• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Do you still enjoy turn-based Japanese role-playing games?

This. The battle system is a pure wonder.

The battle/job system was about the only thing they did right, in my opinion. The story has to be counted among the most plain and generic I've seen in a while. There's hours upon hours of the characters droning about the same thing again and again. I actually felt bad for the guy who wrote all of the party dialogue events. There are so damn many of them, and they're all entirely useless and uninteresting.

The battle and job system was great, though, even though the job system wasn't a new idea.
 
I don't really care if an RPG is turn based, real time, or action based as long it's fun and the story, characters, world, and w/e is good.

But yeah, I enjoy turn based JRPGs plenty if they're good, especially if they're SRPGs.
 
Not only do I enjoy them but they are my favourite kind of game, full stop. Playing the hell out of FFXHD and loving it, the second I am done, I will get back to Bravely Default
 
Turn-based RPGs were originally created out of necessity and anyone that still enjoys sinking hundreds of hours into what largely boils down to sifting through menus and waiting your turn is likely just suffering from nostalgia crossed with Stockholm syndrome.

There are electric cars, we have super computers in our pockets connected to the majority of knowledge in the world, and the McRib regularly comes back -- we're living in the future, people. If you want to play board games or D&D, then do so, but don't make video games conform to archaic, unnecessary, and time-wasting constraints.

tumblr_mtqtxpj8Q61sivetmo1_500.gif

post-35837-as-long-as-youre-not-a-jerk-ab-ICwD.gif


being bad at action games, or liking to hold a better control over your strategies, not liking the pressure put upon you by having to be quick about your decisions... among many other things are reasons enough to justify this genre.

also Radiant Historia, Bravely Default and SMT.

quick eddit plox:
sometimes you dont have friends to play D&D on paper.
 
I used to enjoy Japanese turned based games but recently they have grown stale. I think I just got older and don't have enough time to spend on video games, so I want my games to be more focused and to the point. Western RPGs with a mature story I still enjoy, but turn based JRPG games are old news for me.
 
I've never really enjoyed them, except for Pokemon and the Mario and Luigi games. The latter because you spend your own turn defending yourself in various ways.
 
Turn-based RPGs were originally created out of necessity and anyone that still enjoys sinking hundreds of hours into what largely boils down to sifting through menus and waiting your turn is likely just suffering from nostalgia crossed with Stockholm syndrome.

There are electric cars, we have super computers in our pockets connected to the majority of knowledge in the world, and the McRib regularly comes back -- we're living in the future, people. If you want to play board games or D&D, then do so, but don't make video games conform to archaic, unnecessary, and time-wasting constraints.

I grew up with faster arcade style games, and outside of Pokemon when I was younger my mind absolutely couldn't comprehend turn based RPG's.

A few years ago I stumbled on some grid based first person dungeon crawlers and again I couldn't comprehend them. It seemed so alien after getting used to the more modern FPS type movement and I couldn't understand why people would still like them in this day and age.

Now they are two of my favourite types of games. No nostalgia attached. They are completely valid gameplay mechanics.
 
Bravely Default does it right.

This is accurate ^

I loved JRPGs since DQ 1 (though it was Dragon Warrior at the time) and I still like some JRPGs, but I don't have as much time to dedicate to them as I used to.

Also FFIX was the peak of the Final Fantasy series, and maybe of JRPGs altogether.
 
It doesn't matter what the combat style in a RPG is. So long as the game has solid fundamentals, story, etc.

So yeah, I enjoy well made turn based RPGs.
 
I put about 300 hours into FFX and X-2 combined when the HD collection was released. Still very enjoyable to me. Honestly, turn-based combat will always be enjoyable to me. I actually found myself cringing at the stories and fanservice more than anything. That's what aged the poorest for me.
 
Create a combat system like Final Fantasy X

Throw it into a fully explorable overworld map environment like Dragon Quest VIII

Then I'll be happy SE. You made the perfect battle system in X but then threw it into a linear world like FFXIII.

You have the ingredients, now you just need to put together the right Cooks to put it all together.
 
I sometimes still enjoy turn based JRPGs, but I've played a lot of them. They need to present me with situations that make me think for me to really enjoy them. Even better if I'm using tactics I've never used before, thinking in ways I haven't had to before. And they should pace them well, too. Some games present this new, novel battle system but seem to run out of tricks quickly, or save them for post-game content I can't be bothered with, leaving me bored (Radiant Historia, Valkyrie Profile, Bravely Default, etc.)

Edit: Alternatively, the battles could just be painless and short, like the recent DQ remakes.
 
I enjoy Japanese turn-based games because they're super chill to play. When I play them
i'm also usually watching videos or using the internet at the same time. They're my go to games when I just want to relax in my bed, especially on my handhelds.
 
Used to love them. Now, I feel they are a chore. Only one I really played last gen was Xenoblade and FFXIII, and I couldn't finish either. I just find the gameplay too tedious.
 
Recently bought and have since sold Bravely Default. Despite LOVING the demo, I just couldnt bring myself to play the actual full-game.

In fact, EVERY traditional jRPG ive tried over the past few years, ive promptly stopped giving a shit. These includes: Devil Summoner, nino kuni, bravely default, FFX redux, SMTIV, and im sure others

I think im done finally. Though I'll still do action jRPGs ala Ys.
 
Neither is FFXIII.

