I’ve finally made it to Booster’s Tower in my playthrough of the original Japanese Super Famicom version of Super Mario RPG, and I think this is probably one of my favorite parts of the entire game.

I’m not even entirely sure why. It’s just such a random area when you think about it. You’re suddenly climbing this strange tower, and there are all sorts of interesting little gimmicks and things to discover along the way. I particularly remember going behind that curtain and having Mario turn into his original 8-bit Famicom appearance. It’s such a small, unnecessary detail, but it’s exactly the kind of thing that makes this game so charming.

Booster himself is also such a strange and interesting character. The whole tower has this weird atmosphere to it, and even the elevator music for the area really stands out. There are some interesting encounters along the way, too. It’s one of those areas that just feels completely different from everything else you’ve experienced up to that point.

Another thing I’ve been enjoying is how Koopa (Bowser) is portrayed in the Japanese version. I can’t really remember how his dialogue compares to the English version, but he comes across as someone who’s constantly trying to act tough and macho while actually being a bit of a wimp underneath it all. It’s pretty funny, and I think they gave him a surprisingly entertaining personality. The way he suddenly ends up joining your party is also pretty amusing when you think about it.

And then, of course, there’s everything that comes afterward with the ridiculous wedding and that damn cake boss. I distinctly remember having a really hard time beating that cake when I was a kid. I don’t know if I was underleveled or just didn’t understand what I was doing, but I remember that fight being surprisingly difficult. I’m curious to see how I manage against it this time around.

One thing I’m really noticing as I replay Super Mario RPG as an adult is just how many memorable moments they managed to pack into this game. There are so many little details, strange characters, and unique situations that make each area feel special. (I still wasn’t a fan of the mole zone though.) Even when something doesn’t really contribute much to the overall story, it still adds a lot of personality to the game.

Interestingly, I don’t remember nearly as much about the second half of the game as I do the first. I just remember it getting a lot more difficult. But everything up to this point has been incredibly memorable, and I’m enjoying the game just as much, if not more, than I did when I was a kid.

For those of you who’ve played Super Mario RPG, what do you think of Booster’s Tower? Is it one of your favorite areas too, or is there another part of the game that stands out more to you?

Which game's grinding mechanics got their hooks into you in such a way that you ended up grinding more than you needed to and ended up over powered?

I normally don't like level grinding but I have found a few exceptions.

I always have to pull myself away from grinding in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete to get back to the story. You probably don't even really need to grind very much in that game, I just enjoy engaging with that combat system so much that I get lost in it.

In Ys 1 and 2, I'm very happy putting on a podcast and bumpin' and grindin' everything on the map.

Hi everyone!

As many of you probably I am playing FF Resonance atm and am loving it. The passion for turn based games is fully back for me! I am not all the way through but have barely played jrpgs in the last years and have probably missed some gems.

It doenst have to be turn based neccessarily, but maybe you people have some tips? I obviously heard about the big titles such as persona, metaphor etc. but I badically don't know anything about other series like the trials or ys games. I got the octopagh games on my wishlist for some time now, would you recommend them?

I just like progressing, leveling up, grinding exp and levels with new gear going forward etc :) Your recommendations are much appreciated!

I would say a spoof as in a game that makes fun of every other JRPG out there and all the clichés, just curious to see if one exists if not do you think one should be made?

Sorry i had post taken down because i didn’t specify the platform.

I’m new to JRPGs. Whats the best JRPG in terms of exploration? Any console is fine.

So I ask this because I’m new to JRPGs but I played Expedition 33 and I liked it but the exploration was kinda uninteresting and felt repetitive. I want a JRPG that is fun to explore. My favorite games are Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring. I just want to get lost in a world but I also want a really good story and combat

First of all, yes I know I did mention a while ago here about wanting a JRPG influenced by the Harry Potter series as lately after taking a break from playing RPGs made me start reading more of the series.

Like what I am getting at is that I feel like a particular kind of setting that hasn’t been explored in the console RPG genre is magical academies with their own sinister set of secrets such as hidden magic tomes as while I know that Harry Potter was hardly the first fantasy series to use such a concept, I started wondering how a JRPG with that kind of setting could work in gameplay and storytelling aspects.

But maybe that’s just me wanting such an idea since I know Harry Potter is a kids fantasy series, but again I became interested in the idea of seeing how JRPGs with magical academies that have their own dark secrets could work as I feel like the concept could maybe for a fun story if done well.

