JRPG Appreciation Post: World of Final Fantasy's Mirages

World of Final Fantasy features an interesting new concept for Final Fantasy games in the form of monster capture. While World of Final Fantasy’s gameplay is closer to more traditional Final Fantasy games, Imprisming monsters (known in World of Final Fantasy as Mirages) and using them in battle by making a stack is a very new mechanic to the Final Fantasy world. The best part of this is the Monster Stacking isn’t just visual: monsters are helpful in many ways in World of Final Fantasy and collecting a variety monsters and abilities makes the monster hunt a highly useful new mechanic. Being able to use both friendly and enemy monsters in battles serves as a fun new concept for past Final Fantasy fans and a great way to introduce the famous Behemoths, Tonberries and Moogles to those new to Final Fantasy.

Monster Capture may be a new concept to Final Fantasy, but the series isn’t a total stranger to having monsters in your party. After all, most Final Fantasy games include a Summom mechanic that involves summoning powerful but friendly creatures that are fairly well-known in the Final Fantasy community, such as Ifrit, Shiva and Bahamut. These monsters are pretty awesome, but there are many other famous monster friends and foes on the other side of the battlefield that have only served the purpose of getting beaten up so far. Whether you want to summon the epic Ifrit, an adorable and friendly Moogle or a big, enemy Behemoth in your party, all of these Final Fantasy creatures are available to be used in battle in World of Final Fantasy. Having these different types of creatures usable together is an interesting take of Final Fantasy’s creatures and although putting a Chocobo and a Behemoth in the same stack may seem strange, it’s a cool new way to use some of my favourite Final Fantasy creatures.

If collecting Mirages wasn’t cool enough, putting them in Stacks is even better. The main characters of World of Final Fantasy, the hilarious Lann and the cool older sister Reynn, are divided into a Left and Right stack in battle and each stack is comprised of a Small, Medium and Large Mirage that literally stack on top of each other to combine stats. Aside from combining stats (and looking hilarious), mirage stacking also ‘stacks’ skills. If all your mirages have Fire, they will combine to make the much more powerful Firaga. Lann and Reynn also gain a very AP cheap skill called ‘Channel Element’ with whatever element the stack is overall that makes hitting an enemy’s weakness very easy. A great part about this is also that a Mirage’s size doesn't matter when it comes to skill stacking; tiny Flan’s skill or a giant Behemoth’s stats have an equal increase, making both just as useful as one another for once.

Speaking of skills, Mirages are useful on and off the battlefield thanks to their skills. In World of Final Fantasy, certain areas are blocked off due to gaps, icy peaks or big rocks and are only accessible by using a Mirage with the right skill to get past, comparably to in Pokemon where you need a character with a certain skill to another area. I've used my Black Nakk many times to burn down big vines down to get treasure and I've used my Mythril Giant to knock down big rocks that block paths. I like how these path-blockers encourage me to carry a variety of Mirages to help me find bonus items to help me on my journey and it feels like a great reward when I've unlocked the right skill to help me find treasure or something cool.

Mirages can also be transfigured into bigger or alternative mirage forms by unlocking nodes on World of Final Fantasy's skill tree system called a Mirage Board. If you've enjoyed the evolution aspect of other monster collection games such as Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (which I loved), the Transfiguration aspect is probably something you'll like. Since I also love skill trees, I have a lot of fun using my SP points on each monster’s Mirage Board to unlock bigger versions of my Mirages, such as making my way through the S-sized Chocochick’s Mirage Board to unlock an M-sized Chocobo. The best part is that unlocking a Mirage Board keeps the smaller Mirage’s Board too, meaning you have two sets of skills to play with to make a really strong Mirage.

Stacking monsters together may look silly, but all the different things that can be done with Mirages are really fun to play with and make an enjoyably complex battle system. Use of abilities on the field and stat stacking in battle are cool ideas that give a use to all Mirages and gives monster collecting real purpose. Although stacking will be new to Final Fantasy players, as a Final Fantasy fan I think it’s a great way to refresh the familiar battle system and is a nice way to add depth while making it accessible to those who have used monster hunting systems in other games. I'm looking forward to finding even bigger Mirages throughout my World of Final Fantasy journey and so far definitely recommend it to anyone who thinks it sounds interesting!

