u/lulufan87

Lost Sphear is a 'retro'-style jrpg released in 2017, by Tokyo RPG Factory, which was a subset of Square Enix and has since been (unfortunately, in my opinion) absorbed into the company. I played it on the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026. TL;DR is below the post.

Given that the last game I played was Harvestella, I guess my current drive is to play chill, low-key, AA JRPGs. If anyone has any more recommendations, I'm all ears.

Plot Overview:

The story concerns a world where people and places, even kingdoms, become 'lost'. This means they turn white and shimmering, as though they were made of mist, and cannot interact with the outside world. In order for them to become real again, they must be restored with 'memories' that have since been turned into monsters. Our hero, Kanata, is an orphan who has the ability to kill monsters, collect their memories, and restore things and people that have been lost.

Combat:

Combat is where this game shines.

The basic combat is a standard ATB system, which lends to its retro feel, but its assorted bells and whistles make it stand out.

I won't delve into its intricacies, because this post would be too long if i did. But if you're into ATB systems or just interesting combat systems in general, especially turn-based, I recommend it. It has active abilities, passive abilities, and abilities that proc on active abilities and can be permanently stacked onto them, so as you get more powerful your basic abilities have more and more customized effects. Advancing your abilities is much more important than leveling.

What's more, a few hours into the game you receive >!mech suits!< that have their own suite of abilities and increased states. They have a limited pool of '>!mech!< points,' so they don't last very long, so you have to strategize and use them wisely while exploring a dungeon and contending with its end boss.

Grinding, Gear Progression, and the In-Game Economy:

I would never mention this if it weren't fucked.

To be brief: items require upgrade materials to upgrade. Upgrade materials are too expensive. This necessitates grinding. The combat system is not made to make grinding fun or quick.

There's more to it, but the simple truth is that I spent a full day grinding when I shouldn't have had to, on top of hours spend grinding before that. I wish this entire game had been implemented without the need for upgrade materials. Nothing would have changed except the need to grind.

Visuals:

The visuals overall reminded me pleasantly of Bravely Default and Alliance Alive. Chibi characters and a gentle, low-color-saturation water-color aesthetic. Character designs are unique and fit their personalities. The environmental design deserves special recognition.

Music:

The music was great. Can't think of a single weak theme. As I mentioned above, the dungeon design was great, and each theme worked well with its dungeon. According to IMDB, the composer, Tomoki Miyoshi, hasn't worked since 2022. What a shame. Hopefully he finds a new project soon.

Story and characters:

I'm big on story and characters. It's the number one thing I look for in RPGs.

This game satisfied me. The story was familiar: start as an orphan in a small village and work your way up to working with major world forces to defeat the big bad. Explore exotic locations, get swept up in world events, and pick up companions along the way.

We start with three characters: a generic main character, an annoying best friend whose job it was to overreact to everything, and a female character whose only role is react to the annoying character by getting annoyed. Thankfully, this dynamic ended quickly, and a variety of new characters were introduced to the party as the story progressed. Our main three also receive appropriate time and character development. Save maybe the female character, but her practicality and stability made her one of my favorites over time. She never left my party.

I found myself getting very fond of each character as they were introduced, and even a bit emotional when one of them >!appeared to be dying. I actually wish they'd followed through and killed that character; the game would have had more teeth if it did!<. Regardless, each of them contributed to every story point via dialogue, and when the game ended I felt invested in what would happen to them.

There is an >!end game!<. I wouldn't call it extensive but it centers around an interesting mystery and helps us wrap up a few loose ends. I appreciated its inclusion.

Conclusion:

Apparently the next game Tokyo RPG Factory made after this was an action RPG and a huge dud. That makes me sad. I wish they'd stuck with the ATB system, or just pure turn-based, and turned out another retro JRPG. There is something compelling about this game. I was looking forward to play more. As it is, I may play 'I Am Setsuna,' its predecessor. I hope the members of TRPGF are enjoying their careers and can take pride in what they've made.

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TL;DR

Play this game if you like: Chill retro JRPGs with solid characters, music, art, and story, and you don't mind spacing out and grinding fights that are too slow to be easily ground.

Thank you for reading.

I've been browsing the sale items and found a few heavily discounted JRPGs, figured I'd post them here.

Trails in the Sky 1 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition: $31.00 (down from $61.00).

Note: The Switch 1 edition is also available at a lower price point.

