I don’t know why, but no matter how many times I reaffirm my opinion that I do not like JRPGs, I always find myself eyeing them when a hype new title comes out.
“This one… this will be the one that clicks for me…” I tell myself.
I know I will not enjoy Persona 5. I’ve watched a bit of it streamed, watched trailers, read reviews. Nothing appeals to be, not the setting, not the combat, not playing a video game to go back to fucking school or hold a part-time job… nothing about it. Yet as I watch my friends rave about it on Facebook, watch the top review scores roll in, for some stupid reason I still had to talk myself out of picking it up.
Update: Please check out this post if you’re having issues with an old comic stuck on the front page.
I’m the same way with NieR. Everyone keeps going on about how good it is and I’m sitting back here just going ‘meh’. Tried the beta thing they put out, watched streams of it, and nothing about it is appealing at all.
While I never played NieR for myself, I did have the chance to watch someone play through the game. Helloween4545 played the game. One of the important things when dealing with a series like this is understanding the story, and sadly this is one of those games where you don’t really get the full story, unless you have some information of the entire series as a whole. For instance, its connected to Drakengard, and I didn’t know that before watching him play because he fills you in on the lore as the game progresses. Lets Plays may not be your… Read more »
The main reason I’d force Nier on people is because it got way less buys than it should have for how good it was. Cavia needs to prove its mettle to the Big Guys. Yes, I know it got bought up, but…Nier deserves more attention.
Eh, Persona games have always been deeply rooted in Japanese culture. That’s one of their appeal – if you’ve been to Tokyo, you will find that in the game Shibuya is modeled after the real world place.
It gives off nostalgic vibes to westerners who have been there (at least, that’s what happens to me).
That aside, the game is stupidly detailed. It’s basically the opposite of what ME:A turned out to be. Every single menu is animated individually, giving off a unique style and attention to detail that it’s not easy to find nowadays.
What? Who doesn’t love an RPG about halcyon days back in high school, awkard teenage years, no bills, part time job for spending money, and get involed in turn based fights…
I think maybe you need new friends with good taste in games.
“Who doesn’t love an RPG about the halcyon days back in high schoo-”
High School was fucking /horrible/, don’t glorify those years. It was like if the internet was a physical place.
Just watched trailer. Intriguing! Thankfully as an Xbox and PC player, I won’t have to worry about this struggle (although son does have a PS4….)
Shame. I am jrpg lover (self proclaimed). Everyone has their taste. But hopefully you will find the one you will love.
On the other note, I remember I met some games through the hype. Some were very disappointing. Mine would be Sword Coast Legends. I was very hyped and then was turned away by older reviews. It’s a good thing I did not buy it. I would be forever disappointed in dnd games.
Youre not alone here Tim. I go through this same thing every year.
Anyone else having an issue with the main page continually loading the comic from April 5? Every time I come back here, it loads that specific old comic, and not the most recent one.
Try an Alt F5 refresh. You may have a local cache of a previous version of the page with a long or no expiration cache.
does that work on Chrome? Pressing Alt-F5 doesn’t seem to do anything
although right clicking and hitting reload seems to bring it to the right page
Whelp, seems to be working now – thanks! We’ll see if it holds up once the next comic is up 🙂
Just as an FYI, it is shift+f5 on Chrome.
Ctrl+F5 for Firefox
I got a stack of JRPGs sitting in my Steam list and I just sit there and think, “Maybe when I retire.” There is no way I can invest into any RPG right now. I think the last one I finished was Mass Effect 2, w/o DLC. I’m 1/2 through Skyrim and hardly out of the initial settlement in Fallout 4.
Does Borderlands 2 count as an RPG? Because I’ve been barreling through that a couple of times with my co-op team.
The thing is that persona 5 is an jrpg that has an actual end since it is extremely story and character driven so it’s great for people with limited time since you can actually finish it and feel accomplished about finishing it.
I’ve been this way with Final Fantasy since FFVII. It’s the last one I liked, but I own all of them.