You can pick up World of Final Fantasy for PS4 and PS Vita, and a cool limited edition World of Final Fantasy PS Vita at Play-Asia.com!
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What's your favourite Final Fantasy Mirage or Monster? If you could use any Final Fantasy creature to get around, which would you use?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram, like JRPG Jungle on Facebook and Subscribe to the mailing list for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

SPICY!: Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God Review (PS Vita)

When a JRPG promises curry, magic and dungeon crawling, it's hard to know whether to expect a light appetizer or a full course meal, game content-wise. So imagine my great surprise when this humorous and charming yet punishing JRPG managed to frequently amuse me with it's silly humour all while challenging me in its tough roguelike dungeons. With plenty of banter and a whole lot of silliness mixed with dungeons ready to challenge even the best dungeon crawlers, Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God is a charismatic, engaging change from the serious side of JRPGs that balances humour and good gameplay admirably.

Sorcery Saga’s story is based around Pupuru, a sweet and spunky student of a Magic Academy who just so happens to love curry. She’s not an A-grade student, but thanks to some luck she gets to go on a quest for her school, where she finds Kuu, a funny creature that eats pretty much everything, and an ancient curry recipe. When she fails her quest and finds herself suspended from school, she decides to spend her time helping her friend’s curry store by promising to make the Legendary Magic Curry. Pupuru’s journey is not a serious one; it's a colourful tale populated by quirky characters, including a love sick prince, an unintentionally creepy wizard and a group of young wannabe heroes named Udon, Panna and Naan. Despite repeating a lot of the same jokes and letting banter go on a little too long, the humourous script is very well-written and really creates a lively feel throughout the entire 30 hour long story. I found myself genuinely laughing out loud on multiple occasions and because the dialogue is so engaging, long dialogues are easy to overlook as the script really keeps things amusing.

Heavily contrasting the lighthearted story are the punishing Roguelike dungeons that are the core gameplay of Sorcery Saga. If you’re like me and had never played a Roguelike before, it differs from regular dungeon crawlers because your character always starts at Level 1 in each dungeon, no matter how much you grinded in the previous one and if you get a game over, you have the extra tax of losing most of your items to deal with. This means being smart about planning how you’ll make your way through the dungeon rather than leveling as high as you can to overpower enemies. You can hoard and enhance equipment to make your dungeon crawl easier, which is important since it seems Sorcery Saga wants to make things as hard as possible. There are traps to look out for, Monster Houses where you get suddenly surrounded and items with seemingly intentionally vague descriptions that mean you only know what they do when you try them, and sometimes that means Game Over. Even your helpful pet Kuu can be hit or miss, as his AI means he will either jump in front of you and protect you from an enemy or run in another direction just for fun.

Despite Sorcery Saga’s harsh nature, I actually found myself enjoying the challenge after a rocky learning curve that lasted a few chapters. Winning a dungeon is very much about choosing which risks to take, such as grinding on a floor and risking dungeon collapse or considering the chances of your final hit defeating an enemy when their next hit could kill you. It's about using stat boosts, such as the Curry On Demand mechanic where combining three ingredients creates one of many energising curries, at the time it will benefit you most to smartly get to the final floor safely. While some Game Overs may feel rather harsh, such as trying a new scroll only to have it put your own health to zero on the 11th floor, victories feel well earned and like you faced a true test of strength and strategy in the randomly generated dungeons.

If you're having a hard time dungeon crawling, players can take a break by watching extra moments with the cast in the library. Since Sorcery Saga’s dungeons can be an intense and sometimes long experience, watching fun, extra banter with Pupuru and friends is a nice way to break up the experience. These dialogues aren't essential to the main story and tend to ramble on a little, but are a nice addition for those wanting more time with Pupuru and friends, or for those who like unlocking items going for the platinum trophy. There are also rewards given for collecting items and fulfilling certain requirements such as clearing a dungeon 15+ times, along with a huge bonus dungeon towards the end of the story for completionists and while I don't feel mentally strong enough to go through these at the moment, I appreciate having a reason to go back to Sorcery Saga if I want to.

Sorcery Saga’s randomised Roguelike dungeons and fun characters are its best strength and create a charming environment to get totally destroyed in, one dungeon at a time. The great script made me weirdly invested in its quirky characters and the grueling roguelike dungeons were an interesting new way to dungeon crawl, albeit if I met a lot of Game Over screens before understanding how to win sometimes against the odds given. For dungeon crawling fans looking for something light in story but challenging where it counts, Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God left a satisfying taste in my mouth and was a great challenge to enjoy next to a fun narrative.

Score: 8/10
This surprisingly challenging Roguelike dungeon crawler partnered with its fun, lighthearted story really amused me in its 30 hour long campaign. While it sometimes punished me a little harshly, winning a dungeon has never felt so rewarding and I've found myself missing it now that it's done.