FFXIII is turn based indeed, even if isn't your standard turns (just like Grandia's aren't either). They should be called hybrids thought.
You should've said FFXII, that, indeed, wasn't turnbased and Xenoblade gives the same vibes
 
I had a jrpg burnout some time during the PS2 era. Just dropped the genre completely for a while. Then in 2011 or so i got back into it with Persona 4. Now it's right back among my favorite genres, i recently enjoyed Bravely Default and Tales of Graces F (not turn-based) a lot.

Turn-based or actiony or srpg doesn't really make that much of a difference to me to be honest. I can like all of those if they're done well.
 
FFXIII is turn based indeed, even if isn't your standard turns (just like Grandia's aren't either). They should be called hybrids thought.
You should've said FFXII, that, indeed, wasn't turnbased and Xenoblade gives the same vibes

FFXIII is not turn-based, it is real time (or "active time"), which means combat is not based on turns. Players and enemies do not take turns, they don't even share turns, there are no turns.
 
I dislike it when people say turn-based is archaic and now obsolete or something. I still vastly prefer turn-based JRPG's over most WRPG's(although those can be great too). Most of my favorite games are turn-based RPG's.
 
FFXIII is not turn-based, it is real time (or "active time"), which means combat is not based on turns. Players and enemies do not take turns, they don't even share turns, there are no turns.

The way the charge blocks works creates something similar to a "turn" in the sense the ATB system has worked in most FF games that had it, if they weren't in Wait mode , so XIII can be argued to be turn based if say IV can.

XIII is tuned to be much much more "real time" than most of the previous games were though (no wait mode, time pressure is higher, there's no Speed stat), it's pretty much as close as ATB can go to Action without being actual Action.

(Kind of playing devil's advocate here: I don't personally count ATB systems in Active mode as turn based.).
 
I grew up on turn-based JRPGs, but except for the MegaTen games and tactical RPGs like Tactics Ogre, I don't have much use for the genre these days. I much prefer action RPGs like the Souls series or the Tales games.
 
I want to like JRPGs and I've kind of been itching to play one, but I usually don't see them through to the end. Inevitably, at some point in a 60 hour game, it starts to feel like a chore. Actually, if anyone could recommend some sub-30 hour JRPGs, that would be cool. Off the top of my head, the only shorter RPGs I've played are Chrono Trigger and Mario RPG.
 
I want to like JRPGs and I've kind of been itching to play one, but I usually don't see them through to the end. Inevitably, at some point in a 60 hour game, it starts to feel like a chore. Actually, if anyone could recommend some sub-30 hour JRPGs, that would be cool. Off the top of my head, the only shorter RPGs I've played are Chrono Trigger and Mario RPG.

Suikoden 1, Star Ocean 1, FF4, Shadow Hearts 1, any of Zeboyd's games. If you want to add action RPGs into the mix, most of the Ys series (save 7 and Celceta) are pretty short games.
 
Suikoden 1, Star Ocean 1, FF4, Shadow Hearts 1, any of Zeboyd's games. If you want to add action RPGs into the mix, most of the Ys series (save 7 and Celceta) are pretty short games.
Thanks, I haven't played any of those, so I'll look into them.
 
Sorry guys gonna have to side with the OP on this one. Used to be a turn based jrpg whore when I was in my early 20's during the Squaresoft days but now I simply can't stand them. Truly archaic formula and notoriously tedious beyond words. After so many random battles the word BOREDOM comes to mind.

These days, I have thankfully discovered the world of Krpgs and I'm going through one of them called Elsword right now. Fantastic game with 2D rpg/sidescrolling beat em up elements.

I think Korean MMOs are the future of jrpgs if that makes any sense. They're the logical next step IMO. When Dungeon Fighter Online is released in the late summer/early fall, many people jrpgs fans will discover it and will no longer be able to go back to traditional single-player jrpgs. Once you get a taste of playing something like Elsword or DFO, it's extremely hard to go back to your garden variety Final Fantasy/DQ/etc game.
 
But I've also found I've gone off a lot of anime.

Yeah I took a break for a while from anime myself, but I'm getting back into it in a major way next month. Perhaps JRPGs will see the same rekindling one day.
 
Sorry guys gonna have to side with the OP on this one. Used to be a turn based jrpg whore when I was in my early 20's during the Squaresoft days but now I simply can't stand them. Truly archaic formula and notoriously tedious beyond words. After so many random battles the word BOREDOM comes to mind.

These days, I have thankfully discovered the world of Krpgs and I'm going through one of them called Elsword right now. Fantastic game with 2D rpg/sidescrolling beat em up elements.

I think Korean MMOs are the future of jrpgs if that makes any sense. They're the logical next step IMO. When Dungeon Fighter Online is released in the late summer/early fall, many people jrpgs fans will discover it and will no longer be able to go back to traditional single-player jrpgs. Once you get a taste of playing something like Elsword or DFO, it's extremely hard to go back to your garden variety Final Fantasy/DQ/etc game.

Elsword? That game I tried on Steam and dropped after an hour?

Korean MMOs are one thing, Japanese RPGs are another.
 
Having started BD a couple of days ago, i'd say yes, as long as mechanics keep it fresh (the bravely/default system that allows you to wipe out the enemy in one turn; the weakness system in SMT), unlike the Dragon Quest series which these day i'd probably avoid.
 
I don't like it as much anymore and if it has zero special features outside of turn based then I'll probably get bored.

Now here's something I hate and never want to see in a modern JRPG, random battles. The way I prefer it was FFXIII-2 where enemies would spawn randomly but you can choose not to engage.
 
Top Bottom