Just trying to check out some new entries after FF16’s on rails nature has left me a bit wanting
Dragon Quest XI has an entire post-game act 3 that is just optional content. Mostly rehashed dungeons and bosses, but they come with new tricks.
I have played DQ11 so many times, and beaten it once. Always start on harder monsters, then fizzle out towards the end of act two and switch down to normal. Fun game, if maybe a few too many slow parts
I have an issue with completing some some of the jrpgs i play so there’s gonna be some bias from that, but…
xenbolade 2.
you get a battle system with tons of intricacy and rewards you for learning to use it to its fullest. it doesn’t get old as you get into the postgame content.
the ability to downlevel yourself to match opponents (and if you are in ng+, to spend your extra bonus exp for poppi upgrades) makes a lot of under-leveled content fun and challenging again.
there’s an incredible amount of variety and playstyle possibility introduced by the blade system. even after you’ve acquired all of the rare blades, common blades stay relevant as there are some really, really good skills that are exclusive to commons.
many, many unique monsters scattered throughout the world. no doubt you’ve taken on several of them by the time you reach postgame, but it’s super rewarding to go back and do all of these (under-leveling yourself if necessary).
challenge mode! can spend hours in here on some of the hardest content available. super rewarding, and there are some blades you can only acquire through this mode.
If you’re into strategy RPGs, Tactics Ogre had a recent remaster and it has more side/postgame content than the story campaign does.
Triangle Strategy also has a lot to see, but that’s more along the lines of seeing branching story paths you missed on replays rather than actual side content.
