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Can someone summarize to me the appeal of JRPGs?

Raghar

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Personally they're not my cup of tea, I tried a few but I'm genuinely curious what's the appeal thanks
RPG made in Japan had crazy stories. And they didn't give a shit about fact that women are naked in shower.
 

Max Damage

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If you want to play something with turn-based combat or a blobber in current year, big chance it belongs into jRPG category. As with everything else, quality varies from awesome (Tactics Ogre) to godawful (FF XIII), often in the same series. If you're into OC LARPing, you may want to skip jRPGs at large because most of them have defined main characters with their own backstories and traits. And be ready to get into emulation and/or console gaming because most jRPGs either don't get ported to PC, or they do with minimum care and resources.
 

KeighnMcDeath

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GoG seems to get versions of various ones. I keep seeing Ys but looking at the first one the combat reminds me of Hylide too much and god i hated that.
 

Momock

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You don't have to play the first two games and just go directly to Oath in Felghana, like everybody did.
 

KeighnMcDeath

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That i considered.

And there's youtube if i missed any content i suppose.

Oh i didnt see World of Ys
 
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Silentstorm

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Apr 29, 2019
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Aren't Secret of Mana failed with mixed reviews?

Sorry, perhaps it was Legend of Mana. Whichever is the better one, I suppose?

Secret of Mana is supposedly a great SNES era Action JRPG. I have yet to play it, but ppl on the internet love it apparently.
It is a beloved SNES game, it also got a remake which is the one that got mixed reviews, came out last year i think, so maybe he was mentioning the remake rather than the original?
 

cosmicray

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Oh. And jRPG's music has way more character. With lots of regions, cities, boss battles etc. you can have a plethora of themes.
 

CryptRat

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Koudelka especially and the sequel the first Shadow Hearts are more serious. They're good games.
koudelka-playstation-1.jpg
koudelka-playstation-4.jpg
The Shin Megami Tensei games generally are too. Nocturne is very good for example.
 

Falksi

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I motherfucking luuuurrrrvvve a good JRPG, but they are harder to find than you'd think.

For me it's just easy adventuring. Most of them are built on the jouney format (start as a nobody in nobodysville, and branch out into the world until you ultimately save or doom it), and the good ones just make that journey fun. It really is just interactive story telling, but done well you can just chill the fuck out and lose yourself in one. Ideal for unwinding.

Chrono Trigger is way overated and a bad place to start IMO. It's got it's plus points and I do like it, but it's not got the mystery or wonder which a lot of other JRPGs do.

My personal fave JRPGs are:
*Shadow Hearts Covenant - Wonderful setting, good characters, fun combat, cool story woven into real life history. A little flakey towards the end, but a great game.
*FF5 - Mint job system, great pacing,
*Phantasy Star 4 - Just flat out awesome all round.
*The Last Remnant - Really cool & off-centre JRPG
*FFX - Just a fantastically told story with some brilliant characters. Very linear until the end, but that didn't bother me one bit.
*Lost Odyssey - Probably the most well rounded JRPG ever. Takes all the previous years of learning, and refines all those aspects into one game. Superb depth to the backstories.
*Shining Force 1 & 2 - Mint simplistic turn based adventuring. No frills here, you go on an adventure to kill the big bad, you get as many team mates as poss, you do cool things.

I just remembered I heard good stuff about Secret of Mana, anyone try that one?

Another overated game. It's OK, I've finished about 5 times over the years, but it's pretty "meh" all round tbh.

Any JRPGs that aren't light hearted in tone?

Shadow Hearts Covenant. It has some great humour, but the overall tone is very dark. Lost Odyssey too.
 

luj1

You're all shills
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For me it's just easy adventuring.

Yeah I think I'm beginning to understand what JRPGs are about now...

Easy laid back adventuring, light hearted tone, basic themes such as friendship, love or heroism, relaxing linear gameplay, etc. EDITED to add: simplicity, emotional investment
 
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jungl

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Mar 30, 2016
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Gameplay and customization is more deep if you play games like front mission 3 or ogre battle 64. Western Rpgs particularly DnD and its tabletop inspired games are games WOMEN play. If girls are playing your game your game is not deep and niche enough. Its like comparing starcraft to company of heroes. If your rts game all you need to do is blob shit and micro where little reactive and critical thinking needed. Then women and sweat shop E sports chinks in korea can master it, its not deep enough. Rpgs in general are not as skill demanding as rts games but you get the idea.
 

anvi

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I never managed to get into JRPGs. I don't like the cute characters and I don't like lots of story so that basically rules me out. But FFT was awesome and I had fun with one of the other FF games but I think it was a weird demo that was just a bunch of battles strung together.
 

Goi~Yaas~Dinn

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Urthor

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Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Just like in the west the cookie cutter games aren't very fun or entertaining to play, and it's the ones that have a unique formula that are actually interesting.

In all honesty on replay I was actually pretty bored by the Chrono Trigger battle system, which was very good for its time. Similarly stuff like Ys which is ultra cliche in its story and the battle system is neat but nothing to write home about is similar.

Personally they're not my cup of tea, I tried a few but I'm genuinely curious what's the appeal thanks
classic jRPGs (untl 1999) or nu-jRPGS (FF10 onwards)?

classic

That's like saying "I only don't enjoy the bad ones." The best JRPGs aren't stuff like Dragon Quest with ultra cliche battle systems, it's crazy fucking shit like Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne, Trails in the Sky, and well Dark Souls.
 
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KeighnMcDeath

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I forgot about shining force. I had Sword of Haijya for game gear. Seems more like army tactical conbat with fantasy elements rather than an rpg. Its just a gauntlet of set battles with no real choices for the most part beyond combat.
 

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