10 RPGs That Could Have Been Better

[@jacksmith4006]

Top 10 RPGs that deserve more love: #1 Shadow Hearts!!

[@hunterfay9817]

I’d like to toss my own pick into this: Rogue Galaxy. At first it seems promising, with you joining a band of space pirates in search of a lost planet. It sadly starts to go down hill as plot threads go nowhere, interesting characters aren’t followed up on, at least not properly for some, and various important plot points are dropped in at the last minute, particularly at the final planet. Combined with the combat system that can boil down to spam skills to instant win battles, and it results in a game that I wanted to be good, but was just tired of and wanted to finish. It’s clear what story they wanted to tell, but it feels like there wasn’t enough work done on ironing out the plot

[@anachronologist2017]

Rogue Galaxy was a hidden gem of a game. Needs more love

[@michaelbrandse7450]

Heh, Xenogears was supposed to be multiple games; with Takahashi planning on 6 episodes (with episode 1, 5 and 6 I believe being planned as actual full-fledged RPGs and the rest being spinoffs, like visual novels and the likes). Each of these episodes was gonna tackle a part of the story, with episode 5 and 6 being the game Xenogears and episode 1 being pre-deus. The rest would then concentrate on the various incarnations of Fei; a specific game for Abel, Kim and Lacan (the spin-offs, which likely would have made episode 2, 3 and 4). I am probably off on some bits though, because Takahashi was being VERY ambitious, to the point of confusing. So the Xenogears we got was actually going to end at the end of disc one, or at least, that's what I think. Square canned the project to focus on the Final Fantasy series (the safe bet), which is likely why Takahashi tried to cram as much of his original idea into the game as possible. Interesting story; Takahashi ran into the same problems with Xenosaga, which was going to be much bigger initially, but was cut short at the 3rd game, meaning Takahashi once again had to cram as much content of his plans into this single game as possible (which is why the events that take place between Xenosaga 2 and 3 are now just summarized in in-game text logs). Basically, Takahashi is too ambitious for his own good.

[@StewNWT]

Do you know what though at least Takahashi’s plots made actual sense. Unlike anything Tetsuya nomura has ever touched

[@Kyrephare]

Valk Chroniles 2: One of the biggests flaws was this was a PSP game, but the they tried to retain the character model / perspective of a game on a TV. It just made the maps not feel great because all you saw was your char instead of the battlefield. I think Xenogears rushed 2nd half was kind of amazing in its own way. I guess Id prefer to rushed story and/or meh game play. For me it was like a tension break, and i could just chill for a bit. Rebirth: I wouldnt blame the corporate side, because just how much history SE dev teams have an issue of poor pipeline management and so one side overdoes it, take FF13 or the OG FFXIV as examples of when the art team had too much free time. I mean the major selling point for splitting Yoshi-P's time and having him produce FF16 while still running FF14 is he knew how to manage a development pipeline. I mean they risked taking him off the golden goose to see if he could do a single player development pipeline as well, and hopefully provide a blue print. Other possible misses (to each their own): Chrono Cross - too many characters to collect with now fun reason like say Suikoden. They had a blue print for a great RPG team in CT, but opted to have a bad reason for replayablity (since you couldnt collect them all on a single playthrough). Visions of Mana: They hid the class skill mixing system in the post game content instead of having it in the main game. This would have made character /class choice 84759084x more fun during the main game. Tales of Phantasia: basically this game is I think an underappreciated game, and has one of the most compelling openings in any game... However in the early/mid game, you get a task to find a bunch of elementals all throughout the world that just puts the plot on ice for several hours, killing the momentum. It kinda like how Rebirths open world/mini game/side quest galore kills the pacing for that game. The Trails series: A lot of these games were originally designed to be 1 game, and it shows. Trails in the Sky 1-2, Cold Steel 1-2 and Cold Steel 3-4 are all really just one game, but because how Falcom distributes resources and needs yearly releases from at least one of its bread and butter titles. Well that and Trails in the Sky was the teams first title, and so they bit off way more than they could chew. Sometimes we get games split, or maybe a game like Reverie or Trails in the Sky 3rd that are full game experiences, but not like people are used to. Examples of when they got the the full resources would be the Crossbell titles or Trails into Daybreak1. Imagine if that series were given full resources for every title... Star Ocean 4: No wait, modern science couldnt save that plot. Im not even sure aliens from another dimension would have the capacity.