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: $25.00 (down from $50.00)

Eiyuden Chronicle: $15.00 (down from $50.00)

Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force: $8.00 (down from $30.00)

Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord: $13.00 (down from $50.00)

Atelier Yumia: $35.00 (down from $70.00)

Atelier Sophie: $20.00 (down from $40.00)

Atelier Sophie 2: $30.00 (down from $60.00)

Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky DX: $16.00 (down from $40.00)

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX: $16.00 (down from $40.00)

Atelier Dusk Trilogy Deluxe: $50.00 (down from $90.00)

Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland: $10.00 (down from $40.00)

Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland: $15.00 (down from $60.00)

Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland: $10.00 (down from $40.00)

Note: So many Atelier titles are on sale that I may have missed some. I did see a few more, but the sales percentage ranged from 10% - 35%, so I didn't include them here.

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I didn't see as many insane deals as I did last time I did this, but what is there is pretty solid. Especially the Trails 1 sale price. If I missed something notable that is more than 50% off, please let me know and I'll add it.

I just thought this is interesting.

I completed Atlus' (the video game publisher responsible for Persona, Etrian Odyssey, and many other titles) user survey for 2026. It has a few questions like 'which video games did you play in 2026?', and while there are only a few non-Atlus answers, Expedition 33 is one of them for multiple questions.

I apologize for not taking screenshots, but you can find the survey if you want to via a quick search.

I've been looking through the sale list and figured I'd post my findings here for the ones that are on sale for $30.00 or less. Some of these aren't part of the Blockbuster sale, and are only on sale for a few more days.

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Alliance Alive HD Remastered: $13.00 (down from $50.00).

-Personal note: this is a great JRPG I never see talked about, it's an insanely good deal.

Persona Collection (Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 3 Portable): $27.00 (down from $90.00)

Etrian Odyssey HD: $12.00 (down from $40.00)

Persona 5 Tactica: $18.00 (down from $60.00)

Shin Megami Tensei III: $15.00 (down from $50.00)

Yakuza 0: $28.00 (down from $50.00)

Unicorn Overlord: $18.00 (down from $60.00)

Valkyria Chronicles + Valkyria Chronicles 4 Bundle: $10.00 (down from $40.00)

Valkyria Chronicles: $5.00 (down from $20.00)

Vakyria Chronicles 4: $6.00 (down from $20.00)

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Digital Deluxe Edition: $21.00 (down from $70.00)

Lunar Remastered Collection: $30.00 (down from $50.00)

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Others close to $30.00:

Tales of Arise: $35.00 (down from $50.00)

Persona 3 Reload: $35.00 (down from $60.00)

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Hope that helps connect you with some good games.

If Liara were Liaro, would players still have romanced him? Do you think anything else would've changed in the fandom? Fox news/Cooper Lawrence would have freaked out more, surely, but that's all I can think of as something concrete that would have changed.

I personally would have still been as dedicated to Liaro as I was to Liara, but I like the shy bookish type and I'm not picky about gender.

I just need to vent. I'm about halfway through the game, if I had to guess.

The Adventures of Elliot is basically 'what if Square Enix made a classic Zelda adventure rpg?' You play a very likeable, mild-mannered adventurer name Elliot who has to save the kingdom of whatever from a bad guy. There are >!time travel!< aspects, so be prepared for a long of same-y maps and reused enemy assets.

The thing that everybody talks about when talking about this game is the fairy. Elliot is given a companion character from fairly early on in the game that never shuts up.

However, before I began playing, Square released a patch allowing you to mute her. Partially. She still has text, and she still has voiced dialogue for a few things, including opening and closing the map ("Let's see... where ARE we?") and cutscenes. Obviously the cutscene voiced dialogue is a good thing, so no complaints there.

So the problem isn't that she has voiced dialogue. The problem is the things she's actually saying.

She has dialogue when you see a treasure chest ("Isn't that a treasure chest? Let's open it!"). She, infuriatingly, has dialogue when you get hit by two attacks in a row ("Try using your shield sometime!"). She has dialogue when you try to go somewhere the game doesn't want you to go ("We have more important places to be right now!"), even though the game is ostensibly fairly open world.

She also has dialogue for the vague puzzle aspects of the game. See, there are nails sticking out of the ground. Eventually you get a hammer. Get it? There are walls of magic that only the fairy can pass. Eventually you get an ability that allows you to warp to the fairy. Explodable walls: bombs. Etcetera. And every time-- every single time-- you see one of these things, she says something like "What if you use your hammer?"

