5 JRPG Disappointments I Played In 2024

[@ssjdennis6058]

Disappointments often have more value as everyone ALWAYS is positive about most games if you seek reviews.

[@noob_jr_2sjrkc]

CrossCode deserves the recognition that Sea of Stars got and more. So much more. I was also disappointed by NNK2 since I liked the premise and combat without creature catching, but it turned into a massive nothing burger.

[@JustLookingHere]

Crosscode was insanely fun to play and find all secrets. It also had a fun to read story. Radical fish games are creating another game 'alabaster dawn'

[@danielehartmann2787]

Tried again to get into the game. Due to the control-mechanic I couldnt get into at all. Was very sad. :/

[@GalaxyJakeYT]

Try Wrath of the White Witch, it is so much better

[@ataridc]

I appreciate the indie JRPG revival, I really do, I just think they try too hard to reinvent the wheel that they end up stuck on their own gimmicks so much they lose what made those old jrpgs so fun. I don't want to dread going into combat because every combat is nearly identical and sometimes takes like 3+ minute for one fight. Oh well, I am just glad to hear someone else that felt the same way.

[@ShroomRPG]

Sea of Stars is a pale imitation of a real RPG. Crosscode is one of the best video games ever made, they don't even belong in the same sentence.

[@XehanortX2]

Sea of Stars is so painfully mid, i really tried to like it but shit was so generic

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

People disses me just because I didnt like the demo.

[@femtrooper]

Great list! I am so hesitant about Ni No Kuni II...one day I will try it but I have this bad feeling about it because of the kingdom building thing...scares me!

[@TheKisekiNut]

You can only tell after you play it yourself, but I will say the kingdom building isn't nearly as intimidating as it seems.

[@femtrooper]

@ Oh good! That’s nice to hear actually!

[@Surikoazimaet]

You build it bit by bit. As you progress the game it will take less time between dungeoneering when it doesn't feel like an overwhelming task.

[@courtesymusick]

Yes sea of stars sucked I said this before and I’m glad someone finally agrees.

[@MaI2Me]

Totally overrated and shallow piece of software.

[@courtesymusick]

@ and to call it the chrono trigger spiritual successor the level of disrespect.

[@MaI2Me]

@@courtesymusick marketing is everything these days. And people fell for it so easily. But indeed the audacity is incredible.

[@ataridc]

I didn't like but i'd not personally go so far as to say it sucked. it just wasn't for me. obviously a lot of love and care went into making that game, it just went into aspects I didn't personally enjoy.

[@15Seili]

FINALLY somebody else mentioned how obnoxious Garl is in Sea of Stars. I went crazy, since everbody praised him in the online world. I heard sentences like "he is the best character ever created" "Sea of Stars is the Garl show" and "Without Garl, Sea of Stars would be worse game". He is , in fact, a Gary Stew that cant do no wrong. I really dislike characters like him. Glad you mentioned it!

[@TheKisekiNut]

Very surprised that Garl got any sort of praise. One of the worst characters I've seen, and purely because the writers 'wanted' him to be one of the best.

[@mrp1234]

I legit wonder if maybe the devs knew like a kid with cancer or something named Garl and this game is in his memory because otherwise it is the worst case of undeserved character worship I’ve ever seen

[@OtterloopB]

I wanted to beat Garl over the head with a chair. I used to think Pascal from Tales of Graces f was the most insufferable RPG character ever. Nope. Not anymore. Garl takes the crown now. He's the most _revolting_ example of a writer's pet I've ever witnessed.

[@Ragnarok2060]

Sea of Stars was so mediocre. The nostalgia + marketing masked the fact that this game was just... fine. I will defend the idea that it's horribly overrated for what it actually was.

[@MaI2Me]

Mediocre is putting it really nicely. Absolutely overhyped and nothing more than a graphic pony.

[@surfingconcrete]

How wrong you both are. Considering too, who made it, their distinct lack of pedigree in the genre and they nailed it. Shame you guys don't like it much, but others rightfully do.

[@cykes5609]

I feel like I played a different game because I only played it recently for the first time and the only reason it isn’t my GOTY is because I also played Rebirth this year but for whatever reason people keep telling me the game is one of the worst things ever made

[@Falroth]

Nah, calling it mediocre is harsh. Its Good - Very good. Maybe overhyped is what you're getting at... which it was for sure

[@MaI2Me]

@@cykes5609 obviously tastes differ and people have different standards.

