The Fall Of The JRPG: 5 Reasons Why RPGs Will Never Be The Same

4. Turn-Based Combat

Turn-based combat was a simple but strategic system. Every monster that the player encountered had a weakness and a resistance that were not always made obvious when the battle begins. You would often have to gauge the enemy's strength and find an opportune moment to identify it or use a trial and error method to work it out, adding to the mystery of boss fights and making them some of the most mind-blowingly difficult situations of your life.

I was forced to switch off the console and retry at a later date a few times back in the day, and sometimes had to check guides (I know, I know, filthy things...). The modern genre has tried to spice this up, either by adding a confusing 'run around' effort to attempt a more exciting battle system, or just erasing it completely. Needless to say, I'm not a fan.

The first method seems to make things all too confusing, adding too many factors to the battles, whereas the latter seems to take the simplistic charm away from it. Games such as the later Square-Enix titles or JRPGs from other developers appear to have jumped onto the band-wagon for a very annoying delivery system.