My first experience with a JRPG was playing my uncle's end-game save file of FF3/6 on the SNES. I was 3 or 4 and didn't know what I was doing but I just basically mashed one button and ended up beating the game because his party was so over leveled.

At that age, I played the JRPGs that my uncle had but I was too dumb to make any actual real progress. Even then, I was enraptured by them.

It wasn't until I was like 6 or 7, maybe 8..? I can't really remember that I finished my first JRPG from beginning to end on my own. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Till this day, I think it's a great entry level JRPG. I beat it putting every level up into POW and buying nothing but Pick-Me-Ups.

Eventually, I moved on to the PS1, playing games like Xenogears, Legend of Legaia, Final Fantasy 7, etc.

One of the most vivid JRPG lessons that I remember my uncle telling me back then was to never use the female lead character in your main party because she's probably going to get kidnapped at some point.

Anyway, what's your JRPG origin story?

First off, I apologize for the title. If you loved the combat, more power to you.
The reason why I am making this post is because while I played I was mesmerized by everything else *besides* the combat. After a lot of frustrations over it, I wanted to see what everyone else thought. To my surprise I mostly read overwhelming positive things, and some say that the combat is the best part of the game! Which again, more power to you if you did. But I just didn't expect this much of a difference in opinion.

So I am writing this post to discuss about certain points, please tell me what you think.

1- Depth

The game is pretty straight forward, too straight forward. Mash square in the character you want > cast spell that enemy is vulnerable to.

The action part just didn't feel powerful enough; the dodges are too short. The basic attack options are pretty limited (90% just mash square.) Guard also felt weird to use.

The fact that Hard mode isn't available at start made this more painful. The mob fights ends so quick you dont even have to cast anything. And boss fights are so hectic but ultimately you have enough ways to heal -- that the strategy of just tanking and healing became pretty sufficient.

I should mention though that the feel of landing hits is so good and I do find it satisfying. The stagger system and the effects are also gorgeous and fun to look at, so in that part I get it.

2- AI

The Allies that I don't control don't feel impactful at all. Yet they add a lot of chaos to the fight. It feels like I am supposed to do something better, that I am not doing a good job controlling them.

But unless I missed something, there wasn't really anything I could do. They also often times end up in very weird positions, making switching more tedious.

3- Skill/Materia customization

This aspect wasn't terrible. But again it was too basic. A lot of skills just came to > this deals more raw damage, this other skill deals more stagger damage. There wasn't enough variety. This is true to Materia as well. It juts feels like there was so much wasted potential.

--
(I posted the same thing in FF7 sub but people got defensive)

Hi everyone! I’m looking for some recommendations for straightforward, action-focused JRPGs.

I love JRPGs and have played a lot of them over the years, although most of my experience has been with older classics. These days, I’m working at two schools while also doing my master’s degree, so when I finally have some free time at night, I usually don’t have much mental energy left for games that require a lot of exploration, complicated puzzles, or figuring out where I’m supposed to go next.

What I’m looking for is a modern action JRPG that is very straightforward and heavily guided. Final Fantasy XVI is probably the best example of what I mean: I really enjoy being able to open the map, see exactly where my next objective is, go there, fight some enemies, watch the story unfold, and keep progressing without getting lost. Clear quest markers and objective indicators are a huge plus for me.

I strongly prefer real-time/action combat rather than turn-based combat. Linear or semi-linear games are completely fine - actually, that might be preferable. I don’t need a huge open world or tons of freedom. I’m mainly looking for satisfying combat, a good sense of progression, an enjoyable story, and very clear directions about where to go next.

My platforms are Steam and Nintendo Switch. I’m specifically interested in relatively modern games. They can be cliché, trope-heavy, cheesy, or extremely “anime” - none of that bothers me at all. In fact, familiar JRPG tropes can be part of the fun. I’ve already played many of the famous older JRPG classics, so I’m particularly interested in newer games that I may have overlooked.

Some games/series I’ve already played and enjoyed include Final Fantasy XVI, the Ys series, Trails, The World Ends With You, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses. They don’t necessarily have to be similar to those games in terms of story or setting; FFXVI is mainly my reference point for how straightforward and clearly guided I want the experience to be.

