The worst RPGs

[Ack]

Recently BoneSnapDeez played through Lagoon and lamented nearly every minute of it. But he mentioned that it was better than Tecmo's Secret of the Stars. This got me thinking, we spend a lot of time talking about the RPGs we consider amazing, but what are the terrible ones that we prefer to ignore, and why do we dislike them so much?

So who here has played Secret of the Stars, and was it really that bad?

As for the SNES, I have mixed feelings about Super Ninja Boy. I like the combination of beat 'em up and RPG, but the platforming sections feel awful to me and seriously hamper my desire to play the game. The music is generally simplistic, which saddens me because I know full well what the SNES is capable of and could do even at the time of its release (SNB came out the same year as Final Fantasy IV in Japan. But I can't force myself to say I hate the game, because I simply don't, even though it has some serious problems.

So what are some of those RPGs that get castigated and why? What are your experiences with them?

[BoringSupreez]

Every Final Fantasy after IX. /thread

Now that we've got that out of the way, I found Golden Sun to be unbearably generic and boring.

[Erik_Twice]

Every single one!

Nah, but if we get more serious and assume I'm not horribly biased against JRPGs by nature, I think the worst games are those that follow this formula:

Press X on normal enemies. Kill tough guys with Magic. Use invocations on Bosses. Heal as needed.

I can forgive Earthbound because of the commentary

[prfsnl_gmr]

This will be a tough topic, since I don't think many people will stick with a terrible RPG. That said...the worst RPG that I played to completion was probably Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest. I know that it is intended to be a "training wheels" RPG, but if you are trying to lure players to a particular genre, you need to make the bait at least somewhat interesting...

The worst RPG that I gave up on was AD&D: Heroes of the Lance (NES). I loved the books soooooo much as a kid, and I was terribly, terribly disappointed by the "game". After that, I would probably place The 7th Saga (SNES) as another game that I thought was terrible when I first played it. I now realize that it was just too hard for me as a kid, and I would probably enjoy it a lot more if I gave it another shot.

Finally...I gave up on JRPGs for a while when they were going through what I call the "Precious Moments" period. That is the period when all the characters in JRPGs looked like "Precious Moments" figurines:



=



I cannot stand that design choice, and - I don't care how good the game might be - I will not play a game where all of the characters look like Hallmark "Precious Moments" figurines...

EDIT: ...this is especially true in games where the "Precious Moments" characters are sexualized...<yuck!>

[BoneSnapDeez]

Alright, Secret of the Stars. If I tried to list every misstep the developers made we'd be here all day. So let me say this: it's bad. Real bad. The graphics look like they're straight of RPG Maker, the characters are wooden, the battles are dull and of course the game is grindy, the final stretches are nigh impossible unless you've hoarded all the MP-replenishing items found throughout the game, there's an absolutely absurd kid & adult "two party system" (you end up using the kids through 90% of the game so leveling up the adults is useless - not that you would know or assume that), and the dialogue is a complete trainwreck written in ALL CAPS.



Oh and you save your game by talking to your uncle, who the localizers decided to name UNCLE SAVE. I can't make this shit up.

Moving on, I absolutely adore The 7th Saga, which apparently is one of those "love it or hate it" titles. Yes, it's grindy and hard as balls but it has an incredible atmosphere that sucks me right in.

I also love Mystic Quest. It's good, simple fun. Sure it's not as good as Final Fantasy IV and VI, but few games are.

Oh yeah, back to bad RPGs, I haven't played anything particularly rotten in awhile. I guess it bears repeating that every Final Fantasy game after IX was mediocre-to-bad (except for the spin-offs like 4 Heroes of Light, that kicked ass).

Another weak JRPG I tried recently was From the Abyss on the DS. It could have been a fantastic dungeon crawler, like Children of Mana, but the developers decided to use the stylus as the only form of control. A complete gimmick that totally broke the game.

Lastly, there are countless old Western RPGs (mostly first-person dungeon crawlers) that I just can't get into. Though I simply chalk this up to Western RPGs not being my "thing" in the same way that JRPGs are.

Oh, and prfsnl_gmr - don't skip out on Eternal Sonata simply because of the art style. It's a blast.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Oh, and prfsnl_gmr - don't skip out on Eternal Sonata simply because of the art style. It's a blast.

I've read that it is really good, but the art direction just kills me. That said, I won't skip on it because of the art style - it has an amazing premise - but I will skip it because I don't have a PS3 or 360.

[Ack]

How does Secret of the Stars compare to Inindo? Anybody ever try it?

[Nemoide]

Lunar Dragon Song - the worst of the worst.

I've ranted about it before. I'm not going to get worked up in this thread.

[gtmtnbiker]

I haven't played too many RPGs but of the ones I tried, I would give my vote to Golden Sun on the GBA. Sure, the graphics are amazing but I found the game to be tedious, especially due to the random battles.

[Hazerd]

I cannot stand that design choice, and - I don't care how good the game might be - I will not play a game where all of the characters look like Hallmark "Precious Moments" figurines...

i lawled outloud, lol