Criticise the game you're playing right now!

[Krizzy]

I'm not actually playing but just watching the walkthrough of FF III (DS version)

I find it boring, no story and no interaction between the main characters. This getting a DS remake rather than FF VI is beyond my comprehension.

I'm also watching the walkthrough of FF XII. While I like some of its characters (Basch and Balthier) I can't finish watching the damn thing, it's just so boring.

[Wolf Kanno]

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - This one map in the optional Forest Dungeon in Chapter 2 is seriously testing my patience. The map is filled with a combination of three undead, anywhere from two to four dragons, occasionally an octopi, and about three to four Fairies and Imps. Now the interesting thing about the map is that for some reason, the undead will occasionally fight with you, ignoring your party as long as you don't attack them and focusing on the other enemies which makes the fact the fight is usually my six party members against about nine to ten enemies on the map a bit more manageable, but it's difficult to figure out what causes this.

My issue is that the dragons hit hard, take little damage unless inflicted by Threaten, and are more efficient with killing my front line by ganging up on them than I am against them. The Fairy/Imp combo is weird as well since they can pepper me with arrows and magic from a distance and for depending on their skill load out, they either dodge everything that isn't augmented with a Skill ability with exasperating frequency, hit me as hard as the dragons with high critical hit rates, or simple make the battle a chore by inflicting Sleep and Poison on my party from a safe distance. There range is their real issue. The battle pretty much hinges on the undead enemies fighting with me since they draw the attention of the dragons and imps long enough for my party to set-up an effective assault but their Dragon Tail skill will generally OHKO anyone that doesn't have full health or isn't one of my knights. The scary part here is that the enemy level is the same as mine, so it's not like I'm fighting with a level handicap.

What's annoying me is that I have come close to winning this fight but it almost always turns into a Pyrrhic Victory for me cause I either have to decide to let one of my units die and lose their loyalty points and a Title I'm working towards, or I could resort to the Chariot mechanic (let's you rewind the battle back to change your decisions) which also screws me out of a title I'm working towards, and I'm just opposed to the mechanic in general since I feel it cheapens the whole gaming experience. I have spent most of this afternoon fighting this one battle over and over again. My last battle had me finish off the last of fairies with the aid of the undead, only to learn the battle doesn't end until they are dealt with as well, and sadly I had let one of my character left for the three turn incapacitated because I was under the illusion that I can win without killing the undead and I simply didn't have enough time to kill the undead without losing that unit.

[Example]

While Chrono Cross certainly lives up to the hype, I feel like Square really needs to take the phrase "less is more" to heart. One of the things I and many others loved about Trigger was its simplicity and that it chose what elements worked best and executed them really well. Cross on the other hand tries to cram too much when it isn't necessary. Why do we need so many (easily missable) characters when most of them aren't relevant to the plot and receive little to no development? Event the battle system has so many arbitrary mechanics i.e having to spam attack before you can use an element, and certain elements can only be used once, that I feel it would have been a much smoother experience without. Also the battle music sucks, but the rest of the soundtrack is amazing.

[Vyk]

Idiocy confirmed. Good to know.

Just to let you know, you're not crazy. When Netflix first grabbed it, all they had were the subbed versions, which for some reason Funimation re-subbed, and it was atrocious compared to the fansub. The english dub that came later made up for some of its short-comings, but they still lost some of the gravitas of the dialog that the fan-sub captured, and I'm not entirely sure what was going on with that decision. I'm so glad they partnered with Crunchyroll so things like that doesn't happen in the future

You take something like "I hate their existence and I'll kill every last one of them", and re-subtitle it to say something like "I'll drive them all out". It loses a lot of its punch, and they got a lot of flack for muting the emotion it was meant to convey. The english dub changed it to something like "I'll kill them all", which was much closer to the original, but still not quite as punchy. But way better

Just a small rant about the weird history of the localization. At least with North America and Netflix/Funimation

[Darth Ganon]

The second DLC pack came out for Breath of the Wild only for me to discover that there's limited inventory space for armor. Meaning I'm unable to collect the new pieces without selling something first.

I reluctantly sold the worn pieces to finish the first quest I had started, but I feel like holding off on playing the DLC to see if Nintendo patches this issue.