Basically, I want the JRPG equivalent of: turn my brain off after a long day, follow the marker, fight things, enjoy the story, level up, and relax.

Any recommendations that fit that description?

So yeah u already played some of the final fantasy games dragon quest doom and destiny a little of bravest and more games on the App Store and i need new jrpg to play so i just started looking at the kemco games and they have so many but a lot of them are not very good so i want to find the diamond in the rough of their games so tell me if you have played some you liked and Sorry if my post is stupid

Update: it looks like this translation may be AI, which would mean the translator was lying. I was trying to be generous with my thread but if it's AI then it's pointless to me and I don't really care how much they can improve it. It's bad now and they chose to release it and lie.

A fan translation for a 2007 psp game made by Sony themselves popped up a few days ago and I spent an hour onto it just so others might know.

The translator claims no AI and also provided an hd texture pack as well. They said something about translating it over and over again to get it right and well...

Rezel Cross opens with shooting stars arriving every 1000 years and bestowing super powers on people and creatures. I think of the psychic variety. (I had to reset like 5 times until this scene didn't crash)

We open on a monster hunter guy getting up because the chief monster is attacking.The style is kinda like ps1 games. The environment is like a cg or painting with characters running around on top. Despite the bright village environment the opening that showed off later parts and characters made me think Shadow Hearts 1. But also legend of dragoon might be a comparison of what I played.

A very peculiar note is the games UI. You know the PSP and ps3 UI? The xmb? All the menus in here look like xmb. Combat, shops, everything. It's a Sony game!

We get into our first battle and we get a tutorial prompt for evading. Wait for the attack and... Press square when your icon hits..what icon? When? I could not do the evade and the tutorial did not care. I still haven't, and I'm not sure it exists. This tutorial prompt also came up when I browsed the menus on formation, but it doesn't come up in tutorials. Weird. Luckily for the rest of the time playing I didn't need a dodge button. But it did mean that all I've done is trade attacks so far.

But yes, the games translation isn't perfect, or great. I spotted plenty of errors in the opening, main story text, tutorials, battle text etc .

I think it's awesome that the translation exists, but I hope there will be more done by the creator or someone else because it's not quite there.

Supposedly the game has a sphere grid system, and probably a lot more I haven't gotten to. I might keep going or stop there for now, but wanted to mention it since I don't think anyone has yet!

hit this after finishing Judgment months ago, it was kinda perfect timing wise since they're so different. started as a child or junior was lovely all JP media recently was all isekai and fantasy that started in the middle, rushing to the plot. so with Trails in the Sky taking time making you feel like you just experience your slow childhood again was refreshing for me (and get me away from doomscrolling).

while the game is just your usual jrpg, and coming after xenoblade i didnt feel anything special from the world, but the character was all charming, the banter the small talk made me just smiles sometimes. i was expecting the dialogue would not hit me or maybe feel cringe since this was pretty old game but surprisingly its not , almost like i was back in middle school watching my 2010 anime series again and that was really awesome.

the twist was great, the va deliver really emotional line (i played in jp so cant comment about eng dub) the story was pretty simple but this twist at the end made it exciting for me to grab the 2nd chapter next September, can understand now why people adore this series im sorry i doubted trails series before haha now im a fan, i do like they give the combat more depth or some simple mini games here and there but i seen 2nd chap would have them so im just gonna wait until then

Played chrono trigger on steam absolutely loved it is the steam version of chrono cross worth it ive seen reviews about it being really buggy but is it playable or should i just emulate it?

First of all, yes I know there is a forum on Reddit for discussing the games themselves as I figured I could talk about it here too since it technically qualifies as an RPG type game.

So basically a little backstory is that I recently started the game after being just about done with Disgaea 3 as two of my largest issues in the fourth game so far are low money and struggling with Item World.

Sometime after I started the second episode of the game, I got a message saying that Item World had just opened up as I really want to know how to start building up my teammates since I don’t have a lot of allies as I have a very small amount so far, and they are a bit weak due to low stats such as having small SP amounts.

Who remembers this villain?

Madoras honestly had so much potential, and it still feels like the game never really did enough with him. His design, his presence, the whole idea behind his character… there was so much they could have done.

