Recommend the two best JRPG's in history.

[BlueKenja]

Depends on your audience, if this is a general audience then I'd go with a single RPG that is well-known and important to the genre and then a secondary less well known RPG.

SO for the well known one:
Final Fantasy VII: Introduced a generation to JRPGS, the story is good, the main character is NOT meant to be looked up to as a hero he's meant to be sympathised with, the supporting cast weren't bad at all (Cid's mini story I still find pretty heartwarming) and it killed off a character who you couldn't get back and a good soundtrack unfortunately relegated to MIDI quality.

Chrono Trigger: Killed off

Spoiler

and you may not be able to resurrect them, enemies appeared on screen without random encounters, music was good, plot was pretty good, characters were likable, loads of endings.

Pokemon: Wildly successful, addictive and surprisingly deep (EV, nature and IVs etc.). Story is poor but you play it to collect, trade, battle and explore. I'd pick SoulSilver or HeartGold here as they had decent graphics, good sound and faster gameplay than the originals plus they contained 2 whole regions to explore.

For the less well known ones:
Grandia: Light hearted and anime themed RPG with an excellent soundtrack, good story, excellent character development and narrative and got much more dark as the story progressed, also one of the few JRPGs where the hero wasn't the chosen one or even a hero, he was a kid who EARNED his status as a hero.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzanhoa vs. the Soulless Army: Very nice looking RPG that combined real time combat with random encounters, a deep fusion system endemic to the SMT series, interesting non-combat tricks (such as demons who can read minds or influence emotion to progress) and an excellent Jazz flavoured soundtrack. The setting was awesome too.

Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call (or Nocturne if you're not from the EU): Punishing but rewarding, excellent story, good characters, multiple endings and an interesting character building system and demon fusing system.

Skies of Arcadia: Amazing world, massive map with loads to explore, original setting (the whole world is sky and you fly around on a pirate "ship"), characters are likable if a tad cliched (however the three main characters; one male and two females never descend into dreaded love triangle territory and are all pretty likeable people). Dialogue could be corny and the story could be a bit cheesy at times but despite that at the end when it all seems hopeless you still get moved by what happens. Soundtrack was absolutely amazing too, only on the Dreamcast though, the Gamecube messed up its sound quality.

Suikoden 2: Mature themes, excellent story, balanced difficulty and 108 characters most of whom are characterised and you can actually care about. Good soundtrack too with enjoyable strategy sections.

Suikoden 5: Again, mature themes, decent voice acting, good story and likeable characters (although I wasn't keen on the bodyguard or sister characters but ymmv). Better rune and weapon system than 2 and more in depth character development. Excellent soundtrack.

EDIT: Forgot about Vagrant Story: Good graphics, good story, well written characters and excellent dialogue, the translators deserve all the props they can get for that. Deep crafting system too.

 

[lechat]

you are obviously gonna have to do chrono trigger and xenoblade chronicles if you are paying any attention at all to what ppl are saying in here but here is why you should pick them

chrono trigger is awesome.
1. it set the bar back in 1995 but what's important is the gameplay still holds up today
2. it involves time travel and what you do in the past effects the future /win
3. it had 14 different endings and every single one was better than ME3
4. it has dinosaurs, robots and the end of fucking time itself
5. no random encounters. too many Jrpgs force you into combat whenever you enter an area

xenoblade chronicles
1. you can see the future and key combat elements require you to change said future to win battles
2. it redefined the genre
3. the bulk of the game is set on the bodies and 2 ginormous robot bodies!!!
4. it has quite probably the best combat of any rpg ever made
5. it has the best fast travel i have ever seen in an rpg
6. you can win near impossible battles by using pure skill and when you do you know that a lesser player couldn't have done the same

there are so many more points i could make about xenoblade but it will never do it justice unless you play it yourself. had the game been released on xbox or playstation where it could have got the graphics it deserved it would easily be ranked one of the best games of all time instead of just ending up another forgotten masterpiece that every future rpg will copy

honestly it annoys me to see another AAA garbage shooter on zero punctuation every second week when i know yahtzee, an admitted Jrpg hater would fall in love playing this game as would basically anyone else

 

[Kyrian007]

I'd say Final Fantasy 8 and Chrono Cross. Most would go with the prior entry in both series. But with FF8 there was limited grind as compared to it's predecessor. And CC had far more replay value than CT.

But that's only for traditional JRPG's. If it would qualify I'd replace FF8 with Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. Even on the Gamecube it has a far better look than 90% of anything of the Xbox 360/PS3/Wii generation.

 

[Mana Fiend]

So difficult to choose 2, but there's my list:

Final Fantasy 1, 7, 9, 10: A great series of games. 1 deserves credit for being a very good pick-up-and-play game, 7 for bringing o many people to the genre, and 9 and 10 because they're awesome. Probably 7 or 10 are the best choices, because they're so well-known.

Lost Odyssey: Probably my favourite modern JPRG, and easy for people to access should they want to try it out. The story is sweeping and epic (4 discs!), the combat and skill learning is excellent, and Jansen actually works as comic relief!

Tales of Vesperia: Yuri. That is all. Such a great main character, one who is a really good example of how all main character are not moaning emos. Raven is good fun, and you can plan as a dagger-wielding dog! Granted the final act can drag, but I've sunk 200 hours into that game and could easily play 100 more with all the stuff to do and replays.

