The WORST PARTS of The BEST JRPGs! 

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I actually loved Midgar. I wanted that grungy, Dieselpunk feel for the whole game. I also realize I am in the minority.

Man, there's definitely potential for a whole series of "Most hated sequences in JRPGs". Almost every JRPG ever made has a sequence where the fun just decides to head out real quick.

"What if the entire game is in Midgard?!" - Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 1 has left the chat -

FF6: Begining of the World of Ruin...Cid do I have to slap you with dead fish so you can hurry up and finish building that damn raft for me!

The kalm flashback in ff7. Got to the world map and now stuck in an unskippable sequence that adds backstory but kills the pace of post midgar.

That's funny, Torneko's chapter was my favorite part of DQ4. The way it influences you, a comparably average Joe, to leave your boring job (which barely pays) to explore risky dungeons for a chance of higher living and adventure is poetic to me. If I remember correctly, there were enemies which drop the required steel broadswords and iron armor semi-frequently.

Haven't finished watching, but just gonna say it. FF12-The Great Crystal.

lol i'm sure everybody and their mother has played ff7 by now but when the game first dropped and you walked into Wutai for the first time not knowing wtf to expect....... I literally spent like a few fucking hours trying to figure that shit show out as a kid, then you get the shit back and its all fcked up and materia all over the place, I WAS SO GLAD to get TF out of that place by time i did it

The Torneko chapter is literally one of my favorite segments in a jrpg but to each his own.

The part of the OG Breath of Fire where you have only have Gobi in your party is such a slog

The multiple trips through Osohe Castle and the underwater section in Mother 3.

"Magus Bitches Boss" - Love it. I disagree about Midgar. I actually really liked it, but you make valid points!

I actually really like the opening few hours in Midgard in FF7. The claustrophobic feel makes it all that much better when you finally leave.

LOL the 2nd disc of Xenogears could’ve been an email.

SMT Nocturne: The prison mirage. Holy shit. God help you if you don’t realize you can interact with the gate controls and not only do you have to remember a 3D map of the prison, you have to flip it upside down.

Breath of Fire 2 - The final dungeon. I will keep this short. Its difficult, deadly and doesnt feel like it ends and there is a key situation that is missable before you fight the final boss where if you do miss it you cant beat the game. David this would make a solid series! Thank you!

I don't really mind disk two of Xenogears being a visual novel that much because I dreaded the dungeon design of that game. I finally just get to kick back and relax and watch the story unfold without having to do anything. My one gripe with it is just how quickly some of it can go by where a lot of times I feel like I just missed something even though I was paying attention the whole time.

My prediction: FF9's Cid minigame in the Desert Palace is going to be on this list. EDIT: I liked the beginning of the 2nd world in FF5 after you escape Exdeath's Castle. It's just kinda fun. You're lost in the wilderness and have to find your way back, Regole is a delight to visit along with Galuf and Bartz's nighttime trip to the bar, and the Geomancer is OP AF in the swampy areas (which too bad go completely away in the 3rd world). EDIT 2: Oh yes, I completely agree with FF7's Midgar being on here! It made it so hard to even get into the game for me when it first came out. I always looked forward to finally getting out into the overworld. (And I think I commented on this before.) EDIT 3: I agree about the Earthbound one and the battle against the Department Store Spook. EDIT 4: Personally, I kinda liked the future; what I disliked was the sequences that came after, like when you're going through that water cave and then milling about trying to find the hero's medal. And I especially disliked having to go to the Prehistoric and then your Gate Key gets stolen!

Oh those fucking Nocturne sewers in Xenogears. My least favourite lol

Personally, you missed the other slog of FFIV - Edward and the Antlion Cave. I know it does show case Edward and his Llama Harp once received but man its just a crappy place with Rydia still low in magic/health and edward, his 60HP and his super ability to HIDE! ugh.....now I feel like that thumbnail. Off to grab a drink now.

