5 JRPG Disappointments From 2023
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- Опубликовано: 16 июл 2024
- 5 JRPG Disappointments From 2023
It was a pretty good year for JRPGs all things considered. However, there were a few that I considered to be disappointments. Here are 5 RPG let-downs from 2023.
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⌚T I M E S T A M P S
0:00 - Intro
0:16 - Fire Emblem Engage
3:31 - Neptunia: Sisters vs. Sisters
6:28 - GrimGrimoire Once More
09:59 - Loop 8: Summer of Gods
14:37 - Crymachina 
Игры
Yeah, sisters vs sisters is not the game to start the series. That would be Rebirth1 or Rebirth2. Any other game pretty much expects you to already be familiar with the main characters. Also, it's gameplay is not the usual for the series: SvS is an action RPG while usually the series is turn based. And the developers clearly didn't make the change work very well
Sucks its first game on xbox
I agree, i started Neptunia's from V II (4th main i believe), and because of that i played them all, and i really enjoy them. BUT, for certain i can say: If I started from sisters vs sisters or maybe original Hyperdimension for PS3 which is interesting in their own way but a little bit weird and different from the all main instalments I would have bumped from this series very hard. So as for me the order should be V II (4th) then V (3rd) then ReBirth 1 (remaster of 1st).
That's a shame, either way I've bounced for the time being.
I have Rebirtth1 on VITA and am trying really hard to finish it :D ... for 2 years now I can't get myself to actually do so.
What's the secret to liking it, I really want to know, because I would want to just switch my mind off and enjoy the comedy but... for some reason I can't ._.
I mean Neptunia just blows anyway.
Engage also has been a Letdown for me, hell the only part i really liked about it was that Ike and Micaiah appeared. While you mostly played nobles as MCs in the series, they were still humans that had to overcome tremendous odds and sacrifices, thats the stories FE is born to tell. I dont want to play a Messiah figure from birth, even if the MCs origin is a bit more scuffed then first thought in Engage.
I want more political stories in grey areas. Sure you can have good and evil too, but let there also be opportunists and cutthroats, let there be factions other then Kill everything and save everything.
Chrymachina was on my play list since I loved Crystar so much. It's a shame to hear that it disappointed so many people.
To be fair, Crystar received the same criticism, so if you liked it you maybe will like this one as well.
I think what build the hype and ultimately, hurts it was people comparing it to Nier Automata, this is how I heard of this game, just playing the demo quickly makes me wonder why people did that, cause beyond the surface level comparaison of controlling Androïd girls and being real time combat this game is really not the same thing as Nier Automata, won't say I won't play it later tough but for now the Demo didn't sold me on it.
i checked out some reviews and got the game anyway. i honestly really enjoyed it and was able to forgive it's shortcomings as the worldbuilding and soundtrack were right up my alley. the gameplay certainly has some issues but at no point did they actually make me wanna put the game down
Engage's story felt like a shounen manga on the verge of being axed lmao. Alear literally got multiple asspulls towards the end it puts any shounen manga protagonists to shame. Still, I strangely enjoyed it and came to like a lot of the characters in my first playthrough. A bunch of characters introduced after the first wave were actually interesting with some great support convos. It's definitely carried hard by the gameplay, though.
I really hope the next FE we get will finally nail BOTH story and gameplay. They already showed us that they could do it. Now they need to actually put both of them in one game lol.
The BIGGEST JRPG disappointment for me was *"Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai".*
That game had HUGE potential with its story based on "record-selling" manga, but the developers sadly gave that game the WORST treatment (a summary slideshow of the anime for the most part) instead of a *proper expansive world with lots of areas/towns to visit and a more complex (but easy to understand) combat.* Sigh oh well......
Yeah, after watching reviews after launch this game was dropped very quickly from my to buy list. And I was after the last DQ-game so much looking ahead for a new title. :(
I ended up refunding it and just waited to get DQM3. Such a shame, the manga was fun to read :(
What's so stupid is that they didn't even adapt the MAJORITY of the story.
I agree with this comment. I hate SE's obsession with turning everything into action and stage based world navigation
infinite strash but the first 's' is silent
When I saw the Master Detectives: Raincode footage I thought you had it in the list of disappointments. That game turned out to be a great game for me. I would highly recommend it ✅
I was kind of disappointed how certain content was locked behind DLC, specifically the "Digital Deluxe" version, a game format that irritates me the longer it exists, and you can't save video clips of the game to your Switch, but I still had a pretty good time with it.
Happy holidays! Love your channel. Idk if you read comments but your channel has been a great relaxing place for me.
Thanks for the support, mate! Have a nice Xmas and New Years!
Yeah, seems about right. I've played three of the games listed here ("Neptunia SvS", "GrimGrimoire OnceMore", and "Crymachina") and actually liked all of them. I also have "Loop8" in my backlog though I don't have high expectations of it.
"Nep SvS" is in this weird position where it's a spin-off but also kinda-sorta a mainline entry so a lot of its story and mechanics are direct offshoots, making it not immediately accessible to most people on the outside. Like the combat is almost just the regular combat but in real-time instead. More action-ized instead of pure action. The fact that it takes a while to even unlock more combat options (more combo routes, abilities like step canceling, and more) likely doesn't help immediate first impressions either.
"GrimGrimoire OnceMore" is a tough sell but I thought it was a pretty good RTS. Very much has that classic Vanillaware feel...obviously. And it was nice to finally see what was up with that one bonus boss that appears in "Soul Nomad". NIS helped co-develop the game, or something like that, so a character from it appeared there as a cameo.