I’ve never been able to figure out “I hate (all of genre X).” Do you really hate every single JRPG you’ve ever played? I thought I didn’t like puzzle games most of the time and I still drooled over The Witness and had so much fun. I thought I hated difficult platformers and liked La Mulana. You kind of have to keep sticking your hand on that stove because eventually you will find something you’d otherwise have missed. In general I don’t say I dislike a genre anymore, because that’s really restrictive. Also, anyone who thinks Persona is just about… Read more »
Why would that be puzzling? They’re called a “genre” because they share similar, underlying traits and characteristics. So if those traits did not appeal to someone in one game, it stands to reason they might dislike all the other games that share them as well.
And nobody things Persona is just about going back to school, I was making a point for effect.
You’re kinda missing the point here. JRPGs tend to have certain things about them: from incredibly bass ackwards and convoluted plot to some rather esoteric references you wouldn’t get unless you’re familiar with what the reference is ahead of time. And let’s not forget the that you’re supposed to be saving the world, so let’s go play some mini games to max out this side character’s dialogue tree even though we won’t ever see them again after 4 hours of this minigame that you don’t even like and the character doesn’t even matter to anything anyways. Not to mention the… Read more »
Wow… that was a lot of words.
That was a rant worthy of Dr Cox and I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you don’t like JRPG’s?
Though I’m sure you get no end of suggestions (and are long since tired of them no doubt), have you tried any of the games in the “Tales of” series? Tales of Symphonia is a personal all-time favorite for me.
That’s about my feelings with JRPGs. I tried Tales of Berseria somewhat recently. SPLENDID graphics. But filled with cutscenes and a story that find myself not caring about.
Oops, didn’t meant to ‘reply’ to anyone.
I love the Tales of games, but they’re pretty much the worst recommendations to someone who doesn’t like the genre. They’re shameless in upholding all the things of the genre that people either hate or love. Great recommendation to anyone who does love the genre, but they probably know the tales of already.
I had to look up JRPG because I didn’t know those games had an abbreviation. I just skip over them when they show up in Steam. Never did get them. But that’s not the only genre I don’t enjoy, so at least it won’t be lonely in the void outside of my consciousness.
No. JRPGs bad. I just can’t find that combat system interesting. I tried playing Chrono Trigger and was turned off quite bad. So I watch streams of the must haves.
I LOVE jRPGs. At least, mostly. I’ve found they’ve stagnated a bit. There’s a few tropes that can drive me nuts too (like the “super-smart” 6 year old that seems to end up in every JRPG). I’ve been playing the new Tales of Berseria lately and it’s actually really good. Still have a few of the tropes, but not nearly as bad as usual.
I haven’t played any Personas. I’ve always wanted to, but just never got around to it.
You really need to play Persona 5 and 4 they are the best jumping on points in the series while 3 is a bit less friendly.
I highly recommend Persona 5. It’s the Witcher 3 of JRPGs, that one must-play game that stands as the pinnacle of what the genre is capable of. There are no super-smart elementary schoolers in this game, for one.
Does the idea of hanging out in Tokyo with a cast of lovable characters interest you?
Are you enamored with Japanese culture?
Do you like a fast-flowing turn-based combat system?
Do you like collecting Pokemon?
Do you like acid jazz and stylish menus?
If you answered yes to any of these, you’ll love Persona 5.
Would you say it’s an art style thing or mechanics thing? I think you need to play JRPGs in formative years, and then it’s all just nostalgia. For example, my first JRPG was FFIX. I love that game to this day, listening to the soundtrack brings back great memories. But I could never get through FFVII or FFVIII or X or any other FF. Never really enjoyed any other turn based JRPG, but I can’t honestly tell you FFIX was different and you should give it a try because it wasn’t, it was the same as any other out there… Read more »
To be honest with persona it’s just a matter of getting sucked into the story no nostalgia needed, I never played any of them when they originally came out but when they where rereleased for the psp I picked up persona 3 portable and ended up loving it.From that point I made it my mission to beat all the games in the series even going back and playing the SMT series and let me tell you they are fun games with fun elements and extremely deep dark stories.
I have that same problem with Little Debbie’s Cosmic Brownies. I don’t like brownies, cakes, chocolate, or hyper-processed foods. And yet every once in a while I struggle with myself to remember that, no, I don’t want it and, yes, it’s just as gross as I remember.
