What are you Playing Now? It's not how you play the game, it's how you place the blame

[Hawke64]

13 hours ago, Sarex said:

I disliked the controls in DS1 immensely, although I used mouse and keyboard and the original port of the game.

Same. It was fixed in DSR, which was a much more enjoyable experience. In the later FormSoftware games (I think, from DS3 onwards) there was full KB+M support, from 5-button mice to the correct on-screen prompts.
I would like to play Demon's Souls on PC as well, though due to it being a PS# (4? 5?) exclusive, it is unlikely. Bloodborne also would be welcome, but it seems to require quite quick reaction time.
In general, the input device is a personal preference and the only possible issue is the quality of the port, not the game's features (granted, I doubt that grand strategies or FPS are fun with controllers, but it is not impossible to optimise them). I find playing anything with a controller much harder than with KB+M/KB only. The current frame of reference are Dragon's Dogma (a perfect PC port) and Prince of Persia (2008; some QTEs are extremely hard to complete with controller).

[Sarex]

5 hours ago, Hawke64 said:

Same. It was fixed in DSR, which was a much more enjoyable experience. In the later FormSoftware games (I think, from DS3 onwards) there was full KB+M support, from 5-button mice to the correct on-screen prompts.
I would like to play Demon's Souls on PC as well, though due to it being a PS# (4? 5?) exclusive, it is unlikely. Bloodborne also would be welcome, but it seems to require quite quick reaction time.
In general, the input device is a personal preference and the only possible issue is the quality of the port, not the game's features (granted, I doubt that grand strategies or FPS are fun with controllers, but it is not impossible to optimise them). I find playing anything with a controller much harder than with KB+M/KB only. The current frame of reference are Dragon's Dogma (a perfect PC port) and Prince of Persia (2008; some QTEs are extremely hard to complete with controller).

Even modern games that were made for a controller, like God of War (especially Ragnarok), would be much easier on kb+m. A large part of the difficulty in GoW are fast moving enemies that dash/tp outside your field of view, which would be a non issue with a mouse.

[Bartimaeus]

8 hours ago, Hawke64 said:

I would like to play Demon's Souls on PC as well, though due to it being a PS# (4? 5?) exclusive, it is unlikely.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/3mfz9dbmqhhertg/explorer_JMK05dxRH6.mp4

[Lexx]

Didn't people say that remaster (which is available on pc) is very true to the original?

/Edit: lol, just found out that Marc Rebillet did the song for the Grounded outro.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Lexx

[Bartimaeus]

12 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Didn't people say that remaster (which is available on pc) is very true to the original?

The remaster is only on PS5, and I would prefer the original at the very least due to the fact that I've listened to both game's soundtracks and the totally new soundtrack for the remaster is quite awful. The art style is also pretty different with a ton of redesigns both small and large, but I don't feel as strongly about that from what I've seen of it. In short, I just didn't see what the remastered version improved in the face of being able to emulate it at 60 FPS / [whatever resolution]. Multiplayer, I guess.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[Lexx]

Huh, could have sworn I saw it for PC. Oh well, sucks to be us. That said, I'd rather have Bloodborne on PC anyways.

[Bartimaeus]

4 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Huh, could have sworn I saw it for PC. Oh well, sucks to be us. That said, I'd rather have Bloodborne on PC anyways.

I would definitely prefer Sony to put Bloodborne on PC as well, especially considering, well, as you saw, emulated Demon's Souls works just fine (heck, IMO, it's better than on either the actual PS3 or PS5). I'm not convinced Sony's ever going to do it though, and PS4 emulation has a ways to go...

Edited February 2, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[Wormerine]

I do hope DeaSRem will make its way to PC. Bloodbourne is what I have most interest in, but I fear it might need a remaster first to be portable.

maybe Sony knows that I am buying their ports just to get Bloodborne one day, and so they will withhold it indefinitely. 

[Tale]

Still on Dark Souls 3. Finished all the Lords of Cinder and am moving on to DLC before hitting up Archdragon Peak and the finale.

I'm glad I did, because Lothric's Greatsword is absolutely killing Ashes of Ariandel. Chopping down trees with a flaming ultra greatsword is a good time.

[Wormerine]

With all this DS talk, I returned to my Elden Ring playthrough. Used secret medallion and with dream am making my way toward Haligtree. 

I must say there is something greatly unsatisfying about entering new area and fighting the same enemies I fought at level 20, just buffed up to my level. 