[Skyblade]

The second DLC pack came out for Breath of the Wild only for me to discover that there's limited inventory space for armor. Meaning I'm unable to collect the new pieces without selling something first.

I reluctantly sold the worn pieces to finish the first quest I had started, but I feel like holding off on playing the DLC to see if Nintendo patches this issue.

Yeah. I had picked up all the amiibo gear available and have maxed my inventory as well, only being able to pick up two of the new pieces. Also currently hoping for a patch to fix it. Wish I had some way to bring it to Nintendo's attention.

[Wolf Kanno]

Tactics Ogre: I think what hurts this game the most for me is the overhaul of the leveling and job systems. Like it sounds nice on paper, but is actually a smurfing pain in the ass in practice due to several gameplay quirks.

So Long rant ahead So to get some people up to speed, the original Tactics Ogre used to utilize a job system and leveling mechanic similar to FFTactics with several elements from Ogre Battle. Basically you raised individual units and in order to unlock classes, you had to meet certain stat requirements like raising a unit to have a certain amount of points in magic or strength in order to make them a Wizard or Knight. Leveling skills and basic levels worked like FFTactics where your unit is rewarded for individual accomplishments in battle.

Let Us Cling Together changes all of this. So instead of meeting class stat requirements, the game simply requires you to purchase or collect Job Marks of the specific jobs to change units into them. Frankly, this is really boring and eliminates any sense of accomplishment for obtaining them since it's now either relegated to a purchase in shops or subject to RNG shenanigans in battles. The exception being the unique classes, but as that word may infer, very few characters can actually use those classes so the game thankfully gives you enough of them when they are initially unlocked.

Characters no longer level individually instead, Jobs level up. This has the interesting effect of letting two characters you've used for some time have the ability to switch jobs with minor hiccups in terms of level issues. That sounds great on paper except outside of equipment restrictions not being an issue, the two characters are still going to be less useful than if they had stayed in their professions due to how important skills are. The mage you turn into a warrior can't utilize any of the magic based skills you've been pouring your skill points into and vice versa for the warrior turned wizard. It doesn't hurt as much if the classes have overlap of course, but considering how specialized a lot of the classes are in this game, it's not difficult to switch a character into a new class without feeling like you have to start over.

The real bitch here is that the game utilizes a variation of Tactics Advances mechanics of rewarding XP and Skill points after battles instead of during them. Combining this with the fact that equipment is restricted by level, you have a perfect storm for hating on new classes as they become an absolute chore to get them on par with your main unit. So yeah, you just unlocked a new class, but it's now level 1 and can only use level 1 gear, meaning whoever you turn into this class will be next to useless for battles and needs to be constantly babysat. Made worse by the fact all the XP is given after successful battles which can last anywhere from ten to twenty minutes per battle. This is also the type of game where an enemy being a few levels higher than you is enough to make your character next to useless against them, so that means you'll have to fight anywhere from five to ten battles to get these Jobs on par with the rest of the unit, meaning every time you have a new job rewarded, you have to essentially stop all momentum in the plot to go level it up if you want to use it. Considering how important skills are as well and their slower growth for most units, the unit spends forever trying to catch up with the rsest of the team and the whole mess just deters you from wanting to bother checking out new classes which kind of defeats the very spirit of the job system in general.

I had four new recruits join me in the game, with two new jobs as well. Only one of the four characters is actually of any use due to being a generic job I have kept in my battle unit since the beginning. Leveling the other characters with their new jobs has been a complete chore for me due to how long it takes to level up in this game and the fact they make battles more frustrating due to employing them being the same as giving the enemy a huge advantage since they can generally one shot these guys despite only being a few levels in difference. Either the game should have let some classes start with level based on your party average or we should have ditched the whole system and returned to FFTactics rules. I mean starting with a level 1 Cloud in Chapter 4 sounds awful until you throw him in battle, let him hit your Level 60 Chemist with Auto X-Potion and watch as Cloud gains twenty levels.

It has been seriously hampering my ability to really like this game as I feel I've been spending too much time grinding out my classes, and making me less inclined to change classes due to the skill system. The strength of a Job Class system is suppose to be giving the player options and instead I find all of these mechanics just make the system more restrictive and less fun. Which is a shame cause the classes and game are otherwise fun.


