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Hmm, FFX-2 shines with its battle system. In my opinion the quintessence of an FF battle system (including a job system and a tiny bit of real-time maneuvers during combat; too bad it falls a bit short on the equipment side). As for the story, I honestly forgot that Yuna was supposed to be a pop-idol... Aside from the beginning and the concert, was there anything pop-idol stuff in the game? I mean Yuna has been an idol in FFX already. And yeah, I guess it's a product of its time in 2003 lol
no, theres nothing about Yuna being an "idol"in the game, in the first scene is not even her and the moments she sings like in the concert is practically explained that she kinda lose control when she uses that sphere so... she obviously changed since the first game but still shy
When you were talking about Orphen and saying that it has a "generic plot about a guy on a ship that is attacked and then he has to save the world", I got a serious YS series vibes. Poor Adol.. :)
I think its just Erick's tastes. It seems he tends to enjoy more traditional RPGs in general so Banner Saga its most likely not his thing. I can't really see the guy enjoying XCOM, Darkest Dungeon, Tyranny or Disco Elysium either because what he usually likes is more often than not, the opposite.
Its all subjective. I heard for years how Legend of Dragoon on PS1 was a 'hidden gem' 'ff7 killer'. I've started that game 3 times over the course of 10 years and i cant force it, i hate the game. I hate the boring combat. But its not a fact, it just doesnt work (for me)
@@frdsg8350 yep, very subjective. I tried ff7 numberless times but I find the writing to be really bad. I also started ff8 and ff9 and while I enjoyed the artstyle and setting of those two more, they were really boring.
He would do himself a favour if he didn't evaluate any non jrpg ever again. He goes against the world anytime he does. The fun thing is he admitedly evaluated big piles of shit like that Lunar DS game but still he has the balls of adding Banner Saga to a top worst rpgs 5 he owns.
Yeah, I kind of wonder if he played long enough to really sink his teeth into the battle system because it's fucking sick. Seems like he's letting his opinion of a music genre color his opinion of the game. I remember when I was a kid and "hated" entire genres of music just because and let that affect my opinions of other things...
X-2's battle system is just like any other Final Fantasy dating way back to FF4, it's just that the gauge that displays how long until your action is performed isn't actually shown on screen in FF4+. It's there, it just isn't shown. Want proof? Go load up FF4 (the SNES version), and have Rydia cast Nuke/Flare (or Virus/Bio)... and then next turn, have her cast Meteo/Meteor. The difference is very noticeable. Each spell and attack in that game has a set delay even if it isn't shown on screen (in fact the ATB gauges aren't shown either, but they exist internally). So really, X-2's battle system is pretty much the same as any previous FF (except for X, lol). They just show it better. EDIT: Note, I am not saying this is a bad thing, I'm just saying they realized what was awesome about FF games and kept to it. FFX's battle system is cool in its own right (Shadow Hearts 2 and 3 uses it too!), but I'm glad they decided to go back to ATB in X-2. Sadly, they went back to reinventing the wheel for all the games after.
This has become one of my favorite channels! As an aging gamer(mid40s) who lost interest in jrpgs awhile back,, this channel has recently inspired me to play some of the great jrpgs in my backlog. I sincerely thank you!
FFX has a huge difficulty spike at the last dungeon. Once you get inside of Sin.... you go from comfortably winning battles to "OMG WTF IS THIS!?" as random mooks tear you a new one in seconds. If you run from all the battles, it's hard to kill that stupid boss with the pillar that keeps healing the boss because you can't out-DPS its healing and if you kill that pillar the boss just revives it. So, you have to exit that dungeon to find someplace to levelup.....but......where? Nothing gives any decent AP earned. At least with the PC version, you can download the Special K mod which lets everybody gain AP even if they didn't take an action in battle. Sure beats having Yuna thunk things with her staff for 10 damage just so she can get AP and making battles take way too long. Same problem I have with BoF4 -- HUGE difficulty spike in the last dungeon, and nothing gives good XP outside of that dungeon. I don't feel like grinding for hours or doing that stupid fishing minigame for 50 hours just so I can survive the last dungeon.