[@locloudanerpg]

Haha nice takes

[@SheIsTheOneNamedSailorMoon]

Grandia 2 is still my all time favourite JRPG today. I also loved playing Grandia 3. I would love to see Grandia 3 remastered for current consoles.

[@Chelaxim]

Enchanted Arms was the very first JRPG in HD and you can never take it away from it. The graphics were mind blowing at the time, it came out on the 360 before FFXII.

[@locloudanerpg]

I didn't get to it until after FFXIII so I think the effect was lost on me.

[@siomaiwrapper5229]

Everything went to meh-ville when Miranda and Alonso left the party in Grandia 3. They were by far the most interesting characters in the game. I struggled to continue the game afterwards even tho i liked the combat, ultimately dropping it and forgetting it existed till a post on an rpg group i was in fb popped up. I never played Grandia Extreme and never even knew it existed tbh Edit: Thousand Arms was a good experience. Combat can really needs a makeover if it ever gets remastered or get an enhanced port. As you say, I got bored of watching Meis long summon animations over and over so i switched to Suoshi around end game since it was when i rekindled my interest in anime and was a huge Samurai X fan. Also had a huge crush on Wyna and Palma when i was playing TA :( Ah, teenage hormone.

[@Oag1992]

Thousand Arms 100 percent. It’s an excellent game but the battle system could have been tweaked to where all characters were playable or you could switch them out.

[@Damackism]

Thousand Arms battle system was so weird. Luckily I was still new to JRPgs so I just played the game and enjoyed it for what it is.

[@Trampflick]

Legend of Dragoon and Chrono Cross definitely need to be on the next list.

[@Turbo_Waitress]

I liked this video and if it ever strikes your fancy, would love to see a follow up video on any games that you think picked up the unfulfilled promise of another game and did it justice. Time and Eternity was such a bummer because I loved the idea of a fully animated game in that style. I agree about Rebirth even though I still love it.

[@locloudanerpg]

@@Turbo_Waitress Do you mean games that exceeded expectations?

[@dangox3370]

Trails of cold steel is kind of amazing but dividing it into FOUR games two of which are basically nothing but recycled content and painfully dull filler seems like a cynical cash grab. It does a great disservice to what could have been the greatest JRPG of all time.

[@locloudanerpg]

Trails into Reverie did what needed to be done in my opinion. I adore that game.

[@dangox3370]

Reverie was awful imo. The story was crap and there was way too many characters and too much inventory management.

[@locloudanerpg]

@ haha stick that s#%^ straight into my veins!

[@dannysimion]

I actually enjoy cold steel for having it broken up into 4. The first two definitely were stronger than the last two though.

[@dangox3370]

@@dannysimion 1 and 3 were the good ones. 2 and 4 are really, really bad. Each of them just recycle the one prior. You're literally playing the same game all over again but with a much worse plot.

[@Nickzstuff]

Sorry, gonna be one of those ranters about Rebirth story...Rebirth started off soooo strong, but literally once you got to costa del sol the story took a complete nosedive. "welcome to corel prison" and then proceeding to knock out literal god killers...then you find out later that area is a tourist destination...the whole thing felt like a vacation where your exploring ff7s world, not living it. Not even getting into destroying cids character. The battle systems amazing imo but the stories legit one of the worst of the series. Why create this "anything can happen" scenario at the end of remake, and just mildly change things? Seems like such a waste of potential. Not to mention the multiverse cop out...yikes. Rant over lol.

[@Nickzstuff]

Also forgot to mention, great content keep it up dude!

[@locloudanerpg]

This is a safe space my friend.

[@Boneidolfitness]

The over-the-top gay best friend who had a crush on the protagonist did make me laugh out loud when he came to save the object of his affection in enchanted arms, I actually quite enjoyed him as a character

[@locloudanerpg]

Haha he was something wasn’t he. Kinda reminds me of David Vince.

[@Boneidolfitness]

@locloudanerpg He was as dedicated as Juvia from Fairy Tail

[@locloudanerpg]

@@Boneidolfitness Juvia is the single greatest character in that series, bar none.

