u/Jolteon93

Hi all, looking for my next sRPG as it's slowly becoming my favorite genre and need recommendations.

So far I've completed:

- Final Fantasy Tactics (original PSX and The Ivalice Chronicles)

- Tactics Ogre Reborn

- Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis

- FE 3 Houses and Sacred Stones

Games I've started but never finished:

- Ogre Battle

- Ogre Battle 64

- FFTA

- Vandal Hearts

- Shining Force III

I think I've covered all the obvious greats, what would be next on your list? I've been looking into Arc the Lad collection on PSX. I love retro games and would prefer to complete most of the retro hits before indies or modern releases, but I'm not married to that rule. I have a steam deck and access to most retro systems. My top priorities in sRPGs are story and character customization. I also greatly prefer initiative based systems instead of player phase/enemy phase systems. Thanks in advance!

Quick background: my previous boss was universally despised. Classic diminisher. Always stole credit for success, passed the blame for failures. Horrible communicator too. He lasted 5 years until leadership finally listened to us and let him go. To my great surprise I was then promoted to his position and have been leading my small team and have both management and technical (IC) responsibilities now.

I have put in a TON of work to be the exact opposite of my old boss. I give praise to my direct report in public and give constructive feedback in private. I have given out numerous awards (which include cash bonuses) to both my team and other colleagues in our department, something that previous boss NEVER did. I am very intentional about admitting fault and taking responsibility when I make a bad project decision or a rookie management mistake. I also try to overcommunicate rather than the opposite and be as transparent as possible when appropriate.

Despite this, I feel that I am being treated differently by colleagues now. I haven't received any direct feedback from coworkers, but I have been made aware of rumors being spread about me. People saying I don't deserve my position or wasn't ready for leadership. People saying I've changed or can't handle the stress. People questioning my decisions behind my back. I admit to being more stressed than before my promotion, but our team metrics are at the highest level in over 5 years and we have received great customer feedback on recent projects.

There are certain coworkers (on different teams but same department) who have been here much longer than me and had to wait much longer to be promoted, so I can't help but think there must be some jealousy involved. My team performs a very niche function and therefore I'm the only one qualified to lead my team, so it's not an example of me being chosen over other internal candidates. I'm also relatively young for my new role.

Since becoming a manager I've also had to be more authoritative and direct than in my IC role. I have to make hard decisions, protect my team, and manage our workload so we can all succeed as a team. My previous persona as an IC was very happy-go-lucky and silly and extroverted. So I think people are also partially reacting to my change in demeanor since the promotion. I'm also just not used to being scrutinized like this and maybe I just don't have a thick enough skin yet.

What advice do you have for me? I want to obviously block out the chatter and focus on doing good work and being a good leader, but I'm new at this and it is difficult. I'm open to any feedback you may have.