Lol, absolutely don't try KH then. I'm a big Donald Duck fan, but KH Donald is a little asshole.
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My first JRPG. For the second time.
- Thread starter PenultimateFantasy
- Start date
Lol, absolutely don't try KH then. I'm a big Donald Duck fan, but KH Donald is a little asshole.
If I were you I would try Tales of Berseria. Action-based combat (in my opinion it's less likely that you will get bored of the combat if it's action based), but you will get to experience a true JRPG story.
After you have played it and if you like it, my recomendation would be Xenoblade Chronicles. This one is a very long one but my personal favorite. It will get a remaster on Switch this year.
After you have played it and if you like it, my recomendation would be Xenoblade Chronicles. This one is a very long one but my personal favorite. It will get a remaster on Switch this year.
You could try Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga on the 3DS, lol. It's not like a lot of other JRPGs but it's fun and it's easy to learn. It's probably a solid JRPG for genre newcomers especially. There's a couple of Mario and Luigi games on 3DS but that's the one I'd go with because it's a remake of the first in the series (my personal favorite too)
I'm not really a huge fan of the modern port because of the blur filter, but I'd still say try Grandia 1 (if you're happy emulating, saturn version + translation patch is better).
It's one of the best rpgs ever and has a very engaging battle system that's better than any apart from other Grandia games and Panzer Dragoon Saga. It also has a fantastic sense of adventure and derring-do.
I played Trials of Mana back when it was called Seiken Densetsu 3 and you had to fan patch it. If the remake is anywhere as good I can't recommend it enough.
Fun class system, multiple characters for replayability, it was really good(and the remake looks good as well)
If you don't like turn based, try out Tales of Vesperia. Real time party combat.
Tales of Vesperia is a really solid game. One of my favorite casts of games.
Maybe give a tactical RPG a shot, like Disgaea 1 Complete or Valkyria Chronicles Remastered.
I think Persona 5 is only a good start if you take breaks and don't mind playing it over a couple of months. It's a time investment like the whole genre is.
I think Chrono Trigger DS is a great first start if you don't mind turn-based battles.
Yakuza 0 might not seem like a JRPG, but it has a skill tree, battle "encounters" with beat-em-up combat, longform arc-based storytelling, textbox dialog scenes, rpg-based progression and optional minigames.
The thing about JRPGs is that the main gameplay loop of "battling" or progression is repetitive, and in the worst case, might not even be challenging or engaging (which is my problem with Pokémon). The best RPGs avoid this by having incredible amounts of variety (Chrono Trigger) or hide an incredible amount of complexity (Pokémon endgame, Dragon Quest when you avoid shops, encounters, levelling, Disgaea) or are really punishing (Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, Etrian Odyssey).
I think Chrono Trigger DS is a great first start if you don't mind turn-based battles.
Yakuza 0 might not seem like a JRPG, but it has a skill tree, battle "encounters" with beat-em-up combat, longform arc-based storytelling, textbox dialog scenes, rpg-based progression and optional minigames.
The thing about JRPGs is that the main gameplay loop of "battling" or progression is repetitive, and in the worst case, might not even be challenging or engaging (which is my problem with Pokémon). The best RPGs avoid this by having incredible amounts of variety (Chrono Trigger) or hide an incredible amount of complexity (Pokémon endgame, Dragon Quest when you avoid shops, encounters, levelling, Disgaea) or are really punishing (Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, Etrian Odyssey).
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Also do not play a kingdom hearts or persona game as your "first" rpg. ignore these crazy people
Chrono Trigger and Xenoblade are other good suggestions I've seen in this thread.
Chrono Trigger and Xenoblade are other good suggestions I've seen in this thread.
I think it will be easier to recommend or not something if you explain why you didn't enjoyed FFVI/VIII/X. Is it the turn based combat? Too many dialogues? Too cinematic and not gamey enough? Depending on your answer, we can narrow the options a whole lot.
