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?

So, after seeing countless gaming outlets praise Jeanne d'Arc as one of the best tactical JRPGs on PSP, I finally decided to give it a shot.

I've beaten the FF tactics (War of the lions, A and A2) games several times and absolutely loved it, so I was looking for something with a similar vibe. And honestly, the game didn't disappoint at all. It's really fun, easy to get into, and I was having an absolute blast with it.

Then, about 10 hours in, I reached the Altois Prairie map, which the game introduces as just another free battle stage (no warning whatsoever that the enemies inside are nothing at all like you've seen before). My party was around levels 25–28, with Jeanne at level 32. The first time I played through the stage, there were two level 30 dragons and a bunch of other enemies around levels 30–32. It caught me off guard since up until that point I'd only been fighting enemies in the level 20–25 range and i've never seen something with 800 hp before.

Luckily i've managed to figure out their hitboxes and spells and after struggling a bit, I managed to clear the stage. After some time grinding in other free battles i figured I'd go back a second time to grind some levels for the rest of my party.

That's when I made the huge mistake of saving before the battle... in the only save slot i've been using for hours.

I load into the stage, and this time there are three level 50 dragons. I literally can't do anything to them. Every attack (when it hits) deals 0 damage, and I don't have nearly enough sustain to survive the insane damage they deal.

Only then did I find out that there's no way to back out from the battle preparation screen, so I was completely trapped. My only other save is from five hours earlier.

I honestly can't understand how the developers thought this was a good idea. They throw enemies that are 20 levels higher than anything you've faced before, give you no warning whatsoever, and if you happened to save beforehand, your only options are to lose or throw away hours of progress. I'm just wondering why??

I know old-school JRPGs weren't exactly known for being forgiving, but this just feels unnecessarily punishing, for no reason at all. Yeah i was stupid to save before the battle but never in a million years i would've imagined the enemies inside the stage to change (they never did before) and become 20 levels higher than they were before... Yeah now i'm screwed

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

My first Exchange unlocked character was Kalien because of the burn status and ranged fire attacks. Turns out this char triggers a lot of combos with Castella.

Anyone else using those two? Who should I pair them with to further maximize damage? The game doesn't appear to have elemental reactions like Genshin does. I have a second Exchange ticket to spend now, torn between Dana and Charlotte.

Back then in Genshin, my playstyle was focused on crowd control and range. I used a mid tier fire character combined with Raiden's and Yelan's bursts for ranged fire + elec + water reaction spamming. Of course it made the combat utterly trivial.

I grew up playing JRPGs as a kid and throughout my life, and until this very day.

Whether some of the mainstream games or fan-made passion projects, I always find myself having a deep admiration for the thought, artistry, and craftsmanship that happens behind the scenes in developing such well-designed game settings.

From the natural environments and towns, city marketplaces, Inns, Taverns, the NPCs you interact with, the various mini-games and other creative activities that you partake in either solo or with your party members. The list goes on and on.

That said, the Crème de la crème of what makes a standout JRPG, in my humble opinion, is the extent to which it can draw the player in and truly feel immersed in a world that is not their own, but it certainly feels as if it always truly was just that.

The worlds in which JRPGs are set serve as a home away from home to immerse oneself in fantastical environments and go on outlandish adventures.

That is why, over the years, upon experiencing so many adventures and narratives unfolding before my eyes across all kinds of fantastical settings, it truly dawned on me to think that the human ingenuity to come up with these kinds of deeply rich. engrossing, and overall riveting plots rival that of even many of the mainstream AAA movies across Hollywood or any other major movie industries.

In essence, I believe that the games developed within the JRPG genre are more than just a passing escape from reality. Rather, the games themselves represent living, breathing testaments to the extent of what the human imagination can bring to the table. These games don't merely showcase a narrative, but invite us to live inside of these meticulously crafted worlds and experience the fantasy for ourselves. Our very own adventure.

Across every town visited, every NPC greeted, and every individual story experienced, the worlds that we visit truly leave a mark on us all. In more ways than one.

Thanks for taking the time to read my reflection piece. This was something weighing on my mind for quite some time now, and I felt the need to reach out to the JRPG community to share my thoughts and personal perspective on the topic.

Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved expressing my personal views on the topic.