[@Boneidolfitness]

@@locloudanerpg I wish they would bring psycho Juvia, her losing her shit on Meldy is one of my favourite moments

[@mrp1234]

I didn't play Loop8 but I feel like visual novel + roguelike is something that would simply never work I also... hate Rebirth. like to me it's not a flawed game that could have been better but is still good, it is a straight-up bad game other than a couple of bits. I think you nailed why I think it's so bad. like to me it hit every complaint everyone offers up about open worlds, whereas I've liked plenty of open worlds in the past. I actually love AC Odyssey but AC Odyssey is extremely fun. it sucks getting around in a minute to minute way with Rebirth and the open world activities also suck. also stop shoving me in front of 90000 minigames oh my god. I thought Remake was flawed but Remake looks real good in comparison to Rebirth; the limits worked.

[@locloudanerpg]

@@mrp1234 Yeah, Rebirth was a shame. Exploration of an open world needs to be interesting and rewarding or it feels like a slog.

[@knightky975]

For Thousand Arms I wish you didn’t need to tank relationships if you want all the spells and abilities. Lots of good choices for games here

[@rawaali8451]

As a long time admirer of your channel I lost you at Rebirth- but you predicted that yourself. Not only is it my Goty (I have played metaphor, infinity wealth, trails through daybreak, among other titles this year) ff7reb is a generational game and a top 5 ff game! Nevertheless, waiting for your next video

[@rawaali8451]

If I didn’t know you through your videos I would have thought you are clickbaiting with Rebirth 😂

[@locloudanerpg]

@@rawaali8451 Haha if it were click bait, I probably would have put it in the thumbnail and had it appear earlier on the vid. All good my friend. I share my thoughts to get the conversation going. Thanks for the support!

[@rawaali8451]

Always, my friend

[@robkuro8564]

I totally love playing Thousand Arms and Xenogears, the points you made for both titles I agree with. Thousand Arms should’ve a three-man party, and 2nd half of Xenogears should’ve been like the 1st half

[@TenshiWingly]

Would have put Soul Hackers 2 on this list. Such a waste of potential.

[@locloudanerpg]

@@TenshiWingly I haven’t played it yet, but I hear that’s the case.

[@argnt_real]

Havent played any series from here Well, except VC(1). Still watched to the end.

[@ivanbluecool]

Here's my second list of great games i wish had an extra little more. Fe awakening. Lissa getting an axe would have been great. If you could trap a weak for to give her exp early to grind. Fates wise i really wish awakening could get a mode like fates system as it's the best gameplay of fire emblem Paper Mario ttyd. Chapter 2 is the worst. Make it shorter to get to the tree. I always feel bored there as it's all backtracking. Bleach soul resurrection. Give us a second version with more characters as this game is so much fun to play.

[@Dakasami]

I nominate Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter to be added to this list And if you ever make a “what on earth were they thinking” list, I nominate Orphan on PS2.

[@locloudanerpg]

Haha, I have to play both of those for my PS2 RPG challenge.....

[@Dakasami]

@@locloudanerpg I apologize in advance for inflicting Orphan upon you. Anime was decent, but the game…well again, I apologize

[@locloudanerpg]

@@Dakasami Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!! I've nearly ground my way through Monster Rancher EVO!!

[@GrunkusDunkus]

Played Enchanted Arms. Multiple hours in after getting a tutorial popup to "press 'x' to interact with [thing]!" for the 35th time, I had to drop it. Overall the battle system wasn't bad, nor the story really, though not stellar, but having every little interaction getting interruped and tutorialized wore on me and I couldn't do it anymore. Only memory that really sticks out is I got a cool lil pizza chef to use in battle tho, respect to him.

[@fuman7057]

The main thing that annoyed me about Enchanted Arms is that golemancy was so emphasized in the plot and in the marketing, but was largely useless. Your human characters easily eclipsed the golems. There weren't many instances where a human was removed due to the story, so having a golem back-up wasn't too crucial either.

[@empty_melodies]

Oof! Super interesting take on Rebirth. Understandable. I did personally thoroughly enjoy it tho.

[@locloudanerpg]

@@empty_melodies oh it’s by no means a bad game. Thanks for the watch!

