Dragon Quest IX

[Rush]

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Stars.

This game was the deciding factor in my personal debate as to whether or not I would purchase a NINTENDO DS. Having just now conquered the final boss within the DQ-IX game...I can tell you that I am quite certain I made a wise decision. If you've played the game, I believe you either did, or did not, love it. If you did not...then obviously, IMHO, RPGs are not for you.

If you haven't played DQ-IX yet, by all means, do so now, lol. Oh, and for those who possess experience with prior Dragon Warrior and Dragon Quest games...you will not be disappointed in the amazing upgrades to both story and graphics when compared to past installments of the ongoing DQ/DW series.

[CrazyBernie]

You're not going to find a lot of love for jRPGs in this forum... ^_^

Dragon Quest VIII is the only reason I'd ever want to own a Playstation.

I'd have picked DQIX up if I still had a DS... I'm hoping they release an XL version of the 3DS next year-ish.

[Al3xand3r]

I played it a little. It's cool but the story didn't grab me (although it probably gets better later, but I lost interest before that happened). The gameplay has nice novelties (for a JRPG) though, and it's fast paced, varied, and even challenging at times. I hope DQX keeps some of these features.

[BasiliskWrangler]

I want to like JRPGs. I wish I could get into whatever it is that makes them so popular.

Before Basilisk Games was formed, I worked long hours in a Network Operation Center and I used an emulator to play several classic JRPGs, such as Chrono Trigger and some older Final Fantasies. Even then, when given long overnight hours with nothing else to do, I still just couldn't get into the games. I ended up just making notes for what would become Eschalon.

[ManusDei]

Maybe you should have bought a 3DS instead.

My girlfriend liked the game, I didn't play it yet (too much to do or play), but she said it was nice, but somewhat too common.

To those who didn't like jRPG, you might want to try the Golden Sun games. Scenario is nice, nothing spectacular but the world is interesting.
The interesting part is that you have lots of magic that can change your environnement (telekinesis, some spells to turn water to ice, fire spells and others to make plants grow, revealing spells, and so on...).

[CrazyBernie]

I want to like JRPGs. I wish I could get into whatever it is that makes them so popular.

Before Basilisk Games was formed, I worked long hours in a Network Operation Center and I used an emulator to play several classic JRPGs, such as Chrono Trigger and some older Final Fantasies. Even then, when given long overnight hours with nothing else to do, I still just couldn't get into the games. I ended up just making notes for what would become Eschalon.

I think part of the reason you don't find as much interest in the jRPGs is that they're not focused on that Stat-Heavy character development you enjoy... For instance; Sure, Final Fantasy characters have stats like Strength and Agility, but you don't have any direct control over those stats. You might equip an item or two that modifies a stat, or you might indirectly be able to control what gets increased on level-up by equiping another item, but it's a lot less hands off. They tend to be more class oriented as well... you don't have a lot of Jack-of-all-Trades type characters.

It might also be a progression thing... I actually find it difficult to go back an play old-school games that I haven't already enjoyed in the past when there's all the newer stuff coming out. I really liked the beginning of Albion, but the atrocious first person dungeon/town crawling turned me off and I stopped playing after a short while. Instead I turned to Fallout 3.... >.>

[personalrant] Still, I think there's a lot to like about Final Fantasy VI (aka III for the SNES), if you can get past the occasional grind, there's a ton of story and character background, and a lot of memorable moments... and it has one of the zaniest, evilest "Main Boss" characters ever.... There's also a re-translated SNES patch floating around that corrects some text, story, and re-injects some items removed when the game was localized.[/personalrant]

[sirdilznik]

I definitely generally enjoy western RPGs significantly more than jRPGs, but I do still like some jRPGs; Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Seiken Densetsu III, and Phantasy Star IV are at the top of that list. I have enjoyed some Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior games in the past but to be honest I haven't played one in a really long time. Whenever a Dragon Quest game comes out for the 3DS, and rest assured one will come out, I'll definitely be picking it up. I'll probably also get DQ IX and maybe some of the other DQ games that were on the DS too once I can find them in the bargain bin on the cheap.

[Arkos]

I don't like the grind that comes with JRPGs. I could tolerate just about anything else about them, but not the grind. I love that with games like Dragon Age, Eschalon, and Fallout, that I can just play them. I don't have to stop every hour to run in circles for a 2-3 hours, triggering random battles, so I'm strong enough to face the next area.

[Al3xand3r]

I don't think grinding has been a problem with JRPGs since the early 90s, outside certain series that stick to their old school roots and have tough encounters that you either play smart learning the mechanics inside out or pass by overleveling with grinding. Still, almost any RPG with some exploration will have encounters that are too hard for your level, regardless of its origin region. Why would there be any statistics to increase if they're unecessary for progress? Unless it, well, sucks by somehow scaling encounters to your level so that you can go anywhere and do anything regardless of your strength which results in rendering any sort of progress meaningless, as seen in Oblivion. Of course it shouldn't force you to grind as such, you could just admit defeat and explore a different area, discovering and progressing and having fun along the way, until you're strong enough and remember that enemy you couldn't defeat at the time. If it presents hard encounters while also railroading you so that you do have to run circles as you say, rather than go do something else meaningful, then yeah, that's bad, but I don't think such situations are really widespread in any RPGs, J or not, these days.

[Rush]

Hmmm...tough crowd.

You're not going to find a lot of love for jRPGs in this forum....

Sooooooo, it's:

FORUM TITLE: Role-Playing Games
DESCRIPTION: Computer, pen-and-paper, console... if it's an RPG, it's being talked about in here!
MODIFIER: ...excluding Jrpgs.

I guess I somehow missed that modifier. I got it now, CrazyBernie, and too, I get now that you speak for the entire forum. My bad...my apologies and truly, (bows head in shame) I won't let you down again.

[CrazyBernie]

*sigh* How easily a jest can be turned on its head... =P

[Kreador Freeaxe]

*sigh* How easily a jest can be turned on its head... =P

This is the problem when your sense of humor is drier than a martini without vermouth.