FF VIII the whole section begins with Edea assassination attempt til saving the Garden from the missile attack. Every location of that got annoying parts Galbadia: Sewers and alot junction between party's Desert Prison: annoying roundabouts stairs - go down, go up, go down, go up, go down and junction, junction, junction Military Base: backtracking and boring but at least short Balamb Garden: Pro Cid - Pro Norg blah blah - run run ladder ladder

Those twin towers in Rogue Galaxy - the most grotesque and nauseating experience ever.

The Torneko chapter from DQIV was actually my favorite. Maybe that explains why I like games like Stardew Valley.

Every Temple puzzle on FFX

I said it one I’ll say it again xenogears needs a remake badly

Lol straight into the Xenogears sewer dungeon! Can't say I'm surprised 😂

I've read that Xenogears is essentially an unfinished product. The designers had plans to create content for the entire second disc, then they literally ran out of budget and Square told them to deliver something IMMEDIATELY. The visual novel was jammed in at the last minute so that they could finish the story for the player. I've always hoped that someday we would get the Xenogears Snyder Cut, though it seems unlikely.

The final three dungeons in final fantasy 3. Six very hard boss fights, and no save points. It's the worst dungeon sequence I have ever played.

I will add here Fort Fermata of Eternal Sonata/Trusty Bell: The Dream of Chopin. That dungeon was a slog to get through!

Oof, the part where you lose Paula in Earthbound is a nightmare. I got it even worse because I had put the Franklin Badge in her inventory and got obliterated by the PSI Thunder-slinging guitar enemies ;~; And I totally feel you on the Midgar thing in FFVII xD fortunately, at the time a friend's brother had already played far enough in the game to get to the world map, so I knew it was in there... but it still surprised me how long that section lasted

FFX pre-Luca is hella boring... I just load a save after the blitzball tournament whenever I start a new game.

EarthBound is perhaps my favourite game of all time, and part of that has to do with Magicant, specifically the otherworldly atmosphere. The Sea of Eden is so beautiful and serene, and the fact that you can only visit this place once makes it all the more special. But at the same time, Magicant is also the most annoying section in the game for a couple of reasons. The enemies are just obnoxious, with the Carefree Bombs being a pain in the ass to deal with, and the Loaded Dice making me wish that Ness could equip a loaded shotgun to deal with them. And if you forgot to bring the Sea Pendant with you, the fight against Ness’s Nightmare is impossible, because the Flash attack instantly kills you without it. The Earth Pendant does protect characters from Flash attacks, but only 50% of the time, which I found out the hard way. All of this is made worse by the fact that the only save point is back at the beginning.

Man...there are so many classics I'd love to replay but then I remember certain parts or god-awful forced mini-games and don't even bother starting. :(

Every opening in Persona which takes about 2 hours to get to the first dungeon, chasing Dhoulmagus' staff in DQ, when you have to repeat all the crystals in Bravely Default

Watching now, suikoden 5 the first 8-10 hours. The first time you play it isn’t bad because it is world building but man replaying that game and I hate the start.

Here's one that I'd like to add: Bravely Default! When you fight the final boss and have him nearly defeated, he wipes your party with an unblockable special death attack! This alone made me hate that game.

The Torneko (or Talon as we knew him as back in the day) Chapter was actually really novel for its time. By the time Dragon Warrior 4 came out, a lot of people had played RPGs but never had a chance to actually be one of the shop owners. Dragon Warrior 3 had a merchant class, but you weren't able to play that character actually running a store. I wouldn't want that game mechanic to play out for the rest of the game, but it was a cool addition for Chapter 3. The reason the second disc in Xenogears is so bland is because right in the middle of the game's development, Square moved a bunch of its resources to focus on Final Fantasy VII. So the Xenogears team had to finish the game on a shoestring budget with a looming deadline. The second disc kind of is what it is, but I think many of us wonder what it would have been like if it were an actual expansive world where your characters had some agency, like the first disc.

While I love the game, I remember getting the Nei weapons in Phantasy Star II being so brutally hard due to the dungeon designs, I had to use the hint book for the last dungeon. It was included with the game, but still.