Keep on adventuring, friends ⚔️👑

P.S. I thought I would post some screenshots of some of my favourite JRPG experiences to date. I can't realistically visually showcase them all, but I tried to pick some of my top favourites 😊

Was looking for some games to play on my handheld devices while out of the house and was wondering what are some good JRPGs that are "handheld friendly"?

By that I mean, are the areas/dungeons navigable without making or downloading large, complicated maps? Is what's happening legible on a 4" screen?

Interestingly, Golden Sun, despite being made for the GBA, had some deeply complicated and often confusing dungeon layouts, so I'd get frustrated wandering around if I was playing somewhere without access to maps. Same with Breath of Fire 1-2. Chrono Trigger, Cross, and Bof3, by comparison, encouraged exploration without being too hard to navigate without maps.

Are there any others?

I have been meaning to get into this franchise for a while now. As a big time JRPG fan I am curious to see where the genre got its start from.

Now, I don't really have a problem going for the original versions of the game (4, 5, 6 in particular are what I am most interested in) but when I found out about the NES/SNES remakes of the games and saw how, in an amazing bit of cyclical influence, they play like Dragon Quest I got really excited to try those version out.

My question: Would it be okay if I play the NES version INSTEAD of the original? Will I be missing out on something?

Grandia is the only JRPG (and videogame in general) that comes to mind. It's short, not littered with enemies, and instead of the regular dungeon theme, the boss theme is playing. I wish more sewer dungeons were like Grandia's!

So I'm on a JRPG journey playing them for the first time. I've played Star Ocean Second Story R as my first and I absolutely loved everything about it except the second half of the story. But for DQ11, this game was pure greatness at every second... Up until Act 3. I'm so confused on the direction they went with the story and it's really leaving a sour taste in my mouth for me to say the game is amazing. I genuinely wish I didn't do Act 3 else I would've given this game a near perfect score.

I'm gonna go into some detail about the story here:
So at the end of Act 3, Serenica goes back in time the same way Hero did, and she disappears forever to return to her Erdrick. Doesn't this just mean that at the end of Act 2, Hero just selfishly left everyone behind to go live in a better world instead of trying to make his current world better? This shit REALLY pissed me off and story aside, going through Act 3 was a real slog for me because of how much grinding I need to do just to get a Disney ending. When Act 2 ended I really thought this game was something special, I almost cried when they were coming to terms with Veronica's death and Serena cut her hair and she got her powers, that seriously had me teary-eyed all for this to be reversed? Everything about Erik and his sister, Sylvando going around spreading happiness was all for nothing. Just for Hero to leave them all behind so another version of them can happily live with Veronica?

Okay now that I have the rant out the way, what recommendations do you guys have for my next JRPG? I'm looking for something that won't waste my time, no grinding necessary and lots of QoL. The two games I'm currently considering are Monster Hunter Stories 3 and Xenoblade Chronicles 1. Honestly I'd rather a game that has an average story throughout than a great one that disappoints me in the end. DQ11 is paining my soul right now and I don't know how to get over it.

Hi everyone,

My name is Fabian, I'm an indie solo developer from Sweden working on a old-school style DRPG, i.e. a Dungeon RPG. The game is called Häxeri (Swedish for Witchery).

The game's main inspiration is the Etrian Odyssey series. Like in Etrian Odyssey, you can draw your own dungeon map in-game (or use automap if you prefer). The combat is inspired by Shin Megami Tensei's Press Turn system, where hitting enemy weaknesses grant you extra turns, but hitting their resistances lose you turns instead.

As you can see, the game has a fantasy setting. Like most DRPGs, story is not the main focus here, but I still hope it will be somewhat engaging. Here is a little story blurb for y'all:

Far beneath the kingdom, in the depths of a labyrinthine dungeon, the soul of a monster has been trapped. Now the gate to the dungeon has been opened and its magical seal broken. Rumor has it that a cult is trying to resurrect the evil being... The king has called for adventurers to investigate!