"Crymachina" I didn't like as much as "Crystar", though I expected that to happen, but I did still find plenty to enjoy anyway. If nothing else, I've been actively listening to its OST lately. The fact so many people compare it to "Nier Automata" is something I find funny since "Crystar" was stated to have been directly influenced by "Drakengard"...it's fitting.
I think I'm just going to have to come to terms that I grew up playing, liking, and appreciating the wrong games. All my tastes have developed into being just plain wrong. Nobody else likes what I like, I only ever see sheer disdain and dismissal for them. Makes me wish I had more normal, mainstream tastes.
hello friend, i'd like to comment here and say that you shouldn't say that you grew up liking, playing and appreciating the wrong games... i do not know if you were sarcastic on that regard, but i wanted you to know that even if it doesn't reach the normal (or mainstream) attention or people just throw every bad thing they can think of, the fact that you saw merit in those games matter more in the long run
different perspectives exist, and people wouldn't engage in critical thinking if all they heard is all just the same flavor of an opinion! you provided your own, unique perspective in this matter and that contributes more in the overall discussion and gave people something to think about
be proud that you played those games, and know that you've inspired a person to explore a little bit more
in fact, you made me want to try these games out because now, i want to develop my own thoughts and feelings about it: maybe i'll end up seeing some good about it, maybe i won't, but the fact that i played it myself is something that i would appreciate
I'm really glad to see your depth-probe review of Crymachina since I've been struggling with that for a while now! I don't know how to describe it, but I feel "empty" when I play it. 😣
I knew Fire Emblem Engage, Crymachina, and Loop 8 would be on this list 😅 I still really like Engage, but yeah... not the most amazing FE game around. Great video dude, always a blast watching your content 😎
Lmao! I hope you make even more of these videos. Your metaphors to describe the enjoyment you had with Loop 8 were enough to let me know that I’d have more fun sweeping sand on the beach while brainstorming about what cool new game concepts I could pitch in a Kickstarter all while really planning to cut costs by delivering a totally broken game with some sexy fan art that pretends to flaunt big ideas and systems, but delivers a narrative no deeper than a Tetris duel between two strangers.
In fact, how cool would it be to promise a 50-hour JRPG experience with Baldur’s Gate 3-like narrative branches that can be redone by rewinding time, but actually delivering it in Tetris format with random encounters that have absolutely no balance to them. Add the occasional unavoidable Rogue Lite element to “reset time,” as well as everything else (to unjustifiably prolong the length of the game), and you have an easy path to profit that can be scapegoated on “insurmountable barriers due to inadequate resources, budgetary constraints that led to incredible sacrifices being made in your personal life.”
I felt like that after trying to play Edge of Eternity on PC and PS5… You promise the world, make a broken or shitty game, and then blame the consumer base for being unappreciative of all of your hard work.
I feel like with the growth of the current “Indie JRPG” market, it’s not just a question of skill and resources, but also of snake oil salesmen smelling opportunities. Sometimes people pursue a project they are in no position to take on, which-in my opinion-is ko better than profiting off of a con, considering that money was requested and promotional material was created just to mislead potential investors.
Credentials in the industry are important, they are a representation of a development team’s ability to tackle ideas being proposed. That is what creates a distinction between hype for a game like Eyuiden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes vs Loop 8 and Edge of Eternity.
Others, like the developers for CrossCode and Chained Echoes, will labor over their games for years and years and experience great success, but those are the rare instances where people took a gamble in believing in the creators’ passion for their projects, which tends to pay off whenever the developer proves to be a person-or team of people-with integrity.
Crymachina is best summed up as a 'Visual Novel with some action pieces sprinkled in' as it really is just a VN first and foremost. Crystar to a lesser extent too when I think on it. It didn't take long for me to come to the conclusion that it was going to be more of the same as Crystar in regards to gameplay progression (I'd even say Crymachina is worse in this regard as Crystar gave you 4 switchable characters and you could use special attacks to break up the button mashing tedium) as it's still the same formula for both games; Cutscene, stage, cutscene outside of recently visited stage, talk to the individual party members that are manditory, open up a new stage, repeat so it basically came down to if the story was going to vibe for me. It thankfully did but it's also not everyone's cup of tea.
This is honestly how I suggest anyone approach Furyuu's waifu games that look action RPGish as the gameplay/combat will always be super shallow as it exists solely to get to the next plot point. Oh and they cost a f**kton of money because of Regional Pricing. This game was over 80 CAD after taxes :)
Crymachina is a improve version of Crystar, in character design, lore, story, 3d models, in game commnetary (tend to skip if u move around too much)or tea party commentary was peak (but they their models stay in place 95% of the time
The gameplay was more or less the same as crystar with just an extra layer of gloss (not a fan of mashing to win)
Loop 8, was competing with "to your eternity/ ps4 exclusive imo"
I only like some of the characters design, i got the gist of the story, gameplay turn base was meh, the bonding session was all copy and paste. I couldnt proceeds despite looping after the 5th loop and max stat on your 2 partner was pointless, i got to the third boss (loop reset that) before it came to me dishing out damage in the single digits while they were dishing out triple digit damage)
Engage i haven't gotten to yet but i heard it did better in 3 houses, even though the gameplay for 3H, diverge into 4 ish route (not including da dlc)
Thanks for the heads up on FE Engage, I was gonna grab it eventually, but I've been busy. Guess I'll save the money on this one.
