Best JRPGs

[Damned Registrations]

The plot in Disgaea is generally balanced to be done in a single run through without ever doing extra battles, provided you're competent and milking them for xp as you would in similar games. You won't hit a roadblock unless you're beelining for the victory conditions without fighting anything.

That said, if you're sticking to the plot and ignoring all the cool systems for upgrading your party in Disgaea, you're really missing the point. It'd be like playing a Civ game on the lowest difficulty and just doing whatever your advisors say/automating stuff without ever actually making any decisions yourself.

I felt like the combat in TO was too simple tbh; level is too important a factor, to the point that a ~4 level advantage can let 1 soldier kill 20 without even falling below 50% health. All the stats are just window dressing if one of them is weighted so heavily like that. And it's not like getting or keeping that level advantage is difficult. It's a shame because actual balanced fights are really good, though that is true of pretty much any game like that.

 

[aweigh]

wtf u going on about mate, saying bof 3 and 4 are interchangable...

...in bof 4 ryu doesn't end up w/ nina, brah. that alone... omg, omg... that alone is enough to TRIGGER WARNING!!!!

 

[mushaden]

Which is better, Disgaea or Trails in the Sky series? Is it a classic case of combat vs story?

 

[Siveon]

Which is better, Disgaea or Trails in the Sky series? Is it a classic case of combat vs story?

Not really remotely similar, in fact the only thing in common is that they're a type of RPG and they were made in Japan.

Disgaea is a combat-focused SRPG with interesting systems and level design. Trails in the Sky is a very well-made traditional JRPG with writers who had an eye for detail. I'd say they're both good to great at what they do, and appeal to those who can handle their flaws (Disgaea with it's grindy nature and Trails with its slow pacing - both with a very animu backdrop).

Subjectively I like Trails more, but I don't think one or the other is better.

 

[Sigourn]

Am I wrong saying Mother is a very... specific type of game? That is, it doesn't appeal to everyone. I get that's the nature of videogames and opinions, but when a game relies extremely on its humour, it feels it is a true hit-or-miss, in the most accurate sense of the word. I gave Phantasy Star a try as well, but I can tell from the beginning it's not my type of JRPG.

If I like Final Fantasy, will I like Trails in the Sky?

 

[Hobo Elf]

If by FF you mean traditional jRPGs in general, then probably, yes.

Mother series does appeal to specific types of people, but humor is not its appeal. Mother is brooding and quite dark.

 

[Sigourn]

Depends on which FF you're talking about, maybe 1-6 + 9. Sora no kiseki has the nostalgic feel of 90s era JRPGs.

The ones I really like are 6, 7, 9 and 12. The gameplay should hopefully be negaging instead of the mindless "spam attack" I've seen in 4. (Not saying the ones I like are considerably different, but they had awesome stories)

 

[Cudgel]

No love for the Arc the lad series ?

The first one is kind of bare bones and takes a bit to get going, but had fun combat. I have only played about half of the 2nd game, but it seemed to me to be Final Fantasy story with much better combat.

Also DQ 7 was great for the classes, exploration, etc, despite also being a slow build.

 

[Hyperion]

Arc the Lad 2 was the peak of the series and by a fairly large margin. 1 was OK, but made entirely to feed into 2. 3 was utter garbage. Twilight of the Spirits was a decent return to form, but came too late to make a big splash.

The gameplay should hopefully be negaging instead of the mindless "spam attack" I've seen in 4. (Not saying the ones I like are considerably different, but they had awesome stories)

Which is odd, because 9's story is more or less a rehash of 4, but with cheesier dialogue. Right down to the final boss never mentioned until the finale. Also, play the SNES hardtype version of 4, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Even the DS version does a decent job of handing your ass to you on a platter at certain points.

 

[Sigourn]

Which is odd, because 9's story is more or less a rehash of 4, but with cheesier dialogue. Right down to the final boss never mentioned until the finale. Also, play the SNES hardtype version of 4, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Even the DS version does a decent job of handing your ass to you on a platter at certain points.

Hmm, I see. I ended up skipping the Final Fantasy games, as once you've played one, you've basically played them all, and I'm really not too fond of the very classic turn-based combat those games have. In defense of IX, though: it has to of the most likeable characters I've ever found in a game, which are Steiner and Vivi. Perhaps unsurprisingly they also have a lot of chemistry together, right from the beginning where Steiner holds Vivi in high regard. Vivi's story and Steiner's "from clown knight to motorboating Alexandria's top general" makes them even better.

 

[ChasinTheTrane]

If you're going for a good story it's hard to beat Earthbound. It leans a lot on humor, so if you're looking for more a dramatic story you could pick up a Final Fantasy game. To be honest anything before X is great.

 

[Sigourn]

So... Any of these are shit?

I predict the answer will be "yes" to many, but I need first-hand opinions. I got to that list by mixing up a bunch of "mature", "western appeal" and "strategy" threads. Some games are not there, but because the consensus just wasn't as strong when compared to other games.

 

[CryptRat]

I think that's a pretty good list actually.

 

[MRY]

Nothing jumps out as terrible, but they don't all seem comparably significant, so some refinement would be in order. Unless you have a bazillion hours to spend on similarish jRPGs.

 

[Sigourn]

Nothing jumps out as terrible, but they don't all seem comparably significant, so some refinement would be in order. Unless you have a bazillion hours to spend on similarish jRPGs.

Yup, I know exactly what you mean. I would love to know what people think is "redundant", considering it's rare for anyone to have the time to play those 110+ games. We know Final Fantasy Tactics is a real must play (Vagrant Story is the god damn must-play of that list), but other games are easily skippable. Considering much better alternatives are probably already present in the list, which games would be considered "skippable"?

