Alright, my last big post of the year in this thread and it will be my overview of every RPG I played this year and my thoughts on them. Luckily I believe most of the games I’ve already talked about in here already lol so I won’t have too much typing to do. Let’s get to it then…
The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II (was mostly completed in 2022)
Damn this feels so nostalgic even though it was still this year lol. I also see that I was hoping the Western release of Kuro no Kiseki (now Trails into Daybreak) would be announced for Xbox… Ah well, at least Metaphor is close enough.
I gave the game an 8/10 but tbh I think I was honeymooning it and being happy I got through a Trails game in Japanese. I’d honestly drop this to a 7 now. The game blatantly shows signs of being a rushed product with there being almost no new locations and some of the heaviest and drawn out padding in Trails. It’s just that there are also very peak moments in the story. Hopefully Kai no Kiseki in 2024 can come out better since it took a year off in favor of Ys X.
Harvestella (Also mostly completed in 2022)
This really doesn’t feel like I finished this in 2023 lol. Though to be fair I played through like 90% of it in 2022. No opinion changes here. At least going in to 2024 my slate is clean besides still being very early on in my JP P3P playthrough which is still very early.
Star Ocean The Divine Force
I thought this game was pretty underrated! Gave it an 8/10 and had a lot of fun with it. I do recognize the flaws more after playing Second Story R which is blatently better, but still, Divine Force is worth a playthrough IMO.
Fire Emblem Engage
In short, mediocre story, great gameplay and fantastic visuals. My first Fire Emblem game and first JRPG I played through entirely in Japanese without assistance from external software. 8/10
Octopath Traveler 2
I gave it an 8.5 here but in retrospect I am thinking it’s a 9. It’s GOTY material and it was a massive shame it got NO nominations at the Game Awards. I think my thoughts on the still weak-ish writing were dragging it down but everything surrounding that is just so damn good. For anyone waiting for it on Xbox, you are in a buffet.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Future Redeemed
The major DLC expansion for XC3 and it sure is a beefy one. I think it took me around 25-30 hours to get through. I liked it quite a bit more than the main game which was already pretty great (but also at the bottom of where I’d rank the trilogy). The gameplay felt more “focused” than in the main game and it also has Xeno fanservice (not just Blade!) spilling out of its pockets like no tomorrow which I’m all there for. I especially liked the credits but I’m not trying to spoil anything here. Anyway, 9/10.
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
Was not a honeymoon thing. This is an incredible game. Like I said there, it’s mostly visual novel, but the story is just… wow. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that I still think about now, so this is certainly one that’ll stick with me for years to come. If you’re a fan of the Trails games, you really need to do yourself a favor and play through these sometime too.
Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana
A Switch port of my favorite Ys game. The nice thing about this game is that it’s an epic adventure crammed into an 8-12 hour experience. I played it on PC back in 2020 but bought it again on Switch which has new improvements like a Turbo mode (this makes speedruns take an hour or 2 at most and is really fun to do), a small amount of voice acting for Adol and new special attack cut-ins. Newly drawn portraits with options for the old ones, and more. Honestly the only con I ever had with Ys Oath in Felghana was that some of the bosses aren’t that good, otherwise its like a 9.5/10 game for me. Sadly it looks like this enhanced Switch port isn’t getting a Western release… I really wish Falcom would work with Dotemu again like with Ys Origin and get it ported to all platforms.
Atelier Ryza 3
I’ll stick with my 8/10. Pretty ambitious game for a team like Gust, tackling a “true” open world experience. That brought some bloat I wasn’t a fan of and some oddities that showed their inexperience with something like that, but I remain interested to see if they are gonna evolve this. Having just finished Sophie 2 at 55 hours and seeing Ryza 3 took me 85, I presently still prefer the “old” style.
Etrian Odyssey 1 HD
I only gave very brief thoughts on it there, didn’t even really comment on it other than saying I beat it lol. It was good though, but maybe a bit basic. It’s the first entry after all, I hear EO3 is the peak, but I still have EO2 to get through. This is a very, very, very gameplay focused RPG. Next to no story at all, really it’s just “your goal is to eventually reach the 25th floor of the dungeon” and your characters are all created and named by you, as is the guild they are in. It’s also very difficult on the “Expert” difficulty… Which is the original DS difficulty, meaning that’s how the game was meant to be played lol. The artwork was upgraded quite nicely from the original DS as were the dungeon visuals. Though operating the “map drawing screen” is a bit clumsy, it was built to be on the DS touch screen with the game being on the top screen after all. They admitted that this gave them trouble and is probably why EO6 is taking a back seat. Overall I’d consider it a 7.5 or so.