Midgar and Paula rescue mission didn't bother me. Frankly I found Midgar extremely compelling because it has amazing world building. Paula part is interesting because you as a player never see it coming and kind of take her for granted considering how powerful she is. Once you have you her back you never want to see her gone again. I have a theory that many gamers have a small tolerance to being inconvenienced and hearing your take on the the Paula section reminded of that. Imo sometimes being inconvenienced can make a game more interesting on the first playthrough. But I think that's a larger conversation.

I don't have any dreaded sequences in JRPGs I love, except for the entire concept of timing or twitchy-gameplay based mini-games that are required for story progression, because I generally feel like I am having a good time when I am playing games and have literally no taste. That being said, I could definitely see what you were getting at with your choices because your video was so well explained.

Let's see, 10 sequences in JRPGs that I really, really hate... Hmm... 10 - Balencentine Castle - Wanderers From Ys III - It's an action RPG, and it's hard as balls. I hate the castle sequence, because it's very long with many bosses. The regular enemies are rough, you want to jump over or dodge them outright if you can. The traps practically one shot you if your timing's off. The music is cool, but man... 9 - Thamasa - FFVI - I hate being restricted to Locke and Terra. Shadow being in the mix made me excited, but he's immediately taken from you for the duration of your exploits. I don't like Relm at all, and there aren't very many good Lores to learn with Strago's intro stage, essentially. The burning house is exciting on a first playthrough, but it's literally just hallways with Bombs. Boring, samey. Especially compared to other dungeons in the game. 8 - Kid's Poisoned - Chrono Cross - I hate this sequence very much. I hate it all the more for the fact that you have to pick the puss cake dummy pants option to get Glenn. I would have never known that without a guide. One thing I can say is at least it's not a but thou must, but for the love of god. You do the right, obvious thing, and you get saddled with Korcha... At least it's not long. 7 - Gold Bar Bullshit - Breath of Fire - As a kid I did not have good money management skills in RPGs. I did not manage items well, either. You wind up needing, what, 3 Gold Bars? 1 for Gobi. One for Thief's Town elder... One for something else, I think? That's 195,000 G! Jesus christ. 6 - Sima Fort - Yeah I hate that sequence too, David. As a kid it actually got me stuck on my first two attempts of trying to play the game. I literally gave up on my favorite entry in the Breath of Fire series, twice, over that sequence. 5 - The Catacombs - Dark Souls - Reanimating skeletons with key Necromancers that you have to kill... They inflict bleed. Spike statue traps. Spiked flipping bridges. Perputal Motion skeletons riding spiked wheels... Almost more of a side area, since it doesn't loop and interconnect to the rest of the Dark Souls 1 world to boot. Ewww. 4 - Billy's Intro - Xenogears - I hate Billy, ok. I don't like him. The translation of that segment is weird too. It kinda felt like the game suddenly went off topic, but nope, it's all related and there are big plot drops. It gets ok once you get to go to Zeboim. 3 - Manaan - Knights of the Old Republic - Yeah, I strayed out of JRPG territory again. Sorry David! But I hate this planet in an otherwise stellar sequence of planets. It's original to the game, afaik, and is never seen in the movies. It's basically a bunch of annoying, strung together set pieces. A Sith base. An underwater facility where everyone's going mad. A fraction puzzle if you want light side points. I generally wind up doing it last because you get no new party members there. It really, really sucks. 2 - Shadow Temple - Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time - Action RPG again, heh. I hate this segment, though. You have to learn the Song of Storms as an adult. Go play it as a kid. Go in the well, get the Lens of Truth after a disturbing mini boss. Go back to being an adult. Make sure you've beaten the Water Temple. Sequence trigger Sheik fighting invisible monster in Kakariko. Make sure you have Din's Fire. Then, finally, you're treated to a creepy ass, unsettling music filled dungeon that's soaked with blood and illusion. 3-D Wall Masters or whatever can suck it. I hate that place, so much. 1 - Post Game - Lunar 2 - Uhh, I actually have never finished it. Opting to look it up instead. The endgame through Zophar was enough of a slog for me. As much as I love the Lunar games I do not go for grindy post game just to see the happy ending they should have already provided me with.

