Favourite JRPGs?

Started by Dragon May 16th, 2016 10:04 AM
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Dragon

lover of milotics

Age 30
Male
Viridian City
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted October 24th, 2022
11,170 posts
9.7 Years
So, the JRPGs - the RPG games made from Japan, are pretty much my favourite genre of video games and so I made this topic to find out, what are your favourite JRPGs, and why? You can list as many as you want, and even add pictures/videos!

I'll give you my list as an example, not as the order of preference, but inthe order which popped in my mind first (but I won't put Fire Emblem games):


1) Suikoden II



I've played Suikoden I before and while I did love it, Suikoden II was even better! For those of you who don't know, Suikoden is like a mixture of Game of Thrones/Fire Emblem/Pokemon all in one, and it massively works. The music is amazing, the characters are unforgettable, and the battles are quite epic! You can recruit characters for your own personal army, and each one of them works in their own way! With the Suikoden II story, it involves friendship, betrayal, and plenty of violence and death. A game I highly recommend if you can get your hands on a copy, or if you can get it in the PSN network.


2) Lunar: Silver Star Harmony




This game is a little retro, but I do adore it! The characters are a bunch of misfits but really awesome! The game itself is what I'd call a 'classic JRPG approach', with the traditional turn based system, but if you don't mind that, then I'd say this game is one of the best that it has to offer in that genre. The game play is addicting, the humor is pretty odd but glorious, the soundtrack is cool, and the atmosphere is pretty! It's one of those classic fantasy story games where the main character has to become a Dragonmaster, alongside his party, to save the world from darkness.


3) Chrono Trigger



Because hooray for time travelling shenanigans! It's a really great game in general, not just as a JRPG. The music is indeed so awesome that you could listen to it for hours, and the characters are really cool, ranging from a talking frog swordsman, a Cavewoman, to a Robot with a heart of gold, ahh they're all great. The gameplay is also really good! You could combine moves and plan your strategies on the fly!


More mentions who I didn't have the time to explain in more detail, but maybe I will later on:

- Xenoblade Chronicles
- Disgaea Hour of Darkness
- Tales of Vesperia
- Bravely Second
- Persona 4
- Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
- Skies of Arcadia
- Persona 3
- Digimon Cyber Sleuth
- Dragon Quest 8
- Tales of Xillia
- Disgaea 5

But you guys get the idea, yes? o:


"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess...
DRAGON SLAVE!"

machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer

She/Her
Take a left, turn right at the next stop, bear left for a few mil
Seen March 4th, 2023
Posted April 26th, 2022
10,505 posts
15.1 Years
I don't really play JRPGs that much, but I think my favorite would have to be Persona 3. The original- though I appreciate the additions in FES and Portable- this one's the one for me. Has a beginning and a vague ending, but I think it works absolutely fine on that merit. As for why? Well, there are a lot of reasons.

First, there's Tartarus. This usually gets a lot of flack for being a long, tedious grind, but I found it to be an actually immersive and fun experience that doesn't get its dues. I suppose if you just grind, grind, grind you'll find it boring, but to me it made the days feel fuller. It feels like a fun Fantasy Dungeon crawling romp at the end of an otherwise pretty short day. It sets up this immeasurably far away goal and, to break down any idea of tedium, it constantly rewards you with levels, items, new personae, and a staircase. And that constant positive sanction is fun, it's a lot of the reason that, from what I've seen of the HDN series, people can play that for hours upon hours on end. The constant rewards and quick battles really make the venture feel less trying and more like an adventure. And as you get more party members, the status system (specifically, the Rested, Tired, Fine deal) has more function, as it gives you reason not to use the same members over and over again- a memo Persona 4 seems to have missed out on. Help's that the battle system's so fun and Mass Destruction is.

Then, of course, there's the characters, who are a lot of fun and are pretty three dimensional. I'd say that the series' strength- from what I've played, at least- is how it crafts characters that are relatable and realistic, and this one really does manage that pretty fantastically. It was the type of game that probably hit me most once the credits started rolling because I'd miss the characters moreso than the conclusion itself- not to devalue the latter. And really, I suppose that's a great deal of why this game is my favorite. It's a character game. If you don't like Fuuka, if you don't like Aki, if you don't like Yukari, if you don't like your club mates, you're gonna have a bad time. And I can see that being the case, but I vastly enjoyed, and even looked forward to the Social Links- I daresay that Persona 3 does character relationships better than most, I really got a kick out of it.