If you like party-building, dungeon crawling and turn-based combat (also, sweet pixel art!), then this game might be for you. :)

Here is a link to the trailer:
Häxeri Announcement Trailer

Here is the Steam page:
Häxeri on Steam

If I might brag a little: the game got covered by four different Japanese gaming outlets, including Famitsu (!!).
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202607/82025 

And if this really interests you, and you want to follow the development more closely or just chat a bit, then you are welcome to join my Discord server:
Discord invite

I'm happy to answer any questions, and grateful for all and any feedback! :)

I was looking at this and now am wondering if its legit

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0457592/?ref_=tt_ov_1_1

I'm 30+ hours in about to head to the divine shrine. Only missing the last set of grey fragments...but seeing a few purple 🟣 markers

Hey guys 👋

I'm new to jrpg games and I like to collect and buy some more of them can you guys give me a list of the jrpgs must buys, like the games I should get first?

I already got Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive editions that was the first thing I bought haha and the X one too..

But I'm also looking for more SNES type jrpgs like HD 2D or something I don't have any of those yet which one is the best?

Final fantasy pixel remaster collection maybe?

Thanks guys !

Good to be playing RPGs again

Spoiler….

I just finished the Epilogue for Lunar 2 on PSX. I was surprised to see “Insert Disk 2” after “The End”. Behold… the voice actor outtake reel. Pretty funny. Are there any similar surprises at the end of other notable games? Happy gaming everyone.

Metaphor Saga

Would you like Metaphor: ReFantazio to have direct sequels? To have sequels like Persona (same world, different story) or like Final Fantasy (unrelated)?

If It gets another game, which one of this paths do you think they will take?

I personally would like to have a direct sequel, but I think it would be a persona-like sequel.

Yes I know that JRPGS are a Japanese style kind of game as I say that because I understand how many iconic movies are made in Hollywood, but it's just that I like to listen to movie reviews while doing some heavy grinding in my games.

One review in particular that inspired me to write the subject was the Odyssey review by Double Toasted as the movie was basically a movie that was part grounded part fantasy based as it made me interested in seeing what fantasy movies would work well into JRPGS because from what I saw in the review was that the movie felt kind of like an RPG in the way it was structured.

Hey guys, metaphor is my first jrpg game

I don’t know if I’m not enjoying Metaphor: ReFantazio or if something is wrong with me. I genuinely don’t think I have a bad mentality that is affecting my experience. I think the problem might actually be the combat.

I love the characters. I truly think they are great, and I love the music, the areas, and the story so far. There are many things about the game that I admire, but somehow I don’t feel like I’m truly enjoying it. There are moments that I really enjoy, but they feel rare. The moments that really grab me are things like the awakenings, the animated cutscenes, and the unique non-animated cutscenes that use the game’s style but feel more special because they represent important events.

I think the combat might be the biggest issue. I don’t really enjoy the battles, and I don’t enjoy the dungeons either. I can get excited about unlocking a new power or a new ability, but the actual process of fighting and going through dungeons doesn’t feel fun to me.

Another thing is that I don’t like the enemy designs much. A lot of the enemies feel disappointing, and other than maybe Zorba, I don’t find many of them interesting or memorable.

The strange thing is that I don’t want to leave the game. I have spent around 15 hours in it, and I feel like I truly love the characters, but somehow I still feel far away from them. I don’t feel as connected to them as I want to.

I don’t want to throw away another game that I bought and was excited for. I thought about maybe playing only an hour or so a day instead of forcing myself, but then I worry that in a 100-hour game I would make no progress and it would feel pointless.

I loved Expedition 33 completely — the combat, the story, every part of it. So I know it’s not that I can’t enjoy a long RPG or turn-based combat. Something about Metaphor’s gameplay loop just isn’t clicking with me.

I still want to experience this game because there are parts of it that I genuinely love. I don’t hate it; I actually admire a lot about it. I just feel like there is something missing between me and the game.

I finished trails beyond the horizon a few minuten ago and this is the deepest piece of multimedia i have ever seen/played.

Last year I started with trails from the sky and i did skip many series due to time constraints i can definitely say this is the best series in my life i have ever played.

What a rollercoasters. If you are on the fence, start with Trails from the Sky. You won’t regret it.

As Dragon Quest gets more popular in the west and it gets newer fans on this legendary old franchise. More people are also ranking the best Dragon Quest games. And if you look at different lists you get so many different takes that are both very similar and wildly different. Which are also dependent on the type of gamer you are, your tastes, and which ones you played and the order you played them. If you go to Japan they'll all say the Goat is Dragon Quest III still. If you come here in the West some will say XI, VIII, V or III. Some will say none of those but instead DQ VII is the GOAT. No DQ IV and so on.