You can pick up Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God for PS Vita at Play-Asia.com!
(This link helps support the site, so if you use it or buy something from there, thank you!)

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What do you think of Sorcery Saga? What's your favourite Roguelike JRPG?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
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5 Times JRPGs Kicked My Ass

As much as I love video games, I don’t claim to be the best at gaming. While I can pick up most mechanics, my varying degree of skill with some games has made me no stranger to the Game Over screen and I've had to hit the Retry button in some of my most played games (such as my complete inability to complete the Omega Ruins in Final Fantasy X). Recently I’ve been playing the Roguelike JRPG Sorcery Saga: The Curse of the Great Curry God, a fun but tough dungeon crawler that has found me sent back to its town without my items on multiple occasions with a small bit of my dungeon confidence eaten away. This made me think back to some of the many fails I’ve had while playing JRPGs and while these are only a small selection, these are some of the biggest fails I’ve had while playing or more accurately, times I’ve had my ass kicked while playing JRPGs.

Note: I’ve kept spoilers to a minimum by mostly not mentioning boss names and story circumstances, but there are some minor spoilers about significant boss battles in this article. Proceed with caution!

Final Fantasy X’s Final Boss

If there’s one thing Final Fantasy is good at, it’s bosses with multiple forms or stages. I’m not referring to the final boss battle that you pretty much automatically win, I’m talking about the true final boss of Final Fantasy X, the one with more than one stage and an overdrive gauge that can quickly wipe out any unprepared party. There are a bunch of bosses like this in Final Fantasy X but when I played the HD Remaster a couple of years ago, I was reminded of that feeling of total horror when you think you've won the boss battle, but oh no, let's put multiple status ailments on all your characters, shatter a couple for good measure and knock some out because I'm definitely out of Phoenix Downs. It was horrible, but the satisfaction I got after grinding a little more, taking advance of any possible status vulnerabilities, winning and crying like a baby to the ending was definitely worth the struggle.

You can pick up Final Fantasy X HD Remaster from Play-Asia.com*!

Persona 3 FES’s Final Boss

Persona 3’s boss battle is one of the absolute harshest boss battles I have ever experienced. If Final Fantasy X was bad for bosses with multiple forms, Persona 3’s boss is just plain unreasonable. When I played Persona 3 this year, I assumed that it would be harder than the previous bosses I’d faced, all of which had been difficult but not impossible, but the absolute uphill struggle I faced was definitely beyond my expectations. The final boss really ramps up the difficulty, with over 10 different forms to fight and without a proper strategy, any party will be quickly annihilated. I can’t even begin to tell you how many online guides I read and Youtube videos I watched just to check if winning was a possibility and to work out how to defeat that thing with what I had. I must have tried it over 20 times and definitely saw a lot of Game Over screens, which are just a little more crushing when you're almost at the end of the game. It took a lot of persistence and a little grinding, but eventually I did it. I hope to never face a boss that slays me that hard again.

You can pick up the original Persona 3 FES for PS2 from Play-Asia.com* or pick up the PS2 Classic from the Playstation Network Store!

Final Fantasy IX’s Plant Brain

I think I had a lot of luck when I versed Final Fantasy IX’s Plant Brain for the first time, because I had no problem beating it. However something happened - either my Vita ran out of power or I turned it off without saving - and somehow, I lost my save, meaning I had to do the boss battle again. Fine, I said. Piece of cake, right? Wrong.

Older JRPGs are different to the standard beginning of a modern JRPG. They don’t try to make you feel like a god in the first few battles so that you keep playing. They’re not scared to kick you around and knock out a majority of your party, which is exactly what happened to me. I wasn’t expecting to use any healing items because it was one of the first boss fights in the game and I repeatedly kept getting knocked down and finding myself at the Game Over screen thinking I was a better gamer than this. Going from winning on my first try to absolutely struggling was kind of a shock, but I accepted it was going to be a tough battle, put my pride aside and healed my party. It did however let me understand that Final Fantasy IX was going to be a little more challenging than other Final Fantasy’s I played, so it served as a good introduction for what was ahead.

You can pick up the original Final Fantasy IX for PS One from Play-Asia.com* or pick up the PS One Classic from the Playstation Network Store!

