Old/obscure/underrated JRPGs

[abnaxus]

finished D'ark

Spoiler

p. kewl game with great protagonist (despite stupid name Dulldeek), obvious Lodoss-tou senki influences

lookin forward to the sequel

 

[Hyperion]

Saw there was mention of Sega Saturn RPG's, but I'm surprised Shining the Holy Ark didn't make the list. While Dragonforce was an incredible game, I found StHA a more straightforward, enjoyable experience while still being somewhat challenging. Made by the same team who created Golden Sun, which is also a criminally underrated series.

Albert Odyssey started off really well, but lots of the later boss battles became rather tedious with Gryzz being the only reliable source of groupwide healing and status immunity.

The Legend of Oasis was more along the lines of a Zelda game, but close enough to being an RPG to get a mention.

More recently, The Last Remnant on the PC was probably the most enjoyable game I've played in a very long time. The min/max capabilities, heavy customization, and large scale parties (18 usable characters per battle) gave me an experience as close to Ogre Battle as anything else.

...Would Secret of Evermore or Secret of Mana count as obscure or underrated? I always felt SNES RPGs not named Final Fantasy qualify as underrated, not sure what the Codex's opinion is on it.

 

[Raghar]

More recently, The Last Remnant on the PC was probably the most enjoyable game

Also with horrible story, conqueror wasn't protagonist. And with main protagonist you want to kill.

 

[Hyperion]

Also with horrible story, conqueror wasn't protagonist. And with main protagonist you want to kill.

Hah, I feel like most of us posting in this thread have played enough JRPG's that we've come to terms with the protagonist typically being an incorrigible faggot and appreciate the side characters. After 15 years every time someone calls Tidus a sissyboy we reflexively say, "Yeah, but Auron was pretty cool, even if most of the game was shit."

Then they go on to call Squall an antisocial, prissy, emo sperglord. We know there's no argument, no saving grace to FFVIII, sigh and contemplate the hours of life lost on drawing magic and playing triple triad. JRPGs have shitty protagonists, water's wet, women have secrets. C'est la vie.

 

[HoboForEternity]

anyone have experience with this indie RPG maker?

http://www.crestfallen.us/game.html

supposedly to have great story

 

[H-K]

Also with horrible story, conqueror wasn't protagonist. And with main protagonist you want to kill.

Hah, I feel like most of us posting in this thread have played enough JRPG's that we've come to terms with the protagonist typically being an incorrigible faggot and appreciate the side characters. After 15 years every time someone calls Tidus a sissyboy we reflexively say, "Yeah, but Auron was pretty cool, even if most of the game was shit."

Then they go on to call Squall an antisocial, prissy, emo sperglord. We know there's no argument, no saving grace to FFVIII, sigh and contemplate the hours of life lost on drawing magic and playing triple triad. JRPGs have shitty protagonists, water's wet, women have secrets. C'est la vie.

Triple Triad was fun though.

 

[4249]

Triple Triad was fun though.

I just found out there's an Android/iOS app from Square called the Final Fantasy Portal that has F2P Triple Triad. It has deck building and can be played solo or versus other players. Each game played requires a single crystal and those replenish every 15 minutes (or by opening your wallet) and stack up to 5.

 

[Hobo Elf]

anyone have experience with this indie RPG maker?

http://www.crestfallen.us/game.html

supposedly to have great story

The Way is pretty much the best of the best when it came to RPG Maker games. If you want a game with a good story and good characters then this is the way to go.

 

[Hyperion]

Triple Triad was fun though.

Mini-games are to JRPGs what shitty fetch quests are to CRPGs at this point. Seemingly mandatory, infuriating exercises of futility and busywork to stretch out a lack of meaningful content. Not to mention most of them reward and even require save scumming of some sort to save yourself even more frustration and busywork (FFX and the entire Tales of series come to mind especially).

3 - 4 hours of Triple Triad provided you with endgame stats and gear before reaching Galbadia Garden. That sort of power has to be gated better in a game. When I think of good power gating, I think of Dragon Warrior VIII through the use of the alchemy pot. Hunting down the recipes and materials was actually pretty fun.

Honorable Mention obscurities: sticking with the Sega Saturn, I LOVED Mystaria: Realms of Lore, sometimes called Blazing Heroes. I think it was the combination of grid-based SRPG with getting to freely roam the world like a normal JRPG, and the branching skill trees that expanded as you used more and more attacks. I was probably 7 years old when I first played it, so I recall it being rather difficult. Not sure if it would hold up if I ever got a chance to play it again, since I can't find a working iso of it.