[@ivanbluecool]

Tales of arise and zesteria. Both games could have been better by fixing up the combat and item system. Not sure why we can't have 4 party members if i couldn't jist use a sub member to fuse with. Arise is a whole mess Fe echoes 3 houses and engage. Echoes needed a harder mode. 3 houses less filler gameplay sustems and engage more class uniqueness to it and skills. Valkyria Chronicles 4 is the only one i played and i love it a lot. Pokemon soul silver and x y. Needed to be better balanced to give players a challenge. Later games I'm happy to see more variety in early game Dragon quest 1 and 2. So clunky and bad. 3 meanwhile is extremely fun letting you start with whatever class you want in party.

[@fuman7057]

Zestiria was doomed from get-go due to the Alicia controversy. The game was garbage as is, but that only helped to kill it.

[@ivanbluecool]

@fuman7057 Alicia was a symptom of the already huge problem. Gameplay story and systems were all bad. Funny enough Alicia was better written in crestria which should have been the main game not arise as that cast are all criminals. Sad we won't ever get to see that as a full game.

[@mrp1234]

XY has a ton of variety early, the frustrating things are that it's essentially a soft reboot so you mostly get old Pokemon and not the new ones, and also it's laughably easy

[@barongeoffrey75]

I played engage in spite of the art style and i regret,

[@riyuphoenix4533]

Great takes and I agree with mist of it. I love Grandia 1 and 2 so much and Grandia 3 was such a disappointment to me. So with Rebirth, what do you think could have made it better. I do agree that the rewards were underwhelming. My main Gripe was the weapon skills were practically identical to the first game and maybe even 1 or 2 skills removed so that sucked. But for me it I loved the story, character and Gamplay which I personally felt like it delivered. I honestly don't believe any game is 10/10 there always going to be something not great. Some titles poeple argue a perfect but it'll tend to be games on the shorter side. (Basically being if they were longer you would eventually find the gameplay loop tedious)

[@locloudanerpg]

I think three things would have made Rebirth better. 1. Have better rewards for exploration in the form of weapons, skills, passive abilities, more dynamic materia, alternate outfits and items that improve your romantic level with a partner. 2. Get someone else to design the NPCs. Whoever made all of the non-consequential artwork and characters did a terrible job. 3. Make the tasks of each area more diverse with less of an emphasis on exploration and more on battle. Also, get rid of Gongaga and redo Cosmo Canyon. Those areas were terrible. I think that would have improved things. I can't say much on the story as it seems like there's a plan and I'm willing to see it through to the end.

[@barongeoffrey75]

I played Grandia 2 and i remember liking it. Amont thé characters inthink i préfèrer Millenia. Ps2 was full of rpgs but with a lot of controversial titles among popular series.

[@TheDarkuub]

Honestly the scales in X are literally the best part to me

[@fuman7057]

* Baten Kaitos (BKO especially) - Slow combat system due to long spell and enemy attack animations and having to waste a lot of time shuffling cards. BKO’s plot is much worse than BK’s and the combo system made the game basically play itself. BK had a massive element imbalance due to certain elements not getting good cards until late. * Skies of Arcadia - The whole exploration aspect of the game was lost due to constant invisible walls and plot barriers on the world map. The overly high random encounter rate made the game nearly unplayable, adding to the exploration frustration. Only Enrique was worth using at the end, since the other final party members could effectively be replaced by accessories you could farm (and which broke the game). * Tales of Legendia - Good characters (in post-game), great soundtrack, and an interesting premise marred by one of the worst battle systems ever and a bad plot. The main storyline was a drawn out rescue mission and they referenced a bunch of enemy nations… that you never visited! The bulk of the story and character development happened in the post-game, but it was not voice acted.

[@99NON]

😂 These three are actually among my favorite JRPGs. You do make valid points though. And all three also drag towards the end, making them a slog to play again to completion. ...Legendia's soundtrack is still God tier

[@DanteCrowlley]

I always try my best to keep realistic expecations based on reviews, sometimes the game is actually good but the gameplay just isn't, trials, legends of to name some

[@billylevelsup5634]

Im with you on rebirth... i honestly couldn't make it thru the second zone and just quit on the game.

