@@xelldincht4251 ALL SMT games are hard, especially when you get 1/3 in, and enemies start resisting / Voiding / and REFLECTING normal physical attacks....which is what you do the most of. You are required to have multiple types of skills and such...or you'll end up in a position where you can't defeat a boss...or a random enemy.
@@xelldincht4251 The remake has the "Mercy" difficulty included...which lowers the difficulty (but not enemy resistances). You get more XP and Macca....but the trade-off is a greatly reduced encounter rate. I had Riberoma (increase encounter rate until the next new phase)...for two whole cycles...without an encounter. That's how much lower the base encounter rate is in Mercy Difficulty. The Base difficulty is the same as the PS2 version...although there are some QoL stuff...like being able to pick what skills fused demons can have (instead of pure RNG). Honestly...in any SMT game, you CAN get screwed in the first fight. You max HP is only 30-50...and enemies can deal 12-16 damage at that point. How you can get screwed...is if enemies land crits, which increases the number of turn they have...or you miss, which takes away turns. The major issue is...if the Protag dies, it's game over...and in later areas, enemies do have insta-kill skills (which your protag does NOT have base resistance for.) That's why the SMT games are so difficult.
Time and Eternity shouldnt be included on these kinds of lists, I agree. It's not awesome, but it's really unique, especially visually. I'd love to see another try at the style!
have u finished it? I mean I still have to find anyone who dared finishing it.. it is visually interesting sure but in terms of gameplay is the worst of the bunch hands down... anyway this list I suppose is based on metacritic's results...it's the usual titles everybody says are terrible. Are they really the worse? I don't know... Awaken fate and the other one in the series I can't remember the title are in my op much worse than Neptunia, Cross Edge or Agarest that are all quite ok in reality.
The Pyra/Mythra argument is invalid. The original blond/redhead duo inhabiting the same body with either kindness and chaos as their character traits belongs to Elena and Millenia from Grandia II. The difference I suppose is the kind one is blond and the chaotic one is the redhead.
I played it on vita and I also have the remake but the color contrast is kinda annoying there... in my op Neptunia VII stays the best in the series. That game is just brilliant in its refusal to make sense I truly love it... beats disgaea by a landslide... which is no easy task let's be honest as Disgaea is also over the top dada ;)
@@sonny167349 it's satire tho.. I mean the fan service is unnecessary and that is precisely why it makes u laugh... it is not a game that takes sex seriously but laughs at the tropes. This said I never had problems with fan service in my life honestly, once you make clear the game is not for kids...
@@n3r0n3 I'm using steam version with some graphics mods to improve the quality, I would like if the game had bit less dialogue overall and put like 2-3 cutscenes over some scenes. Anyway I think the remake is actually fun, also disgaea up to 5th release is in my opinion really great last two realeses were fun as well, but the 3d graphics don't give the same feeling.
I have a soft spot for Compile Heart jank because they always put out games that in one way or another really swing for the fences, and I can appreciate a cool idea even when they didn't quite have the ability to execute it. That being said, there's no reason to go back to the first Neptunia now that it's seen two remakes. They're still junk food but it's much more competently presented than the PS3 original.
If you think you'd like the art style and general tone of the humor then yeah. The gameplay is serviceable but nothing to write home about, at worst a bit grindy at times@@mountainmgtow5421
I'm hoping that Compile Heart's quality begins to increase, because it seems the company has undergone a bit of a re-structure internally, like having a new Director/Producer. I thought Neptunia Sisters Vs Sisters was one of the best Nep games in a long time, so I got some faith.
Yeah, I really wanted to like this game because of the art style (2D character in 3D third person) but as stated in the video, the combat got repetitive very fast.
I really had fun with Time and Eternity. Yes, it is not perfect, but on a sale it is a fun experience. About the switching mechanic- its main point it for the affinity system. You see, as bosses gives way more affinity, the point is to do bosses with the girl who you want to marry. I wanted to marry Toki, so I did bosses exclusively with her.
I actually really liked Time and Eternity and I remember back when it released everyone I knew asking why I was playing it because they heard it was bad. I feel like I was one of the few people who played on launch after not buying into hype and went in with zero expectation because I liked the artstyle and it worked out for me. I very rarely get hyped for games though so that most likely played into it.
I think Time & Eternity could do with a remake that keeps the artstyle but overhauls the battle system, mazes and story elements. Not a remaster, but a full-fledged remake.
I like the concept of the Agarest War with the whole "The story goes through generations from your main character" Cross Edge is my favorite, sure the whole battle system could use some work and I completely agree that the scanning to progress the story is horrendous, but the actual interactions with the cutscenes were hilarious and kept me playing, including the post game interactions with the former boss characters now that they don't have to play as bosses. Also the intermission being gags like in the disgaea games was a plus for me.
yeah, Cross Edge is not user friendly at all and that learning curve is steep. the combo system isn't explained well (though it works great once you figure out its quirks), the area scanning is painful (you have to go back to WHERE to recruit Lilith?!), and especially item crafting needs a guide to use... but I loved it anyway. It all sort of comes together and works when you get into it. and yes, the story actually comes together too. they made a good version of what is usually the worst way to end a story in the world. "It was all a dream..." is terrible. "You are trapped in a dream and have to break out" is great.
Low budget JRPG's tend to have a charm you don't get from the big budget blockbusters. I think that's a big part of why there are so many of them and a lot of people seem to have a fondness for them. Personally I grab one on a sale or something every few years or so just to try something different and I find I usually enjoy them since I go in without any lofty expectations.
There's a difference between great low-budget jrpgs like Soma Union or Blackout hospital and soulless slop from compile heart or kemco though. Latter is not charming in the slightest.
@@-bold5999 Right. There has to be some passion behind it because that passion usually shines through whatever jankiness or lack of polish there is. I can spot a Kemco game just by looking at the title logo at this point. Mass produced garbage.
@@Greeny83 nah, mass produced garbade is mobile and browser shit That is literally 0-2/10 Compile Heart games, at least have memorable characters, so they're way better
Good old neptunia. It's a guilty pleasure thing. The games are low effort in so many ways, and they always have a battle system that COULD be good, but is balanced to be quite mindless . It's this weird series where I never seem to want to play it because they aren't good. But whenever I tie myself to a chair and actually do play it, I'm like 'I'm actually kinda enjoying myself'. it's just dumb fun lol.
Record of Agarest War's gameplay system are actually very deep, because in the second section of the game, you need to choose which stats you want to raise and your heroine wisely. because your next MC is your child with that heroine, and your stats will be affected by the stats you've raised and heroine you chose for the the first MC. And their Appearance changed too, so if you choose the bird lady as your wife, you'll have a boy with wings as your MC.
20:04 And the whole Blade and Driver thing from XC2 is also suspiciously similar to the Furies and Fencers from Fairy Fencer F. Turns out Monolith Soft has been ripping off the creative geniuses at Compile Heart and Imageepoch all along.
I've played all of them, unfortunately, and the only one I managed to finish was Neptunia. However, I'm a huge Noire simp, so that got me through the game. As for how IF and CH are still alive, some of the Neptunia games are actually good. The remakes of Neptunia 1-3 are playable junk food rpgs, and the some of the action games like 4 Goddesses online and the Senran Kagura crossover were quite fun.
You're nuts. I mean you're entitled to that opinion but I heavily disagree with this list. Time and Eternity is an incredible game. It's a super unique style you just don't see anymore. I recommend anyone who has the chance to try it to do so.
Time and Eternity is probably the tackiest game I've ever played. Nearly every creative choice makes the game viscerally unappealing to experience. And yet it's a functional video game, and not a completely broken mess. It's like dating a girl covered in the worst tattoos and piercings you've ever seen, but she has a steady job at the Better Business Bureau.
I'm gonna call malarky here - Time and Eternity to this day remains one of the most visually stunning and accurate anime games of all time. Not one indie, AA, or AAA studio has been able to do a straight 1:1 game that is literally playing through an anime from start to finish. This aesthetic is RARE and deserves respect. ... Gameplay is an acquired taste though.
Yeah, I definitely think that critics were way too harsh on the game. A lot of complaints I see about the visuals are things that can happen even in fantastic games, but with those games they didn't complain. Gameplay is a bit weird but once you get used to it, it's easy to remember (or at least it was for me). Also the soundtrack is amazing, my copy of the game actually came with a separate CD for the soundtrack and it's awesome. Time and Eternity definitely deserved better
Shining Force was supposedly going to get a reboot with a genshin style game (Gacha+Multiplat) that had combat animations that looked a lot like T&E with their cartoony cell shading. Then the studio fell apart, I think.
