#JRPGJuly 2024 – Week 3 Round-Up
Welcome to another year of everyone’s favorite monthly gameathon. #JRPGJuly was created as a community game-along by Anne Lee @ Chic Pixel, and hosted by MDi. Once again, the RPGamer staff is showing their support for the event by playing some JRPGs. If you’re participating make sure to use #JRPGJuly or share your feelings over on the RPGamer Discord server.
The third week of #JRPGJuly sees staff digging deeper into their chosen titles. Let’s see everyone’s progress!
Joshua Carpenter
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak
After spending decades hearing references to it, reading in-game books about it, and seeing Crossbell’s miniature version of it, I’ve finally made it to Longport and experienced its famed Eastern Quarter in The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak. I love how seriously the Trails series takes its lore as Nihon Falcom continually drops references to, and introduces characters from, regions all over the in-game world before having them pay off once one of the games utilizes one of those settings. The “Gambler Jack” series of books about the Eastern Quarter in Calvard was in Trails in the Sky SC and now over eight games later Falcom is finally paying off all that buildup. It creates a similar feeling that you have in real life where you have read and seen images of a city, and once you finally go there, you have an incredibly satisfying feeling experiencing a place that you have only been able to imagine before.
The Eastern Quarter is huge and fun to explore; there are even vendors selling knockoff Mishy dolls in the market. Van, Agnès, and Feri are a great core cast and I appreciate the more restrained scope after the past few Trails games each had dozens of playable characters, with the huge cast often feeling the need to comment on everything, making every story beat feel interminably long. There’s been a careful doling out of both new and returning characters and the story is slowly digging into the conflicts between the different groups in the Calvardian underworld and I’m intrigued to see how this will tie into the overall narrative. However, I could do with less of everyone calling Van — who is only 24 — an “old man” at every turn. Oh JRPGs!
Ezra Kinnell
Going from the heavy gameplay and combat-focused beasts of Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance and Elden Ring to a more story-focused, character-driven game like Trails through Daybreak has certainly caused me a bit of whiplash, but that’s not to say Daybreak hasn’t been great!
Calvard definitely sets itself apart from the rest of the franchise, as does the revised combat system. I appreciate the decision-making between fighting in real time and switching to turn-based combat, and the addition of free movement during turn-based combat is welcome. Overall, I’m really excited to keep playing!
Jervon Perkins
Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster
I can’t believe I am three weeks into #JRPGJuly. The time has flown by, especially since I go back to school in early August. This week was a bit different from the previous two. I traveled to Maryland and Ocean City, leaving my PlayStation 5 at home. I took this as a chance to reintroduce myself to the Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster released on the Switch last September, specifically the first Baten Kaitos game.
The complexity of the card game mechanics makes jumping back in after a break a bit challenging; I had forgotten what deck I assigned to each character, but I eventually remembered their roles, mainly focusing on having a tank, healer, and DPS. I also chuckled when I realized some of the healing cards I had turned rotten and were now poisoning the characters instead.
For the last week of #JRPGJuly, I plan to return to leveling my Summoner/Scholar in Final Fantasy XIV. Despite the challenges, revisiting Baten Kaitos has reignited my passion for the game. It’s been a refreshing break from my usual routine, and I’m excited to dive back into Final Fantasy XIV with renewed energy.
Sarah Ferries
I finished Endwalker! I started Dawntrail and met a new girl cat – Wuk Lamat – who kind of reminded me of Tidus from Final Fantasy X. She kept talking about how hungry she was and couldn’t wait to eat. I’ll just call her female Tidus. Seeing how tall she was compared to everyone, including G’raha Tia, was amusing as everyone just looked up at her. Thancred and Urianger go off on their own adventures, while Krile is investigating her grandfather’s legacy in the new world! She comes along and debuts Pictomancer, which is super fun. I’m not much of a DPS person, but this is a job I can get behind and level. I haven’t been doing a lot of story quests for Dawntrail yet, because I want to level Pictomancer with all my old sidequests I’ve been hoarding.