On a positive side - found an enterance to another underground location. I thought I was done with those two surprise extra underground visits ago. Anyway, reached Mogh, Lord of Blood, a fellow I already sparred with in the sewers of the Leyndell, but this time he had a nasty 2nd phase. Took me quite a few tries to take him down. 

[Mamoulian War]

I have just finished a hour or so ago the optional arcade dungeon in Final Fantasy XV - Pitioss Ruins. I was postponing it, because I usually suck at arcades, but the dungeon was in the end easier, than I have expected. I did get stuck at few places, but little bit of patience helped me to overcome them. All in all it took me about 3 hours to finish all the puzzles

[BruceVC]

Im now about 45 hours into DA:I and  I have reached Skyhold. I am enjoying this game, my experience has improved as the game progressed. I will raise the negative things I dont  particularly like about it first

 

• map markers mean there is no real challenge or excitement around exploration.
• its console designed which limits the combat complexity and strategic choices in combat like in BG1&2 and D:OS2. I end up relying on AI for battles because its not really worth it  managing each party member. Saying all that there are still fun and difficult battles like the Alexius quest with the mages and then I enjoy closing the Rifts and the various strategies around this
• I am using both DAI and Frosty mods and the overall stability is not great in the sense I have to constantly  delete the Frosty mod data folder and do other minor troubleshooting every 5-6 times I play. I also had to troubleshoot a major mod bug when I got to Skyhold that caused a white screen when you cannot progress

Now what I like about it

 

• I like the overall narrative and political machinations that exist in the game world between factions and people. I am enjoying the fact I am the Inquisitor and can  encourage\force  people to support my ideology to save the world. Any traitors or non-believers  must be arrested,converted  or killed
• Its a beautiful game, I have maxed the graphic settings with my video card and I like the aesthetics that Frostbite creates
• I  enjoy the crafting and how you need to constantly find materials, like elfroot and iron, to improve items. It makes exploration worthwhile
• there are hot women in the game like Leliana and Josephine. I am avoiding any Romance arcs with Cassandra but she is an effective combat asset
• I do  appreciate parts of the combat like Fire Mine to deal AOE damage
• I like the various party members and there side-quests

So overall a good experience and I will provide another update after 40 hours or so 

[MrBrown]

51 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Im now about 45 hours into DA:I and  I have reached Skyhold. I am enjoying this game, my experience has improved as the game progressed. I will raise the negative things I dont  particularly like about it first

45 hours and Skyhold means you're taking it reaaallllyyy slow.

[BruceVC]

27 minutes ago, MrBrown said:

45 hours and Skyhold means you're taking it reaaallllyyy slow.

Yes, I have been exploring all  the maps and do all the quests  and taking my time to read and enjoy the lore

But its 40 hours to Skyhold 

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by BruceVC

[Mamoulian War]

Just testing if the Forums are still broken for me after latest updates   If it works, Behold: My complete list of finished games in 2022 below

 

2022

31 games – 1 GoG games, 10 PS3 games and 20 PS4 games

1 - January 2, 21:30 – First finished game of 2022 is Platinum Trophy run of Hyperdimension Neptunia VII on my PS4. I just needed to get out of my way last 8 trophies to finish the game on 100%. Some of the trophies were grindy, some were just awarded for item creation, and one was needed to be finished in platformer dungeon Neplunker Zero, which had some RNG obstacles, which made me go berserk few times, and then I needed to take some break, to be able to go on further :) . In total, it took me almost 160 hours to finish all the prerequisites for all of the trophies in the game.

2 - January 7, 22:00 – Next in line on my backlog was Super Neptunia RPG on my PS4. A 2D platformer RPG spin-off in the Nep Nep series . The game was pretty enjoyable, although not as much as the mainline games. It was also much less grindy. The story was little bit cheesy, but it had it's bright spots as well . It took me some time to get used to the combat, and how to properly set up the party for each area, to exploit the weaknesses of enemies. But after I got into it, I started to have much more fun with the game. The biggest challenge for me were the Magic Stone Challenges, where I spent a lot of time, because I am not much of a platform player, but it was a nice fresh air in between the typical RPG fetch quests, and I was able to get all 500 of them .

3 - January 8, 16:45 – Just finished the Platinum Run of Super Neptunia RPG on my PS4, which became my fastest Platinum Trophy so far (44,5 hours of playtime in 4 days and 17 hours). It really helped, that we had state holidays and the weather was awful and my wife was at work .

