Hey look! Another jrpg topic!

[NightHavoc]

That's right folks it's another one of these posts! Alright so here is my situation, I've never really played a jrpg before. Don't ask me why though, I think it had something to do with me thinking turn based combat was boring when I was younger. However, I have always been curious and recently I went out and purchased fire emblem awakening. Hours into the game a sudden realization along the lines of WHY DIDN'T I DO THIS SOONER? hit me. So I've done a little research on some other games that may interest me such as Ni No Kuni and and Lost Odyssey. I've also considered picking up final fantasy 13 and 13-2 since I've never played an FF game, but the reception towards it seems mixed. It's a good start, but I think I'll need some help to find more good quality jrpgs.

I'm limited to this gen sadly unless there are some backwards compatible games out there. The consoles I have are the 360, ps3 and 3ds. So guys and girls what are some games that you would recommend?

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Tales of Xillia. Get it now. Also get Shin Megami Tensei IV and Devil Survivor Overclocked on the 3DS

 

[krazykidd]

Lost oddesey is amazing . Beware though , Jrpgs ALWAYS start off slow and pick up 2-3 hours in ( remember most are 30+ hour games ). I would definately recomment Lost oddesey on story alone .

As for Ni no kuni . It's good . Real good . But it's easy . Real easy . It's almost like the game was afraid people would get stuck. I however can't say i didn't enjoy it .

 

[NightHavoc]

( remember most are 30+ hour games ). I would definately recomment Lost oddesey on story alone .

Excellent! I love great stories. I'm ok with slow starts as long as it gets better!

 

[Maximum Bert]

I used to hate RPGs but FFVII convinced me to give them a chance however its very dated now graphically but if that dosent bother you it is available on the PSN store I think VIII and IX are available on there as well all three are better than XIII imo (although I did get some enjoyment out of XIII).

Some people class Valkyria Chronicles as a JRPG I wouldnt BUT its an amazing game that should be played if you have the chance. Lost Odyssey is great as well.

Disgaea 4 is good although its just as much strategy as RPG (well depends how you play it).

The two best JRPGs I have played this gen are Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story both of which are on the Wii but Xenoblade Chronicles is worth the price alone imo.

 

[TehCookie]

Seconding Tales of Xillia, it's combat is better than turn based. If you like SRPGs Disgaea is another great series with 3 and 4 on the PS3 (aside from a few cameos the games are independent of each other). On the DS there's Radiant Historia which has two story lines and a time travel mechanic to jump between them.

 

[NightHavoc]

Seconding Tales of Xillia, it's combat is better than turn based. If you like SRPGs Disgaea is another great series with 3 and 4 on the PS3 (aside from a few cameos the games are independent of each other). On the DS there's Radiant Historia which has two story lines and a time travel mechanic to jump between them.

I've noticed other Tales games as well like Tales of Vesperia. Do I need to get previous games to understand Xillia or are they independent?

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Persona 3. Seriously, go buy Persona 3 on PSN. I've accidentally discovered Persona 3: Portable about a year ago and it was a completely new experience for me. Unique setting, unique story, unique everything! And then there was Persona 4: Golden on Vita. Now I consider Persona 3 and Persona 4 to be one of my favorite games of all time, and I never played JRPG before!

 

[madwarper]

I've noticed other Tales games as well like Tales of Vesperia. Do I need to get previous games to understand Xillia or are they independent?

Except for direct sequels, their plots pretty much independent from one and another.
Granted, even then, Symphonia is an awesome game, but Symphonia 2 can be skipped.

And, while I'm at it, there's the Etrian Odyssey series on the DS/3DS, Fire Emblem series and Rune Factory series on various Nintendo products.

 

[Launcelot111]

Seconding Tales of Xillia, it's combat is better than turn based. If you like SRPGs Disgaea is another great series with 3 and 4 on the PS3 (aside from a few cameos the games are independent of each other). On the DS there's Radiant Historia which has two story lines and a time travel mechanic to jump between them.

I've noticed other Tales games as well like Tales of Vesperia. Do I need to get previous games to understand Xillia or are they independent?

They're all their own story, they just have common gameplay standards- real time combat, lots of sidequests, character interaction skits, and more. The stories tend to be varying degrees of impenetrable, but the casts of characters are always fun and the combat is second to none. In my book, Tales of Graces has the best combat and Vesperia has the best story. I'm playing through Xillia now, and it's pretty excellent as well. Really you can't go wrong.

For other recommendations, Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 are my two favorite games of all time. Combat is solid with a fun pokemon angle, but the games focus hard on the daily life of your characters (eg going to school, taking exams, hanging out with friends) and the result is surprising degrees of emotional investment in your characters. On top of that, the setting (exploring the supernatural underbelly of modern Japan), the presentation, and the music are all great.