Like, Etrian Odyssey is ideal for those that want to focus on the core gameplay and couldn't give two shits for story stuff.
If you don't enjoy turn based, try something like Tales of Berseria, great game and classic af jrpg. Or maybe try something different like Yakuza or even Dark Souls.
If you don't like how classic turn based jrpgs has enemies at one side / allies on another, you can try something more strategic and focused on character position. In this case, Devil Survivor is pretty great. Tho kinda hard? Maybe Stella Glow for something easier.
Like, Etrian Odyssey is ideal for those that want to focus on the core gameplay and couldn't give two shits for story stuff.
If you don't enjoy turn based, try something like Tales of Berseria, great game and classic af jrpg. Or maybe try something different like Yakuza or even Dark Souls.
If you don't like how classic turn based jrpgs has enemies at one side / allies on another, you can try something more strategic and focused on character position. In this case, Devil Survivor is pretty great. Tho kinda hard? Maybe Stella Glow for something easier.
There's hundreds of JRPGs out there of varying quality and ratios of gameplay to story and stuff like that, but if there's one I could recommend to START with I would point towards Tales of Vesperia, which has been recommended here before.
First off Tales of Vesperia is available on pretty much every console under the sun now with the recent Definitive Edition so you can play it portable, PC, whatever. As mentioned before it's an Action RPG and not a particularly complicated one, certainly not much more complicated than some of the more popular action games nowadays. Tales of Vesperia is probably one of the most "balanced" JRPGs I've played, by that I don't necessarily mean encounter balance but in terms of pacing. It has a long story but it doesn't have large hour long chunks of dialogue and meandering between gameplay sessions. What I mean is that you get heavy plot based scenes, interspersed with lighter hearted optional 1-2 minute lone dialogue "skits", with dungeons that are mildly interesting but aren't long enough to overstay their welcome, and a battle system that's fun in short bursts that is presented to you in short bursts. It has alot of modularity too, difficulty can be easily adjusted in a simple menu, there's a lot of party members that play very differently so if you get bored of one character you can immediately make the game interesting again by changing the character you control. It has a story that while isn't the best JRPGs have to offer is above average and it does a great job of getting you invested in the characters as well. It's probably the best entry point into JRPGs that I can think of.
The other Tales of Games are also pretty good entry points though they probably aren't to best start of point. Tales of Berseria, the newest one, probably has the best story of the bunch but the dungeons are utter slogs to get through and the game overstays its welcome in that regards.
Of all the talk about the Persona games they deserve a recommendation for being probably some of the better Turn Based RPGs to get started with. They are heavily unbalanced with their gameplay; you will go like hours and hours without any combat or dungeon gameplay all dialogue and a dating-sim like time management system then spent another hours and hours doing dungeons and combat without any story and so on and so forth, but Persona 5, and any of the modern Persona games (ie 3, 4 and 5) do great jobs of easing you into the relatively complex RPG systems. You can't go wrong with any of the modern Personas if you can stomach the pacing, just be aware that Persona 5 stands out by having like actual dungeons with level design instead of randomly generated corridors like Persona 3 and 4.
First off Tales of Vesperia is available on pretty much every console under the sun now with the recent Definitive Edition so you can play it portable, PC, whatever. As mentioned before it's an Action RPG and not a particularly complicated one, certainly not much more complicated than some of the more popular action games nowadays. Tales of Vesperia is probably one of the most "balanced" JRPGs I've played, by that I don't necessarily mean encounter balance but in terms of pacing. It has a long story but it doesn't have large hour long chunks of dialogue and meandering between gameplay sessions. What I mean is that you get heavy plot based scenes, interspersed with lighter hearted optional 1-2 minute lone dialogue "skits", with dungeons that are mildly interesting but aren't long enough to overstay their welcome, and a battle system that's fun in short bursts that is presented to you in short bursts. It has alot of modularity too, difficulty can be easily adjusted in a simple menu, there's a lot of party members that play very differently so if you get bored of one character you can immediately make the game interesting again by changing the character you control. It has a story that while isn't the best JRPGs have to offer is above average and it does a great job of getting you invested in the characters as well. It's probably the best entry point into JRPGs that I can think of.
