What JRPGs are Good?

[EvilDmitri]

Star Ocean.

Some I would recommend:

Tactics Ogre: The Knights of Lodis- I have mentioned this game time and time again, why? because it's as brilliant as FF Tactics. Yes it's a SRPG but it's also a JRPG. The Story is shares some similarities to FFT but is still unique in it's own right with an interesting world, characters and mythos. The characters are rather real compared to typical JRPG characters, and they are likable. The gameplay is deep and customizable and anyone thats a fan of FFT will instantly love this GBA classic. It's fucking rare though but if you CAN find it it's just a brilliant hand held RPG.

Except that Tactics Ogre is an SNES game - more of a GBA remake than a GBA classic.

And on top of that, it is far MORE brilliant than FFT considering that FFT was entirely based off of and designed by the same people who made Tactics Ogre years earlier. The biggest shame really is that the game rarely gets the credit it deserves, while FFT, an overly simplified version of Ogre Battle / TO, gets acclaim.

Anyhow, if you like those, then try a Sega classic; Shining Force II. 'Tis epic.

 

[-Seraph-]

Star Ocean.

Some I would recommend:

Tactics Ogre: The Knights of Lodis- I have mentioned this game time and time again, why? because it's as brilliant as FF Tactics. Yes it's a SRPG but it's also a JRPG. The Story is shares some similarities to FFT but is still unique in it's own right with an interesting world, characters and mythos. The characters are rather real compared to typical JRPG characters, and they are likable. The gameplay is deep and customizable and anyone thats a fan of FFT will instantly love this GBA classic. It's fucking rare though but if you CAN find it it's just a brilliant hand held RPG.

Except that Tactics Ogre is an SNES game - more of a GBA remake than a GBA classic.

And on top of that, it is far MORE brilliant than FFT considering that FFT was entirely based off of and designed by the same people who made Tactics Ogre years earlier. The biggest shame really is that the game rarely gets the credit it deserves, while FFT, an overly simplified version of Ogre Battle / TO, gets acclaim.

Anyhow, if you like those, then try a Sega classic; Shining Force II. 'Tis epic.

Oh I know all about the game development and whatnot, I actually found FFt more advanced than Knight of Lodis. Hell knight of Lodis didn't offer me much challenge while Tactics can be a real *****.

 

[robmastaflex]

...wow. That took a while to write.

But well worth the time I'm sure. I have to agree with most of this, the only exception being that I haven't played FFVI yet, nor have I finished DotNW as I have an import copy and my wii doesn't like it anymore, forcing me to wait for the European release.

 

[NeutralDrow]

...wow. That took a while to write.

But well worth the time I'm sure.

I think I've been holding something like that in ever since I saw my first "WRPG vs. JRPGs" thread. Two and a half months of sheer frustration seems to be energizing... ^^:

I have to agree with most of this, the only exception being that I haven't played FFVI yet, nor have I finished DotNW as I have an import copy and my wii doesn't like it anymore, forcing me to wait for the European release.

Hmm...well, on the plus side, the PAL version's supposed to come out in autumn, right? And it's supposed to have a skit gallery.

 

[EvilDmitri]

Star Ocean.

Some I would recommend:

Tactics Ogre: The Knights of Lodis- I have mentioned this game time and time again, why? because it's as brilliant as FF Tactics. Yes it's a SRPG but it's also a JRPG. The Story is shares some similarities to FFT but is still unique in it's own right with an interesting world, characters and mythos. The characters are rather real compared to typical JRPG characters, and they are likable. The gameplay is deep and customizable and anyone thats a fan of FFT will instantly love this GBA classic. It's fucking rare though but if you CAN find it it's just a brilliant hand held RPG.

Except that Tactics Ogre is an SNES game - more of a GBA remake than a GBA classic.

And on top of that, it is far MORE brilliant than FFT considering that FFT was entirely based off of and designed by the same people who made Tactics Ogre years earlier. The biggest shame really is that the game rarely gets the credit it deserves, while FFT, an overly simplified version of Ogre Battle / TO, gets acclaim.

Anyhow, if you like those, then try a Sega classic; Shining Force II. 'Tis epic.

Oh I know all about the game development and whatnot, I actually found FFt more advanced than Knight of Lodis. Hell knight of Lodis didn't offer me much challenge while Tactics can be a real *****.

I'm not sure what gameplay changes they made, but the original TO was difficult if you did not have advance knowledge of the alignment system; there is so much you can miss out on and change. They probably made it easier in the GBA version due to cartridge limitations and / or to appeal to a broader market, like when they rereleased FF1 and nerfed it, deboning the agonizing Marsh Cave and other locales. At least they gave the option of playing it the original way however.

And to whoever posted above about Suikoden 2, it certainly is the best thing to grace Playstation, i'd even say better than any PS2 RPG. I love more realistic enemies who have some basis for their prowess rather than "botched supersoldier juju" nonsense ala FF7 and onward; bad guys who you actually make some sort of impact on in your struggle to finally defeat them, instead of it just being one final battle. Also the fact that the game actually touches on grey areas of politics and intrigue rather than assuming that the players are all idiots who can't rationalize a more complicated plot than 'inexplicable and unnecessary hero fights irrational and unnecessary villian'.