At a certain point it starts to feel insulting. Do you think I have severe short-term memory issues? Because I do. But even I don't need to be told to open a treasure chest. It's a treasure chest. I'm not going to just stand there and look at it.

The combat too is an issue.

The 'normal' mode of the game is what would be 'story' for any other game. I don't have a boner for hard combat, I usually play on story or normal. But this game is insulting. The first few hours of the game you have a companion who literally heals you of all damage. Once they're gone, you receive health at an alarming rate, making sure that if you're low on 'hearts', you don't stay that way for very long. Challenges aimed at getting heart pieces are both plentiful and a breeze. I've died once so far-- unusual for me, I usually die often-- and it was because my cat did something funny and I forgot to pause. Your attacks all have interrupt, so don't worry about getting hit by anything. Bosses and monster rooms are laughable.

And then there's the writing.

The premise is simple, which is remarkable, considering how much they hammer it in. Beastmen are mean, humans are good. The world has gone through three ages. Past, super old past, and present. Magic from the super old past fucked over the past and made it shitty, and the present is only okay because of a magic barrier surrounding the world's only town.

You are given the above information 1) in the opening of the game, 2) in three two-sentence-long codices in the first few hours of the game, and 3) by a character a few more hours in. Then your character and his companion go >!to the past!<. They know it's >!the past!<. They know the opening information. But you still have to sit through them going 'wait... what's happening here? Why is everything so shitty?' until 4) a historian approaches you and tells you the same information again.

Yes, games repeat things. That's not a bad thing, it's good to remind your audience about lore. But this one is almost insulting to both the player and the characters.

It's the same with the >!time travel!< aspects. One character is very clearly >!the ancestor!< of another. >!They have names within two letters of each other, and they look alike!<. Do your characters notice? No. Of course they don't.

It's all coming together to make me question my sanity. Why do I need to be told to hammer nails and open treasure chests? Why am I not expected to be able to remember six sentences of lore? Why do enemies stand still and let me kill them?

I played Ocarina when I was 10 years old and didn't need my hand held this much.

Do they think their audience is literally illiterate? Or do they just think that we're all stupid?

In the USA. I'm brand new to collecting. Magic Knight Rayearth is my favorite anime period, and I want to own it on blu ray.

I see it was produced by diskotek, which makes me happy. I see that it's about $250 - $300.00 on ebay/amazon. On mediaocd, it's about $100.00, but it's backordered.

I had a similar experience with Space Commander: Cobra, I was going to buy it for $100.00 but it just came back into stock in MediaOCD for ~$50.00 a few days ago.

How long should I wait on MediaOCD to have MKR back in stock for $100.00, or should I bite the bullet and budget out the $300.00 for an ebay purchase?

Really appreciate any responses, I'm completely new to all of this.

We're baking a big batch of cornbread for my spouse's company BBQ. Doing some testing today and although the flavor was spot on, the texture was just incredibly dry, even with butter and honey added on top.

Recipe is from Spicy Southern Kitchen:

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1 cup buttermilk

2/3 cup honey

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons unsalted butter,, melted

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal,, I used yellow cornmeal. Be sure you do NOT use self-rising

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

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Make sure one of your oven racks is in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease an 8-inch square pan (or a round cake pan which is what I used) with butter or cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, honey, eggs, and butter until honey is fully incorporated. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and thoroughly mix the two together.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool in pan for 5 minutes.

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Do the proportions seem off, or anything? It uses honey, should we also add sugar? Or just more buttermilk?

Alternatively, if you have a recipe you like that uses those ingredients, we'd love to hear it.

Thank you!

Basically as the title says.

I'm watching Escaflowne the series at the moment. Full disclosure, I did watch it twenty-two years ago, but it's still blowing the fuck out of my mind. All I remembered was the character designs and the music.

The music, the animation, the creativity, the world-building, the characters, the journey. Everything has me riveted.

What did you watch for the first time/first time in decades that had your jaw on the floor for just how good it was?

Just out of curiosity, what kind of content would you like to see?

I'd love to see her be painted by other queens. My impression is that she did it once and the audience was so cruel about the look that she never did it again. If my read on that is right, it's extremely sad. Seeing Plastique or Krystal Versace etc. paint her would be incredible.

You?