[@icarue993]

Something that is good about the Atelier series is that you can see how one builds to make another. The missions from Atelier Shallie get imported into Sophie, which are now a bit more refined and have a way better pay of: recipes. They still halt some progress, but since you are not travelling, you can just return to do them. AND THEN those missions get imported into Firis, but now they simply unlock recipes and not halt progress. And some of those missions are tied to a location, meaning they make some locations and thus recipes, special. I don't remember if the Twins had those missions... The only harsh reset I feel was between the Twins and Ryza, with very little to connect them

[@tsukino_mahou]

I like how relatable your overall picks are for videos like this. Most of them are fine just not amazing or didn't work for you, which means you at least know how to pick games that you expect to enjoy, which is something most of the rest of us are also capable of. Lots of people out there buying things they know they'll hate just because they can make a show out of it, which can be entertaining of course, just not very relatable to those of us without a KZbin channel for a job. I also think playing a mix of old and new games is pretty relatable, but that might be more of a me thing than a general one. Again, I get that everyone whose livelihood is KZbin needs to rush to cover Metaphor and FFVII, but I think more of the regular people are playing some new games they were interested enough in to spend full price on, and a bunch of older games they haven't gotten around to yet.

[@CottonModem]

Not that it would make you love the game, but I wonder if the recent combat update for Sea of Stars alleviates any of your combat-specific concerns (I only played the first 5 minutes of the game when it was on the PS catalogue, which it is no longer).

[@ms102111]

I can't believe you didn't like Caligula effect :C those are my two favourite games from Furyu (Overdose and 2) and after what I've seen from them recently they're like idea factory for me, not buying their games anymore until they prove they can put out something good

[@matteste]

With Sea of Stars, it was no big surprise for me that it turned out the way it did. I played the developers previous game, the Messenger, and it suffers from many of the same problems despite being in a completely different genre. That of course includes the writing that was just downright awful.

[@Epiphanetic_]

I loved hearing the combo chain of gits taking the piss can sod off 😂

[@dennisbergkamp17]

Dude your take on Sea of Stars is EXACTLY how I felt ! I’m so glad I’m not the only one that felt massively underwhelmed by that game.

[@MrTTar]

I agree about FuRyu - I honestly don't particularly like their games. Admittedly, the Alliance Alive is great - but that was co-developed with Grezzo and Cattle Call. But their other games? Trinity Trigger's a "diamond in the rough", but I don't think I can even say that about the rest of their library.

[@Aegith345]

I thought Sea of Stars was bad. 4/10... I see areas they tried to emulate some of the old greats. It was compared to Chrono Trigger... battle system was a pale imitation, as was the over world. I see Breath of Fire 3 in fishing mini game that's a thousand times worse. I was slogging through the game.. simply stopped to play something better near the end of the game and haven't thought about the game since.

[@BlackFantasy470]

Well, there are some worthwhile Furyu game. Crymachina had a good story despite being a bit unbalanced. And the first Caligula (the remaster not the Vita original) was also pretty good too, though quite convoluted.

[@Sortyourselfout-cu7en]

Crymachina is average at best, Caligula effect was a seizure waiting to happen with its horrible arenas. Furyu just aren't all that.

[@CottonModem]

I enjoyed Crymachina a lot. The gameplay was fine, but I liked basically everything else. I wish they'd had more budget for animations since important cutscenes lean heavily on the (great) voice acting. The Caligulas were decent.

[@marethyux3744]

Alliance Alive is probably FuRyu's best work imo so far, but it barely got any recognition even though it got an HD remaster port to Switch.

[@statesminds]

Crystar is so much better

[@CottonModem]

@@statesminds I liked Crystar's story, but the gameplay is a lot worse than Crymachina's. The normal enemies have too much health, to the extent that it's worth dropping the difficulty so you can kill them faster. The levels are bland and samey and feel procedurally generated. The boss fights are alright though and I think I prefer the soundtrack. I do like Crystar and have platinumed it twice.

[@nathanielknight1838]

Sea of Stars was a giant slog with having to repeat boring timing mechanics over and over. The story and character sucked. It was pretty though.

