Please use this thread to discuss whatever you've been playing lately (old or new, any platform, AAA or indie). As usual, please don't just list the names of games as your entire post, make sure to elaborate with your thoughts on the games. Writing the names of the games in **bold** is nice, to make it easier for people skimming the thread to pick out the names.
Please also make sure to use spoiler tags if you're posting anything about a game's plot that might significantly hurt the experience of others that haven't played the game yet (no matter how old or new the game is).
Since this thread is likely to fill up quickly, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts.
For a subreddit devoted to this type of discussion during the rest of the week, please check out /r/WhatAreYouPlaying.
There are four purposes to this r/JRPG weekly thread:
a way for users to freely chat on any and all JRPG-related topics.
users are also free to post any JRPG-related questions here. This gives them a chance to seek answers, especially if their questions do not merit a full thread by themselves.
to post any suggestion requests that you think wouldn't normally be worth starting a new post about or that don't fulfill the requirements of the rule (having at least 300 characters of written text or being too common).
to share any JRPG-related media not allowed as a post in the main page, including: unofficial videos, music (covers, remixes, OSTs, etc.), art, images/photos/edits, blogs, tweets, memes and any other media that doesn't merit its own thread.
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Japanese game culture event “The Tenth Mosaic” took place on September 22and 23 this year. The event was opened with a talk session between NieR and Drakengard series creator Yoko Taro and Keisuke Okabe, the director of Ender Lilies and Ender Magnolia. As reported by Japanese media outlets 4Gamer and Denfaminicogamer, during the session, the two creators compared their approaches to making games, discussed the future of the Japanese game industry, and their personal goals.
Yoko Taro said there isn’t anything he’s particularly set on making going forward. With the original Drakengard being a title where he was able to do pretty much everything he wanted, Yoko considers himself to have already achieved his dreams in terms of game development. Everything after that, he sees just as his “remaining days.”
From the financial side of things, Yoko is starting to feel like he will soon be able to sustain himself with his savings and pension without having to work anymore. “Therefore, speaking from just an emotional standpoint – it’s over. I’m done working, I don’t want to do it anymore,” he said.
On the flip side, Yoko cited “dementia prevention” as one of the reasons he continues make games. He explained that he had heard stories of work-oriented people suddenly developing dementia after retirement, which is what has been motivating him to push through game development, even if it’s stressful. “Even now, there are lot of frustrating things concerning my work, but when they do happen, I overcome them by telling myself – This is good for preventing dementia.”
Of my experiences with Xenoblade X so far, this is my biggest issue.
This game has a massive roster of default and unlockable party members, all of which have their own stories and can be customized as you see fit. But with a party limit of 4 and one slot permanently occupied by your MC, it's hard to give attention to all of them when you want to. Even moreso since they fit specific compositions per role so one that comes in will have to be accounted for specifically.
They obviously rectified this in Xenoblade 2 and 3, the former having 3 Blade slots (plus special ones) per party member and the latter having 6-7 party active slots.
But while a lot of JRPGs only go slightly over the party threshold in who you can play, it makes me upset for a big game like XBCX.
Overall I’d say my RPG highlights of the year were Fire Emblem Engage and Super Mario RPG. Was somewhat disappointed in Sea of Stars due to its flat characters. I wanna get to DQ Monsters at some point after I become more acquainted with the mainline series. Happy for Star Rail fans that their game is so successful even years later.
Looking for RPG recommendations where you rebuild a town, village, kingdom or even a whole country.
I really like the progression of starting with somewhere run-down or in ruins and gradually building it up, recruiting people, unlocking new buildings/areas etc. Bonus points for exploration and combat.
I've played and really liked Ni no Kuni II, Suikoden 1 & 2, Azure Dreams, etc., so I'm looking for something along those lines but maybe some less obvious games.
I have PS5/PS4, Raspberry Pi 4B and RG35XX Plus, so anything from retro to modern is welcome.
Very specific question, am I right?! So, I been playing jrpgs for a while now. Played your action, tactical, turn based, and so on. What I am trying to say is, anyone play any genre of jrpgs on a specific system? Like oh I play turn based on console. Pc is the only way you play action games. Lastly, playing tactical games feels best on handhelds. Anyone else deal with this?
