u/ReasonableLiving5958

Every band with major lineup changes goes through this and fanbases often refuse to give the newer lineup a fair chance. Just about every major power metal band goes through this, but a lot of them still recover and settle into their own "groove" so to speak. Stratovarius, Helloween, Dark Moor, Nightwish, etc...

But honestly I feel like Rhapsody of Fire has become a bit of a punching bag, which I feel is pretty unjustified. While Dark Wings of Steel is a pretty lame album, the albums since have been mostly stellar. Staropoli has been pretty hated too for some reason, and everyone seems to think Luca was the only composer of the classic lineup and totally ignore the fact that Staropoli was co-composer on all their albums.

Roberto Micheli and Giacomo Voli have been incredible replacements for Turilli and Fabio, and the drummers and bassists they've gone through have been incredible as well. Anyone who thinks the lineup just isn't as good from an instrumental point of view really needs to listen to their newest album.

Voli has a totally different voice than Fabio and most definitely takes a bit to get used to. But I do not know how anyone can listen to "March Against the Tyrant" or "The Wind the Rain and the Moon" and not realize how incredible of a vocalist he is.

I could see the argument that the songwriting is pretty standard Rhapsody formula, but even then there's still some of the best material in the whole Rhapsody saga from Into the Legend to the newest album (which is the heaviest stuff they've done).

Anyone who has slept on the band should really listen to these songs in particular and give them a chance:

Distant Sky

Valley of Shadows

Rise from Tragic Flames

Seven Heroic Deeds

March Against the Tyrant

The Wind, The Rain and The Moon

Legend Goes On

Chains of Destiny

Bloody Pariah

Vanquished by Shadows

Whispers of Doom

By "wrong" I do not necessarily mean that as a bad thing. Everyone plays games in their own way and we should always respect it. Whether it's button mashing in action combat because you do not care to spend your life learning every combo, or ignoring mechanics because they involve too much micromanaging or are too complex for what they offer?

For example, I absolutely hate micromanaging multiple characters. In almost every single JRPG I've ever played going back to the NES, I almost always exclusively focus on spending all my gold/equipment/upgrades/grinding on the main character if it is a party based game. If the game multiplies the amount of experience if you're the only one alive or in the battle, I will purposely keep the other characters dead or out of the party. There have been times where I am at the end of the game and the main character (or whichever character I liked the most) is decked out in super gear, is 40 levels above the rest, and many of the rest of the characters are stuck with a wooden hat from the beginning of the game.

Not only do I not need to deal with the headaches of micromanaging characters, I have the added benefit of having the main character be so overpowered from hording all of the best stuff and experience that it really negates the need for said party members. I've never really had the patience (particularly in early JRPGs) for grinding every character to their max.

Of course, it occasionally bites you in the ass. Mostly in the rare instance where all of a sudden you're without the main character or the finale forces you to use every character (if I remember correctly, Ys Seven really fucked me in this regard, hahaha).

But even strategy RPGs I'll do this if it is feasible. This would not work with a lot of early strategy RPGs for various reasons (such as linearity and limited grinding opportunities). But I have beaten every Disgaea game up through 5 using only one character and enjoy the game way more than when I would try trotting out every character to give them an opportunity to get experience.

Post-Turilli (and later Post-Fabio) Rhapsody of Fire is way, way better than the community gives it credit for and they're totally being slept on

In what ways do you play JRPGs "wrong"?