4 - February 3, 19:30 – I have started and finished my "lost" copy of Journey on my PS3. It was just a very short and chilled playthrough, where I tried to get as much trophies as possible. Of course, because it is almost two years, when I played it last time on PS4, I completely forgot few locations of some glyphs and symbols . But despite of that, I was able to get 7 trophies in this run.

5 - February 4, 11:00 – Another playthrough of Journey on my PS3 is behind me. The plan was to get some missing collectibles and to get the “surfing” trophy at the Sunken City area. And of course, I missed one collectible again, due to my clumsiness . Also I was able to meet the first companion, so 3 more trophies out of the way. Unfortunately, he did not wanted to play until the end of the game for another one

6 - February 13, 20:30 – I've just finished second playthrough of Tales of Arise Demo on my PS4. I just needed some break in between of my simracing trainings, so I took something short and easy. This time, my character of choice was Kisara.

7 - June 5, 22:00 – After pretty long break from gaming, I have finished my first playthrough of Heroes of Might and Magic from GOG. At the beginning I have picked the Warlock hero and after 697 of in-game days, I defeated the Dragon City in the last scenario. The game despite being so old, has still a lot of charm and I've enjoyed it most of the time. Unfortunately the not so bright AI does put some stains on the experience, but few of the scenarios would be probably very difficult, if it was any smarter.

8 - June 12, 21:15 – Third playthrough of Journey on my PS3 is behind me. The plan was to find as much companions as possible and to get last symbol for the golden trophy. Well, I found 4 companions, but clumsy me missed the symbol again At least, I was able to finish the game with one of these companions, and got at least one trophy for that

9 - June 19, 16:00 – And playthrough number 4 of Journey on my PS3 is behind me. Again, I was trying to meet some more companions for the Wonder trophy today, while getting the last glyph. This time, I was lucky with the glyph, but unlucky with the companions. Only two of them met today. Two online trophies to go.

10 - June 25, 17:30 – Fifth playthrough of Journey on my PS3 finished. Only one companion met this time

11 - July 3, 21:00 – After 6 years and 11 months, I've decided to get back to my unfinished 3rd playthrough of Atelier Rorona on PS3. The goal for this playthrough was Pie Master ending, while getting Rorona's Alchemy level to 50. Both goals were achieved successfully, although after three days of playing, I have remembered why I have abandoned the run all these years ago . Getting this ending was almost as much busywork as getting the Astrid Ending, which little bit spoiled my fun during last two days of playing. It took me 62 hours this time. Thankfully all other endings are much easier to achieve, so I hope, I will be able to get back to another playthrough after much shorter break .

12 - July 31, 21:00 – After almost 11 years, I decided to visit Atelier Totori again on my PS3, and start my second second playthrough of the game. I wanted to finish everything, what the game has to offer and achieve all prerequisites for the True Ending. I was able to get all the missing playthrough trophies, but unfortunately, I must have missed some character event, and as a result I was awarded with Rorona's Who's the Teacher? ending instead. It was a lot of busywork, especially getting 500,000 money, but thankfully, it is transferred together with the equipment to New Game+, so all subsequent playthroughs will be more easygoing .

13 - September 10, 20:30 – I've finished the sixth playthrough of Journey on my PS3. I wanted to relax a little bit, and hoped to meet at least one companion online. Unfortunately, no one was around today.

14 - September 10, 22:45 – I have decided to give my PS3 Journey one more try, because I have found one guy on Journey Discord, which planned to play today. We met at the Bridge level and my Wonder trophy finally popped up. He has shown me a lot of new ways how to go through various levels and out of bounds, so we spent playing together almost for two hours, and as a reward I got my last missing trophy Companion. So my journey is 100% complete now .

15 - September 16, 09:30 – Second playthrough of Atelier Meruru after 8 and half year on my PS3 is behind me. Again, the goal of this playthrough was to get all missing trophies and one new ending. Because I have already spent a lot of time on raising friendship with all characters for these trophies, the obvious choice was the Miss Popular ending. Besides that, I was able to defeat Eternity Goddess and Masked G for the first time. Unfortunately the free DLC boss was to powerful for me, so his demise has to wait a little bit longer.