[@TheKisekiNut]

Moon Boomerang for the 100th time was enough.

[@MaI2Me]

That’s exactly what it felt for me just after about five or six hours in, a giant slog. A massively overhyped and overrated slog. Immediately sold it again 🎉

[@marethyux3744]

Have you ever played a mario and luigi RPG? etc. Other RPGs have similar timing mechanics and it keeps battles fresh. That's not really an issue.

[@auroninja]

I'm right there with you about Sea of Stars. That one really let me down. The limited character choices and the boring battle system, and the story was just meh. I definitely had high hopes, and it didn't even come close to my expectations. Hot take: Person 5 Tactica really let me down, too. That one was just hot garbage.

[@staccato5952]

Got mixed feelings in some opinions on other vids but we finally agree on Sea of Stars mate! Was really hyped up by online peeps however just fell short and flat for me. It was a good game and I did finish it. But it didn’t warrant a second play through.

[@levitolle2605]

thought sea of stars was very boring i quit it maybe 10 hours in

[@MaI2Me]

Couldn’t go any further than about five or six hours before putting it on sale again 🎉

[@Amberle38]

Yeah did nothing for me either honestly, wish I haven't bothered get it on PC cos it was too late to refund it.

[@jdrobertson42]

Same

[@MissBubbles]

Nino Kuni 2 my beloved 🥹💜

[@GentlemenofAction]

Hey Miss Bubbles. Nice to see you here

[@KingLumague]

Ni no Kuni 2 was hot garbage compared to the first game

[@ShadowBasch]

I still need to play Ni no Kuni 2, it's on my "To buy" list :)

[@TheKisekiNut]

Sorry, bud! Different horses for different courses and all that.

[@Cmplxtyy]

I agree in everything u said about Sea of Stars i forced myself to finish it and i never understood why got praise a lot, maybe cause is indie, i will never know, great video as always!

[@R3GARnator]

Games not only have to compete with other new releases, but with backlogs.

[@xNeoGenesis]

Glad to see you being critical on Sea of Stars. It got so much praise beyond what it really deserves thanks to its excellent visual presentation. I have the same criticism to some degree with Atlus titles, namely Persona 5 Royale and Metaphor. They tried to make them more mature but the themes they do it in a very surface level/shallow way that doesn't go above your generic 7/10 anime story. I preferred when they kept it simpler and engaging in Persona 3 and 4.

[@matteste]

I'm in the same boat, including with the recent Atlus titles. A big problem I would like to add to them is that they just feel bloated and self indulgent. They lack that special sauce, that grace that older Atlus titles used to have. Also, Tales of Arise is another game I put in the same group. Got loads of accolades, and yet I struggle to see why. It was just bland and boring.

[@xNeoGenesis]

@@matteste I've not played Tales of Arise myself but in all recent discussions I've seen it's doesn't have good reception. It apparently falls in the last third, gameplay gets boring and repetitive because enemies consist of HP sponges and more. It's really so difficult to find all around great JRPGs these days.

[@matteste]

@@xNeoGenesis Yea, and I think that might be why stuff such as Sea of Stars get such accolades. There is just such a drought of quality stuff that can't match the demand that people settle for the next best thing they can find.

[@DonnellDavis-fc9tw]

With Reynatis. I got use to the dodge Mechanics pretty quickly. Still my favorite Double A game

[@JRPGAntiquity]

I enjoyed Sea of Stars, probably more like an 8/10 for me, but I see where you're coming from. It does feel like the game was over-hyped as the next 'Chrono Trigger'. That's simply not fair to do to any game.

[@TheKisekiNut]

The marketing really sold it to a lot of people.

[@Aranethify]

I was sold by "the creators of the Messenger" and I enjoyed it. More than Chrono Trigger. Sorry but CT has so much problems with the story and god I HATE travel time stories because they make totally no sense at all.

