Help me lose my JRPG virginity.

[Katphood]

It's true, I have never finished a jrpg game. I have beaten games such as Nier: Automata and currently I am on my way to beating Yakuza 0 but to the best of my knowledge, those games are mostly considered to be Action Adventure games with some RPG elements sprinkled on top. 

 

I have many jrpg games that I have collected over the years but I don't know which one is the best game for starters. So help me choose one, here are the games I have at my disposal:

 

-Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Wirch

-Final Fantasy V, VI, VII, IX, X/X-2, XII, XIV, Type 0

-Tales of Symphonia Chronicles(contains both games in HD for the PS3)

-Tales of Xillia 1, 2

-Tales of Zestiria

-SMT: Digital Devil Saga 1, 2

-SMT: Nocturne

-SMT: Devil Summoner 1, 2

-SMT: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

-SMT: Persona 3: Portable

-SMT: Persona FES 3

-SMT: Persona 4 Golden

-SMT: Persona 5

-Vagrant Story

-White Knight Chronicles

-Arc the Lad

-Arc the Lad: Twilight of Spirits

-Suikoden I, II, III

-Legend of Mana

-Rogue Galaxy

-Chrono Trigger

-Chrono Cross

 

 

Yeah, I know: that's one helluva backlog. 

 

 

[SonicMage117]

No YS????? How dare you!

 

No Trails Of???? How dare you!!

 

I vote for Tales Of Symphonia

[Mamoulian War]

Final Fantasy IX, Suikoden I, random Persona, Tales of Symphonia, Ni No Kuni, etc...

 

In that particular order :-P

[Vaeliorin]

I'd go either Chrono Trigger or Suikoden 3 of those you listed (though Suikoden may look terrible now, I haven't played it in forever.)

 

Otherwise, Final Fantasy Tactics, Xenogears, Legend of Dragoon or Shadow Hearts 1 & 2 would be my picks, but I haven't played a JRPG since the PS2 (which was the last console I owned)...

[Katphood]

Thanks for the recommendation fellas. Tales of Symphonia seems like a good choice but I always thought FF VI was the one to start jrpgs with just because of one simple fact:

 

 

^I love this song!

 

 

Legend of Dragoon or Shadow Hearts 1 & 2 

 

Thanks, my backlog just got a wee bit bigger.

[Keyrock]

FFVI is the greatest jRPG ever made IMHO, but it's also very long, as are pretty much all the Final Fantasy games, so I'm not sure if it's an ideal entry point into the genre.

[sorophx]

my faves have always been Valkyrie Profile, FF VI, FF XII and FF Tactics. but Chrono Trigger is probably the easier one to get into (and it's also very good, as is Suikoden 2). I wouldn't touch Legend of Dragoon and Xenogears though (that's just personal preference).

[ShadySands]

I also liked Chrono Trigger

[Katphood]

What about Suikoden I? I heard a lot of praise about it from purists and such but I am not aure if it's the right choice for a beginner.

 

FFVI is the greatest jRPG ever made IMHO

Another reason I am thinking FFVI is because I have the digital PSONE version which I can play on the PS Vita. Playing PSONE games on the OG PS Vita(the ones that have an OLED screen) is a blast! The games look SO MUCH better, I played Silent Hill on my OG PS Vita and it looked marvelous despite its age.

[HoonDing]

all Suikoden games are piss easy, you just need a guide to recruit all 108 characters

[Ophiuchus]

Chrono Trigger, FFVI, FFIX, FF Tactics, Suikoden II, and Bravely Default would get my vote. FFVI would be a good transition from wrpgs to jrpgs because its second act is open world/side quests; it also boasts a big cast of unique characters to play as. Chrono Trigger is in this same vein, but with a tighter structure and smaller world.

[algroth]

There's a few I haven't played in that list but really want to, like Ni no kuni and the Persona games... But of those that I have, I think the best one is hands down Chrono Trigger so I'd advise going with it I suppose.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I played much of that list and the only game I truly loved was Final Fantasy X.

 

Everything else disappointed somewhere along the way, and the majority I never finished.

Edited April 23, 2018 by Drowsy Emperor

[Orogun01]

Thanks for the recommendation fellas. Tales of Symphonia seems like a good choice but I always thought FF VI was the one to start jrpgs with just because of one simple fact:

 

 

^I love this song!

 

 

Legend of Dragoon or Shadow Hearts 1 & 2 

 

Thanks, my backlog just got a wee bit bigger.

You sir have the best of tastes. FF VI was my first ever RPG.

 

Edit: if you're into old JRPGs (the best ones IMO) you can try:

The Breath of Fire series

Secret of Mana 2 and definitively 3 (best one)

and Skies of Arcadia.

 

Now get a bunch of emulators and get playing.