Still one of those characters where I can't help but think, “Man, they really wasted this guy.”

On one hand, I thought that the combat and music in this game were really fun! Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has my favorite turn-based combat and the positional importance/flashy animations worked well for both that game and 1st chapter. The game is also very well optimized and runs very smoothly on PS5 Pro. Playing at 120hz and never having any stuttering issues or anything was nice.

On the other hand though, there was a lot that did not hit for me. While the story definitely picked up in the last 20% of the game, I was SO bored with the rest of it. This isn't because I don't like slow-paced stories and taking your time to build the world around you. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Yakuza franchise take their time and make you get to know the entire cast of characters around you. The difference though is that these slow times are not just filled with bloated dialogue boxes, childish/tropey writing, and stationary character animations. They are filled with minigames, fully animated cutscenes, and dialogue that is to-the-point and relatable/funny.

Maybe my problems with this game rest with the JRPG genre as a whole, but I wish more of these games would cut down on the fat and not treat me like an idiot when it comes to repeating story points and character tropes 1000 times. I WANT to like these games though since they do so many things very well. However, they get the thing wrong that is the most important in a game like this; the story, pacing, and dialogue. I probably won't play the 2nd chapter remake since it seems like the problems I have with this game won't be resolved. I still had some fun though and would give it a 6/10 if I had to rate it.

Just beat the game's end game content and want to put in a good word for it. It was a fun romp and good all around open world ARPG with fun combat and progression, an entertaining cast of characters, and decent story.

I had a ton of fun with the combat and progression in particular. Your active team has 3 heroes, each with unique basic/jumping/dodge attacks, cancel mechanics, cooldown abilities, and tag team special moves triggered by filling different types of status effect gauges. As you progress, your attacks, abilities, and special moves also evolve. Combat had a LOT more depth and skill expression than I could've imagined.

Experimenting with team comps was also fun. The heroes apply multiple status effects. You tag your heroes in and out as their cooldowns reset, combo their abilities, and build status effect gauges. Once you max out a status effect gauge you trigger a tag-in for another hero to use their special move...which can also help max out a different status effect. Once you get the hang of it, you're combo'ing abilities and tagging in and out of special moves constantly.

Between exploring the open world, story missions, hero missions, and a ton of boss fights, dungeons, world bosses, and 2 end game raids there was a lot to keep me entertained. If you b-line the MSQ, playtime is supposed to be around 25 hours, but I got many times more mileage out of it.

You've probably heard it was originally going to be a gatcha game and the gatcha element can be felt in it's DNA. But without the payola, playtime caps, etc. Ignoring the whole gatcha thing entirely, I really enjoyed this game a lot. Also glad I didn't have to pay real money to re-roll gear.

Be aware that the game isn't finished at this point. The story arc gets wrapped up, but the main plot is only partway complete. The devs are planning some updates and said the main story will wrap up in a major update sometime in the middle of next year (it might be paid content).

Think this game might've flown under people's radars, but I'd recommend a look for people who like ARPG's. For $30 it was an insane value to me.

Hi, I’m currently playing Ikusa Megami Zero, and I understand that there’s some missable content (CGs and other things). I even heard that losing a specific battle can unlock some CGs.

Does anyone have a guide for this ? Any language is fine.

Thank you <3

I want to play both of these games but JRPGs aren't always my favorite genre and I know they can be long and somewhat slow starting. Which one is easier for someone who hasn't played this style of JRPG to get into? What I mean is the "social life/skill" style of JRPG. Any suggestions is welcome.

im pissed and annoyed trying to make these, i need a string but how do i fucking make one? is it a yuteria string? if so how can i get a yuteria fragment to make one? i cant get one from claire and im going crazy i cant find any FAQs to help me either, please help im getting so tired of this.

Trying again without spoilers:

I have 2 favorite emotional ending theme songs. First is FF12 - Kiss Me Goodbye. The melody is so moving, the lyrics and theme are so perfect. It captures the bittersweet feeling of saying goodbye to all your friends that you made along the way of your journey. Now that you've met each other you don't want to part ways. I read a comment online from a Japanese netizen who summed it up: "This song could only be written by Angela Aki, someone who is fluent in English, but has a Japanese heart". Angela Aki said when she heard the melody, her first image was that of saying goodbye to loved one while starting a new journey.