[@civoreb]

@@Aranethifyfinally someone agrees with me about CT. Attempted it 4 times over 10 years and DNF all 4 times. I dont see the hype at all and never will

[@AzureSora93]

My only problem with Ni no Kuni 2 is that the story never really reached the high precedent of the opening 10 minutes. Even though it starts with an actual nuke being set off, the rest of the game that follows just didn't get close to that type of excitement in my opinion. Roland is pretty much the only character I remember from it on account of his design, but even then he still plays second fiddle to the prince's journey, who as a character I didn't like personally. As for Sea of Stars, I think the overall atmosphere and music are its strongest points. The battle system is fine, but I agree it could have used more depth. Though I'm not too critical as I've played much more mechanically simpler rpgs and still got a lot of fun out of them. I could tell the devs put a lot of effort into bringing its idea into fruition

[@GamesOfGeorge]

I think No No Kuni starts incredibly strong, I wish there was a going back and forth between worlds too though. Being the president in the real world would be cool, and you can see the decision making potential it would have!

[@faidou9954]

You ever consider giving Visual Novels a shot?

[@ShadowBasch]

I really enjoyed Shallie but at the time I had a major Atelier burnout after beating Totori, Meruru, Ayesha and E&L, I will finish it one day :)

[@otame4771]

I agree with Ni no Kuni II being a boring game. I gave up playing after a few hours. Not sure why but it's just not fun for me IMO.

[@uppernimbus]

Yeah, I've heard so many bad things about Reynatis 🤣 I wonder which disappointing games we'll bear witness to going into 2025 😅

[@ndpGAMES]

I just recently platinumed Reynatis and found it actually pretty enjoyable. Has some issues sure but didnt think it deserves nearly the amount of dislike I've seen online. A vast improvement over Monark if anything but Caligula Effect Overdose is still the Furyu GOAT for me.

[@ScottoroYT]

Sea of Stars is beautiful and has good music, the characters and story are plain (Garl is annoying), but my main issue is actually the combat. I would have enjoyed it so much more without the QTE elements so I could just zone out and chill in a pretty world rather than having to pay 100% attention to do well. I really liked Bloomtown though, I just hate that bosses resist all elements and most ailments (which is averse to the normal battles which are SO focused on those aspects).

[@ryanhelton7926]

I still consider myself a new JRPG gamer, since I only started playing JRPGs two years ago and have mostly stuck to my Falcom comfort zone. Ni No Kuni was actually the first JRPG series I played. Despite not enjoying the combat in the first game, the overall story was so good I still consider it one of my top favorite games. NNK 2 was the opposite, I enjoyed the combat more but couldn’t get gripped by the story like I was in the first game. I enjoyed it but can’t ever see myself replaying it. If I had played Trails first maybe I could have said “Oh Falcom has spoiled me and now I’m always going to judge a JRPG story too harshly.” But that doesn’t work since I played NNK first.

[@KensaiArsenal7]

I'm right there with you on Sea of Stars. More boring than I ever expected and solid but falls short in the development of characters' abilities and good equipment and weapons. My characters at the end were basically the same as they were at the beginning. You hit the nail on the head mate ...

[@GalaxyJakeYT]

Ni No Kuni II is not a bad game but oh my god compared to the first game it is so boring

[@cerebrofromroguelites2967]

I love Sea of Stars and this video will never sour me on it, but I do respect your opinion and the others that didn't like the game as much.

[@DaddyGamerDiaries]

I don’t go to a budget restaurant, get food poisoning, and forgive them because the food was cheap 😂😂

[@Sortyourselfout-cu7en]

Haha, the Sea of Stars fanboys are so rattled by the truth! :D That game is so average, it hurts.

[@menhirmike]

I agree with FuRyu. Lost Dimension was was pretty good IMHO and I've heard good things about Trinity Trigger (though that's definitely a "Buy when it's on sale" game), but overall none of their stuff is really for me.

[@AvalosTokyo]

I've never played either of the Ni no Kuni games...would you guys recommend playing 2 first then 1 for a better experience?

[@mystic865]

Yeah Reynatis is total trash. It's battle system is terrible.

[@johnciano3524]

So right about sea of Stars. I feel the same way good not great and man the same abilities the whole game lol

[@TheKisekiNut]

It's so tedious by the end. A bit of progression would have helped it immensely.

[@shaunmil]

Lost me at the Sea of Stars hate. Game was amazing. Was my GOTY for 2023. I will also protect Garl with my life. Though you for sure hit it with Ni No Kuni 2. Was such a let down after the first one.

[@jessieolivarez7504]

I really enjoyed Ni No Kuni 2, but i think it would have been better marked as a Spin off. Not a sequel that's actually a prequel due to the exteme genre shift in gameplay.