You know it's a good video when it starts with "Hi there, this is David..."

One of my most dreaded segments has to be Tales of the Abyss, post Absorption Gate . It's like 2-3 hours of "let's go to Daath! Let's go to Yulia City! Let's go to Baticul! Let's go back to Daath! etc., etc., etc."... Wish there was a skip button. Then, I'd have to say the beginning of disc 3 of FF9. An hour or two of Zidane becoming a mopey sop. Not that Final Fantasy is any stranger to moping, but it was so unbecoming of Zidane that it just hurt to go through.

Thanks for this list, David ! I actually enjoyed Taloon’s chapter in DWIV because it felt so unique to me compared to other DW gameplay. I have to mention for 7th Saga, after getting the first 6 runes but before going to Barluca. I usually try to grind up 20-30 levels , but that is literally 2 weeks of just grinding in my free time

Honorable mention for me should be the whole woren-gold plain fiasco in BoF4. It took me days to actually understand how to traverse the damn plains, and it was hours of just random encounters galore. That was painful.

The flashback in kalm after leaving Midgar. You finally get out of that place and then more delays ugh

I can't believe the Chaco sequence in Suikoden 2 didn't make the top 10. I've quit two playthroughs of that game because I just forgot how annoying that whole thing was... and Chaco never gets any comeuppance. He just gets to join your army as a VIP for the rest of the game.

I thought the whole game would be Midgar too. I was extremely excited to leave....and then the whole Kalm, 45 minutes of torture came right as I had to go to sleep for school. Simafort was a spot I got stuck on during an entire rental. I spent hours before realizing I had to tell frog lady about her boyfriend, smh.

Oh cool. I can get behind this Xenogears sewers.... 1000 yard stare 6 seconds in

I'd say the series of battles in Final Fantasy Tactics from the initial battle to the one on one with Ramza and Wiegraf to the stupid rooftop fight where chances are you'll lose instantly because Rafa/Malak will wander into instant death from the Marquis's ninja assassins in the first turn. One of the most infuriating parts of the whole game. Especially if you end up making it to that last section only to instantly lose all your progress due to your guest character's suicidal AI. Definitely not a section most people would ever want to revisit.

Dragon Quest II has the Path to Rhone. The search for the five Crests was bad enough, but then there is a long maze of a cave with poisonous swamps, pitfalls, and high encounter rates with tough monsters. And if you make it through, you still have to travel a long way with even tougher monsters. (including one that has Sacrifice/Kamikaze that will instantly kill your whole party) before you reach a save point.

That text box at 7:20 wouldn't fly in this PC world we live in. Great video

nah, Midgar was one of my fav environments. the worst part is in the first town outside when cloud tells the story. I hate battles that offer no benefit. you got not Exp, items, or anything. I would rather just text or a cut scene. the whole time in Midgar i spend dreading that part. I would put FF6, the ruined world map. the encounter rate was insane and i didn't know where to go. I took a wrong turn somewhere and all the battles gave like 2 exp and there were like every 2 steps. one of the first and only times I stopped playing a game I paid money for. Kefka really did win lol

Hey David, what's up with the mic/sound? Starting from the Final Fantasy 7 sequence, I start hearing a low humming noise in the background, which honestly drives me crazy :(( A fantastic video and I totally agree with you on everyting I have experienced!

Dragon Quest XI S / definitive edition: the extra chapters in between act 1 and 2

For me its rarely particular sequences, its often the mini-games as they're usually both surprisingly hard and grindy. Both triple triad and the card game in FF9 killed some of my playthroughs before, for example. They're required to 100% the game but doing that grind also completely destroys the flow of the game. Specially in FF8 where you have to win cards from specific characters that only appears during important story segments.

