Any of You ever Play Breath of Fire 3?

I'm not going to say Dragon Quarter was good or bad without playing it, but it strikes me that they opted for way too much change for a main series title (while the number was dropped in the west, it was still Breath of Fire V in Japan). Had they outright classed it as a spin-off or sidegame or something and had a proper Breath of Fire V more similar to the earlier games in development alongside it, I think it probably would have been better received.

Probably depends on just how niche a games/series is, as well as how willing the publisher is to let it continue, as somewhat low sales can be made up for with other franchises they own (though to be honest, I'd guess the idea is that every series needs to continue to bring in profit to continue). Looking at Aruze and how fucking much they love pachislot bullshit, I'm still surprised they took up publishing for Shadow Hearts, let alone let the series go on for four games (three of which they owned the rights to; Koudelka being owned by SNK) despite being really niche and the devs flipping them off.

The child arc does have a bit of a slow pace to it, but it does a good job introducing the characters and establishing their relationships to each other.

BoF3 might very well be the greatest JRPG of all time.

Certainly within the top 3.

Loved this game to death, almost perfect. Now if only it could get a romhack that makes it harder and Nina not useless.

insanedifficulty.com/board/index.php?/files/file/71-breath-of-fire-iii-dragon-trial/

Haven't checked on this for years and years. Might be dead, might not.

I looked at that a minute ago too. Seems it hasn't been touched in about 3 years, only covers up to the Amalgam fight, and isn't well-balanced.

I know about that one, but the guy stopped developing after he got some bad error or something, probably lost the files. I don't it's getting done anytime soon, if ever (he was pretty salty about people asking about it on the forum too).

On that note, that site has some good hacks.

Yeah, and I fucking loved it. Not enough adult Nina and that short as fuck dress though.

I played BOF4 first and then couldn't go back to BOF3 because it felt inferior in every way, especially in combat.
To this day I think that BOF4 has the best gimmickless turn-based JRPG combat ever. And 2D graphics.
Dear fucking god it has gorgeous visuals.

You could purposely run away from enemies to keep her at LV5 until a broken master for her shows up.

III Nina is fine but I like IV and V Ninas more when it comes to looks

More RPGs should have that kind of party system, where you can seamlessly switch party members in and out.

Sure, but if you need min-maxing just to keep her on par with everyone else then there's something wrong

This.
Thisthisthisthisthisthis.

What are some good JRPGs with such system besides BoF4?

FFX had it.

Other party members would only get residual xp from fights they didn't participate in so they'd fall behind in levels, and I think you could even switch weapons/armour in battle.

Yep. It has some of the best spriting in any video game.

FFX, Wild ARMs Alter Code F, Wild ARMs 5, Trails of Cold Steel

Wild Arms 2

There is a distinct lack of Momo in this thread.

Are wild arms games connected to each other, or they're like BOF and FF games - unrelated?

You can play them all without any real problem. Wild ARMS 3 ties itself into the first two games fairly subtly, but it has never been made clear if this is just FF style recycling of designs and themes or continuity.

I don't have much time to spend on games, so I usually play one JRPG per few months. What is the best Wild Arms to play?

The first three BoF games are actually a trilogy, but in the "500 years later" style

They're for the most part stand alone, but share themes and elements. WA3 might also be a distant sequel to WA1/ACF though, as it goes beyond the usual recurring elements.

WA1, 2 , and 3 are the best liked from what I've seen, but I've enjoyed all of the main series, even if WA4 was pretty weak. XF on the PSP is a tactical RPG spinoff.

Here's these if they're helpful. Also, whether or not a game allows for switching out party members mid combat depends on how many characters there are. WA1, 3, and 4 all have 3-4 characters max and all can be in the party at once, while Wild Arms 2, ACF, and 5 allow for six.

Mana Khemia 1 and 2.
These are interesting because not only you can switch characters on their turns like FFX, but you can switch them to do follow-up attacks or to protect someone who is about to get KO'd.
Also, if your whole front line is KO'd, it's not Game Over - instead the back line takes over.

Aside from these, the newer Atelier games have these kinds of systems, too.

I need to play them sometime myself, but that thing about the rest of the party jumping in if the active party is all KOed sounds a bit like how Golden Sun: The Lost Age handled things. Kind of wish more games allowed for that, or at least made a valid plot excuse for why out of party members can't just jump in (Tales of the Abyss for example uses the excuse of Fon Slot Marking).

Tales of Xillia allows you to swap characters in and out mid-battle. Unfortunately this aspect is lost in the sequel, as having five out-of-combat characters means that the prior method of swapping wouldn't work (more characters than usable buttons for it, essentially).