[@UpsetN3RD]

I am currently playing Reynatis and I definitely can understand the criticisms,I feel like the world is very bland and empty which is unfortunate given the setting they have chosen. Yet I do like the gameplay,but the camera can be an absolute nightmare,which in turn makes it frustrating at times. The soundtrack though is absolutely fantastic in my opinion and the story seems like it can be interesting and that is kinda what is keeping me because I am intrigued to see where it leads. Overall it is definitely a pretty mediocre game,but I am really wanting to see if maybe it will get better if I stick with it. I am having some fun with it,but not sure if it will last me until the end though,so guess I will see.

[@poompoom3495]

It's vision of mana for me. Probably the only game I don't like that I played during the last couple of years. What a shame bc it looks good.

[@shintarouemiya]

Considering how much I have liked Reynatis, I have to check other 4😅

[@kirigamispecialist]

Liked the ost and combat of shallie. Story was interesting way later. Ealier part was a slog. And hated the forced progress of daily tasks once you hit the criteria. Was my first atelier game if you don't count "ateleir" inspired/related games like mana khemia

[@chrisglare6354]

Damn, I honestly thought I was one of the very few who disliked Shallie. I felt every point you made. I’m not sure if you’ve played Lydie and Suelle, but I’m not vibing with that one much either.

[@TheKisekiNut]

I loved Lydie and Suelle, it's got one of my 2 favourite alchemy systems in the series.

[@mjdf122]

Sea of Stars and Bloomtown are okay games they are definitely not total disappointments I also like Unicorn Overlord this year I’ve seen and have all from 1980-Now I have every console and tons of games what a life of gaming throughout the decades

[@DavidVidot-xm5ql]

I exclusively get Furyu games on sale. 50% or more off makes them worth it.

[@TheKisekiNut]

I'll take this approach from now on, I can't be asked buying their stuff full price anymore.

[@LowKeyTired-q7d]

I bought sea of stars but I didn't like the visuals tbh. It just felt western. Didn't feel Japanese. Only played for about 5 minutes

[@Mr_Deku_Scrub_]

I enjoyed Ni No Kuni 2 did 100% completion back when it came out. As an action game it was fun and the kingdom management was a blast. But the story and characters lacked the heart and soul of the first game.

[@danstar3136]

Just a random question, I never heard you talk about Pokemon games. Have you ever played them? it's a silly question but I am intrigued

[@TheKisekiNut]

I played Pokemon X this year, I do get the itch to play Pokemon every now and then. But once I do so, I don't play another for at least a year.

[@Shillian88]

I also felt disappointment for Ni no Kuni 2 when i played it, because it lacked in the depth of combat system and narrative of first game, plus was really fun the pokemon-like part. Furthemore the characters, are all really mid.

[@livioalpha981]

Why are the latest vids so underlightet? Make them brighter again pls 🙈

[@Norbiej]

Don't fully regret playing sea of stars...but kinda feel burned now that the game is better or "how it should have been" after i completed it....and i just looked up the "real ending" even tho it should have been the normal ending....like wth it was the most important part of the game and they put it behind a "do everything everywhere or else you won't actually know the story"....i guess they changed it in the latest patch but screw that. And agree it wasn't about the progagonist at all at the end...they felt empty husks with hero powers. Still loving the soundtrack tho.

[@iceclkeyheart3060]

I'm sure reynatis is like objectively bad or whatever but I love it a lot

[@NadiaRayne]

Haven't played any of these games yet, but just grabbed "Sea of Stars" on sale recently after several recommendations. So let's see how it'll turn out... Of RPGs released in 2024, I will get plenty of hate for this...but I'd say "Trails through Daybreak". The pace is way too slow in the beginning and the menu totally overwhelmed. Even the turn order visual change confused me for a very long time, and even after finishing second game, I still prefer the visuals till "Reverie". This took way too much time, and made this game way longer than it should be. Ended up with 75 h...by far the longest game of this series for me...and it felt like 20 h too long. Though I really enjoyed its sequel, though.