[@locloudanerpg]

@@billylevelsup5634 I beat it but I hear you. The later zones don’t get better.

[@d18p]

11:01 omg this is my first jrpg, this made me a perverted gentleman!

[@annareifer2249]

I love the Golden Sun series, the 2 first games are so great. But the Third one? not a bad game, but a BAD Golden Sun game :(

[@vsolyomi]

Thousand Arms should've have tag combos that you perform depending on the sequence of characters' positions and would also flip those positions. So you have Muza, Wyna an Meis, Muza and Wyna have a double tech, which also shuffles Meis in between them. No you have Muza & Meis tech that...

[@36inc]

@vsolyomi lets be real though nobody whose played thousand arms all the way is really thinking that. Alot of the time i pressed on cycling fronts cause the combat is booboo easy so theres no reason to maximilize in every fight, so yeah you can win the game meis in front the entire time and summon 800 million times but you could win the whole game using anyone. I know the thing i was playing for was for the gag scenes that tried way too hard it loops back into being funny again and its just better with that 90s era voice acting.

[@vsolyomi]

@@36inc I don't talk about Thousand Arms to be real, that would be silly

[@36inc]

@@vsolyomi good thing i didnt say talking.

[@vsolyomi]

@@36inc indeed! :)

[@36inc]

oh look thousand arms!

[@NightmareOni]

14:55 you live a good life sir lol

[@locloudanerpg]

@@NightmareOni Go to church, brush your teeth twice a day and eat your broccoli my friend.

[@vsolyomi]

Xenogears for all my love of it has waay more problems than just the disk 2 state. Imagine if it didn't have the story and world builiding and instead had more of a generic plot and setting. Even if properly complete it would probably be completely forgotten. Imagine how much heavy lifting the plot is doing if it was (for me including) I'll sludge through all the mediocre gameplay and bad design decisions and even read the half of it all from postcards how much I want to know how it ends. And yeah, it was worth it. Looking at you, BioWare.

[@larskaiser8131]

I may be the only person but I really adored VC2 - still the game in the series I put the most time into. Yes, it pales in comparison with the first and third and ESPECIALLY the fourth game in the series, but it also had its moments - soldiers for the first time didn't feel like disposable pawns like in VC1, the higher customization options in promotions and R&D allowed for a much more personalised style of gameplay and while the story was anime-average it did give some interesting takes on the universe, like that just because you win a war it doesn't mean your whole realm will suddenly be united and that racism doesn't just "disappear", especially if it has been fostered for centuries. The game definitely could be better, but in my opinion the game's more than just mediocre - it's above average bordering good, and in some rare instances it reaches "great".

[@TheDiscoGenre]

Quest 64: Game had a cute battle system/mechanics, but its too much of a nothing burger in everything else. The GBC demake was a bit better, but at the end of the day, it suffers being Quest 64. Wild Arms 4: Gameplay is fun (but very unbalanced; Raquel smash solves almost everything outside extreme gimmick bosses); writing and characters are a bit too mid 2000s corny/schlocky/cliche, even if the game is very short. Abandoning the Wild West aesthetic did not help (WA5 hits far lower lows than 4 writing wise, but at least that game tried to be a cowboy game).

[@XstickbuddyX]

what a passive aggressive title but it's true. Oh also no golden sun dark dawn?

[@YesMan-ez1mr]

You're killing me with Xenogears, but... I get what you're saying. Its second disc is a letdown. I think its faults are still remarked upon because it's such a uniquely provoking experience. Together with Vagrant Story, I think it deserves a remaster (not a remake, Square!)

[@locloudanerpg]

@@YesMan-ez1mr agreed. It was hard to put it on this list but those are the games I’m highlighting because they really deserve more.

[@Damackism]

Enchanted Arms was a hot mess lol. Very quirky game that was mediocre. So I agreee with your assessment.