The other Tales of Games are also pretty good entry points though they probably aren't to best start of point. Tales of Berseria, the newest one, probably has the best story of the bunch but the dungeons are utter slogs to get through and the game overstays its welcome in that regards.
Of all the talk about the Persona games they deserve a recommendation for being probably some of the better Turn Based RPGs to get started with. They are heavily unbalanced with their gameplay; you will go like hours and hours without any combat or dungeon gameplay all dialogue and a dating-sim like time management system then spent another hours and hours doing dungeons and combat without any story and so on and so forth, but Persona 5, and any of the modern Persona games (ie 3, 4 and 5) do great jobs of easing you into the relatively complex RPG systems. You can't go wrong with any of the modern Personas if you can stomach the pacing, just be aware that Persona 5 stands out by having like actual dungeons with level design instead of randomly generated corridors like Persona 3 and 4.
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Ha. I work in the entertainment industry so TMS looks fun.
Persona lite also sounds appealing
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Thank you for this very detailed summary.
ToV might be top of my list now 😃
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I''m honestly not sure what I could recommend that you would enjoy, but I see a lot of 80-hour JRPG-ass JRPGs being recommended in this thread that I think definitely aren't it lol.
ToV is one of them. Especially now as its cutscene direction and story structure are very dated. Whatever you're doing in that game, prepare to be interrupted by another cutscene every 10 steps where the entire cast of characters needs to go over plot details again and reiterate everything they said in the last cutscene. The director apparently thought every single character needed to have input in every conversation, regardless of how repetitive and redundant it was.
ToV is one of them. Especially now as its cutscene direction and story structure are very dated. Whatever you're doing in that game, prepare to be interrupted by another cutscene every 10 steps where the entire cast of characters needs to go over plot details again and reiterate everything they said in the last cutscene. The director apparently thought every single character needed to have input in every conversation, regardless of how repetitive and redundant it was.
Little more on the grandia battle system (not clear if it's the battle system that turned you off the FF & Pokemon attempts) -
Grandia basically has a very dynamic turn based battle systems. It's ATB like most Final Fantasy games, all party members and enemies move along a bar over time, and when a character's icon reaches the end of the bar they can attack, *but* the gimmick here that makes it really stand out and makes the series so fun to play is that if you attack an enemy, the enemy's progress along the bar stalls temporarily. If you "critical" an enemy, which is another attack option which is weaker then the standard attack, the enemy actually falls back in the time bar. If you time a critical well (very close to when they are almost allowed to attack), they don't just get pushed back a bit in the time bar, they have to start all over again.
Magic attacks are often area based, so where enemies are in the battlefield determines how many will get caught in an AOE attack. The battle system is generally considered one of the best JRPG battle systems ever.
Grandia basically has a very dynamic turn based battle systems. It's ATB like most Final Fantasy games, all party members and enemies move along a bar over time, and when a character's icon reaches the end of the bar they can attack, *but* the gimmick here that makes it really stand out and makes the series so fun to play is that if you attack an enemy, the enemy's progress along the bar stalls temporarily. If you "critical" an enemy, which is another attack option which is weaker then the standard attack, the enemy actually falls back in the time bar. If you time a critical well (very close to when they are almost allowed to attack), they don't just get pushed back a bit in the time bar, they have to start all over again.
Magic attacks are often area based, so where enemies are in the battlefield determines how many will get caught in an AOE attack. The battle system is generally considered one of the best JRPG battle systems ever.
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Good point.
Ok - I like a strong narrative, I've not enjoyed turn based combat before but I'm willing to give it a go again, I'm not a big anime guy but no problem with cute.
Does that help?
