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It’s impossible to not have a few favourite games that have a special place in our hearts, especially since there’s so many to choose from today.
So what about the best JRPG? Are there some must play titles that deserve the praise?
Let's find out!
It’s been a few decades since the release of the earliest JRPGs and there’s a lot of games to pick from.
Some games have great stories, some enjoyable gameplay and combat, others look absolutely gorgeous or possess music that stays with you forever.
But only the titles that combine these can be considered as the greatest.
JRPGs tend to be more linear when it comes to storytelling. Quite often the player takes a role of an existing character and plays their part within the story.
This allows the player to participate in a world from a perspective of someone with personal stakes, challenges and potential character growth.
If done right, it’ll be remembered for years to come by many, many fans. Hopefully spanning a sequel or maybe even a franchise.
The classic JRPGs were primarily designed with turn-based menu combat, due to the limitations of the hardware at the time. As new titles were released there’s been a lot of alternative combat mechanics to spice it up.
Whether it’s active turn based (ATB) or real time based combat with ability to slow down time and use abilities/items, there are alternatives to the classical experience for those who prefer more intense challenges.
Combat is afterall a big part of the experience and should be enjoyable for most of the game.
Giving players plenty of options and mechanics is quite tough to balance out but worth the risk!
Western RPG players will definitely have more “exotic” experience when it comes to JRPGs. Since there’s a lot of Japanese folklore and culture involved in it, the world-building is often very different from the ones created in the west.
This combined with the stylized animesque art creates a very distinct and recognizable style cherished by many players around the world.
The artists need to create unique designs that are memorable enough in the ocean of competing titles, not an easy task but very rewarding if successful.
The music and sound design in JRPGs is meant to be a large part of the game. Most JRPG players have very fond memories attached to certain songs within their favourite titles, as if the songs themselves were part of the story and narrative.
If you wish to completely ruin your JRPG experience, simply turn off the music, a mistake of the highest order. Even if you aren’t playing your favourite JRPG, you might still have a few favourite songs in your playlist.
Even the older titles, which had to deal with serious hardware issues were able to produce some very memorable and fantastic tracks, a mark of true masters of their craft.
Good news for newcomers to the genre, we’ve got a list of absolute gems for you to enjoy if you’re willing to give it a try.
Can’t go wrong with any of these titles and don’t worry about them not being the first game in the franchise, most of them can be played as a standalone without losing much in terms of context!
Final Fantasy is one of the most popular franchises and one of the first JRPGs to popularise the genre itself.
The sixth instalment offers one of the best storyline within the series and one of the most irredeemable and evil villains, Kefka.
As usual, the world in Final Fantasy VI is a mix of magic and technology, but this time it plays a significant role in the story, where the technologically advanced Gestahl Empire begins experimenting with enhancing humans with magic to create “Magitek soldiers” and subjugate the world.
The game focuses on the standard linear gameplay with players following the main story, with some free roam sections between each segment.
It has enjoyable and memorable characters, fantastic (get it?) story, great music with combat being the weakest part, offering only some interesting bits like Sabin's “Blitz” abilities that allow the player to input commands and have him perform special abilities, one of which is supplex (Meteor Strike in older versions) and at one point you fight an actual train… It’s quite amusing.
Definitely a great starting point for anyone taking a journey into the JRPG genre!
The fifth instalment of the Persona series and considered to be the best so far.
The story is focused around Ren Amamiya, aka Joker, and a group of friends and allies who form the group called “Phantom Thieves of Hearts”.
At the beginning the protagonist is falsely accused of a crime and put on probation, resulting in expulsion from his school. He is then lodging with his family’s friend Sojiro Sakura and begins attending Shujin Academy in Tokyo.
After coming across the “Velvet Room” he is introduced to the concept of the world of Metaverse by Igor, a place where human subconsciousness takes physical form.
There’s a lot of themes related to Japanese culture with a mix of mythological/historical characters, giving it a very unique vibe (similar to the previous titles).
