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Ys VIII is the best JRPG of at least the past five years. And I think I've played virtually all noteworthy ones.

Deleted member 2834

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Mind you, this is no kneejerk thread. I finished the game in last August I'm still sort of in a state of post-game depression. I have not found a game as good ever since and even if I look back at the JRPGs that were released prior to it, I think I'd have to go back to Xenoblade 1 or Etrian Odyssey IV or so to find a JRPG this good. Xenoblade 2 and FF12 Zodiac Age are up there too, but all in all Ys VIII might just be my favourite.

I loved the music, the combat, the difficulty, the metroid-esque approach to exploration, the cast and continuous expansion of your camp with new survivors who would offer new services, and I even enjoyed the story quite a bit by the last third. The "Lost" setting was honestly just great. Ys VIII has almost impeccable pacing barring some story interruptions too many in the middle chapters, and is almost all killer, no filler. I'm not here to say it's perfect, but few (or no) games are, and this game came closest to providing what I expect from a modern top tier JRPG.

The best JRPGs of the 2010s are therefore:

1. Xenoblade 1
2. Ys VIII
3. Xenoblade 2
4. Etrian Odyssey IV
5. FFXII Zodiac Age
6. Nier Automata
7. Devil Survivor Overclocked
8. Persona Q1
9. Radiant Histora 3DS remake

I can't come up with a 10th game that would deserve it. If the Strange Journey remake is good, that would probably be a good fit. The FFX remaster doesn't improve the game in any meaningful way so I don't think it deserves the spot. Etrian Odyssey V was good but it was no EO IV. Either way, I cannot stress enough how good Ys VIII is. I was under the impression it's a niche B-tier game by a B-tier dev that you might want to pick up on a good sale, but scrap that. This is a god-tier JRPG and now ranks among the best games I've played in recent times. I don't think it should remain niche. It's trivially easy to pick up and have fun with.
 
jakoo

jakoo

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Oct 27, 2017
1,112
What version did you play? I always thought about picking this up on the Switch but then feel guilty about my unfinished copy of XB2: Torna.
 
jorgejjvr

jorgejjvr

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Oct 31, 2017
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I missed it when it went on sale, then got Vesperia when it went on sale, and....its okay, I thought it would be more fun

But this has reallyyyyy peaked my interested, and I feel I will like it. I will definitely pick it up next time I can.

I have persona 5 which I also need to finish, but I prefer long JRPGs on the go, I cant put much time on my tv anymore, and I love playing a good jrpg at break during work, or any chance i get
 
nsilvias

nsilvias

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,062
I concur
easily a top 5 ys game
i doubt the people mentioning persona 5 have even played an ys game
 
AllEchse

AllEchse

Member
Oct 29, 2017
4,130
I don't know how Nier Automata is on the List but no Persona 5.
I liked the game, but the difficulty balancing was awful.
Normal and easy are too easy and Hard and above is just why do they exist.
There should have been a real normal medium difficulty.
I love the Soundtrack and the Character designs, liked the Story and the gameplay, but the balacning in that game was just really off.

I should get to YS VIII soon.
 
Kromeo

Kromeo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,956
Acceptable list other than the awful Xenoblade 2. I would have Persona 5 and Trails of Cold Steel 1 in there personally
 
Spongehead56

Spongehead56

Member
Jul 6, 2018
210
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Wow, as a fellow JRPG lover, it's amazing how different of tastes we can have. I find the Xenoblade Chronicles games to be a low point in the genre, especially Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Ys VIII was a fun, well designed game, we can agree on that. Though the story lost me once Dana joined the team.

Question:

Where is Persona 5? Trails of Cold Steel 1/2? Ni No Kuni 1?
 
Astrot

Astrot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
94
I personally would add trails of cold steel I&II, dragon quest XI and persona 5 but otherwise decent list.
 
Flon

Flon

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Oct 27, 2017
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I definitely need to continue with it but the story and characters are losing me. I'd say the pacing is one of things that has me thrown off, it feels really inconsistent. And I'm a big fan of Ys, especially II and VI. Not so much Seven and Celceta though.

I need to play more games in your top 10. I did play Xenoblade a while ago and I thought that was very good. I've never really thought about my list for 2010+ JRPG's since I've been so focused on specific franchises.
 
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HBK

HBK

Member
Oct 30, 2017
8,023
Imp the Dimp said:
Unfortunately, I didn't play X.
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Then you didn't play the best JRPG of at least the past five years.

Which is also one of the best games ever made.

Still yet to play Ys 8 myself. AFAIK the PC port is still a bit meh.

As for your list, I won't comment much, those make little sense to me, but man Xenoblade 2 shouldn't be nowhere near the podium (and for the record, Xenoblade 1 shouldn't probably be there either, I enjoyed the game quite a bit but it's far from an amazeballs game with some significant pacing issues and a roughly balanced battle system to say the least).
 
werezompire

werezompire

Zeboyd Games
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
11,544
Imp the Dimp said:
How would you love Xenoblade 1 but completely dislike 2? They're not that dissimilar.
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I much prefer the combat system in Xenoblade 1 and progression systems in Xenoblade 1, dislike the blade/gatcha system, dislike all the fanservice outfits in Xenoblade 2 (yes, there are some in 1, but you can avoid them by not equipping those armors), and just generally like the characters & story in 1 a lot more than 2. Maybe some day, I'll give Xenoblade 2 another chance (and Torna sounds like it's a decent improvement over it), but it was a huge disappointment for me. My ranking is Xenoblade > X > 2 with a noticeable gap between each entry. I hope the next game reverses the trend.
 