16 - October 29, 16:15 – Finished my first playthrough of Atelier Lulua on PS4. I've purchased it few months ago, but never had a chance to play it. Now I spent more than 90 hours with the game and even without a walkthrough, I was able to unlock the true ending and Her Choice trophy. The biggest positive change from previous installments is, that there is no time limit anymore, so you can spend as much time as you need discovering the world. The biggest negative change are the enemies. Even on Normal Difficulty, they have loads of HP, and even with the best weapons synthesized, it takes long time to finish them all off, so at some point the fighting becomes a chore. Story has more depth than original Arland Trilogy, and is satisfying for this kind of game.

17 - October 31, 14:00 – I have finished Platinum Demo: Final Fantasy XV on PS4 to unlock Carbuncle Summon for the full game. I did not expected much, and still ended up disappointed. Big empty Open World, and clumsy real-time combat. I am not looking forward to play the full game.

18 - November 18, 20:30 – I have finished the main storyline of Final Fantasy XV on PS4. It is still mixed bag for me. Chapters 1-9 were pretty bland and boring, due to the mostly empty open world, and everything taking so long. The exceptions was dungeon crawling. On the other hand in chapters 10-14, I had pretty solid fun. Almost 86 hours spent means, that I enjoyed the game enough, to not throw it out of the window, as I was planning to do, after playing the Platinum Demo. Still it seems to me, that this game was failed live service, which did not achieve to hold enough interest for keeping player going back to the game. Having full story put in between movie, anime, DLCs, novels and audio dramas, did not help either.

19 - November 25, 17:15 – Storyline of initial releaes of Final Fantasy XV – Comrades DLC on my PS4 is behind me. After more than 18 hours of grinding, I have defeated Bahamut. I had a decent amount of fun, but Square Enix pretty much killed it with endless grinding. Especially if you want decent weapons. Which is shame, because I liked the combat system more than in the base game.

20 - December 1, 13:30 – After little bit more than 40 hours of playing and few retries, I was able to beat Ifrit, the final boss of the 1.2 release of Final Fantasy XV – Comrades DLC on PS4, and finish the whole DLC storyline.

21 - December 1, 14:30 – An hour after beating Ifrit, I have amassed an output of 999,999kW, required for the final Let There Be Light trophy of the initial release of Final Fantasy XV – Comrades DLC on PS4.

22 - December 1, 22:00 – The third one of the day was the final trophy of the free 1.2 update to Final Fantasy XV – Comrades DLC on PS4. It was needed to complete the Future: Comrade mission with all four protagonists of the main game. The mission was probably planned to be a challenge, but it was pretty failed one. Mainly due to sucky AI companions and the Bahamut King practically oneshotting everyone all the time. The fight, especially with Noctis, looked like this: 3 hits on boss, getting oneshoted, wait on AI to run to you and revive you, hoping to be lucky, that the boss does not oneshot you right away, repeat until the boss died. After enduring this for one and half hour, I had finally acquired the Beacons of Hope trophy, and I can finally put this DLC on the shelf and never return back.

23 - December 3, 14:45 – After a day of break I have finished Final Fantasy XV – Episode Gladiolus DLC on PS4. It did not take so long compared to Comrades. Only 2 and half hours on Normal difficulty with few retries, because I was afraid to use up Phoenix Down, as I wanted to save all of them for the final fight. In the end it was not needed at all, even though Gilgamesh did made me sweat few times . In the end, I had much more fun with combat, than in the main game or Comrades.

24 - December 3, 22:00 – All trophies in Final Fantasy XV – Episode Gladiolus DLC are finally unlocked on my PS4. The last two challenges were painfully hard for me, but also a lot of fun and a little bit of rage. Especially the Final Trial against Cor . Both challenges were all about tactics, a lot of patience and good reflexes. Of course, the last one is something, which I lack , so I spent on each challenge approximately 2 hours to learn how to execute them good enough to fulfill all the prerequisites for the trophies.

25 - December 6, 01:15 – I have finished the storyline of Final Fantasy XV – Episode Prompto DLC on my PS4. It is a very mixed bag for me. This one has also some sidequests, but most of them are pretty much unbalanced, and they have all some kind of exploit, where the enemy gets stuck, and completely stops attacking. What is the use of lvl 99 encounter, if it either oneshots you, or you need to use exploit to defeat it? At least final bossfight was enjoyable. That being said, IMHO Prompto's shooting mechanics in FFXV lacks fun factor compared to melee mechanics of Noctis or Gladiolus.