The game itself is a mix of a standard dungeon exploration with social interactions with various NPCs and members of the party during the day via events.
There’s a special type of NPCs called Confidants (replaces“Social Link” mechanic from the previous games) that unlock various combat bonuses/abilities, items, extra content, potential romance and other benefits.
Combat itself contains plenty of choices and strategies and unlockable abilities for the titular Personas (physical manifestations of inner self) which makes each fight very fun and engaging.
The music was made by the previous composer and fits very well with the vibe of the game, plenty of enjoyable tracks both in the exploration parts as well as combat.
Overall it’s a great game and is a definite recommendation not only for the fans of JRPGs.
Considered as one of the greats of the JRPG genre. The player takes control of a young swordsman Crono attending a Millennial Fair in the kingdom of Guardia in 1000 AD and bumps into a young girl Marle.
The player can then spend some time enjoying the fair before going to meet up with Crono’s friend, Lucca and her newest invention, a teleporter machine. Marle decides to test out the teleporter but her pendant suddenly creates a time rip and she vanishes before the heroes and the crowd, leaving her pendant behind.
This marks the beginning of Crono, Marle and Lucca’s journey to eventually stop the apocalyptic event happening in the year 1999 AD.
The game has an immersive story with interesting characters, beautiful spritework, interesting combat mechanics and really memorable music to top it all up.
Depending on the moment when you decide to fight the main villain you’ll have a chance to see a different ending with around 13 different endings in total.
A great classic that can be enjoyed even today!
Octopath Traveler is a very interesting JRPG. It has some stunning HD graphics for the backgrounds, with great looking character sprites, engaging combat mechanics and some unique NPC interactions for each player character (PC), of which there are 8.
The story takes place in the land of Orsterra, a land filled with magic, gods and magic. Each PC has their own introduction story which is then continued in various world locations.
The players can choose any character at the beginning of the game and then freely roam the world to add others into the party at their own discretion.
Each hub location offers interactions with NPC by the use of “path actions” unique to each hero. You can for example steal (with a possibility of failure), buy items, fight them etc, with some actions risking reputation loss and locking interactions until reputation improves.
There’s a lot of enjoyable music with fully voiced cutscenes in both English and Japanese which further enhances the gameplay.
It’s hard not to recommend this game to any fans of the JRPG genre.
A remake of the Star Ocean: The Second Story, plenty of improvements in quality of life, extra gameplay content, artwork etc.
The story takes place on the planet Expel, 20 years after the first game. The players have a choice between Claude, son of the protagonist from the first game or Rena, a girl with magical powers that lives on Expel. The choice gives insight to what chosen protagonist is thinking and giving access to more scenes with other members of the team.
The game is using a real time combat system with a menu to cast spells, use items etc. You can have up to 8 party members with 3 taking part in combat. There’s plenty of utility skills to enhance your equipment, craft items, avoid/lure enemies to further give more options to the player.
It also employs a “private moment” action within towns that allows the protagonist to interact with members during their down time which affects their relationship. The relationship affects both gameplay and the ending scenes and is up to the player to decide relationship dynamics within the party.
It’s definitely worth a check for any JRPG enthusiasts, especially for fans of the series who played the originals.
If you’re someone who’s trying to get into JRPGs, all of these titles would be a great choice. It’s recommended to start with the older ones first, as it may be a little bit harder to enjoy the sprites and artwork from older games after playing the more recent titles.
FF VI and Chrono Trigger would be really great choices, especially for those who enjoy rich stories with enjoyable and engaging characters.
The choice is up to you!
There’s a lot more quality of life improvements to the classics, unlockables, extra content and the like. Classics still hold very well in comparison though.
It sets the mood and stays with the players for a very long time, plus they’re often really enjoyable to listen to outside of the game itself.
Every successful JRPG sets a new standard for new generations, causing future developers to learn from their design and improve them further in their own creations.
It’s especially true today with fewer hardware limitations.
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