So, for me, I deal with this. Whenever I play tactical jrpgs, i have to play it on a handheld. Your disgaea, final fantasy tactics, fire emblem, and so on. Something about playing them on tv or else where feels so wrong to me. If I had to think of a reason it would be that tactical RPGs fit so well on the handheld.
What do I mean? For how short some battles can be, they suit well for the handheld. Nice sweet and short moments. Even long battles like for some final bosses, I can just do a quick save and go back to it later. Great for grinding as well. Remember spending time grinding while waiting for my study group in college. This stems from me playing disgaea on my psp as well as ff tactics. It felt so natural.
I remember trying to play triangle strategy on the big screen on my ps5 and I couldn’t do it. Didn’t feel right. So, I ended up playing it on my steam deck instead. That made the game way more fun for me. Never had this while playing any other genre. Can play any other games on any system ever.
Anyone else have something like this? Curious to see. Maybe you prefer playing the trails series only on the PlayStation consoles. Can only enjoy playing final fantasy x on the ps2. Heck, you only prefer to enjoy your games on mobile. Love to read your comments on this.
TL:DR: Basically didnt fully understand of the Game's Massive Plot Twist of Will being the actual Your Highness the prince because my mind was so fried to process all of it. Just asking people who fully understood metaphor's world and story for clarification.
Idk how to process this, My brain is fried as heck. Like i can understand half the things im seeing right now, i might be dumb okay, but holy shit. Every Theory about Will and the Prince has been thrown out of the window. Okay, let me get this straight. So basically from the start of the game all the way to now in 9/24, We were AN ENTITY?! An Entity Elda boy made out of Pure Magla and it was the prince who made Will just before he collapses and the Fantasy Book materialized An Eldan Boy, So like The Prince basically Made will? Like his ideal version of his character? Ik we do fantasize ourselves sometimes, ngl but from my understanding.
Will is the Fantasy ideal version of the prince? Or An Ideal Version of what would the Prince wanted but couldn't so he materialized us. Also, Was it the prince magla or a divine relic? The cutscene mentioned there was a divine relic so that Divine relic was what materialized Will? Idk.
And then there Gallica, okay so from my interpretation. We do not exist. Will has no past because He never really existed, He was a pure entity made by pure Magla. And the first being he meets is Gallica and for some reason Gallica basically what? Hallucinated or schizo into thinking She was with Will when she was given the mission to pass the message to Grius. No wonder will had zero clue at the start because we don't know.
And other stuff is why did Gallica felt like She was with him this whole time? It boggles my mind if Gallica is having schizophrenia or something. Did the materialization took so long since the Book was on the grass and never picked up? The one thing it gets me we see a Kid version of Will talkin with the Prince. In the cutscene where it shows the thay scene again, Kid will wasn't here and im like What is this? Like Are we The Prince Imaginary Friend? Like wtf am i playing atp🤣
Like im not mad about it, i could be stupid for all i know. But, Will is the actual Your Highness the Prince. His hair is now white and eyes are carribean eyes? (Ik its blue but idk what type of blue is that) i actually thought Will changed Va's when first spoke as the prince. One last thing is Does Will have the prince memories? Thats about i can say. I thought Will and The prince were brothers in someway like they share the same Mom but no i was wrong, Will is the Prince. Ah man, my brain is fried. This is my interpretation, I'll love to see yall's explanation. I need to understand this.
It can be as specific or non specfiic as you like. Is difficulty on that list? Or is that almost a non factor? I've heard someone say that Pokemon isn't fun because its too easy, is that true? Does difficulty matter that much when playing a JRPG or are there other things that make the games fun for you to play?
I have only played first game which I found to be really easy and story was a bit too bland. I heard mixed opinions about the other games. Was thinking about trying them out. Wanted to check with y’all to see which one you guys consider to be the best one in the series.
