😊😊😊

Future Pacifist strat: Reload until you get the funny hat for the BTR.

Supply them with Watermelon vapes for the ultimate chill vibe.

Just because I like conserving the ammo.

@@MagneticJerk good strategy

also: holy crap the translation is horrible! same "let's remove all personality from the dialog, but stretch ooooout the last word in every senteeeeeence just because it was in the originaaaaaal!" type of japanese 201 duning-kruger fanslation games like this tend to get.

Think I was not referencing JRPGs in particular, but if you want some recs... I can't think of anything that would be considered as much of a "JRPG" in the classic sense comes close to Growlanser, but if we stretch the definitions a bit... - Way of the Samurai (and the related Akiba's Trip games) - Azure Dreams - Kichikuou Rance, Sengoku Rance, Dai series - Any "proper" dating sim (time management mandatory - e.g. Tokimeki, Koisuru Oukuku, Only You etc.) There are probably a bunch of JP-only games I can't really comment on... First Queen for example looks extremely cool, but no idea how it really stacks up in this regard since the only English version for it is a rather... lackluster remake with MTL on Steam.

@@MagneticJerkI see, I think Devil Survivor 1 has a lot of the RPG roots that growlanser has considering that they were made by the same developer. Thanks for the recommendations, I’ve played a few of those but it’s nice to know what you were talking about. I’m really passionate about having interactivity on a deeper level in video games so it’s nice seeing someone else care as well.

@@gruglas I was always kind of put off SMT by the games I played, but I always meant to check out Devil Survivor just because it had the GL devs behind it. From what I saw (and I never took more than a cursory glance admittedly), I never really noticed anything like that, but I kind of want to check them out now that you mention this. Also, on this topic more broadly: Especially when talking about "player agency" in the less "exciting" sense, can recommend the very recent Void Stranger, which is not a JRPG but a Sokoban-style puzzle game that is just a textbook example of how to make the player think about every action they take.

@@MagneticJerk There are many situations like what you mentioned in the video in desu1. Without spoiling anything there’s a point in the game where you have to return a bag to one of the characters and the player has to choose which one to give it to but the options aren’t obvious on the surface. Who the bag is given to has major impact on the next day in the game, there’s a lot of situations like this in desu1. I understand not being an smt fan but devil survivor 1 is very different and I would wholeheartedly recommend trying it out especially if you care about player agency.

@@gruglas Nice to hear! I guess it's hard to notice good foundational implementation of player agency at a glance without actually playing a game... and in the sense that I care about it, it's not really something fit as an explicit selling point any more than "this game is actually a game". Oh, and before I forget it (again): Only played the demo, but Alterium Shift actually had a pretty big focus on toying with the classic JRPG agency mechanics. Can't vouch for the whole game yet, but the demo/beginning definitely left a strong impression in that regard.

The hints of battle game were always the only part I kind of liked about Ace Combat, though I have to admit I never really managed to get much out of them. Lethal Skies was always my plane game of choice, despite the missions being too small scale to really fall into battle game territory. But yeah, it's a weird illusory genre currently that usually only seems to exist by accident. Aside from Tiny Combat Arena, I can't think of any game where "being a cog in the battle machine" was an explicit design goal. As of now, my personal list would go kinda like this: -Battle Engine Aquila -Earth Defence Force (4 and on in particular) -Running With Rifles -Tiny Combat Arena -Panzer Front Ausf. B -Energy Airforce Aim Strike -Gunner, Heat, PC The latter 3 are arguably "just" your normal milsims (which do kind of all count by default, see also ArmA etc.), but they have a particular focus on combined arms warfare, and in EAF's case it's really more the vibes... The missions there aren't all that dynamic, but man did they put a lot of effort into the radio chatter.

The almighty algo works in mysterious ways.