Another game that gets unfairly ripped to shreds is Black Sigil: Blade of the Exile. I actually never beat it, but played it 3 times. Every time I started, something would happen during college to make me stop. It had combat like Chrono Trigger, and a second half like FFVI where you had to search out for your lost allies. It was criticized because the encounter rate was sky high, but when you play a game with a pretty enjoyable battle system with enemies that ARE a threat to you, this isn't entirely a bad thing if you're capable of keeping your bearings after a fight. If having fights makes you lose your sense of direction, good luck.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Are you saying that the epic mini games in FF7 are busywork to stretch out a lack of meaningful content? Honestly, minigames are pretty much a staple of jRPGs. Or were.

 

[Tito Anic]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SD_Snatcher
translation demo:
http://www.project-melancholia.org/downloads.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Warriors
Kind of jrpg, liked it alot and beat it as a kid.

 

[Hyperion]

Are you saying that the epic mini games in FF7 are busywork to stretch out a lack of meaningful content? Honestly, minigames are pretty much a staple of jRPGs. Or were.

You mean like Mog Story?

All joking aside, are mini-games like G-Bike and Snowboarding really comparable to a card game that encourages save scumming every time something stupid like Random doesn't go your way? Things like the Battle Square, Colosseum from VI, and the Legaia games' (also underrated gems!) arena feel like a wholly different beast because they're a gameplay challenge.

Triple Triad is where I consider JRPGs to have gone too far where minigames took the reins from an actual game, much like how sidequests derail you for so long you don't realize the main quest is about 10 hours of content like in Oblivion. I avoided Skyrim like the plague, so I can't even tell you if it's as guiilty, but my senses tell me yes.

 

[TigerKnee]

A lot of people find Triple Triad fun on its own merits even without the lure of in-game rewards.

Doesn't help that FF8's gameplay is pretty tripe

 

[Niektory]

anyone have experience with this indie RPG maker?

http://www.crestfallen.us/game.html

supposedly to have great story

The Way is pretty much the best of the best when it came to RPG Maker games. If you want a game with a good story and good characters then this is the way to go.

Is it? I tried it back in the day but dropped it after a while because it was just boring.

 

[abnaxus]

Shining Force with tits

Spoiler

thought it'd be grimdark but it's p. light hearted

 

[Hobo Elf]

Are you saying that the epic mini games in FF7 are busywork to stretch out a lack of meaningful content? Honestly, minigames are pretty much a staple of jRPGs. Or were.

You mean like Mog Story?

All joking aside, are mini-games like G-Bike and Snowboarding really comparable to a card game that encourages save scumming every time something stupid like Random doesn't go your way? Things like the Battle Square, Colosseum from VI, and the Legaia games' (also underrated gems!) arena feel like a wholly different beast because they're a gameplay challenge.

Triple Triad is where I consider JRPGs to have gone too far where minigames took the reins from an actual game, much like how sidequests derail you for so long you don't realize the main quest is about 10 hours of content like in Oblivion. I avoided Skyrim like the plague, so I can't even tell you if it's as guiilty, but my senses tell me yes.

Well FF7 had a whole slew of mini games going on for it, not just the Snowboarding and G-Bike. There was also the RTS minigame and of course Chocobo racing as well.

anyone have experience with this indie RPG maker?

http://www.crestfallen.us/game.html

supposedly to have great story

The Way is pretty much the best of the best when it came to RPG Maker games. If you want a game with a good story and good characters then this is the way to go.

Is it? I tried it back in the day but dropped it after a while because it was just boring.

How far did you get? The story only really starts to pick up itself in Episode 2.

 

[aweigh]

Old JRPG (that is worth playing): original NES version of "Dragon Quest 4". (the later remakes dumb down the difficulty).

Obscure JRPG (that is worth playing): NES Zelda-clone, and yet better-than-Zelda-in-every-way Action-RPG "Crystalis".

Underrated JRPG (that is worth playing): Sega Genesis' version of "Shadowrun".

JRPG that should be played by every single person who professes to like the genre: "Earthbound".

 

[Niektory]

How far did you get? The story only really starts to pick up itself in Episode 2.

Umm, I don't remember much, I played it when dinosaurs still walked the Earth. There was this pilgrimage route (?) and I was chasing someone (?), there were a bunch of 3D scenery shots, a campfire scene, an awkward dueling system, a mini-dungeon, an inn (?) and... assassins? That's all I can remember.