I just went ahead and highlighted some of which I've seen a lot of praise on this sub.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I'd scratch off the Final Fantasy games aside from FFT, there's really nothing special about any of them except maybe 5. Ditto for the Xenosaga games. Xenogears itself was a pretty cool game, but it's a huge time sink so I'd probably drop it too, or at least make it a low priority. (Can't speak for Xenoblade) SaGa Frontier 2 isn't really a very open game like the others, which kinda misses the point of the franchise. Shining Force 1 and 2 are games I have fond memories of (2 in particular) but they're objectively not very good games in their genre; they have very simplistic systems and easy battles. If you're going to play more grid based TBS games besides FFT, you're better off with something else.

I'll refrain from recommending more stuff to add, although I'm grinding my teeth over the exclusion of some great stuff.

 

[Sigourn]

I'd scratch off the Final Fantasy games aside from FFT, there's really nothing special about any of them except maybe 5. Ditto for the Xenosaga games. Xenogears itself was a pretty cool game, but it's a huge time sink so I'd probably drop it too, or at least make it a low priority. (Can't speak for Xenoblade) SaGa Frontier 2 isn't really a very open game like the others, which kinda misses the point of the franchise. Shining Force 1 and 2 are games I have fond memories of (2 in particular) but they're objectively not very good games in their genre; they have very simplistic systems and easy battles. If you're going to play more grid based TBS games besides FFT, you're better off with something else.

I'll refrain from recommending more stuff to add, although I'm grinding my teeth over the exclusion of some great stuff.

Thank you! I left out some very popular JRPGs since I tried to make a list of games western players would care about. So I ended up with a mix of mature/"westernish"/tactical JRPGs. So stuff like Secret of Mana is out of the question, since it doesn't feel mature, it certainly doesn't feel western (in gameplay), and it's not tactical at all.

 

[Sigourn]

I narrowed it down to a much more respectable 100.

I reckon at some point we come to the "you can't keep removing games without skipping some really good ones", but I feel we haven't reached that part yet. I removed the SNES Romancing SaGa games, Super Robot Taisen, Phantasy Star I & II, Xenosaga, FFT Advance, and a few others I can't recall. Of the 100 that remain, I think I've seen at least one person swear by each one of these.

 

[Cudgel]

Nailed it on the worthwhile Final Fantasies, I have played them all (up to XII) for a goodly amount except II, and those are all the ones that I would bother to play again.

Arguably you could remove VI or VII and not lose too much.

 

[Sigourn]

I decided to keep the list as it was and not make any changes. People will have enough games to choose from.

As for me, I trimmed the fat of almost anything I could remotely consider questionable in any way or form when it came to weaboo, with a few notable exceptions. I ended up with 50 games that are much more reasonable to play than 100 (especially considering my Western list has like... 160 or so):

Spoiler

1. Baroque
   
2. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
3. Elminage Original
4. Eternal Poison
5. Eternal Ring
6. Etrian Odyssey (Yes, I know)
7. Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (Yes, I know)
8. Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City (Yes, I know)
9. Final Fantasy Tactics
10. Final Fantasy XII: International Zodiac Job System
11. Kartia: The Word of Fate
12. King's Field
13. King's Field II
14. King's Field III
15. King's Field IV
16. Koudelka
17. Kyuuki Megami Tensei
18. Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen
19. Pandora’s Tower
20. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
21. Persona 2: Innocent Sin
22. Revelations: Persona
23. Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII
24. Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII
25. Romance of the Three Kingdoms X
26. Shadow Hearts
27. Shadow Hearts: Covenant
28. Shadow Tower
29. Shadow Tower Abyss
30. Shadowrun
31. Shadowrun
32. Shin Megami Tensei
33. Shin Megami Tensei II
34. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax
35. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
36. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
37. Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
38. Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2
39. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (Yes, I know)
40. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (Yes, I know)
41. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
42. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
43. The Dark Spire
44. The Last Story
45. Uncharted Waters: New Horizons
46. Vagrant Story
47. Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
48. Wizardry Gaiden 4: Throb Of The Demon's Heart (Taima No Kodou)
49. Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land
50. Xenoblade Chronicles

If I were asked to trim down to 10, then I would go with:

Spoiler

1. Vagrant Story
2. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax
   
3. Final Fantasy Tactics
4. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
5. The Dark Spire
6. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
   
7. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
8. Wizardry Gaiden 4: Throb Of The Demon's Heart (Taima No Kodou)
9. Romance of the Three Kingdoms X
10. Shadow Tower Abyss

Bear in mind I've only played Vagrant Story (only Japanese RPG you will ever need), but the rest seem to be Codex and aweigh certified JRPGs. Paging Dr. aweigh to know if I picked the right Wizardry-inspired games or not.

 

[sullynathan]

Sigourn want me to put them in the op?

 

[Sigourn]

Sigourn want me to put them in the op?

Sure! It's not an all-encompassing JRPG list, but I suppose the averager codexer is more interested in any of those 100 titles over a game like Secret of Mana (I know for a fact I am).

 

[CryptRat]

Why so much hate for Secret of Mana?

 

[Sigourn]

Why so much hate for Secret of Mana?

It's an Action RPG with none of the things that attract me about Action RPGs. It doesn't have the complexity of Dark Souls, nor the flashy combat of the Ys series (which I'm not interested in either). What's worse, it looks like shit (IMO) not because of SNES graphics, but because the artstyle makes me puke.

Compare this:

To this:

It just doesn't sit right with me. More power for those that can stand that artstyle. Unless the game is seriously challenging and fun (like Labyrinth of Touhou, from what I've heard), I'm not interested.

 

[Raghar]

Interesting someone remembered Poison Pink.