What JRPGs are Good?
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i cant remember the name either but i remember that game. You were like a thief/music preformer with a talking lute for some reason
It kinda sucked to be honest.
EDIT: im really enjoying P3/P4 for the moment and i like most RPGs like final fantasy and stuff
It kinda sucked to be honest.
EDIT: im really enjoying P3/P4 for the moment and i like most RPGs like final fantasy and stuff
Alright, I'm back. Time for another Multi-Quote of Doom.
Natty DL said:
AtticusSP said:
What about these games? You are just listing things randomly. I know nothing about them and a random list of twenty or more games will not help. Are they good, bad, meh? Remember, as I stated in my last multi-quote, that this is a discussion thread and not a list. Tell me about those games. What do you think about them, why? What kind of jrpg is it? I need details!Blanks said:
I missed some stragglers on page 3. Here they are.
nickkos said:
Please tell me about these games and specifics of why you liked them over other jrpgs you've played. Also try to list some jrpgs you didn't like or didn't feel were 'the best'. Listing helps no one in a discussion thread.Zenode said:
This is a great game. Most people don't give it a chance but I'm telling you its awesome. Also can't forget the two best JRPGs of all time. Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger.skcseth said:
Thank God someone said this, I thought I was the only one who enjoyed this game (many bash it for little voice acting and cutscenes with little motion.)skcseth said:
But yes, If not this any of the Disgaea games are very good for their humor and depth. (multiple endings, level 9999, etc.)
I purchased Dark Cloud 2 before 1. It definitely took rpgs in a new direction. It was part-sim, part-fighting, all rpg. I even liked the characters, though the plot needed work (Hey, we've never left town before and there are monsters out there ready to kill everyone and raid the town once the large gate/door is open, but this one girl showed up. She's making wild claims like being from the future, and wants me to go with her with nothing but a wrench... Off I go!) and the clowns scared the crap out of me.Pendragon9 said:
Dark Cloud 1, which I bought a few years after 2, I didn't like the characters of. They were weird and felt out of place. Yet I loved the game-play and the larger purpose to the sim feature. There wasn't as much to do in 1 as there was 2, but at the same time I felt like 2 restricted some things that were open and pleasant in 1. Fishing in 1 drove me mad. The last dungeon in 1 drove me insane.
Now where did I put that Grandia post that was back on page 2. Oh here, it is:
I hadn't played Grandia 1, and I can't find it anywhere to do so. I can, however, talk in depth about 2 and 3.Robin_Lyon said:
I adored Grandia 2. It was the first time I played an absolute ass as a main character. "Your town blew up and you lost all of your friends? Oh well, too bad, grow up and get over it." I also enjoyed the plot in depth and most of the characters, especially the one evil chick I can't at the moment remember the name of. It's definitely up there in my 'good jrpg' category, but it isn't perfect enough to cure the blind and save a few orphanages.
Grandia 3 is a pass, however. Unless all someone cares about in a game is the game-play, it's something to avoid. The plot lacks seriously to the point that I just wanted it to finish. And most of the game has whiny characters you couldn't give a crap about. What's worse is that they lead you to believe it's a good Grandia game. A guy beats up monsters with his mother, who is absolutely hot. You meet Cliche Elf girl named Elfina (sorry, Alphina) who needs help. I could get over that since the next early-on character you meet is a horny captain. 3/4 of the characters in the beginning are fantastic and fun to play with. Then you loose most of them and are handed cliche character in boring town after cliche character in boring town. After a point the game makers are all, "Well, we ran out of character ideas. Let's make the next a depressed chick with huge tits and absolutely no story, no one will notice." They also throw in bad guys that you want in your party, but are denied.
Oh, and before I'm done white-washing Grandia 3, allow me to bring back up that plot. Love. That's the plot. You barely survive a very tough length of road, striving battle after battle, and come across the coolest Shadow of the Colossus-style monster dragon boss thing at the end. It's huge, it looks like it would give you the battle of a lifetime. It rears its ugly head and opens its mouth. And it says, "You need to believe in love. Love is the only way. Now go kill her brother." Leaving you shaking your controller, hoping something is going to happen. Screaming at the screen in disbelief, "COME ON!"
Nothing happens.
But the fighting, for an rpg, is top notch. There are some bad luck parts to the fighting where there is no way you are going to win a regular battle, which is annoying, but it's active and on a time clock. You see the bad guy is going to attack and blow you away, not knowing if your own characters are fast enough to survive it. So it is worth playing if you enjoy tough, never ending battles. Everything else in the game is a pain.
Where are the fans talking about Wild Arms or Breath of Fire?
Not sure if it counts, because I think it may have been made by a western developer (even though it uses a similar style), but Skies of Arcadia Ranks as my favourite game of all time thanks to its story and solid characters. Unfortunatley it's also the only game of the genre i've ever liked.