 

[-Seraph-]

snip

They didn't make any changes since the TO on the SNES was called March of the Black queen, the Knight of Lodis is a completely different game. I remember how damn hard Black queen was, Lodis was far easier until you get to the very late parts of the game though. So this isn't a port is that is what you think it is.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Cross

The main Kingdom Hearts games

I love 'em.

 

[JimmieDean]

All of the Star Ocean Series
All of the Suikoden series
Tales of Destiney
Secret of Mana and its sequel (I don't want to try to spell it)
FF 6 and 7 and 9
Breath of Fire 3 and 4
Legend of Dragoon
Lufia and Lufia 2 (old but great)

There are a bunch of others that I can't remember right now... I'd write all the reason for the said games above but I did that once already and it erased so I'm not going to type it again. Just trust me.. they are great great games.

 

[JimmieDean]

ok so every one already knows this but the best jrpg series is probably Final Fantasy
and no i am not talking about that pussy bullshit new ones
i am talking FF1 thought 7 cus after that it just shat itself inside out.

I have to disagree. FF is not the best series there are several that have better systems and better stories. FF is a great series with the exceptions of 8,10 and after. But I would definitly put the Suikoden series far above FF and Star Ocean in my opinion is a better series as well. If I had to rank a best JRPG series i would say it is Suikoden. The story is WAY more engaging the battle system is way better along with the party system. The characters are better with more personality. In general a way better series than most.

 

[AhumbleKnight]

Any Final Fantasy game. I have played VII, VIII, X, and XII(probably the most average one I have played). They always seem to have an interesting story and game play with many hours of optional extra content/ side missions/ quests/ stories. The graphics were always great for the time of their release.

The most recent I have played is Last Remnant. It is not as indepth as it could be but it has a very cool battle system and looks awesome. I have enjoyed the story but the biggest let down is the main character.

 

[DNA]

Some of my Personal favorites, are

Wild Arms 1, 2 & 3.
Persona 3
Rogue Galaxy
If you consider Final Fantasy series to be JRPG's then most all of the FF's other than 10-2.
Star Ocean 2: The second Story
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Front Mission 3
Grandia 2, Grandia 3
Jade Cocoon
I don't know how I forgot Legend of Dragoon.
And there are others... but this is top of my head.

Oh yeah... and Shenmue/Shenmue2. (just because it doesnt have levels... doesnt mean its not an RPG... you have to level your combat abilities)

 

[dommyuk]

I'm not surprised this hasn't appeared yet, as this series is the most underrated JRPG series ever imo.

Shadow Hearts, a three game series that, had a very unique sense of humor, such as a character in the second game named Joachim, who was a very muscular vampire who has a super hero alter ego, named the Grand Pappilon and wears a butterfly mask and one his weapons is a large frozen tuna.
Comedy aside the main character's very likeable, mostly in the second game as the first one had no voice acting except in pre-rendered cutscenes, and looked like a HD PS1 game, both of which were very emotional and convincing. The 3rd game went askew a bit and didn't share the dark atmosphere the first two did, but I find it fun nonetheless.

The gameplay is similar to most RPG's in that it's turn based, but many actions require the use of the 'Judgement Ring' which is a circle with shaded areas and an indicator which goes around it clockwise and you have press X when the indicator hits the shaded area, hitting the smaller darker shaded area makes the attack more powerful.

The soundtrack I feel is very appropriate where it's played and sometimes can be quite emotional, however there's a few tracks that just get irritating. Also they're set in the real world and use real-life locations most of time just with magic, demons etc. Overall I enjoyed every installment in the series and highly recommend it to anyone who likes JRPG's.

 

[Quaidis]

You'd think people would learn to read the full topic of my first post. Or at least learn from past posts I've done in this thread. Oh well.

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Cross

The main Kingdom Hearts games

I love 'em.

Why do you love them? What makes these games better to you than others? And are there any rpgs you played that you didn't like?

Some of my Personal favorites, are

Wild Arms 1, 2 & 3.
Persona 3
Rogue Galaxy
If you consider Final Fantasy series to be JRPG's then most all of the FF's other than 10-2.
Star Ocean 2: The second Story
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Front Mission 3
Grandia 2, Grandia 3
Jade Cocoon
I don't know how I forgot Legend of Dragoon.
And there are others... but this is top of my head.

Oh yeah... and Shenmue/Shenmue2. (just because it doesnt have levels... doesnt mean its not an RPG... you have to level your combat abilities)

Why are these your personal favorites? What separates these jrpgs from others you have played?

Personally, I found Rogue Galaxy and Grandia 3 to be mediocre in comparison to others you have listed. The cut scenes in those two were all out painful. And Rogue Galaxy's dungeons were bland, repetitive, and flavorless. What did you possibly enjoy about those two?

