What's Your RPG Playstyle?

[Charismatic]

I just go through the game, don't do anything special.
I don't run from battles but I certainly don't seek them.

I tend to do whatever minigames, hunts or sidequests I happen to come across.

2nd playthrough I PLOW through the game and familiarize myself with as much of the game as I can.
any subsequent playthroughs will be challenge games.

[Kyo]

I just go through the game, don't do anything special.
I don't run from battles but I certainly don't seek them.

I tend to do whatever minigames, hunts or sidequests I happen to come across.

2nd playthrough I PLOW through the game and familiarize myself with as much of the game as I can.
any subsequent playthroughs will be challenge games.

^

[Cesaria]

It's the cause of numerous arguments in this house. I'll take a couple of days off storyline and go grind to overlevel slightly but mutter dark things about tedious sidequests. My fiance throws himself repeatedly at bosses underlevelevelled and will spend months rearing his blue and yellow polkadotted butterfly-catching chocobo.

Actually the butterfly catching is the only sidequest guaranteed to produce a string of obscenities from him if I suggest doing it again... and I accidentally saved over his Penance FFX save game.

[Metah]

Throw everybody on front row. Everybody. You get the fuck up here Aeris. You're gonna die anyway. That's kinda why I dislike FFIV, they force you to keep some front and back row.

Usually save my items, but I use them if I really need too. I tend to make all my characters jack-of-all-trades types (In FFI, my party was made of entirely Red Wizards. In FFXI, I play Red Mage, in FFV all my characters knew some healing magic, some strong attack abilities, some sweet support abilities, until I got to the end of course. Gladiator's Elemental Attack fucks shit up hardcore, in FFII all my characters have some white and black magic and I switch up their weapons when they temporarily max out.)

In games where MP is more limited, I save my MP for healing and revival spells, and only use attack spells if its really necessary.

[Brill Weave]

I've found that I do not mind grinding up since I spent so much time on FFXI. It reminds me of this one cartoon I saw with two people waiting at the bus stop. The one guy is raging about the bus being late while the other guy is as cool as Billy Dee Williams on the other side of the pillow. The calm guy explains it's because of his ability to wait for upwards of 3 hours for a chance at something etc. That's kind of how I feel.

[Elesirdur]

Much like Charismatic, I tend to focus on getting through the story on my first playthrough and just try to enjoy the game and story without worrying about metagaming concerns. My second plays will usually involve getting all the side quests, exploring into all the areas, and often trying different types of character builds.

FFXII was a bit of a departure for me from this formula since I was really compelled to grind and seriously level up my characters since, as a bit of a RPG newbie, I found the game genuinely challanging at times. However, Mass Effect was great for my style of play since I can reuse my characters from pervious plays and continue to level them. The dynamic difficulty in the game added a bit of a challange, but like all dynamic difficulty systems they just kind of prevent much from changing which sucks.

However, if I don't find a game has all that compelling a story line, I'll usually just grind through and blow bosses away with over-leveled characters - if I actually like the battle system.

[Souj]

only time ive ran from battles because i didnt want to fight them(not because I would have died) was in FFX. there was a shitload of walking to do, and alot of it was through places Ive already been through. I'd kill the enemies in 1-2 hits but there was always 3 of them.
I can't even listen to the FFx battle music on the dissidia soundtrack cause it brings back memories of my killing stupid ass lizards with tidus & co saying stupid things during every battle.

[Hyan]

I don't really like to have a walkthrough hold my hand through the game but I also wanna clear everything 100% on the first playthrough... So I just check all the missables and have a guide for those, other than that I just enjoy the story and don't do any real grinding before the end when all the sidestuff comes in. Right before the final boss I usually get the best weapons clear the sidequests etc. and Then finish the game forever and never touch it again~

I also try to use potions ethers and stuff like that asap 'cause I know I wouldn't use them "later when I need 'em" anyway. Also rather than trying to balance my group I try to give everyone a special task like enfeebling or healing (just like in XI). I hated XII at the end because everyone was a powerhouse and only weapons were different for example :/.

[Correction]

start playing, get into the game, get a third of the way through it, be addicted to it and preach about how good it is. Get caught back up in FFXI, not able to play the game again, forget about it, try to play it again and cant remember the story, realize Ive wasted a lot of money on another game I want to play but dont have the time to... again.