I've given other games a shot but they just don't compare.
I've given other games a shot but they just don't compare.
Don't worry. Claiming FF7 was 'over-hyped' is only a recent trend that people say to make them feel 'cool'; because it's supposedly cool to think popular things are not good. In actuality, many people have played Final Fantasy 7 and loved it. I loved it. I thought it was monumental step for 3d/upgraded rpgs in gaming history. It was why I bought my PS1 when it first came out. The characters were all well-received (I especially liked RedXIII), the materia system was top notch, the music pulled me into the game like a zombie to kidneys, and it was epic. Once in a while I remember FF7's mini-games with a fondness like no other.nick4118 said:
It'll count, since it was brilliant and has jrpg elements. I especially liked Vyse's character design, sailing in the skies, and, well, I liked everything about the game. The stuff they added in Legends only made it better.Mewick_Alex said:
Believe it or not, this is a game I don't want to see a sequel of.
and was addictive.
All I have to say is that JRPG's are very "character-centric".
The Japanese invest a lot of time into story and individual character development which occurs over the course of the game. E.G. Lost Odyssey or Legend of Dragoon or even the Front Mission series.
Although there are better games than others, and most of them are turn based and grind heavy; there is a lot of fun to be had if you become invested in the story.
That's why JRPGs are good.
The Japanese invest a lot of time into story and individual character development which occurs over the course of the game. E.G. Lost Odyssey or Legend of Dragoon or even the Front Mission series.
Although there are better games than others, and most of them are turn based and grind heavy; there is a lot of fun to be had if you become invested in the story.
That's why JRPGs are good.
You know, I keep hearing Golden Sun is a great JRPG series. I can't be bothered to go back and play any GBA games that don't have the words "Super", "Robot", and "Wars" in the title so until the DS game comes out I'll just assume that, as a huge RPG fan, I missed out on something great.
Anywho. Pokemon, first up. 493+ potential party members to raise and customize? Where do I sign? Don't much care for any of the spinoffs though. Pokemon Platinum is currently the gold crown of the series.
Come to think of it, the Digimon World games for the DS. Digimon World Dawn and Digimon World Dusk specifically. Kinda pokemon-like in a way, moreso than most Digimon games. Scanning and raising Digimon is pretty fun, though there is one thing I think the games could have stood to learn from Pokemon: REPELS
Super Robot Wars: Endless Frontier. I really liked the game's combat system for some reason. Kinda action based, you juggle opponents with combos. The story is interesting, particularly in how it ties into the rest of the SRW series, great characters, and doesn't take itself seriously in the least. I think this quote from the main character says it all: "Of course I'm doing it to get the girl! The world can bite me!"
Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is another...interesting one anyway. Mixes in quite a bit of platforming elements actually and while you're limited to 3 characters in battle, you can switch between characters while in battle and if any character falls you can actually switch that character with one of your other characters rather than inexplicably getting gameover while still having characters with you that can still fight. Not sure if I'd recommend this game since, other than that, its pretty cliche, just does a few things right that I'd like to see other JRPG's do...
Probably more games I could add to this list...if I ever get around to playing/finishing them. Long backlog is long. There are other titles I could add if we're counting SRPG's though. I'd like to say Etrian Odyssey, but even though its from Japan I think its technically more of a western-style RPG.
Anywho. Pokemon, first up. 493+ potential party members to raise and customize? Where do I sign? Don't much care for any of the spinoffs though. Pokemon Platinum is currently the gold crown of the series.
Come to think of it, the Digimon World games for the DS. Digimon World Dawn and Digimon World Dusk specifically. Kinda pokemon-like in a way, moreso than most Digimon games. Scanning and raising Digimon is pretty fun, though there is one thing I think the games could have stood to learn from Pokemon: REPELS
Super Robot Wars: Endless Frontier. I really liked the game's combat system for some reason. Kinda action based, you juggle opponents with combos. The story is interesting, particularly in how it ties into the rest of the SRW series, great characters, and doesn't take itself seriously in the least. I think this quote from the main character says it all: "Of course I'm doing it to get the girl! The world can bite me!"
Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is another...interesting one anyway. Mixes in quite a bit of platforming elements actually and while you're limited to 3 characters in battle, you can switch between characters while in battle and if any character falls you can actually switch that character with one of your other characters rather than inexplicably getting gameover while still having characters with you that can still fight. Not sure if I'd recommend this game since, other than that, its pretty cliche, just does a few things right that I'd like to see other JRPG's do...
Probably more games I could add to this list...if I ever get around to playing/finishing them. Long backlog is long. There are other titles I could add if we're counting SRPG's though. I'd like to say Etrian Odyssey, but even though its from Japan I think its technically more of a western-style RPG.