@@Stavekoff I suppose I begrudgingly agree. I tried Marvel Puzzle quest for a couple of months at the beginning of the pandemic and while I did like the game, I grew increasingly annoyed with how the game wanted me to play it at certain times on THEIR schedule rather when I wanted to play. That said if you get the chance to check out the 3 minute or so long trailer they did for the Shining Force gacha game, the animation WAS very good.
Agarest Ware Zero is probably my favorite of the games. It wasn't anywhere near as long as the first, nor was there that sudden difficulty spike like the first one had as well. Cross Edge was just my guilty pleasure as I loved it crossing over with some of my favorite rpg series
So i have a huge problem with this list. One alot of the score are different between critics and users. Where the user is mostly higher that the critics.Another is that the size of how many people ranked it. Where i appreciate your video and your point of view. I feel that some of these games look interesting and that games are mostly subjective. I have notice is the couple of reviews that you have done that i have watched. When you describe something as boring you hardly say why. What makes the parts in the game boring. Just so you know i just found your channel today but i appreciate the quality of your videos.
User scores are unreliable IMO. They’ll give a solid game all 0s for no reason. Thanks for the feedback on the boring bits though! I’ll strive to do a better job explaining my thoughts.
True about the user scores. You got a new subscriber. That is why I watch channels like yours to see game play and your point of view on games. Thank you for the work you put in to the videos . I will definitely send my friends to your channel.
@@TheGamingShelf also it is... kinda wrong that 5 is considered bad and not mediocre Yeah, that is the most correct word to say about these games They're not bad, they simply don't have much that makes them stand out
Last Rebellion one kusoge of the year and created the Japanese meme "Just level up and smack them with a physical (attack)," as pretty much that's all you needed to do to beat enemies in the game.
I really liked Cross Edge. The biggest issue was trying to get the true ending so you could unlock all the characters. You had to get certain events in the correct order and if you messed anything up you wouldn't get it. I'll admit the story wasn't the best and some of the characters were kind of dumb but I really liked the combat system.
yeah, I liked that game a lot too. but holy crap do you need a guide. one thing that sticks out in my memory is how, to get Lilith and Demitri (and thus the true ending) you... need to backtrack from world 5-2 to world like 2-2 (and, while you don't go to the worlds in order, that's still like halfway in the game) to use area search in a very specific spot that didn't do anything if you did so beforehand with no indication that anything at all was different. and you had to do it within like three story events or you would lose the window. that's crazy, nobody will find that on their own. I love the game regardless.
@@someguy1ification I remember copying down about 2 or 3 pages from Gamefaqs (didn't have access to a printer). Think I got about half way, messed it up and thought eff it.
Only play Neptunia at Rebirth or Reverse levels the remakes all use Victory's engine and Battle system and replace the recycled art from other CH rpg games and update the score so the music is less recycled.
One thing Neptunia has going for it is that despite the wiki page wrongly listing 2011's Oriemo as the first to use Live 2D, Neptunia actually did it first in 2010. The story and world is cool, but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, though there's a story behind it. The dev team bought out a game that killed its company and rebranded it with girls representing consoles and the games industry. The lack of a budget made sense in the first game, but they got real lazy with it in later games.
I actually own every one of these games, because I can't pass up trying an RPG, but I honestly don't think I paid more than $10 for any of them, and haven't beaten any of them.
Neptunia's gameplay might have been ass, but the characters and humor more than made up for it. I get a huge nostalgia boner whenever i see anything related to the OG Neptunia.
The combat systems for Record of Agarest War Zero and Crossedge are very deep. You won't have access to the best spells/attacks/combos until you get deep into the games, have party members with synergy and gear with the slots to place the spells/attacks into. The character creator in RoAW:Zero determines everything from the weapon type, stats, movement range, ability points and the elements determine the skill slots he starts with. Crossedge has by far the hardest and most in-depth path to reach the "True End". There are so many factors ranging from viewing events in a limited time, winning battle in a certin amount of turns and not damaging certain enemies. I liked the game, but the scanning for events was annoying, even when you max out the range of the scanner. RoAW and RoAw:Zero were my favorite PS3 JRPGs. They are hard to get into though, they have a very high skill requirement. They get better/easier the more you play and the more playthroughs completed, when you can carry over resources, spells, abilities and gear.
Neptunia came in clutch when there were less JRPGs on PC but... Yeah, they're very repetitive, recycle assets constantly and eventually even the characters and humor can't get you through another one.
Great job on the video. I know most of those games are not great but it did feel like you spent so little time on each. Just would have been nice to try and at least understand the nuances of the games mechanics to try and explain to us why it's bad and not just being like I'm dying alot and I don't know why. Still appreciate seeing stuff about obscure games like this.
The reason Darkstralkers don't have as many main games, is that they've not been profitable. They did a remaster in 2005 and sold 750,000+ copies. That sounds impressive... But they needed to sell at least 4 million to get renewed interest in game development. I was watching The Escapists reaction to it and they said it best; it was really impressive... When you consider they gave it almost 0 advertisement. At the time things were not good for Capcom, it was a period that started about the mid 2000s where Capcom was having interesting moments since they were transitioning from the arcades to almost entirely to home console sales. Arcades had become a thing of the past compared to the 90s. The "failure" of the collection meant that Capcom lost interest in updating the series to add new additions. The franchise earns a lot of merchandise, especially of Morrigan, its a sad state of affairs for the franchise (bit like the Cars franchise, merchandise is more profitable then the movies) but its more profitable as a reference then it is in its own merit. Darkstalkers main problem... Is that Street Fighter exists and its kind of very profitable compared So it overshadows Darkstalkers. Darkstalkers wasn't ever super popular in the west and was only a niche franchise.
In the walking sections of Time and Eternity, the placement of the character in the frame really bugs me. Like, something, something, rule of thirds, she needs a bit more clearance above her head.
Idea factory's Neptunia series is probably why they're still alive. They have a dedicated following. I have a love hate relationship with them because that one series is actually worth your time if you're into fan service.
Time and Eternity definitely got the short end of the stick when it came to reviews. The game is clearly not taking itself seriously. Like, seriously? Your wedding is crashed by assassins, you stop it, only for it to be crashed again by a sword-wielding vampire, a gut-tootin' succubus, and an evil wizard cosplaying as the Grim Reaper? The storyboard team must have been laughing their ass off while writing this, and I am 100% on their side.
The remakes aren't bad, but the first one was hot garbage. I got it when it came out and couldn't even finish it. Neptune gets this super attack about 10 hours in that just one shots everything. Even the remakes are kinda boring, but at least they fix the combat system.
Compile Heart/Idea Factory has 3 types games. 1. Absolute crap. 2. Surprisingly decent. 3. Bad game but it checks enough of your favorite tropes and fetishes that you give it a pass.
1/ Loved Cross Edge since I played after Namco X Capcom, but it was rough yes. 2/ Record of agarest war was a guilty pleasure, but it is bad, honestly it is. 3/ I played Neptunia mk2 first and I liked it, so I was honor-bound to play the original, not great, but, funny. 4/ Never played Last Rebellion, never will. 5/ Yeah, Time and Eternity is actually fine, but on my Ps3 it was.. lagged? sluggish? it was frustrating to lose hp or mis a dodge not on timing but on a massive fps drop, but the idea was really good as you say :D I have the Platinum for all those games, that much I liked them honestly.
@@TheGamingShelf Neptunia is a breeze, just the shares thingy is a mess. Cross Edge definitely with a step by step guide. Record of agarest war i kinda cheated with PP dlcs, becauee the endgane bosses are quite something. Time and eternity is quite a breeze, it reminded me of Thousand Arms in a wat and I enjoyed it.
it would be unfair to call Cross Edge a "Spiritual Prequel" (being from 2008/2009) to Project X Zone when Namco X Capcom (2005) on the PS2 is its actual and canon prequel to PxZ.
Mad respect for actually saying something positive about Time & Eternity! I consider it both a terrible game and an absolute must play for its ambition! I remember when it came out in Japan they were saying weird stuff like "there are no sprites or polygons in this screenshot", which was a lie but as a connoisseur of Laserdisc games I get what they mean. A lot of this is FMV clips strung together, they were trying to use modern technology to do a more advanced FMV game! BUT that kind of thing costs WAAAY too much money to pull off and they had to cut corners real hard to make it work, which is why no one else has really attempted this (thanks for the tip off about that one game though). I'd say the closest is Don Quixote on LaserActive and maybe Tengai Maikyo IV on SEGA Saturn. That said, I think you stopped just before the game got REAL bad. See, I like the combat because I totally get what they were doing: It's Punch Out!! It plays REALLY similar to Punch Out!!...but fighting an endless stream of Glass Joes only works for so long and when Bald Bull becomes the normal enemy, it gets frustrating. But where it falls apart is when you go back in time again and can no longer go back? There's a sudden MASSIVE difficulty spike and the amount of EXP you get versus the length and challenge of the fights just does not pan out! You have to fight too many Bald Bulls to level up! This drives me NUTS because EVERY professional reviewer claimed the combat was too easy and all you had to do was mash buttons and my progress is COMPLETELY blocked by obscene fight difficulty and length versus EXP earned! I do, sadly, own all of these games but my Last Rebellion is still in its shrinkwrap...maybe I'll keep it there.
