part where I could not finish either of the missions I was assigned to. There was an online mode where you could play as all of the Orga members though. That was pretty cool. Playable Xemnas. That game is now a movie but I wish it was remade into an actual better game. I mean it. Being able to play as Xemnas is pretty cool. I never finsihed the game sadly. But I have the manga, so I did get the whole story. It's just sad that the gameplay was that atrocious. But I am also very bad at it. I just never figured out how to properly use the blocks. But still, playable Xemnas!
I am every excited for Daybreak in July. And Tokyo Xanadu. I hope I can play those soon.
Speaking of Kevin Graham, as someone who (finally) beat Trails to Reverie - a great game no doubt, I was pretty disappointed that for ALL the characters Reverie gave spotlight to, Kevin wasn't involved basically at all. That was a bummer.
To this list, I'm not sure if you've ever played Xenogears, but imo it's the best game in the entire Xeno series - and it accomplishes that despite some VERY rough gameplay / design aspects. I know you occasionally look at retro titles, and I think Xenogears would knock your socks off if you haven't checked it yet.
"Games you should UA-cam instead" 😂
I for one did not reach the true ending in Crystar. Doing same tedious dungeons over and over again was too much.
8:24 - It's a shame people are skipping Sky 3rd because is linear =/
15:30 - I did 100% of the game, and it's miserable just because of the gameplay, which is so fucking boring. In terms of history, it's good.
Disagree with Sky 3 and maybe Xenosaga 2. Did not play anything else on the list.
Sky 3 was pretty much the same gameplay as the previous two games. I suppose the doors were perhaps a bit rough? But not so much I'd put it on a list like this. What was rough was the story. At least in comparison to others of the series. There is a lot of good character work, but in terms of the broader series narrative? Easily skippable.
For Xenosaga 2 I didn't really like -the change in art direction or that it took place almost wholly within the one city, but I don't recall anything else I didn't like.- Okay, on thinking about it there were plenty of things I didn't like about that game, but the combat was not one of them. The combat in particular is the best of the trilogy in my opinion. Maybe even one of my favorite combat systems ever. The pinnacle of what was started in Xenogears, improved in Xenosaga 1, and perfected here. I don't know why anyone would complain about it. To be fair I haven't played in ~20 years, but I have very fond memories.
Xenosaga 1 - Best art direction, best side game. Worst pacing
Xenosaga 2 - Best combat. Worst world and characters.
Xenosaga 3 - Best pacing, worst combat. I mean, I guess it's fine in that boringly generic turn-based JRPG way. But it's nothing special, unique, or fun.
One game that for sure could be added to the list is Parasite Eve.
After over a year of trying to play sky the 3rd I’ve given up on it and the series. The fact the the first 10 hours is spam your best attack and heal is so boring. Especially when the end of sky 2 was so fun.
For me it was Persona5 in even 2 regards. First: The Story took way... way... WAAAAAAAAAAY to long to take off. P4 (my personal favorite game of all time) threw you in and you were immediatly "in the story". P5... did kinda the opposite? And well, then there was the design of a very certain dungeon endboss which ultimately lead me to uninstall the game and never see how the rest turned out.
Nier is not a jrpg. It´s a hack and slash. XD