Well yeah, I've got four of the orbs... back from the monsters that had them in Act 2. Just beat Glydggra? The Sniflheim boss and I'm in Arboria again.

Oh wow, I thought the S was just for the Switch version.

The mechanics of the entire game are weird. I like the typical SaGa leveling system (doing stuff = gaining stats), but unfortunately for SaGa style they give you almost no information whatsoever and the plot is incredibly threadbare.

Your characters also don't matter in the typical way; if they die they're dead and you go recruit another character archetype from the classes you unlock. Even your hero/heroine doesn't stick around, since the game is far more of an Empire simulator where you grow your territory and do mini plots RPG style, unlocking more classes to fill your party with.

The upside to all of them is whoever gains stats in battle will let the class persist with those stat bonuses as a whole, and characters are largely carbon copies of themselves. But the game doesn't tell you any of this at all. There's no info guide, no support, nothing. You just have to feel everything out yourself, and IF you do

all there basically is to have is tons of battles. Just nonstop mindless battles in a game where battles = time passing = plots move on.

Oh, and if you end up as the Final Emperor (so many battles = so much time passing = character retires and generation jumps after a plot flag), and you lose, that's it. Game Over means generation jump for everyone but the Final Emperor. The game can give you a no-win scenario if you fuck it up. (RS2 remake has NG+ but still).

Oh thank you, I completely missed it x3

Hey Lay-oh-nya, you should play Grandia, the other RPG that I call a mastuhpiece. The HD Collection has been patched, so the two games are what the way they should be. Ya get two all-time RPG classics in one incredible package! Look into it if ya can.

"Marked because I was one of the localization QA testers for this game!"

How cool. Though I'm sure it's more hard work than glamour to be a QA tester!

Perhaps Lunar 2 was an extreme example, given its limited accessibility. Well, least Shining Force II and Phantasy Star IV are easily accessible nowadays. Phantasy Star IV, now that's what I call a masterpiece.

Nobody asked me, but the problem with Chrono Trigger is that it's overhyped to holy hell. So much so that it's long since become low-hanging fruit on the giant RPG tree. Whether it actually deserves its masterpiece status is up for debate, but there are other excellent 16-bit RPGs like Lunar: Eternal Blue that get overshadowed because people won't stop talking about Chrono Trigger (... and EarthBound. Can't forget that one.) But hey, people are allowed to enjoy whatever.

Chrono Trigger!!!!

Is this your first time? This is absolutely one of my favourite games of all time.