The beginning of Dawntrail has some A Realm Reborn vibes, starting with being on the ship to the new world. There’s some definite déjà vu staring with being on a ship through stormy seas and helping the crew save said ship. Yoshi P was right; it is a new beginning. Now that I’m going backward finishing some other side storylines, I’m currently doing one with Gaius and his foster children. My brain is all over the place switching from a new world, experiencing some déjà vu, and now piloting a Gundam, sorry, machine. The Werlyt storyline is really interesting and humanizes Gaius, who just wants the killing to stop. I’m looking forward to delving into more side stories and leveling Pictomancer this next week.
Robert Albright
It’s been a rough week, as stress from work made streaming on our Twitch channel difficult, so progress was limited. I did make a little progress in Final Fantasy XIV, as I followed the right of succession that the leader of the “New Continent” is doing for his heirs. There has been a lot of backstory and also learning about the cultures that make up this land. I managed to get through the first Trial, a throwback to Final Fantasy IV. It’s a fun little fight. I always loved how many throwbacks and callouts FFXIV does to the older Final Fantasy games and integrates them into the game’s lore and world.
Andi Privitere
I got distracted a little from #JRPGJuly this week by some new changes in Gems of War, but I still managed to keep my eye on the unicorn-shaped prize and have opened up nearly all of the fifth and final kingdom in Unicorn Overlord. More story is being revealed about characters that have been with me since the beginning, though I’m not sure these revelations are supposed to be a surprise to the player — there were a lot of hints along the way.
As my units approach or hit level 40, I’m also taking a step back to tweak their combat mechanics. All characters have an action order of priority that can be highly customized by changing under what circumstances attacks, passive, or reactive actions will trigger. When my characters all had just one or two AP (action points) or PP (passive points), their action orders were fairly simple.
However, as characters grow in level, acquire new gear with bonus AP/PP or unique abilities, gain the ability to give or regain AP/PP, and learn a variety of skills courtesy of their class, action order starts to become crucial, especially when playing on higher difficulty. There’s nothing more satisfying than creating a new set of attack orders then watching characters decimate a unit they were struggling to defeat before!
Sam Wachter
A lot of my gaming time this week was spent working on review assignments for the site, so I didn’t get the chance to make a lot of progress in my new #JRPGJuly title. After finishing Sand Land, I thought long and hard and realized that I was craving something tactical, so I installed Persona 5 Tactica. I’m only about six hours into the game and I have defeated Marie! I won’t lie, I loved how challenging and insane her “Just Married” car-tank was, and I also loved the idea that she super smooches the Phantom Thieves into mindless zombies to do her bidding. The giant kiss mark was a delightful touch!
I love the idea of gridless tactical combat mixed with all the charm of a Persona battle system. It feels very similar to XCOM or Mario + Rabbids, minus the counter system. I also love that every character is super deformed, and oh my goodness little Haru and Makoto are so darn cute. I love them and their spaghetti arms so much. I’m into the second world now and I hope to complete the game before the end of the month. We shall see!
Robert Sinclair
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
I’m quite far into the game now and as much as I’m enjoying the different take on the original Midgar setting, I feel like it’s missing the mark on bosses. This game has so many frustrating bosses. There’s a literal house that is invincible 80% of the time, a ghost that moves objects around screwing up a line of sight while also switching back and forth between being immune to physical or magic attacks, and a chariot thing that flies around while also changing immunities. There hasn’t been a single fun boss in this entire thing. I beat all the bosses on my first attempt so far, but that doesn’t make me feel better. I’m going to beat this game, but I dread the next few sections.
Michael Baker
My review game this month has been everything but a JRPG, so I missed last week. That secret game is done with, however, so I’ve picked an item off my backlog – Fire Emblem: Three Houses. This has never been one of my go-to series, so we’ll have to see how well I fare on a modern installment. Wish me luck!
Phil Willis
I have finished off the mega-dungeon in this final chapter of the base Persona 5 game (at least, I think it is the last one). It took a very long time, but due to some SP replenishing items and abilities, I was able to do it all in one go. I always feel like I have to try and do dungeons in one or two trips because extra trips take valuable time off the calendar. I have relationships to work on! Unfortunately, that thinking leads to uneven pacing. Spending hours in a dungeon just to spend hours doing daily chit-chats with NPCs does not feel great. I tend to get a bit bored. Thankfully, the Mementos dungeon breaks that up a little bit. I did learn that one can auto-resolve any combat against weak enemies in any dungeon, not just Mementos! I know this feature was praised with Earthbound, but I hardly hear it mentioned with Persona. It should be, as it’s a lifesaver and an easy way to grind levels for those intimidated by the difficulty of boss battles. Level up now, and save yourself some stress later on!
