DEREK EX MACHINA, created by author and editor Derek L.H., is a blog dedicated to exploring the effect that video games and film have on people.
All tagged Japanese Role Playing Game
I truly hold my gameplay experience of Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance with extremely high regard. This game offers some of the best turn-based combat I’ve ever experienced in a game. The game delivers excellent atmosphere that keeps the uniquely SMT twist of grunginess alive and fresh. There’s so much to like in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance that it makes its few shortcomings stick out even more.
Not only is Expedition 33 a fun RPG, it’s an unflinchingly courageous one. It tackles ambitious narrative themes, has tantalizingly deep mechanics that lead to boundless customization and player expression, and boasts the production value of a game that has ten times its budget. Expedition 33 punches above its weight in pursuit of a more idyllic landscape for games.
Cracks of the original game’s shortcomings still manage to reveal themselves in this 2020 update, but Trials of Mana’s remake manages to at least surround those cracks with an armor that’s as pretty as it is promising. Trials of Mana is a promise about the potential of simplicity and how much of a place there is for games that meld simplicity and complexity.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R is short and sweet thanks to great pacing, unique mechanics, and fun if unambitious combat, yet it still retains a lot of artifacts that reveal its age - many of which arise from the game’s lacking story, characters, and dungeon design. This game embodies the snappiness and visual splendor that I’d truly like to see more of elsewhere in the JRPG genre.
We need to rewrite the narrative about turn-based RPGs. Instead of being a genre often obstructed by the scary possibility (as perceived by some publishers, at least) that turn-based games inherently sell less because they’re perceived as outdated by the gaming masses, we should instead be celebrating and empowering developers for having the courage to make the games they truly want to make.