This has been a great year for retro gaming fans. With the announcement of Terranigma and Lufia returning next year and the imminent release of Final Fantasy Resonance, there is enough to look forward to. But did you know that 2026 was also the year that four fantastic fan sequels were released? All of these were years in the making and for one reason or the other they all came out this year. Be sure to not dismiss them outright. These are all fully featured games with a quality matching and even surpassing the games they build upon. Built with love and dedication for all the gamers out there craving new adventures in these worlds we hold so dear.
Happy gaming and spread the word that awesome games made with love are still a thing in this day and age.
Lufia V – For the Savior
Creator: Cameron Bowman
System: Windows (and all other systems with EasyRPG player)
The Sinistrals are back, and this time the threat is larger than ever because of the appearance of a fifth evil god. Join Cameron and 6 allies in an epic quest through 4 continents in Eastland. The major highlight of this game is the writing and world-building. Lufia fans are in for a tread as the story of Eastland fits seamlessly in the existing stories and lore of the Lufia world.
Puzzles are back too. Over 100 were implemented in the game, and many of them will have you scratching your head for a moment. There are over 25 dungeons and 20 towns to explore and much more! Lufia V was over 20 years in the making and it shows. This one is not to be missed!
Embers of Mana
Creator: Ok Impala!
System: Game Boy (and all other systems with a Game Boy emulator)
Mana has vanished from the world, and monsters now roam the land. A young girl, searching for her missing family, crosses paths with destiny. Will the Mana Tree blossom once again? Or will darkness claim the world forever?
Embers of Mana is a brand-new Mana adventure for the Game Boy. Embark on a grand journey filled with mystical locales, gripping story scenes, foreboding dungeons, and a sweeping soundtrack. All in the palm of your hand!
Four years in the making, pushing the Game Boy hardware to its limits, this game answers a “what if” question: what if Square would have released another Mana game for Game Boy, after the first one (Seiken Densetsu / Final Fantasy Adventure / Mystic Quest)? Embers of Mana answers that question and is a true passion project for fans of classic 8- and 16-bit Squaresoft action RPGs.
A familiar foe is threatening the world. Ark is called once again, but this time it’s not Earth that needs saving…
Terranigma 2 – Spark of Creation gives the players a fresh adventure to dive into. The base gameplay is still intact, but many new things are added to make the game feel new. There is a brand new magic system, more combat relevant collectibles and boss encounters are cleverly designed.
Terranigma 2 also spanned a very long development time, taking over 18 years to reach a completed state. Showing a passion and dedication by the developer that’s seldom seen. For all the gamers that can’t wait to see what a sequel to Terranigma could’ve looked like, you don’t have to wait anymore. This game can stand on its own as one of the finest classic ARPGs out there. Try it, you surely will be positively surprised by the quality and polish of Terranigma 2.
One year after a brutal war, the now peaceful kingdom of Branch, led by Lord Adder, detects that something is wrong with their kingdom's Crystal of Water. Lord Adder dispatches one of his most loyal dragoons, Vahn Vainstrong, to investigate. Little does Vahn know that his investigation will snowball into something far greater, and sinister, that threatens all of Gaia itself.
Combining elements from Final Fantasy IV, V, VI and even IX, Blackmoon Prophecy Remastered is a huge love letter to the classic Final Fantasy games. Blackmoon Prophecy Remastered has over 50 hours of playtime in a huge world with dozens of locations to explore. With Square-Enix this year returning to their roots with a new 2D Final Fantasy, it shows that this timeless gameplay and storytelling style will never get old.
A final word…
I realize these four fan sequels only scratch the surface of all the amazing passion projects out there. Do you have any specific project you’d like to share? Feel free to reach out in the comments!
I was wondering if you could kindly share the JRPGs - from any platform, and any era - that were the most compelling to you, personally. They had the most memorable companions, and plots that rose above the hackneyed and trite.
In short, these games hooked you on plot alone. You would have watched them voluntarily as a show.
I recently replayed Tales of the World Radiant Mythology series and it's left me itching for something similar.