Zach Welhouse
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
I’m 85 hours into Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and only on Chapter 8. It’s fair to say that I’m getting distracted by every mini-game, side story, and dimly lit alley that I ride past on my Segway. Completing the story is less pressing than existing in its world for a while and hanging out with this band of silly, hardscrabble misfits. To this end, Kiryu, Nanba, Saeko, and Seonhee have been collecting cans in Ijincho, reminiscing over ramen in Kamurocho, and mopping up goons wherever they go. My party is around level 43 with their jobs regularly rotated to keep hitting the relevant achievements.
It’s been a few months since I last played, so I’ve been reacquainting myself with the characters and what I’m hoping to get from the story. Although I’m not anticipating sticking around to see and do everything, hitting up all the reminiscence spots and maxing out Kiryu’s body, tech, and soul gauges is my top priority. I’m also planning to maximize my time with Ichiban (Hero), Tomizawa (Chef), Chitose (Geodancer), and Saeko (Idol). Having spent plenty of time battling Sujimon and attracting guests to my island resort, I’m going to keep down those paths as well. Ichiban’s cracker factory seems to be doing well in Ijincho, so I’m going to continue developing my image of him as an unexpectedly canny businessman.
Benedikt Geierhofer
I am a weird one. Sometimes I wonder why I play games I don’t enjoy that much myself. Since I started working in the industry as a game dev, I’ve developed a habit of playing games to study them; I like to see what makes them tick.
Final Fantasy XIII is one such game. Initially, I played and finished it in 2015, so coming back to it has been interesting. A lot of my issues with the game I remembered are still there, but there are some things I feel like I have been too hard on and others I didn’t critique enough.
I still am not the greatest fan of Hope or Lightning but my opinion of them has softened. Snow I find likable. I know what you are thinking, that sounds pretty wild. Other things like the combat are slowly starting to get to me. I spent this week moaning a lot about how slow the combat is, even when I’m spending a lot of time waiting for combat to wrap up. Still, I’m making progress and I already reached chapter 10. Soon the game gets to the part where it opens up a little.
Outside that, streaming of Golden Sun: The Lost Age still continues. In complete contrast to Final Fantasy XIII, I am still thoroughly enjoying it. As Golden Sun is simple, varied, and generally faster-paced, there’s very little to truly gripe about in terms of game design. I’m really enjoying going through dungeons one at a time and remembering all the little details I forgot.
Jahwon Corbett
As of this week, I’ve finished most of the stories for my primary team: Throne, Osvald, Ochette, and Temenos. One thing I think is a bit “out there” with the storylines is that many of them don’t have much, if any overlap. When I first started the game, I thought that maybe it would encourage a ton of replay value, kinda like a cRPG, where your team will comment more on the story developments that the characters are going through. But that is not the case. I think that it’s not a terrible thing, and there are minor conversations between the main characters of the storylines and the currently following companions. But in a way, it’s a bit disappointing to me that this is the way the story is, and will seemingly be the entire time. It makes me wish back for the days of party-based RPGs like Tales of Phantasia or Chrono Trigger, where every character would have separate responses to the storylines going on, even if they weren’t the main characters of that questline. It’s just a different and more “equitable” story development.
The other side of cRPG-style stories and their characters’ narratives being commented on by the companions, is that you get certain games where none of the companions have even moderately interesting responses. And for the most part, it is flavor text more than real character development. Overall though, I’m still enjoying the game. The fighting has become a bit boring, as the game doesn’t change much, but now that I have some extra jobs, I’m hoping to get some quality builds going as we reach the last week of #JRPGJuly.
Ryan McCarthy
As a change of pace, I decided to start playing Final Fantasy X-2 this past week. This is my first time playing it despite Final Fantasy X being my favorite game in the series. I don’t have too much to say about it so far. There hasn’t been much plot to this point, with only some hints of the Tidus lookalike who’s shown up in a couple of the spheres that the girls have found, and a few scenes showing the simmering conflict between the Youth League and New Yevon, two factions that have popped up in the two years since the events of the first game.