Sorcery Saga: the Curse of the Great Curry God’s Chapter 4 Dungeon

Ah, my week long dilemma. Every dungeon in Sorcery Saga is a little punishing, but with the amount of potential enemies that can surround you, surprisingly strong bosses and devastating traps in the 25 floors of this fourth dungeon, Sorcery Saga is definitely working against me in my quest to win this dungeon. Since Sorcery Saga is a Roguelike JRPG, I’m also starting fresh each dungeon run so if I lose, my next run is even tougher because I may not have my best sword anymore. And even if I go in with the best equipment in the world, there’s potential for it to get cursed or eaten by an enemy or Kuu (your friendly dungeon pet) if he's super hungry. It seems like I need a lucky run and to use Kuu and the area as perfectly as possible. For now, my dungeon crawling confidence is waning, but I will not give up!

(Fun fact: before this article went up, I won the dungeon through excessive grinding on each floor and risking dungeon collapse. Yay! Currently slowly going through the last dungeon so I don't you know...die.)

You can pick up Sorcery Saga: the Curse of the Great Curry God from Play-Asia.com*!

Persona 4 Golden’s ‘Legend of Inaba - Max Out All Social Links’ Trophy

I’ve spoken mostly about getting my ass kicked in battle in this article, but there are plenty of ways JRPGs can make things hard for the player, such as the simultaneously heartwarming and patience-testing Legend of Inaba trophy from Persona 4 Golden. Social Links are an enjoyable part of Persona 4 Golden, but to max them all out in one playthrough requires thorough planning and execution, something I failed at multiple times. This trophy pretty much took me three playthroughs, and with a playthrough of Persona 4 Golden being over 100 hours on average, I don’t need to tell you it was hard work. I had to make sure I said the right things to each character or else I may not be able to fully get them to the next Social Link rank in the next interaction, which would cost more time. Memorising what days characters were available, on top of keeping the dungeon crawling part of the game afloat was a true challenge, but at least it was a fulfilling one as it's probably the most immersed I've felt in a story. Persona 4’s well-written characters thankfully made this worth it and I’m forever happy about the 300+ hours I spent with Persona 4 Golden, even if it was tough.

You can pick up Persona 4 Golden from Play-Asia.com*!

Some JRPGs might be ruthless difficulty-wise, but I never think it’s a bad thing. It’s the persistent battling and desire to beat challenges that make completing a JRPG so rewarding, like I truly worked for the experience I gained. I honestly think sometimes the persistence I’ve had encouraged in JRPGs has also become apart of my everyday life, as I look to be challenged in real life situations and in a weird way I enjoy the struggling challenges presented to me in JRPGs as working them out feels truly satisfying. Knowing that all the challenges in JRPGs are conquerable keeps me going and I’m looking forward to whatever the next JRPG struggle I face is, even if it's a temporary kick to my confidence as a player. In the end, it's worth it.

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Have you had a memorable JRPG ass-kicking? What was your biggest JRPG challenge?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram, like JRPG Jungle on Facebook and Subscribe to the mailing list for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Any link marked with * is an affiliate link that helps supports the site, so if you use it, thank you!

What Draws Me To JRPGs

Whenever I approach the end of a game, even if it's an absolutely outstanding game, I start getting excited for something new. My backlog and my wishlist are both overflowing with so many JRPGs to play next and whether it’s Atelier, old Final Fantasy, Disgaea or Tales of, as vastly different as they are, they're all apart of this genre I love. I'm a fan of all genres of video games, but JRPGs are where I feel my happiest and most at home when gaming. Whether for the quirky characters, the long hour counts or the unique worlds to explore, these are some of the reasons I'm drawn to JRPGs.

Gameplay Systems and Mechanics

JRPGs feature a variety of gameplay systems and mechanics, with well-known ones including turn-based battle systems and skill trees. A lot JRPGs are for having unique stories, but gameplay is equally important and JRPG's focus on stat progression or skill acquisition is one of the most enjoyable parts of playing JRPGs for me. I find leveling and grinding really satisfying, even more so when paired with a good skill tree to pave through or skills to reach for as I level up.

Another big reason I love JRPG mechanics are the variety of them. I can go from playing an active battle system in Final Fantasy XII to a turn-based one in Final Fantasy X. I can play tactical battle systems like the one in Fire Emblem or an action ones like in Kingdom Hearts. There are a bunch of genres blended together in JRPGs and while there are definitely some common elements, the combination of these makes each game feel unique. Blending in different genres such as the visual novel aspect of Lost Dimension, the social sim part of Persona 4 Golden or the roguelike dungeon crawling in Sorcery Saga, it’s this kind of variety that makes playing JRPGs fresh and exciting to me.