I thought this comic was going to be about Destiny 2.
I was similar with Bloodborne and The Last of Us. They were the first games I bought with my PS4. Loved Demon’s Souls, loved Dark Souls ( didn’t play DkS II ). Was really looking forward to Bloodborne. Play it about four hours and turned it off. The slower, more methodical combat I enjoyed from the first two Soul games was now fast-paced and twitch-based. Not a fan. As much as I want to try Dark Souls III, I’m still hesitant to pull the trigger. I love the Uncharted series so TLoU remastered on PS4 seemed like a dream. I… Read more »
Speaking of jrpg, aside from new ones, there are some gems which were left behind without receiving future. Persona and shin Megami series were popular because of interesting bold controversial themes. Shin Megami tensei Nocturne was something that set high bar for the series and unfortunately spoiled majority of the following games of series forever as mediocre.
Can we count LoZ as jrpg? And was FFXV okay?
I have to agree with you there SMT3 was the best jrpg I have played to date and no other in the series has come close to beating it, seriously the choices you are given and the endings make that game stand tall and proud above all other SMT games that came after and before. But as long as you don’t try and compare the other games to it they are all still extremely enjoyable rpgs.
“Can we count LoZ as jrpg?”
No.
Maybe Zelda II as half of one at most, an action RPG.
Otherwise no.
To each their own. I have that problem with a few other genres like shooters and survival sandbox games. Every now and then I let myself get convinced into picking one up only to learn all over again why I don’t like the genres.
Damn shame. Persona 5 is definitely my favourite RPG (both Western and Japanese) of all time, and possibly my top game of all time. I understand that it’s not for everyone though, and I’m a big sucker for these life sim/visual novel games.
I dread each day that passes that brings me closer to the end of this game. I wish it would never end.
On the previous website i could save the link to a specific comic (by date), is there anyway i can do it with the new website?
This same thing is happening with me and Bayonetta now that they just put it on PC. All I keep hearing is how good the PC port is, and how great the game is, and how it’s actually a good value for the money at $20 for a re-release (unlike a certain Bulletshitstorm charging $60 as well as offering day-one DLC). And I have to tell myself “No. You hate spectacle fighters. You always get bored mashing buttons to kill off the generic, bargain-basement enemies that have way too much health. Don’t buy Bayonetta, you idiot.” When it comes to… Read more »
Hallelujah, I just noticed that we finally have a comments section! The forums are always so dead.
I have only loved one JRPG, and it is free RPGmaker game. Good story, good characters, and the grind isn’t so bad.
Thank you so much!
It feels like everyone loves JRPGs, especially looking at those insanely high Metacritic ratings, yet I never got into them. Except for Pokemon, for some reason (well, the reason is probably that it has Pokemon). Until recently I kept buying the better ones (Persona, Danganronpa etc. ) thinking “this is gonna be the one I am going to love”, yet they always felt terrible immediately. Persona 5 coming out was mostly “meh” for me.
While I love JRPGs I have never been one for the persona series. I think its because Im drawn to shonen style rpgs and Persona seems more of a seinen.
I’m curious to what you actually dislike about JRPGs, I’ve never really hated JRPGs – but surprisingly I’ve never actually been into the persona series myself (I don’t dislike them, don’t really care for them either). That being said I’ve quite enjoyed the Tales of _____ series from Symphonia and onwards (except zestiria, the battle camera made me herniate) due to the anime-like style, and the real time battle system, story is okay too most of the time. I recommend Tales of Berseria, if you have a PS4 – pc version does exist but playing with a controller is generally… Read more »
I always find it funny when console advocates try to sell them based on the controller – the idea that PC gamers aren’t limited to just the one option for input devices is obviously quite alien to them.
Also, don’t trust Metacritic.
It’s the Otaku and Gamer in me fighting for control. Just like a sunrise or sunset, it seems beautiful in concept to watch the “in between” of night and day but in reality it burns my eyes and gives me a headache. Kinda like fruitcake. As Jim Gaffigan said it “Fruit = good. Cake = good. Fruitcake = nasty pile of crap.”
I wonder if thats Ethan…