I wrote an article on JRPGs and spent a bit too much time (re)playing games for screnshots. Dragon Quest (the original) is better than it seems at first glance. It's very primitive in some very fundamental ways, but it uses its basic tools very well. For example, the way it uses the old "you ca...

WhyStoppedLovingJPRGs.2.ChronoTrigger.jpg As you might know, I used to love JRPGs. They were my favourite genre and I played all the games I could get my hands of: Chrono Trigger , Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei ...But one day, I stopped loving them. In this article, I explain why. Why I stopped...

One of the reasons I picked up my Zowie mouse was the lack of lighting or any other "gamer cool".

FE works without perma death, it does add difficulty. You have a finite number of characters, so if they die, you have less to use. Permadeath works best in games like xcom. Yeah, if you lose an experienced character, it is a set back, but you can recruit more. I don't think it works, because witho...

Without permadeath, the game doesn't work. But it doesn't represent an increase in difficulty nor makes the game less accessible nor anything of the sort. It just makes it so that you can't shove all your units through a chokepoint and win. It's also a wargame and in war people die. The game does no...

Pokemon.Battle.Red.2.Fight.jpg The battle against Red is one of the most important and epic fights of the Pokemon franchise. But why is it so memorable? I analyze and discuss this scene in my next article. I analyze its context, the way it ties into the larger themes of the game and even how it rel...

I think you have to look at traditional JRPGs like resource games. Money to buy equipment and items. Experience to “buy” better stats and spells as you level up. And for each dungeon or castle or forest you fight through, you are watching your HP and MP, and using a limited item stock to replenish ...

Like the title says. I'm, looking for savegame so I can take pictures for an article but I don't know where to get save files of a completed game so I can go and meet Red.

Any tips?

I used to big a big JRPG fan when I was a teen but over time I began to realize the genre's shortcomings. I remember playing Persona 3 FES and hitting a boss that was harder than usual and that I couldn't beat without grinding a bit. And I thought. Do I really want to do this? Do I care? And I reali...

I think I should play Tactics Ogre. Seems like I would enjoy it. Did you play Ogre Battle at all, before? I really enjoyed the story, and production values in the Saturn version of Tactics Ogre. I find the tactical battles to get kind of dull after a while, though, and really didn't enjoy the gamep...