I mean the gameplay is fantastic. It's just the characters make you want to bang your head on a brick wall and the story is worse than garbage. So yeah not a great game
@@darknesswave100 yeah, imma pass on that, that sounds terrible. I can get over underwhelming gameplay, but not bad story and charecters.
@@Cman04092 i reqlly loved the gameplay, but let me tell you, i easy played ovee 100 rpg/jrpgs and many more different games. And engage was one od the very few games i actually wanted to skip the cutscene on my first playthrough. It was so downright bad oh may god. Some of the characters are nice thought and have good support convos. Just not your main really, he is basically god.
Probably some of the best gameplay ever thought, in fire emblem games of course.
If you’re interested in fire emblem, you should really try FE3H. Even if Engage’s gameplay is better, the story of tree houses is absolutely great.
If you like gameplay, you'll be fine. Story though? Forget it.
If Engage come out before 3 houses I would've love it so much more but its hard to go back once you played 3 houses. I sincerely hope the next game focus more on story and character. Didn't play the rest in this video so I have no comment on it.
I really wanted to try Loop8, so I initially ignored all the criticism when it came out. I was planning on buying it later, but now... Yeah, I don't think so. I really appreciate the emphasis on how bad the game is, lol.
At the end of the day it's my opinion, as are all the other reviews, you have to try it out for yourself to truly know. That said, it's bad.
If you are looking for a JRPG you should definitely not play it.
If you are looking for a Visual Novel, I'd say definitely play it, just don't ever LOOP, and save to a new slot every day to back out of bad routes. It's a VN.
Crymachina has been on my radar for a while, and I've watched a number of reviews of it (most of which seem to echo what you said about it). I'd still like to try it out at some point, but I don't think it's worth the full asking price. I'd like to pick up the physical copy when it's on a good sale. Problem is, I've only ever seen it at online retailers so I don't think that many copies were made which will probably keep the price high for a long time.
I received a $25 Amazon gift card during our gift exchange at where I work so I just ordered Crymachina (and a PS3 game as well). Still doesn't seem to be going down in price at any of the online retailers, even though some other games released at around the same time period have already had sales, and looking at eBay the sellers are already asking above MSRP. Figured that with the gift card to take the price down somewhat I'd go ahead and grab it. I don't want it to be a case where I won't be able to find it for the retail price in 6 months or a year.
Every single Fuuryu game has interesting ideas, a good dark story with relatable characters, unique artstyle, very basic combat that barely ever changes and very basic if beautiful mazelike levels.
Those of us who played their previous games expected exactly this from Crymachina and the way you described it that's exactly what we got, so I can't wait to pick it up.
Now then should they strive to get better and evolve with each new game? Of course. Do I expect them to ever evolve after seeing their track record? Lmao.
I'd also put Fate Samurai Remnant on the lsit because it was one of my most anticipated games, but ended up being unplayable for several reasons one of them being the character roster.
From what I heard, they updated that - you can use the other servants, and there's a very easy and very hard difficulty now
Atelier is the way to do crafting imo. It doesnt have to be as in depth for jrpgs, I don't think people expect that. But in terms of it not being random, yes. You get the recipe and then you make it. But if you do make it random have it like Trails of Cold Steel cooking, where if you fail, its not a big deal. There's ample resourcers.
Engage felt such a downgrade. I loved the gameplay it’s really fun however the biggest glaring flaws is that it’s kinda of boring and a bit of a chore to play. The story is generic and the characters are very poorly executed. Not to mention the first impression of this game is having two annoying characters fanboying. Many of the characters felt like an afterthought especially the other main lords from the past games. For an anniversary game, it feels like they had issue on who they should be trying to appeal whether it’s newcomers or veterans but it seems like they half assed both sides. Also the vtuber design were not a good choice many of them didn’t feel like they were in a war like scenario felt like I was watching a play. It also seems like they had issues developing these characters since they felt very one note and their growth in the supports aren’t that interesting many just talk about their quirky traits or talk about how nice they are but they don’t really grow a lot (again this is more on many of the c support did not made me want to learn more of the characters since they didn’t talk about anything interesting or they just kept talking about a single trait about themselves which got boring fast)
16:09 i can hear Shiho's dungeon theme 🥰 good taste
I didn't love GrimGrimoire: Once More as much as I would've liked to, but I really appreciate the game and have no regrets buying it at $50 on PS5. I understood going in it was basically a remaster/remake of the original PS2 game so it wasn't gonna age as nicely regardless, and I knew it was not gonna be anywhere near as good as 13 Sentinels which I think having that being my first Vanillaware Game really messed with my perception of GG:OM. Though Idk why it's on this list when it's not a JRPG to begin with. It's a Story Driven Strategy game not a JRPG.
50 bucks?? that's insane
@@WKCamperer Personally I didn't have regrets as I said. At the end of the day, it's all about preference of Value. I felt it was worth the $50 but obviously that may not be the case for you.
I disagree a bit about Engage's game play, it is really fun and one of the best Fire Emblem in terms of maps and game play variety, but it's also some steps back in terms of accessibility compared to newer games with less things well explained and actually useless options.
Sad grimgrimoire was very engaging to ne on the ps2 era
To be honest i didnt have high expectations for fire emblem. I wanted to be wrong but, i wasnt.
