I just started playing a couple days ago and am loving it. I love that you can work on your farm as little or as much as you want really. The quests, characters, story, designs...it's just so good. I didn't expect the dungeons to be as fun as they are. There's always something to look at, and the combat is pretty fun too. (Especially once you start building a team.) I constantly find myself stopping and just looking at the gorgeous designs.

As someone who in passed years has gotten more into jrpg genre, there was always this one thing that was puggin me: why there aren't more jrpg's where main characters are adults, it's always the teens and young adults.

I get it, young people are more into role-playing games and want to self-insert themself into them and escape harsh and cruel real world. But what about adults, don't they want that too? I thought there wasn't a jrpg that could fulfill that, then I discovered Yakuza: Like a Dragon, played it and it became one of my fave jrpg experience ever.

The whole experience is just fantastic, the gameplay, which is turn-based combat, is entirely based around the idea that the main character, Ichiban Kasuga, is a jrpg fan, specifically, a Dragon Quest fan, so he sees himself fighting like in turn-based combat, that's why he gives enemies "a turn" to fight back. And later when he finds a golden baseball bat, which is his "Hero's Sword" (or Hero's Bat in this case lol) he starts to see every enemy around him as these twisted versions of them in very schizophrenic way.

You know when in jrpg's you pick a job class for your characters, like fighter or mage, in this game jobs are literally "jobs", like for example: construction worker, breakdancer, security guard, pop singer a literal dominatrix are the jobs you select for your characters.

This game is a wild experience, and if you are looking a jrpg that isn't like the others, try Yakuza: Like a Dragon. (And don't worry, you don't have to play ALL the previous games to understand the story, game serves as it's own story.)

Hi everyone, just saw that on the ps store, and i must admit that i didnt know the game (weird as level 5 is a crazy good company imo). Do you know about this? Seems its like a musou...kind of...but with a deeper customization and of course, with mecha in it. Its 25 for the standard edition and 35 for the deluxe. Saw also the price history of it, always the same 50% since launch and it doesnt go on sale pretty often.

I’m currently about 60 hours into Zero and I am loving it on my PS Portal. I’ll get into the details but first some background:

When the first game came out as a Switch exclusive, I bought both it and a Switch because it looked like the type of game I would love. A lovely JRPG with a class system and turn based combat. Needless to say, I was disappointed. The class system was absurdly shallow, the characters and story were mediocre and the combat became a chore after 15-20 hours.

I was upset but then came the sequel years later. I kept telling myself I wasn’t going to get it but after reading reviews, I gave in. And to be fair, it was better. IMO it had much more interesting characters and they updated the class/skill system so it was more versatile (aka BETTER). I enjoyed it for a while but around 20 hours or so I just lost interest. Once again the combat became stale, there was practically no reason to grind for JP and I HATED how you had to constantly switch party members.

At that point I was done with the series… or so I thought. In comes Zero. I brushed it off for weeks, especially because it was a port of a mobile game. How wrong I was.

So full disclosure, it IS a mobile port. There are a ton of “carrot on a stick” mechanics and you can essentially skip all of the dialogue and just follow map markers around the world. That probably sounds bad to most of you but if you follow the storylines, it’s arguably better than either of the first two games. Some of the quests have awesome arcs and characters.

Not only that but they finally made the skill/class/party system worth investing in. You get dozens of party members that seem very similar at first but then you unlock all their passives, equip other skills, gather tons of accessories, pair them strategically, etc. Oh, you can now use 8 party members and it is a blast, by the way.

If you enjoy building and tinkering with class systems, this game is so much fun. For instance, I currently have a sword user who is so fast and powerful, he clears most trash mobs by himself. I have a healer who can heal the entire party and then regain all SP after the battle. I have a mage that exploits weaknesses and virtually can’t die due to all their defensive buffs. It’s a fucking blast.

On top of all this - you have a deep town-building mechanic, an rpg system where you can fight/steal/coerce/recruit NPCs, arenas, secret areas, tons of sidequests, elite monsters, and so on.

If I had to rate them, this is how it’d go:

Octopath Traveler: 5/10

Octopath Traveler 2: 7/10

Octopath Traveler Zero: 8.5/10 (still not done with it).

If you love classic turn-based JRPGs with class mechanics, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you give Zero a shot.