Collectibles

Whether it's real life toys or in-game items, I love collecting things that interest me and JRPGs really cater to this. Most JRPGs feature plenty of items, weapons, monsters and even dialogues to collect and unlock through difficult but rewarding side and main quests. In my current platinum trophy playthrough of Final Fantasy X HD (that I'm really neglecting by the way), the hardest part so far has been trying to get the Ultimate Weapons, especially with tasks including dodging 100 lightning bolts and playing way too much Blitzball to wait for a rare item to pop. It might sound tedious, but knowing my characters will have the best weapons in the game and I will have gotten some extremely rare items through my own hard work and dedication is enough to keep me pushing forward in the hunt. This is what makes me what to replay so many JRPGs - I want to unlock all of the Dive scenes in Ar nosurge or try to get all the Digimon in Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth one day, along with all the other various JRPG challenges that stick in the back of my mind. Whether you're a collector or a completionist at heart, JRPGs are an incredibly fun way to indulge in these tendencies.

Game Length

While I assume most people reading this blog already love JRPGs, a point I usually raise to non-JRPG fans who wonder why I’m so into these seemingly strange Japanese games is that I enjoy the length and value of putting 100 hours into one experience rather than putting 20 hours into many smaller experiences. My reason for playing JRPGs isn’t solely because I feel like I’m getting better bang for my buck out of them than other games, but I like really throwing myself into activities and 50+ hour JRPGs are a great way to do this. Some of my absolute favourite JRPG experiences have been games I’ve spent hundreds of hours in, like Kingdom Hearts and Persona 4 Golden, and their long length only added to my investment in the story and my enjoyment of their systems. For some people the length of JRPGs is daunting, but for me it’s one of the most rewarding parts of playing JRPGs.

Story

When choosing a JRPG to play, I'm usually first attracted by the story premise more than gameplay. While gameplay is no doubt important in a video game, the stories of JRPGs are usually one-of-a-kind. I think there’s no other genre of games where I can say I’ve played stories about medieval fantasy, high school students fighting monsters inside someone's heart, a great curry God, being a CPU or making star children in order to stop the spread of monsters. I’ve also had plenty of emotional moments with JRPGs where I’ve laughed or cried, since many JRPGs aren’t afraid to explore really heavy subjects all while mixing in humourous quirks such as talking bears, sometimes crude humour or awkwardness. When a JRPG story gets it right, playing for hundreds of hours flies and I leave the experience feeling like I learned or experienced something new.

There are many reasons to love every game genre, but JRPG's great gameplay, stories and fun collectables are the reason I play them for longer than I probably should without any shame. I love feeling like I’m progressing through an interesting world with complex characters and while you can find that in many genres, paired with JRPG gameplay, story length and scavenging, it definitely feels like the right kind of game for me. Whether it be for fun, an escape or a good story, I'm sure that with these things that appeal to me, JRPGs will continue to be a prominent part in my gaming life for a long time.

You can pick up the JRPGs mentioned in this article at Play-Asia.com!

(This link helps support the site, so if you use it or buy something from there, thank you!)

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Why do you play JRPGs? What was the first game that made you love the genre?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Review: Lost Dimension (Reviewed on PS Vita, also on PS3)

Lost Dimension combines a lot of things I love: JRPGs with tactical elements, visual novels and finding a suspect from a group of likable characters. In fact, on the surface it draws a large influence from a few of my favourite series, such as the Trials from Danganronpa or the Materia concept from Final Fantasy, which initially gave me some concerns about how original Lost Dimension would be. But after playing Lost Dimension, I found the combination of these elements plus its own mechanics and its story of traitors make Lost Dimension a unique tactical 30 hour experience that remained enjoyable throughout my time with it, even with some imperfections.

As someone who likes stories that make me feel like I need to constantly look over my shoulder, Lost Dimension is right up my alley. Lost Dimension mixes suspicion into the usual ‘save the world’ JRPG plot. The world is being targeted by a man called The End (no really, that’s his name), who gives the world an ultimatum: defeat him at the top of a giant pillar within a limited number of days or else he’ll destroy the world. Lost Dimension’s characters are all members of S.E.A.L.E.D., a secret government group formed to stop The End’s terrorist attacks that all boast special supernatural gifts, such as Teleportation or Superhuman strength, that give them an edge in battle. The group are briefly separated at the start of their mission with no memory of how, meaning they forget an important fact: there are a small group of traitors among them acting as friends to covertly affect their mission. To top things off, The End forces them to try find the traitors as they progress through the pillar’s floors and kill off a suspect on each floor if they want to complete through the tower Each of these story aspects may seem familiar to players of JRPGs or Japanese games, but I've never seen a combination of all of these story elements in one game like this, giving the story a unique feel.