This is what I do.

Except when I need a break from MMORPGs I will discover a stack of unbeaten games then most of the time simply rush through them, often with a guide from the Internet, just so I can get over the basic story points and not feel like I've wasted my money not beating another game. That's so far how I've made it through Apollo Justice Ace Attorney and Fallout 3. It's how I'm hoping to get through Yakuza 2 and Jeanne D'Arc. Maybe with those games beaten I'll buy another 'RPG' style game.

[Sol-Blackguy]

Games I like: I usually enjoy the game by just exploring and going through the game at my own pace. Sometimes, I'll make some kind of huge mistakes or miss some awesome sidequest but I'll probably play it again a few months later on a whim. If I get stuck, I'll look up a spoiler free guide just to push me in the right direction. I think I only did this with Xenogears and Shadowrun but it couldn't be helped.

Games I kind of don't like but want to finish: Every once in a while, I'll come across a game that I like, but might have a minor flaw that keeps it from being a great experience. In most cases, I'll play kind of casually while peeking at guides so I don't miss any sidequests or anything of that nature if the game is too long and drawn out to play again. I did this with Summoner and Final Fantasy 4, 8, and X-2.

Games I can't stand but part of a good series: This is pretty rare, but I'll come across a game that's part of a series that continues it's story from game to game. I'll use a guide from the start and rush through just to finish the damn thing while at least enjoying the story. I did this with Xenosaga: Ep. 2 because I hated the "Let's guard for 3 turns, break this enemy's guard so I can knock him up in the air and hit him." strategy and the game was the shortest of the series. If the story wasn't so good, I probably would've skipped the damn thing.

[Scythiroth]

Games I can't stand but part of a good series: This is pretty rare, but I'll come across a game that's part of a series that continues it's story from game to game. I'll use a guide from the start and rush through just to finish the damn thing while at least enjoying the story. I did this with Xenosaga: Ep. 2 because I hated the "Let's guard for 3 turns, break this enemy's guard so I can knock him up in the air and hit him." strategy and the game was the shortest of the series. If the story wasn't so good, I probably would've skipped the damn thing.

I started to read this paragraph and thought to myself, "hey, I did that with Xenosaga episode 2" and kept reading and just started laughing.

[TheDirtyHobo]

I'm an over-grinder and equal level person, which is kinda' pointless since I normally use the same setup for every boss battle I have. I'm also a HUGE item hoarder, but only for consumables. I find it pretty painful to get rid of any of my useable items, even if it's as small as a normal potion which I have 99 of. Something that just recently came out while playing Lost Odyssey, which hasn't really happened before, is my new OCD-like tendency to buy any item so that I have a smooth multiple of 5 in my inventory, with the exception of 99.

I've also got some pretty fierce endgame syndrome, the inability to finish out a game even though you're on/near the very last segment. Just looking at my PS2 collection of games sitting across from me, I haven't finished about a third of them, and it only got worse as I tried to catch up on missed games through emulated DS/PS1/SNES copies. It hasn't been as bad recently, I actually finished Eternal Sonata in one rental and I've started to pick up on Lost Odyssey again.

I'm definately not a replayer, though. The only game in which I've successfully completed more than one playthrough is the original Grandia, which is probably my favorite RPG of all time.

Edit: Also, as far as extra bosses/dungeons, I'd say I only do about half of them, mostly depending on some mix of how much I like the game and how much time they require. I never did all the grinding it would take to beat the Weapons in FF7 or 8, even though I like the games, but I did the easier stuff like the Weapon dungeons and a most of the rare monsters in FFX, majority of the hunts in XII, the tower where you resurrect Claves(I think it was her) in ES, most the optional bosses in Lost Odyssey even though they're a total joke, and 2 of the 3 extra dungeons in Grandia.

[Sol-Blackguy]

I started to read this paragraph and thought to myself, "hey, I did that with Xenosaga episode 2" and kept reading and just started laughing.