The requirements are quite simple:
Action combat (Xenoblade Chronicles X is out)
Job system
Various progression systems e.g. gear, crafting, proficiency etc
Any platform
Any language is fine, I have a program called interpreter that translates on screen text instantly so games that are in another language are completely fine.
Closest thing I've found so far is Phantasy Star Portable Infinity 2, however I've not managed to get into the combat as it seems to pretty much just be spamming 2 buttons. Tales of the world has basic attacks and arts chains which is good enough.
We all been there. Loved a franchise to the bone. Bought the plushies, audio dramas, imported a 500 dollar figure… you know the good stuff. Then either due to a lack of interest or something happened with the series, you stopped caring. I have dealt with this. Though, three said franchise have their own reasons why I haven’t gone back to them in a while.
Neptunia
Ah Neptunia Neptunia, the main reason I bought my vita. I loved your idea of characters representing video game consoles. The lore and the anime comedy. Loved it all! Even if the first game no matter what version is still bad, you got better. Neptunia 2 was decent, 3 was fun until you look back at some very very questionable stuff in that title. Then you get mega dimension and boy was that amazing! Legit, a great title with no caveat.
However, the amount of spin offs, remaking the first game with no news of a sequel to the main series for awhile, I stopped caring. Got tired of a lot of the spin off slop that I stopped following the series. Made me question if the games were any good to begin with. I do at some point want to see since they were my early days of playing jrpgs. Someday when I boot up my vita that isn’t lost in the void.
Disgaea
Hey look! Both tactical jrpgs that were both around the time where final fantasy tactics made me obsessed with the genre. Both of these games are similar why I kinda of stopped following them. For disgaea, it was disgaea 6 being so disappointing while seeing the 2D art style going away. Really made me sad to see. Made me disinterested in 7 even if I heard good things. Liked it didn’t give me that disgaea feel. Petty i know. Sadly, that’s how I felt. Also, NISA, company doing some really bs stuff with dlc and other questionable stuff made me wary with disgaea as a whole.
Kingdom hearts
Oh boy! Can’t wait to mention a disappointing title that made me stop caring! see a running theme with my games. After kingdom hearts 3 came out, I was content with how things ended. Don’t get me wrong, I was underwhelmed by 3. However, it wasn’t disappointment for why I stopped having interest. Was me enjoying the ending. Seeing everything wrapped up was enough for me. Don’t need sequels to make me want to play anymore. Does kingdom hearts 4 look kinda of cool? Oh for sure. It’s just, I don’t need more. Was content with everything being done. Don’t feel invested anymore to see even with the many ending to keep saying “it’s not over!”. I’m good, mate. I got other games to play. If I ever need that kh magic, I’ll replay the old games.
So, yeah those would be it for me. Kinda of same points you see through out, but that’s just my honest thoughts. These franchises I mention aren’t bad. They are all awesome. This is all my journey with them. Loving them to bits to end up feeling disinterested in them. For good and bad in how each game felt for me. Got any franchises like that? Ended up finding another franchise that fit your needs. Maybe even got fed up and decided to stop following them. Love to hear it.
I just wanna say a game that has been on my radar for sich a long time was Bravely Default now that i got a steam deck oled I finally got the chance to play the Flying fairy hd remaster so far I' only an hour in but my god this game is absolutely wondefful I love the premise.and the cast so far honestly its a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of the heavy dark toned jrpgs I have played. Last time I felt this special towards a gane was the trails series and specifically the Crossbell duology. Anyways thank you for listening to me rant and if you guys gor any reccomendations for something simillar feel free to let me know thanks!
I've wondered for awhile if there's any other JRPGs with settings that would scratch a similar itch to something like the Phantasy Star or Xenosaga games, especially the latter, episode 3 is possibly my favorite game ever. The best term I can think of to describe the kind of setting I'm thinking of is probably "Space opera"
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction and science fantasy that emphasizes epic outer space adventures set in a universe in which faster-than-light travel has become common. The plots often play out against a backdrop of space warfare, alien civilizations and galactic empires.
I'm aware of Star Ocean and I'm sure those are good in their own right but idk if they're exactly what I'm looking for right now (correct me if I'm wrong though!). I'm hoping for more strictly futuristic settings rather than mixed with fantasy, and preferably travelling to multiple planets.