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Ok, interesting
I think the issue I had with FF7 and 8 and Pokémon is I just found am attack that worked and did the same thing for basically the whole game, swapping in more powerful summons as I got them. There was no variety
Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a pretty good choice for starting RPG but I would hesitate to strongly recommend it. It doesn't have English VA so you have to be OK with subtitles and Japanese Voices in general. They also don't subtitle the battle system so you won't have the foggiest idea what people are saying in the middle of battle encounters.
I'd say the biggest issue is that's it's just kinda mediocre in general. Like I'm struggling as I'm typing this to remember what the story was actually about which is never a good sign. The battle system is flashy and has depth on the surface but it's really, really long and sloggy battle encounters. Like you can hit the attack button and watch a very impressive looking chain attack between like 8 party members and that's all and good and all but you're watching like a 20 second uninterruptable battle animation EVERY SINGLE DAMN FIGHT. It is probably one of the JRPGs I remember dozing off playing the most in. The dungeons are... better than randomly generated corridors but not much more. There's a ton of general Japanese anime silliness that you need to have a stomach for, like old man pining after a grade-schooler, and idol culture, and generally much more cringe than you would get than mainline Persona games which on average are alot more serious than this game.
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Ha thanks for the heads up - I think I'd be ok with that - good to know in advance though 👍
FFXII Zodiac Age sounds perfect for you.
Ni No Kuni too, maybe. It's anime (Ghibli) but it's not like schoolgirls, fanservice stuff: it's very charming, and it has a good sense of adventure.
Try Ys VIII if you want an action jrpg and turn-based ones aren't your thing. Good combat and music.
There's also Trials of Mana coming up.
If it's the turn-based 'linefight' combat that was the issue, you could also try SRPGs. Valkyria Chronicles and Fire Emblem: Three Houses are worth a shot, the positioning makes them much more interesting over far fewer, but far larger battles.
There's also Trials of Mana coming up.
If it's the turn-based 'linefight' combat that was the issue, you could also try SRPGs. Valkyria Chronicles and Fire Emblem: Three Houses are worth a shot, the positioning makes them much more interesting over far fewer, but far larger battles.
You know what, I really like TMS buy you're not wrong in anything you've said..
Honestly, I'd recommend Undertale if you haven't played it. It's a game that I can fully expect someone who doesn't even like JRPG's to perhaps still enjoy due to its unique mechanics and narrative, but as an entry point it also introduces you to a lot of the concepts of the structure of a JRPG in a very short game. Plus its combat is action and puzzle based (still taken in turns but not really traditional "turn based").
Obviously after that you'd want to move on to something more traditional however. Persona is a good shout if you're cool with anime, since a lot of that game is social sim which can help ease new players into the genre. 5 is obviously the new hotness but any from 3 onwards would do you (I hear 1 and 2 are good, but more traditional so maybe don't start there).
DQ11 is a good example of tradition to a fault, but as you've already said that the composer fucks it for you I really wouldn't say it's worth giving a shot. There's so many great JRPG's that there's no need to go for stuff that makes you feel kinda shitty to support (maybe this is also a good reason to avoid persona tbh).
Another suggestion I have would be Fire Emblem: Three Houses. It's not a JRPG really, more of a tactics game, but it shares enough DNA that if strategy is your thing it could ease you in.
For a final, wackier pick: Yakuza 0. Despite all appearances, the Yakuza games are JRPG's, complete with levelling systems, encounters and boss fights. It just also uses a brawler combat system rather than turn based and a modern day, "realistic" setting rather than the varying levels of fantasy most games have. 0 specifically is the perfect place to start, being a prequel that requires literally 0 knowledge of the series to get in to (it's personally my pick for the best example of a prequel ever done, at least for the means of unchaining itself from a long continuity).
Plus if you like that, the next Yakuza coming out is literally a turn based JRPG, so there's an easy next game for you.