About the 5 place: 1st of all, this is the 1st time i heard about this game. Never heard it about it up until now. I don't think is a precuel of PXZ persay because there is one key factor. It isn't made by Namco at all. As you said, is made by IF and Compa while NIS distribute it (hence why Disgaea is in the game). They try their own version of .... Namco x Capcom . YES!! if you want the true precuel of PxZ, you had Namco x Capcom, since both games are connected not only because some character knows each other but the fact the 2 original characters (Reiji and Xiaomu) as well the Shinra organization is involved somehow in BOTH games. And even between those 2 games are also another 2 games who are canon to a lot of other games: The Frontier Saga (who is a spin off of the Super Robot Wars games. And also canon to their universe too). There is an entire time line of events for who game is canon to who game if is made by Namco. Cross Edge seems to try to do the same thing, with only JRPGs, only done poorly. Also the difficulty curve is awful from what i heard. But it make sense once you remember NIS was involved on this. But in Disgaea it makes sense, here they try the same and turn out into a meat grinded of trying to grind as much as possible. Also the artist is the same who work on Neptunia.
Nowadays these s..ts can't appreciate video games like we used too 20-25 years ago. You don't deserve to play these "bad" games only those cash grab money indie RPGs from Steam. Then you you will learn to appreciate even a modest game. These will become masterpieces in you eye.
I've been playing JRPGs for 30 years. I remember playing Persona when no one cared about it and now it's a practically a household name. These games are NOT good. They're the lowest reviewed JRPGs on the console for a reason. I've just played so many JRPGs that I have no tolerance for crap like this. Although Time and Eternity is pretty decent.
@@TheGamingShelf Agarest and Neptunia series are awesome too in my opinion. How many kids nowadays do you think will still play Final Fantasy 1-3 and Dragon Quest 1-4 on the NES for example? They are simple, not flashy, no modern graphics, etc. Give a try to Bloody Warriors: Shan-Go no Gyakushuu. The game is translated. That's one boring JRPG. Imagine you play you favorite JRPG without a single spell or tech/special attacks. One good think about the game is the music which is repetitive but you can always take a pause from the game if it's too much for you ears. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance for the NES has the most misleading map in the entire history of videogames. This thing alone makes the game very frustrating to play and even with a map/guide it's still hard to understand/decipher where you are. And there are some other boring or simple JRPG where you can risk falling asleep on your keyboard playing them. After playing Bloody Warriors: Shan-Go no Gyakushuu every JRPG has become a masterpiece for me. Plus someone put their hearts, sweat and mind into these games even Bloody Warriors (at least is a finished product compared to Pool of Radiance) so i still appreciate their work as long as the games are playable/finished products without bugs/glitches. My first games where Tetris and Circus as a kid. We appreciated more video games back then and every new game was a new treasure. Even Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six for the NES was a good game back then and i still like the game. (the nostalgia factor doesn't work on me same as seduction. I only had this powerful emotion only once when i saw Castlevania: Circle of the Moon after many years.) Imagine if you had an idea and make a game and you see on youtube your game in the section DON'T BUY THESE JRPGS!. What you will fell like? Maybe your ideas failed or the game isn't recognized by many as a good game until later. The only games which i can't stand are the COD and similar games (games that ruined mechanics like Halo with weapon limits, regeneration. First Halo was boring af with long walking like you where in an ARPG but nothing else, just boring walking. After more than 15 years and i still remember how bored i was playing Halo: "Combat Evolved" or more like "Walking Evolved") where the consumer is at fault not the developer. I stopped playing after Modern Warfare 3. The same sh.t over and over again from point A to point B and i was F bored. No exploration, nothing fascinating... only war, mindless shooting/war for the zombie masses. I replayed Mafia after 15 years and i was bored plus the game had the jazz music radio stations removed due to copyright reasons (Django, Lonnie, etc). I downloaded the music fix and put it into game. Everything changed. It's incredible how much a music can change a boring car simulator game with some shooting sections from time to time. I couldn't wait to finish my objective to get back into the car to listen to Belleville by Django Reinhardt. At least this is how i see the Mafia series: car simulator, cutscenes and shooting from time to time with amazing jazz music. At least JRPG (and not only in this genre) developers are coming with new ideas/mechanics. They like to experience with new things... creativity. You start judging a game from heart (developer) to heart (consumer) not only from pocket (brainwashed/fanatics) to pocket (EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Bethesda, etc). Japanese publishers/developers are more serious when it comes to videogames compared to the american ones who are destroying franchises one after another. (Heroes of Might and Magic, Dead Space 3, Duke Nukem... Forever?, Duel Masters, etc.)
I think I rented time and eternity for a weekend, I don't remember how I felt about it, but It was at least fun enough to know it was a game I played seeing that style again
Technically Namco x Capcom is the predecessor to Project X Zone. But Cross edge is now gonna be on my wishlist since i didnt know Ar Tonelico was in it. Damn Taylor blowing my mind
I still have my copy of Time and Eternity and haven't touched it in years since I got bored with it. HDN also surprisingly grew from being a bad game, if I hadn't received Mk2 first I probably wouldve shunned it forever
I don't really agree with this list. I really love both Cross Edge and the entire Neptunia franchise. I'm surprised Resonance of Fate isn't in the Top 5, that was easily the worst JRPG I've ever played on PS3 and I've played many.
Dude...not saving on Neptunia for hours is your own damn fault. Not the games. If you really were into jrpgs...you'd know saving often was a given. That was sad to witness.
The RPG that taught me to save regularly was Skyrim on Xbox 360 and PS3. Not because I died a lot, or much at all. But because they kept freezing the entire system. Every time the PS3 version dropped into seconds per frame, I prayed so hard that it wouldn't crash again lmao. Now I save religiously in games like this.
@@TheGamingShelf Yeah they used the third games combat system for 1 and 2 rebirth and updated the dungeon maps for some mor variety if I remember right.
From this list I have played Neptunia out of pure curiosity since I played Victory, the 3rd one of the original trilogy before the retconning. Hyperdimension Neptunia 1 is an odd ball for me because the story is great for how far I played but the gameplay is really rough especially the dungeon crawling aspect of it since the encounters are not random chance but distance based... I am a fool to try and 100% dungeons because of how uninspired most of the areas look and feel, if the task isn't to defeat a certain number of enemies, you bet your ass I would abuse Compa's skill to disable the distance encounters. funny, recently I wanted to continue this game and came across this knowing HDN 1 would be mentioned
Wow...I actually own three of these games. Go figure. I think JRPGs during this era, and extending a bit into the current era, actually suffer from something akin for feature creep. They would try to pile on systems and subsystems onto their games. About half of the games on this list had that problem. And the aspect they'd let slide in exchange for these pointless systems was often the story. Which I wish they'd learn doesn't really work. Persona 5, DQ11, and the various Final Fantasies that are actually successful didn't beat you over the head with a bunch of minutiae-based systems. They focused on making their core gameplay loop functional and made use of a limited number of immersive systems that gelled together well enough.
I never played cross edge so can't comment on that. But what I CAN say is that Agarest is an outstanding JRPG and I'll die on that hill. A lot of people have qualms with it's crafting system being too 'complicated' or the difficulty spike in act 2/3 or...in your case...the story being generic. But like...the game explains the solution to all of those problems (except the story thing) and I honestly believe if you would have taken the time to get through the (admittedly) rough beginning..you'd see that the story overall is quite good. Is it ground breaking? No. Is it cliched? Probably. But the twist of pact made and how that affects the world for literal generations was very interesting to see. I can see how it being Idea Factory may put people off at first, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this game (beat it on PS3 and 100%d it on Steam). I think you really gave this one an unfair shake.
And I also just want to add that your assessment about it just being a ripoff of cross edge is also jacked in that there are numerous jrpgs going all the way back to the early 90s where you run from dot to dot on an open world map.
Dude, Time & Eternity is GOOD! The hand-drawn anime artstyle is great, the battle system is fun, and the music is good too. It's one of those "cozy" RPGs.
hyperdimension neptunia the original is how i got into the series I had a lot of fun playing it there were some pretty funny joke/reference in it that were not in rebirth 1 that made me sad its the Pokémon one if anyone fully played the original, if not here it is we get stuck inside a disk and compa says I wonder if Mr. heretic would ever throw the disk at someone and say i choose you compiffytune, and since all the characters are named after companies that help in someway making the game so they may not show up in later games like nisa
Its kind ironic that the ps3/360 generation started whit a bang on 360 of all consoles. Blue dragon and lost odyssey are still amazing games even by today's standards. And a lot of games came out first on 360 over Ps3. Such as Star ocean last hope or Tales of Vespiria.
