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Worst JRPG you have ever played.

I can't believe how many people are saying FFXIII.

I honestly think XIII is pretty garbage, but it pales in comparison to a lot of really REALLY god awful RPGs...

Evergrace and Eternal Ring are absolutely abysmal.
 
Infinite Undiscovery.

I remember it being janky as hell and barely able to hit 30fps. It also gave Star Ocean 4 a good run for the money in terms of cringe inducing characters, voice acting, and writing.

Worst part? I bought it over Tales of Vesperia due to the recommendations of a Gamestop employee. I've come a long ways since then, GAF.
 
Quest 64 really garners a lot more ire than it deserves. For as drab and dull as the overworld is the battle system actually has some neat things going on for it, and the character progression is pretty tangible.
 
All I can learn from this thread is that everyone has different tastes. There are some outright strange choices, maybe it's an indications that the people haven't played a lot of JPRGs, more importantly a lot of actually bad JRPGs.
 
i didn't mind FFXIII that much
but i absolutely hated XIII-2.

edit: i also played about 15 minutes of Infinite Undiscovery and maybe 5 minutes of Time and Eternity and had to quit them before i killed myself.
 
Claneko said:
So many...and some I cannot fully recall but off the top of my head:

Beyond the Beyond: ugh...was RPG starved on ps1 when this came out. In less than an hour I was really regretful.

Lunar Dragon Song

Ephemeral Fantasia

Tecmo Secret of the Stars: I didn't know the SNES was backwards compatible with really bad nes RPGs.

Unlimited Saga

Vay: (segacd)

Okage





There are many others....but I cannot recall the names. I know all the way up to Dreamcast, Ps2 and PS3 I was still running into them, and it was usually when I was wanting for a new RPG and would take an ill fated chance.
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Vay is a pretty good suggestion. Even with WD's changes, it was pretty terrible. I'm sure Vic has explained his reasoning for working on that game, but I'd like to hear it.
 
I was going to say Cross Edge because that game was a really boring, soulless crossover game, but then I remember this game:

Orphen_Scion_of_Sorcery.jpg


This is the most miserable pile of a game that has ever graced my PS2.
 
TrounceX said:
Infinite Undiscovery.

I remember it being janky as hell and barely being able to hit 30fps. It also gave Star Ocean 4 a good run for the money in terms of cringe inducing characters, voice acting, and writing.

Worst part? I bought it over Tales of Vesperia due to the recommendations of a Gamestop employee. I've come a long ways since then, GAF.
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Still can't get over that ridiculous name. Infinite Undiscovery... Seriously who the fuck thought this name is a good idea? JRPGs like to pull this type of thing.
 
Aeana said:
Vay is a pretty good suggestion. Even with WD's changes, it was pretty terrible. I'm sure Vic has explained his reasoning for working on that game, but I'd like to hear it.
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I messed up and bought the iPhone version of Vay thinking it would be rad. It, uh, wasn't.
 
jon bones said:
don't need to play a lot of games to see the deep, deep flaws in FFXIII's story/characters/level design/etc. there is a reason it's the most popular game in this thread
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It may be deeply flawed, but I don't see how it can be considered worse than the crap that has been released in the PSX era for example or the games I mentioned in my post.

Oh, speaking of which, I want to add Blaze & Blade to the list.
 
dimb said:
Quest 64 really garners a lot more ire than it deserves. For as drab and dull as the overworld is the battle system actually has some neat things going on for it, and the character progression is pretty tangible.
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I think a lot of the gripes have to do with the fact that it was basically the only RPG on the entire system outside of like Paper Mario. I know that a lot of my gripes with it as a kid had to do with the fact that I bought (well more accurately my parents bought) me a N64 instead of a PS1.

So as a pretty terrible game its legacy of shit is amplified even more when it was on a system that essentially had no alternatives in the entire genre.
 
If memory serves me correctly...Legend of Heroes for PSP was pretty dam boring. Everything about it was an excercies in mediocrity. From the generic title, to the generic looking characters, and easily some of the most boring battles I have seen in an RPG. I haven't played a ton of games in this genre, but that is up there.
 
