Worst JRPG you've ever played?

[Usagi Senshi]

Traysia on the Sega Genesis has been mine since I got it as a random gift in 1993. Terrible graphics and shoddy interface and battle system just flat out made me cringe at the time but I still stuck to and finished it. The music was the games best part oddly enough.

Conception 2 was a just an outright shitshow through and through and I didn't even bother finishing it....

[Harry Botter]

Sounds like Lost Kingdoms (only other game could be its sequel or the Baten Kaitos games). The picture of the girl on the english cover still gives me nightmares. It was actually one of FromSoftware's games if I remember right.

Baten Kaitos. I remembered it as soon as I read that.

[Lucifuger]

Man, I kinda envy how some of you who are listing Chrono Trigger and FF7 as the worst jrpgs you've ever played. I respect everyone has different opinions and tastes but I kinda laugh out loud when I see people list those games and think of some of the real stinkers I tried as a kid. Its one thing to be able to laugh and talk about how bad games are now but it was such a shitty feeling when you went to Blockbuster on friday to rent a game and it turned out to be horrible. Welp there goes the weekend!

I just remembered this one but Lunar Silver Story for the sega cd(before any of you flail me). I actually had a sega cd as a kid and played it sometime after its release and just...really did not like it all, Phantasy Star IV trumped it in every way. I think PSIV came out a bit later but still that was a regular genesis game. The sequel, Eternal Blue, while not perfect, was way better. I hesitated a bit before listing the original LSS but that game was just so ugh to me. The cutscenes were so goofy too, they improved them a whole lot in the sequel even if the one dude who did Ghaleon got a bit heavily into it.

[Ausr]

9 and X-2 was worse.

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That, zelda 2, and phantasy star 1-3. Dragon warrior 1 was bad too.

I can handle Zelda 2 and DW1. Phantasy Star, after watching a LPer play it, just looked and played awful.

[Keile]

Final Fantasy 13...

The never-ending Hallway.

Do not stray from this hallway.
You think you can actually explore? HA! Stay in the hallway! Random battles? Naah, there's JUST enough fights to get you to JUST the right level to fight the bosses along the halllway. So basically Leveling is useless since it's all predetermined anyway.

[Super Kami Dende]

Unlimited Saga, that was a fucking ruse.

That game was so fucking confusing at first with the wheel spin system. It didn't even give an ingame tutorial.

[Danner]

Was just thinking about horrible JRPG's for some reason and was curious to hear what the worst ones you've played are.

For me, Granstream Saga, Guardian's Crusade, Shadow Madness, Enchanted Arms and Hyperdimension Neptunia spring to mind. I'm pretty sure I got a quarter to half way through these and just gave up.

The worst that I've finished would have to be Holy Magic Century (Quest 64). What a load of rubbish.

This is a multifaceted question.

I mean, the worst JPRG I ever played was in the Hyperdimension series. But not because the game was bad. It might have been, I have no idea. It hung on me before the tutorial was over. Repeatedly. I never managed to get past that point. Three months later, I reinstalled and tried again - but it was still not patched. I gave up on the game at that point. I suspect you aren't really interested in that answer.

Similarly, there is no shortage of rpg maker trash out there. F.ex, game developer Kemco seem to have put their entire being into makes this kind of game. Their lineup is a never-ending string of extremely low budget games. And they are no the only ones. While each game have one or two interesting ideas in them, I must admit I never found the patience to finish either. At least the price was cheap - and this comparing these games to major titles like final fantasy just ain't fair!

Few games truly mess up everything. As much as I loathe FF13's storywriting, direction, character designs, linearity and endgame - you gotta admit it has an amazing sound track, pretty graphics, the combat system is actually fun, the bosses are interesting, and there is still an intriguing setting behind it all. I can honestly say it's a bad game, but I cannot claim it to be pure trash. Flipside, LiEAT is cute and has an interesting plot, alluring characters and a storywriting that drags me into it, but the gameplay itself is best described as boring repetitive pixel hunting. But I would even go as far to say that despite its severe shortcomings, this game is pretty good.

For me, the worst sin an RPG can do is to put the entire game on a tight timer. An RPG is supposed to be about exploration, the option to substitute skill for grinding, and the allure that towards the end you will have grown to the point where you can easily overcome any challenges from the beginning of the game. With a timer, the entire game becomes a quite different challenge - and not usually for the better (though there are plenty of examples where complimentary mechanics means this still worked out pretty well, f.ex BoF5: Dragon Quarter).

My second worst JRPG experience is tied to this. This game tried to do a large set of new and interesting ideas - but literally failed in every single one of them. The game was Unlimited SaGa on the PS2. It was simply put not at all fun to play, and literally frolicked in inconveniencing and punishing the player at any turn. You encountered a random encounter? Well, sucks to be you - better reload, because you just used up some very precious game time! I blame the director, Kawada. He's the same game director that thought it would be hilarious to place 12 special-but-looking-just-like-any-other-urn loot chests into final fantasy 12, each containing 1 gil. If you opened either of those chests in while running though FF12, you lost out on an ultimate weapon 50 hours later, for no particular reason. Unlimited SaGa was that kind of assholery, except a full game of it. And obviously, on a very punishing timer.

My absolutely worst JRPG experience is best left forgotten. But I blame NIS. I am a huge fan of NIS' games; to the point where I dared buying a game of theirs without reading up on it first. Let it be known this is a mistake I am never going to do again. I have a fairly open mind, but what the ********!

[stellvia]

Which NIS game would that be for you?