As a HDN speedrunner, I 100% knew the game would be on this list, props to you for that. For Hyperdimension Neptunia, the freeze you encountered is specifically an emulator bug that happens if you idle for too long while paused (or even when performing specific actions). It's obvious you used an emulator from the FPS alone, and while I don't blame you, that was a bit weird. The CH games run like GARBAGE on PS3, even at 480i (which does help the game run slightly better). A bit surprised you didn't mention the item system. It's complete garbage and I feel like more people need to understand just how messed up it is. Implementing specific conditions for items and making it effectively RNG to use everything you need is incredibly strange. This game gets really messed up later, and getting walled for 2 hours on the final boss in a No DLC speedrun is not out of the question. Actually nobody enjoys this game, but yet somehow it's fun to talk about it being so bad.
It's so cathartic to hear you praise Time and Eternity for its visual style because I remember being amazed at the graphics back then but in the reviews it was the main point of critique for a lot of people
its always kinda funny when everyone tells you something is bad and you go, "surely it cant be that bad? right?" then you try it and go "yea that was horrible.."
It's infinitely hilarious to see both *KOTY winner and runner-up* in ONE "bottom worst games" review. (for reference - Last Rebellion won Kusoge Of The Year in 2010 and Time&Eternity ended 2nd in 2012)
What's with all the tourist takes and this poorly researched list? Jesus. Only 1 game is actually bad, it's like this piece was lifted from another tuber.
I didn't make the list. I went to Metacritic and found the 5 lowest scored JRPGs on the system. If you can think of a more objective way to choose 5 games I'm all ears. And user scores aren't a good alternative. If that was the case then Persona 5 would be the worst game on the system lol.
Cross edge has one of the dumbest requirements for true ending completion I've ever seen. (Forcing you to complete it on hard mode when it's difficulty is already really bullcrap being one of them) For an idea some boss fights require you to literally not hit the boss and only its minions. LIKE How the F**k is anyone supposed to know that without a guide. Playing this for the first time was...something.
Seeing Cross Edge gave me war flashbacks. I remember I got it because I was interested in the crossover aspect and was so sad at how boring it was! Fortunately I got Trinity Universe along with it and it is one of my favorite games on the ps3, so at least there's that lol Funny enough, IdeaF is involved in Trinity Universe as well, but it also has Gust and NipponIchi in the development team which explains why it isn't awful lol
Agarest Generations of War falls into all the pitfalls of SRPGs in the late game. The basic encounters start pushing past 20 minutes and the dungeons only get larger with no save points. You absolutely need a map open on your computer and notepad that list the move combos to survive the end game. It has plenty of grinding options too which would ok if the base game wasn't a terrible grind in itself.
I expected Toki and Towa to be a lesbian couple when the game was first teased, and was so disappointed when it turned out they weren't that I never bothered to play the game. Maybe I should go back and change that, now that I've had a decade to let my disappointment fade.
1:30 through 1:53 - Oh believe me we're more than aware.................that one compilation sold better than expected and they still canceled plans for Darkstalkers 4....... 8:35 - JRPGs. JRPGs never change..... 20:05 - Yeah I noticed alright, pretty much a crimson red flag on how trope dependent this game's story gets.
Here's the common factor here. NiS and Compile Heart. They're very vanilla companies. They make sort of like childrens versions of jrpg games. And the translations and eng voice work is terrible.
I am shocked Tears to Tiara 2: Heir of the Overlord was not on this list. 80 hours of visual cutscenes with no player choices. Tutorial never explained I could do joint attack with allies until I found out myself during the second to last fight. And forgetable characters.
It's baffling that you didn't include Drakengard 3 in this list, considering the game is a downgrade from Drakengard 1 & 2 in every aspect while being legitimately unplayable on real PS3 hardware due to poor optimization of Unreal Engine 3.
Agarest War has the marriage system that let you chose a spouse to make a baby and keep the journey, one of the games has 5 freaking generations to save the world. It's a cool game, but dialogue is slow and the battle system is one of the worse things I ever played. I really wanted to beat the game, and I can stomach the dialogue, but the battle was too much. Such boring battle system that looks complicate, but will have you spamming the same freaking combo endless, It would be fine with it was a simple basic turn-based rpg.
I remember Cross Edge. I was at the height of my Atelier/Mana Khemia and Ar Tonelico fan phase. I wanted to play this game SO BAD for their inclusion plus Disgaea, all series I adored. And then I got met with this mess with barely any story, repetitive combat, sometimes excruciating difficulty, slog of a gameplay loop and just overall absolute disappointment. I tried to go on for a while because I REALLY wanted to like this game, but there was just nothing saving it for me. Alas.
I must be the only one that enjoyed the original Neptunia and I thought that it was really harsh to be put here over some other stuff, like OG Neptunia at least felt like Trinity Universe done right in terms of combat mechanics and Dungeon Exploration. I'd actually argue that Mugen Souls, as much as I find some stuff really fun, is worse than Neptunia in the long run because you're not really suppose to fight the enemies unless you accidentally Frenzy the Large crystal and because only your main protagonist can peon enemies or crystals, battles will start dragging out.
![[UA] Eternal Fire проти NAVI | EPL Season 20 Malta](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/chvlsDygrZM/mqdefault.jpg)
🎮Order YOUR copy of Persona 5 Tactica TODAY: i.try.games/persona-5-tactica/20wjoz
Bad idea 💡 😕 factory 🏭 🤣
@@chriscangelosi9438😉
No, I bought Last Rebellion instead
I did get Persona 5 Tatica and I love it, persona can do a lot of genres well despite being JRPG games
Sorry, I don't give my money to homophobes/transphobes/misogynists etc
“No one should be dying to the first random enemy in an RPG”
*Laughs in SMT Nocturne*
"Oh, youre softlocked on the first enemy?
Too bad, welcome to your cbt session"
I started playing the remaster on normal and finished the tutorial without dying once. Is the PS2 version really that hard?
@@xelldincht4251 ALL SMT games are hard, especially when you get 1/3 in, and enemies start resisting / Voiding / and REFLECTING normal physical attacks....which is what you do the most of. You are required to have multiple types of skills and such...or you'll end up in a position where you can't defeat a boss...or a random enemy.
@@johnhanzelyjr
Ok, my mistake. I should have asked if the remake had the same difficulty as the PS2 version or if the PS2 version was harder.
@@xelldincht4251 The remake has the "Mercy" difficulty included...which lowers the difficulty (but not enemy resistances). You get more XP and Macca....but the trade-off is a greatly reduced encounter rate. I had Riberoma (increase encounter rate until the next new phase)...for two whole cycles...without an encounter. That's how much lower the base encounter rate is in Mercy Difficulty. The Base difficulty is the same as the PS2 version...although there are some QoL stuff...like being able to pick what skills fused demons can have (instead of pure RNG).
Honestly...in any SMT game, you CAN get screwed in the first fight. You max HP is only 30-50...and enemies can deal 12-16 damage at that point. How you can get screwed...is if enemies land crits, which increases the number of turn they have...or you miss, which takes away turns. The major issue is...if the Protag dies, it's game over...and in later areas, enemies do have insta-kill skills (which your protag does NOT have base resistance for.) That's why the SMT games are so difficult.
Time and Eternity shouldnt be included on these kinds of lists, I agree. It's not awesome, but it's really unique, especially visually. I'd love to see another try at the style!
I recently bought a copy. Really like the art style and the music is amazing.
It has the lowest metacritic score of any of the games, I had to include it 😆
have u finished it? I mean I still have to find anyone who dared finishing it.. it is visually interesting sure but in terms of gameplay is the worst of the bunch hands down... anyway this list I suppose is based on metacritic's results...it's the usual titles everybody says are terrible. Are they really the worse? I don't know... Awaken fate and the other one in the series I can't remember the title are in my op much worse than Neptunia, Cross Edge or Agarest that are all quite ok in reality.
@@n3r0n3 beat it once. Kill me I guess?
I didn't do other than that though.
@@n3r0n3 I finished it and plan on replaying it soon. :) Love the game!
The Pyra/Mythra argument is invalid. The original blond/redhead duo inhabiting the same body with either kindness and chaos as their character traits belongs to Elena and Millenia from Grandia II.
The difference I suppose is the kind one is blond and the chaotic one is the redhead.
Funny enough I'm actually playing the remake for Neptunia right now. Rebirth is a huge improvment over the original.
