What are you favorite JRPGs and what JRPGs do you recommend

[Mouser]

Man, am I the only one here who liked TWEWY?

 

[PixelLuchi]

Fire Emblem is not a JRPG. :\ I keep hearing this and it aggravates me. It's a turn-based strategy game with minor RPG elements. And sad to see I'm the only other person here other than Touch who would recommend Phantasy Star IV and Shining Force II. Seriously, those games are gems.

 

[Seacliff]

What I like:

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Cross

Final Fantasy 6

Any Mario RPG (that does not involve stickers)

Secret of Mana

Kingdom Hearts

Skies of Arcadia

Tales of the Abyss

Golden Sun

Pokemon

There's probably a LOT more, I sometimes buy an entire console just for one or two JRPGs

 

[Milkdud]

I don't play that many, but...

Okage: Shadow King

Eternal Sonata

Final Fantasy IX and X

Ni no Kuni

Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 (never played any of the spin offs)

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Pokemon

 

[Touchfuzzy]

It's a game that I would only recommend for its storyline. I think I overhyped it to myself, because of how much I liked Xenosaga. So it felt underwhelming. Like, everyone told me that Xenosaga was crap compared to Xenogears, and considering how high of a pedestal I placed Xenosaga, I was expecting Xenosaga but a story twice as good.

Xenosaga is like playing the second disc of Xenogears for 3 games. HEY YOU ARE IN THIS SITUATION => fight fight fight, boss battle, cutscene, cutscene, cutscene => HEY YOU ARE NOW IN THIS SITUATION =. fight fight fight, boss battle, cutscene, cutscene, cutscene => HEY YOU ARE NOW IN etc.

Seriously, Xenosaga felt so on rails it was painful. Maybe it got better after the first one, but I bought the first one expecting Xenogears. Instead I got 3 miles of cutscenes and the ability to move forward in a straight line.

 

[Harmill]

Well, yeah, that's a good example of what I heard people say when comparing Xenogears to Xenosaga. But I had already played the Xenosaga Trilogy and its story blew me completely away. Hearing people say that it had failed to live up to Xenogears made me extremely excited to experience Xenogears' story. I still really liked its story, but it failed to impact me the way Xenosaga did.

 

[Kaelan]

Another reason people who played gears first don't like saga is that gears was supposed to be a series of games. Saga was supposed to continue that series in the same universe and it not only failed to do that, a lot of what it borrowed from gears wasn't used all that well.

Relevant in any discussion involving Xenogears: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29956195@N08/sets/72157616593453778/

There's a lot of depth in the story that's lost either due to translation or lack of dev time to expand on it.

Anyway, great games that haven't been mentioned:

- Radiata Stories

- Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2

- Valkyrie Profile 2

- Dark Cloud 2

- Last Remnant

 

[Touchfuzzy]

Another reason people who played gears first don't like saga is that gears was supposed to be a series of games. Saga was supposed to continue that series in the same universe and it not only failed to do that, a lot of what it borrowed from gears wasn't used all that well.

Nah, it was always supposed to be a spiritual successor rather than a sequel/prequel. The issue being that Tetsuya Takahashi/Monolith Soft didn't own the rights to Xenogears's story, Square did. We knew from the beginning it wouldn't be the same, anyone who thought otherwise wasn't paying attention.

 

[Kaelan]

Yeah, I know that. That's not what I meant, maybe I wasn't communicating it that well. What I mean to say is that saga was supposed to feel like the cancelled later episodes of Xenogears. It was supposed to fit into that gap left by gears, as Dark Souls fills the gap after Demons Souls despite legally not being the same series. But instead it came out as something completely different and lacked the general tone that gears had, which was disappointing.

 

[wallacethepig]

TWEWY, DQIX, and Chrono Trigger. All available on the Nintendo DS.

-Wallace

 

[bunny-gypsy]

I don't usually play JRPG's--or, at least, I haven't been able to finish any of them.

Usually, I'm an action, adventure, life simulation, action/adventure or action-rpg gamer. (Borderlands, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Deus Ex, The Sims series, Sly Cooper games, etc.)

I've played JRPG's in the past, but usually ended up giving them away when I was younger. (Which I greatly regret now, lol!) I was young and impatient back then, heh. ^_^;; 

I'm looking at these suggestions in this thread and other threads for JRPGs to play.

(I'm currently playing Final Fantasy VII, X and X-2. My sister's playing FF IX.)

Two JRPG's I really, really, really enjoyed are SMT III and SMT IV. And Baten Kaitos and the first Kingdom Hearts. (Those are JRPGs, yes?) I LOVED Baten Kaitos and SMT III! My sister started playing the Digital Devil Saga series. 

Oh, and Rune Factory 4? But that's more farming simulation with action-RPG elements...

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

How do we define JRPGs anyway?


I'd say if you want some fun,light and still engaging game plus if you're a fan of FF and/or Disney, then all of the Kingdom Hearts games is worth a play.

 

[hian]

Major titles :

Final Fantasy(I prefer 6-10)

Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross

Medium titles:

Suikoden 1-2

Wild Arms 1

Breath of Fire 3-4

Star Ocean 2

Grandia

Dark Cloud 1-2

Rouge Galaxy

Lesser known titles :

Vandal Hearts

The Last Story

Granstream Saga

Ys series

Alundra

These are the titles I enjoyed playing the most, I guess.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Ah yes, Ys and Dark Cloud (I really wanna play this one because my PS2 demo disc came with it, but I wasn't able to find any copy of it in our area)

 

[Touchfuzzy]

@Hian, my wife refers to Granstream Saga as "that one where no one has faces"

Its a surprisingly good game though. I do remember the time it bugged out when I powered up my PSX and me and my brother were just sitting there, and it just started one of the last cutscenes with audio only. Like it just started up, black screen, and says "YOU ARE THE DARK ONE."

 

[hian]

@Hian, my wife refers to Granstream Saga as "that one where no one has faces"

Its a surprisingly good game though. I do remember the time it bugged out when I powered up my PSX and me and my brother were just sitting there, and it just started one of the last cutscenes with audio only. Like it just started up, black screen, and says "YOU ARE THE DARK ONE."

That's the one. I still loved it for the battle system, the awesome anime cutscenes, and cool soundtrack though.

The story had its shiny moments too. The last choice you face at the end is pretty emotional as well.

 

[Dark Phoenix]

Interesting that The Granstream Saga is brought up, but nothing about the Heaven & Earth series that it belongs to...

For those who don't know, the H&E series is the following:

Actraiser (more of a simulation than an RPG, but stiill awesome)

Soul Blazer

Illusion Of Gaia

Terranigma

The Granstream Saga

All done by the same team over a period of about 8 years... rather awesome.

And sad to see I'm the only other person here other than Touch who would recommend Phantasy Star IV and Shining Force II. Seriously, those games are gems.

Got to be honest; I've lacked the patience and strength of will necessary to go through Shining Force II again for at least a decade.  Every time I think about it, I remember that playing it means that I have to pass through the Kraken, Talos and Zalbard fights again...

 

[hian]

I didn't bring them up simply because I didn't enjoy them as much, and because they really are quite different from a gameplay perspective.

But, if you're into SNES era games, like legend of mana type games, illusions of Gaia and terra enigma are great.