I’ve always been a sucker for RPG games. When I’m feeling down I tend to play Final Fantasy 8 or Final Fantasy 10, they’re like my comfort games.

I’ve had a hard time finding joy in modern RPG games, they all feel very grindy and seem to have an uninteresting plot. I’m looking for something that sparks joy, so I don’t have look for some ridiculous challenge like Khimari only run in FF10 or something.

Things that spark joy:

  • Being able to play on Steam Deck or at least stream from my (linux) desktop
  • Decent graphics, though pixel art is ok
  • Voice acting
  • No random encounters
  • Good plot
  • Good combat

Things that do not spark joy:

  • Too much grinding
  • DnD mechanics
  • Mandatory online requirement

Games that I really enjoyed:

  • Final Fantasy 7 through 10
  • Final Fantasy 5
  • Dragon Quest XI
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 1/2
  • South Park games
  • Stardew Valley

Games that I did not enjoy:

  • Elden Ring - I guess I just don’t have the mental patience for souls games anymore.
  • Final Fantasy X-2 - great combat mechanics, horrendous plot
  • “Modern” Final Fantasy games
  • Divinity: Original Sin 2, Disco Elysium - feels too much like DnD
  • Hogwarts Legacy - It felt amazing at first but then got super repetitive
  • Persona 5 Royal - The game severely overstayed its welcome, very bloated, very repetitive dialog (the characters tell you the same information multiple times)
  • I am Setsuna - The plot resembled Final Fantasy 10 way too much, felt like I had already played that game. Didn’t finish
  • Kingdom Hearts - Severe motion sickness
  • Octopath Traveler - The plot felt extremely disconnected, random encounters were annoying, I got stuck due to an underleveled party and didn’t have the patience to grind it up

Thanks in advance!

  • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    I can see how it can be confusing, let me shed some context:

    1. I’m not against grinding, though that’s not exactly what I was looking for right now;

    2. The last final fantasy I truly enjoyed was FF-X, which I bought on launch. That was more than 20 years ago;

    3. Final Fantasy games can be REALLY grindy if you want to kill the ultra bosses but not if you just want to follow the plot. You can kill everything in Final Fantasy 8 without gaining a single level (it’s actually easier that way…);

    4. My tastes in gaming have changed quite a bit over the years…

      • I loved Dark Souls 1/3 and just couldn’t enjoy Elden Ring any more;

      • I recently-ish tried Final Fantasy 6, which is widely regarded as the best, and didn’t click for me;

      • Random battles in particular became a big turnoff for me

    • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      I mean, I tried FFX and once I got to the Seymour Wedding I dropped the game because I was apparently too low level (I do absolutely zero grinding in games, I hate grinding and random battles the most from JRPGs). There was some gauntlet of multiple forced battles one after the other I think with flamethrower guards and my party was on low HP, had no healing items, and I had to save state scum just to pass it. I think I was around level 20? Maybe 30? I dont remember. I just remember the fight with the flying dragon on the ship was very difficult and the fight with Shiva (which also is not explained very well in-game to the point I had to look up what to do just to find out Shiva was added as an Aeon) was also veey difficult, both requiring save scumming.

      Then the cutscene where Yuna just completely gives up on everything she believed in as a character up to that point and that was kinda the straw that broke the camels back. That scene, combined with the few cutscenes right before between the thief girl and Waka just felt absurdly out of character to me. I didnt appreciate what was going on and up to that point I wasnt loving the game either so I dropped it.

      Also didnt like Blitz Ball. Played it for the tutorial and the forced tournament, but never played it outside of those forced moments.

      Mostly I kept thinking how much I would have preferred if the main character was Jecht. Less annoying voice actor and better visual design than Tutus IMO. His story seemed to be way more interesting too.

      I never played Breath of Fire, so I can’t say much on it. But I did play a bit of Legend of Dragoon. It seemed cool, but my save file got corrupted and I havent wanted to start a new game.

      Could also try Koudelka, which combines true Survival Horror elements with strategy/tactical RPG combat.

      • pathief@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        Seymour battles can be very challenging but there’s always a gimmick or gear to mitigate their attacks. It’s up to the player to figure it out. The only fight I did have trouble in one of my (too many) runs was in Mount Gagazet, that one can be tough if you don’t have zombie ward or a way to inflict poison.

        Unless you’re going for the Dark Aeon’s you can totally skip Blitzball. If you don’t enjoy it you’re not really losing anything. I did like the concept of Blitzball in general, at first I thought it was fun. However, the matches become brain-dead easy really fast and each match lasts 10+ minutes, which is wayyy too long. It’s a huge time sink and the rewards are absurdly bad for the invested time (An ether, seriously? A single ether?)

        I have to somewhat agree with you about Jecht. Instead of FFX-2, they should have done a FFX-0 where you follow Jecht’s pilgrimage instead. I’d play that!!!