Personally as a FE fan, I really enjoyed Engage. I admit the story is a bit weak, but to me it was simple and enjoyable. It does bring to mind some saturday morning cartoon vibes and even though it can be cheesy at times with its writing, overall I found it a fun adventure with surprising depth at times (particularly regarding Veyle and the last 7 or so chapters) and the best FE has been since Awakening.
Fates I felt was trying so hard to be Awakening again that it didn't have too much of its own identity, and some story and writing choices really weaken it.
Echoes I did enjoy for how it went back to simpler FE, but in some regards it was too faithful
Three Houses is honestly such a mixed bag for me. There's good in it definitely, but parts of it could have used more polish. Edelgards route being the shortest and most lacking in content. Most other routes consisting of the same maps with slight variations. And the academy phase. While fun for the first playthrough, it really gets dull on repeated playthroughs. Though I will say it's dlc was a better experience than Engages, being overall more balanced, as well as it having New Game+.
Engage isn't perfect, and has quite a few flaws for me. DLC emblems break the gameplay balance, the story dlc was entirely unfun. I went through most of it on Hard, the same difficulty as I did base game, I ended up feeling like repeatedly slamming into a wall for most of it, especially on the final map, and then when I finally gave up and turned the difficulty down to normal, it was the easiest thing I've done. As well as there being no convenient way to grind in base game, the harsher fund limitations, SP grinding, and no ng+. While there are ways to address those things, it definitely limits enjoyment in some aspects. But overall, I really think Engage is better than most give it credit for, and I haven't felt as much joy as I did playing it since I played Awakening for the first time.
"If gameplay is what you value you will like engage" I was under the impression that there was a general consensus that Engage's gameplay was mid at best.
it has some of the worst fights in the game, difficulty wildy swings around, and a number of the best combat changes in FE3H were removed and replaced with older mechanics that I think were just much worse.
Doesn't help that the central gimmick of engage was janky at best.
I mean I think the story was mid too, but If you ask me it's gameplay was by far the biggest let down and a direct downgrade from FE3H, I would have been fine skipping the story and just beating the game for pure mechanics if the mechanics were actually good... but they aren't.
Personally I think Crymachina was much better than people give it credit for. But there is a reason I tend to not trust reviews at this point.
I played the original version of Grim Grimoire and its the Vanillaware title I like the least, by a hefty margin. So when I saw it was getting a remaster, I decided to see what they changed and see if I might play this one. When the reviews all said the same thing: no real changes, improvements, or additions, I didn't bother picking it up.
CRYMACHINA also suffers from SMALL CAST. The Animal Ear group has a bunch of different weapons and are a team but aren't playable. The playable cast is basically two of the same style and TANK.
Aren't they being added as DLC?
its a shame about FE Engage, they reach new heights with the refined gameplay. easily my new favorite FE for gameplay but took a massive backward step on the story. The main plot itself is basic like many FE, but how the story is told, and the lesser narrative that is the main problem. there are many point in the story that either doesnt make sense given its own established lore, or just plain cringe.
Nintendo and Intelligent System really should use outside source for next mainline FE story-telling to give the series some fresh air, or just ask Monolith Soft to get their input in story and how to make cutscenes engaging
You have to have a special mindset to get into Neptunia games (or IF games in general). I started with Rebirth 1, and after a while fell in love with this franchise. Sure, gameplay is meh at best, recycling is absurd (same dungeon in like 4 games!), but chars and their interaction is a highlight for me, it takes like every anime trope possible and runs with it. Also seems like there isn't a theme IF will be afraid to use: you have tentacled monsters "molesting" a pair of lolis, one of the darkest and bleakest endings ever (in a series wtih kawaii anime girls), at times susprisingly deep character development, interesing and unpopular insights into gaming industry etc.
I mean he does have a special mindset just not the one for Neptunia. Enjoying the treehouse written Engage characters while disliking Neptunia ones...
I knew Loop 8 would be on this list, hard to find any without it.
Well deserved too.
17:31 - I hear what you're saying but man, this Tony Hawk moment is REALLY selling me
I am not surprised that you found the Neptunia game to be disappointing. I tried one a number of years ago, and it was very meh. After seeing Death End re:quest on a few other channels, I decided to give that a try. There are parts that are interesting, but I will likely move onto something else. These Compile Heart/Idea factory games seem to be made on a.low budget and can have a number of issues. Yet one more video where I am glad to have saved my money and skip over Crymachina.
The thing about idea factory is you pretty much need to get in at the start of a franchise AND the story/characters need to click
The gameplay will always be sub par (though Mary Skelters is at least decent unlike some un named other games) so if you arent grabbed by the writing you wont like it
I'm glad they released a demo for Crymachina. It convinced me to not pick up the game, due to how clunky and shallow the combat felt. I couldn't even bring myself to finish it.
15:19 at least you have a soundtrack of a very good turn based JRPG as the background music ;)
Damn, you just reminded me that i own but haven't played nayuta yet. Then again, i still have tokoyo xanadu as well, and have owned it for awhile now. And the first blue reflection, second light was good, so i wanted to see the OG.
I also wanna buy BG3, the new mario, the entire YS series... sekiroand the entire Dark souls series because i liked ER so much. I also wanna get P5G, although i might skip that one. I'm not sure how different P5G is from regular P5, and if its worth the major time in tvestment.
Imma need to quit my job for a few months just to catch up 😢.
