Kotaku takes 5 years to beat one RPG

pastebin.com/4DS9FLpe

>Every year since 2013, I start a new file in a specific JRPG. I grind, I level up, I do side quests. I pour anywhere from 20-30 hours in, intent on seeing the credits. I get a little further every time, but it’s no use. Something always happens and I leave the game unfinished, dooming it to my backlog once more.

>All SMT games are preoccupied with the divine and the occult but IV embraces the idea further by positing you as a character who may or may not be an angel.

>The gravitational pull was there from the first time I tried SMT IV. I still stumbled on two roadblocks. For one thing—and I feel embarrassed to say this, given the game is easier than others in the franchise—IV is hard as hell. I kept getting stuck on bosses who would wipe the floor with me for hours. Grinding and overleveling could not save me. But mostly, it was the map.

>The first time around, I got lost. Usually, this is where I pull up a FAQ or a YouTube walkthrough, but at the time, there wasn’t much out there. For all the popularity behind Persona, SMT is still somewhat niche. And so, ever since 2013, I’ve been stuck in a vicious loop. I will start a new save file, go through the motions, and then get lost. I’ll look up where to go, get a tiny bit farther, only to get lost again. I’ll drop the game, pick it back up, and forget where I was or what I was doing. I’ll start a new save file, only to drop the whole thing again. SMT IV became a game that I could never fully wrap my hands around, my digital Moby Dick.

>After nearly five years of trying, I finally beat SMT IV last weekend. I was so overwhelmed that I screamed, partially out of joy, partially in frustration. I love the series to death, but I had to deal with a lot of bullshit just to beat this friggin’ thing and get an awful ending about god destroying Tokyo, which really felt out of left field, as the angels hadn't done anything objectionable before this. But, I don’t care. I did it.

>use buffs and debuffs
>win
SAMARACAN IS OP GUYS

>took him 5 fucking years to beat a shitty game
>the easiest, most broken game in the series
This is the saddest thing.

>which really felt out of left field, as the angels hadn't done anything objectionable before this.

>as the angels hadn't done anything objectionable before this.
Except, you know, try to enslave us and then try destroy the world when it didn't work the first time.

>IV embraces the idea further by positing you as a character who may or may not be an angel.
What?

What a funny looking Jonathan.

Kek. This is the pinnacle of "game journalists"

It was Patricia Hernandez.

>Lucifer, being the final boss in this specific route, won’t just shoot the shit with you.

Seems like she went Law as well. How awful.

Agi

Mudo

better than final lol

Let me guess, Nocturne.

I beat it in 2 weeks, and it was my first SMT. I somehow got the neutral route without even using a guide as well.

Zio

Nah, Final is fun to play.
What about Nocturne?

Nah, Nocturne you can't break until near the end of the game. IV you can break right out of the box thanks to the batshit insanity of Demon Whisper.

>Getting lost in SMT
>Getting lost in SMTIV
>SMTIV
>Hard
Hooooo boy, I guess she'd need a whole fucking Mahakalpa to find her way around something like the average SaGa game then.

nah
final is trash

Wait, I take some of that back. Nocturne you break the moment you fuse Daisoujou. My bad. I forgot about that praying skeleton fuck.

Lucifer is the final boss in the neutral route as well.

>Patricia "Every Video Game Ever Raped Me" Hernandez

>"I love the series to death"
Clearly you don't by the astounding ignorance behind the themes of morality/endings, the combat use of press turn, demon fusing, etc.

The only valid complaint is the Minotaur and the maps, otherwise the game really isn't a chore or hard until post game or Fiend hunting.

Actually you can choose which you murder first.

>I started with SMT IV and I'm such a hardcore gamer now fuck shonen!
Embarrassing.

*Gorilla Hernandez

>an awful ending about god destroying Tokyo
Patty's a lawfag.

>smirk at your general location

>I love the series to death, but I had to deal with a lot of bullshit just to beat this friggin’ thing and get an awful ending about god destroying Tokyo, which really felt out of left field, as the angels hadn't done anything objectionable before this. But, I don’t care. I did it.
>angels
>not doing anything questionable before this

i started with nocturne actually lol
final is wannabe edgy kusoge

hoy thread?

Isabeau.

Lawfags are a lost cause.

Don't lewd the bobo.

what games did you never finish and it haunts you?

wolverines revenge
mgs v for me

honorable mention, pokemon mystery dungeon blue rescue team

>which really felt out of left field, as the angels hadn't done anything objectionable before this.

The real funny bit is where it says they couldn't even beat Digital Devil Saga. The game where it's impossible to get lost, where it's impossible to fuck up your team comp, where practically every boss has an easily exploitable weakness, and where the game hands you a bigass skill tree so you always have access to everything you could ever need.

I'LL END IT THUS

FFVI. I didn't know I had to grind multiple parties for the final dungeon and didn't feel like grinding so I just stopped early into the final dungeon.

>IV embraces the idea further by positing you as a character who may or may not be an angel

When is this ever fucking said?

>going fucking Law

Jesus christ. Not to mention the map really isn't that hard to navigate. Sure, you get lost sometimes, but just bring someone with Posumudi or something.

Posumudi's the poison cure spell.

I always put down FFVI because of school and it irks me. Last time I got to the world of ruin after you get the airship and I have no fucking clue where to go.

The early game is literally perfect, though. It's very repayable.

4 has a few poison pools in the overworld so he's not wrong

Yeah, for when you have to cross the poison swamp trying to get to Ikebukuro. I think.

There's quite a couple of Fire Emblem games I haven't finished and regret. Mainly cause the final chapter is always complete levels of bullshit in most of them if you want everyone to live. But I still love the series to death.
I finished the Lyn chapter in FE7 and didn't have the motivation to continue playing. Convince me to start playing again.