[@DanteCrowlley]

Nothing worst than playing a good game that isn't good to you

[@giuseppeparry1365]

4:32 Worse than Resleriana? I haven't played either, but you seemed a lot more negative about that one. 9:42 It's a shame. I remember you saying how this was one game to look forward to in 2024. I'll still probably try it though because I LOVE Earthbound-style RPGs and ultimately Undertale was quite a rough game as well: poorly programmed, so much redundant code, very few gameplay conveniences, etc. but it's still a masterpiece. The excessive missing does sound like a problem but this might be something they fix in a patch some day with enough feedback (going back to UT, the demo had a much higher encounter rate, which was lowered in the full game probably due to reception.

[@TheKisekiNut]

I don't consider Resleriana to be a mainline game, so it's not even in the conversation for me.

[@bobbytagget5511]

@@TheKisekiNutNothing burns a longstanding game series quite like this comment 😂

[@tuanis90]

I consider Ys X to be the most disappointing one. Not a bad game by any means, but the lack of a proper party (like the ones VIII and IX had) really dragged it down for me.

[@nightwolf235]

I just want furyu to make me more Unchained blades and thats about it.

[@danielehartmann2787]

Sea of Stars I aborted after 12h. It was a slog. It was unfun to play, the battle mechanic were very boring after 3 hours because you have seen it all and eye/ear-candy is not enough to hook me into a game. On the other hand I had also no real fun with chained echoes. It was better - yes I give it so much. But there was something missing. Also aborted after around 15h. And for both games I had at least some expactations because they were initially praised.

[@JaredScott]

Ni no Kuni had an interesting story but the combat was painfully sluggish. Probably didn’t help I played after binging several Ys games. Gave up after 10 hours

[@statesminds]

Not liking sea of stars is crazy. And i think ni no kuni 2 is good

[@alexey635able]

I didn’t though particularly too hight of ni no kuni 2 either but compared with the prequel it feels like cosmos. At least it doesn’t have monster collecting system where every new monster has to be leveled up back from level one. Thats a plus in my book

[@charleswiltshire21]

I love Furyu company,they always put quality,well,was,and Reynatis is not quality,not even close

[@MGM_Think]

Add Romancing SaGa 2 to the bad games.

[@b00g3rs21]

Yea I was pretty disappointed in Sea of Stars too, it was pretty mid. Not bad, but nowhere near the hype it got.

[@DemiLuna1]

Ye, Completely agree on sea of stars, it was decent but nothing groundbreaking, the combat was so bloody boring. Don't even get me started on the hatred I have for Garl eithher,

[@TheKisekiNut]

I don't know if I was missing anything as Garl seemed to get a lot of love for some reason. I didn't see it at all.

[@VanJ78]

Atelier Shallie i played the game and the only good thing about the game is opening song 2 Asymmetry, the game is downgrade from Escha and Logy. Ni no Kuni II is a fine game for me, i can understand some of the issue for some people. The kingdom build enjoyable for me, and i don't like the skrimmish.

[@thomasalvarenga2839]

Your voice sounds like the guy from the DYKG. Are you that guy?

[@charleswiltshire21]

But i have to tell,a lot of people will hate you for not liking Ni no kuni 2, a lot of people love it,me included

[@philipwhite2639]

I like atelier shallie. Its not as good as escha and logy but pretty good. I think mysterious series beside sophie 1 and 2 was much worse. I agree sea of stars had some ups and downs. IIRC the parrot trying to tell you where treasures were was useless but I think that got patched. I didn't have as much of a problem with Garl but then again I like FF12 which pretty much captured the crown for worst main character ever.

[@BronxDragon]

I know I lot of people don't like my personal take on this but I still think Nino Kuni 2 would have been better without the catboy. If Roland was the MC I think it would have been way better. That and take out the god awful chibi war. Evan started out as the Keet trope and ended up as the Keet gopher. The kingdom ended up being a meltypot country and Roland was pretty much a Eagleland President. Why did they not run with that?! He could have broke out of the tired old man thing because of fantasy land optimism or vice versa bring at bit of seriousness to the fantasy land about how serious ruling a nation truly is.

[@Bowflex2480]

completely agree about sea of stars and ni no kuni 2. the first couple hours of both these games i was enjoying , but as my time with them went on i just got so unbelievably bored! 🤣🤣and yes i didn't like Garl in sea of stars either. the way he smiles at everything and his energy overall was too off putting.

[@Animasubs]

I buyed Fairy Tail 2. Honestly i liked the first game and had my fun with it but the second one? Its entirely horrible. Only the Soundtrack ist good. Gameplay, Battlesystem, Graphic? Its just bad and i hoped for a good game.

