Adell

put on the epic pants, gamer

"devs AND fans of the genre have ceded that JRPG combat isn't really interesting"

Seriously, what is it about Japanese media that just brings out a specific kind of self assured dipshittery from (mostly) white voices in the industry? I see this shit all the time, both from the press side of things as well as within the industry itself. I won't name names, but I've met animators who hate anime, game designers who hate Japanese games, hell I once met a graphic designer who had a weird fixation on the "structural failings" of Japanese graphic design (whatever the hell that means).

Where does it come from? It happens too often to just be the occasional bad take.

_{To be clear, this isn't to imply Japanese media is exempt from criticism, but it's weird how much is in bizarrely racialized bad faith. I wouldn't go as far as call it racist, but definitely bordering on xenophobic.}

Also god imagine criticizing JRPG combat (which is an insanely broad genre with so many different interpretations and styles) and then presenting deckbuilding as your solution.

Fuck it, tell me about some cool and interesting JRPG battle systems that you've enjoyed.

I'll start. Resonance of Fate is one of the messiest games I've ever played, but goddamn if I wish they had made like 2 more of them and refined the "Tri-Attack Battle system." It's a mix of real time and turn based where you decide your character's movement and shooting targets independently of each other. The key is to optimize your movement paths to synergize with your other party members to build up resources that you then cash in to do sick Equilibrium style gun-fu maneuvers. The tl;dr is the more sick jumps you do, the more resources and healing you get back in the process. Quite frankly it's an easy system to break after a certain point but it never gets boring watching your JRPG heroes decked out in primo mid 00s Japanese fashion do jumping 360 spins in the air while blasting hot lead in every direction.

Its wild that he just casually says "or adding Paper Mario minigames" like its just adding a skin or gesture and not a complete change to the gameplay

But it does make me thing about the Mario RPGs in general, especially Superstar Saga which I've been playing for a week or so!

They have Timed Hits™, a mechanic that was introduced in Super Mario RPG - which is now, bizarrely, the most recent Mario RPG to have come out - and expanded further with each new installment. There's a simplicity to it that is enough to not hinder the battles and at the same time make everything feel more frantic: At each offensive action, you get a prompt to add to your attack. If you're jumping on an enemy, press A or B just before landing for extra damage. If you're hitting them with a hammer, hold until a certain point - but not too long! - to hit with full force. There's also fireballs later but I haven't go to that point yet!

However, they also are defensive options! If an enemy is bullrushing you, you can jump out of the way - and even jump back on them if you time well enough, turning an evasion into a counter-attack. If they are spiked or energy-based, you can smash with your hammer instead. This makes your defensively fragile heroes much more dynamic, and the battles much more dire, with this glass canon-ish gameplay style. Bowser Inside Story further develops that, including the big guy himself as a playable character and having his own deck of attacks and defense moves.

And talking about big guys in jRPGs: Yakuza 7! Not only does it also have timed hits, it has my favorite mechanic not just in jRPGs but also literally any other game: Job Changes! Your characters have different jobs, each with their own specific sets of skills, that you can level up and progress, and some of those skills can be transferred to either your Main Job or all Secondary Ones. Meaning that eventually you can have a Jack of All Trades mixing and matching from several types of abilities, and a satisfying growing of your power.

Stylish uniforms as well!

She seems very convincing.