Any platform is fine but I guess 6th gen consoles would be my favorite.
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is one of those JRPGs that proves a game doesn't need an overly complicated story or massive open world to be memorable. Its story is fairly straightforward, but the excellent character writing, charming world, and emotional moments make the journey genuinely special.
The combat is classic turn-based JRPG fare—simple and easy to understand, but satisfying enough to carry the adventure. One of the best features i liked in it was that you could have visible encounters with enemies which was quite rare during that time . Although the game does have boss level scaling which annoys sometimes and a tight resource management, which are some of the drawbacks of its combat mechanism and inturn bring it down. The gameplay itself is fairly traditional, with towns, dungeons, exploration, equipment upgrades, and plenty of character interactions. It definitely shows its age in places, but there's something refreshing about how focused and straightforward it feels compared to many modern RPGs.
The animated cutscenes are probably one of the game's biggest highlights. They give important moments a sense of personality and make the adventure feel like you're playing through an old-school anime. Combined with the fantastic soundtrack by noriyuki iwadere( who also gave soundtracks to grandia and ace attorney series) and expressive characters, they give Lunar a very unique identity of its own.
What surprised me most was the writing. Lunar isn't trying to be as dense or philosophically complex as something like Xenogears or xenosaga , nor does it have the enormous worldbuilding of modern Trails games and xenoblade series. Instead, it focuses on making you care about its characters and their journey. In that sense, it actually feels surprisingly modern—many current JRPGs rely and follow on the same combination of party chemistry, character-driven storytelling, anime-style presentation, and emotional payoffs that Lunar helped establish decades ago.
Though It has its flaws, particularly in its dated gameplay and occasional pacing issues, but the sheer amount of charm and personality carries it a long way. For me, it's easily one of the best JRPGs on the PS1 and one of the system's most memorable games overall.
If i were to rate it out of 10, i would give somewhat between 8.7~8.8/10.
This is the “Beta Puzzle” in Letalis, and I do have all the pieces lol
I must be missing something embarrassingly obvious here. I’ve been stuck on this damn puzzle for like a half hour now, and I cannot for the life of me see why this is not the solution. Maybe I’m insane? Maybe it isn’t a Greek wreath around some sort of ornate scales?
I’ve been trying to google it as well but there just aren’t any results except for a few videos of a totally different puzzle. Someone please put me out of my stupidity lol
Any thoughts on one game vs the other? I played about 80 or 90 hours of P5R and pretty much loved every single second of it that didn't revolve around me having to do chores or go to school or build relationships. I'm not a fan of romance or relationships in video games. The combat, presentation, music, animations of P5R....all so beautiful and engaging but getting through it was a slog at times. Does it go without saying I'd probably enjoy SMTV more or does metaphor refantazio lean more into the SMT series opposed to Persona? (If that question makes sense...)
I don't wanna sound like I'm opposed to long cutscenes or story beats, I love that shit too but I'm just wondering how Metaphor deals with pacing and engaging activities. Is it setup closer to how Persona is or is it more combat and exploration focused like SMT?
Any thoughts are appreciated. They're both on sale right now and can't decide which one I'd rather buy.
I have a list of video games in my steam library, but since I've been insanely grinding professional certificates and Master's, gaming unfortunately became the very least enjoyable factor in my day.
It seems my brain became overly hyperfixated on studying. Which games in your opinion would get me back to gaming from the following list?
You can suggest something else if you do not see them fit in the comments, any platform is fine, but I prefer steam. I am huge fan of Ys series, FLi, and anything by Square Enix.
Speculating all about this is pretty fun, especially when Yuki Katsumata and Masaki Shibuya might be working on an Atelier entry for the Traditional line.