60fps

60fps

Banned
Dec 18, 2017
3,492
I feel like this is maybe the only modern game that comes close to what makes Secret of Mana great. It has a similar uncomplicated, "pure fun" gameplay loop, a vibrant, timeless art style and a very unique cheerful charm. It is pure joy to play and immediately gives you happiness.

It also helps a lot that it runs in 60fps (on PS4 Pro at least), which makes controlling the characters (or just looking at the screen) much more satisfying.
 

Deleted member 36622

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Dec 21, 2017
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Good list, personally i prefer Xenoblade 2 over Ys VIII (more variety in the environments, better cast) but that's tastes.

Did you play Shin Megami Tensei IV?
 
eXistor

eXistor

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,364
I...think I agree. Xenoblade X might trump it for me, but it's damn close. The story is less than stellar and the game loses steam towards the end, but the game play had me hooked consistently. A perfect mix of action and exploration.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 2834

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Oct 25, 2017
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Harald23 said:
Good list, personally i prefer Xenoblade 2 over Ys VIII (more variety in the environments, better cast) but that's tastes.

Did you play Shin Megami Tensei IV?
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Yes, I wasn't too impressed with SMT IV. Apocalypse was better, but it just wouldn't end. I'll finish it someday, but I got far enough (43h) to get a picture. I did finish IV.
 

Deleted member 56773

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May 16, 2019
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Ys VIII has been on my radar as one of the only recent JRPGs that I'd actually like. I'll be checking out DQXI and Ni No Kuni on Switch (though I guess that games a lot older than it seems) when they release and I'd like to play Persona 5 eventually but other than that there's just been a lot of mediocre junk that I've tried and disliked. I think I'll probly like DQXI though.

I would like to just give a shout out to an indie game though: Cosmic Star Heroine is the only JRPG-style game I've played in the last several years I thought was actually good.

Also howwwwwww do you pronounce "Ys" ?
 
HBK

HBK

Member
Oct 30, 2017
8,023
werezompire said:
I much prefer the combat system in Xenoblade 1 and progression systems in Xenoblade 1, dislike the blade/gatcha system, dislike all the fanservice outfits in Xenoblade 2 (yes, there are some in 1, but you can avoid them by not equipping those armors), and just generally like the characters & story in 1 a lot more than 2. Maybe some day, I'll give Xenoblade 2 another chance (and Torna sounds like it's a decent improvement over it), but it was a huge disappointment for me. My ranking is Xenoblade > X > 2 with a noticeable gap between each entry. I hope the next game reverses the trend.
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I can't approve of your ranking, but the rest of your post is spot on.

The battle system of 2 in particular, while flashy, is disappointingly shallow.
 
Kromeo

Kromeo

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Oct 27, 2017
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Imp the Dimp said:
How would you love Xenoblade 1 but completely dislike 2? They're not that dissimilar.
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I really tried to like it, Xenoblade 1 is one of my favorite games of all time but I just really couldn't stand any of the characters or dialogue, and I know people love it but the combat system wasn't for me
 
Dice

Dice

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Oct 25, 2017
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werezompire said:
I much prefer the combat system in Xenoblade 1 and progression systems in Xenoblade 1, dislike the blade/gatcha system, dislike all the fanservice outfits in Xenoblade 2 (yes, there are some in 1, but you can avoid them by not equipping those armors), and just generally like the characters & story in 1 a lot more than 2. Maybe some day, I'll give Xenoblade 2 another chance (and Torna sounds like it's a decent improvement over it), but it was a huge disappointment for me. My ranking is Xenoblade > X > 2 with a noticeable gap between each entry. I hope the next game reverses the trend.
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5waIm0H.gif


I'm honestly more shocked at the ridiculous amount of praise XC2 gets with its long-winded mechanics and micro-managing and story that plays almost 1:1 to how every other sunday morning shounen anime plays out.

The best plot bits of Xenoblade 2 was stuff that dealt with the first game anyways.

Torna was, to me, an improvement of what XC2 was.
 
Mauricio_Magus

Mauricio_Magus

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Oct 25, 2017
13,109
The best JRPG I've played in the past 5 years is easily Trails in the Sky the 3rd, which is another JRPG from Falcom.
 
deathsaber

deathsaber

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Nov 2, 2017
3,107
Eh. I like Y's 8 a lot and that whole series in general, but its Falcom's own Legend of Heroes franchise, particularly the "Trails" games set on the Zemuria continent, starting with the Trails in the Sky Trilogy, followed by the Crossbell Duology, and then the Trails of Cold Steel quartet which are quietly the most brilliant things in JRPGS, and frankly the best thing since Squares SNES days in the genre.

Each individual game has 60-100+ hours of content, rife with more dialogue and world building than anything else out there, along with the best protagonists/player party's in the business and then each series featuring a certain protagonist/region is spread out over multiple games, and all of the series put together tell a huge ongoing narrative about the world they are set in and everything ties together to tell a story that is beyond epic. The fact these games have a niche following at best is utterly criminal.
 

Mudo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,116
Tennessee
Xagarath said:
A chaming Earthbound- and Pokemon-style indy RPG on Steam that came out last December and got next to no attention. It's retrospectively my favourite game of last year:

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Ok I have a million indie/rpgmaker etc games on Steam - how has this never come up for me?! It looks incredible!!!!! Buying now thanks for the heads up wow
 
Badcoo

Badcoo

Member
May 9, 2018
1,616
I'm about 6 hours in on Ys VIII and I'm really enjoying it. Looking to get more into it during the 4th of July week. Playing it on PS4.
 
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