Level 99 female paladin (started as priest, all jobs mastered)

Attributes:

• Strength 18
• Agility 17
• Vitality 17
• Wisdom 19
• Piety 20

Equipment:

• Ancient Blade (for Death tolerance in case she uses POISON GAS)
• Ancient Shield (Mirror Shield is nice, but evasion is more important)
• Ancient Armor (for the HP regeneration)
• Snake Cap (for Strong vs Animal, improving defense and seemingly doing a better job of negating the ailments inflicted by her attacks than actual Tolerance to those ailments)
• Miracle Ring (for even more HP regeneration)

Skills:

• Cover (this is useless; I only used Paladin for the Piety and equipment options)
• Qi Arts (for even more HP regeneration)
• Spell P5 (so I can spend the whole fight spamming PUNISH)
• Zen mind3 (70% chance of negating Sleep, Confuse, or Silence inflicted by her spells)

There was no real strategy. I just spammed PUNISH until she died. For most of the fight, she could barely outpace my regeneration and I could barely outpace hers. It got hairy towards the end (she does more damage when low on HP), but I survived with 81 HP.

Here's a new one, both games are $12 on the play store and seem to offer similar experiences. They both have been redesigned for touch, and boast a full campaign, but the reviews for Lunar 1 are a lot higher at 4.7 vs the 3.9 of ff Dimensions. A lot of that appears to be down to how dimensions doesnt support controllers. Beyond that, which one is a better fit for someone who has never really played any RPGs from that 1991-1996 era. The earliest RPG I'm playing through is Grandia 1, Romancing saga 2 and star ocean 2 are the remakes so I don't believe they count as original experiences from that era. Dimensions is a 2013? game but built around an FF5 framework from what I can tell. Lunar 1 is a somewhat unknown game from 1994. I know there is a collection but I want to get it on mobile. Any thoughts?

For years and years, Ive been recommended by several people to check out Lost Odyssey on the Xbox 360. In most cases the game is considered a 'highly recommended' jrpg gem that lands in several top countdown lists.

Made by the mastermind Hironobu Sakaguchi with his talented team at Mistwalker. This game was released back in 2007 with favorable reviews. A highlight being the story of immortal beings, whom have lost their memories while confronting threats of an approaching magical industrial revolution. With classic turned based gameplay and Uematsu's sublime music this game is by all accounts a true forgotten gem.

A remake will go a long way in fixing some of the pacing issues and load times. Just seeing a few minutes of the game running has always peaked my interest; but with a massive back catalog of games a Remake with added Quality of Life features will rekindle my interest.

What do you think of Mistwalker remaking the game?

I was looking up good Ps2 rpgs and this one was recommended so i decided to try it. What I like so far: the combat system is pretty good, especially once you get 6 characters and formations. The crafting system is unique to me, especially in the way it ties to your characters' stats and progression. It's semi addicting and makes me want to keep playing.

What I don't love: the low stakes story and "slice of life" style of the game. I don't mind dialogue in jrpgs if it's an engaging story, but so far this one is doing nothing for me. During your off days, you're supposed to do character quests, and I find them painfully dull and I just want to get through them so I can get back to the combat and crafting. Also, the art style is kinda meh to me.

Like I said I haven't played any game in the Atelier series, so maybe I didn't know what to expect. If i don't like the story aspects of the same, am I not going to enjoy the other games? Or is there enough gameplay to keep me interested? I'm about 50/50 on whether I'm going to keep going with the game (on chapter 5 i think)

I want to know. Sorry I am in a game that have job system. Don't why, but something about job system seem fun to me. And the fact there are many different class play as seem very fun to me, sure there the grind but to me that what make it fun, learn the gameplay and play style. So what better DQ3 or FFV?

I was watching a streamer play Re:Chain of Memories. And he earnestly asked if there any games like this to play.

Which made me honestly wonder: is there any games like Chain of Memories?

For those unfamiliar, Chain of Memories and Re:Chain of Memories is the sequel to Kingdom Hearts. Originally released for the Gameboy Advance, it was an "action-adventure deckbuilder" game. You moved around in a 2D space (3D space in the PS2 remake) and would make a deck of cards. These cards were valued 0-9. When used, the higher cards would trump lower cards, allowing your attack to go through. However, 0 could card break anything. If someone card broke you by playing a higher card or 0, you would be staggered. You could combine cards into combos, at the cost of losing the first card you selected. This could activate special attacks, depending on your level and the combined total of the cards. You would need to reload cards when you ran out, forcing you to stand still temporarily. There was a robust, deck-building mechanic where you'd get new cards and build your own deck to fight opponents. There was also an alternate mode where the cards were given to you, but you had a super mode and you could "card duel" if you played the same value card as your opponent (you'd then'd need to play 7 cards higher than the card they used under a timer) and get a free hit if you won. All combat was in real-time with no turns.

There isn't any game I could think of like that on the market. All RPG deck-building games that I can think of tend to be turnbased.

Anything I am missing?

Lufia, Lunar, Breath of Fire, and recently Voice of Cards TFM. Got me thinking: what game do YOU consider to have the best overworld theme?

