Yakoob on 5/4/2012 at 04:30
I know it's a risky endavour asking for this on TTLG, but after the Witchers and Mass Effects I'm a bit burnt out on the big open worlds, fancy dialogues and exciting action, and feel like settling for more a brainless, linear, quasi-turn based numbers game. It's just an itch I need to scratch, pops in every once in a while.
I'm always turned to SNES in those cases, but by now I have most of the classics covered (particularly the obligatory FF4-6, Chrono Trigger, Shadowrun (which doesnt really fit the bill here) and Secret of Mana + Earthbound which I didn't care for) but anything I might have missed on I'm down for. I haven't played many on PS 1 / 2 (mainly just FF7-9, Tactics, Vagrant Story which were great, and Parasite Eve / FF8 that were terrible), so that category is open too. Not really looking for handhelds at the moment (only have GBA and DSi), altho I've heard Radiant Historia and World Ends With You are supposed to be good for the DS but checking my local game stores was no luck and Newegg is out of stock (and dont wanna be bothered signing up/ordering/waiting on amazon or other sites atm.)
I'd love a good story but let's be honest here, it's JRPGs we're speaking of, so my expectations aren't high :p Like I said, im strangely craving some pretty tilesets, non-action but turn-based combat, stats and items, and 2D animu graphics (which is probably due to me watching lots of Cowboy Bebop and GITS lately, as my thread in CommChat might tell you).
Malf on 5/4/2012 at 08:11
I'm not an aficionado of these things by any stretch of the imagination, but several friends I know like this kind of thing are saying good things about Ys which has just become available on Steam.
About the closest I got to really liking a JRPG was Valkyria Chronicles which I truly adore, but that's more turn-based strategy with an anime flavour.
Briareos H on 5/4/2012 at 08:32
Baten Kaitos.
icemann on 5/4/2012 at 08:52
Yakoob: Your lucky you have atleast one JRPG lover around here (though I love WRPGs equally). The rpgs to recommend really depends on what your after.
For fairly A-Typical JRPG style I would recommend: Grandia 1 (PS1) & 2 (PS2), Arc the Lad 1-3 (PS1), Star Ocean 1 (SNES) 2 (PS1) & 3 (PS2), Wild Arms 1 & 2 (ps1) to name a few though there are plenty more.
For less typical:
* Alundra (PS1) - Best described as a Zelda: Link to the Past style RPG. Better than Link to the Past, which I don't say lightly.
* Azure Dreams - Game where your main goal is to reach the top of the towns monster tower, whilst gathering monster companions to party with you, improve the local town via purchasing upgrades etc + date local girls.
* Dark Cloud 1 & 2 (the second game is more commonly known as Dark Chronicle). Action RPG with a heavy emphasis on time travel, town building and dungeon crawling. Great games.
* The .Hack games (PS2). Out of all of the rpgs I've mentioned this would be the LEAST typical JRPGs of the lot. The games are split between two series of games, the "SIGN" series (4 games) and the GU series (3 games) with you carrying over your saved games from game to game with all items and levels carried over (ala Mass Effect style). The games are best summarized as games within games as all of the games are set within a alternate future with you playing a fictional steam punk MMO called "The World". These games are the only cases I can think of where a game is set within a fictional MMO. Excellent excellent games. Best played in the order of the SIGN games and then the GU games.
kora on 5/4/2012 at 08:52
Last thing I tried was Der Langrisser (translated rom) for the Snes/Genesis.. though in this day & age you'd probably give up the ghost to play that. For GBA, FFT Advanced was my guilty pleasure, fire emblem I recall being great. Tactics Ogre for gba/psx/snes..
Sulphur on 5/4/2012 at 09:30
I ain't played them at all, but it looks like what you're hankering for is the Disgaea games.
faetal on 5/4/2012 at 09:50
Perhaps not a traditional jRPG, but if you haven't played Anachronox, it deserves your attention. It certainly moulds itself on FF style combat and exploration. Just bear with the first 2 hours as it's slow to pick up.
june gloom on 5/4/2012 at 10:13
Etrian Odyssey.
Hurts so good.
Maxmillion on 5/4/2012 at 15:41
I've always been a fan of Phantasy Star 4 for the Genesis.
june gloom on 5/4/2012 at 18:28
Well... not strictly Japanese-made, but how about (
www.kisarethstudios.com) Chronicles of a Dark Lord? It's heavily modeled on old SNES jRPGs, the stuff its makers grew up on. There's two versions of the first episode: the old, RPG-maker one and the Enhanced Edition that's on all-new proprietary code. It's a good game, about 15 hours' worth, for only $5 in digital distro.
Disclosure: I'm their marketing director, so yes I'm hawking this. But give it a try.
And yes, we have a (
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kisarethstudios/1959840811?token=4e680383) Kickstarter.