It's a fun game to play through, the fanservice gets a bit obnoxius after awhile but the series itself has a certain charm to it.
@@sonny167349 I love fanservice so it's not an issue
I played it on vita and I also have the remake but the color contrast is kinda annoying there... in my op Neptunia VII stays the best in the series. That game is just brilliant in its refusal to make sense I truly love it... beats disgaea by a landslide... which is no easy task let's be honest as Disgaea is also over the top dada ;)
@@sonny167349 it's satire tho.. I mean the fan service is unnecessary and that is precisely why it makes u laugh... it is not a game that takes sex seriously but laughs at the tropes. This said I never had problems with fan service in my life honestly, once you make clear the game is not for kids...
@@n3r0n3 I'm using steam version with some graphics mods to improve the quality, I would like if the game had bit less dialogue overall and put like 2-3 cutscenes over some scenes. Anyway I think the remake is actually fun, also disgaea up to 5th release is in my opinion really great last two realeses were fun as well, but the 3d graphics don't give the same feeling.
I have a soft spot for Compile Heart jank because they always put out games that in one way or another really swing for the fences, and I can appreciate a cool idea even when they didn't quite have the ability to execute it. That being said, there's no reason to go back to the first Neptunia now that it's seen two remakes. They're still junk food but it's much more competently presented than the PS3 original.
Is the PS5 ReVerse worth my time if I haven't played the first one yet?
If you think you'd like the art style and general tone of the humor then yeah. The gameplay is serviceable but nothing to write home about, at worst a bit grindy at times@@mountainmgtow5421
@@mountainmgtow5421 100%, tho there are characters who are exclusive on rebirth
@@dreamydreams2694 Don't say Chika Hakozaki. I fucken love her.
I'm hoping that Compile Heart's quality begins to increase, because it seems the company has undergone a bit of a re-structure internally, like having a new Director/Producer. I thought Neptunia Sisters Vs Sisters was one of the best Nep games in a long time, so I got some faith.
Damn, they should really try something like Time and Eternity again. Maybe someone will try this style in the future if were lucky.
Check out Star ocean 2 R, if i got u right.
i would love a tales of with this style
@@mikhailnikolaev9927 not the pixelated one
Yeah, I really wanted to like this game because of the art style (2D character in 3D third person) but as stated in the video, the combat got repetitive very fast.
Shame it has one of the worst scripts I've ever seen in a video game.
The "Better Business Bureau" line haunts my nightmares.
Mans did not play Namco X capcom to be calling the first game a "spiritual prequel"
I really had fun with Time and Eternity. Yes, it is not perfect, but on a sale it is a fun experience. About the switching mechanic- its main point it for the affinity system. You see, as bosses gives way more affinity, the point is to do bosses with the girl who you want to marry. I wanted to marry Toki, so I did bosses exclusively with her.
Oh interesting! I didn’t think of that.
I actually really liked Time and Eternity and I remember back when it released everyone I knew asking why I was playing it because they heard it was bad. I feel like I was one of the few people who played on launch after not buying into hype and went in with zero expectation because I liked the artstyle and it worked out for me. I very rarely get hyped for games though so that most likely played into it.
@@FalcusDead
Same. A lot of people didn't like it but once you look past the flaws, it's honestly a pretty okay game.
I have fond memories of time and eternity actually finished it and enjoyed my time with it.
>No one should be dying to the 1st random encounter in a game
SMT Nocturne on hard difficulty would like a word with you on that.
I think Time & Eternity could do with a remake that keeps the artstyle but overhauls the battle system, mazes and story elements. Not a remaster, but a full-fledged remake.
I like the concept of the Agarest War with the whole "The story goes through generations from your main character" Cross Edge is my favorite, sure the whole battle system could use some work and I completely agree that the scanning to progress the story is horrendous, but the actual interactions with the cutscenes were hilarious and kept me playing, including the post game interactions with the former boss characters now that they don't have to play as bosses.
Also the intermission being gags like in the disgaea games was a plus for me.
yeah, Cross Edge is not user friendly at all and that learning curve is steep. the combo system isn't explained well (though it works great once you figure out its quirks), the area scanning is painful (you have to go back to WHERE to recruit Lilith?!), and especially item crafting needs a guide to use... but I loved it anyway. It all sort of comes together and works when you get into it.
and yes, the story actually comes together too. they made a good version of what is usually the worst way to end a story in the world. "It was all a dream..." is terrible. "You are trapped in a dream and have to break out" is great.
Low budget JRPG's tend to have a charm you don't get from the big budget blockbusters. I think that's a big part of why there are so many of them and a lot of people seem to have a fondness for them. Personally I grab one on a sale or something every few years or so just to try something different and I find I usually enjoy them since I go in without any lofty expectations.
There's a difference between great low-budget jrpgs like Soma Union or Blackout hospital and soulless slop from compile heart or kemco though. Latter is not charming in the slightest.
@@-bold5999 Right. There has to be some passion behind it because that passion usually shines through whatever jankiness or lack of polish there is. I can spot a Kemco game just by looking at the title logo at this point. Mass produced garbage.
@@Greeny83 nah, mass produced garbade is mobile and browser shit
That is literally 0-2/10
Compile Heart games, at least have memorable characters, so they're way better
Good old neptunia. It's a guilty pleasure thing. The games are low effort in so many ways, and they always have a battle system that COULD be good, but is balanced to be quite mindless . It's this weird series where I never seem to want to play it because they aren't good. But whenever I tie myself to a chair and actually do play it, I'm like 'I'm actually kinda enjoying myself'. it's just dumb fun lol.
Record of Agarest War's gameplay system are actually very deep, because in the second section of the game, you need to choose which stats you want to raise and your heroine wisely. because your next MC is your child with that heroine, and your stats will be affected by the stats you've raised and heroine you chose for the the first MC. And their Appearance changed too, so if you choose the bird lady as your wife, you'll have a boy with wings as your MC.
20:04 And the whole Blade and Driver thing from XC2 is also suspiciously similar to the Furies and Fencers from Fairy Fencer F. Turns out Monolith Soft has been ripping off the creative geniuses at Compile Heart and Imageepoch all along.
I've played all of them, unfortunately, and the only one I managed to finish was Neptunia. However, I'm a huge Noire simp, so that got me through the game.
As for how IF and CH are still alive, some of the Neptunia games are actually good. The remakes of Neptunia 1-3 are playable junk food rpgs, and the some of the action games like 4 Goddesses online and the Senran Kagura crossover were quite fun.
Neptunia is just really popular in general.
Not junk food, just junk
14:17
"when you die on the first random ecounter in the game thats a bad design"
SMT3 enter the chat
You're nuts. I mean you're entitled to that opinion but I heavily disagree with this list.
Time and Eternity is an incredible game. It's a super unique style you just don't see anymore. I recommend anyone who has the chance to try it to do so.
I didn’t make the list, I just played the 5 lowest rated ps3 JRPGs.
Time and Eternity is probably the tackiest game I've ever played. Nearly every creative choice makes the game viscerally unappealing to experience. And yet it's a functional video game, and not a completely broken mess. It's like dating a girl covered in the worst tattoos and piercings you've ever seen, but she has a steady job at the Better Business Bureau.
"When you die in the first encounter thats bad design" Ummmmm excuse me ill have you know SMT nocturne has done nothing wrong and is perfect
I'm gonna call malarky here - Time and Eternity to this day remains one of the most visually stunning and accurate anime games of all time. Not one indie, AA, or AAA studio has been able to do a straight 1:1 game that is literally playing through an anime from start to finish. This aesthetic is RARE and deserves respect. ... Gameplay is an acquired taste though.
Yeah, I definitely think that critics were way too harsh on the game. A lot of complaints I see about the visuals are things that can happen even in fantastic games, but with those games they didn't complain. Gameplay is a bit weird but once you get used to it, it's easy to remember (or at least it was for me). Also the soundtrack is amazing, my copy of the game actually came with a separate CD for the soundtrack and it's awesome. Time and Eternity definitely deserved better
Shining Force was supposedly going to get a reboot with a genshin style game (Gacha+Multiplat) that had combat animations that looked a lot like T&E with their cartoony cell shading. Then the studio fell apart, I think.
Bummer, that sounds cool!
good, I'd rather have nothing than a fucking gacha
@@Stavekoff I suppose I begrudgingly agree. I tried Marvel Puzzle quest for a couple of months at the beginning of the pandemic and while I did like the game, I grew increasingly annoyed with how the game wanted me to play it at certain times on THEIR schedule rather when I wanted to play. That said if you get the chance to check out the 3 minute or so long trailer they did for the Shining Force gacha game, the animation WAS very good.