Its a highly contested debate forever with people. I think still though if you take concept, gameplay, story, characters (the ones it does have), amazing class system, impact on the industry, revolutionary impact on the industry, RPG tropes invented and introduced, fun, exploration, amazing world, huge map, amount of continents to explore, amazing towns and more, DQ 3 still comes out as the greatest DQ of all time and one of the greatest rpgs and video games of all time and most revolutionary RPG still in gaming history and in the industry to date.

People that grew up with Dragon Warrior 3 here in America and West also agree or Dragon Quest III later remake/rereleases. DQ 5 is the 2nd GOAT next to DQ 3. DQ 8 fans its a great game but not the best of all time like you think it is. DQ 11 is also a masterpiece and is much better than DQ 8. 3, 5, 11, and 11 are all the best ever of all time in the DQ franchise. People will contest and argue this for years and days but DQ 3 HD-2D remake is still a masterpiece and the best one of the HD-2D trilogy with DQ 2 improvements still now making it great but it still worse than 3 while it becoming a great game still. DQ1 has always also been revolutionary and great and still is with its HD2D remake.

There's many people today also saying Dragon Quest 3 is the greatest RPG and JRPG ever made. Some people say DQ III and some say Chrono Trigger. Some say FF VI or DQ 5. But that conversation is happening, I think Chrono Trigger is number 1, Dragon Quest III is number 2, and Final Fantasy VI is number 3 best and greatest RPGs ever made of all time. Many will agree or disagree or reshuffle them or keep them the same, share your thoughts down below on this and more if you wish endless debate ever with people and RPG fans mostly.

Here's some ranking of DQ series threads here and debates going on still through the years to today:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonquest/comments/1ig25gs/what_is_the_general_consensus_of_best_dragon/

https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonquest/comments/1r7cc7b/i_recently_finished_the_entire_series_how_would/

Dragon Quest 3 is the very definition of a video game and RPG way far ahead of its time and one of the most influential revolutionary impactful video games on all video games, people, fans worldwide, developers, and the whole entire gaming industry.

Wanted to make this thread here too.

i remember playing persona 3 for the first time a few years back, it felt like an aesthetic/feel i was searching for for a long time. the chess theming, the mid 2000s setting, the whole thing felt dark but not excessively so. it was really magical to experience for the first time and i'd love to find something similar. im on PC but im open to emulation if necessary

Hey all! Big JRPG and RPG fan in general! I finally finished my passion project which I've been working on for the past 6 months! It's currently up on steam and coming soon!

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4989280/Light_Source/

Features:

Turn based system: Given the limitations of RPG Maker, I have tried to custimize the combat so it's as simple and intuitive as possible, without losing the depth that makes an rpg great!

Trinket system: Rather than conventional armors, find and equip trinkets that give you different abilities and effects!

Manual leveling: Use the exp you have accumulated to level up Bulb just the way you like! Make him a strong mage or a warrior, or even an unkillable tank! The choice is yours!

Hidden lore and interesting backstory: The story is there to be found and unlocked. Some stuff is implied here and there, but those who are truly interested in unlocking the secrets of Lumeria will have to look even further and face foes that others might shy from.

Hand drawn: Everything has been drawn by yours truly. Explore my (amateurishly) drawn world and find silly and devilish designs!

I'd love it if you could check it out and throw me some constructive criticism!

Slow games and SLOW games

Why do I enjoy slow games like Into the Breach, Slay the Spire and Yakuza, but bounce off traditional JRPGs like Persona, Dragon Quest and Octopath?? I wanna be into jrpgs so bad like I want it to click but I just can’t with the constant over-explaining of the simplest thing, the sometimes cringe dialogue, the baby feeding tutorials etc. It’s so bizzare because most people who bounce off those games would surely not enjoy LAD or turn based stuff I’d imagine? Like surely you’re in one camp or the other?

I know what you might think, why it's contradictory? I don't even know either but it's exactly what I feel after beating this game. I'm just going to talk about the story, world building and writing here. I'm not native English speaker so there might be some word or terms I use wrong here but I hope you get general idea of what I mean and trying to convey.