26 - December 6, 22:30 – Last two PS4 trophies in Final Fantasy XV – Episode Prompto DLC have been acquired. The two DLC challenges were much easier than in Episode Gladiolus, but they needed a little bit of practice as well. Especially the snowmobile Time Trials. After an hour and 20 minutes, with little bit of luck, I've completed all three of them with three stars rating. The last time trial, with exactly the minimum time limit required to pass it . The Intensive Training challenge against Aranea was pretty relaxing fight, so after 30 minutes of attempts, I was able to defeat her as well.

27 - December 16, 21:45 – After a few days of chilling in the main game, I have started and finished the storyline of Final Fantasy XV – Episode Ignis DLC on my PS4. This DLC was so far the weakest from the three character DLCs. It took me 4 hours, but I wished few times, that it would end sooner. The combat mechanics felt lackluster, and for the counterattacking, you need even better reflexes, than for Gladiolus. Which sucks for an old guy with slow reflexes. I am not looking forward to the DLC challenges at all.

28 - December 17, 21:45 – I have reached alternate ending in Final Fantasy XV – Episode Ignis DLC on my PS4. It was just a short session, but I had more fun, than in the rest of DLC. Probably because Ignis was overpowered by the effects of Ring of Lucii from the beginning of the final battle, so this overshadowed the need for better reflexes, which I lack .

29 - December 18, 16:30 – After 1 hour and 6 attempts, the Friendly Match challenge versus Noctis in Final Fantasy XV – Episode Ignis DLC has been won, and with it, the last PS4 trophy of this DLC is mine. The final attempt took me 10 minutes and 54 seconds, which surprised me a lot, because most of the guides to this fight, that I have watched, lasted more than 15 minutes. With the rumours floating around, that this fight is the hardest fight in Final Fantasy XV, I was postponing the playthrough of this DLC for 10 days, and then for another two days, to start this challenge. I just wanted to have as good mood as possible, and feel well rested, before attempting it . Now, that it is behind me, I have to say, I had more trouble to defeat Cor in Episode Gladiolus. I think, it might be due to both Cor and Noctis having similar patterns in a lot of their attacks, so I already knew when was the best time to press dodge, to avoid damage. But the most crucial thing to be able to win against him, was to execute almost flawlessly the counterattacks, which healed Ignis, and have caused big damage to Noctis. Thankfully, because of the animation of Noctis’ attacks, it was a little bit easier to perform them, than against common enemies or Ardyn, so even the old slowpoke as me, was able to successfully perform them in more than 90% of cases . But even with that, I had to use all of the consumables, with the exception of 1 Phoenix Down, which the game gave me at the start of the fight. Another crucial thing was, to save your High Jump special move, when Noctis unleashed his Armiger Chain, which needed crazy fast reactions as well. And as expected, I have missed it few times even in my final attempt . I feel now as much adrenaline and satisfaction, as when I have beaten False King Allant in the Demon’s Souls, for the first time

30 - December 20, 13:00 – After finishing all PS4 trophies in Episode Ignis, I have decided to relax a little bit and run around in the main game to finish some sidequests. During that, I have found a meal in an restaurant in Lestallum, with Equalizer buff, which boosts your attack by 2% for each level between your level and the level of the monster you are fighting against. So I have decided to take advantage of it, and went straight to finish the quest involving Melusine superboss, which were added to main game as a free update/DLC. I have defeated her on a second attempt, although she gave me some hard beating when she was under 3% of HP, and almost obliterated my entourage. Thankfully the game offered me invocation of a summon and then, Shiva took care of the rest of her HP pool . After reporting the quest at the Hunter HQ, I have received the trophy, and with that, Final Fantasy XV – July 2017 Update is 100% complete.

31 - December 29, 12:00 – I have finished storyline of Final Fantasy XV – Episode Ardyn DLC on my PS4. This one is an interesting mixed bag of an DLC. Ardyn, has definitely most interesting gameplay mechanics of the all DLC characters, but I find the content not much better than Prompto's DLC. Although, it still means, that it's the second best FFXV DLC.

[Mamoulian War]

yay it worked Anyway, goal number 2/2023 is finished

 

February 4, 20:00 – After clearing Pitioss Ruins few days ago, I have finally found enough time to challenge Omega at the ruins of Insomnia again. Now that I had the Black Hood and 4 Ribbons equipped, the fight was not that difficult, as when I've tried it for the first time. Still, Omega was pretty big HP sponge, and resistant to most of attacks, with the exception of Royal Arms and lightning damage. It took me a lot of Quintcast: Thundara grenades in conjunction with Ignis' Enhancement skill and awakened Armiger invocations to defeat it, but after little bit more than 35 minutes Omega was defeated and with it, the last PS4 trophy of the Final Fantasy XV – Royal Pack DLC was mine.