10. Early game (Final Fantasy XII). Not having access to your gambits because the game hasn't given you the gambit tutorial yet. 😡 9. Lava Dome (Final Fantasy Mystic Quest). Too long for how tedius the battles are if you don't buy 99 seeds and blow through everything with your magic. Still tedious even then, though. Just less so. Also, it's the only big crystal dungeon in the game where you don't get any cool new weapons. 8. Beginning of Disc 2 (Final Fantasy VII). Losing my party members, even temporarily, is really annoying. 7. Cave of the Phoenix (Final Fantasy VI). Really long and confusing. 6. World of Continent (Final Fantasy Legend/SaGa, for the fussy ones). You have no resources and you are very weak compared to the monsters you need to fight to get even minor resources. You could use monsters, if you understand the transformation system, but you need a chart on hand to really take advantage of it and the meat and monster encounters make two different random factors for each step. 5. D-District Prison (Final Fantasy VIII). STOP MAKING ME SHIFT MY JUNCTIONS AROUND! 4. Either of the big towers (Final Fantasy IV). They killed my first run of the game. Too boring and too repetitive, couldn't keep at it. Only soldiered through them years later. 3. First half of Disc 3 (Final Fantasy IX). "Garnet can't concentrate!" 2. Krelian's laboratory (Xenogears). Been a long time, but I remember just hating how lost you can get because so many rooms look the same and there's no in-game map. 1. Silph Co. (Pokémon Red/Blue/FireRed/LeafGreen). I detest teleporter mazes, and I don't think I personally have played a game with a worse one than this.

I'll riot if the tower of babel isn't on this list Edit: Ok I'm fine with second disk actually, good pick.

I don’t know how people hate the Xenogears sewers so much but *don’t* hate the final major dungeon. OH. MY. GOD. It’s so freaking huge and samey and you just cannot possibly hope to not get massively lost. Despised that part. (Also, Phantasy Star 1 & 2 have some real painful dungeons, but the cake really goes to my somehow still beloved Shining in the Darkness, which is nothing BUT a giant, painful dungeon!)

DQ4 Real Ones know that Chapter 3 is the best! :p

There's only 2 things about getting Jean in BOF2 that's good: once you get him you can get the 2nd level dragon spell, & if you go to the restaurant before the tower you can get the chop chop spell.

Surprised you didn't mention the endgame for Bravely Default. I have never seen a game so transparently copy and paste its own content without any changes for filler time

The opening sequence of Kingdom Hearts 2. The Ice Path in Pokemon GSC. That entire three episode slog in the middle of FE: Path of Radiance before Ike gets promoted. Yeah, I get this.

I get the sense that you don’t like dark, dreary settings. IMO they are useful for plotting purposes but I agree not that fun to explore.

Terranigma - The part where you revive the animals and you have an escort mission with the cub of the lions. He is so unbelievably slooooooooooow. And so full of himself, that little fuzzy bastard. The jingle that plays in the background the entire time becomes so annoying, my boyfriend is getting war flashbacks whenever he hears it. Secret of Evermore - the whole section where the dog is alone in Gothika.

David, you're awesome! Love your channel! JRPGs are like my bread and butter, you could be the brother/twin that I didn't know I had! I had no idea about the second disc of Xenogears-OUCH! I Guess I have that to look forward to (or not). My first time playing through Final Fantasy IV I got stuck on Baigan. I rented the game and didn't know the pattern for defeating him, so you're not the only one. I actually enjoyed the Midgar part of Final Fantasy VII, but I would agree that the game sticks you there for too long. Here's one of my picks on this topic: the dreaded card game tournament in Final Fantasy IX. I wasn't good at cards, and I didn't really care about cards, but in this scenario the game FORCES you to participate. I would always save my game just before the tournament in case I screwed up, because I never really knew what I was doing (ditto for Final Fantasy VIII's card game). I never understood how to play blitzball in Final Fantasy X, either.