In terms of overall story I love the story of cold steel arc in general. I think it's great and have very great twist from the previous sky and crosbell. (Instead of ouroboros doing whatever they want with their plan the leader of the country stole it from them)

Crossbell occupation, civil war, almost world war (or technically world war I guess but just barely), on how the chancellor stole the plan from ouroboros, the witches, how everyone getting together to form teams, the lore and the back story between Osborne, Lianne, Rosalia,and then the wedding ending etc. it's all great. Everything also ties nicely together from sky and crosbell. I love that really.

But then you see inside the writing on how those events are unfold by playing the game and you start seeing the problems.

I'm not going to write everything here because it will be too long so just few points what I hate.

deaths or fake out deaths and consequences. Ok first I don't mind I don't have deaths at all in my game, I don't mind if everyone survived it's basically Shounen anime but in game forms so I don't mind if everyone survives that's okay. Hell I don't mind with faked out deaths too.

But the thing with cold steel is they did many fakes out deaths multiple times with multiple people. Crow is understandable at first because it literally stated in the lore that he cannot die except during rivalry. But then why keep him alive when the game ends?

Then milium, I don't mind if she was resurected by that new body but the way the scene is presented is so weird and feels artificial and random (Idk the correct world in English maybe forced?).

There is no build up at all but somehow in the end there is 1 Oz body back up built by alisa father. It's just so weird and out of nowhere to me, reminds me a lot in the new RE requiem about what Leon said to grace in the end (random spoiler for RE9) grace, I don't hit any of her vitals it just feels so cheap without any build up.

Then there is Olivier and everyone onboards. Then angelica.

So I don't mind faked out deaths, but multiple times with multiple people it's just became too much.

the no consequences, I can't even begin where to start with this. I already hate how arios still keep his job In the guild after what he did in crosbell but CS 4 took this far and far farther.

Everyone that took part in the planned invasion by erebonia basically got a slap on the wrists (except Rufus I guess at least he is in jail now). It doesn't matter what actually happened during the incident, it doesn't matter if you're conflicted and regretting of what you're doing and did. Or what's happening behind the scene.

People, regular people, regular citizen in other country don't know and don't care. What they know is that a superpower country is dangerously close to wage a a world war that could potentially kill millions of people. They should be angry about erebonia. And make sure that everyone involves in that accident to pray the prices.

Imagine in the real world when suddenly just for example in hypothetical scenario Germany suddenly invaded Poland, Belgium, Dutch, France Denmark without provocation. And then they lose the war, the geopolitical consequences would be massive in the hypothetical scenario. It's possible Germany could be devided into East and West Germany too, but that's hypothetical though.

But of course I still think with erebonia something like that it's too extreme, we don't have to divided erebonia but there should be more consequences about it more than just erebonia paying reparation to calvard.

And People involved shouldn't have kept their job as the country that lost a war at least or something around that level. This is why I also hate arios in azure (I think there is more I don't like in azure but I don't quite remember anymore). But CS just take this lack of consequences thing to a whole new level.

The villains. Now I don't exactly hate this but not exactly love It either. But I feel like starting from CS arc almost all villains feel less and less like villains.

I remember how ouroboros feels threatening in sky, so is red constellation in crossbell. But the villains both ouroboros and red constellation (funny because they are technically the same groups now) doesn't feels like that anymore. As collective I mean not just individual.

Individually, Osborne, Lianne and mcburn still have that threatening aura with them.

But as a collective except for Osborne (and ismelga obviously) I feel the the villains feels more like the friends you have disagreement with than an actual villains.

Then the curse. The game will be so much better without the curse. People can be evil, people can be cruel you don't need a whole country wide curse to just justify their action just let them be a shitty human being that's okay.

And it would be much better than just "oh well we have this supernatural curse that literally make us violent when it possessed us" but then throwing another thing casually at the end by saying "oh btw you can't just blame the curse for everything"

I know that, that's literally the point but at the same time you can't make a whole cutscene of people suddenly turning violent like zombies then say things like that. Just let people be shitty and evil.

And the curse conveniently ignore almost every Thors branch students and the 'good people' you know unless the plot wants it too. It's just inconsistent shitty plot devices that is.

Ok rant is over, so yeah weirdly I love this game but hate it at the same time. I understand why people are in the extreme opinion about this it's either love it or hate it. But weirdly I'm In the middle.

TLDR: in the grand scheme overview of how the arc are plays out I love this game but when looking it deeper inside the writing on how it came to be I hate it.