[@kewoshk]

This might sound like a hot take but Ys X was disappointing for me. I only played the demo for about 2 hours and was not able to feel the charm of the Ys series at all. The gameplay felt too formulaic; if you watched any of the newer episodes of Spongebob or the Pink Panther, you know what I’m talking about. The main heroine was also pretty annoying and callous, and the only naval battle I’ve tried made me feel bored out of my mind. Those battles, whose bright idea were those?? They made the demo very long in the hopes people would want to continue with the story and eventually buy the full game. TL;DR As an Ys fan who played all the other games in the series, I did not like the latest installment.

[@MaI2Me]

Thumbs up for calling ‘Sea of Stars’ what it is, total gash 👍

[@b00g3rs21]

I actually LOVED Ni No Kuni 2 haha

[@superflyspawn98]

it funny I actually enjoyed Ni No kuni 2 for the most part i mean yea it didnt do the split world mechanic, and the stupid army batter was dumb the only time i actually had died and raged quit cause for me the ai was stupid >..< and yeah the side quests were somewhat annoying but I really enjoyed building my kingdom and the combat was also pretty fun yeah it was ni no kuni 1 gameplay but still. Hot take tho I love and hate ni no kuni 1 it should have ended with the death of shadar and have ni no kuni 2 be about the white witch >.> that ending was soo rushed it soured my taste of the game to be honest.

[@zeraushingaming]

Finally, someone says Sea of Star is mid..

[@rogermelian]

The JRPG subreddit is full of people who think the same. It's a well known case.

[@threeswordssama]

Yeah Reynatis was pretty mediocre at best and that's being VERY generous.

[@seluhir8820]

huh... you didn't like Shallie? Its my second favourite Atelier game, only behind Escha/Logy. Even getting a crash that cost me like 4 hours of gameplay didn't sour my love of it. I never finished revenant kingdom, but after Ni No Kuni 1 being so disappointing for me... I just couldn't push through NNK2. I did like it a bit more than nnk1 as far as I made it, but not enough to push through.

[@Naryoril]

@@seluhir8820 it might also be a difference about when you played it. Personally i played it when it came out and liked it too. But TKN played the newer games first and came back to shallie later. He also played the whole dusk trilogy more or less back to back afaik instead of having to wait a year between releases. All this can lead to a very different perception.

[@seluhir8820]

​@@Naryoril We're also very different people with very different tastes that just happen to crossover in Trails games. Like... I love many many JRPGs, but many of his favourites are some of my least favourites- notably XEnoblade 2 which is probably my second or third least favourite JRPG I've ever played. So like... tastes vary just in general, even if you agree about some stuff. But ya, you're not wrong, when and how you play something can make a huge difference.

[@shodanargie1574]

Crosscode > Sea of Mid

[@eschw2444]

NNK2 started out strong, then sagged, totally botched the return to Ding Dong Dell and handling of racism, and the ending is complete trash. The ending is hypocritical and ruins its own message to give Roland everything handed to him on a silver platter. The post-game dungeon is boring and not worth the rewards. It also mishandles the concept of soulmates from the first game, and I only understood it when it finally introduced it because I'd played the first game, but because I'd played the first game I recognized there was a big fat plothole in all of NNK2 and so the whole game makes zero sense. It's a game I'd go back and never play if I knew how it would turn out, what a waste.

[@Arizona-ex5yt]

I didn't even like the 1st Ni no Kuni. It's one of the last games I ever "forced" myself to complete because I kept thinking that "Everyone loves this so I must be missing something." I just thought it was weak sauce.

[@jrconway3]

I thought it was okay, but some parts of the game felt forced. I thought the story picked up later, then slowed down, then picked up again. My biggest problem is the combat. I just don't like monster collection games.

[@alumlovescake]

I almost got excited for Reynatis because FFXV is my favorite game ever made and every KZbinr milked Reynatis to death about it being "like" Versus XIII but the second I saw the trailer I was like hell no.

[@TheKisekiNut]

I don't know why it garnered so much hype before release, I (and a few others) were expressing concern beforehand. And sure enough, it was lame,

[@Naryoril]

I'm pretty sure Atelier Shallie isn't your least favorite Atelier, Resleriana is. Though I can understand why you purged that from your memories and/or don't consider it an Atelier game.