The Lunar completionist in me has to have Dragon Song as much as I hate it. Probably the worst game I own and I own The Ring: Terror's Realm on Dreamcast and the Xbox 360 version of Alone In The Dark for crying out loud.
i just wanted to point out that the FF10-2 story revolves on the songstress dressphere..in which yuna have visions or dreams that relates to a certain boy that relates somehow to her search for Tidus. so what does songtress do? it sings.. thats how you got the intro.. personally its kind of meh introduction of main characters..but what shines in this game is the battle mechanics..love it ot hate it..i personally love it
Banner Saga was a game i really wanted to like. The animation is very interesting and nice, I like Nordic Viking culture and I love tactics games. But I fell off with it and it got boring quickly. I'm glad it clicks with some people but never has with me.
I love the banner saga trilogy! The combat is pretty basic but I loved the story, characters and atmosphere. The 2nd and 3rd games are better but if you didn't like the first you won't like them either
Especially given your comments saying the battle system's decent and stuff, it's hard to believe that FFX-2 made your list of top 5 worst RPGs in your collection when I've seen you give reviews for games that are much worse than it. Maybe you already sold those games and so they're not in your collection anymore lol.
meh, I always felt that FFX-2's battle system is too fast, even when the slower option is picked. Because of that, I feel that picking an action other than "Attack" is a waste of your turns. It doesn't help that Attack is often the best ability to use, too, the game being so easy. I prefer FF6, 7, 8, 10 or even 12's battle systems. The lack of a limit-break mechanic shows, too.
@@KnightRaymund Not really, if English isn't your first language and if you don't play card games often, it's hard to understand it. Happened to me as well in the past
@@tapsofosiris3110 Based on your comment, you didn't understand neither what I said not what Erick said - and somehow you still wanna discuss language details First, learn how to read, then you come back here please bro
You're breaking my heart, dude, I absolutely loved the Banner Saga series, the grounded tone, gameplay, and depressing atmosphere are so good in my eyes.
the Agarest PC only game is Mariage, which is a port of a PSP game. It's actually closer to a real JRPG than the other Agarest games, there's none of those weird combos requirements
I got FF X-2 with the HD Remaster on switch. I'm pretty curious to see what I think of the game myself. I thought the base game was pretty good but unskippable cutscenes kind of annoyed me as I continued to reach tougher bosses. Haven't touched X-2 yet though.
Thanks for that intro as this made little sense to us here until you explained it more in the Intro. Was a fun watch, and we all have good games that did not click for us as we all come at game's differently
Wasn't it Leblanc disguised as Yuna that was actually singing at the start? Yuna does actually sing later. Speaking of Leblanc... URGH. Her character was so trashy and off-putting.
Hey Erick! I personally love the original Banner Saga, but I have to admit that I never completed it. I got very far, but due to the resource management for the caravan, I reached a point where the human caravan just didn't have enough food to make it past a certain point, which I learned after some research was due to a decision I made in the first 5 chapters... After that I was too frustrated to continue, and honestly, if you weren't a fan of the combat, I can't even imagine how you would have reacted to learning that you needed to replay more than half of the game just because of a dialog choice you made early on! Keep up the great work!
Erick se que tu audiencia es USA, pero me interesaría saber un poco de como poder aprovechar los jrpgs desde México desde tu punto de vista, importación, precios o hasta rarezas, un saludo hermano y que estes bien, saludos desde Yucatán!
I'm with you on banner saga. I wanted to like it, but just couldn't get into it. I don't consider it a bad game, just ok(and I'm a big fan of srpgs, so it's not because of that)
I'm glad to hear you had a similar experience with FFX. And yeah, when X-2 came out, my most played CDs were VNV Nation, Neuroticfish, and Wumpscut. Pop, especially pop in the early 2000s, was just not my cup of tea.
FFX-2 is nowhere as bad as the others. It was a enjoyable game with battle system and class system. And I don't think it has fanservice, and even if it had I wold not portrait it as something negative.
@@realavt People usually remember it as fanservice but it's not really bad. The Hot Spring fanservice is a joke of tame, but people remember it as something worse than it is. And the costumes are ok too. SE "fanservice" can't even be called that. Even Dragon Quest had more fanservice than that and DQ is pretty tame too. I can understand Mary Skelter being called fanservice but X-2 being called that is just a biased review.