So yeah, I'm starting to lose my patience with Tactics Ogre.

[Wolf Kanno]

Suikoden V - The one annoying thing about adding a skill system to Suikoden is that it undermines the beauty of its leveling system and large playable cast of characters. Getting new characters up to speed is easy in earlier installments because your party levels with the difference between their level and enemy level. So a Lv. 5 scrub only needs to fight three or four battles to catch up to your Lv. 35 team, but adding a skill system that doesn't do this means these characters are still going to come off as weaker than the core team you've been running. Yes there is a Party Skill Point pool you can dive into, but the XP you get for that is really low and difficult to fill back up without more grinding. So, unless you know what skills to bother with, you're trapped grinding. Not helped that SV has so many good characters...

Pokemon GO ~ I hate Raids, and I hate any missions requirement that requires them. I've been stuck with a Yamask for the better part of a year now because I have to complete ten raids with him as a partner (I'm at 6 I believe). I just have the worst luck with getting Raids to work for me. I either find the Raid too late and don't have enough time to finish it, or I can only find Five Star Raids that require a full team of players to complete that my introverted ass is not going to bother with. Not helped is that they jacked up the price for Remote Passes since COVID-19, and I don't have many convenient Gyms in my area to farm Gold or Raids from.

Romancing SaGa Re:Universe ~ Typical Gatcha bulltrout where new characters they drop from pulls are overpowered as all hell and leaving other characters in the dust. I finally acquired a character that was God-Tier the first two years of the game's life and now I think he's been knocked down to A-Tier in fan rankings. I'm also just trying to catch up on the plot because the story has shifted to a new scenario with a new main character, and I'm still trying to finish the original scenario.

[Slade]

The Evil Within 2 - "Sebastian? Why do you run so dang slow!?" Probably my only complaint, tbh.

[Dr. Acula]

Tales of Vesperia is great but just... *feels* long. Not because it's boring or anything, but so much happens that I feel like I should be way further in the game than I actually am. I felt like I was 30 hours in at 15 hours. I've had this with a few other Tales games but not to this extent.

[Slade]

Persona 3 - Story and characters are great but the world just feels, I dunno, empty? Like there's only a very small amount of things you can do when you're not in Tartarus and it becomes very samey and even boring at times waiting for the next full moon and big plot point. How many times can I run track? Or go to the art room? Also, I literally have three girlfriends in the game now. Like, I get that it's an earlier title in the series with more limitations, but Persona 5 definitely improved the everyday world stuff.

[cheesesteak]

Star Ocean: Second Story R - dumb party mate AI. Perhaps my biggest pet peeve about Japanese party-based Action RPGs. I swore them off years ago, but it sorta slipped my mind w/ SO:SSR. At least it's limited to just the mages being stupid.

[Slade]

Fallout: New Vegas - I'm not a huge fan of the delayed health regain system. I tend to be the type that downs a lot of food and drink on the fly as I'm fighting to regain health in both Fallout 3 and 4 so it needs to be instantaneous. Unfortunately in New Vegas every food and drink has a "cool down" period after you consume it before it gives you health. Kind of annoying. On the flip side of this, I have to rethink my strategies to combat so in some ways it's kind of a mixed bag of annoyance and refreshing. It was just a little off putting to begin with.

[Wolf Kanno]

Star Ocean: Second Story R - dumb party mate AI. Perhaps my biggest pet peeve about Japanese party-based Action RPGs. I swore them off years ago, but it sorta slipped my mind w/ SO:SSR. At least it's limited to just the mages being stupid.

I remember the A.I. being very spotty in the original.

[Wolf Kanno]

Mostly playing FFXI, but my biggest gripe so far is that while the devs have done a lot to speed up leveling and make the game smoother for misanthropic loners like myself to play, the crafting system does not feel that way. Inventory nonsense aside, leveling crafting skills is a chore and just involves making the same useless stuff over and over again, and it's not like I'm going to be using all this brass and bronze equipment for very long since leveling is much faster and easier now. I just don't understand why this hasn't really been addressed.