Tags
dungeon, JRPG, maps, random battles, RPG, strategy, Tales, Tales of Graces, turn-based, Zelda
Tales games.
I should love them. I really should.
I’ve been playing JRPGs for over 20 years.
And I love them.
I love battles and item management.
I even like random battles.
Turn-based and strategy (grid-based) are my favourite types … Zelda is too “actiony” for me.
Tales games have action-based battles, but at their heart they play like a turn-based game. They always feature cool characters, great stories, lovely art, and superb music.
Why then do they make me so cross?
It’s simple.
Or rather, it isn’t.
The battle systems, especially of late, are over-complicated, and any break in play (which happens frequently if you have any semblance of a normal life) means you will most likely forget the subtleties and nuances of the crazy-deep battle more and be reduced to button mashing or setting people to “auto” 😦
There was, in Tales of Graces F – clearly the “F” stands for Frustration, a dungeon that was simple (in concept) yet so samey myself (and my two JRPG daughters) kept losing track of where we were. AND THE INTERNET HAD NO MAP!!! No, really. It’s true. NO MAP. Well, save one that was so hopelessly inadequate it might as well not have been there. There were a few instructions like “up, north, descend, east” etc. But that’s a bit crap if you’ve lost your starting point!
So we made a map and got minced by the boss 😥