Continue.

Oh right, I forgot about that bullshit.

I kinda like IV's map. It's all the right levels of atmospheric oppressive bullshit. Really fits the game imo. I was kinda disappointed IVA made it huge and easy to navigate.

Drakengard 3. After trying out Nier and seeing the threads pop on here occasionally, I really liked it and decided to give Drakengard 3 a chance seeing how the fanbase followed Yoko Taro's games and how they ended up being somewhat linked together through various timelines and endings. Despite liking the characters and thinking the combat was alright at least, the game ran like shit and One's dragon was the most unfun turd to fight against. After giving it a go again, the game fried my PS3, so there's no point going back until it emulates/runs better than before.
./blogshit

Don't give too much shit, the important thing is, unlike most casuals, they put in the effort and powered through as best they could. Effort was made and even though they're lawfag scum you gotta give credit where it's due.

I dunno, I feel the change kind of works. In IV, Tokyo is this strange, unfamiliar place. In Final, it's your home, of course you'd know how to get around.

Don't you have easy access to Luster Candy in the original IV? Literally no excuse. Also,

>being a lawfag or chaosfag

>Luster Candy
Doping too.

>neuters
lmoa

On one hand, it took me like 4-5 years to beat FFXIII, but it was less that I sucked at the game and more because I kept getting bored with it. That and the game was horrid and I pretty much had to force myself to play it.

>and get an awful ending about god destroying Tokyo, which really felt out of left field, as the angels hadn't done anything objectionable before this. But, I don’t care. I did it.
excuse me?

Yeah but later bosses just Silent Prayer/Dekaja/Dekunda that shit, so you're better off halfassing the buffs/debuffs rather than doing the usual +3/-3. Doping's the one they can't do shit about.

Persona 3
Tartarus is just so fucking boring

>SMT
>grinding
lol

>Not siding with glorious humanity
Being a chaosfag is acceptable too.

Isn't IV the one that's really fucking broken that can make you do ridiculous damage?

So THIS is what lawfags are capable of.

Don't you have to replay the shit 3 times to see everything? I'm not 16 anymore. I don't have time to replay 50 hour games 3 times.

That's all of them.

I'd forget a world map too if I didn't really care for a game and put off playing it for 5 years. At least 4's was fun to explore.
Also I thought the Law ending was pretty alright in 4. Better than how Law is represented in every other game in series.

to be fair I'm the same way with FE:A. I have a hard time finishing SRPGs for some reason. I start them but always lose interest midway through. I've started a new game probably about 5-6 times now.

I've gotten near the end a couple of times, but I always quit for one reason or another, probably because I only play the game when I'm bored when traveling. The fact that the game becomes pure RNG near the end doesn't help either.

I dropped it too user. I don't know why people praise it so much. Even IV did better with dungeon design and that was easily the worst part of it.

I played through FE:A Hard Classic twice and 3 attempts at Lunatic.

I never got married once.

This. The only difference is WHEN you can shit out ridiculous damage.

>alignments
lmao, the white are right.

>he can't handle a world of STR
lmao

probably put points into STR too lmao

What mode are you playing? Lunatic is actual bullshit.

this the white did nothing wrong.

Persona 3 isn't even a game.
You watch people talk
You watch the AI fight the battles by itself
You also have to listen to a bitch tell you how to play the game, for the entire fucking game, even though you only get to press the button once every 4 turns.

Watching a Let's Play is more fun than playing this "game"

Never played SMT IV so I can't comment on the game being hard or not, but I can understand the sentiment. I love RPG's but I can't finish one worth a fuck. I've put somewhere around 5-10+ hours into damn near every single player FF but haven't finished one of them, for example.

>I love the series to death, but I had to deal with a lot of bullshit just to beat this friggin’ thing and get an awful ending about god destroying Tokyo, which really felt out of left field, as the angels hadn't done anything objectionable before this
Did he not pay attention to the story at all? How can anyone say this?

are you stupid, or do you just suck?

This desu. Apocalypse doesn't count.

>SMTIV was my first SMT ever
>outside of the first two bosses I never had trouble with it, even on my second playthrough on a hard/neutral path except getting lost a few times

what a shitter

>Grinding and overleveling could not save me
So not only could he not beat it normally but even after over leveling? What the fuck? Does he not know the mechanics or some shit? Because that's the only explanation.

Pfft

Most unfortunate for them.

law is literally the only acceptable choice

...

what the fuck is the source of this image

I just get bored with the game. I'll play for a couple of days and then just quit.

When I say "pure RNG" what I mean is that the game becomes purely about stats and strategy means nothing.

Go shove some beads up your ass. Law is always the worst choice. Even White is better.

>it's Patricia Hernandez

I mean, for a newbie the game can still be hard

t. A newbie

But five damn years? That's simple lack of commitment, and counterproductive too. If you're so little invested in the game I can only imagine how much time you'd waste just trying to get used to the mechanics again after months and months that you didn't touch the game. Plus the game has an easy mode, did she not notice or did she struggle even with that?

It was Patricia so there's a real chance she legitimately agreed with the shit the angels were pulling.

Oh so you're dropping it because Awakening is a shit strategy game? Then you just have taste. Try playing Conquest instead.

>muh balance
>muh demons

I actually hated how hard the game jerked off the Neutral route

Fuck Stephen

She probably just picked all the "good" dialogue options and got locked into Law.

This. DeSu law best law.

>muh angels

Not as much as you think. Masakado tells you point blank you solved nothing and you're gonna have to go through all this shit again. 1/3

But Nocturne is the epitome of edgy kosuge. It bastardised the SMT setting forever. No more "human surviving in the apocalypse theme", you always need to be some part demon special snowflake now. No more cyberpunk. No more cool half-modern/ half-medieval mish mash designs.

2/3