And I think the last thing worth mentioning, since I'm completely rambling, is the music. Holy hell, the music. I don't think I'd ever quite experienced anything like Persona 3's soundtrack, and to this day it enchants me still. I'll never forget the first time I heard this track in particular, my favorite,
Spoiler:

And I'd say that's about when I decided that I'd really jump into the game. Didn't look back. And the style persists throughout in rather genius fashion. Had the Portable Girl version not opted for poppier tunes, I probably would have been more interested in that version- I have reasons for Persona 3 the original being my fave. But eh, digressions are digressions, and I've made my point. Persona 3's my favorite JRPG and I think that jumble of text is enough to say why.

Satoshi Ookami

Memento Mori

Age 30
Male
Abyss of Time, Great Seal
Seen August 5th, 2018
Posted July 3rd, 2018
14,253 posts
14.8 Years
Because Persona 3 has already been mentioned, there's only one thing I can answer with.

Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki, or more commonly known as TiTS (Trails in the Sky).
I could say how the game looks beautiful, how perfect the music is, how story is an extraordinary experience, how characters are amazingly written...

But I will not. Because the words are not enough. These games have to be experienced.
ROM hacking FAQ - Read before asking how to play a hack.

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This is one hell of a question...I'll give my top ten, because any more than that and my post will probably start crashing browsers and people will yell at me.

Asides from the top three, these are in no particular order. The top three have been fixed for years now.
1. Xenoblade Chronicles

I have gushed about this game so many times before, but I will NEVER get tired of it. Xenoblade is perfection. It's not just the best JRPG ever made, it's the best video game ever made, period. It has a brilliantly diverse cast, an amazing soundtrack, an intuitive and engaging combat system that requires your attention constantly, and a story that just won't stop throwing surprises at you even when you're fifty hours in and at the last bloody dungeon. The voice cast is the best I've ever encountered in a video game. The world is massive for a JRPG and exploring every inch of it was something I really wanted to do. Sidequests ranged from the basic to the complex that would affect your relationship with characters - and whether they lived or died in some cases - and there were hundreds of them. It had in-game achievements. The game discouraged grinding but encouraged exploration by giving a lot of EXP for doing everything except fighting monsters over and over, so I saw a lot of the game naturally my first time through.

I love the Monado, too. Seeing visions in battle and stopping them added a level of strategy I'd not seen before in games, and the story visions were extremely misleading - the one on Prison Island, which the game spent hours building up to, did not end the way I expected. Xenoblade did something few games had done: it surprised me. A lot. Bestest game ever.

2. Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten

A Disgaea title was obviously going to appear on my list, and there is no better title than Disgaea 4. It strikes up the perfect blend of political satire and irreverant humour that the Disgaea series is known for, somehow managing to tell a compelling story whilst making a mockery of it. It has a very likeable cast - Valvatorez remains my favourite protagonist in the series to date, even over the power trio of Laharl, Etna, and Flonne - and it offers ridiculously deep gameplay.

I platinumed this on the Vita. It took me 110 hours. I loved every second. Disgaea offers uniquely rewarding gameplay for me in that you're required to spend hours grinding to reach the pinnacle of power, just to beat the game's toughest bosses. Land of Carnage Baal has stats in the billions and can kill you just for coming out of the base. Spending fifty hours or more grinding just to finally kill him is immensely rewarding. This game is all about grinding; no series does it better. You put in the time, you get rewarded with ridiculous (read: trillions) damage numbers. What's not to like?


3. Tales of Symphonia

I've grown disenchanted with the Tales series recently, and part of the reason for that (ignoring the fact that Zestiria was crap) is that none of the titles have reached Symphonia's heights for me. Symphonia took me on an unforgettable journey across two worlds, thrust me into the heart of a conflict that I didn't see the full scope of for over half the game, and introduced me to a completely different type of game. ToS was my first experience with a cel-shaded, more anime-esque JRPG, and as such it's the one I often subsconsciously find myself comparing other, similar games to. I love the battle system, the cast, the soundtrack; all of it. Years later it still looks pretty good on PS3, and the extras made it well worth playing...three times over. This is another difficult plat that I was happy to devote my time and energy to, because I could never get bored of this game.

