Help me lose my JRPG virginity.

[Keyrock]

Do yourself a favor, if you do play Fire Emblem, play it the old school way, with permadeath, and don't save scum unless you lose an insane amount of characters in a single mission. Dealing with attrition is part of the appeal to me and it makes battles really tense and those situations where a character seemingly destined to die miraculously survives all the more rewarding.

[Amentep]

Or play it casual and pretend your playing those Shining Force sequels we'll never get because SEGA.  

[SonicMage117]

I'm kinda picky when it comes to Jrpg's. Most of them either require players to start with the very first game to get the full experience and lore, others have really strange battle systems that have alot of unnecessary features - though many Jrpg and anime fans enjoy that.

 

My favorite Jrpg series is the Ys franchise, for their simplicity (and it doesn't matter what game you play first, since only Chronicles and Ys Origins relate to each other).

 

My biggest pet peeve about Jrpg's is when I ask someone on a forum if I need to play a game before the new game and they reply "You need to or else you won't understand the characters or their motives". Thos really needs to stop in Jrpg's, we're at a point where developers should be able to clearly explain these things in the new games.

 

I also really enjoyed Nier Automata as it was easy to understand, didn't have to play the other Nier game or Drakengard games to understand characters - they look a bit boring compared to Automata so I'm grateful for that.

[AlphaShard]

I loved the Suikoden series, yes collecting the 108 stars requires a guide alright. Unlike many of JRPGs out there the World of Suikoden is a lot more full and complex. Usually you have a hand full of cities in the entire map ala most Final Fantasy games. In Suikoden you have many nations full of cities. Each game taking place in a different place, and time progresses between the first 3 games. So a child in the 1st game is an adult in the 3rd. Good and Evil is replaced with Order versus Chaos, and war that conflict brings. 

 

Suikoden II is awesome, I liked 3 and 5 game of that series as well. 

 

I'd also like to add Shadow Hearts because it had a unique combat system using ring timing attacks. 

 

I also think Trails in the Sky was also an awesome JRPG as well.