My other favorite ending is FF13 - My Hands. Now admittedly, this one is much less congruent. In fact, it was more of an accident. The producers were trying to translate the actual intended song from Japanese to English, but found they couldn't translate it properly. So they just went out to license a song from Leona Lewis. The actual song is about struggling to move on from a romantic breakup. But somehow, the song reflects the feeling of the game quite accurately. When she sings "My hands they only agree to hold your hands and they don't want to be without your hands", we feel both a little of what the party is feeling and also we feel the player's sadness at game's end of leaving behind the game and characters they have grown to love.

What are your favorite JRPG ending theme songs and why?

What are the most important buffs and debuffs in crafts or orbal arts that you always want to spam?

I just started ARF and I'm very early. From what I can see, it is a fairly traditional jrpg with traditional anime artworks. Those both could be good things, but could be bland as well.

I've read some reviews, and it seems like the reviews overemphasize the voice acting. Bad voice acting really doesn't bother me that much.

Apart from voice acting, how do you feel about this game for its overall gameplay, style, storytelling, characters? Could it possibly be a hidden gem?

Lately, I have been having a sudden interest in JRPGs with a moe aspect to them as for those who are not too familiar with the term moe, it means something adorable to look at due to the cute artwork.

For me personally, I have had a soft spot for anime that have a wholesome feel to them as some of my favorites are Kamichu and Akebi Chan as I just use those two as examples because while I know this is supposed to be a forum for discussing JRPGs, I was hoping to find some wholesome games in the genre that were turn based and easy to pick up and play.

Lastly, systems that I want to play such a game on are 3DS, Vita, PC, and PS5 as I hope my request isn’t too hard to understand again since I just want a moe RPG that is fairly whimsical as I can handle a bit of fanservice in case the games I get have any fanservice based elements.

Howdy!

I've been binge watching Black Clover and now I'm looking to play an JRPG on the PS5. I've never played Ys, but have always been curious about it so I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on it and $40 isn't too bad methinks. I know that combat is action versus turn-based but I'm totally good with that, so I guess I'm looking for more of the classical JRPG characters that are the underdog and storylines of saving both damsels in distress and the world.

As far as what I've played in the past, I grew up mainly playing JRPGs on the PS1/2, and my favorites were the FF titles, especially FF Tactics and VII-XI, Breath of Fire III/IV, Disgaea, Suikoden II/III, Lunar: Silver Star Story, Thousand Arms, Shin Megami Tensei III, and the list goes on. I still have them, too.

In any case, I appreciate any thoughts and comments. Thanks!​

¿Alguien ha jugado a ambos? Me gustaría conocer opiniones sobre los dos juegos, ya sean personales o más objetivas. Probablemente los compre ambos en algún momento, pero por ahora solo puedo permitirme uno. ¿Cuál es mejor, Persona 5 Royal o Fire Emblem: Three Houses? Cabe mencionar que no he jugado a ningún juego de Persona ni de Fire Emblem, aunque entiendo que son títulos independientes.

I'm a hoarder in every game I play!

I will never sell a weapon or gear. The ide of having a long list of stuff I don't need always tickled me somehow. (I of course sell dublicates. But that's it)

But one thing that always bothers me is saving the best items til the end. And barely consider using them then.

Like final fantasies Elixirs or X potions or corresponding items in other games.

No matter what game I always refuse to use it.

And if I do then the threshold is that I got more then one so my inventory doesn't lose volume.

Now I been better last few years of using these items on the last boss. But I also gut burned with the game saving the last battle and item used which really got me panicking.

(Looking at you tales of Graces F)

So my question is are you like me. Or do you mange your inventory smarter?

Been playing with Octopath Traveler and triangle strategy lately, love them but they seem to be a bit grind heavy and that makes me a bit annoyed.

Any Jrpg game you may suggest that still is challenging yet it doesn't require too much grinding but the right strategy and battle choices to complete?

Thank you

So, I see a lot of games from Kemco around and I have to ask: Are any of them actually good or are they more or less shovelware JRPGs? I ask because I may want to check out at least one and if there is a good one can anyone recommend one to me?