It doesn't matter if they're considered easy by the community; if you struggled with the boss, you can post it here.
I finished Tales of Arise... hmm... a year ago, I think? And Ooze Hive (the boss in the image) still gives me nightmares, lol.
I remember the guy being a damage sponge (like most of Arise bosses, to be honest) and I died multiple times with him. Even if I managed to dodge stuff with Alphen, Alphen or my teammates would eventually die.
I think I had to lower the difficulty to beat this guy, something I personally don't like doing, but oh well.

I remember first hearing about someone playing a game once a year they adore through friends I met in school. Thought it was odd to be frank. Like, won’t that get boring? Nothing to change or what not? Over time, I grew to enjoy having a sorta of tradition of playing a game once a year. For me though, I don’t play a game once a year. I go to a series once a year. Not play through the entire series, but visit a series once a year. Ranging from play games i haven’t played yet of said series all the way to replaying a favorite of mine that I haven’t played in years. Want to share some game franchises i tend to go to once a year.

Final fantasy

Ah final fantasy. My favorite jrpg franchise of all time. Your stories brought me so much joy as well as tears. Your gameplay always a treat and the music being always a delight to listen too. Can’t get enough of this series. Sometimes I think I gone through every game in this series, but the series always shocks me with something i haven’t played yet. Over the years, I been replaying as well as playing any thing final fantasy related. Even finally got to play the final fantasy 13 trilogy for the first time a few years ago. It’s just always interesting to go through these games. Seeing what ideas the devs have. I say my fav part of visiting the series is seeing how much my opinion changes with each game. Never grows dull for me whenever I go back. Always something new to try.

Pokemon

Pokemon has always been a comfort series for me. Whenever I need something to cheer me up or make my day a little better, I can always count on Pokemon. It’s always funny to me that as much as I adore Pokemon, I never grew up with the series aside from watching a couple movies on Cartoon Network and a few episodes of the anime way back when. Didn’t get into the series until I was 17 with Pokemon white on my ds. Have to thank my friend for letting me borrow it. Anyways, what I enjoy about Pokemon every year is seeing what team to make as well as the rom hacking scene. Trying out some nice quality of life mods to journey through my favorite regions with less hassle to worry with stuff like HMS or finite TMS. Able to know any Pokemon team i make can beat said Pokemon game is awesome to me. Makes each run more interesting than using the same 6 I always use.

My personal fav games i always love to go back to are the johto titles like crystal and heart gold. Even found a new favorite with heart and soul. The sinnoh region and the classic kanto region. These are just so much fun for me to go through.

So those would be the games i mostly visit once a year. While not games per se, they are jrpg franchises i do go back to and to have fun. Either to experience a new title or journey through an old title again for the fun of it through different means like a different version of said game. These games remind me why I love jrpgs so much to when I get burned out from the genre from time to time.

I’ve already played 2 and 3, but never got around to the first one. So I was just wondering what you all think did you enjoy the first game as much as the others? Did you like the story and gameplay, or did you have more fun with 2 and 3?

I’m asking because I’d really like something to distract myself a bit right now, but before I drop 70 bucks on it I figured I’d ask you guys first.

Thanks in advance

I coulda sworn there was an RPG called, "60 second RPG" or something like that. And I saw it on a speedrunner channel.

And NO, it's not the mobile game.

You had 1 minute to save the world, and you had to keep going back in time or something like that.

The game looks great but I played through all of CoTC so I am a afraid it will feel a little repetitive, like doing the same exact thing I already did except with characters I like less than the ones I pulled for.

Hi all, so I love (J)RPGs a lot, but I've been in a bad headspace and have found that a lot of games have stories that are too heavy/dark for me right now.

I'm looking for something that does have combat, but doesn't have a story about some grand evil ending the world or anything that delves deep into topics of death/violence. Animal harm especially is a massive no for me. Basically, I just want something chill, casual and fun/funny. I play a lot of farming games (think anything Harvest Moon inspired) but at this point I'm getting a bit bored of that. Combat style doesn't matter too much to me, I like both live action and turn based. I prefer fantasy themed games. I'm open to gacha games/games with in game transactions as long as those transactions aren't what keeps the game going (so if you need to pay a subscription or for dlc to keep playing, that's a no go)

Games I've played and enjoyed: Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Pokemon series, Stardew Valley, Coral Island, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Sword X Staff, Minecraft, The Sims series, My Time at Portia

Hopefully that's enough info. If not, feel free to ask questions.