Nayuta is pretty alright, but its not some must-play game either. Story doesn't really do much until towards the end and even then its not anywhere near as remarkable a story as any Trails, or even any Ys game really. Still recommend it, but would definitely say Tokyo Xanadu is way more worth playing. That game is flawed but pretty awesome
Blue Reflection 1 isnt very good. Second Light improved on a pretty bad game substantially. Id recommend just Youtubing the story if you're that curious
If you're gonna play a Souls game after ER, I recommend Bloodborne or Dark Souls 1 Remastered. Sekiro is great, but its easily the most different of all these games and the fact you cant grind to level up past certain tough bosses can be extremely daunting. I still love it, but it may be jarring if your only reference is ER. Also highly highly recommend Armored Core VI. It has a lot of the coolest things modern Souls is known for like cool bosses, dialogue, world building, lore, etc and it has amazing action gameplay that the game does a perfect job easing people into (its not nearly as intimidating as it seems tbh). Id argue its easier than Sekiro too, although both get challenging towards the end
If you meant to say Persona 5 Royal, it's very different than the original but the beginning part is mostly the same (but with much better QOL). Way way better and worth the 120 hour time investment even if youve played the original already
1 game at a time :) good luck with your backlog
I've heard multiple people give loop 8 awful reviews it's very disappointing because I was really looking forward to picking it up but I'm going to grab it when it's cheap just to get my own opinion
Pick it up and play it. I didn't care about others' opinions either and loved the game. Two pieces of advice... save often, make sure you don't lock yourself into a bad ending... because this is a Visual Novel not a JRPG, and one more advice. NEVER loop. Don't. Loop is game over. If you loop you basically start over. Don't do it.
@@tsuikagura You can say that again, people only hate it because they think JRPGs need to be to the standard of Persona games (I do admit though that the game triggered me when Beni provoked one of the bosses to the point that it was able to one-shot Ichika)
Loop 8 being disappointing is the most disappointing thing to me.
Out of this list, CryMachina was the only one on my radar. Watching through this video, seeing a couple of the other games that mildly looked like my type (namely the anime stuff) I determined that your complaints felt justified, which makes me sad, because now I have to determine whether to remove CryMachina from my wishlist, or at best play it just for the story.
For me, Fire Emblem Engage is the Fire Emblem that I liked the most, Sisters VS Sisters I haven't played it enough to know (but it is one of my favorite sagas), I haven't played Grimoire although I want to since it is from the creators of Odin Sphere and the Crymachina, I like it a lot, Crymachina did not disappoint me because not only can you do the story and repeat it over and over again as you said, there are additional maps with good challenges and I like that a lot.
I can definitely say GrimGrimoire is a game with an audience, and I was part of it, but I can also say I totally understand not being into the gameplay. This one needed an easier mode, or less puzzle heavy levels, as more than a few levels have a single solution, and for some reason they closed off a lot of tactics that generally worked in the remake(Like a Chimera Rush, which can't function now since there's no way to combine it with a fair font's healing passive).
Beyond that though, this IS one of those fantastic stories. I've yet to play a VanillaWare game that didn't have a great tale to tell, and this one is not exception despite being one of their earliest. The story of the girl going to magic school, with references to Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and many, many more(Even some Full Metal Alchemist interestingly enough), all wrapped in a story that challenges what you THINK the characters are about as both good and evil.
The ending is also one of the most satisfying I've seen in a game, as it not only wraps up the story in a way that makes sense, but shows off the consequences of if you couldn't have succeeded, which is rare to see, before the heroine does the thing that sets everyone back on track and then gives us an epilogue that goes over each and every character...before one of them, a side 'villain' goes off into NIS' multiverse, becoming the one who keeps bringing back the big bads of their titles to throw at the heroes because she thinks it's funny.
I agree that Engage's standout feature is its gameplay, and those who care about that aspect of Fire Emblem are ranking it as one of there favourites in the series (if not their number one).
But for people like me who never read much into a game's meta unless it's tied to story and character progression, there's not much to go on. I got into the franchise for its story and character potential, I even based my online name and portrait on Lucina! Even if they're not perfect I still enjoyed the journey and wouldn't mind experiencing them again.
Engage's goal was to a much more simple, less divisive plot than the last 3 mainline entries in the series. And it did start off like that, with a mostly light hearted tone and drama that is resolved fast or saved for later. But the plot quickly escalates, and never stops. It moves too fast for the characters to have much development unless it's tied to current events, many just stand around in cutscenes doing nothing besides occasional quips! Then it starts to reveal some interesting revelations about Alear and the Engage Rings, but also suddenly decides to turn the Saturday Morning cartoon villains into tragic figures, all with the last third of the game!
I got stuck on a repetitive system of playing maps and going back to the Somniel, for the sake of progressing the plot and seeing a few good supports. While there were a lot of standout moments that I loved in the story and supports, I just wasn't enjoying myself enough to trudge through the game to get them, and looked them up online. Because I kept losing interest in the game, I still have not finished it after nearly a year. I have never done this or felt that way with any other in the franchise!
*Fire Emblem Engage, for lack of a better term, is not Engaging.*
music from legend of heroes on the background is fun to hear.
Crymachina is so disappointing because the art style is so beautiful. I need all the artists and designers to work on an enjoyable game asap
Love the use of Ryza 2 OST :)
Unfortunately, Crymachina has the trademark flaws of Furyu (the devs): amazing concepts and possibly story, but very bland execution. The only game I recall being good is Alliance Alive.