Keeping traitors in your team can be damaging in the long run, so it’s important to try find the traitors as they cycle through each floor/chapter, despite how sad it is to kill your new comrades. After completing missions, the protagonist’s Premonition gift kicks in, letting you hear the other party members inner thoughts to pick out the traitor. It's not that difficult to find suspects, as multiple voices will be distorted and they are supposed to be that floor’s traitor but I like how it added other innocent character's distorted voices to try mislead me. Finding the traitor is all well and good, but Lost Dimension’s Camaraderie System adds emotions into the mix, allowing you to befriend your teammates as you progress through the story in a visual novel style. Since the main story cycles through vague and sometimes flat-sounding lines in order to tell the story no matter who the traitor is in the part, Lost Dimension’s character depth and best story moments lie hidden in this optional Camaraderie portion. The characters are all struggling with something, including loss, morals and even dreams of being an Idol, that all explore the negative sides of their supernatural gifts and with characters that don't follow the usual JRPG tropes, I was able to feel a connection to the characters easily.

Camaraderie was one of my favourite parts of Lost Dimension as it made me feel way more invested in the story than the vague main story did and the complexity of the characters really lifted the main story. This made it hard to weed out the traitor at times, as in my playthrough two of my favourite characters ended up being killed as suspects and it really added a harshness to the trial system. My only concern is that this part of Lost Dimension may get looked over or rushed by players because of its optional nature. Lost Dimension's strength lies in investing you in characters and then taking them away from you, but that may be lost on people who only briefly explore it in preference of battling and racing through the story.

To unlock new conversations with comrades and see Lost Dimension’s main story, it’s essential to complete Lost Dimension's tactical quests to progress through the tower. The tactical battle system in Lost Dimension is easily understandable to those who have played JRPGs or tactical games, but mixes in a few new mechanics of its own to keep things interesting. Character gifts act like classes and dictate the abilities and stats of a character, including their movement and physical strength. I found most characters could be divided into close range tanks, long ranged attackers, support or long distance movers, so as long as I brought a party with a combination of these I was ready to take on most quest's tactical challenge. Enemies are all quite similar and aren't very noteworthy as they all look similar, but with high stats they can overwhelm a party with sheer numbers, which is the real challenge in Lost Dimension's quests. Mixed in with the usual JRPG mechanics is Defer, a unique yet simple mechanic where a turn could be essentially transferred to another character, allowing them to attack again. It's a simple idea but ended up being one of my favourite mechanics of Lost Dimension because of the edge it gave in battle by giving more access to the skill I needed. With a party of six, Defer allowed me to do things such as only use characters with long-range abilities against crazy tank enemies or to teleport and fly long distances from enemies that kept spreading more enemies, and was an interesting new way to think in a tactical RPG.

While the battle system of Lost Dimension is pretty fun, I had a few awkward moments with it due to some camera issues while playing the Vita version. Between turns, the camera that was supposed to show me the enemy’s actions occasionally showed me walls while following out-of-sight enemies. I know it's not a huge problem, but it happened enough times for me to wonder how it still remained in the game and ruined the purpose of showing me the enemies actions at points, making it a small waste of time. Another thing that kept me from being totally immersed in Lost Dimension’s world was its story dialogue. While the story itself is interesting, it tends to be a little vague in order to keep the continuity. Since traitors are randomised every time you start a new game in Lost Dimension, the dialogue avoids a lot of direct communication with characters. It’s a sacrifice made to keep the replayability interesting in Lost Dimension and to keep its unique concept, but it’s a clear difference from similar games like Danganronpa where the intercharacter relationships are a huge part of the main story. Luckily, the Camaraderie portion of Lost Dimension makes up for this in many ways, but as someone who loves getting invested into a good plot, the main story wasn’t really skilled at doing that.

With the story-telling method supporting Lost Dimension’s replayability, there is appropriately a New Game Plus system in place so you can find a new traitor without losing your progress from your first playthrough. My playthrough of Lost Dimension lasted a decent 30 hours but I didn’t get the true ending, so I may revisit Lost Dimension in future. In the New Game Plus mode, your Ability points carry over, allowing you to essentially keep your abilities and focus on meeting the criteria for the True Ending. Since I enjoyed the Camaraderie part of Lost Dimension, I’d like to go through and max out my bonds with people who I wanted to get to know more before they sadly betrayed me.