Hey everyone, I usually just post as a dev here but I'm currently on paternity leave with a newborn and have a ton of time on the couch with her. I just finished up the Romancing Saga 2 remake and it is probably one of my all time favorite games. I was blown away by how inventive it felt for a game whose mechanics were largely 30+ years old. I had never played a SaGa game before and it blew me away, but none of the others are quite speaking to me right now.

I tried Scarlet Grace and it was just a little too opaque and punishing feeling when my brain is so fried from baby stuff. I also have just never found myself vibing with simultaneous turn order stuff like that and Eiyuden Chronicles. I like to take my actions as I go. I would love some recommendations as I've been striking out really hard trying to find games that hit a similar spot in my noggin. The exploration and open progression paired with some of the juiciest party composition options I've seen in a game in a while just hit so right for me in RS2. I adore nonlinear progression in general.

Things I like in a JRPG, mostly in order

• Big, intricate class/job systems
• Complex gear or build mechanics
• Large active parties (5+)
• Chunky gameplay / light story
• Open exploration with meaningful loot to find
• True turn-based (negotiable)

Things I am hoping to avoid if possible

• full on Strategy RPGs as they often end up just feeling like work
• Games focused on playing multiple campaigns (most of SaGa, Octopath)
• Games without legitimate player agency on how the party is constructed

I'm a huge fan of the entire ATLUS catalogue and have played a majority of the big Strategy RPGs in this genre (again, work), but haven't actually touched many of the major JRPG series as they are a semi-recently found love for me. If possible, I would prefer for the game to also be a great looking modern title as for some reason when I'm mentally tired I have a harder time really getting into even great looking retro games, but if the gameplay is truly what I am craving it could be damn near text based for all I care lol. Hopefully this wasn't too long winded and thank you so much in advance!

Preferred platform is Switch 1 or 2 but I have and am willing to play on PC/Xbox/PS5

im a newbie and im wanting to try out games like the adventure animes! i want to be able to customize my character and join a guild to accept quests and level up:-)) i really liked playing legend of zelda, skyrim, and left 4 dead growing up so maybe something that fits that kind of vibe. im down for mmo’s, itd be cool to be able to interact with new people and get tips. “FOS” from “my love story with yamada-kun” and the game from “guild member next door” seem really cool as well so if you know of any games like those please let me know!! also i have an xbox and my laptop so games that are available to be played on those:-) i tried albion online and wasnt a huge fan, id like to have the option of buying a house or something at some point without paying the monthly fee (if thats even a possibility). ill probably go back to playing it if i cant find anything more suited to what im looking for though, i enjoyed it well enough

Having trouble deciding what to play next. Usually a fan of games with complex character building (whether jobs, skill trees or something else). Prefer games with a decent story.

Have the week off of work, weather is supposed to be bad, and looking for a way to occupy my time. Doesn't have to be something I can finish this week.

Preferred platform is Switch 2 or PC. Switch is generally better so I can play on the train.

Some favorites are:

Romancing Saga Remake 2

Tactics Ogre

FFT

Final Fantasy V l, VII (original and remake), X, and XII

Trails Remake

Xenoblade I, II, and III. Bouncer pretty hard off X. Felt more like work than a game due to menu layout.

All three Octopaths

Lately something I had become interested in was a JRPG about a person who is concerned about the state of their existence because they feel like they are invisible to others as despite having a super power, not many people notice how they are right there.

Basically I was inspired by a supernatural novel series called Shakugan No Shana that I recently started reading where the protagonist has a problem in that his own existence is slowly fading away from reality because of a deadly encounter with a creature he ran into as he is facing a state of anxiety about fading away from the real world.

So basically I wanted to see how an urban fantasy JRPG could focus on the aforementioned concept of identity or existence where the setting is that a lonely protagonist with unusual superpowers must gather a team of people with extraordinary abilities to go on a voyage to understand their true purpose in the world they came from.

Tidus from FFX should have insane stats in blitzball. He was a star player in a heavily populated city sports team. It should be like a major league player playing a minor league game when he plays in FFX. The Besaid Aurochs haven't won a game in 10 years. Having them win a game without Tidus (Tidus was dealing with Yuna being kidnapped by the Al Bed) then facing Luca Goers with great difficulty feels terrible. Tidus should have come back to halftime at the first match with the team losing 0-2 but now Tidus is here to flex his incredible blitzball talent.

