JRPGs more appealing to the western eyez...

[Surf Solar]

I always find it fascinating that there's so many people on the Codex who complain about art styles and whatnot...

While at the same time no one remembers to complain about the fact Arcanum is a very hideous game to look at

I do.

Whenever I think of games I want remade just for the sake of graphics, Arcanum is always #1 on the list. Simply because Tarant DESERVES to be remade with a gigantic budget so it can really be the city where millions live and work like it was envisioned.

Both games look fine to me and more coherent than 90% of the stuff released today. What's your problem with them?

 

[e-mailio estevez]

Trails in the sky is one of the most 'down to earth' jrpgs i've ever seen, except for the very ending/epilogue, which ties back to the larger story of the world, which is, of course, retarded since this is a series ongoing from the 90's. It has, however, a prominent romance element and is very much linear and has 'character humor'.

I really enjoyed the combat in Trails, and even needed to retry a few of the more challenging sidequests. But I couldn't finish it, there was just too much meandering animu dialogue for me to stay engaged. And too many annoying 'talk to this random asshole in town, then find some other random asshole'-type quests. I got about as far as the forced cross-dressing school play. When the characters were still babbling even after I held down the 'skip dialogue' button for 3 minutes straight, I had to put the game down.

Will probably have some recommendations after I give it some thought... but agreeing with the Valkyrie Profile recommendation. It's got a very well-realized melancholy ambience to it, decent writing and pretty magnificent art. The battle system is pretty fun imo, but probably moreso if you enjoy fighting games. I got much better at the game after playing a year or two of Marvel versus Capcom, and started thinking of my party members more as calling assists. You can put together some pretty interesting combos if you have the right knack for it. Only thing that gets annoying is watching the finishing strike animations repeatedly during every fight, but certain characters are worse with this than others, and it's not a big deal if you play on an emulator that can fast-forward.

I'd also say give SMT3: Nocturne a try as well as Breath of Fire 4.

 

[SCO]

VP is sooooo animu. I mean the 'secret' 'good' path makes me cringe with the power of love crap, and 'it shall be engraved upon your soul' cheese is actually the main reason to play it, +/- a few of the more tragic vignettes.
Music is complete shit too, probably one of the worst game soundtracks i've ever heard.


And then there is the NDS sequel which took the animu up to eleven...

And it ain't actually a jrpg, more like a simple maze/platformer with FF+combo battles. Might as well recommend castlevania order of ecclesia, female character is similarly ruined by the 'power of luv' there.

 

[Coriolanus]

Speaking of music... has there ever been a more metal intro to a jRPG?

 

[DraQ]

I always find it fascinating that there's so many people on the Codex who complain about art styles and whatnot...

While at the same time no one remembers to complain about the fact Arcanum is a very hideous game to look at

I do.

Whenever I think of games I want remade just for the sake of graphics, Arcanum is always #1 on the list. Simply because Tarant DESERVES to be remade with a gigantic budget so it can really be the city where millions live and work like it was envisioned.

Both games look fine to me

Go get your eyes checked, then.

 

[SearchEngine]

Destiny of the Emperor

Rune Master II

 

[eric__s]

Speaking of music... has there ever been a more metal intro to a jRPG?

Yeah, this song is really cool. One of the boss themes I made for this game Non Human is based on it -

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2957395/testing2.ogg

and one of the boss themes I'm messing around with for Barkley is based on it. It's pretty much the same song as the Non Human song, four bars are exactly the same.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2957395/laz4.mp3

I didn't play the game much, but from what I saw it seemed pretty cool and also palatable to people who don't really like JRPGs. There didn't seem to be much plot (there probably is one later on), the game was all about doing these unrelated missions for rewards with a party you created. The prequel, Dark Lord for the NES, which I liked a lot, was also like that - you do unrelated guild missions to build up your created party and a main plot develops towards the end of the game. Both of these games seem like they'd be up your alley, oddychwhahat_polish_name.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I can only echo Vagrant Story. It's really worth checking into - has a killer soundtrack, too. The constant menus get a little irritating (if the game had a fast swap weapon feature it would be awesome), and there are a few block puzzles too many, but really nothing too bad.

It has that weird ps1 jank with swimming textures, but overall doesn't look terrible either - the art design is really strong regardless.

It's Yasumi Matsuno's best game, along with the first Ogre Battle, in my opinion.

 

[jcd]

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[Kattze]

Inindo?

 

[DraQ]

Can't believe no one mentioned Anachronox.

Fixed.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

I would second Nocturne. It can be grindy though to get the "true" ending. And that isn't some love saves heaven and earth crap in VP1. Also smt2 is quite good.

Also Dark Souls, Kings field , shadow tower. Form software.