 

[aweigh]

Oh, wow, how could I forget this gem! Nobody knows about this one:

Inindo: Way of the Ninja.

 

[aweigh]

 

[Abu Antar]

I do. I liked it when I played on an emulator back in the day.

 

[MRY]

Old JRPG (that is worth playing): original NES version of "Dragon Quest 4". (the later remakes dumb down the difficulty).

Agreed, if only for having the fat merchant hero.

Obscure JRPG (that is worth playing): NES Zelda-clone, and yet better-than-Zelda-in-every-way Action-RPG "Crystalis".

Not obscure, and not better in every way (or even better in most ways) -- if nothing else, it lacks the interesting itemization and open world of Zelda and replaces them with heavy grinding. It's still a very good game. Of NES-era Zelda-likes, I would put StarTropics* ahead of it and, arguably, Magic of Scheherezade**, except that I am fairly certain that the latter I like only because it feels like "my game" since I've never seen it discussed elsewhere and had never heard of it when I played it back in the day. (* Same director as Punch-Out!) (** Whoa, just realize I mentioned MoS in this thread three years ago. How life slips away.)

Underrated JRPG (that is worth playing): Sega Genesis' version of "Shadowrun".

True.

JRPG that should be played by every single person who professes to like the genre: "Earthbound".

I like Earthbound but I think it is considerably overrated. Has some excellent mechanics and a nice whimsical take on jRPG tropes, but I think it gets overly praised simply for being a counterpoint to typical epic fantasy.

Incidentally, two random non-console ones that were not actually made in Japan, but which were a big deal to me as a kid for implausible reasons.

The Neophyte series:

Achingly beautiful for a failed indie jRPG developer like me, achingly terrible in terms of actual execution. Later, I briefly crossed paths with the artist, Sven Dixon. Nice guy. I think he wound up doing mobile games.

Aspetra:

Not achingly beautiful and not particularly good, but again a depressingly completed game for a failure to contemplate.

 

[Hyperion]

Inindo was pretty good. I recall the difficulty being nonexistent until the final battle, though. There were also 3 different possible final battles based on....who the fuck knows what. The end of the game where you had to take over all of the territories till you reached one adjacent to Nobunaga's castle was fun, unless you decided to side with a real pussy of a Shogun. I don't recall anyone but Date Masamune willing to have fights.

Speaking of Koei games, Uncharted Waters, and the sequel New Horizons were damn good takes on Sid Meier's Pirates!. Man, I miss pre-Dynasty Warriors Koei.

Funny thing about Earthbound, I recall it being absolutely shitcanned on release to the point where they made a limited edition bundle with a strategy guide and scratch n sniff cards for each of the Sanctuary bosses plus a few others. It was marketed as, "This game stinks!" It's really just a tongue in cheek, reskinned Dragon Warrior, and any praise it received beyond that is undue.

I recall Mondo Mole smelling like a mixture of incense and cinnamon, while the puke guy was just....fucking hell.

Well FF7 had a whole slew of mini games going on for it, not just the Snowboarding and G-Bike. There was also the RTS minigame and of course Chocobo racing as well.

....I'm really torn on Chocobo racing, to be honest. First time playing it, I loved it. My most recent playthrough, I said fuck it and skipped the KOTR stuff, because I *hated* breeding and racing chocobos. I think I'm just a grumpy fuck and can't be bothered with much of anything beyond killing shit and maybe gambling.

Honestly, it's just unfair to compare VII's minigames to VIII's. One is widely considered a classic at best, solid effort at worst, while the other is a classic piece of shit at worst, and a conflicting love-hate type of game at best. So when your minigame is more remembered than your actual game, something is definitely wrong.

 

[Jrpgfan]

Not sure if they've been mentioned yet, but Brigandine and Langrisser series are some of my all time favorites. Spent a huge part of my life on those games.

Brigandine offers a lot of replayability since you can play with 6 different kingdoms, offering 6 different playthroughs. Multiple campaigns with the same kingdom can also differ from each other because the game is quite open/non-linear on the way you progress through it and has a shitton of characters.

Spoiler

And some langrisser pics

Spoiler

 

[Damned Registrations]

Oh, wow, how could I forget this gem! Nobody knows about this one:

Inindo: Way of the Ninja.

Thought I mentioned it in this thread earlier. Cool game, but the final couple bosses are total horseshit. Felt no guilt at all about save state spamming to get through that without the intended 50 hours of grinding and failed boss fight attempts.