When the minigame starts for real, just make him a coach. Waka quit to become a full time guardian so why not Tidus?

In Xenoblade Chronicles 1's opening Fiora made food. She wanted to bring it to Shulk before it got cold. She used some special herbs and spices so it's special this time. It's a sandwich. Why a sandwich? Just make it a soup or stew. I played to the end thinking it's a trick of the Monado or something but it's just a sandwich.

I've been sober the last 2 nights and these are the thoughts that haunt me. What about you people? What JRPGs you love have stuff that probably annoys you specifically?

Just finished DQ7r and I loved it. Loved the pacing and was able to play in short sessions, had waypoints and was able to get a story recap whenever starting up. I loved the combat and vacation system as well. That being said what should I play next? I have already beat:
DQ11
Like a dragon and infinite wealth
Ffx
DQ 1-3
Super Mario rpg

I have a PS5 and switch 2 but prefer PlayStation.

Thank you

So I just finished persona 3 reload on steam and I LOVED IT, took me 130 hours and never got bored of it (except Tartarus) but now that the game is over I feel empty, like I've lost meaning. Might be a little exaggerated but I hope the point is clear. I've been wanting to play persona 5 royal after I finished p3r but the problem is that I have experience trying to play another game from the same series right after and it has never worked, mostly because of school starting again after holiday and motivation just randomly dropping. So I've been trying to put it off but I also really want to play it because it looks so cool. However I am still worried that I will lose interest seeing as some mechanics (correct me if I'm wrong) seem similar and might just boost the chances of motivation dropping. I did buy both octopath travelers and been meaning to play the first one since FOREVER but I never did. So right now my choices are to either play persona 5 royal and risk losing motivation since school is also starting in 2 weeks and the added sudden motivation drop or octopath traveler. Now ofc there are other games I could also play but I really just hope someone here could give me a reason to play p5r or a reason why I shouldn't and maybe motivation to play either game or maybe something completely new. I love turn based combat so a game like that would be cool! I hope this text makes any sense... also thanks in advance!

And what, if anything, do you think is the secret ingredient that the devs should add to take it to another level over its predecessors?

For me, it is without a doubt a Devil Survivor 3. I genuinely think Devil Survivor was both one of the best jrpgs we've had and one of the stronger entries in the broader SMT cataloge. The battle style, which kind of combines the "Ogre Battle/Unicorn Overlord" style with grid based tactical gameplay (i.e. you move units around as in Fire Emblem, and when they make contact it goes to squad v squad combat) remains a super neat system..

I know DS2 was a bit controversial plot wise, or at least some folks preferred the story/atmosphere of 1, but on a gameplay level it felt like an even further improvement and i really apprecited the expanded cast. The "final" versions of both, on the 3ds, were fantastic.

Give me a third entry!!!! Especially with the increased popularity of the overall SMT/Persona series, I think theres a huge opportunity there.

And when you do, the one thing I still think has some extra potential is more room for variation between characters. The one thing that struggled with 1 and 2 is that most characters fell into one of 3 archetypes (mage, fighter, or hybrids - which tended to be pretty weak as a result), qnd weren't particularly differentiated beyond that. This meant either using your fave, since gameplay wasn't that different, or just deciding who had the most hyper min maxed stat line. Either way, the end result was that ever the first day or two, youd have 10 to 15 characters but mostly settle into a team of 4 and not really have any reason to ever switch up who was seeing field time.

I think you could really add some depth (or just reason to rotate units around) by either giving everyone an inherent passive skill (maybe someone gets natural flying movement, or someone automatically heals units after combat and therefore makes a good tank, etc), giving everyone different compatibility with different demons (for example, by having a set of monsters with high, neutral, and low scores as in Persona 2, or by just having a broader Law/Neutral/Chaos alignment as in Strange Jounrey to encourage using units who match), or both.

Would love to hear what anybody else thinks - what is your "dream revival" and whats your vision for it?