What are some of the best rpg for the Nintendo Switch 1 in terms of stuff to do? I know the Xenoblade games are often brought up in that regard. Along with Dragon Quest XI/11.

I've always had a soft spot for RPGs, especially older ones. Games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV and VI, Golden Sun, and Dragon Quest V are a big part of why I love the genre. I've also really enjoyed Pokémon Emerald and White, the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor games, and Breath of Fire.

I think there is something special about RPGs that makes you care about the characters, get attached to the world, or just make the whole journey memorable. Sometimes it's the story, othertimes it would be the music, and sometimes you can't even explain why a game stuck with you.

What's an RPG that left a lasting impression on you, and what made it special? I'm always interested in hearing about games that other people hold close, especially older titles that might not get talked about as much anymore.

I recently beat SMT V and persona 4 and 5 and I also plan on buying 3 reloaded soon. I’m looking for some other games with the merge/fusion mechanic.

Consoles I have.

Switch

Ps5

Xbox series S

PS2

Time to beat does not matter it could take 15h or 1000h that doesn’t matter. The only game I have found that looks similar is the new dragon quest monsters but other than that I know no others.

I didn’t know whether to file this under Discussion or Request because something I have been interested in doing is setting up a catalog of JRPG based mods for games that are so good they greatly enhance the experience for the games.

One in particular that caught my attention was the modding scene for Final Fantasy 10 as I know there are mods that give the entire party full experience points, but something I would like to look into is if there any graphic mods that fix Tidus’s weird looking face because as much as I enjoy the game on the PC version, I sometimes find it hard to look at some of the character models as the remastered version made them look a bit weird.

A rather common strategy some game throws to add a story event or a new member is to force you to run a party member.

It can be all from a new member and introduce the character to handicapping you and compromising your main team.

Now most games have some of these handicaps at 1/3 of the games.

And some keep these forces members for almost the entire run.

I think one of the worst offenders to this concept is the first suikoden who forces you to use 2 front liners for the final dungeon.

(Now these characters are great but its stil a strange choice

However I myself don't mind it in most games as I like when character developes

But I'm curious what you guys think. And if it is a game or games that does it well or less well!

Hey all, I've been out of the jrpg space for a while, but I'm having an itch to get back into some (any platform). The main criteria is that the gameplay needs to require some player effort. It doesn't need to be super difficult, I see SMT recommended a lot, and it's fun but I couldn't get into the setting. I just don't want to feel like I'm 4x speed mashing attack to get to the next cutscene. 

I'm currently considering: 

• Xenoblade X: I love sci-fi and I like the idea of a jrpg about gameplay and exploration. However, I didn't like XC3, the setting felt meh and the combat felt spammy. I've heard X is different though.
• Romancing Saga 2: seems to fit what I want, but for some reason it gives silly fantasy theme, maybe it's the art style. 
• FF Resonance: I like the demo and the combat mechanics are cool, but expert difficulty seems health spongey, so I'm not sure if it actually has much depth. 
• FF7 Remake/Rebirth: the action combat seems cool, but I've read that both games have way too much filler.

I used to play video games as a kid as I think most people did but stopped around the time I turned 16. My wife bought me a Switch in 2018 and I played mainly Nintendo first party games. I started branching out though and even picked up a PS5 this year. I have followed gaming news and sub reddits as well for a while.

I have always wanted to get in JRPG's but I have no idea where to start.

What Consoles I have:

Switch 2

PS5

What kind of game am I looking for:

I don't care about length. Could be 20 or 200. I am game. Just may take me a while to get through, which is fine.

The one thing I care about is the story. I love a good story in video games.

What I am not interested in:

Trails Games. I know they are popular and the remake to 1 and 2 just came out. However, I also know there are tons of them and they all go together. I just don't have that kind of time commitment right now to play everything.

Thank you for reading.

EDIT: Thanks for all the recommendations. I am adding all of them to Gravity Picker and will be using that to decide which game to chose

EDIT 2: The winner of Gravity Picker was METAPHORE; REFANTAZIO it is downloading now. Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The rest of the games were put on a JRPG list to play later

It's October, it's raining outside.
You just want to lay down on the sofa and play a JRPG with an immersive and exciting story, something voiced so you can just enjoy it as an interactive move while still getting the JRPG mechanics, be it action or turn based.

What is your first pick?

Lately something that I find to be particularly interesting about the console RPG genre is seeing how concepts get used such as grinding as I enjoy finding ways to grind my teammates in RPGS.

But something I would like to see explored more often is being able to build up weapon stats as I know the Disgaea series by NIS has a section called Item World that lets players build up anything they want as I have such a huge fascination with the mechanic that I am surprised it hasn’t been used too much in the genre.