@@realavt I think it's more funny scene than fanservice. Although there is some funny innuendo to me, heck the audio could be used in a porn "yeah don't stop" hahaha
i like banner saga a lot i mean the gameplay is ok but the choises affect so much to the story and the fact that you can play trough the 3 of them with the same repercussions you have being making from the first one its kinda awsome but of course if you are looking for a hardcore rpg it gets boring quite a lot but if you like good story telling its easy to fall in love with it and replaying to see what could have you done diferent or that was for me.
Interestingly there is a whole large alternate idol scene in Japan that is heavily based in hard rock/hardcore/metal. Like this insanity ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WFDequbtoPc.html
Orphen is spin off game of a 90s manga. Maybe you'd like the story and characters more if you were introduced to the series, it has a lot of mind twists if you play a little longer. They're doing another series right now, unfortunately, it has gotten love either.
@@sebastianrodriguez5515 me too I had the largest ps2 collection on my block but it was all junk games like these or even worse Eternal Ring which gave me motion sickness.
Well I’ve deleted it now, but the worst RPG I owned was Code of Princess (3DS). Maybe the Switch version is better, but the the original game has horribly slow and clunky controls, and I had not a moment of fun with it in the couple hours I played. I don’t understand what the point is of making your game an action RPG, if the gameplay is going to be so painfully slow and boring.
Erick, I think you really misunderstand the Orphen game. The story is very interesing if you realize what is happening. You can play it through three times very differently. Yes, the boss fight against the sea serpent might not be the best thing in the world, but please try to pass it and get into the game a little bit. The first anime series it s based on also very good.
The Banner Saga get a lot better on the second game, the first one is ok, but the second is a great game. I still need to play the third one to end the saga, give a try for the other two games.
Didn't really think Agarest Zero was too hard, well deeeefinitelly harder than the first one, but the same overall strategy I used to beat most bosses in the first one applied to most of Zero. I made a point of ALWAYS overkilling every single boss otherwise I wouldn't procced with the game (to add a bit of challenge to myself). The one thing I really hated in Zero, is that... it really isn't different from the first one at all, plot was different okay, was interesting to see how some stuff happened that we only got glimpses in the first game, even if the overall writting of the game was okay at best it was nice to see, but as far as combat goes... Besides special moves, there are no new attacks added to the game, or really that many new enemies, the overwhelming grinding was still strong as ever. The game just... didn't really do much more to keep me interested in it (enough to commit to a 80+ hour grindfest I mean). Got stuck on the first final boss before the true ending sequence, I could beat the boss, but couldn't really overkill it with the current party, and I was so fed up with grinding that after a few tries, I just gave up on it, it was quite the BS boss if you ask me. Maybe I'll get to finish it one day, but only after pretty much playing every pending game I have right now.
FFX-2 was my first RPG so I have a huge soft spot for it, I feel like the ridiculousness is what elevates it because there's really not much going on in terms of story. Despite having the main character become an idol the soundtrack hits hard.
Disagree on PSO episode 3. Loved that game. It had issues for sure but it was still fun to play with my friends. And I'm sorry but the way you're decribing it makes it sound far more complicated than it is. You used to think it was a hidden gem but since then have, what, completely forgotten how to play? It's not that hard. I haven't played any of the others.
I played a lot to PSO3 and i loved it, but i understand why some players don't. Particulary for the change of style (RPG action to a TurnBased Card system) Otherwise, if you want some explanations, let's do this - the dice give you action point for the turn. The highest value will be always the Attack point. - Attack point have some purpose (Play card, move your character, attack with your character) - Defense point serve only for playing card action type defense (ex: dodge use one point) However certain defense card can be played only for certain type of attack (ex: guard doesn't block spell) - Each card have some point to play and you can only "equip" or "summon" for a total of 8 points max
You're probably not looking for WRPGs, but if you were to look for a good one, I'd recommend Dragon Age Origins. It's got a tactics system similar to Gambits from FFXII, and is super fun.