I’ve been enjoying the game’s battle system quite a bit so far, especially as I’ve acquired more dresspheres and garment grids to play around with. The game’s take on the ATB system has a few neat nuances like timing attacks to do chain damage against enemies and interrupting their attacks before they can be executed. The flexibility of Yuna, Rikku, and Paine switching between dresspheres in battle reflects Yuna’s more outgoing and excitable nature compared to her performatively demure nature in Final Fantasy X. This change of personality is also reflected in the more freeform nature of the game’s mission structure where the player can travel to the various places within Spira from basically the get-go. I’ll hopefully have more concrete thoughts next week as I get further into the game.
Paul Shkreli
While I am still playing Final Fantasy XVI, I am shifting gears this week for #JRPGJuly to talk about Pokémon Sword. I played the original Game Boy generations of the series, then played Pokémon Black when it came out while in college.
I bought Pokémon Sword at launch and simply never played it. Lately, my children have been getting into Pokémon cards, anime, and toys. It was just last week my oldest decided to play one of the video games and Sword is where we decided to start. It was between this and Let’s Go, Pikachu!
I’ve been having a lot of fun playing it with her, watching her analytical skills develop alongside her reading and comprehension skills. We have been discussing the weaknesses of each Pokémon type and how they work in both video games and card games. I know the more recent entries have been criticized for failing to innovate or bring the series into modernity, but I am finding the experience to be, dare I say, cozy? Maybe we’ll be singing a different tune in 30 hours, but for now, this is turning into some very sweet daddy/daughter time.
Mohamed Lamine Coulibaly
The third and last game I chose to play for #JRPGJuly is Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, a turn-based monster-taming game and spin-off of the Monster Hunter action series. Unlike the mainline series, the title targets a younger audience considering its characters, its tone, and the themes discussed in the story. However, it would be a mistake for JRPG lovers who like monster-taming games to not try Monster Hunter Stories 2 and its predecessor. When I first heard of Monster Hunter Stories, I feared a new creature-collecting title would merely imitate other successful series of the same genre. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see this game has its own identity and Monster Hunter Stories 2 improved the original formula. I especially like the implication of not being able to control the monster companion unless Kinship is expended. It not only forces the player to strategize but also shows the monsters aren’t merely tools for their rider. When not ordered, they can act on their own. This principle matches the lore of the series. Fortunately, for those who like to control everything, there are subtle means to make a creature do exactly what its rider desires.
Cassandra Ramos
I’m not sure how many hours I’ve put into Final Fantasy Legend II. My Switch play activity shows around 30 hours, but that’s for both Legend I and II. I think I’m roughly halfway through, as I have 36 out of 77 Magi, which are magic stones that the plot revolves around. A lot has happened since last week. I beat Ashura, a recurring villain in the SaGa series. After that, I went to an abandoned town of giants to get a special potion to shrink down to microscopic size to extract Magi from a priestess named Ki. Then I found a bunch of Magi in the god Apollo’s world before moving on to the next world. The main character Vin accused her father of cheating on her mother. The translation is a bit awkward and Nintendo likely altered it due to their strict policies back in the early 90s. It turned out her father was just helping Lynn and her mother since her real father died a while back. Sadly, Vin’s father fought a ninja and seemingly died. This being a JRPG, I half expect him to be back as a bad guy, but I will see. I last left off just having reached the world of the goddess Venus.
I spent so much time grinding for the giants’ equipment that my human and mutant have very high stats. I’m maybe halfway through the game and Vin already has max HP. Vin and Rika can pretty much destroy everything. I’ve started running away from battles to try and make up for being so overpowered. My overgrinding aside, I am enjoying this quaint little game. It must have been seen as quite a substantial JRPG experience on the original Game Boy. The meat system for the monsters is especially interesting, although I’ve started using an online calculator to be sure the monster I’m changing Drac into is stronger than its current form. Will I be able to finish this game before #JRPGJuly ends? We shall see.
That’s all for this week. Let us know what sort of progress you’re making in your #JRPGJuly game in the comments or on social media!
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