**GASP** How dare you dunk in Midgar! That's the best part of FF7! After the plot goes from "dealing with evil megacorp in the city they own, sneaking around, doing guerilla operations, etc" to "Chase OP magical hair swordboi across the entire overworld getting into random side arcs as he's always 2 steps ahead of you" it becomes less interesting IMO. (With the exception of Cosmo Canyon which I enjoyed, although like almost every side-arc it feels stapled on for the sake of "Now this character gets their backstory/chapter" and barely feels like it belongs in the world it takes place in). As a teen it was a neat game and I really liked it. Looking back on it as an adult though, I seriously think the game's plot was at its best in Midgar. I mean, your opinion is valid, but I just happen to *COMPLETELY* disagree. 100%

The only ones that come to mind for me right now are 1. The entire opera sequence in Final Fantasy VI and 2. The forest checkpoint before Grand Chokmah in Tales of the Abyss. I’m miserable at stealth stuff so I was at least glad they give you the option to fight your way through it but only after failing so many times. Every time I can almost hear a Japanese developer say “Oh, is this too hard for your puny American brain? That’s ok, we’ll let you fight your way through like the American brute you are.”

My top 5: 5: ff7 midgar - it takes forever 4: smrpg bowser’s keep - puzzles 3: ff8 seed mission - the bosses take forever to beat 2: ff6 beginning - it’s a drag without sprint shoes Honorable mentions: Ff6’s dayrl’s tomb - the bosses have so much hp Ff6 magitek factory - the encounter rate is so high 1: ff9 hourglass

Talah Rama's monkey cave is one of the few points in EarthBound where I still NEED the guide....but there are 2 parts WORSE for me, despite it being my favorite game of all time: the Threed tunnel ( difficulty spike...those damn ghosts...and the Slimy Little Pile miniboss that constantly causes the party to either cry or feel strange ) and Magicant ( only Ness for the majority of it...and enemies are insanely op because of course there's a difficulty spike... ). with Chrono Trigger, I always dreaded the Tyranno Lair for some reason... I got confused when you said Cara talking about Final Fantasy V...was that Krile's name in a fan translation or something? also IMO: Cyan's dream in Final Fantasy VI Chapter 34 in The Last Story ( I always get stuck on the Mitra boss fight... ) Atlantica in Kingdom Hearts II the forced Tetra Master tournament in Final Fantasy IX ( I despise forced minigames period for the most part )

Square has a golden opportunity in front of them if they remake Xenogears and make a properly playable second disk. They would swim in cash, as lots of people are asking for it to happen. I just hope that, if it happens someday, they don't change the visual aspect too much. That 2D-HD live-a-live style but with camera rotation and higher resolution textures would fit like a glove in this game.

You're not wrong on the Xenogears 2nd disc, but the short explanation is that they ran out of time/money. That's why it's like that.

What version of FF4 are you playin there? It looks great!

Dude this is a great top 10! One of a kind. Also nice thumbnail pic lol XD

No lie, the amount of VNs that posture or are promoted as JRPGs or SRPGs is mind boggling at times. I get that the genres share DNA and audiences but nothing is worse than investing into a title with excellent pacing only to get bogged down for hours on end reading script. Nothing against VNs but when they arn't balanced out by gameplay, why ignore or omit what they are and save many of us the trouble? Xenogears was totally a perfect example of this.

Xenogears second disc is a slap-in-the-face because everyone knows how good the game was supposed to be. How it should have been. But since Square was running out of money, and hated the idea of Xenogears even existing, we got what we got. Now that we're this far out and it's commonly pretty high up in so many favorite jrpg lists, you think someone would want to do it justice, but I'm not holding my breath for any kind of re-release to ever happen.

Beyond the Beyond for the PS1. Samson being cursed almost the entire first half of the game really annoyed me.

With all the xenogears talk I’m surprised nobody has brought up Tower of Babel yet. I’d rather read through five straight hours of nothing but text and fight ten redrums at once than experience the Tower’s horrible platforming, awkward camera angles and worst of all the straight plummets to the bottom courtesy of the game loading up a fight sequence in mid jump. Uuuuugh.