Lost Dimension may use a few ideas from other games, but its traitor concept and battle system make it an original experience. I had multiple moments of sadness when my favourite characters betrayed me thanks to the engaging Camaraderie system, even if the actual main story didn’t give me the same emotional connection. As my first 3D tactical JRPG experience, I enjoyed Lost Dimension’s use of range attacks and the interesting Defer system that allowed me to take advantage of the character’s gifts. It’s not a perfect combination of randomised story aspects, traitors and JRPG elements, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. Lost Dimension is a great idea and worth exploring if you're also a fan of these elements.

Score 7.6/10

A unique and fun game of traitors and tactics, albeit with imperfections. I’d love to see a sequel that improves on this idea, but for now, I have to consider replaying it to max out all my bonds!

You can pick up Lost Dimension from Play-Asia.com!

(This link helps support the site, so if you use it or buy something from there, thank you!)

_______________________________________________________________________________

Have you tried Lost Dimension? What did you think of it?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
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The Reality of Playing Persona 5 In Japanese When You're Not Fluent

It's not an easy time to be a spoiler-sensitive Persona fan. If you're wanting to go into Persona 5 in February with a clear head, there are hashtags, wikis and preview videos to actively avoid (seriously, avoid the wikis!). My initial plan was to be part of the spoiler-free crowd, but when Final Fantasy XV was delayed I decided to give into my Persona 5 impatience and bear the spoilers in order to fill my September gaming void and play a great game. But as someone only studying Japanese rather than fluent in the language, I was quickly reminded that Persona isn't a light JRPG. I found Persona 5’s story getting hazier as I spent my time focusing on merely getting through Persona 5 rather than fully and easily experiencing it like I normally would in English. At its core, buying Persona 5 before release may seem like a good idea, but if you’re like me and love Persona’s story, getting it in Japanese when you’re not fluent won’t give you the same experience the English release.

It's not a complete uphill battle to play Persona 5 in Japanese though. If you've played a Persona game or two, you can probably work how to play Persona 5 at the very least. Same as the other main series Persona games, gameplay is similar enough between each edition that it’s pretty easy to work out how to play one Persona game if you’ve played another. It’s the same with Persona 5, with the added bonus of it being polite enough to put some of the basic battle controls and main menu interface in English. For dialogue heavy moments, because Persona 5 is such a visual improvement on pre-current gen Persona games, it’s easier to get context from the visuals making Persona 5 a bit easier for international players. If missing plot intricacies doesn’t bother you, mechanical knowledge of Persona and some button mashing through new mechanics is most likely enough to at least get to the end of Persona 5. This is how I played through the first dungeon of Persona 5 and despite wanting to understand more of the story, I was able to have a lot of fun with the battle mechanics and understand just enough of the story for it to be interesting. Dungeons were probably the most stress free part of my dictionary-free run because of the battles and animated cutscenes, so if you’re importing this aspect won’t be too much of a problem and they're a good way to have fun with Persona 5.

My Japanese is....(see above)

If Persona 5 was all dungeon crawler and no dialogue, it wouldn't pose as much of a problem to the non-Japanese speaking player. However a lot of Persona’s core is narrative, with some of the series best and most unique mechanics including Social Links and the new Demon Negotiation using dialogue as an important game mechanic. A lot can be gathered from visual cues, however with Persona’s characters always having well-rounded personalities and long dialogue scenes, it’s easy to miss important plot intricacies with little or no Japanese knowledge. With my lower level Japanese, I could gather a few of these intricacies but I did find when speaking to my boyfriend (who is much better at Japanese), there were still a lot of things I missed. I didn’t fully understand just how evil the antagonists were because of what I missed in the dialogue and there were developments I really wish I had been able to understand for myself. It’s to be expected since I'm not fluent in Japanese, but Persona is so largely story-based that I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing really important things. Social links are another beast, as I found myself matching words or kanji I knew in dialogue choices when I don’t understand what’s going on, with mixed success. By the beginning of Persona 5’s second dungeon, I found myself pretty nervous as I always wondered if I was missing something important I'd been told to do that was vital to the next boss and if I’d be sent to game over town because I hadn't been able to understand what to do.