4. NieR

I have to mention NieR. Most people think solely of the soundtrack when they think of NieR...which is fair enough, because it has the best soundtrack ever; I knew I wanted it from the moment I heard Blu-Bird on the teaser site. But for me, NieR stands out as a truly unforgettable, emotional experience. I had never cried over a video game before NieR. The second ending had me in tears. The game just gets more heartbreaking with each playthrough, as more and more of the world is revealed to you and you go from feeling like a hero to the biggest bastard imaginable.

The game also has some ridiculously dark humour, considering how much of a crapsack the world is. A father out to find his daughter - and we definitely got the better Nier; the younger model wouldn't have had the same emotional impact - joined by a monster boy, a hermaphrodite with an extremely foul mouth, and a very sarcastic talking book. Listening to them talk on the field was disturbingly hilarious. The combat wasn't bad either for an action RPG, and the occasional shake-ups to on-rails shooter, top-down exploration, and even visual novel, were interesting.

...plus the soundtrack. I still can't believe Cold Steel Coffin is a town theme.


5. Resonance of Fate

Resonance of Fate is an unsung gem of the last generation; completely ignored in the wake of Final Fantasy XIII. It's a damn shame, because it's one of the toughest JRPGs tri-Ace have ever put out. The battle system is wonderfully unique yet horrifyingly punishing of even the slightest mistake, reminding me of the days when games punished you for not thinking tactically. Not even by the end of the game are you strong enough to carelessly waste Hero Actions; you are constantly on guard, and one of the game's favourite things is removing party members for a chapter. When you have to go alone with one character, you feel the pressure. In spades.

The value in the story lies more in the chemistry between the three protagonists than anything else. The banter between Leanne, Zephyr and Vashyron is often very entertaining, and their backstories are quite interesting as well. Basel's steampunk setting isn't something you see in JRPGs as much as you used to, and I quite liked the method of exploring it, too - uncovering hexes and connecting terminals for special effects in battle added another layer of strategy and made me want to push through battles for coloured hex drops.

Leanne goes both ways, too. Good to know.
6. Hyperdimension Neptunia.

As a series, because I can't pick just one title. Neptunia is a celebration and a mockery of everything I love about the JRPG genre. It's pure brilliance, no matter what form it takes. The cast are so self-aware (Neptune especially) that you can forgive their blatantly tropified personalities - hell, that is the whole point - and the constant references and one-liners hit the mark more often than not. If ever there was a case for creative localisation, Neptunia makes it and blows all opposing points out of the water, because it's so tongue-in-cheek and tailored specifically for the type of person who will be playing it that you can't not appreciate it. Hell, it even attacks its critics: Nepgear's bland personality in Mk. II was commented upon by Nepgear herself in Victory, and in an attempt to make up for it she had a bunch of random titles bestowed upon her at points throughout the game. The trophy for starting the game has the description "Think any game reviewers won't get this one!?" attached to it. They hang enough lampshades to power a small third world country.

The combat has also improved in leaps and bounds since the original's abysmal battle system, and they're even making attempts at expanding the story in later instalments like VII, which is as much a visual novel as it is anything else. The series isn't afraid to branch out, either - we've had idol management and action games alongside the standard JRPGs, and will be getting something much bigger in the near future. This series is so ridiculous it defies belief. But it's incredible nonetheless. The new Neptunia game has been the highlight of my year since Mk.II, and I hope it never stops.

7. The Arland trilogy

Atelier Rorona, Totori, and Meruru. These three games stand out for being so unlike typical JRPGs that they're practically in a genre by themselves. Each one tells a compelling, beautiful, and yet extremely relaxed story about a girl trying to make her way in the world - Meruru especially - with a vibrant cast and some horrendously addictive gameplay.

Time management is key in these games, and your skill to manipulate things is far more important than your ability to battle, as turn-based combat is extremely basic and not even that much of a factor unless you're going for specific endings...and these games have a lot of endings. That drive to get the true ending will encourage you to do everything, explore everything, and spend months of your in-game time at the cauldron, mulling over properties and combinations. It's actually surprisingly tense, as it is VERY easy to mess things up irrevocably.