Agarest Ware Zero is probably my favorite of the games. It wasn't anywhere near as long as the first, nor was there that sudden difficulty spike like the first one had as well. Cross Edge was just my guilty pleasure as I loved it crossing over with some of my favorite rpg series
So i have a huge problem with this list. One alot of the score are different between critics and users. Where the user is mostly higher that the critics.Another is that the size of how many people ranked it. Where i appreciate your video and your point of view. I feel that some of these games look interesting and that games are mostly subjective. I have notice is the couple of reviews that you have done that i have watched. When you describe something as boring you hardly say why. What makes the parts in the game boring. Just so you know i just found your channel today but i appreciate the quality of your videos.
User scores are unreliable IMO. They’ll give a solid game all 0s for no reason.
Thanks for the feedback on the boring bits though! I’ll strive to do a better job explaining my thoughts.
True about the user scores. You got a new subscriber. That is why I watch channels like yours to see game play and your point of view on games. Thank you for the work you put in to the videos . I will definitely send my friends to your channel.
@@TheGamingShelf also it is... kinda wrong that 5 is considered bad and not mediocre
Yeah, that is the most correct word to say about these games
They're not bad, they simply don't have much that makes them stand out
Last Rebellion one kusoge of the year and created the Japanese meme "Just level up and smack them with a physical (attack)," as pretty much that's all you needed to do to beat enemies in the game.
I really liked Cross Edge. The biggest issue was trying to get the true ending so you could unlock all the characters. You had to get certain events in the correct order and if you messed anything up you wouldn't get it. I'll admit the story wasn't the best and some of the characters were kind of dumb but I really liked the combat system.
yeah, I liked that game a lot too. but holy crap do you need a guide. one thing that sticks out in my memory is how, to get Lilith and Demitri (and thus the true ending) you... need to backtrack from world 5-2 to world like 2-2 (and, while you don't go to the worlds in order, that's still like halfway in the game) to use area search in a very specific spot that didn't do anything if you did so beforehand with no indication that anything at all was different. and you had to do it within like three story events or you would lose the window. that's crazy, nobody will find that on their own.
I love the game regardless.
@@someguy1ification I remember copying down about 2 or 3 pages from Gamefaqs (didn't have access to a printer). Think I got about half way, messed it up and thought eff it.
Not gonna lie, I kind of wanna play some of these games, including Neptunia and Time & Eternity. Loved the video, Taylor.
Thanks! Play at your own risk 😉
Only play Neptunia at Rebirth or Reverse levels the remakes all use Victory's engine and Battle system and replace the recycled art from other CH rpg games and update the score so the music is less recycled.
i liked time and eternity
Same! It was way better than I remember.
How will you know if it's really bad if you don't finish it?
One thing Neptunia has going for it is that despite the wiki page wrongly listing 2011's Oriemo as the first to use Live 2D, Neptunia actually did it first in 2010.
The story and world is cool, but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, though there's a story behind it.
The dev team bought out a game that killed its company and rebranded it with girls representing consoles and the games industry.
The lack of a budget made sense in the first game, but they got real lazy with it in later games.
"No one should be dying on the first random encounter in an rpg"
SMT Nocturne in the corner, hoping no one sees it
I'm actually suprised Neptunia was on this list. Thought it was always a popular jrpg
I actually own every one of these games, because I can't pass up trying an RPG, but I honestly don't think I paid more than $10 for any of them, and haven't beaten any of them.
Neptunia's gameplay might have been ass, but the characters and humor more than made up for it. I get a huge nostalgia boner whenever i see anything related to the OG Neptunia.
The combat systems for Record of Agarest War Zero and Crossedge are very deep. You won't have access to the best spells/attacks/combos until you get deep into the games, have party members with synergy and gear with the slots to place the spells/attacks into. The character creator in RoAW:Zero determines everything from the weapon type, stats, movement range, ability points and the elements determine the skill slots he starts with.
Crossedge has by far the hardest and most in-depth path to reach the "True End". There are so many factors ranging from viewing events in a limited time, winning battle in a certin amount of turns and not damaging certain enemies. I liked the game, but the scanning for events was annoying, even when you max out the range of the scanner.
RoAW and RoAw:Zero were my favorite PS3 JRPGs. They are hard to get into though, they have a very high skill requirement. They get better/easier the more you play and the more playthroughs completed, when you can carry over resources, spells, abilities and gear.
Neptunia came in clutch when there were less JRPGs on PC but... Yeah, they're very repetitive, recycle assets constantly and eventually even the characters and humor can't get you through another one.
Great job on the video. I know most of those games are not great but it did feel like you spent so little time on each. Just would have been nice to try and at least understand the nuances of the games mechanics to try and explain to us why it's bad and not just being like I'm dying alot and I don't know why.
Still appreciate seeing stuff about obscure games like this.
Fair feedback! For the next episode in this series I’ll make an effort to better explain my thoughts.
"no one should be dying on the first encounter of an rpg"
fear and hunger:
The reason Darkstralkers don't have as many main games, is that they've not been profitable. They did a remaster in 2005 and sold 750,000+ copies. That sounds impressive... But they needed to sell at least 4 million to get renewed interest in game development. I was watching The Escapists reaction to it and they said it best; it was really impressive... When you consider they gave it almost 0 advertisement.
At the time things were not good for Capcom, it was a period that started about the mid 2000s where Capcom was having interesting moments since they were transitioning from the arcades to almost entirely to home console sales. Arcades had become a thing of the past compared to the 90s.
The "failure" of the collection meant that Capcom lost interest in updating the series to add new additions. The franchise earns a lot of merchandise, especially of Morrigan, its a sad state of affairs for the franchise (bit like the Cars franchise, merchandise is more profitable then the movies) but its more profitable as a reference then it is in its own merit. Darkstalkers main problem... Is that Street Fighter exists and its kind of very profitable compared So it overshadows Darkstalkers. Darkstalkers wasn't ever super popular in the west and was only a niche franchise.
In the walking sections of Time and Eternity, the placement of the character in the frame really bugs me. Like, something, something, rule of thirds, she needs a bit more clearance above her head.
Idea factory's Neptunia series is probably why they're still alive. They have a dedicated following. I have a love hate relationship with them because that one series is actually worth your time if you're into fan service.
Are you kidding me?
The entire neptunia series is a hidden gem and I loved it.
Time and Eternity definitely got the short end of the stick when it came to reviews. The game is clearly not taking itself seriously. Like, seriously? Your wedding is crashed by assassins, you stop it, only for it to be crashed again by a sword-wielding vampire, a gut-tootin' succubus, and an evil wizard cosplaying as the Grim Reaper? The storyboard team must have been laughing their ass off while writing this, and I am 100% on their side.
Hyperdimension neptunia isn't bad
The first one was horrendous
the first one is bad
You played that trash Horizon game. Why should I trust you.
The remakes aren't bad, but the first one was hot garbage. I got it when it came out and couldn't even finish it. Neptune gets this super attack about 10 hours in that just one shots everything.
Even the remakes are kinda boring, but at least they fix the combat system.
Compile Heart/Idea Factory has 3 types games.
1. Absolute crap.
2. Surprisingly decent.
3. Bad game but it checks enough of your favorite tropes and fetishes that you give it a pass.
1/ Loved Cross Edge since I played after Namco X Capcom, but it was rough yes.
2/ Record of agarest war was a guilty pleasure, but it is bad, honestly it is.
3/ I played Neptunia mk2 first and I liked it, so I was honor-bound to play the original, not great, but, funny.
4/ Never played Last Rebellion, never will.
5/ Yeah, Time and Eternity is actually fine, but on my Ps3 it was.. lagged? sluggish? it was frustrating to lose hp or mis a dodge not on timing but on a massive fps drop, but the idea was really good as you say :D
I have the Platinum for all those games, that much I liked them honestly.
Wow a platinum for all of them? That’s dedication!
@@TheGamingShelf Neptunia is a breeze, just the shares thingy is a mess.
Cross Edge definitely with a step by step guide.
Record of agarest war i kinda cheated with PP dlcs, becauee the endgane bosses are quite something.
Time and eternity is quite a breeze, it reminded me of Thousand Arms in a wat and I enjoyed it.
it would be unfair to call Cross Edge a "Spiritual Prequel" (being from 2008/2009) to Project X Zone when Namco X Capcom (2005) on the PS2 is its actual and canon prequel to PxZ.
NXC was actually pretty good too.