Also you prefer FF13 over the earlier ones while hating animu faggotry? Are you or
FF does take a turn for the worse after 6... but ff13 is one of the worst abominations which exemplifies franchise rape

 

[Coriolanus]

I didn't play the game much, but from what I saw it seemed pretty cool and also palatable to people who don't really like JRPGs. There didn't seem to be much plot (there probably is one later on), the game was all about doing these unrelated missions for rewards with a party you created. The prequel, Dark Lord for the NES, which I liked a lot, was also like that - you do unrelated guild missions to build up your created party and a main plot develops towards the end of the game. Both of these games seem like they'd be up your alley, oddychwhahat_polish_name.

Dark Law is so damn hard to get into. The difficulty is really out of this world: the lowliest enemies can OHKO you with a critical hit - and leave you stuck grinding levels for a long time for the resurrection service (you don't get gold from normal encounters at low level - only from leveling up, which takes like 10-15 full fights to go just from 1 to 2).

Spent all gold on armor and weapons for the party (you start out naked)? - enjoy not being able to complete the very first quest (which needs you to buy something), and welcome to grinding the slimes for a few hours - which can OHKO you, of course, setting you even further behind.

It's like it tries to out-Wizardry the Wizardry games in the guile of a regular SRPG.

Maybe I just really suck at this game. I think it might get better once you get past the initial hurdle - it definitely has the potential to.

 

[SCO]

Radiant Historia is a very western jrpg. Still, has weirdass creepy children as important npcs and some furry character designs though.

 

[Severian Silk]

While at the same time no one remembers to complain about the fact Arcanum is a very hideous game to look at, or the very spartan look of Jagged Alliance 2.

JA2 was spartan because it was set in a third-world nation. Anyway, take a look at some maps in JA2: WildFire to see what is possible.

 

[Cool name]

Koudelka?



Resonance of fate?



As a bonus it has a character customization system that makes many MMOs green with envy, so you can change the look of the main characters in any way you like. Too anime? Tone it down. Too normal? Make it so weird you lose Sanity just by looking at them.

Legend of Cao Cao?

Edit:

Sweet home?

Demon of Laplace?



Both of them were translated by fans I believe. Laplace's sequels were not.



I'll add some more later if you want. Though, amusingly, most of the 'less anime-ish' JRPGs have not been translated into western languages.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Nocturne won diz thread by K.O.

Its artstyle is simply amazing and even lulzy demons like Jack Frost could not ruin the impression.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

Resonance of fate?

Have you played it, is it any good?

 

[SuicideBunny]

Have you played it, is it any good?

it's really weird in terms of setting/mood, combat is pretty nice (two kinds of guns, one (smgs) deal scrap dmg that does nothing on its own, other guns do normal dmg that convert any scrap dmg to normal too, plenty of weak spots and special areas on enemies to break off for bonus stuff, mechanic to toss enemies into the air then bounce them off the gorund for bonus items, different kidns of grenades that are a must against certain enemies.... it's a nice mix of planning with twitch.
the boardgame elements (gun customization is essentially a boardgame where you math components with different in/out ports to each other and once you get a few different parts it's pretty friggin extensive plus worldmap is a multilevel hex board, you collect differently colored hex shapes from enemies than can use those to unmask/unlock worldmap hexes, plus there are power stations that have special effects and if you color them with hexes those effects will apply to all connected hexes of same color, which can also cover dungeons) are pretty nice if kinda grindy, especially if you feel the compulsion to uncover everything you can (items and clothing are hidden below certain covered hexes).

overall it's a pretty good game, but the mood and atmosphere sometimes kills it for me. it's also kinda annoying to move around empty dungeon rooms since you will still be stuck in combat mode.

 

[Kem0sabe]

One of the best rpg's i have played on a console.

 

[Lhynn]

Der Langrisser : Warsong

Bahamut lagoon

Inindo: way of the ninja

Final Fantasy VI

Romancing SaGa 3

All of them are awesome, better than most things posted here.

BTW, didnt final fantasy XIII had the most retarded plot of all the final fantasy and wins a prize for stupidest characters ever? doesnt it have a progression system that is so linear and badly designed that is actually infuriating? what are you left with that makes it so good? a girl with pink hair and perfect boobs? inapropiate implied relationship with a hot minor? pretty graphics that makes it a tad better to navigate throught endless corridors?
Just asking, havent played the game, so for all i know it could be the next arcanum, but from what ive heard its hardly the best FF or even a good one...

 

[Gurkog]

Watch Spoony's videos on FF13 for a good analysis of why to hate it.

 

[Caim]

Lightning has the same voice actress as Liara T'Soni. That kind of kept my interest in her character dead from the beginning.

But yeah, Spoony's take on FF13 is a good start on why the series sucks hairy materia.

 

[Black_Willow]

Anachronox, seriously. One of the best storyfag games.

 

[pocahaunted]

Vagrant Story and the Souls games, as pointed out, win by far. Everything else is animu from head to toe. Fucking kid characters need to go away.

That said, Suikoden I+II are p good, despite the prevalence of kiddies.