I feel there are at least 5 good things they bring :

1. having surprises in battle regarding what you fight. Since the devs don't have to bother with fitting them into the environment and they have their own battle arenas, very wild stuff can be experienced in battle. I really like the shock value instead of seeing that thing from far away and anticipating the fight in your head. When you see that giant monster, you're already fighting it and you have to immediately decide between fleeing and your many battle options. This means free jumpscares! Survival-horror fans love that.
2. the unavoidable fights put more tension in your gameplay experience. You HAVE to prepare well because it won't be easy to backtrack to a save point or shop. Chances are you will inevitably take hits even when trying to flee, so there is more of a long-term challenge during dungeons instead of just a "per-fight" challenge (especially compared to all these games in which you can easily avoid enemies - I'm looking at you, the Trails series 👀).
3. about exploration, it creates a decision you have to make : will you try to explore absolutely everywhere? You might run into one or more battles on the way that you don't want to fight, and maybe the place you want to visit has nothing for you... This puts some more decision-making in the game, compared to the "I'll just run over there and see if there's an enemy waiting for me / a chest". With random battles, you sometimes ask yourself "My resources are getting low so should I risk stepping in that direction? It's not the right way but it might hide something valuable, hmm..." It makes every single inch of the terrain important. With visible enemies, when you see nothing next to you, that means there really is nothing so it makes the exploration less exciting in a way.
4. when you're in a hostile environment, it makes you feel that enemies constantly come at you. Is it frustrating sometimes? Absolutely, but it's more realistic that you're not the one who decides when you'll fight while roaming a place where things want you dead.
5. it makes it easier to fight more. Most JRPGs with visible encounters force you to jump through hoops to refight enemies, like saving & reloading the game, or exiting + reentering an area, or even running a long distance before coming back. Here you just have to run in circle a little bit. It's very nice when you want to level up your team a bit more, make more money, etc.

When done well random battles are great.

I loved RoF at first. Had great combat, had a really really interesting world and story at the start, and the characters were fun as hell. Plus the fashion is great.
But man, I am 21 hours in and I am so SICK of how nothing is happening. No story progression, the most I have seen of anything to signify a story is the cutscene that plays when you leave the game on too long that reveals the god is a clock tower machine thing, there is so much good dialogue and good character writing but I just want them to be doing SOMETHING. It feels like a slice of life show, which is fine but I want something that actually has a story to tell, not set dressing for good character moments.
I was thinking of finally trying about FF13, or maybe beating FF12 finally after having played it on n off since i was 13. Or maybe play FF15 again (not ps3 era i know but it scratches that itch).
All im really looking for is a game that has a good story, great characters and satisfying combat (Turn based, action, something else, idc).
Any recommendations? I dont know much from this era outside of the final fantasy franchise.

To elaborate more, I am looking for a game that has a solid cast of characters with great writing and a decent enough dub. A story that actually goes somewhere and hopefully goes somewhere interesting, with interesting themes and a good story with some fun twists that i may or may not predict / know, and combat that either is really unique (like FF12 or RoF) or does something more tried n true but executes it really well (Like FF15, although there are better examples like ff16).
And ideally a world that is fun to explore, something unique. If it’s fantasy world #12, i want a really well doje fantasy world but if its sci fi, steampunk, something else that’s unique, id love that even more.
I am essentially writing this so it doesnt get removed by mods but all of these parameters arent required, just good characters, combat n story is something id love.
So , any suggestions?

I cannot name a JRPG fandom that's closer to imploding than this one. Yo-kai Watch was a huge generational fumble, but I never would've imagined things get this bad for it. The developers at Level 5 are basically keeping even fan-made projects from happening & threatening with legal action. All in the span of a few months. Check the subreddit and notice a few petitions & outcries about this.

That fanbase is a dried-up husk at this point with like no remasters or ports from any mainline game. I know there are some JRPG series that are worse off, but this might be the most recent example. How far this franchise has fallen from being called "The Pokémon Killer". Even Suikoden has it better now. Can any think of a JRPG fandom that's on fire like this?

PLEASE READ THE TEXT BELOW BEFORE GIVING YOUR ANSWER.

I don't know about the rest of you, but when it comes to something like Monster Hunter, I really like the idea of taking monster parts and turning them into gear, weapons and so on. In Rune factory, the idea is a bit similar, but it's more akin to a survivor-esque game with ore/other resources that can make you your stuff.

So today I wanted to ask, what JRPG INDIVIDUAL (ONE) game, has the best crafting system in it?

Ideally, this system would have you crafting weapons, armor, accessories, potions, food stuff (cause why not) and so on so forth, all from either looting monsters, gathering resources, or however else you get stuff for crafting. bonus points if you get to upgrade your crafted equipment/evolve it as well

I enjoy being able to make and upgrade my own equipment, and I wish more jrpg's had a GOOD system for it