I tried the demo to Cry Machina after liking the trailers, and when i got my hands on it... it felt rigid and stuff playing the game. The previous game they made I gave a pass as their first 3D action game this however felt shallow, like the game was showing off the artists work and the gameplay was just copy pasted from the previous game without fine tuning or vamping it up.
Wait.............the protag of LOOP 8 is named Ninny?
Good video now I know a whole bunch of games I don't ever want to play.
I didn't think Engage was terrible and I didn't play the remaster of GrimGrimoire but I remember enjoying it quite a bit back in the day when it first came out.
I don't think I want to play a Starcraft-intensity RTS with a controller. Can you imagine needing 100 APM while using a controller?
I've never heard of the others until now.
Crymachina was disappointing for me, but the on the other hand the soundtrack was awesome.
I only played engage and neptunia sister vs sister and i really enjoyed engage but i do agree with you bro the gameplay is fun and there are some characters i do like but i do agree the story is my least favorite i prefer three houses than engage and i been playing the series since path of radiance neptunia i try sister vs sister and it didn't work with me if you want a better game of the series play v2 it is so much better i like this video looking forward to more keep it up
7:12 I wouldn’t even categorize this as a JRPG, it’s a strategy game with RPS mechanics.
Though victory usually goes to you so long as you get enough dragons or chimeras on the field. It’s a bit too easy.
Engage lacking the degree of lore we usually get from a fire emblem game and having a super simplistic world design made it worse off. The characters could be fun, but you don't get as much from them as you would Three Houses' characters. The emblems were a fun twist on gameplay, but I hated how they tied almost all of the customizability mechanics to them (engaging, engage attack, skill acquisition, reclassing). Hopefully they tie more of those to classes/units and have a separate class ring system that won't be influenced by story progression.
Agree with the exception of Crymachina, the combat gameplay was pretty good honestly, it doesn't always have to be complicated.
It wasn't the mechanics themselves, just the fact that the gameplay never changes.
Nah, the combat got boring after an hour. Very shallow.
I've played 2 Neptunia game, 1 much more extensively than the other, and I can understand why it's hard to like Idea Factory. I like Fairy Fencer for what it is, but many other games under their belt are a bit hard to like.
The last game looks gorgeous, but as soon as I heard the name FuRyu, I automatically put a red flag on it due to my experience with Cardfight Vanguard: Dear Days ($70 for game, then $70 for 1 of 2 card expansion season passes, with a story that you can finish in about 1-2 days).
Oh yeah, like as a fan of the Neptunia series, the Neptunia series is awful. I love it but I would never recommend it to anyone.
Like, sometimes the story's pretty good; but a lot of the games in the quite frankly massive series have a barely there plot to justify the gameplay.
And even the games that actually do have a decent plot have downright awful gameplay. It's about as generic as any JRPG can get. And they're constantly filled with excessive grinding.
I only tried Sisters vs Sisters and I honestly wish it was generic gameplay, that way I could actually call it decent. Before I dropped it, the only part that I properly enjoyed was reading the random social media-posts. It's genuinely an accurate depiction of what a mix of a live chat and a SM would actually look, just in a less offensive form.
I think the numbered series neptunia games were ok im playing rebirth 1 right now and its still fine at 25hrs just dont try the original neptunia especially the 1st game it was really really bad even though i finished it i was really struggling and bored by it
Persona 5 Tactica is incredible so far for me. Probably my game of the year next to Mario Wonder. I’m liking sonic super stars too.
Loop8 was such a very, very pretty game. Pity about the actual gameplay. Reminiscent in that respect of Time and Eternity; even the animation style feel similar.
Shame you thought that about SvS, but I understand people turned off if they are new. Cause Neptunia really relies on you already being familiar with the games to get in.
For note, the older Neptunia games have some of the faster classic RPG combat there is...
...but in a bad way. You queue your combos, click the animation skip button, and repeat. When one can cancel the entire animation, it just takes the feeling out of the combat, turning it into a series of numbers instead of attacks.
That said, humor could be great in them.
why am i not surprised i've never heard of most of these?
This is all true i still enjoyed engage though 😊😊😊
I didn't play Loop 8 but the name make me PDSD with keyword "LOOP" ,"8" and "GOD".
Finally someone who can explain why i shouldn't get loop 8
Isn't Grimgrimoire a ps2 game?
Oh, Engage. I think what puts it best is that I realized on seeing my year-end Switch review that I' put as much time in it as I put in Trails from Zero. And I still didn't finish it and have no desire to return to it. It just bored me and that disappoints me so much because I thought it would be a good return to form after both Fates and Three Houses had stories that suffered from too much ambiguity through routes. Instead, it might've killed the series for me.
In any case, thanks for the video!
same, what an boring game i mean last time i was that disapointed it was on Mario soccer on switch. awfull game killing all what have made them
I really enjoyed three houses, it was my first fire emblem game so I picked up engage day 1, I ended up putting it down and after about ten hours I was very disappointed
My biggest RPG disappointment this year is Fairy Fencer F Refrain Chord. I was actually a huge fan of the first game both original which I have on PS3 and psuedo director's cut version on PS4,so I definitely couldn't wait to adventure again with one of my favorite cast of characters. I was let down by the battle system change from turn based to strategy that this game decided to have. There was nothing wrong with the battle system from the first one so why change it here??!! I love strategy games,I do,but this one didn't need to be one. And also they got rid of the English voice acting which is part of what made me love the characters along with the writing which was funny and entertaining. This game the writing took a nose dive. The music is actually pretty good just as in the first game,but it does have some annoying ones that made me cringe hard,I am a huge video game music fanatic,so it is important to me. It isn't a terrible game just one that has let me down because I was so hyped and invested in this world they created. I am sure I will get back to it and try and finish it sometime,but for now,yeah,kinda hard for me to get through the rest of it at the moment.