Mad respect for actually saying something positive about Time & Eternity! I consider it both a terrible game and an absolute must play for its ambition! I remember when it came out in Japan they were saying weird stuff like "there are no sprites or polygons in this screenshot", which was a lie but as a connoisseur of Laserdisc games I get what they mean. A lot of this is FMV clips strung together, they were trying to use modern technology to do a more advanced FMV game! BUT that kind of thing costs WAAAY too much money to pull off and they had to cut corners real hard to make it work, which is why no one else has really attempted this (thanks for the tip off about that one game though). I'd say the closest is Don Quixote on LaserActive and maybe Tengai Maikyo IV on SEGA Saturn. That said, I think you stopped just before the game got REAL bad.
See, I like the combat because I totally get what they were doing: It's Punch Out!! It plays REALLY similar to Punch Out!!...but fighting an endless stream of Glass Joes only works for so long and when Bald Bull becomes the normal enemy, it gets frustrating. But where it falls apart is when you go back in time again and can no longer go back? There's a sudden MASSIVE difficulty spike and the amount of EXP you get versus the length and challenge of the fights just does not pan out! You have to fight too many Bald Bulls to level up! This drives me NUTS because EVERY professional reviewer claimed the combat was too easy and all you had to do was mash buttons and my progress is COMPLETELY blocked by obscene fight difficulty and length versus EXP earned!
I do, sadly, own all of these games but my Last Rebellion is still in its shrinkwrap...maybe I'll keep it there.
Yeah I wouldn’t open last rebellion lol
interesting , thanks for the info , im gonna try playing eternity
About the 5 place: 1st of all, this is the 1st time i heard about this game. Never heard it about it up until now.
I don't think is a precuel of PXZ persay because there is one key factor. It isn't made by Namco at all. As you said, is made by IF and Compa while NIS distribute it (hence why Disgaea is in the game). They try their own version of .... Namco x Capcom . YES!! if you want the true precuel of PxZ, you had Namco x Capcom, since both games are connected not only because some character knows each other but the fact the 2 original characters (Reiji and Xiaomu) as well the Shinra organization is involved somehow in BOTH games. And even between those 2 games are also another 2 games who are canon to a lot of other games: The Frontier Saga (who is a spin off of the Super Robot Wars games. And also canon to their universe too). There is an entire time line of events for who game is canon to who game if is made by Namco.
Cross Edge seems to try to do the same thing, with only JRPGs, only done poorly. Also the difficulty curve is awful from what i heard. But it make sense once you remember NIS was involved on this. But in Disgaea it makes sense, here they try the same and turn out into a meat grinded of trying to grind as much as possible.
Also the artist is the same who work on Neptunia.
Cross Edge and Agarest War do not deserve to be on this list.
I will say the OG Neptunia does though.
Nowadays these s..ts can't appreciate video games like we used too 20-25 years ago. You don't deserve to play these "bad" games only those cash grab money indie RPGs from Steam. Then you you will learn to appreciate even a modest game. These will become masterpieces in you eye.
I've been playing JRPGs for 30 years. I remember playing Persona when no one cared about it and now it's a practically a household name. These games are NOT good. They're the lowest reviewed JRPGs on the console for a reason. I've just played so many JRPGs that I have no tolerance for crap like this. Although Time and Eternity is pretty decent.
@@TheGamingShelf Agarest and Neptunia series are awesome too in my opinion. How many kids nowadays do you think will still play Final Fantasy 1-3 and Dragon Quest 1-4 on the NES for example? They are simple, not flashy, no modern graphics, etc. Give a try to Bloody Warriors: Shan-Go no Gyakushuu. The game is translated. That's one boring JRPG. Imagine you play you favorite JRPG without a single spell or tech/special attacks. One good think about the game is the music which is repetitive but you can always take a pause from the game if it's too much for you ears. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance for the NES has the most misleading map in the entire history of videogames. This thing alone makes the game very frustrating to play and even with a map/guide it's still hard to understand/decipher where you are. And there are some other boring or simple JRPG where you can risk falling asleep on your keyboard playing them. After playing Bloody Warriors: Shan-Go no Gyakushuu every JRPG has become a masterpiece for me. Plus someone put their hearts, sweat and mind into these games even Bloody Warriors (at least is a finished product compared to Pool of Radiance) so i still appreciate their work as long as the games are playable/finished products without bugs/glitches. My first games where Tetris and Circus as a kid. We appreciated more video games back then and every new game was a new treasure. Even Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six for the NES was a good game back then and i still like the game. (the nostalgia factor doesn't work on me same as seduction. I only had this powerful emotion only once when i saw Castlevania: Circle of the Moon after many years.) Imagine if you had an idea and make a game and you see on youtube your game in the section DON'T BUY THESE JRPGS!. What you will fell like? Maybe your ideas failed or the game isn't recognized by many as a good game until later. The only games which i can't stand are the COD and similar games (games that ruined mechanics like Halo with weapon limits, regeneration. First Halo was boring af with long walking like you where in an ARPG but nothing else, just boring walking. After more than 15 years and i still remember how bored i was playing Halo: "Combat Evolved" or more like "Walking Evolved") where the consumer is at fault not the developer. I stopped playing after Modern Warfare 3. The same sh.t over and over again from point A to point B and i was F bored. No exploration, nothing fascinating... only war, mindless shooting/war for the zombie masses. I replayed Mafia after 15 years and i was bored plus the game had the jazz music radio stations removed due to copyright reasons (Django, Lonnie, etc). I downloaded the music fix and put it into game. Everything changed. It's incredible how much a music can change a boring car simulator game with some shooting sections from time to time. I couldn't wait to finish my objective to get back into the car to listen to Belleville by Django Reinhardt. At least this is how i see the Mafia series: car simulator, cutscenes and shooting from time to time with amazing jazz music. At least JRPG (and not only in this genre) developers are coming with new ideas/mechanics. They like to experience with new things... creativity. You start judging a game from heart (developer) to heart (consumer) not only from pocket (brainwashed/fanatics) to pocket (EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Bethesda, etc). Japanese publishers/developers are more serious when it comes to videogames compared to the american ones who are destroying franchises one after another. (Heroes of Might and Magic, Dead Space 3, Duke Nukem... Forever?, Duel Masters, etc.)
I think I rented time and eternity for a weekend, I don't remember how I felt about it, but It was at least fun enough to know it was a game I played seeing that style again
Technically Namco x Capcom is the predecessor to Project X Zone. But Cross edge is now gonna be on my wishlist since i didnt know Ar Tonelico was in it. Damn Taylor blowing my mind
lol happy to blow minds!
@@TheGamingShelf better than blowing anything else
🤣
But some of them awesome...
Thousand Arms used a 2D hand-drawn art style for characters and monsters way before Time and Eternity.
I still have my copy of Time and Eternity and haven't touched it in years since I got bored with it. HDN also surprisingly grew from being a bad game, if I hadn't received Mk2 first I probably wouldve shunned it forever
I've never played a compile heart game that I've enjoyed. Honestly not sure how they are still in business.
Same!
The irony of Tactica being the sponsor... woof is that game dull.
>playing jrpgs with english dub
peasantry taste
I don't really agree with this list. I really love both Cross Edge and the entire Neptunia franchise. I'm surprised Resonance of Fate isn't in the Top 5, that was easily the worst JRPG I've ever played on PS3 and I've played many.
I built the list based off the lowest 5 JRPG metacritic scores. I think RoF was like high 60s?
Dude...not saving on Neptunia for hours is your own damn fault. Not the games. If you really were into jrpgs...you'd know saving often was a given. That was sad to witness.
True, but I didn’t expect the game to freeze either lol
The RPG that taught me to save regularly was Skyrim on Xbox 360 and PS3. Not because I died a lot, or much at all. But because they kept freezing the entire system.
Every time the PS3 version dropped into seconds per frame, I prayed so hard that it wouldn't crash again lmao. Now I save religiously in games like this.
To me "Time and Eternity" looks really good...And since I play mostly for story rather than challenge, I'd really like to try it...
Take that up with the Better Business Bureau.
The story is crap too
So I am curious then, How do you feel about Hyper Dimension Neptunia Rebirth 1?
Haven’t tried it, although I hear it’s WAY better.
@@TheGamingShelf Yeah they used the third games combat system for 1 and 2 rebirth and updated the dungeon maps for some mor variety if I remember right.
From this list I have played Neptunia out of pure curiosity since I played Victory, the 3rd one of the original trilogy before the retconning. Hyperdimension Neptunia 1 is an odd ball for me because the story is great for how far I played but the gameplay is really rough especially the dungeon crawling aspect of it since the encounters are not random chance but distance based... I am a fool to try and 100% dungeons because of how uninspired most of the areas look and feel, if the task isn't to defeat a certain number of enemies, you bet your ass I would abuse Compa's skill to disable the distance encounters.
funny, recently I wanted to continue this game and came across this knowing HDN 1 would be mentioned
Wow...I actually own three of these games. Go figure.
I think JRPGs during this era, and extending a bit into the current era, actually suffer from something akin for feature creep.