When Ep. 2 was announced, I went back and beat the hell out of the first game since the file would carry over. I pre-ordered it, beat Xenogears for a 3rd time and when it came... it was like going to heaven and seeing God smoking crack. All that effort to buff up my save file, and all I got was a few extra class points and a Swimsuit for Ziggy and Momo. Then there was the gameplay...
That shit was so hard that I kept getting stuck on Albedo forever and stopped playing. Eventually, I went back and was determined to learn that shitty system and realized how flawed the game really was. If every fight didn't take 5 minutes of stocking your attack and learning break zones, it would've been a good game. After missing important moments to finish important G.S. quests. (like the infinite awakening trick in Ormus Stronghold)
I finally said "fuck it!" and pulled out a game shark, gave all my characters "Combo Boost," infinite Class/Skill points, and that code that gives you full "stock" at the start of battles, and finished the game in less than a week.
Fuck you Namco!

[arus2001]

I never did finish 2. Some bird thing with like 2 forms always cheesed me over in the end. Think part of the problem was I was underleveled, but grinding that game blew.

[Null]

I have a OCD obsession with grinding. In fact I love doing repetitive things, which is what made me so fucking rich in FFXI. I don't mind sitting down and farming for 24 hours straight. Same thing with normal RPG's, I'll just sit down and mindlessly level from 1-99 as quick as possible. I like to just get that all out of the way so I can enjoy the story without having to hassle myself with death and bitch about it.

[Brill Weave]

Wooo another person picks up Yakuza 2! You're a good man Correction, I take back everything I ever said about you

[Yuri-G]

I'm an over-grinder and equal level person, which is kinda' pointless since I normally use the same setup for every boss battle I have. I'm also a HUGE item hoarder, but only for consumables. I find it pretty painful to get rid of any of my useable items, even if it's as small as a normal potion which I have 99 of. Something that just recently came out while playing Lost Odyssey, which hasn't really happened before, is my new OCD-like tendency to buy any item so that I have a smooth multiple of 5 in my inventory, with the exception of 99.

I've also got some pretty fierce endgame syndrome, the inability to finish out a game even though you're on/near the very last segment. Just looking at my PS2 collection of games sitting across from me, I haven't finished about a third of them, and it only got worse as I tried to catch up on missed games through emulated DS/PS1/SNES copies. It hasn't been as bad recently, I actually finished Eternal Sonata in one rental and I've started to pick up on Lost Odyssey again.

I'm definately not a replayer, though. The only game in which I've successfully completed more than one playthrough is the original Grandia, which is probably my favorite RPG of all time.

Edit: Also, as far as extra bosses/dungeons, I'd say I only do about half of them, mostly depending on some mix of how much I like the game and how much time they require. I never did all the grinding it would take to beat the Weapons in FF7 or 8, even though I like the games, but I did the easier stuff like the Weapon dungeons and a most of the rare monsters in FFX, majority of the hunts in XII, the tower where you resurrect Claves(I think it was her) in ES, most the optional bosses in Lost Odyssey even though they're a total joke, and 2 of the 3 extra dungeons in Grandia.

I hear you on the endgame thing. I never used to be this way, but in the past couple of years, the number of games I've gotten to the last dungeon on without beating definitely outnumbers the games I've only gotten halfway through and the games I've actually beaten, combined.

[Akucaen]

I used to play like Stiker in that I wanted the story only... and to an extent I do the same thing still. I don't mind the grind TOO much, but I've lost interest in games due to the fact I'm underleveled and need to get a few more levels before I can continue (Looking at you FFIII DS.) Some games made it somewhat interesting for me, like FF8; the junction/draw system gave me a little incentive to deal with the grind since I quickly found out that stocking any magic to 100 (until the next tier was available) made you stupidly powerful, stupidly quickly. (Which is part of the reason FF8 remains my all time favorite.)

I've only changed a little though over the years. Like I said, I'll tolerate the grind if I know the story is good enough and worth the time.

[Freijah]

I break the game as hard as possible so I can make every bit of story, dungeon, boss, extras, etc, as easy as possible. I don't know why, I do enjoy having to be tactical, but I end up just obessing over 100%'ing the thing that I end up restarting after my first 4 hours played and doing it all with a guide.

Also pimp the cutest girl character with the best shit to make them able to destroy worlds.

Why?

[Crizto]

start playing, get into the game, get a third of the way through it, be addicted to it and preach about how good it is. Get caught back up in FFXI, not able to play the game again, forget about it, try to play it again and cant remember the story, realize Ive wasted a lot of money on another game I want to play but dont have the time to... again.

Oh, this explains exactly what I'm like lol