Crymachina looked great until I played the demo. It just didn’t do it for me
I had bought the LE prematurely, so figured I might as well see it through. Not bad, just underwhelming.
For fans SVS was a mixed bag. The new action combat was something i wasn't a big fan of. Story wise I feel they could have done more with the premise in this title.
If you had to play what is considered, at this point, the best of neptunia Rebirth 1, and VII would be the ones. If you had to compare their stories to svs it would be moire scathing review I feel.
Still there dose seem to be a new main line in the distant future which will tell if the series is on its way out or not.
Grim Grimore is best for its story over its game play. especialy with excelent voice actors such as the one who played advacant.
Your JRPG disappointment was : damn Octopath Traveller 2.
Why would you start the Neptunia series with a spinoff it's like if I tried to get into trails with The Legend Of Nayuta and then crossed the series off completely if it didn't click
Not a great argument really. Trails has 1 spinoff for modern consoles, Neptunia has... more spinoffs than mainline titles? If the developers themselves say it's a good place to start, then why shouldn't he start there? Blame IF for doing a poor job of advertising it. He isn't missing out on much though, Neptunia is terrible.
@@Sortyourselfout-cu7en it's a sound argument but thank you
@@ms102111 you can think that, everyone else can see its flawed though. But, stay comfortable in your little bubble. :)
@@Sortyourselfout-cu7en cope
@@ms102111 "The game being cr*p is ok because it was not mainline"
That Blue Reflection music at the end of the video, man that brought back some feels. Glad you put Engage on here btw, FE fans seething.
They can mald over my opinion if they want, but the comments pretty clearly show that divide anyway, so I don't need to say much more.
Loop 8 could have been such a beautiful game...
But that's not what we got :'(
Crymachina just play 1 hour and that was enough to bored me ._.
That's what hurts the most, Loop 8 could have been amazing.
@@TheKisekiNut Indeed
FE Engage is amazing. Loop 8 is by far the most disappointing jrpg in a looong time. For Idea Factory I think deathend re;quest 1&2 their best games. I still need to get crymachina will get on sale
Naw
Mary Skelter 2 and Finale are the peak now
I was so letdowm when I saw that there is no "overworld" in CryMachina. By luck I was playing the demo, so my money is fine ahah.
Best JRPG this year was Samurai Remnant, probably also best game overall.
i played the combat of sisters vs sisters for about an hour and dropped it,
4 goddesses online is thousands of times better, why couldnt they just copy what isnt broken?
Bruh, C & C, Red Alert 2 is still the GOAT, and it's the only one not on steam. Its horse shiet. Not nsuprising when EA is involved, though. Shiet is their middle name. Call em ESA, Electronics Shiet Arts.
Fire Emblem is a weird choice to put on this list. Was Engage as good as the previous entries? No. But it was still a really fun game. So weird choice imo.
I like Idea Factory games, until they start getting to silly. I don't want it to be gritty and dark, but giggling about the sweets they enjoy most, as murdering monsters, murders my investment. If it was just a bit more serious I would like them a lot more.
Fire Embelm Engage? I didn't want to buy it, seeing how I disliked Three Houses. Engage gives me the Awakening vibes, which is a good thing.
i played every neptunia game,and this is worst than that
For the engage part, you bring up an inconsistency, but it isn't. That scene in the beginning is meant to trick you to think it is a premonition that Fire Emblem has been doing more recently, but it is actually a dream. It is a dream of Alear fighting with the emblems and the lords taking down Sombron.
Now you may be thinking "Well that can't be the case because Alear didn't meet the lords or see the emblems yet." but they did. When Alear travels to the past and fights himself, his past self sees himself as a divine dragon, with the lords and the emblems. Past Alear then turning on Sombron and joining Lumera has a dream in their 1000 year slumber about their future self they now admire.
Engages story isn't the best, but there are a lot of really cool things people miss because they wrote it off as just a simple defeat evil dragon story.
When is it ever explained that that is a 'dream', is the player just meant to assume that? And if he was 'dreaming', then the protag would state some sort of familiarity with the other Lords and Emblems when he first meets them since supposedly he has seen them in a dream before.
That opening cutscene to me is a precursor to the developers having an idea for the plot in mind, but then having to change the original concept further down the line without adjusting their earlier work.
Namely in this case, the opening cutscene was the stage for the eventual final battle in the original script, but they decided to change this to what we eventually got. There was already mention by the developers that the game was initially going to be shorter, but they added more to the ending later on.
@@TheKisekiNut it’s a show don’t tell scene. It’s never explained. It’s left up to you to figure it out. Alear doesn’t remember them because he has amnesia.
If you interpret the opening that way, it more of just shows my last point. There are some cool things here if you dig in and think about it, but the game isn’t going to spell out everything. When I figured some of these things out, it did elevate the story way more than if they just had a conversation telling me it.
Even if they did change the ending, that doesn’t mean that the devs just threw their hands up and said “welp, who cares about the inconsistency?” Going by the leaks that you mentioned, the person who leaked it said the game was finished for a few years prior to release. It wasn’t a time crunch that caused it, so what do you think was the reason that scene was left in?
You're really clutching at straws here.