All of the Star Ocean Series
All of the Suikoden series
Tales of Destiney
Secret of Mana and its sequel (I don't want to try to spell it)
FF 6 and 7 and 9
Breath of Fire 3 and 4
Legend of Dragoon
Lufia and Lufia 2 (old but great)

There are a bunch of others that I can't remember right now... I'd write all the reason for the said games above but I did that once already and it erased so I'm not going to type it again. Just trust me.. they are great great games.

You should tell us what you like - oh screw it blind; At least you gave a reason for not giving a reason. I'll respect that.

And yes, The Lufia series is by far one of my favorites. It has likable characters, a believable love story, and the ending was tear-jerking.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

You'd think people would learn to read the full topic of my first post. Or at least learn from past posts I've done in this thread. Oh well.

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Cross

The main Kingdom Hearts games

I love 'em.

Why do you love them? What makes these games better to you than others? And are there any rpgs you played that you didn't like?

Sorry about that. Well, let's see.

Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger are two JRPGs that I am particularly fond of because both do not require painful amounts of grinding to proceed. Kingdom Hearts requires a little bit of grinding (though admittedly, very much grinding is needed to get the most out of Kingdom Hearts 2, but the quality of the gameplay keeps it from being completely boring), but the majority of the time spent playing these games is spent progressing through the story, not going into hundreds of fights to level up just so that you can fight an unreasonably difficult boss (with the exception of Kingdom Hearts 2, which does have a number of unreasonably difficult bosses, but the game is fun regardless).

Not only that, but all four games have an interesting story that make you want to play the game to see how their tales unravel (sp?). This is especially true with Chrono Cross, which may very well have the most engaging story I've seen in a game.

The gameplay of all of these games in some way break the mold of the tradition JRPG turn-based style of combat. Chrono Trigger differentiates itself by having certain attacks that have certain ranges, and enemies with this range of certain attacks will be hit as well as those targeted for the attack in the first place. Granted, it's not that unique, but Chrono Trigger is fun regardless.

Chrono Cross's combat system is especially interesting. I'd rather not go into the fairly lengthy amount of detail explaining the combat system, but it is the best turn-based combat system I've ever encountered.

The Kingdom Hearts games are not turn-based at all. By navigating and Final Fantasy-ish menu with the D-pad, you can quickly choose whether or not you wish to perform a melee attack, certain magics, items, and so on. This may sound turn-based, but it is implimented in a real-time format and it works surprisingly well.

They're all just good fun in a genre that usually emphasizes laborious grind over actual fun.

EDIT:

As for JRPGs I have played, the list includes (but is not limited to) Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Final Fantasy VII through XII, XI excluded, and Ark the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits.

What made me lose interest in those games was the annoying level of grinding necessary to proceed. As much as I loved Final Fantasy VIII's gameplay and story, the grinding made me stop playing.

 

[Quaidis]

As for JRPGs I have played, the list includes (but is not limited to) Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Final Fantasy VII through XII, XI excluded, and Ark the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits.

What made me lose interest in those games was the annoying level of grinding necessary to proceed. As much as I loved Final Fantasy VIII's gameplay and story, the grinding made me stop playing.

Thank you for replying so quickly.

I have to agree with you on the grinding. Outside of maybe DragonQuest8, which I somehow enjoyed grinding in for unknown reasons, I am really starting to hate rpgs that require copious amounts of mindless menus and constant harassment of the local wildlife population.

I recently was reminded how I downgraded the Wild Arms series simply due to their optional dungeons and bosses. I love the series. Game 3 was especially nice, much smoother than the others, and over with much quicker. But the game series has always has a staple of handing you the item to unlock every other extra dungeon, monster, etc, on the last floor of the last seventy-story tower of the game. By the time I run through an exceptionally epic rpg like that, I have all out little interest of playing the optional stuff after climbing up that damned tower, when it requires going back down it again. What sucks is that the optional stuff is the best part. It's akin to spending a year in a war, then being asked if I'd like to play chess with the enemy before leaving.

 

[RaikuFA]

any shin megami tensei game

the storys great, it dosent shy from religious views but its very hard. plus it has the wole "join the good or evil side" except that it has a neutral side as well

 

[antibonk]

I am currently playing Dragon Quest 4 on my DS. So far I am enjoying it, but it defiantly a more "old school" jrpg. I plan on playing DQ 5 once I finish with it, then 6 and 7 in order. I have played DQ8 on the PS2, it was my intro into this series, and I enjoyed it a great deal. However, as a word of warning, the DQ series at least so far is "very" old school when it comes to combat. Strictly turned based, so it may not be your thing.

Chrono Trigger and FF 6 as others have already mentioned. FF7 should be a must play, if you can get past the crappy looking polygon characters.

Another good one is Secret of Mana for the snes, I don't believe I saw anyone mention it. It's the game that got me into jrpg's and is still my favorite jrpg of all time. I loved the combat and the fact you could play co-op. Huge world for its time, lots of spells, weapons ect. It has to be played.

 

[megapenguinx]

Stay away from the game Eternal Eyes on the PSX. It's like a bad rip off of FF Tactics