[@lilstrawhat]

Grandia 3 had the best gameplay by far

[@ryandavid9850]

Sevoran117 did a video on Aidyn Chronicles You might enjoy it

[@99NON]

Here are mine; Atelier Iris 3. Liked 1. Loved 2. But 3; you're given 3 unlikable, anime-troped party members, stuck in a hub location. Narrative is driven by guild quests (HATE this mechanic) to explore areas via magic portal from said hub location. The cherry on top; your exploration is timed. But nothing tops Tales of Symphonia 2 Dawn of a New World. Absolutely adored the first Symphonia and it's deconstruction of the classic JRPG. Was excited to see it getting a sequel. And we got two supremely annoying protags, stripped world, bizzare pokemon mechanic, and the main cast from 1 relegated to supporting characters. Couldn't bring myself to finish it. Rant over. Have a good day

[@lordice5]

Xenogears' disc 2 is mad overhated. The dropoff in the amount of combat is honestly a blessing given how mid the system is. The disc isn't that long all things considered, and the fiction is indeed peak.

[@HistoBoy87]

I’m not mad about the rebirth comments, just disappointed

[@camma12]

I agree with rebirth, i hate the pointless shallow "open world" bullshit and just waaaaaay to much side content that it makes the story just feel so disjointed. I still fuckin love FF7 but!

[@Einfacha_bua]

My all time could have been better title is FFXV. The premise is simple, yet great. The ending is an emotional roller coaster. But the sidequests are a mess, the main story covers almost nothing from the vast world and so much is packed into the DLCs.

[@locloudanerpg]

@@Einfacha_bua oooohh that’s a good one!

[@orangearmy17]

you just want to talk

[@rogerdodger1984]

Ive never heard anyone call Xenogears a "cult classic". Its on like every "Best Rpgs of all time" lists. Its widely regarded as one of the greats and I have no idea where you got that it isnt. To be honest, putting FF7, Xenogears, and Wild Arms on this list almost seems like being controversial to be controversial. In the ENTIRE history of RPGs that could have been better, how are those 3 even on this list?

[@locloudanerpg]

@@rogerdodger1984 don’t know which vid you watched. Yes Xenogears is on the list but most would agree that it could have been better. Xenogears is as much a cult classic as Earthbound. FFVII was not on this list, Rebirth was and I never once mentioned Wild Arms. Im not in the business of drumming up controversies. Don’t got time for that.

[@JaidynReiman]

He has _Enchanted Arms_ on this list, not Wild Arms. I'll admit I thought he said Wild Arms at first.

[@fd5934]

I thought you were spot on with rebirth. Good graphics, nostalgia and a good combat system really was enough for most people to ignore the other extremely large flaws. Great video as always, keep up the good work!

[@locloudanerpg]

@@fd5934 Thanks man. I thought I was being edgy but looks like most people agree with me.

[@rawaali8451]

I would say most people agree with you when the game has 9.0 user score on metacritic, 92 review scores and 93 on open critic 😅 not to say goty candidate. Nevertheless, purists and fans of other rpgs this year agree with you, and that is fine

[@rawaali8451]

Wouldn’t *

[@BronxDragon]

To this day I still don't know how Loop8 got greenlit. Either they had to let it out because they ran out of time or someone on the dev team is too into smelling their own shit. On the XenoX topic it sorta felt like they wanted to make a mech rpg. Everything led towards getting your giant ass robot. Because like you said it felt like once you got the Skells there was no point to go on foot. And yeah not sure they can fix that without just scrapping the whole game. Though I wouldn't mind getting a mech rpg but mecha is still too niche. Even after ACV opened the eyes of baby weebs to the glory of shoving a giant pile bunker into someone's face.

[@locloudanerpg]

Agreed on all ponits

[@raphaelpulmano2212]

In postgame, going on foot is better combat-wise since Cross is stronger than any Skell setup.

[@AlbertScoot]

Quest 64

[@JaidynReiman]

I think its because Quest 64 didn't really have much potential lol.

[@s-wo8781]

OMG Where is Quest 64? That trash ass game. It should've been good. The first and only RPG I played on the N64 and it was so bad so bad.

[@TheDiscoGenre]

Quest 64 is too ez modo at this point.

[@Nickzstuff]

Quest ain’t that bad. There are way worse.

[@s-wo8781]

@Nickzstuff You know your ass is lying stop playing with me.

[@TheDiscoGenre]

@@s-wo8781 Hoshigami and Final Fantasy 13/15 exist. Quest 64 is just "nothing".

[@s-wo8781]

@@TheDiscoGenre XIII is not a bad game. It's just underhwelming as a Final Fantasy.