My hated sequence in JRPGs? Three Words - Heliodor Castle Dungeons. I’ll explain. While that sequence have some good moments (More exactly, a hooded-thief named Erik helps Luminary and later he joins him in his journey), the fact that King Carnelian accuses poor Luminary of being the one destined to destroy the world and orders his soldiers to throw him in the lowest corner of the dungeon. Even worse, after Luminary and Erik breaks out of the dungeons and after some shenanigans in Downtown Heliodor and The Manglegrove, turns out that Cobblestone (Luminary’s Hometown) was destroyed by the Heliodorian Soldiers just because the Luminary was born there. It makes me hate King Carnelian and the Kingdom of Heliodor even more. Of course, there’s that deal in Act 2 with the Last Bastion and the truth behind the “Evil Carnelian”, but seriously.... Dragon Quest XI is easily one of my favorite JRPGs alongside Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI, but I can’t live the memories of Evil King Carnelian down. He gave me a bad impression just as awful as Abby from The Last of Us Part II. That’s why I hated the Heliodor Castle Dungeons during the Act 1.

Valak mountain in Xenoblade Chronicles. Pros: the idea of climbing down a mountain rather than up it is interesting. It looks really pretty at night. Cons: The area has a mission narrow paths that lead to nowhere, the skip travel parts are too few and far between. You have to walk to the cathedral, get a cutscene and then go all the way across the map to get the lava stone to access it. The division between levels of the mountain and how to move between them are unclear.

I memory serves, Xenogears Disc 2 issue was due to lack of complete funding for the game. They needed to trim down the game, but instead opted to finish their story but had to compromise by cutting down gameplay time at the end. I also didn't like that, but at least they got to tell the story they wanted and it was good. Too bad they never got to finish Xenosaga, which was suppose to lead into Xenogears, as Xenogears was actually the 5th story in this series. Wonder if they would have changed Xenogears if they ever got to make Episodes 4-6.

What about that section in Tales of Vesperia right after the first visit to Myorzo?

Final Fantasy III on the NES . Once you obtain the ship that allows you to leave the floating island into the overworld . It was exciting to know that the real world is much bigger than the island on which we start , but the world is flooded by the oceans and there's very little place to land , and my excitement quickly died out when I got lost trying to find where I can land and continue the game

Interesting choice for Chrono Trigger. For me, I dread the first visit to 65,000,000 BC. Waiting for those guys to drill those holes is jus the worst, plus you get no actual money from battles. Glad to see FFIV's Lodestone Cavern get mentioned, though. Honorable Mention - The desert in the end of Breath of Fire III.

FFIV The After Years: The final chapter. It is the length of the rest of the game combined, and it is ONE DUNGEON. And unless you did all of the optional content for the other characters, your party of 20-some people is nonviable, so you have to go through with a party of Paladain-alikes and one Black Mage that you desperately try to keep alive. I seriously thought that dungeon would never end, and when I beat the game, it was not a sense of accomplishment, but relief. I'd also recommend Radiant Historia, where you have to travel back through time to get all of the bad endings. Most are just a 1-minute cutscene about how your obviously bad choice ended the game.

The electric and dark summon dungeon in Tales of Symphonia are such drags!

I kinda liked that 2. world part in FFV, Galuf going to the rescue was pretty badass and that bridge sequence had one of the best BGM in the whole series. :D

It's not really a JRPG, but I always dread the "gather the light" segments of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Besides the clunky and awkward controls for Wolf Link, and the annoying way you have to root out these stupid bugs--the whole thing just grinds the pace to a halt, and introducing a new area in twilight dulls the excitement, with the same muted color palette and the same music. I get what it's trying to do thematically, but it doesn't translate to enjoyable gameplay, at all.

I think Midgar is great for new players and the drastic change from dreary run-down city to lush green open-world makes the city that much more enjoyable and appreciated. But I can see how multiple play-throughs make Midgar a drag.