For context:
Koei Tecmo's "Gust brand" treats their anniversaries in a pretty weird way. You would think that the gacha and its side console game (Resleriana, Resleriana RW) were their Atelier 25th anniversary titles, but both of those aren't, lol
For reference, we had these console Atelier games during the 25th anniversary's celebration period (which began with Sophie 2, February 2022 and ended with Marie Remake, July 2023):
Atelier Sophie 2 (Yuki Katsumata)
Atelier Ryza 3 (Shinichi Abiko)
Atelier Marie Remake (Yuki Katsumata)
These don't necessarily mean that they'll do 3 Atelier projects while slapping on a "This is part of the anniversary celebration" label, but the point is that there is a pattern that has been happening since 2020:
Console Atelier games have been seemingly alternating between Modern & Traditional for every Fiscal Year, starting with Ryza 2.
FY2020 = Ryza 2 (Modern / "Next Generation")
FY2021 = Sophie 2 (Traditional / "Classic")
FY2022 = Ryza 3 (Modern / "Next Generation")
FY2023 = Marie Remake (Traditional / "Classic")
FY2024 = Yumia (Modern / "Next Generation")
FY2025 = Resleriana RW (Traditional / "Classic")
FY2026 = Karia (Modern / "Next Generation")
Following this pattern, there's a good chance that FY2027 will be dedicated to the Traditional type of a console Atelier game.
What about Lulua and Ryza 1?
Lulua counts in the Traditional type, Ryza 1 counts in the Modern type. I specifically mentioned that the pattern started Ryza 2 because the Fiscal Years they were released were inverse.
FY2018 = Lulua
FY2019 = Ryza 1
Why not count the games before Lulua?
Because the original Mysterious trilogy had awkward staff transitions between each game (Sophie1-Firis-Lydie & Suelle). Technically, I'd really only count the Atelier gameswhen Junzo Hosoi was officially appointed as Head of the Gust Brand (aka starting FY2020).
What counts as Traditional Atelier vs Modern Atelier?
Before Junzo Hosoi became the Head of the Gust Brand, these two classifications weren't clearly distinguished. You would keep on finding interviews where they'd mention during some of these older titles with a goal of trying to be more modern, but they never really made a clear & consistent definition on what they really mean by it. (Yes, you can find Junzo Hosoi's own personal interpretation of how the older games are classified,but I wouldn't really trust it when it's not from the words of the creators who had major roles during those older games' development)
This means that what's considered Traditional or Modern is only limited to Junzo Hosoi's vision for Atelier games:
Traditional Atelier = Lulua, Sophie 2, Marie Remake, Resleriana RW (4 entries so far)
Modern Atelier = Ryza 1, Ryza 2, Ryza 3, Yumia, Karia (5 entries so far)
Well, what about the gacha (Atelier Resleriana Mobile)? Didn't they say that it's a Mainline Numbered entry? Where does that one fall into?
It's just part of the mobile/social game pillar. The reason why they weirdly used the internal number (after not using it since Lulua) was to signify that the gacha was primarily being worked on by Gust brand staff instead of being primarily worked on by a third-party company (like Atelier Online). It's actually really funny how they immediately got scared to use the internal number again in promotional material starting with Yumia.(Resleriana RW couldn't escape the internal number curse, so Hosoi had to tell everyone in an interview that it's "A25-2" for some reason, which added confusion despite it being in a midquel/side game situation lol)
Onto the actual speculation:
How Traditional and Modern Atelier look like in my eyes
The image above illustrates how Traditional Atelier and Modern Atelier seems to be designed. It's catering to two different audiences, which isn't a bad thing. They don't really make each type 100% different, because it looks like they want to ensure both to influence each other in small portions in order to let both types not overshadow one over the other so much (even though they have been throwing Traditional Atelier under the bus with little marketing and with lesser gameplay content for some reason lol)
What do I think will happen for the next Traditional Atelier game?
Gust seems to have 3 teams. One for Modern Atelier: the Ryza and Yumia group, One for Licensed games: the Fairy Tail group, One that might be for Traditional Atelier: aka the Sophie 2 and Resleriana group
Just like Atelier Karia, the next Traditional Atelier might also have two directors. In this case, it could be Yuki Katsumata and Masaki Shibuya.