Meruru in particular is my favourite, because Meruru herself changes the most over the game's five years (unless you do literally nothing) and seeing her mature into a confident, charismatic ruler with genuine passions is a wonderful experience. Returning characters are a joy to see - as they've aged some twenty years, asides Rorona, whose lost about that much - and it has the strictest requirements for perfection. The endings are so radically different as well, and seeing Arls develop on the map the more you do is very satisfying.

8. Drakengard

I HAVE to mention this. Find me the most messed-up game you can, and I guarantee that it doesn't even come CLOSE to Drakengard. I wish more games were this irrevocably screwed up. Your casts consists of, amongst others, a mute psychopathic killer, his sister (who loves him and kills herself to stop that from coming out) his best friend (who goes insane and tries to bring her back to life and ends the world in one of the endings), a paedophile priest, an eternally young boy (oh dear...), an elf who eats babies, and a possessed little girl who becomes a fifty-foot fireball throwing monster. I didn't even mention the giant babies with teeth, did I? Oh yes. Asides from the "canon" ending that leads to the second game (the actual canon ending is the secret one, because it leads to NieR) the world ends horribly in every scenario. People die, often in highly justified and cruel ways. It's a complete clusterpsyduck.

Combat is also rather good as well, considering the times. Hack and slash, or blast things to hell with a dragon. It's not the most precise of titles, but there are worse ones out there. The music is something like fifty classical pieces playing simultaneously, and it's pretty long. It's weird. It's an experience. I love it. We need more like this.


9. Baten Kaitos

Ah, Baten Kaitos. I was so excited for this one as a kid. I waited months. Then I got it, and...well. It was everything I had hoped for and more. For one, it was beautiful for a Gamecube game, with amazing scenery no matter where I went. It was also my first taste of Sakuraba's music, so that was a huge thing for me, as I've bought a lot of titles solely because he composed the score for them. The card battle system sticks out in my mind as one of the more unique, well-done examples, as well - it was surprisingly intuitive, being turn-based, yet requiring real-time responses if you wanted to block attacks. Constructing a good deck required a lot of thought.

It was also hard. Psyducking hard. I'm still afraid to go back and try playing it through, because I think I got lucky in finishing it. The trio are easily the hardest bosses I have ever fought. Ever. Then there was Geldoblame, The Angel of Darkness - and holycrap was that a story curveball! - and that bastard awakened Malpercio, who could recover all of his health in a single turn whilst destroying yours...so many temper tantrums over this game. It might just be the hardest JRPG I've ever played. But I have a lot of fond memories of it and the fact that I've never played anything like it before or since make it one of my standout favourites. Baten Kaitos is also a game I owe a lot to; my first forum was a Baten Kaitos one, and I met someone on there I'm still in contact with now, some ten years later. It's a special game for me.


10. Final Fantasy XII

The only numbered Final Fantasy title truly worth playing, in my opinion. I suppose that is a bold claim that others will disagree with, but the thing about FFXII is that it focuses on one thing at the expense of everything else: the world. FFXII is a worldbuilder's dream; it plays out like a high fantasy novel and, whilst that is probably what makes it such a divisive title, it resonates with me more than any other numbered FF title to date. Ivalice is an amazing place, filled with highly empathic, believable characters who aren't all caught up in some godawful tween romance. The godawful tropey romances are gone, and FF really shines without them. Characters are given far more believable and interesting personalities (and yes, I will defend Vaan if called upon to do so) as it doesn't become a case of "good vs. evil" that every other FF ultimately resorts to in some sad bid to keep player interest. FFXII is the only FF with a truly sympathetic villain and, as someone who gravitates towards antagonists this is extremely important to me. Vayne Solidor was a highly complex and fascinating character, and Venat was technically more of a protagonist than the protagonists.

The game also allows you to set your own AI in the Gambit System, and it's as close to real time combat as FF is probably ever going to get as long as it's confined to the slowly fossilising ATB system it so desperately clings to. The orchestral score is sweeping and magnificent and complements the atmosphere perfectly. The voice acting is spectacular, and leaps and bounds above the horribly flat and downright cringeworthy crap FFX gave us - and better than FFXIII's attempt, as well - and it's fantastically paced. Don't get me wrong, other FF titles have their moments. But XII is the pinnacle of the series. XII represents everything FF should be, and it gets a well-deserved place on my favourites list.