Even if he has amnesia, he would still recollect the people he saw in that dream, especially considering Alear recollects many other elements from those same dreams.
Even so, it's not a 'leak' that the game was changed as it neared release, the developers said it themselves. FMV cutscenes like the opening one are often commissioned early in the process, hence they did it well before any plot change was intended. When they finally did change it, it was already too late, they couldn't go back to get an intensive FMV changed to match the new storyline.
Engage's story isn't 'cool' because it hides information, it's just full of plot holes. There were interview notes that pretty much said they put very little thought in to the story and focused more on the gameplay. @@Slimjim8345
We're never shown past Alear and Lumera interacting more than the first scene where they turn around and have that devilish smile, which goes absolutely nowhere, then later on we've already skipped to where Alear beats Sombron the first time, but is hit by his final revenge attack.
So many other scenes take so much time that they could've been fleshing out other ones instead, but that would require effort and passion, neither of which this game has.
@@AkameGaKillfan777 Okay? What's your point? That doesn't show that there was an inconsistency.
Also, there is also the scene where Lumera first meets past Alear and takes him home.
Engage writing is unforgiveable terrible. It's like they let an amature writer to write a story for them. It's either plain boring or cringe most of the time. It's such a huge downgrade from 3 Houses.
Sisters vs Sisters just made me a bit nervous for Touhou Spell Carnival.
Loop8 being disappointing is as hilarious as Sakura Ignoramus dying in 2 MONTHS. Both games had legends in their staff, the former had the Gunparade March people and En Morikubo, the latter had Oji Hiroi.
What does Sisters vs Sisters have to do with a Touhou game?
@@lpfan4491 Touhou Spell Carnival is being developed by Compile Heart in a collab with Sting. That's what.
...Ok, Touhou is dead, Iffy killed it.
@@lpfan4491 Yeah, right. Touhou doesn't die that easy.
EDIT: Remember that Touhou's mainline is the Shmups ZUN makes, and this is just a Touhou derivative game made by a corporation in a sea of other corporation-made derivative games and even more numerous Touhou fangames. In any genre.
Fe is actually awesome but to each their own i guess
Its been a while since I've been blown away by a story so all this shitting on Engages story just feels par for the course
I don’t know if I’ve ever dropped a game whose gameplay I liked so much but fe engage’s story and characters were just so awful I couldn’t take it anymore.
*Crymachima* gameloop reminds me of a certain Gacha game so probably it will work if they made it into a Gacha game although that is the worst system ever existed. Or probably the Devs had influence with that game.
the RPG equivalent of watching paint dry is one hell of a comparison
honestly I was expecting you to put Fate Samurai Remnant up as well but seeing it didn't make the list made me a bit happy
dude this was a great game sounds like you need to play it again.
I was mostly fine with Fate Samurai, but I can't deny it was in contention for the list.
@@nessonett742 I loved Fate Samurai Remnant it's my personal Goty this year
@@TheKisekiNut I'm glad it could avoid the list since it's my Goty this year.
It's weird, I liked Agarest a lot. I also liked the first Neptunia game. I also like Fairy Fencer F a lot.
But Idea Factory.. man, they see one success and try to milk the shit out of it by mass reproducing like it's some canned tuna shit. That's why I even won't play the "new" Fairy Fencer that is obviously a try to reboot what they fail to master as they produced 2000002515 Neptunia games.
Also I never anticipated something more than mediocre from Crymachina. From the devs who also made Crystar, a game that was so bland, so terrible, that I had to stop within 2 hours of my precious lifetime.. how would they know how to make a good game out of that wreck when that wreck came out like that on the market..
Anyway, I don't think I have a disappointing JRPG this year. I'm still trying to catch up on Atelier games, finished Ryza 1 and I might try Marie remake in between for some freshness. And Sea of Stars, what I even kickstarter backed, was a delight.
You were looking forward to Loop 8?? I can't even begin to imagine what would attract anyone to this obvious trash
I don’t like idea factory games. I played Mugen Souls, Mugen Souls Z, Neptunia 1, Neptunia rebirth 1&2, Fairy Fencers PS4 Blac+Neptune vs Zombies and Four goddesses online.
Idea Factory can have funny character writing but they do not make good games. If I’m only here for the writing then I’m better off watching someone else play it
Nep Nep...
Engage was total trash
As a gamsplay over everything gamer, for me Engage was what i wanted a better balanced game, interesting maps, interesting systems, also how much you can customize everything, also for me the plot is the least important thing on a game so i really didn't care that the plot was bad, for me a good plot is just an extra and not something i really care.
I liked three houses a lot mainly because of the story but I enjoyed the social gameplay aspect that engage ultimately did not have I ended putting engage down because it just didn't click with me I did enjoy the game play though
FE engage doesn't deserve the hate it gets. The only reason it gets so much negative spotlight is because how high 3H reached.
And this everyone is how you know you've found someone with 0 good faith discussion abilities whatsoever
@@AkameGaKillfan777 what
@@andrewofaiurhe’s basically saying you have no argument. Like engage gets negative spotlight because it does have glaring issues on its own even without 3H
@@Yoshixandir gotcha
FE:E is bad because FE3H was better? Here I just picked up FE:E as my first FE game ever and liked the gameplay but hated the talks, social sims, the town improvements, basically everything that took away from the gameplay.
My understanding was those things I hated were even more prevalent in FE3H, which is why I went with FE:E.
For context, I'm now playing the age old Langrisser 1 and would rate it way higher than FE:E.