[@icarue993]

I mean, the mobile game exists too, but they might have not played it

[@Naryoril]

@icarue993 iirc he played it a bit and talked about it in a video

[@icarue993]

@@Naryoril Is it worse than Resleriana? I didn't play Resreliana

[@Naryoril]

@@icarue993 Resleriana IS the mobile game

[@icarue993]

@@Naryoril I meant Atelier Online. It was a mobile game that released in the west at or slightly after Ryza 1

[@Artimes.]

You need to stop playing crappy games lol. Go for "Blue Dragon" next. Sea of stars was said to be like chrono trigger, but it was ruined by very amateurish directing and writing of the story.

[@numaniel]

Heh, I tried Sea of Stars two times over the years, but never could finish it. Halfway through the game I just felt I was way too bored and 'done' with the game. Couldn't care about the story, the 2 (3rd one, Garl was cool no offence) main characters were boring, never could care about them. Kinda funny how you were the exact opposite. :D

[@TheKisekiNut]

I maintain if it was 40 hours long, I'd be dropping it. 20 hours was just about the point where I was getting tired of it.

[@Keihzaru]

MEtaphor was the biggest dissappointment for me since Cyberpunk 2077

[@MaI2Me]

Played the demo and it immediately did put me off. But so does almost every game coming from Atlus 🤷‍♂️

[@lloganm1234]

I personally loved ni no kuni 2. It took a bit to get into, but i was so invested by the end. Compared to the first, i couldnt wait for it to end

[@makikuma91]

I noticed this year that I'm not really into big story jrpgs anymore. The Ys and mainline SMT games I loved because I could back into the action really quickly. But I tried so many times this year to finally get into Metaphor, Trails of Cold Steel 3, then 4...and 5. And then I planned to go into the new Daybreak one. But I just don't care about lenghty cutscenes anymore. And after I was finally done with Metaphor after skipping most of the side character stories, I just felt so relieved to be done with it. It was a fun game, don't get me wrong. But the writing was way to much sometimes. Anyway...have to agree on everything you said about bloomtown. Wasn't my kinda game as well.

[@TheKisekiNut]

It's nice to have games that go a bit more simple after heavier stories. I appreciated DQ3 HD for that.

[@Nikita_Akashya]

I do not have much to say about the games on your list, but in my case, I really disliked FF 16. My friend and I played it together at the start of the year. In our opinion, 16 is too much like Game of Thrones that the actual FF elements just do not fit into the world. We did not like the story and the gameplay was a weird hack'n slay style but your weapon is a wet noodle and does 0 damage. There were only 2 characters we kinda liked and one of them was Clives uncle. But the biggest crime is what they did to Jill. She gets rescued and doesn't get to do anything. Then she finally has her character moment but she doesn't even get to take her own revenge herself. And when you meet super evil villain character, Jill is not allowed to stab them. And every time the plot has important scenes with her come up Clive gets to play errand boy first, because god forbid his girlfriend gets to have her moment. At least Torgal was cute. We also did not like the effect clutter 3hour cutscene boss fights, where you get to press buttons and can't even see what you're doing. I know most people like this, but I do not see how a 3 hour cutscene with a bit of boss fight where nothing is visible is fun. At least the game has Torgal. Torgal is best boy.

[@gamelover2222]

I'm in the minority, but I really hated Re:fantazio. I watched a full playthrough in hopes of some wacky cool story payoff and nothing ever happened. The characters have no depth, the story took no unexpected turns, and it's not a universe I'd ever feel compelled to go back to. Hearing this was going to be a new "pillar" franchise, I was expecting great things and failed to find them. At least it showed that people can still love turn-based games, so I hope the people making Final Fantasy take note and go back to their roots.

[@MiamiSunrise]

I think there is a pretty big difference between "watching" a playthrough of a game like that where you have no say over the direction of decision and playing it. Also, I sincerely doubt you were anywhere near immersed in that experience at all just watching a game like this, especially one that can be played for upwards of 100-130 hours or so.

[@kewoshk]

One of my friends also played that game and shared similar sentiments. Also said the villains were very weak and held no power at all. Before he told me all this I had tried the demo and didn’t want to continue playing it after the first boss.