...honourable mentions go to The Guided Fate Paradox, Zettai Hero Project: Absolute Victory Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman, Pokemon Platinum, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Golden Sun, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.

/exhausted from typing all that
Male
the town on no map
Seen September 16th, 2022
Posted July 12th, 2022
3,340 posts
14.3 Years
Shining Force III is just my all time favorite game period. Only the first scenario of a three part game was actually localized, but thanks to fan translations all are available to play. Though I went a step further and actually modded by Saturn to experience the whole thing on the console. Anyways, the gameplay is pretty similar to Fire Emblem, simple yet finely tuned and lot more fast flowing. It has surprisingly cerebral storyline filled with political intrigue, betrayals, and a fanatical cult. A large, and varied colorful cast of characters, with choices you make in the first game subsequently affecting future events and whether certain character join or not in the other two scenarios. And since the games were developed by Camelot, you can see a lot of things that were borrowed/inspired for the Golden Sun games. Overall, Shining Force 3 was, in my view, a masterpiece.

That being said, I'm a huge fan of Chrono Cross too; one of the earlier games I owned which got me into the whole genre. I'm in the minority which prefer it over Trigger. Probably the most memorable turn based RPG I have ever played. The OST is heavenly, the story/characters is engrossing, and the battles still stick in my mind 16 years after playing it.

To list a few others:

-Fire Emblem 3 and 4 are my favorite of the FE bunch.

-Grandia II is probably up here just on gameplay alone. The battle system is hands down my favorite of any JRPG I've played. You've got those awesome battle tracks to go along with it too.

-I'm a fan of Suikoden II as well, but I still actually prefer the first one over any of the other main games. The series in general did a good job at slowly building and expanding the Suikoden universe and the lore around the True Runes. That's why I can't forgive Konami for putting the series 6 feet under.

-Tactics Ogre has many good things about it. I put a ton of hours into it, but I honestly think my favorite part about it was the storyline. Unlike many games with branching morality paths, the choices in this game aren't simple ones. You have Lawful, Chaotic, and Neutral paths but, they're rarely differentiated by apparent black and white options. (Still have not played the PSP version though!)

ソラ

May My Heart Be My Guiding Key

Age 32
He/Him
California
Seen April 7th, 2023
Posted March 18th, 2023
2,002 posts
15.2 Years
1) Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix - This game will always be my favorite game. The story, the extra content, and not to mention it's Soundtrack. But what made me love it, is the game play, I still love it's gameplay. Until this day I still play it. Not the PS2 version (even tho I own it, and a Japanese PS2), but I play the HD version.



2) Tales of the Abyss - this is my 2nd tales game I've ever played, but this is my favorite, the story, the dept of this RPG made me fall so much in love with the series , I haven't played a tales game that match this caliber this story has done for me, except for Tales of Xillia 2. There is some songs I like from the game, I wouldn't say the soundtrack is top tier, but I like some choices. I love the story and gameplay of this game.



3) Persona 4 Golden - I love the story, the mysterious type RPG, solving a case of murders, and the characters are really enjoyable. The music is indeed great, it keeps my head bobbing. I love the turn based feel. As much as I love P3, P4 became my favorite fast. I cannot wait until P5.



4) Pokemon Soul Silver - Well being on a Pokemon Forum site, But this is in my top 5 JRPGs, As much as I love the story with Team Rocket's return, I also love to return to Kanto (yes I played the original Silver), But I love this remake of my previous favorite Pokemon game. I love all Pokemon games, I'm not one of the people who disapprove of Pokemon of each Gen, but this one just stood out for me, I also love that Pokemon Follow you, and I also enjoy the music, and some of Crystal's elements in this game.



5) The World Ends with You - this game is definitely a gem. This game has such amazing music (IMO), the story drew so much feelings for me. I've been also playing the solo remix on my iPhone recently. The game play is definitely new, for both DS and for touch screen phones, and tablets.



There is my top 5 lists of JRPGs. :)