Mine:

Hoshi no Koe/Voice of a distant star: Early film from Makoto Shinkai, director of Kimi No Nawa. He made it in his basement using Photoshop to animate. It's not a polished film, but it's haunting and emotional.

Chivas 1-2-3: A short series from the creators of Sorcerer Hunters. Everybody is named after a liquor and there are boobs everywhere. See also 'Louie the Rune Soldier', which has a similar vibe and is by the creators of Record of Lodoss War.

Ai Yorshi Aoshi: A Love Hina romcom harem clone, which I typically don't go for. But there's something so good-natured and calm about this one, with a nostalgic vibe. Beautiful character design on the main heroine.

Samurai Deeper Kyo: A bog-standard Rurouni Kenshin clone. I can't defend it, but it's great nonetheless.

Peacemaker Kurogane: Legitimately surprised this has no english-language BD. An amazing series with cool characters, lore, and fights, all based on 'historical' fact. Based on a gorgeous manga. A bit BL.

and as a bonus

Kobato: A series that CLAMP made after their heydey. About a kindergarten teacher who may or may not be dead/a minor deity. Better than anyone gives it credit for and cut short too early.

You?

For me it goes:

-gale

-karlach

-shadowheart

-astarion

-lae'zel

-wyll

Gale wins due to his character growth and incredible astral sex scene. Wyll loses just because he needs more content, specifically some kind of wedding or pseudo-wedding.

What's your ranking? Or at least your favorite? And why?

I don't know where else to put this.

I have severe OCD and started a new med last year. Not going to mention what it is, but it's an anti-psychotic. It completely annihilated some of the worst things OCD has done to me and it saved many interpersonal and professional relationships that are important to me, but it's also made it impossible to DM.

I can no longer improvise or roll with the punches. I just "..." when my players do something I wasn't prepped for. Players even started (kindly, I truly miss my group) suggesting actions I should take because it took me so long to react. Prepping is impossible because I space out constantly. My memory is fogged and I can't remember combat rules very well without referencing them constantly, especially for spells. People who had been on anti-psyches will understand what I mean. It slows you down.

I needed this med to save my life, but I feel so sad. DMing was central to who I am as a person. I DM'd both personally and professionally-- like for actual money during after school programs and for events like birthdays-- for twenty years. It's how I made friends and it made me feel valuable and respected as a person.

No advice needed. I have it tagged as such because I have to, but I don't think anyone can tell me anything I haven't already tried.

I'm just sad.

For the purposes of this discussion, Pokemon doesn't count. They're amazing games, I'm just curious to see answers that aren't Pokemon.

Mine was Lufia: The Legend Returns/Lufia III.

It had a party full of fun, memorable characters, awesome and approachable anime-style concept art, a rich world, a story that started out stereotypical and then ended up being surprisingly emotionally impactful, and a cool combat system that was somewhat grid-based without technically being a tactical jrpg. I fell in love so hard that I've never really gotten over it. It was the first game I played that had the walking -> airship progression and I'll never forget getting in the airship the first time and realizing I could go anywhere.

It's one of those games I remember being in eye-popping color and then have to laugh when I go back and replay and see the actual graphics. It sure was beautiful at the time, though.

I finally played FFVI a few years ago and realized how much Lufia III 'borrowed' from it, but at the time I had no idea.

What about you?

I recently got a tv that can play 4k for the first time, so I've been slowly collecting 4k anime films, mostly retro. I saw Perfect Blue was an option. It's been years since I saw it and all I remember about it was that it was a cool psychological thriller about an idol, so I picked it up.

Holy shit. I completely forgot nearly all of the film. The >!stalker(s)!<, the psychological unwinding of the main character, the cruelty of the former fans, the complete indifference of grinding her under the wheels of the idol/model/film industry. The way you understand exactly how she's feeling at any given moment, all of her fear, shame, and anxiety and the pressures that make her do what she does.

Maybe because I avoid the horror and thriller genres generally, but I haven't seen a film this intense in a long, long time. I feel dazed after watching it. What a masterpiece.

Pokopia is awesome, but the constant building can be overwhelming at times. The wish event alleviates that for me somewhat. Talk to pokemon, get wish, fill wish, repeat. It's mindless.

The only thing I don't like about it is placing furniture that doesn't match a pokemon's house. I'm so persnickety about how I make those interiors, it sucks to plunk an iron bed in the middle of a berry-themed room : /