*When I say "RPG", I mean a party-based game where you do not actively make attacks and can't actively dodge or hide from attacks. I have beat plenty of what I classify as Action RPGs (ARPG) like Mass Effect, Morrowind and Torchlight.
A little history - the first turn-based RPGs I ever played were on the Apple ][e in the form of Phantasie and one of the early Wizardy games. I didn't get far in either. There was then a pretty huge (15 years?) gap in my game playing, when I finally picked up a PSX around 2000. One of the first games I picked up was FFVII, and I made it to the 3rd disc and then promptly failed to finish the game. This began a long string of RPGs that I would start (some quite a few times) and not finish. FFVIII, FFIX, FFX, FFXII, FFXIII, Fallout, KOTOR, Lost Odyssey, Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age Origins, etc.
Why wouldn't I finish them? A few different reasons, but most often because I would get to a difficult part and get frustrated or I would get distracted by something more exciting or that was going to take less time. In particular I often would not take the time to really figure out how to work the game's mechanics to be successful, such as FFXII's Gambit system.
Finally, I have taken my first big step towards RPG competence. The game that got me over the hump was Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky, and my complete time was about 47 hours.
So why was I able to finish it? The story and characters helped, but the biggest factor was honestly that it was easier than other RPGs, or at least had mechanics that made it easier for me to play. For example:
- Rather than force you to grind random encounters, all fights were voluntary, and fighting lesser mobs was generally part of the pathway to whatever boss you were heading to fight
- The level that you should be aiming for to fight the upcoming boss was communicated by the amount of xp you were getting in regular battles. When you saw that you were getting single digit xp for an encounter, you could start bypassing mobs and just move the story along
- Save anywhere
- The penalty for wiping was fairly minor. In a lot of RPGs if you wipe on a boss you have to go back to your previous save, which might mean traveling a long way or at least dealing with a bunch of cutscenes. Here, after wiping you are given the option to immediately try again.
- The mechanics were easy to understand. The method of using quartz to unlock spells is explained early in the game and it never really gets more complicated.
I tried my best at strategy by using certain spells and accessories. Sometimes it worked great, other times I scraped by. Sometimes I beat bosses by learning from my mistakes, other times I lucked out by the attacks the enemies used the 2nd or 3rd time around. I want to get better at these types of games by figuring out how to use the game's features to succeed, but beating one has at least given me a bit more confidence.
So where to next? I still have to beat a western RPG, and I have a DAO save prior to Christmas where I needed to finish up the Deep Roads, so I may go back to that. I also have tons of games I'd love to give another (or umpteenth) shot, like Fallout. I've also got a bunch of other JRPGs on my Vita, plus newer games like Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun Returns. I'm hoping I can start a streak
BTW, when is the sequel to Legend of Heroes coming out?
A little history - the first turn-based RPGs I ever played were on the Apple ][e in the form of Phantasie and one of the early Wizardy games. I didn't get far in either. There was then a pretty huge (15 years?) gap in my game playing, when I finally picked up a PSX around 2000. One of the first games I picked up was FFVII, and I made it to the 3rd disc and then promptly failed to finish the game. This began a long string of RPGs that I would start (some quite a few times) and not finish. FFVIII, FFIX, FFX, FFXII, FFXIII, Fallout, KOTOR, Lost Odyssey, Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age Origins, etc.
Why wouldn't I finish them? A few different reasons, but most often because I would get to a difficult part and get frustrated or I would get distracted by something more exciting or that was going to take less time. In particular I often would not take the time to really figure out how to work the game's mechanics to be successful, such as FFXII's Gambit system.
Finally, I have taken my first big step towards RPG competence. The game that got me over the hump was Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky, and my complete time was about 47 hours.
So why was I able to finish it? The story and characters helped, but the biggest factor was honestly that it was easier than other RPGs, or at least had mechanics that made it easier for me to play. For example:
- Rather than force you to grind random encounters, all fights were voluntary, and fighting lesser mobs was generally part of the pathway to whatever boss you were heading to fight
- The level that you should be aiming for to fight the upcoming boss was communicated by the amount of xp you were getting in regular battles. When you saw that you were getting single digit xp for an encounter, you could start bypassing mobs and just move the story along
- Save anywhere
- The penalty for wiping was fairly minor. In a lot of RPGs if you wipe on a boss you have to go back to your previous save, which might mean traveling a long way or at least dealing with a bunch of cutscenes. Here, after wiping you are given the option to immediately try again.
- The mechanics were easy to understand. The method of using quartz to unlock spells is explained early in the game and it never really gets more complicated.
I tried my best at strategy by using certain spells and accessories. Sometimes it worked great, other times I scraped by. Sometimes I beat bosses by learning from my mistakes, other times I lucked out by the attacks the enemies used the 2nd or 3rd time around. I want to get better at these types of games by figuring out how to use the game's features to succeed, but beating one has at least given me a bit more confidence.
So where to next? I still have to beat a western RPG, and I have a DAO save prior to Christmas where I needed to finish up the Deep Roads, so I may go back to that. I also have tons of games I'd love to give another (or umpteenth) shot, like Fallout. I've also got a bunch of other JRPGs on my Vita, plus newer games like Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun Returns. I'm hoping I can start a streak
BTW, when is the sequel to Legend of Heroes coming out?
