u/Constant-Arugula-819

I love the music, characters, and even the combat of Replicant so far. I feel like the story is barely budging.

I've read some other threads on reddit. Is there a recommended way to do a story focused playthrough? I haven't done a single side quest and got the dlc that gave me the automata starting weapons. That has helped with the pacing. I'm considering doing the first ending and then watching videos to not re-experience playthroughs. What are the necessary playthroughs? Or are there any suggestions to cut the game down so I can get through all endings in under say 15 or 20 hours?

I know I have encountered other games where the mechanics of the game are used for combat, but can't think of any others. The battles are built in a more puzzle oriented way rather than a direct attack. I found the "boss battles" in portal a lot of fun.

So I'm not asking for recommendations for games like portals per se. Just games with even individual battles where the combat is indirect.

I love how quick and slick the combat is in the remasters. The fact you can rebalance to experience the story is amazing. I've finished ff4 and almost done with ff6. I want good remasters that hit the nostalgia button and/or newer games that keep the combat and pacing this fast.

I also played the ff9 remaster. Didn't like how it was remastered as much since it didn't do as much to rebalance. Instead you just get 9999 damage and battle aid. I like the experience mulipliers in pixel remasters. It takes out all the grinding, but you still have some challenging bosses.

Other games I'm looking at that seem to have these qol adjustments:

Ff8

Suikoden 1 and 2

Chrono cross

Maybe there is an older jrpg I missed that is worth a playthrough with qol adjustments to make it a smoother experience. Any others I should know of?

Any console is fine.

Both E33 and ff7 remakes did a great job of isolating sections where you gain a new appreciation for all the different character builds. I was impressed how both games innovate so much that sometimes a character that you once thought was weak can save the day on another tough battle. It seems like this happened a lot in older games. Any other newer games that have satisfying builds like this?