How can I enjoy certain types of SRPGs?

[Zinless]

I'm having trouble enjoying some strategy RPG games lately, mainly the ones that don't have free stages. All the stages are finite, which means I have to min max all my characters' stats and skills...

Every. Single. Fucking. Stage.

I hate having to reset something just because I accidentally killed an enemy meant for another unit.

I hate having to open a guide just to play casually.

I hate having to choose a meta unit instead of my favorite unit.

I get that having that tension is the whole point of some SRPGs, but my perfectionist self just can't handle this stuff.

So tell me, am I doing things wrong? How can I enjoy those types of SRPGs? Maybe this genre is just isn't for me? I know there's an amazing game behind all of them, but just knowing the fact that they don't have free stages sucks all my enjoyment out of it.

 

[Cipiteca396]

I feel like you're talking about a genre I've never seen before. I don't know what you mean by 'free stages' in particular.

Googling SRPG brings up a few of my favourite games though. Age of Wonders and XCOM: Enemy Unknown in particular are fun for me. Have you tried those?

 

[Daitengu]

I always hated limits like that. On PC I just use cheat table to change that kind of thing. And if I can't, I mod the exp gain amount by about +25% to offset mistakes like that.

Side note: IN SINGLE PLAYER games, I see no issue with cheats and mods. I play games to have fun, and that kind of struggle just isn't for me.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

You can try firing an RPG to better enjoy it.

 

[Daitengu]

I feel like you're talking about a genre I've never seen before. I don't know what you mean by 'free stages' in particular.

Googling SRPG brings up a few of my favourite games though. Age of Wonders and XCOM: Enemy Unknown in particular are fun for me. Have you tried those?

View attachment 37640

There also Warhammer 40k Mechanicus. It has a mission limit based on time spent in the area, so... annoying.

 

[Valmond]

SRPG’s in the traditional sense are highly strategical games. They aren’t really meant for the feint of heart.

Getting into the core of SRPG’s means you will be engaging in some of the most difficult systems and layouts.

These games tests how well you are able to reason, plan, work with your situation and so on. They are in short, pretty demanding games.

Yggdra Union is an SRPG, and also a CRPG. You get no free stages. And your success must be planned from far ahead of time.

Otherwise you will end up in very unfavorable situations later down the line. You get no free stages, so you don’t get to properly train unless you repeat the stage.

Though, doing so cuts out later content.

You have limited resources, and some of the items gotten from the start of the game should really be saved for end game.

Learning terrains, character advantages, etc is important. However, learning the character themselves is crucial.

Yggdra’s Revolution as an example. When she is the last character standing, this skill becomes available to use. She will critically hit the other side, defeating all except for the head.

Manipulate her HP correctly, and she can wipe out 5 unit armies herself. Though, this is pretty difficult to pull off, and requires a solid understanding of the character and mechanics.

Peeps can say they know the system of a game, which is true to an extent. Though, when it comes to SRPG’s, they force you to know the system inside and out.

 

[NotaNuffian]

 

[Corty]

Stop playing gacha. Normal, single player games don't care about your meta BS. Abandon gacha & anything live service that are festering with issues like this and return to single player.

And stop reading guides. Fuck that. Do it how it's fun not how its “effective”.

 

[owotrucked]

Ah yes, torture methods disguised as tactical RPG like Eternal Poison?

There are some people who like Fire Emblem, tho

Normal, single player games don't care about your meta BS.

no free stage means the game actually care about meta BS

You can't farm exp, and it's usually tied to whoever do last hit, there's perma death, and we all know that devs can't balance games so you have gigachad units with tremendous scaling.

Theoretically you can brick your roster and never be able to overcome the final boss lol

 

[Alski]

Sounds like you just want to take the stratergy out of the game, have you tried generic RPG?

 

[Zinless]

Ah yes, torture methods disguised as tactical RPG like Eternal Poison?

There are some people who like Fire Emblem, tho


no free stage means the game actually care about meta BS

You can't farm exp, and it's usually tied to whoever do last hit, there's perma death, and we all know that devs can't balance games so you have gigachad units with tremendous scaling.

Theoretically you can brick your roster and never be able to overcome the final boss lol

Dude I fucking HATE eternal poison. The fact i have to overkill every single frickin enemy just to recruit them bothers me ?. You can't even replay stages, I didn't overkill two and realized my save file was fucked when I did a Google search.

Art style was nice but that was it.

Stop playing gacha. Normal, single player games don't care about your meta BS. Abandon gacha & anything live service that are festering with issues like this and return to single player.

And stop reading guides. Fuck that. Do it how it's fun not how its “effective”.

Actually, the games I talk about are often single player focused games. Like OwO said, the fact they don't have free stages basically means you could brick your entire save file later down the road if you, I dont know, didn't know that the unit you like will die later or is not actually viable later on? So you just wasted tons of finite resources that you will never get back, so you're forced to restart.

I know some people like that and how it forces one to strategize, but I feel like this is beyond strategizing. The fact that I have to look up which unit is worth investing just to not fuck up my save file is spiritually taxing.

 

[Naravelt]

this SRPG but also play like normal RPG with overworld, there's also SRW 30 if you like mech

 

[owotrucked]

Dude I fucking HATE eternal poison. The fact i have to overkill every single frickin enemy just to recruit them bothers me ?. You can't even replay stages, I didn't overkill two and realized my save file was fucked when I did a Google search.

Bro, you really played that game???

The illusion of freedom: "take risk to raise your valuable unit" or "win without wasting turns and screw yourself longterm". For some it's strategy, for others it's artificial tedium.

You combine that with permadeath, and you get a slippery slope where every loss makes you lose more.

These types of games are more like puzzles. They don't reward your expression and personal sensitivity. You have to follow a narrow range of actions to stay on the win-more path, or tumble into the lose-more slopes at the slightest misstep - no inbetween.

With such feast or famine mechanics on the player side, the devs have to freaking balance the enemies in the fixed story encounters and define how many fuck-ups you're allowed...

It's a cursed genre without a doubt.

 

[Cipiteca396]

I know some people like that and how it forces one to strategize, but I feel like this is beyond strategizing. The fact that I have to look up which unit is worth investing just to not fuck up my save file is spiritually taxing.

Hm. Maybe try Roguelikes/lites. They should have the same feel as an SRPG, but since they're (usually) procedurally generated, the devs actually have to balance everything.

 

[Zinless]

Bro, you really played that game???

The artstyle catfished me. That, and I actually play at least 60% of the PS2's RPG catalog; barely finished any of them though.

Hm. Maybe try Roguelikes/lites. They should have the same feel as an SRPG, but since they're (usually) procedurally generated, the devs actually have to balance everything.

Yes, but they often don't have the kind of storyline I'm looking for. I like war-focused stories and those types of stories are often seen in SRPGs. FFT, Grand Knights History, Valkyria Chronicles, etc. I wanted to enjoy those storylines, so I was interested in the genre.

 

[Anonjohn20]

SRPGs

Smut rpgs?