Dice// said:
For all the pomp and polish (and the notable names working on it): Ni no Kuni was awful.

(which is weird because I like everything EXCEPT the gameplay....which is a good chunk of the reason to play)
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High five.

Ni No Kuni's battles are so poor that if the game had an option to disable them, it would've been a fantastic journey of exploration and story.
 
I feel like people who are answering this with any Final Fantasy game have never really experienced truly awful JRPGs and they've only played a handful of really mainstream titles. Every single FF game (yes, even 13 and its sequels) has been quite polished and has redeeming qualities and good visuals for its time. This is not the case for many others, like Last Rebellion, White Knight Chronicles, Quest 64, Stargazer etc.
 
Seeing all the people listing PS3 games is making me feel really old.

My vote would probably be Tecmo's Secret of the Stars.

secret-of-the-stars-05.png


This is a SNES game that came out the month before Chrono Trigger. Doesn't play any better than it looks either.
 
I had an RPG on the DS, I can't remember what it was called. Maybe a Lunar spin off. Anyway, it was so awful, and your HP drained when you held the run button.
 
Haven't played many JRPGs, but either Persona 1 or Final Fantasy XIII. I couldn't finish either. They're not really bad games, but just not my cup of tea.
 
A friend of mine kept insisting I just HAD to play Legend of Dragoon to the point that he let me borrow his psone copy... I couldn't make it past the first disc, and I'm pretty tolerable with rpgs usually. The voice acting still haunts me..
 
Mostly PS2 game, as that was the era where I was adult enough to understand all those games. (living in a non English country)
  • Lunar: Silver Star Harmony on the PSP.
    I never played a lunar game before, so naturally I went for the most final and complete edition out there. It kinda sucked, but at the same time I could see the original game behind the additions and how the additions and changes ruined it.
    What I was playing was a boring, grinding, mindless, dungeon crawler.
  • Final Fantasy 13
    I new that the game was gona be disappointing, but I didn't expect this!
    I couldn't believe that a game with so good graphics was made in such a wrong way! It was so linear and the battles so automated that it really felt that the game was playing it self. Even the storytelling was horrible, needlessly convoluted, and the only way to understand it was to read the game's own encyclopedia!
  • .Hack//Infection-Mutation-Outbreak-Quarantine series
    The idea behind the game was very interesting and it hooked me enough to even keep my character's nickname for my self. But the execution was so horrible... a story slower than death, where it pretends you play a grindfest MMO with copy/pasted ugly world and a horrible combat system. It was made in a pre-WoW age, where people though that just the idea of an MMO game was enough to make it good.
    Given the Anime, Manga, Ovas and Sequels tied to this game, it makes me sad!
Dishonorable mentions:
  • Final Fantasy 12. A story about politics and a system about bureaucracy. Whose idea was that?
  • Persona 1 (PSP remastered version). Crappy and over-grindy combat in ugly labyrinthine dungeons with way to often encounters. Thankfully the story was awesome, and they actually hid a second campaign inside the game!
 
Jucksalbe said:
Did you try the harder difficulty?
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Wanted to, but it cost money. I didn't even have an Xbox Live account.

Omegasquash said:
I think lots of folks liked it until that part in the story. You know what I'm talking about. The battle system was fun, Cliff and Nel were fantastic.
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I used
Albel
, and Roger. At first Roger was terrible. After I got him the shark suit wepon, he was killing people in 1 hit. Then he learned how to drop mines on the ground, which really helped.
 
Haven't played that money but Shining Wisdom for Sega Saturn was pretty mediocre. I really wanted to like it but it just wasn't good.
Shiningwisdom.jpg
 
I remember Mystic Quest Legend (aka Final Fantasy MQ) being particularly woeful in terms of combat and overall story
 
Jucksalbe said:
Oh, and while I can see it's technically not as bad as a lot of the games mentioned, I absolutely hated Arc the Lad.
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Which one, the first? It hasn't aged well IMO.

