For some reason, I cannot stand, at all, 99% of Japanese console RPG’s. I have tried many, almost all of the Final Fantasies, and many older one sfor the SNES and NES. The only one I have liked is Chrono Trigger for the SNES, for some reason, it was ok.
Things that tend to piss me off about FF-style RPG’s:
Only 3 people doing anything at one time. Huh? You have eight freakin’ people in your party, you can actually switch them out DURNG BATTLE! Why can’t all eight just fight the dame thing at once? THERE IS NO LOGICAL REASON FOR THIS!
Stupid side quests unrelated to main plot: As said, it’s annoying. Going waaay out of your way so you can have the best armor in the game that is actually just 1 AP better than your current one that you got from killing a rat. Some games do sidequests good, like Neverwinter Nights. The quests pertain to the plot, and don’t require you to go to far out of your way.
The “End Boss” with countless forms: It’s a staple that the boss will have at least 2, if not 3, 4, or fifteen forms. And each form will force you to barely win (if at all) while using every mana point, health elixer, and “phoenix down” you have.
Each person has a set of items they can use, no one else can use them: This makes sense to a point. Cleary, a mage who is not trained in use of a sword can’t use a sword. But sometimes, two characters use swords, but they can’t use the same set of swords, God no. Or armor, Jeff can only wear breast plates, while Bernire can only wear chain mail. They both use swords, and need the same freedom of movement, so they should be able to share, unless one guy is much larger than the other, which is not always the case.
Utterly stupid items: In FFX there was a girl who fought with a teddy bear…all I’m going to say is OK…
Stupid “games”: Kind of like sidequests, only almost mandatory. You MUST race this chocabo (you mean giant chicken?) in x amount of time. You MUST play water polo (whoops, I mean “blitz ball”.)
TURN BASED COMBAT: Ugh! Didn’t we find a nice alternative to this way back when Diablo came out? Yeesh, it is so stupid. I just attacked, now I sit and wait for everyone else to attack then I can do it again. It was neccesary in older systems, like the NES and SNES because the calculations needed to get everyone’s ready time and so forth would be tricky, but a even a rudimentary version was establishedi n Chrono Trigger! Get with the times, Square. Look at Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter Nights, see how you can make it fluid and realtime? (I realize it’s still like turn based, but at least it doesn’t look and feel like it!)
I admit, even the game I said I like falls victim to some of these things, but the amazing story line and fun gameplay make up for it. As a result, I play my RPG’s on PC.