They would try to pile on systems and subsystems onto their games. About half of the games on this list had that problem.
And the aspect they'd let slide in exchange for these pointless systems was often the story.
Which I wish they'd learn doesn't really work. Persona 5, DQ11, and the various Final Fantasies that are actually successful didn't beat you over the head with a bunch of minutiae-based systems. They focused on making their core gameplay loop functional and made use of a limited number of immersive systems that gelled together well enough.
Exactly, it’s all about the core loop and fun design. These games definitely got lost in the minutiae.
I swear I heard Wendee Lee twice in this video alone
I can't hate on Compile Heart too much. Their heyday as an almost exclusive shmup developer gave us some of the greatest games ever.
I never played cross edge so can't comment on that. But what I CAN say is that Agarest is an outstanding JRPG and I'll die on that hill.
A lot of people have qualms with it's crafting system being too 'complicated' or the difficulty spike in act 2/3 or...in your case...the story being generic.
But like...the game explains the solution to all of those problems (except the story thing) and I honestly believe if you would have taken the time to get through the (admittedly) rough beginning..you'd see that the story overall is quite good. Is it ground breaking? No. Is it cliched? Probably. But the twist of pact made and how that affects the world for literal generations was very interesting to see.
I can see how it being Idea Factory may put people off at first, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this game (beat it on PS3 and 100%d it on Steam). I think you really gave this one an unfair shake.
And I also just want to add that your assessment about it just being a ripoff of cross edge is also jacked in that there are numerous jrpgs going all the way back to the early 90s where you run from dot to dot on an open world map.
Dude, Time & Eternity is GOOD! The hand-drawn anime artstyle is great, the battle system is fun, and the music is good too. It's one of those "cozy" RPGs.
These games look interesting, I'm going to play them
Don’t say I didn’t warn you 😆
"In the future, people will look back on this time as an age of darkness."
Cool video. I always wanted Time and Eternity. It just looks good.
hyperdimension neptunia the original is how i got into the series I had a lot of fun playing it there were some pretty funny joke/reference in it that were not in rebirth 1 that made me sad its the Pokémon one if anyone fully played the original, if not here it is we get stuck inside a disk and compa says I wonder if Mr. heretic would ever throw the disk at someone and say i choose you compiffytune, and since all the characters are named after companies that help in someway making the game so they may not show up in later games like nisa
Its kind ironic that the ps3/360 generation started whit a bang on 360 of all consoles. Blue dragon and lost odyssey are still amazing games even by today's standards.
And a lot of games came out first on 360 over Ps3. Such as Star ocean last hope or Tales of Vespiria.
As a HDN speedrunner, I 100% knew the game would be on this list, props to you for that.
For Hyperdimension Neptunia, the freeze you encountered is specifically an emulator bug that happens if you idle for too long while paused (or even when performing specific actions). It's obvious you used an emulator from the FPS alone, and while I don't blame you, that was a bit weird. The CH games run like GARBAGE on PS3, even at 480i (which does help the game run slightly better).
A bit surprised you didn't mention the item system. It's complete garbage and I feel like more people need to understand just how messed up it is. Implementing specific conditions for items and making it effectively RNG to use everything you need is incredibly strange. This game gets really messed up later, and getting walled for 2 hours on the final boss in a No DLC speedrun is not out of the question. Actually nobody enjoys this game, but yet somehow it's fun to talk about it being so bad.
It's so cathartic to hear you praise Time and Eternity for its visual style because I remember being amazed at the graphics back then but in the reviews it was the main point of critique for a lot of people
its always kinda funny when everyone tells you something is bad
and you go, "surely it cant be that bad? right?"
then you try it and go "yea that was horrible.."
Lol sometimes people are right!
It's infinitely hilarious to see both *KOTY winner and runner-up* in ONE "bottom worst games" review.
(for reference - Last Rebellion won Kusoge Of The Year in 2010 and Time&Eternity ended 2nd in 2012)
What's with all the tourist takes and this poorly researched list? Jesus.
Only 1 game is actually bad, it's like this piece was lifted from another tuber.
I didn't make the list. I went to Metacritic and found the 5 lowest scored JRPGs on the system. If you can think of a more objective way to choose 5 games I'm all ears. And user scores aren't a good alternative. If that was the case then Persona 5 would be the worst game on the system lol.
Fun fact: did you Morrigan from Darkstalkers has appeared in more fan made p*rn by herself than there are stars in the sky?
🤣
"No one should be dying to the first random enemy in an rpg" *looks at Nocturne hard mode*
the first "cross zone" game is actually Namco X Capcom, same devs being monolithsoft and style etc. on ps2 jp only in 2005
Cross edge has one of the dumbest requirements for true ending completion I've ever seen. (Forcing you to complete it on hard mode when it's difficulty is already really bullcrap being one of them) For an idea some boss fights require you to literally not hit the boss and only its minions. LIKE How the F**k is anyone supposed to know that without a guide.
Playing this for the first time was...something.
Seeing Cross Edge gave me war flashbacks. I remember I got it because I was interested in the crossover aspect and was so sad at how boring it was!
Fortunately I got Trinity Universe along with it and it is one of my favorite games on the ps3, so at least there's that lol
Funny enough, IdeaF is involved in Trinity Universe as well, but it also has Gust and NipponIchi in the development team which explains why it isn't awful lol
How the heck is Neptunia worse than Cross Edge?
Never realized how much of an overhaul the Neptunia Rebirth games actually were. That original release looks stale af.
“No one should be dying against the first random encounter” meanwhile SMT Nocturne: “Now that I’ve stopped the handholding… haha yes, die trash!”
Oh man I hated that game 😂
Agarest Generations of War falls into all the pitfalls of SRPGs in the late game. The basic encounters start pushing past 20 minutes and the dungeons only get larger with no save points. You absolutely need a map open on your computer and notepad that list the move combos to survive the end game. It has plenty of grinding options too which would ok if the base game wasn't a terrible grind in itself.
I expected Toki and Towa to be a lesbian couple when the game was first teased, and was so disappointed when it turned out they weren't that I never bothered to play the game. Maybe I should go back and change that, now that I've had a decade to let my disappointment fade.
Would have made for a better game 😂
1:30 through 1:53 - Oh believe me we're more than aware.................that one compilation sold better than expected and they still canceled plans for Darkstalkers 4.......
8:35 - JRPGs. JRPGs never change.....
20:05 - Yeah I noticed alright, pretty much a crimson red flag on how trope dependent this game's story gets.
Here's the common factor here. NiS and Compile Heart. They're very vanilla companies. They make sort of like childrens versions of jrpg games. And the translations and eng voice work is terrible.
I am shocked Tears to Tiara 2: Heir of the Overlord was not on this list. 80 hours of visual cutscenes with no player choices. Tutorial never explained I could do joint attack with allies until I found out myself during the second to last fight. And forgetable characters.
It's baffling that you didn't include Drakengard 3 in this list, considering the game is a downgrade from Drakengard 1 & 2 in every aspect while being legitimately unplayable on real PS3 hardware due to poor optimization of Unreal Engine 3.
Agarest War has the marriage system that let you chose a spouse to make a baby and keep the journey, one of the games has 5 freaking generations to save the world. It's a cool game, but dialogue is slow and the battle system is one of the worse things I ever played.
I really wanted to beat the game, and I can stomach the dialogue, but the battle was too much. Such boring battle system that looks complicate, but will have you spamming the same freaking combo endless, It would be fine with it was a simple basic turn-based rpg.
I think the Neptunia graphics look bad so it can run on a Vita.
The first game wasn’t on vita, but the remake was I think.
I think I know where the budget for the first Neptunia game.
Getting Wendee Lee to voice "White Heart"
I remember Cross Edge. I was at the height of my Atelier/Mana Khemia and Ar Tonelico fan phase. I wanted to play this game SO BAD for their inclusion plus Disgaea, all series I adored. And then I got met with this mess with barely any story, repetitive combat, sometimes excruciating difficulty, slog of a gameplay loop and just overall absolute disappointment. I tried to go on for a while because I REALLY wanted to like this game, but there was just nothing saving it for me. Alas.
They really went and named the main character in a time travel story "Time".
I must be the only one that enjoyed the original Neptunia and I thought that it was really harsh to be put here over some other stuff, like OG Neptunia at least felt like Trinity Universe done right in terms of combat mechanics and Dungeon Exploration.
I'd actually argue that Mugen Souls, as much as I find some stuff really fun, is worse than Neptunia in the long run because you're not really suppose to fight the enemies unless you accidentally Frenzy the Large crystal and because only your main protagonist can peon enemies or crystals, battles will start dragging out.
Yeah the combat in Mugen Souls was bizarre. I never understood how the emotion stuff worked.