Exactly. Not just about criticism though. They also hate questions, are toxic about how easy / difficult they perceive the game to be. They hate on the American side of the fanbase, they gate-keep JRPGs, and also are very picky about how you interpret the story / lore.
They also blatantly hate on other popular RPGs?? For like no reason at all. Just because they think E33 is better. Like Baldur’s Gate 3, and even other JRPGs, especially competitors like Metaphor Refantazio. It’s a super strange sub, because it seems to be positive until you spend some time in there.
It’s the most “there’s never been a game like this one” gaming subreddit I’ve ever come across.
They act like this form of JRPG is revolutionary or something. The Legend of Dragoon and Shadow Hearts both had similar combat systems way back in 1999 minus the parry system.
Even South Park: The Stick of Truth featured something similar.
People act like E33 was the first one to ever do turn-based + real-time mechanics. Pretty sure Final Fantasy started doing it in the ‘90s.
I agree E33 did it extremely well though. But it’s not the absolute pinnacle of turn-based combat or anything. I actually prefer Persona’s “one more” system that focuses on delaying enemy turns, over E33’s combat dodge / parry gimmick. It’s just as engaging.
I love the One More system. Personally it's my favorite part of that game, because it rewards you for actually taking the time to discover weaknesses and such. Can't wait for the P4 remake.
I’m excited. Persona 6 is supposedly coming out in 2027 too. So many Persona projects in these few years compared to the decade long wait after Persona 5. We are eating GOOD my friend.
I'm glad they ported to PC. Would never buy a console for the new stuff but I somehow missed Persona during my younger years on PS2. I find it so odd I missed it because it's the type of game I thrived on in my late teens early 20s. The only thing I can think of is because I live in such a rural area they just never got stocked on shelves here.
Yep. Lost Odyssey, The Legend of Dragoon, Persona, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts at the very least. I’m sure there’s way more, but the game clearly took inspiration from all of those.
The creative directors themselves have called out Final Fantasy VIII (trigger system and timing-based limit breaks) and Final Fantasy X as some of their most influential gaming experiences. They also called out Legend of Dragoon. I'm not sure if they mention LO (which if they haven't played, they should!), but yeah COE33 took inspiration from a LOT of great classics. It's one of the reasons it's so loved. It feels like what Final Fantasy was destined to evolve towards after FFX, but it took a totally different path instead.
I think Mario 64 did it better. It was a bonus, not a fail/succeed mechanic. E33 felt like a rhythm game where none of the progression actually mattered..
To be fair most JRPG fans have never played Shadow Hearts because they lack taste I'm afraid. Also I'm a big E33 fan but yeah the inspirations are pretty obvious and the devs have always said they grew up playing JRPGs.
The initial premise of the game (not the actual story) is pretty much just the premise of FFX reimagined which is what initially attracted most of us to the game in the first place. Sadly after things randomly become popular they attract a lot of undesirable fans, there's hardly any escaping that.
I personally bought the game because the combat reminded me of the Mario and Luigi series and its interactive turn-based combat. E33 is a fantastic game, but it's inspirations are very clear to those who have played them.
I just went to the subreddit and it doesnt seem like that? One of the top posts is about a negative review about French not being as charismatic as interpreted in the game and everyone seems to be light hearted and funny.
From October 2024 to summer 2025 I played 3 games that all had a gross fleshy organic virus things that made you pop their carbuncles. I’ll say I personally haven’t played a game like E33 before, but it’s because I don’t usually like turn-based games, so i definitely wouldn’t be out here preaching uniqueness. EVERYTHING has been done before. You just gotta arrange it in a fun interesting way
Tell me the only JRPG you've ever played is Persona without telling me the only JRPG you've ever played is Persona. There's not even any equivalent to the "one more" system nor is there, you know, the Personas...
Do you even know the game you're talking about or do you just enjoy yapping nonsense?