Some of these I recently sold but my list: 1) Unlimited Saga. Purely awful. True story this game was so bad instead of returning it (bought it used) for a $10 refund, I did a service to mankind and destroyed it. Not just the worst JRPG of all time, one of the worst games of any genre IMO. 2)Grandia 3. First half of the game was solid, the second part is a hot mess. They get rid of two of the good characters and replace them with two awful ones. 3)Tales of Legendia. Sorry Eric, I know you love this game, but the battle system is awful. 4) FF X-2. Interesting battle system, but the story was bad (felt like an epilougue) and they just recycle 90% of the maps and monsters from FFX. 5) FF 8 and FF 15. A tie. 8 is a boring grind and 15 has a boring story and characters I couldn't give two f*cks about, the camera/battle system is also awful, esp. on boss fights.
"I did a service to mankind and destroyed it" - oh well, right now I`m looking for NTSC-U version, its very hard to get in my country. So sad to hear, that somebody just destroyed the copy of the game....
Ooof. I love PSO ep III and FF X-2. I don't necessarily disagree with your criticisms, though. (Though, as others have pointed out, "draw" means take cards from the deck.)
Game I hate the most in my collection is Eternal Sonata on PS3. I've never played another game where the battle system gets more restrictive as you progress. I expect games to open up the battle system and give you more options as you get further, not less. I bought the game because I liked the demo, but it turned out that was only because it used the battle system from the start of the game when it was actually fun.
Yeah I was sure on that as well I mean hes no fan of it. Im no fan of it but I will say the anime aesthetic the game has is awesome I mean that was the first game I ever played that looked like it was a playable anime compared to other JRPG I played that only look liked anime when ever there was a cutscene.
Time and Eternity is actually a pretty good game. I spent about 90 hours completing it and never regretted my decision. On the other hand Tales of Berseria got me extremely bored with the generic plot it had and the "I'm a badass dark character but I have to sacriface myself for the.. plot.." copy-paste ending.
@@mark..7042 I personally liked both Time and Eternity and Berseria. But I get your point about the ending. It is the same third ending in row when Tales kills the MC for the sake of the world. Ludger did that, Sorey did it, and now Velvet.
Have to agree with PSO CR. To go from the addicting dungeon crawling style of Ep1 & 2 to this card based tactical RPG was quite the leap in genre and I don’t think Sega knew what they were doing with this game. I like it when companies experiment (FFVIII is one of my favourite rpgs after all and that knows all about experimentation) with their games and try something *new* as opposed to just churning a similar game out every time with a few minor change in the gameplay. Unfortunately this felt like a case of too much, too fast and its a shame for the 3rd episode of one of my favourite games ever. I liked some of the lore it brought though to give it credit and the final boss theme is great.
I despise Banner Saga for many of the things you said but what really turned me off were the character screen that look exactly alike negating the turn counter, the only way to get EXP is to get the last hit screwing my tanks as they never get the last hit and the nonsensical non choices outside of battle that only determines if I lose slightly less people in my caravan. I played for 3 hours and regretted my steam purchase.
The biggest problem of ffx-2 is being a sequel that really breaks the toNe of the first game, specially at the start, leaving a bizarre first impression that makes it harder to apreciate for many players.
I loved Final Fantasy X-2 and have played through it almost 10 times. The game eschews the usual angst driven adventures for something a little more fun. I wouldn't want every FF game this way, though I wish they would bring back the combat system. I thought XIII waa going to use a variation of it but boy was I wrong. I actually got to the final, true boss in Orphen and had no idea what to do. I basically kept defending and waiting for an opening that would never come. To this day I've never beaten it.
+1 for Ephemeral Phantasia. I can't believe I gave that game any of my time. It was also out around a time of my life that I didn't have easy access to the internet, and there weren't big guide repositories like GameFAQs. Ugh! Just trying to figure out where to be at what time was such a headache - and if you miss the window, you have to wait until the time resets and try again.