PRjumpman124 said:
A friend of mine kept insisting I just HAD to play Legend of Dragoon to the point that he let me borrow his psone copy... I couldn't make it past the first disc, and I'm pretty tolerable with rpgs usually. The voice acting still haunts me..
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Dude, how many PS1 JRPGs have you played? The VA varies in quality, but overall it's better than most games for the system.
 
Parakeetman said:
The first neptunia was bad due to the shit design aspects, which all were fixed in the Vita remake.

Game isnt that bad, for me its about beating high level enemies and whatnots which keeps it amusing. The story and such is a bit stupid but generally since its a character game first JRPG second its no surprise and generally what compile heart games are like.
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Yes, I agree w the crap design which is mostly what makes the game terrible. I'd replay the games remake.
 
Probably Ephemeral Fantasia or Evolution 2, but I tend not to seek out horrible games so there definitely could be worse out there.
 
I didn't see anyone mention these... but the record of argarest war games on ps3. So awful. Terrible battle systems, awful graphics, miserable story and characters... I tried two of them and gave up on both within 2 hours each
 
Kyoufu said:
Evolution was really really bad.
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I actually found it charming in a way. I haven't played that game in years but I remember it having a simplistic natural charm that is somewhat absent from more modern jRPGs, perhaps for good reasons.

In my case, I would say it was Resonance of Fate, mostly due to the combat system.
 
*Sees FFXIII, Dragon Quarter, Ni no Kuni, SO3*

I like all of those games.

*sad face*

I got half way through Lunar: Dragon Song and stopped. That game is ridiculous. It doesn't live up to what Lunar 1 and Lunar 2 put through, and having to choose between XP or items is dumb. Equally as dumb is running draining your HP, especially when you're trying to to combo enemies to get the secret treasure chest in the area.

Just to throw a wrench in the works: Eternal Sonata.

Fuck that game.

Oh, the combat is ok, the dungeon crawling is ok, the graphics are gorgeous, it has a good soundtrack, and some interesting mechanics. As a game, sure, it's playable. As a console-style RPG it's average at best but what makes it so damn terrible is the story and characters. That story is SOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOORING. Those characters are complete garbage, the English voice acting is atrocious, and if you thought Xenosaga cutscenes were long and boring, then you haven't played Eternal Sonata. There are unnaturally long pauses between character's speaking, there's little to no music during cutscenes, and coupled with the bad voice acting it's just painful to watch.

Here. Have the most long drawn out boring death scene in the history of video games:

http://youtu.be/tTOI4Pps0PE
 
Earthpainting said:
It's hard to list something like Final Fantasy 13 when games like Unlimited Saga exist. It's got some amazing music, but the game is confusing, barebones, full of strange design decisions and, most of all, is annoying. FF13's gameplay is in comparison logically structured and well executed.
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I know Unlimited Saga gets universal hate but I love it. The JRPG version of D&D.

I still don't totally understand all the mechanics behind leveling up and stuff... Would like to see a different take on a similar concept one day.


My picks are both DS games:
Nostalgia
Golden Sun DS

I was consistently forcing myself to play through these. "Are we having fun yet?" I would ask myself, until I sold them and bid them good riddance forever. Both carry heavy elements of things I hate in JRPGS; annoying talky segments where characters say "..." For several minutes and pandering to nostalgia. I guess I should have known what I was in for with a game called nostalgia. And absolutely stupid story and characters that make me want to punch their face.

At least there wasn't any voice acting. Biggest waste of money and time in localization in my opinion.
 
Ashtar said:
Haven't played that money but Shining Wisdom for Sega Saturn was pretty mediocre. I really wanted to like it but it just wasn't good.
Shiningwisdom.jpg
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I like this game, but I can understand this. Until you have a decent number of abilities under your belt it's not very fun to play, and some of the stuff is SUPER hard to find.

I would say this isn't really a JRPG though, it's more of an adventure game like Zelda.
 
itzknickknac said:
Yes, I agree w the crap design which is mostly what makes the game terrible. I'd replay the games remake.
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The remake the loading times and up to the most recent game fixes makes the title a whole new beast which is fun to play. If you dont mind the other usual compile heart design aspects and kinda piss poor monster designs lol.

Its insane how fast the loading times are with the game for the battles on the Vita.
 
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