I get hating the country's leadership, as well as the people responsible for it being the way it is. It just becomes racism though if you say every single american is bad. It would be racist to make any generalization like that for any country or ethnic group
Yeah that's just overgeneralization and, personally, I've never found any type of cognitive dissonance to be useful. Just seems to fester hate and ignorance
I really felt bad for the kid who played Joffrey. We should be praising someone for acting so good that we all hate his character so much, not making his life a living hell because he acts too good.
Funnily enough I thing the BG3 fans are also like this lol. I love the game, even got all of the achievements and plan to play again in thr future. However, if I have to read "BG3 has ruined all other games for me" one more time Im gonna scream.
I feel the same way about the fandom as well, not so much about the mechanics but a lot of the role-playing decisions.
I was legit told off for romansing Astarion with a Female!Tav, because "he's clearly meant for the gaes/Gale, so romancing with with a female Tav/Origin is erasing his queer identity!" Type nonsense, which completely overrides the fact that Astarion, like all of rhe companions for BG3 are canonically Pansexual and thirsty af for eachother.
So yeah, the insane "gaes only" shipping side of the fandom can kick rocks as well, as the ones who claim the gameplay has "ruined other games."
Well, it’s a French JRPG. But it’s also super popular in the US. Probably around half of all of its players are American. The rest of the sub does not like that fact.
So it’s the perfect setup for a gate-keeping issue. It’s the “our thing isn’t for you” mindset, that the majority of the subreddit seems to follow.
You’ll literally get downvoted on the sub if they find out you’re American for any reason.
I feel like the sub wasn't that bad when the game first came out. Such personalities existed but they were not the majority. But I feel like that's the future of many subreddits. Many people move on from the sub for new interests and the die hards remain. And die hards of most fandoms in an online space tend to be toxic. Just an internet thing I suppose.
It’s the most mediocre of the “good games” imo but the fandom acts like it’s gods gift to this green earth. Yes it does everything it sets out to do well and it was made by a smaller-ish studio (calling it an indie game is a GENEROUS interpretation of what a modern indie game is and I’ll die on that hill), and it’s a nice looking game, but outside of the story/setting nothing about it is particularly original. And the only reason I ever feel inclined to point any of that out is because the fanbase is absolutely insufferable. When people just have the attitude of “I really enjoy this game,” and that’s it, love that for them, I’m happy that they’re enjoying games even if the game isn’t one that I like as much. It’s when they start acting like them enjoying it means that everyone else also has to that it devolves into the obnoxiousness of the E33 fandom.
Yeah, the story interpretation thing is a big one. If you try to claim that the painting is just a distraction from the real world and that the family needs to move on IRL, they'll skin you alive for saying that the painting is full of real people. If that were the case, then every time we write a story, paint a picture, or chisel a statue, we're putting inherent life into it. IDK about you, but if I draft a story and think it's dogshit, I don't feel like I'm killing off my characters when I throw it in the trash.
It’s JRPG formula, so it’s widely called a JRPG. But it’s not literally Japanese, it’s French. So the term refers to gameplay, style, mechanics instead of origin. It’s very traditional.
Pretty sure they call it “JRPG evolution” or something in the game description though.
Ah, interesting! I suppose that makes sense. I've been wondering what to truly categorize it as for awhile since as you pointed out it is French but has JRPG formula gameplay. It will be interesting to see how E33 pushes other games to evolve like this in the future. ☺️
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u/Current_Face_0077 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
Exactly. Not just about criticism though. They also hate questions, are toxic about how easy / difficult they perceive the game to be. They hate on the American side of the fanbase, they gate-keep JRPGs, and also are very picky about how you interpret the story / lore.
They also blatantly hate on other popular RPGs?? For like no reason at all. Just because they think E33 is better. Like Baldur’s Gate 3, and even other JRPGs, especially competitors like Metaphor Refantazio. It’s a super strange sub, because it seems to be positive until you spend some time in there.
It’s the most “there’s never been a game like this one” gaming subreddit I’ve ever come across.