I don't know, the story in particular was kind of just a wild goose chase padded with fanservice and made worse with the fact that there aren't that many enemies you face: you end up facing off against just about every slightly more fleshed out enemy at least three times before you get to the end. Like how you face first Abend, then Nacht and then Abend AND Nacht. They liked using that a lot.Rodger said:
It's worth a play but I found it decidedly average. Cool battle system, though, and the characters are interesting but never really develop. Haken himself could've used that. But at least he isn't your typical whiny teenage hero or your typical gruff war veteran so he gets points for that alone.
One of the things I hate about this forum is that it is almost exclusively hounded by Yahtzee sycophants, who cling to his every thought and utterance like the frigging gospel. This makes having conversations about genres like JRPS nearly impossible, since he doesn't like any of them.
That's a shame because, for a time, they were good. I'll admit that most of the ones I come across nowadays are rather trite, overdone, and trying too hard to follow Final Fantasy VII (I liked the game okay, but I hate the ridiculously devout fanbase. The same reason I don't care for Marylin Manson, if that makes any sense.)
There are quite a few great examples of the genre, but the one I think is most overlooked is probably Suikoden 2. After the landslide of bad Suikoden games, it becomes easy to completely miss the great one in the middle (you'll see the same with the Final Fantasy series by about FF XVII.) Suikoden 2 was probably my favorite PSX game for numerous reasons.
The story might seem cliched by today's standards, but when it came out, it was one of the few to really make you actually think about what was going on. There was an evil empire, but how many people in that empire were actually evil? There was the scrappy hodgepodge of associated governments who were opposed to the "evil" empire, but how many of them were actually worthwhile? And what the hell is the deal with Joey!? Throughout the course of the game, you'll be asking yourself these questions, and becoming ever more entrenched with the story and the characters.
Helping this along is some fantastic scripting and dialog. Plot twists from the inane to the utterly mind-shattering, dramatic moments that make you actually care about the people involved, and some surprisingly witty humor. Top all of this off with a fantastic soundtrack to move the moods along, an adept combat system (with some really difficult boss fights) and you've got one of the best RPGs to grace the Playstation.
It's just too bad it got released at the same time as Final Fantasy XIII. If it had done better financially, maybe Suikoden 3 could have stayed with the same crew, and would not have sucked.
That's a shame because, for a time, they were good. I'll admit that most of the ones I come across nowadays are rather trite, overdone, and trying too hard to follow Final Fantasy VII (I liked the game okay, but I hate the ridiculously devout fanbase. The same reason I don't care for Marylin Manson, if that makes any sense.)
There are quite a few great examples of the genre, but the one I think is most overlooked is probably Suikoden 2. After the landslide of bad Suikoden games, it becomes easy to completely miss the great one in the middle (you'll see the same with the Final Fantasy series by about FF XVII.) Suikoden 2 was probably my favorite PSX game for numerous reasons.
The story might seem cliched by today's standards, but when it came out, it was one of the few to really make you actually think about what was going on. There was an evil empire, but how many people in that empire were actually evil? There was the scrappy hodgepodge of associated governments who were opposed to the "evil" empire, but how many of them were actually worthwhile? And what the hell is the deal with Joey!? Throughout the course of the game, you'll be asking yourself these questions, and becoming ever more entrenched with the story and the characters.
Helping this along is some fantastic scripting and dialog. Plot twists from the inane to the utterly mind-shattering, dramatic moments that make you actually care about the people involved, and some surprisingly witty humor. Top all of this off with a fantastic soundtrack to move the moods along, an adept combat system (with some really difficult boss fights) and you've got one of the best RPGs to grace the Playstation.
It's just too bad it got released at the same time as Final Fantasy XIII. If it had done better financially, maybe Suikoden 3 could have stayed with the same crew, and would not have sucked.
secretsantaone said:
FF8 I too found superior but FF7 fanboys think different -_-
Chrono Trigger is dubbed the greatest Jrpg in my book (mostly because it wasn't milked to death just remade and referbished, but in a good way)
The Kingdom Hearts series ranks a close second because it not only was able to combine disney and Final Fantasy, but it did it well with a kickass story line, and they made disney kick ass once more (not to mention the ending to the first game still chokes me up, *sniff*)
third comes FF8, FF7 fanboys go home you bug me
4th- well it would have to be ff9
5th- well that depends if ace combat 5 is a Jrpg, if so than that
after that nothing
The Tales series, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Radiata Stories, and Chrono Trigger. Tales of the Abyss is my favorite game of all time. I like the epic stories, and despite everyone saying literally everything is a cliche, they all seem unique to me, so whatever.
i wouldn't list them if they weren't good, really it depends on personal taste, i thought they all had a beautifully told story that immersed me as i beat up my enemies with what ever weapons availableQuaidis said:
a different person could disagree completely and find several points to back it up