As for Final Fantasy games, FF 13 is solid and 13-2 is an interesting mess of a game, but they're not really along the lines of what got the series famous. 6 and 7 are typically considered the standouts, and 10 is probably my favorite.

Others to look into are The World Ends With You on the DS and Resonance of Fate on the PS3

 

[shrekfan246]

I've also considered picking up final fantasy 13 and 13-2 since I've never played an FF game, but the reception towards it seems mixed.

I'm limited to this gen sadly unless there are some backwards compatible games out there. The consoles I have are the 360, ps3 and 3ds. So guys and girls what are some games that you would recommend?

Eurgh.

XIII is... well, it's not a terrible introduction for the people who have no experience with Final Fantasy, but aside from the story being fucknuts-crazy it's almost nothing like a "classic" Final Fantasy game. VI-IX (at least) are on the PSN for download to the PS3 and would be much better introductions in my opinion, so long as you can handle dated visuals/controls/lack of voice acting. X should be getting its 'HD' remaster released relatively soon as well, and while it's a lot closer to the style XIII adopted, it still feels Final Fantasy-esque.

Other than that, I can mostly echo other people. The Tales of... series has a ton of great games, most relevant being Tales of the Abyss on the 3DS, Tales of Graces f and Tales of Xillia on the PS3. They, like Final Fantasy, mostly have self-contained stories with similar mechanics carried over between games, so it doesn't matter where you jump in unless it has a '2' in the title.

Shin Megami Tensei is a fantastically diverse franchise, mostly involving strategic turn-based combat. It has sub-sets of games in different branches of the franchise that aren't directly connected; e.g. Shin Megami Tensei IV is part of the main series, SMT: Persona 3/Persona 4 are part of another series, SMT: Devil Survivor is part of another, etc. It's another situation where the games aren't really directly connected in story, though. Devil Survivor: Overclocked, SMT IV, and Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers on the 3DS are all understandable without previous knowledge of the franchise (though it does help you get some of the callbacks and whatnot, of course). Persona 3: FES is on the PSN, though personally I'd recommend Persona 3 Portable over it, but since you don't have a PSP or Vita that seems to be out of the picture (sad, too, Persona 4 Golden is on the Vita and it's absolutely amazing). Fair warning though, especially for Shin Megami Tensei IV, they're punishing as a pair of steel balls.

Unfortunately, this generation hasn't been very kind to JRPGs on the home consoles. The DS has a few strong ones if you can find them anymore (specifically The World Ends With You and I've heard a lot of good things about Radiant Historia), but a lot of the ones on the Xbox/PS3 tend to be lacking in some way, and are all niche in one way or another. Resonance of Fate has a very interesting world and a fairly unique take on the pseudo-turn-based combat system, but it can be a bit difficult to get into and I've heard it has random difficulty spikes late in the game. Demon's Souls/Dark Souls (which I would consider JRPGs with WRPG sensibilities) you no doubt have heard of due to their punishing challenge as well, though it's really not all that different from the difficulty in something like Shin Megami Tensei; Just more based on your actual reflexes than strategic thinking.

With the 'HD ReMix' coming out soon, you could consider looking into the Kingdom Hearts franchise as well. It'll include the first two titles (Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories) as well as the cutscenes from one of the lackluster DS titles, which is a pretty decent introduction to the franchise. The writing is pretty silly and juvenile, but it's a great nostalgia hit if you grew up with Disney and the gameplay/level design/artistic design/soundtrack are all still absolutely phenomenal.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Tales of Xillia - PS3
Tales of Graces f - PS3(also on Wii, without the f content, JP only)
Tales of Vesperia - Xbox 360(also on PS3 but JP only)
Tales of the Abyss - 3DS
Tales of Symphonia - Gamecube/PS2/PS3(not released yet but an HD remake is on its way, based on PS2 version)

All Tales titles are self-contained. None of them are connected, save for a couple sequels(Symphonia 2 and Xillia 2). Although it's greatly suspected and backed up with valid evidence that Tales of Phantasia is a distant sequel to Tales of Symphonia because they share the same world. Of course, it hasn't been confirmed so it's all conjecture, but fits quite nicely. So you can play any Tales title and fully enjoy it. Several titles have cameos and references to other Tales titles. Personally, I recommend playing others before playing Tales of Graces f. It's great on its own but it's packed with references and so much better when you're able to catch them.

P.S. Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World(Wii) can be skipped over and ignored. It's really not that good. Pronunciations are changed, voice actors are changed, the story is crap, it tries hard to be Pokemon with monster catching and the game itself is unnecessary as a whole. It feels very much like it was made purely to appease rabid fanboys/fangirls.

