What RPG are you playing right now?

[gtmtnbiker]

I had to google and learned that ATB == Active Time Battle. Anyway, hope that helps someone else who is reading the thread and does not know the acronym ATB.

[Xeogred]

Anyone who's played a FF game should know what it means.

[Ack]

The GBA/PSP versions are definitely super easy as well, maybe even moreso than the SNES version, I'm not sure (I know both the GBA/PSP version have this weird ATB bug that can make enemies turns get skipped at times, weird).

They're not quite as easy as the SNES version. That version was intentionally made to be as easy as possible. The GBA/PSP versions would be able to provide at least some semblance of a challenge to a fresh FF IV player, but the ATB bug makes the first 3/4ths of the game super easy for sure. The PSX version is definitely the way to go for the most authentic FF IV playthrough (assuming the original SFC game is out of the question).

Damn, so if the GBA/PSP version wasn't easy enough... Ack just finished the Imp version.

I'm not worried about it. As an avid SNES collector, I'm happy to have played through the SNES version. It's another game in my collection I can say I've beaten, and it closes a chapter that started a long time ago in my gaming, when I was first getting into the genre. I played a lot of great RPGs around that time but never beat many of them.

[Xeogred]

I've sadly gone the opposite route. My patience for JRPG's isn't what it used to be, I'm pretty sure I played like Chrono Cross, FFVII-IX, and maybe some other JRPG's back to back way back in the day, lol. Once I got into the genre in the late 90's or so I was just beating JRPG's left and right on the SNES/PSX. Now it's kind of a miracle for me to beat 1-2 a year, lol...

FFV is the same case for me though, it probably was a good ~10 years ago (or whenever Anthology came out for the PSX) when I first played it and got really far , and I got all the way to the end but never finished it. I'm hoping to finally start it over for a third time and finish it once and for all sometime soon to close off that chapter. After that I'll just need to beat FFII and FFIII and I can say I've beaten 1-10 at least! I have no idea what to do with FFIII though, I'll probably just emulate a fan translation someday as the DS remake really doesn't interest me that much at all (just like the DS remake of IV, bleh).

Getting farther in The After Years. It's weirdly setup with character chapters, but I hear it gets better later. I'm playing through Edward's now (can't believe he has his own, lol...) thankfully there's the auto-battle function in FFIV PSP so I can hopefully zoom through some of this stuff and get to the goods soon. That and I kind of want to play FFV NOW!

[Ack]

I've sadly gone the opposite route. My patience for JRPG's isn't what it used to be, I'm pretty sure I played like Chrono Cross, FFVII-IX, and maybe some other JRPG's back to back way back in the day, lol. Once I got into the genre in the late 90's or so I was just beating JRPG's left and right on the SNES/PSX. Now it's kind of a miracle for me to beat 1-2 a year, lol...

Oh I ended up doing that a little bit later. In middle school I had a friend get me into SNES JRPGs, so he let me borrow FFII, FFIII (IV and VI for the purists), Breath of Fire, Super Mario RPG, FF Mystic Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Lufia II. Since I was new to the genre, I only managed to finish two of them: FFIII and Lufia II. The rest had to be returned after I'd gotten extremely far, in FFII's case to the final boss.

But it got me into it, and once I got into high school and picked up a PS1, it was over. Chrono Cross, FFVII, FFVIII, Parasite Eve, Legend of Dragoon, Breath of Fire III, and FF Tactics are just some of the RPGs I beat (Parasite Eve IS an RPG), while I picked up others like Xenogears, Saga Frontier, and Wild Arms. Unfortunately, what with the glut of the genre in that generation, I got out of it once I got into the PS2, so I only ever played through Kingdom Hearts, FFX, and...well, I think that's it for PS2 RPGs I beat. I tried a bunch, but just couldn't get focused in them, or would get really far and lose sight.

[pepharytheworm]

Anyone who's played a FF game should know what it means.

Not everyone has played FF

[BoringSupreez]

Anyone who's played a FF game should know what it means.

Not everyone has played FF

I've played through half of FF7, and I didn't know what it meant. I can't remember ever knowing what it meant either, now that I know what it means.

[brunoafh]

But it got me into it, and once I got into high school and picked up a PS1, it was over. ... Unfortunately, what with the glut of the genre in that generation, I got out of it once I got into the PS2

I know exactly how this feels. The RPGs on the PS1 were so god damn awesome, they would really suck me in. I still play new ones somewhat regularly. With the PS2 though, it just felt off. I know there are a lot of good ones, but all the ones people seem to rave about I seem to have no interest in, and nearly all of the ones I've played have failed at keeping my interest.

Not that I think on it, almost none of the PS2 RPGs I really liked and completed were turn-based JRPGs.

[Xeogred]

Yeah, my JRPG interest is still solely on the SNES/PSX and thankfully I've still got plenty to check out on those consoles. I've played a few on the PS2 and beyond, but they definitely don't have that same magic. FFX was pretty solid, had amazing music, a good battle system and I didn't mind the sphere grid, hated the characters though and measured up to the other FF's I think it's pretty weak in comparison.

Suikoden V is probably one of the better ones I've played, and although it's not a popular opinion at all I'm a big fan of the Xenosaga games... I mean, at least most people can agree that the third game was top notch stuff. I hated the second one the first time I played it, but a second time around I actually enjoyed it a lot. Been meaning to go back to the original someday. I'm never one to really do this, but Xenosaga III is the only one I actually finished... but I knew enough from the previous games to know pretty much exactly what was going on, so it was fine (not to mention it had a bible-sized database with info on absolutely everything about the Xenosaga universe).

I think it's just a huge combination of a lot of stuff for me. I won't say turn based systems are stale, because I could still play them and love it (Lost Odyssey comes to mind), but too many Japanese developers keep trying out new weirder combat systems that just fall flat or something, and well Japanese developers have kind of fallen behind in general. Hilariously bad dubs since the PS2 have been kind of an issue as well, I saw my friend play a good chunk of Growlancer and Star Ocean 3, some of the worst ones I ever saw for sure. And yeah, in general almost all old JRPG's had kids or older teenagers as the lead characters, maybe it was the magic of sprites that made that more tolerable... but it's another thing I can't stand in a lot of modern JRPG's, just annoying brats or bishonen's (pretty boy) and such everywhere.

Xenoblade and The Last Story look like they could be some of the best JRPG's since the SNES/PSX days, but we all know how wacky that ongoing story is whether the US will even get these games or not. So who knows.

As JC Denton would say, what a shame. But at least I still have dozens of SNES/PSX JRPG's to hit up sometime and I'll continue to keep replaying some of my favorites like Seiken Densetsu 3 on a yearly basis.

[Ack]

Well guys, I've started up SaGa Frontier on the PlayStation. We'll see how it goes.