In no particular order, here's mine: Darm Tower Sequence - YS 1 (This dungeon is the reason why I couldn't enjoy YS 1 as much as I wanted to, the fact that nearly half the game takes place here is a crime against humanity. I enjoyed the first 2 dungeons and areas but this place is horrible, tonnes of backtracking and lots of floors to navigate through filled with confusing layouts makes this place a nightmare... then there's the last boss... FML. Then the developers had the nerve to make YS Origin, an entire game set in this hellhole which is why I despise that game with a passion) Intro Sequence (up until the rest of the party rejoins you against Botta) - Tales Of Symphonia (The first time it's fine but when you are already dreading the impending temple crawl, this section feels even worse by comparison because you know what's coming yet this part really drags a ton, you just want to get it over with) Cardianon Sequence - Star Ocean The Last Hope (First of all you are stuck there till you finish the place with no towns to break things up, it's just several long dungeons smushed together which goes on for ages, plus the control tower dungeon was annoying as hell with all of its barriers) Arlia Intro Sequence - Star Ocean The Second Story (Can that mayor please stop talking and can we finally get on with the freaking game already!?) Disk 2 - The Legend Of Dragoon (They could have skipped straight to Disk 3 and not much of value would be lost, this entire disk is just padding and nothing more) Final Quarter Of Disk 1 (Sealed Cavern - End Of Disk 1) - Star Ocean Till The End Of Time (David knows exactly what I am talking about here. The shrine of kaddan is bad enough but then you have to go through 3 dungeons in a row, backtrack through those 3 dungeons all the way back to sealed cavern, to go all the way back through those 3 dungeons again to fight a really frustrating boss fight, fuck this section!) Boggly Woods Arc - Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door (Love the music but I wasn't keen on the rest of it, a lot of needless backtracking, especially when you have to gather all those tiny things, it's like the Temple Of Shadow in Tales Of Symphonia all over again) Mirumu Village Arc - Grandia 2 (I loved this arc on my first playthrough but it's the part I dread due to how long it takes to get through and the AIra's space dungeon) The Past (up to Magus' Castle) - Chrono Trigger (mainly because it's completely indistinguishable from the present as they are both medieval settings) Beginning Of Chapter 2 To Middle of Chapter 2 - Tales Of Vesperia (Ok so we got the blastia back, now what do we do? Hey let's form a guild and just wander around for a bit! Yeah that totally sounds like a great idea, absolutely no plot whatsoever for the next few hours, plenty of filler though.) Also for the record I am currently playing through Breath Of Fire 3 and that intro sequence is a complete turn off, If it gets better from there then I will certainly consider adding that as well because it is horrendous.

I feel like just about every jrpg has at least one of these! That Xenogears thing made me so mad! I was super invested until that! Couldnt get back into it. Also that while Mogu sequence in BOF is even more frustrating considering he is such a useless load!

Ahh that area in chrono trigger is where I am stuck and got rekt by the robotic monsters in the area as I was trying to walk through the sewers to the next area where the game is supposed to continue the story.

For me, it has to be the Ameena/Dion part in SO3 I absolutely love that game, it’s in my top 3 most favourite JRPGs, i love everyhting about it....except Ameena and Dion, running back and forth constantly while Fate is freaking out for no reason...every time i play that game, i just want them to die already so i can move on

Oh Dave! that was perfectly said! All those areas had me dreading certain parts too. When You said you cried in chrono trigger when the people had no food, or Robo got beat up..that was so fricking cute! lol! I understand tho! thats the magic of the MMORPG. Fantastic video man! keep putting out this great content handsome! :)

I feel you on FF7, I recently tried to play it for the first time and actually found it kind of hard to get into and had to take a break from it. I plan to come back to it and I'm sure it gets much better, but I didn't have the best first experience.

I forgot about the extensive text in Xenogears second disc. I actually didn’t mind it. Xenogears was my first RPG, so I have fond memories of it.

#1 - From reaching the Cleyra settlement to getting the airship in FF9.

Desert of Death from Breath of Fire 3 should have made the list, along with Phantasy Star 2 (the entire game).

Dragon Quest 4 beginning is such a slog, but so worth it in the end. The rest of the game feels like your playing Chrono Trigger.