Obviously after that you'd want to move on to something more traditional however. Persona is a good shout if you're cool with anime, since a lot of that game is social sim which can help ease new players into the genre. 5 is obviously the new hotness but any from 3 onwards would do you (I hear 1 and 2 are good, but more traditional so maybe don't start there).
DQ11 is a good example of tradition to a fault, but as you've already said that the composer fucks it for you I really wouldn't say it's worth giving a shot. There's so many great JRPG's that there's no need to go for stuff that makes you feel kinda shitty to support (maybe this is also a good reason to avoid persona tbh).
Another suggestion I have would be Fire Emblem: Three Houses. It's not a JRPG really, more of a tactics game, but it shares enough DNA that if strategy is your thing it could ease you in.
For a final, wackier pick: Yakuza 0. Despite all appearances, the Yakuza games are JRPG's, complete with levelling systems, encounters and boss fights. It just also uses a brawler combat system rather than turn based and a modern day, "realistic" setting rather than the varying levels of fantasy most games have. 0 specifically is the perfect place to start, being a prequel that requires literally 0 knowledge of the series to get in to (it's personally my pick for the best example of a prequel ever done, at least for the means of unchaining itself from a long continuity).
Plus if you like that, the next Yakuza coming out is literally a turn based JRPG, so there's an easy next game for you.
If you're not a big anime guy, definitely stay away from Persona and Tales.
If you don't like turn-based battle, my first recommendation is Alundra. It's a PS1 game, but can be played through PS Vita, PS3 or emulator through PC. Action gameplay, dungeons with puzzle and compelling story albeit a bit simple.
This is what most mainstream JRPGs devolve into after a point. When the challenge doesn't scale up with character levels (or is simply not factored in at specific levels), inevitably it just becomes "mash X to win" regarding trash encounters. Bosses end up usually being the only point where you actually have to think about what you are doing. This typically doesn't happen before the halfway point though in the games I've played.
Alundra isn't a JRPG though. It's mainly a Zelda knockoff.
I'd consider Suikoden 1 or 2 (PS1 classics on Vita or PS3). They are relatively short and straightforward. They are both beautiful games, and 2 is considered a classic.
That really depends on how you view it.
Some people consider Zelda a JRPG too.
For people new to the genre, trying a borderline JRPG will be easier to get into.
I've also seen people recommending Yakuza here.
Yakuza is as much JRPG as Alundra :/
I think Persona 4 Golden or Persona 5 is generally accepted as two of the best ways to get into turn based JRPGs. They have a very snappy and modernised take on turn based combat, a generally good story, and most importantly, really fun characters that you fall in love with. Length and the pacing of the calander progression system is probably the only thing you should be wary of when getting into these games.
If you want something with more active combat, Nier Automata or Xenoblade (2 or the upcoming HD remake of 1) might be more your speed.
If you want something with more active combat, Nier Automata or Xenoblade (2 or the upcoming HD remake of 1) might be more your speed.
Full disclosure, I worked on the following game so I'm obviously biased.
I think Cosmic Star Heroine would be an excellent first JRPG.
1 - It's very fast-paced and the whole thing only takes around 15 hours so not a huge commitment.
2 - It has 4 difficulty levels and you can switch between them at will. I recommend starting on one of the two middle difficulties and then adjusting up or down if it's too easy or hard.
3 - It's turn-based, but you can't just use the same move over and over. It uses a unique battle system where there's no MP and most moves can only be used once before you need to defend/recharge, thus encouraging you to mix things up. Also, the game frequently changes who is in your party so you have to adjust your strategies accordingly.
4 - There's no complicated LV-Up system. When you LV-Up, your stats go up & you may learn new abilities. And then you decide which abilities to equip into battle (but you can freely equip & unequip learned abilities). There's no way to permanently mess up your build like in some RPGs.
5 - Lots of humor.
6 - Great pixel art & a killer soundtrack (Nominated for Chiptune Score of 2017 in the Annual Video Game Music Awards, although we lost to Sonic Mania).