There is hope though. For the patient and for those with an interest in learning Japanese, my trusty picture translator and dictionary method requires me be much more patient, but works in Persona 5. In my new save file, I’ve been able to look things up to my heart’s content and actually understand what's going on, which makes me feel way happier when I play. It is, however, taking a lot longer; I’m not at the first save point yet and it’s probably been 4 hours in my new save file. But feeling like I know what’s going on is important to me, which is what drove me to write this article. Some people won’t mind getting a glimpse at Persona 5 without understanding everything, but if you love the details of Persona’s stories, actually waiting may not be a bad idea for a game like Persona. If you want to understand how truly evil some of the characters are, you may not get that from a bunch of words you can’t read and some maniac laughter as much as you think, which is what I found in my first save file. I completely understand the impatience of waiting for such an anticipated and consistently great series, but as I said in my previous article about playing Persona 5 before release, localisations exist because of how much dialogue there is to translate and Persona 5 probably has more than ever.

Playing Persona 5 pre-dictionary was like looking at it through a glass door: I could see the coolness of Persona 5 - the gorgeous visuals, the improved battle system - but I was missing a lot of details and those details are what makes a Persona narrative so hard-hitting. I'm going to keep playing Persona 5, but I may abandon my dictionary-free save and take my time learning new words and understanding the story. I can’t promise that playing Persona 5 will be cool for people who don’t speak Japanese and for those who speak it on a lower level like mine as there will be nuances missed out on unless you approach it with patience. But I also understand for a lot of people, merely playing Persona 5 is what they want and they can live without knowing every detail and I kind of envy that in some ways. No matter when or how you play Persona 5, I encourage everyone as its load screen regularly reminds me to ‘Take Your Time’ and enjoy the intricate world that is Persona 5 in the way you can have the most fun possible.

You can pre-order Persona 5 for PS3 and PS4 in English or buy the Japanese version at Play-Asia.com!

(This link helps support the site, so if you use it or buy something from there, thank you!)

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Do you play games in Japanese before they're localised? What's your best/worst import game experience?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

JRPG Appreciation Post: Lost Dimension's Defer Mechanic

If you've ever had a completely overpowered party member in a JRPG, you'll probably know what it's like to wait each turn for your strongest character’s turn in order to cause some havoc on the battlefield. This is also evident when an enemy has a weakness and only one character has the right attack - suddenly the only character that matters is the one with that attack and the other party members become unimportant compared to the one related to my actual strategy. Lost Dimension’s Defer mechanic plays with this idea, essentially allowing party members to give each other their turns if they don't need them. This considerably changed how I thought about my battle strategies in Lost Dimension and gave me a new perspective on turns in tactical battles and how having access to the right skills at the right time can truly be the ultimate battle tactic.

The Defer system in Lost Dimension pretty simple in practice, but makes a pretty significant difference to strategising in battle. By giving up attacking that turn, the Defer option allows one party member that’s near another party member to attack again. It only works on party members who have previously attacked, but the character movement and skill change is more than enough to give an edge in battle. Defer can be useful when another character has a more suitable attack or ability, when a nearby character is closer to an enemy or when activating special abilities that require another character's Materia. For example, if there’s a nearby item or enemy that is only reachable by passing over a gap, deferring to Agito who can teleport or Nagisa who can fly would be a great move. If you're in a pinch, deferring multiple times to Sojiro who is essentially the healer could get your party back to full health as well, saving you from a retry. While using Defer ends the using character’s turn, it allows for a better quality turn if used correctly and even allows the character to move a little, making the next turn better.

Defer gave me some of my favourite gameplay moments in Lost Dimension because of all the options it gives. In most JRPGs, you're usually limited by each character's skill set but Defer allows you to break out of that by having near unlimited access to all skills. Being a tactical JRPG, this allows for more focus on character placement in the 3D field, which considering Lost Dimension's areas take advantage of platforms and gaps can be a challenge in itself. Although I'm still fairly new to the world of tactical JRPGs, but this mechanic alone made Lost Dimension a really unique experience and I enjoyed playing with this new mechanic quite a lot.

Defer added a really different line of thinking to the way I usually play JRPGs, especially tactical ones. It makes me wonder how it would fare in other tactical RPGs such as Fire Emblem where I had a few instances where I was just shy of defeating the boss with one character. I think the reason why Defer works so well in Lost Dimension is because the enemies either provide pressure in numbers or in crazy brute strength rather than weaknesses, so finding the correct skill to take them down is essential. It’s a tactic that makes Lost Dimension stand out to me as more than just another tactical RPG and is a unique JRPG mechanic that is simple, yet rewarding.

You can get Lost Dimension for PS3 or PS Vita at Play-Asia.com!

(This link helps support the site, so if you use it or buy something from there, thank you!)

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What's your favourite part of Lost Dimension? Do you have a favourite tactical JRPG mechanic?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Pictures note: Photos are taken from Play-Asia's Lost Dimension page