Lost Odyssey - Xbox 360 I've little experience with this game but it was great, from what little I played.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope International - PS3 Very much considered a prequel to the entire series. I recommend the PS3 version because it has more features than the Xbox 360 version.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked - 3DS If you like Fire Emblem: Awakening, Devil Survivor Overclocked is very much like it.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 - DS Sequel to Devil Survivor(and by extension, the Overclocked remake). Not much else to say.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor: Soul Hackers - 3DS Haven't played it but I want to. From what I've seen it's very much the standard SMT fare.

Shin Megami Tensei IV - 3DS I don't know if it's still going on, but there's a bonus where if you register this and Fire Emblem: Awakening on Club Nintendo, you get $30 worth of eShop credit to spend as you please. SMTIV has a lot of third-person dungeon crawling and first-person turn-based combat. You talk to and recruit demons and you can fuse them into stronger demons. If you're new to JRPGs as a whole, be wary of SMT IV. The core SMT series is brutal and this game will smash your balls whenever it gets the chance. If you get it, I have one very important piece of advice for you: Save often. Like, every 5-15 minutes often, if you don't want to pay your entire wallet to Charon.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey - DS First-person dungeon crawling with the standard first-person turn-based combat. Still capable of negotiating with demons to recruit and fuse them and still very fun.

As a point, by wary of any Shin Megami Tensei title, especially if you're new to the genre. In my experience, all of them are difficult titles and not quite as accessible to new players. But if you're up for the challenge, they're all very fulfilling games.

I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them right off the top of my head.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Something to get for the 3DS, Pokemon Black, it's a DS game, but luckily 3DS is backwards compatible.. I may be different from most JRPGs, but it's my personal favorite that I can't recommend enough.

It has the most storytelling any Pokemon game has had so far, the narrative actually questions whether or not catching and battling Pokemon is the right thing or not. Made a bunch of new gameplay mechanics, faster battles, bunch of things to do even after finishing the game.

Despite what many people complained about, the new Pokemon are great, and are the only ones available to get in the wild until after the end of the main story, giving the game a sense of originality when it comes to choosing a team. If you have friends with the game, you can get them to trade any of your favorites from previous gens.

Just remember every DS game is available to you with the 3DS, and the DS's library is known for being full of great JRPGs.

 

[Kyrian007]

Well, going back a ways I'd have to throw in Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. Two of the really good jrpg's of my childhood. And if you want something a little different for a jrpg you can throw in Parasite Eve. If you are looking to retro jrpg those are some excellent classic entries.

 

[Saltyk]

Well, if you have PSN, there are several classic JRPGs available for under $10.

Suikoden has you playing as a young hero, who acquires the Soul Eater Rune, a cursed object that kills those close to him in exchange for more power. The game has you leading an army, recruiting up to 108 characters and fighting in several different battles to usurp the corrupt Emperor of the Scarlet Moon Empire. Normal six person battles, large scale battles, and duels. Oh, and characters can permanently die.

Xenogears is a great game which has you fighting both in normal combat as well as in giant mecha. Huge world, several characters to recruit, and a great game that few have played.

Wild Arms is a odd sounding game with a Western feel to it. You play as Rudy, Jack, and Cecilia as they travel the world trying to fend off the Metal Demons. But can they do it when the previous war devastated the land, without the Elw and the the Guardian almost powerless?

All of these game might be dated, and I can't say that you will be able to get over that, but for 9.99, can you really complain?

Also, you gotta love the Wild Arms opening.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Out of those consoles, Devil Survivor: Overclocked is the best game. Tales of Xillia is a solid option for a different kind of combat system. Legend of Dragoon on the PSN is the classic JRPG experience.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Double Post

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

Seconding Tales of Xillia, it's combat is better than turn based. If you like SRPGs Disgaea is another great series with 3 and 4 on the PS3 (aside from a few cameos the games are independent of each other). On the DS there's Radiant Historia which has two story lines and a time travel mechanic to jump between them.

I've noticed other Tales games as well like Tales of Vesperia. Do I need to get previous games to understand Xillia or are they independent?

Independent, but be warned if you play enough Tales of games you might start to see stuff coming early.

 

[scorptatious]

Well since you have a PS3, you can pretty much play all the old Final Fantasy games through downloading them via the PSN.

Which one do I recommend? I'll let Hitler answer for me.


Seriously, play IX. One of, if not the best JRPG I personally played.

And since you seem to enjoy Fire Emblem, I also recommend playing the Disgaea series. First two are on the PSN, and the rest are for the PS3. I personally recommend 1 and 4 as I feel they are the best in both story and gameplay. (Well more so 4 when it comes to the latter.)

 

[Meatrod05]

I know you said your limited to this gen, but if you found a way and don't mind older games then I would highly recommend Earthbound and Mother 3, two JRPGs that have an incredible, quirky sense of humor and one of the best battle systems I have ever seen in turn-based combat. Mother 3 was never released outside of Japan, but there is a fantastic fan-made translation patch that is not hard to find.