It's available on Switch, PS4, and PC.
One of my daughters played through the whole game on the easiest difficulty and enjoyed it. She was around 10 at the time, so obviously she didn't have a whole lot of RPG experience. :)
I think Cosmic Star Heroine would be an excellent first JRPG.
1 - It's very fast-paced and the whole thing only takes around 15 hours so not a huge commitment.
2 - It has 4 difficulty levels and you can switch between them at will. I recommend starting on one of the two middle difficulties and then adjusting up or down if it's too easy or hard.
3 - It's turn-based, but you can't just use the same move over and over. It uses a unique battle system where there's no MP and most moves can only be used once before you need to defend/recharge, thus encouraging you to mix things up. Also, the game frequently changes who is in your party so you have to adjust your strategies accordingly.
4 - There's no complicated LV-Up system. When you LV-Up, your stats go up & you may learn new abilities. And then you decide which abilities to equip into battle (but you can freely equip & unequip learned abilities). There's no way to permanently mess up your build like in some RPGs.
5 - Lots of humor.
6 - Great pixel art & a killer soundtrack (Nominated for Chiptune Score of 2017 in the Annual Video Game Music Awards, although we lost to Sonic Mania).
It's available on Switch, PS4, and PC.
One of my daughters played through the whole game on the easiest difficulty and enjoyed it. She was around 10 at the time, so obviously she didn't have a whole lot of RPG experience. :)
I really should have mentioned this. It's readily available, not to long and has a lot of the good things associated with the genre. OP should give CSH a shot.
CSH is convoluted with it's battle system, and the writing to the game sucks beyond comprehension. I half expected any number of the shallow characters to teleport behind me and say "nothing personal, kid" while playing it. Fan fiction internet memes come to life.
OP. Play the Ys games. They are fast, upbeat, and to the point.
OP. Play the Ys games. They are fast, upbeat, and to the point.
The Ys games are fun when they let you play them as kind of a lower budget, more action-heavy Zelda/Mana series, but every one I've played wastes your time too often with really boring dialogue & plot.
Persona 5 isn't the best choice. As much as people have denied that it is a repetitive slog, it totally can be. I had to force myself to finish the game. Not enjoying turn based combat makes the decision harder...! Perhaps action RPGs are your kinda thing? You could always try the Ys series or Kingdom Hearts or something.
I agree with this. That's why best Ys is still Oath in Felghana.
It's short and compact with great gameplay that doesn't overstay its welcome.
Newer Ys are far too bloated, and the gameplay and story just don't have enough depth to keep you interested.
OP also doesn't really like anime, which Ys totally is ...
If you care about queer representation. DQ11 is leagues more positive than any Persona game. despite the composer.
If you struggle with turn based you could try any of the Tales of games. The combat is a mix of action and a fighting game almost, nothing turn based about them.
Also Ys has really fun interactive action combat but the budget for those games can be even lower than Tales of.
Also Ys has really fun interactive action combat but the budget for those games can be even lower than Tales of.
I was in the same boat, played parts of FFX, FFXII, and Chrono Trigger but they never really hooked me.
I'm like 70 hrs in to DQXI and it's fantastic. I can't wait to finish it so I can play another epic jrpg. Give it a shot, it has totally turned me in to a fan of the genre.
I'm like 70 hrs in to DQXI and it's fantastic. I can't wait to finish it so I can play another epic jrpg. Give it a shot, it has totally turned me in to a fan of the genre.
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Isn't FFXII supposed to be the worst FF?
Maybe No No Kuni - the first one yeah?
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Well Yakuza has never worked as I don't like fighting games.
Undertale I really enjoyed but I could never get past the spider boss.
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Yeah I've heard that.
I know Japanese developers are getting better but I wish they could leave that homophobic stuff in the past.
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Xeboblade looks pretty complex for someone new to JRPG - is that wrong?
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