Yo amé y amo FFX-2 cuando salió, me pareció una apuesta arriesgada de Square en sentido de continuar una FF y de poner 3 personajes femeninos principales, lo cual iba traer "limtiaciones" y "libertades" de hacer cosas en el gameplay que no permiten otros modelos de juegos donde no había un Lore previo. FAn service, si. J-pop Madness, yes. Worst RPG? really? para las cosas que hay publicadas.... siempre me gustan tus videos y soy fan hace tiempo. JRPG lover here from Dominican Republic
PSO Episode 3 was fucking awesome, especially when played online. The battle system is like a combination of turn-based tactics and a CCG. The game gives you a tutorial btw for both the Hero and Ark decks....like in the very beginning.
I don't understand how he had a hard time playing it. The rules are pretty simple. And good players could used that dice to their advantage with cards like Dice Fever or plus 1 on roll
I so wanted to like Orphen. Had some good ideas, but it just was a bad game, most the battle I had no idea what was going on. They also tried to add some platforming in there which wasn't much better, nostalgia though hits me. Personally Unlimited Saga is the number 1 !
Ahh banner saga, I remember that stream where one of Erick's viewer went into a boiling point. Time sure flies. . The worst JRPG I used to own would be Final Fantasy Explorers.
So, a bit off-topic. I'm not sure if Omocat games is Japanese or Western, but.... I've gotten into OMORI lately and... it's an old traditional style turn-based JRPG (something akin to dragonquest 3+ or Earthbound which it heavily borrows from in graphical style). The only problem with this game, is the storyline is dark. REAL dark. It goes into disturbing places. It's about a kid with severe mental trauma due to a horrific event in his past. It has a few little neat twists on its battle system, though, like the emotion system where PCs and NPCs get different emotions with affects how they perform in combat, and you've also got this combo thingie. It's a neat game, but like I said, be careful with this if you are sensitive to depression and suicide themes.
If you didn't like the first Banner Saga, you probably won't like the trilogy as a whole. The other two games do add some minor elements to make them feel a bit more fleshed out in some ways but they all play the same way, with the same graphics and gameplay style, with a similar tone of hardship and strife against this encroaching world-ending force. Its unique style was meant to be its selling point, but is pretty niche and not for everyone.
The only ones I played on this list are FF X2 and Orphan, Orphan was one of the first games I bought for the PS2, I think it was a title available from when the PS2 was first released in Europe
Exactly.The main problem of this game imo is not the chara design, ost or tone - it's the way the game works. It's incredibly boring and tedious to explore all areas in all chapters, with random battles completely missing the point of why they're normally interesting in JRPGS, being so easy and all. I completed the game 100% once when the game was released, and even though I tried many times to come back to the game (for the remaster, etc), I always end up quickly giving up.
I love Banner Saga. I far prefer the story to that in most games-- the conflict and choices feel more genuine and weighted and less artificially played up for the sake of constructed story drama. If you didn't enjoy it, though, the sequels probably won't click for you either.
I don't know what you have in your collection but I consider a lot of the JRPGs that have come out in recent years to be shovelware. Idea Factory JRPGs alone could make my top 5. But maybe that's too harsh so I'd probably throw in some of the Shining series titles and maybe an Atelier or two, or maybe one of the obscure JRPGs that were ported to Steam from PSVita. Definitely not FFX-2. The plot was meh but it had one of the best turn-based battle systems.
Whaaa I love PSO episode 3! My worst jrpg i think is Etrian mystery dungeon, the game itself is not poorly made but very difficult and unwelcoming Btw Idk if it was a joke or not but the "draw" in the match in PSO CARD revolution is not a tie, but it's the step on the beginning of your turn where you pick cards from your deck until your hand is full
Every time i picked up FF-X2 and tried to play it I just couldn't take it after about an hour. Mechanics weren't too bad but the whole thing just felt like whoever wrote the story line did so while watching Charlies Angles and decided to put the Japanese Idol band twist on it while cutting out Charlie cuz after all God forbid any Idol have a boyfriend or even seem to close to a male in Japan. They get stabbed for doing that there.
I'm actually enjoying FFX-2 right now :) Yes, sometimes it's weird, silly and awkward, but it doesn't bother me to enjoy it. Just accept its silliness as a part of entertainment and a reason to smile.
I love ffx-2, but my biggest gripe with it is that if you want the full story, you have to do everything. It's a game that pretty much requires a walkthru to get all the crimson spheres, as quite a few are easily missable.