[LadyCrimson]

I'm now idly curious how you wrote out that long post, since it's the first time alternating sized text registered on my PC screen since not allowing sites to pick fonts etc.

[Mamoulian War]

12 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

I'm now idly curious how you wrote out that long post, since it's the first time alternating sized text registered on my PC screen since not allowing sites to pick fonts etc.

Few years ago, I started to make a “diary” of finished games in Libre Office. So my post is just a copy and paste from the file. And it looks like the forums automatically transfer the size and bold or italics.

[Mamoulian War]

As I had still some free time yesterday, I decided to try my luck with last hunt in FFXV Goal number 3 complete!

February 4, 23:30 – Right after a dinner, I've decided to go after the last PS4 trophy in Final Fantasy XV, which I was missing. I've arrived in Hammerhead and accepted last hunt from Takka, which goal was to defeat the Adamantoise superboss. Compared to Omega, the fight was easier, especially when wearing powerful Rare Metal accessory. Unfortunately even with this big damage boost, the fight took me just over 55 minutes! Mostly due to the fact, that the awakened Armiger was completely useless, and it took me a while to find out, what was it's weakness. After I noticed it, it was just rinse and repeat of warping and hitting it's eyes, with occasional unleash of Ignis' Sagefire skill and normal Armiger activation.

[kanisatha]

@Mamoulian War, seriously, how do you find the time? Do you, like, have a spouse who takes care of everything in life for you?

I am lucky if I can get through a couple of games in a year, three tops.

[Mamoulian War]

11 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

@Mamoulian War, seriously, how do you find the time? Do you, like, have a spouse who takes care of everything in life for you?

I am lucky if I can get through a couple of games in a year, three tops.

I wish my spouse would be like that Due to nature of my work, I have sometimes more free time, and sometimes less. Eg. I had a lot of time during the November and December, but not so much in January. I generally have much more time during the winter, than in the rest of the year. If you look at the dates, in my list, I had very very limited time to play anything in between February and June Also, due to the nature of my wife’s job, I have a lot of time to enjoy gaming every second weekend. And we do not have kids, so this gives me an extra free time as well.

The list looks really long, but it is first such a long list since probably 2015 my backlog is insane On average, I think I have around 1 - 2 hours gaming time daily, depending on my job schedule. Although most of that playtime is accumulated during the weekends, when my wife is at work Sometimes I only play games on these weekends and not a single hour during the week.

[Tale]

144 hours played, all three Dark Souls games down with DLC. I'm glad I did that.

After all that, I feel like I need more closure from this franchise... It's a weird way of saying I want more. But when the grand finale is giving a kid black paint and her saying she'll paint someone a nice home, then I kind of want to see that place.

Anyway, I was originally going to do a Dead Space marathon when Elden Ring interrupted. And now with the remake out maybe I'll start there.

[Theonlygarby]

Playing persona 4.  I played it years ago and never finished... this whole time I've been thinking "how far did I get, because I everything is familiar" but I wasn't sure if I had gotten further this time around... that is until I ran into the latest boss battle...  the second I fought it, the trauma came back.  Now I remember why I quit... guess I'll just have to grind for a couple hours

 

JRPGs have the most abrupt difficulty curves... usually they are stupid easy until the final gauntlet then it's like "hey you haven't been building your character enough, I know that it wasn't necessary until this exact moment, but now you better grind 10+ levels"

Edited February 6, 2023 by Theonlygarby

[Mamoulian War]

I feel your pain. Especially the older JRPGs had traumatized even such exquisite appreciator of the genre as me in their final Dungeon. On of the worst offenders for me was Final Fantasy IV and X

Anyway, 1 and half year after the release, I have finally decided to boot up Tales of Arise for the first time. And so far, I am enjoying it (only 1 hour into the game). Especially the art of the game is brilliant. I have really missed something like that in all that flood of "photorealistic" games. It's really fresh breeze for me. We'll see how the game will fare further into the storyline. I have pretty high hopes for it

[Theonlygarby]

10 was annoying for sure.  I wasn't loving the story, so it was easy for me to give up.  FF8 broke me.  That game was so easy, I didn't even understand the stacking magic mechanic.  Then I get to the final boss and just get destroyed.  Like... not even a dent.