 

ReEDit: I forgot, Radiata Stories.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Orogun01

[Heijoushin]

Games like FF6 and Chrono Trigger are classics, but lets face it, they haven't aged well. I think it will be a bit of a slog for someone who struggles to get though JRPGs. Why not choose one of the more modern ones? FFX is good and has okay graphics by modern standards. And weebs all over the world love the Persona series. Try one of those. Hope you find something to change your mind.

[Orogun01]

Games like FF6 and Chrono Trigger are classics, but lets face it, they haven't aged well. I think it will be a bit of a slog for someone who struggles to get though JRPGs. Why not choose one of the more modern ones? FFX is good and has okay graphics by modern standards. And weebs all over the world love the Persona series. Try one of those. Hope you find something to change your mind.

Blasphemy!!!!

[ShadySands]

I actually think the old pre-3d games look better than the modern JRPGs but I'm not a fan of the art style so there's that

[Keyrock]

I actually think the old pre-3d games look better than the modern JRPGs but I'm not a fan of the art style so there's that

The sprite-based games most definitely aged much better than the early 3D games IMHO.  PS1 and PS2 era jRPGs, for the most part, look hideous these days, while SNES/Genesis era sprite jRPGs retain a certain level of charm.  Speaking of Genesis, add Phantasy Star games to the list.

[SonicMage117]

Agreed. 2D sprites really do look great. Same with pixel art, I find that Hi-Res peixel art and hand-drawn arts are my favorite graphics. Hi-Res sprites from games in recent years are beautiful as well (mainly found in fighting games)

[ShadySands]

Keyrock said it better than I ever could but I'd like to clarify that it's the newer games that I don't like the art style of

Edited April 24, 2018 by ShadySands

[Gromnir]

am gonna suggest a less painful and more entertaining alternative to jrpgs.

 

 

feel free to share your results.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Vaeliorin]

 

Thanks for the recommendation fellas. Tales of Symphonia seems like a good choice but I always thought FF VI was the one to start jrpgs with just because of one simple fact:

 

 

^I love this song!

 

 

Legend of Dragoon or Shadow Hearts 1 & 2 

 

Thanks, my backlog just got a wee bit bigger.

You sir have the best of tastes. FF VI was my first ever RPG.

 

Edit: if you're into old JRPGs (the best ones IMO) you can try:

The Breath of Fire series

Secret of Mana 2 and definitively 3 (best one)

and Skies of Arcadia.

 

Now get a bunch of emulators and get playing.

 

ReEDit: I forgot, Radiata Stories.

 

I bought a Gamecube almost entirely so I could play Skies of Arcadia (the Dreamcast was already defunct at that point.)

 

Never finished it, though.  That was around the time I kind of lost interest in JRPGs and anime, though I couldn't exactly tell you why (though fatigue and the extremely trope-y nature of most JRPGs/anime probably had a lot to do with it.)

[Katphood]

I'll go with FFVI then, thanks for the recommendations! You people are gold. <3


And yes, sprites all the way. Ion Maiden aside, I really want a "3D" shooter with high-resolution sprites. Like you know, something with 4K/HD sprites and super detailed animations. I remember seeing Street Fighter III for the first time on the arcades back in 1996 and thought to myself 'this is the future!' but then came the polygons...


...the horror...the horror!

 

Secret of Mana 2 and definitively 3 (best one)

Woah, there is a Secret of Mana 2 and 3?! I always thought Legend of Mana was some sort of spiritual sequel to Secret of Mana, never knew there was a Secret of Mana 2 and 3. Thanks for the recommendations, I also remembered Secret of Evermore which was rather unique for its time.
 

am gonna suggest a less painful and more entertaining alternative to jrpgs.
 

 
feel free to share your results.

I did something worse the other day, it involved heavy downers(let's not get into details, I'm a lowlife) and me eating a 3 layered pancake and eventually throwing the whole thing up in the toilet due to low blood pressure. Afterwards I felt better though and started playing Yakuza 0, calmly walking through the streets of Kamurocho and beating the crap out of would be thugs...even Mr. Shakedown. Poor fella keeps getting mugged by me.
 

HA! Good Fun!

Could one of you old timers tell me what this thing is about?   

There is definitely some history to it as I've seen you fellas write that here quite often.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Katphood

[Keyrock]

I'll go with FFVI then, thanks for the recommendations! You people are gold. <3

 

Glad we could help.  And remember, don't tease the octopus, kids!

[Bartimaeus]

I woulda suggested Earthbound...of course, if Earthbound released today, I'm not sure it would even be considered a JRPG.

 

I'm kidding, of course: I can only recommend one JRPG, and it's the one that took #1 in our recently conducted Obsidian's Top 100 Games list.