Kingdom Hearts series (in particular 1, 2, Birth By Sleep, and 3D): It shouldn't work. It just shouldn't... But it does. I actually love 2 most, and am even a fan of 258/2 Days.

Never got to play the Persona series, but I really want to. I'm sure they're good too.

EDIT: The Pokemon games might be a good way to go, just because they're so well known. For my money, the 2nd generation and their remakes are the best.

 

[The_Scrivener]

Personally: Final Fantasy VII and Persona 3.

If I'm trying to be objective here: Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger.

 

[Kekkonen1]

Suikoden II
Final Fantasy VIII

Two best in my opinion. Other great ones are Final Fantasy VI, Lost Odyssey, Final Fantasy Tactics and Xenogears.

 

[The_Scrivener]

I get the sense you haven't actually played any Final Fantasy games. The ones after IX look bad, though (I haven't played them, so I could be wrong about that).
Final Fantasy IX has one of the best video game stories ever, in my opinion.
I apologize if any of that was rude.

I assume you played the games when you were younger, if not then try waiting a little while and go back to them.

Most of the final fantasy games age terribly. I'm not talking about the graphics but the characters and plot. I don't understand how any adult, who does not suffer a fetish for the weaker parts of japanese culture, could enjoy the aesthetics of the later final fantasy games. There are some great summons, but I feel like they're bright spots in an otherwise gray everyday.

Breath of Fire (1 and 2 specifically) and Earthbound in example are games whose stories I feel age a lot better. They're enjoyable as an adult and the characters are easier to relate to. In my opinion that is

FF7-9 aged well I think but 8 suffers the most and 7 the least. (Did I get that right...?)

7's envirommental themes are only going to grow more pertinent. It predates mainstream environmental debate, the term 'green,' and An Inconvenient Truth. Still the best.

 

[OniaPL]

Radiant Historia is pretty good. I'd recommend it.

 

[RomanceIsDead]

Chrono Trigger
Pokemon
Earthbound
Golden Sun

 

[Oroboros]

I have not palyed a great number of JRPGs, but I do remember the Breath of Fire series fondly, with Breath of Fire III beign my favorite of the five.

 

[DirgeNovak]

Persona 4 and Final Fantasy IX are my favorites, but if you're writing about the history of video games, you should play Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII.

 

[loc978]

As many answers as there are people, but this is a very subjective thing...

I'm gonna jump on the Chrono Trigger bandwagon, it's about the most accessible JRPG out there with any sort of depth, and I still replay it on occasion. Truly the best of the best in terms of withstanding the test of time.

For my second, I'll go with Star Ocean. The first one (or at least the PSP remake). Another one with plenty of depth and nigh-endless replayability... though the barrier to entry is much higher than Chrono Trigger.

 

[Cheesepower5]

Only two? Holy FSM, dude, this is a tough choice. It's not exactly how I'd place my tops, but for the sake of diversity I'll say: Final Fantasy Tactics and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.

Final Fantasy Tactics is a Turn-Based Strategy JRPG in the narrowest definition I can be arsed to make. You're Ramza Beoulve, the youngest son of a noble house in the fantasy kingdom Ivalice. Your best friend is Delita Heirall, a commoner adopted into house Beoulve along with his sister, Tietra. There's also this guy named Argath, who you'll want to kill real bad, and you will. Twice, in the PSP version. It's awesome, just fucking get it now.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is kind of an odd ball. It's a PS2 rarity, hard to find through conventional means. Set in modern day Tokyo, you play as a student from the local High School with your two friends, an individualist young man in a hat called Isamu Nitta and an assertive, rich girl named Chiaki Hayasaka. They meet their teacher (Yuko Takao)in an eery, abandoned hospital, only to find out that the world is going to end and there's nothing they can do about it. Then apocalypse happens... End of prologue. You wake up as a half demon called the Demi-Fiend in the twisted, metaphysical ruins of Tokyo, fighting demons and ultimately choosing how the world ends up. Again, just fucking get it now.

Honourable mentions to Dragon Quest VIII (the quintessential JRPG,) Final Fantasy VI(a personal favourite,) Baten Kaitos: Origins (just beautiful graphics) and Lost Oddysey (one of the best JRPGs of this generation.)

 

[Tanakh]

Dragon Quest VIII

I almost want to vote for DQ 8 too, it has really amazing points, but I hated a part of it where (spoiler) I was chasing a mythical godbird what could travel through dimensions to defeat a dog with a stick... to be fair it was a large dog i guess. My point being that here and there they seemed to have forgotten how to characterize the adversary in a non goofy way, still an amazing RPG.

OT: I need to go with Chrono Trigger, but for the second one, DON'T make me choose between FF VI and IX! I just can't... my brain says VI but my heart IX.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Chrono Trigger. Some of the Final Fantasy games. Dragon Quests. That's all I can think of.

 

[sextus the crazy]

Final Fantasy VI

Pretty much this. FFVI is a game that should be pretty easy to write about. It's great in pretty much every category and is great in a very traditional way.

 

[Nimzar]

I can only think of one that I can't think of counter arguments for and that is ChronoTrigger (which ranks as one of the best games of all time rather than just one of the best JRPGs of all time)

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

I was going to put Chrono Trigger but a hundred people already beat me to it

 

[Sunrider]

Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX get my vote. Runners up include Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VIII (So sue me, haters.)