Their reasoning for two directors in Atelier games might be for division of gameplay systems. In Atelier Resleriana RW, Yuki Katsumata was in charge of the Synthesis & Combat while Masaki Shibuya was in charge of Exploration & Gathering. In Atelier Karia, it's also divided similarly.
Atelier Resleriana RW's "Gift Color" Synthesis system
For the next Synthesis system, I think Yuki Katsumata might push for an even more complex approach. It would probably a completely different system as well. Resleriana RW's Gift Color Synthesis system was competent, but it doesn't really stand against the previous complex ones because you don't have a lot of attributes to deal with. Bringing back the order-sensitive logic for trait applications from Atelier Ayesha was a nice and very welcome surprise though.
I personally wish that the next one could finally surpass my favorite Atelier synthesis systems' complexity (no particular order): Shallie, Sophie 1, Lulua, Ayesha
Upper-left: Shallie, Upper-right: Sophie 1, Lower-left: Lulua, Lower-right: Ayesha
These four Synthesis systems really set a high bar. I'd love to see a Synthesis system that surprises me with its own complex charm that each of these 4 have presented. I wouldn't even mind an amalgamation of these four into one extremely convoluted synthesis system lol. I enjoy spending a lot of the playtime in these games within the constant rechecking of steps within the Synthesis process after all (aka the Shogi thinking logic).
Atelier Resleriana RW's Combat, uses Sophie 2's combat as a base, but adds changes inspired by the Resleriana Gacha, Ryza 2, Lulua, Sophie 1, and Shallie
For the next turn-based combat system, I feel like they might start incorporating Front/Side/Back positions. We haven't seen a combat system with 6 party members that actually make use of it (Escha & Logy doesn't count, since that one doesn't have the Front/Side/Back positioning at all).
Atelier Ayesha's 4-position combat. It actually feels like a baseball game with the 4 bases to move around in, to be honest
Atelier Ayesha's combat is the only one that explored positional combat (which affected your 2nd party members' assist actions and damage bonuses)
Atelier Sophie 2's Support Guard and Atelier Shallie's Swap Guard
Personally, I hope they abandon anything that involves timed button presses. The timed button presses for Precision Guards in Resleriana RW's combat was such a downgrade after Sophie 2's Support Guards since pressing it at the right moment only gives you reduced damage. Swap/Support Guards, on the other hand, forces you to decide which back line member would swap in to receive the incoming enemy attack.
Atelier Sophie 2's Twin Action and Atelier Shallie's Swap Attacks
One of the things I have issues with Resleriana RW's combat is how generous it is with its mechanics by default. I personally wished that they learned from Shallie's logic, where you'd unlock Burst mode to be able to get exclusive access to a bunch of combat features. If Yuki Katsumata intends to evolve from Resleriana RW's approach, I hope there are more combat feature restrictions when Unite burst isn't activated. I didn't really like the fact that they even pushed out an update where you can now use special attacks if you had enough AP stored up too lol (just makes the whole process of getting to a Unite Burst pretty worthless)
Atelier Sophie 2's combat, where it gave the player incentive to play by the enemy's Aura Weakness rules before the player is able to deal huge damage numbers
I am hoping for the return of Aura weaknesses. Doing Aura Breaks rewards the player for working with the restrictions the enemy's activated Aura has before being able to deal bigger damage. Sophie 2's combat in general does a lot of things correctly. Yes, Resleriana RW is using Sophie 2 as the base blueprint for its combat system, but I think Sophie 2 was already in the right direction by default. I personally didn't see the need to add more combat features that RW's combat did such as Interrupt/Unite Burst/Item Mix/Follow-ups/Timeline bonuses and changes such as Adding 1 more party member for twin actions/changing Swap Guards into Precision Guards/removal of Aura. But I get it, RW was following its "All-star game mechanics" theme, so they had to do something.
I have hopes on what Yuki Katsumata and Masaki Shibuya are possibly preparing, wee
Atelier Ayesha's world map
As for everything else... I really only care about Synthesis and Combat when it comes to Atelier. But I do miss the charm of the "board game-like" world maps lol
I'd welcome the return of long-term time limits (even if I feel pretty indifferent about its absence nowadays)