Atelier Marie Remake and Persona 4 Golden
I honestly forgot I commented on Atelier Marie here, but it’s in this post
Starting off with Persona 4 Golden, I see that I didn’t score it. Probably because most people have played it and agree it’s fantastic I guess lol. Though I guess I should now, probably somewhere close to a 9/10 but I feel a tad below, like an 8.7 or so. Wish it had turbo mode for the battles and I don’t particularly like the randomly generated dungeons. Story and characters are simply amazing and the atmosphere and soundtrack are masterpiece-quality.
Atelier Marie I mostly gave my thoughts on there but didn’t score it either. I’d give it something like a 6.5 or close to 7 but not quite. It’s fun but pretty barebones for sure. You’re done with everything in under 10 hours. At the very least, it’s a fine game on sale, just don’t make it your first Atelier lol.
Sakura Wars 2
What a fantastic game. Still thinking about it today. Like I said here, it became one of my most favorite Sega games ever made. Sadly it looks like that Fan TL that was due for this year didn’t come through… Still, in my effort to consume stuff with Japanese text this year, this was certainly a great game to do it with.
Mary Skelter Finale
I only gave a small post that I was playing this once in this thread. Was early on then and the game seemed so promising. It’s actually so disappointing and a “wet fart” of a “finale”. The other 2 games were decent enough and had interesting worlds and backstories. All of that flies out the window here with the lamest villains ever and a very bland mediocre story. The dungeon designs also feel worse than in the previous games. In this game, you have 3 separate teams all moving through different parts of the dungeon to help each other through… But they never do anything more interesting with it beyond “this switch on this team’s side opens a door on that team’s side”. That’s it. I do like that the team system forced you to use all of the characters at least. Also, the battles in the late game start getting so brutally difficult and offer such meager EXP and rewards that it’s better to run from everything which is also lame. somewhere between 4.5 or 5/10. I did finish the game with 75 hours played, so it’s not like I outright hated it. But ultimately I couldn’t recommend it.
Ys X Nordics
Alright, we’re getting into recent territory now. Gave it an 8.8 here and haven’t changed my mind. That said, Falcom’s recently come out and said that the graphics (which I conned the game for here) were a result of their yearly release schedule… So I do wonder what the plan is there, because they aren’t stopping that lol.
Fate Samurai Remnant
Not being a Fate fan myself, I bought this because it looked like a cool ARPG… Which it mostly was! The protagonists Iori and Saber are great characters (Saber being one of my favorite characters of 2023), and the gameplay feels nice. It’s a very “lite” Warriors/Musou thing. You’re not running around large battlefields slaughtering thousands though. Mainly running through towns, talking to people, doing quests, investigating for the main story, getting into fights with thugs… Kinda “Yakuza” lite too!
That all said the gameplay does little to spice things up and this is a nearly 50 hour game. I was so ready for it to be over by the end and the story was also doing little to keep me interested. Really didn’t care about any characters except for Iori and Saber. Maybe I’d have been into it more as a Fate fan, I dunno. I’d give it a 7.5.
Super Mario RPG
100%ed it in around 14 hours. Game was charming and fun but probably on the lower tier of where I’d put Mario RPGs. Can give it some passes for being the first though. It was fun to see Mario with a more “playful” personality. Kind of wish I kept playing the original when I was a kid but even then I had played all the other Mario RPGs available at that time so it probably wouldn’t have stuck with me too much, but at least I’d have the nostalgia bonus. 7.5/10 for me.
Star Ocean The Second Story R
My first time playing it but I can tell it’s an amazing remake. Gave it an 8.5/10. The developers have recently come out and said this game’s reception and performance has been much higher than anticipated which is excellent news since I believe SO Divine Force was an underperformer. Would be nice to see it come to Xbox but moreso let’s hope that the dev’s next project will be here day 1.
Atelier Sophie 2
Ah… I just commented on this one haha. Gave it a 9/10 and labeled it my favorite Atelier. Highly recommend it even as a starting game as it’s largely unconnected to AS1 which is slightly mediocre.
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Looking at 2022’s post and this one, I definitely got through more this year, although there are a number of very short games on this list like Atelier Marie and Ys Felghana, and some 2022 carryovers.
I’m sure you’ve already seen engagement farm tweets on Twitter talking about how “JRPG fans eating good in 2024” so I’ll save myself that breath lol… But really, there’s a lot to look forward to, and this year was really good too!
