Any best of list is going to be totally subjective by nature,
but no ever clicks on titles like:
5 really GOOD JRPGs that I personally enjoyed and here's some well-structured reasons why!
instead you engage the audience with an absolute statement
and they click to find out what you think the best games are so they can argue
that you're fucking stupid OR get the warm-fuzzies
because you just happen to love the same games they do, and really
that's click baiting in a nutshell. So because I'm no better that the
rest of the Internet here's my list for the 5 Best JRPG for total n00bs!
but first some back story
there's an article from TechnoBuffalo making the social media rounds titled:
The Best JRPS for Beginners
and while I don't necessarily disagree with any of the
titles they picked, it does bother me immensely that they listed 4 games developed by Square
and threw in a token suggestion from Enix Which is all technically one company nowadays anyway
Someone who’s new to the genre is a complete blank slate:
you’d think they’d suggest a larger variety of games to try.
There are enough gamers out there as it is that never branch out beyond Final Fantasy;
so I’m setting some ground rules for my list.
Rule number 1: Only one game per developer – If someone new to the genre is turned off by one
developer’s style it makes little sense to keep suggesting more of the same.
Rule number 2: Traditional RPGs only – so expect a plethora of
turn based menu battles here.
Branching out into alternate battle styles is a rabbit hole we don’t need to explore.
I could easily devote an entire list to strategy RPGs alone but that would give a new player an
inaccurate representation of the "standard" seasoned gamers are familiar with. Rule number 3:
The game should be funny – There’s probably a time and place for overly serious RPGs with
deep moral implications and philosophical ponderings.
But it sure as hell ain’t here. The most beloved games of the genre keep us laughing
even when the world is falling apart around us. Rule number 4:
The storyline should be an epic adventure – This list is all about celebrating
tried and true JRPG tropes and clichés.
One constant between all these titles is a world spanning adventure
which may or may not involve air ships and fire dungeons. You wouldn’t want your first taste
of the genre
to be totally unlike any other experience you’ll ever have.
Rule number 5: The characters should be memorable – If the game doesn’t have you itching
to draw some fanart like an obsessed 12 year old then it
doesn’t deserve to be on this list.
The characters should feel human with real emotions and dilemmas.
By the end of the game the player should feel attached to the characters they
just spent 60 hours adventuring with,
or what was the whole point? NOW with all that out of the way, on to the list:
Dragon Quest 8 developed by Level 5 for SquareEnix
is obviously the 8th installment of a very long running series.
That’s not to say Dragon Quest 8 is necessarily the best Dragon Quest game out there
but I think it’s the most accessible to new players.
The gorgeous cell-shaded visuals and orchestrated music provide plenty of candy for the eyes and ears.
The main storyline is exciting enough, but long after you’ve forgotten who the cursed king was
and where he was going you’ll still be picturing Yangus performing the underpants dance.
The game introduces you to the basics of turn based combat
while staying fun and silly with some highly entertaining animations.
There’s also plenty to do for those OCD completionist gamers with a ton of optional side quests like gambling,
recruiting monsters for your monster squad, crafting recipes in your alchemy pot,
and collecting mini-medals hidden throughout the world.
Plus once the journey’s over you can keep coming back to beat the crap out of an optional boss
to unlock some pretty cool bragging rights and bitchin’ armor.
Is Dragon Quest 8 the best RPG ever made?
Hell I don’t know, but it exemplifies everything that’s fun about the genre.
Skies of Arcadia
Sega’s never been very prolific with their RPGs, but when they do release
one you can expect the experience to be nothing short of amazing
- and this is certainly no exception. From beginning to end
Skies is a fun cinematic adventure complete with air pirates,
larger than-life-titans, and a long lost civilization.
Maybe it’s a coincidence, but I think someone at Sega was writing an interactive love letter to Hayo Miyazaki.
Anyway, for the most part Skies is a very traditional RPG.
Battles are again turned-based and characters unlock powerful skills which use up valuable
resources allotted to the team each turn. There’s an element of strategy involved
with deciding when to go all out on an attack and when
to conserve energy in the here and now for a harder hitting payoff later.
But the real charm lies with the game’s epic-sized ship battles.
Your team will go bow-to-bow against other flying
aircrafts and against the affor-mentioned monstrous titans.
Despite the game’s lack of voice acting
the characters (heroes and villains alike) manage to extrude a ton of personality
through their facial expressions.
Forget the days of 16 bit sprites wiggling around a screen
Vyse, Fina, and Aika act out a whole range of emotions
which only enhances the movie-like quality of the game.
Lunar’s been remade on a number of different platforms,
but the version I’m specifically recommending is Silver Star Story Complete for the PSOne.
I personally feel this version has the best blend of storyline and localization,
but since Working Designs tends to elicit a love hate response - the PSP version
is also very good if you prefer your games to be serious over slightly silly.
There’s little reason to play the Sega CD original besides nostalgia -
which new RPG gamers won’t have - and the GBA’s Lunar Legends was just bad.
Painfully bad.
Avoid completely. Trust me.
That said - Lunar is the perfect example of every RPG: A hero and his band of friends
embark on a mission across the known world to save it and the girl he loves.
Despite the seriousness of this task
the game is utterly hilarious: the banter between friends
is really what keeps the player going throughout the adventure.
Although the studio quality animated cut scenes don’t hurt.
Random battles, although common to the genre, are an exercise in frustration.
And probably one of the surest things to turn off new players.
Lunar does away with convention
and instead allows you to see the enemies (and potentially avoid them)
before you trigger a battle.
I don’t know if this actually cuts down on the number of encounters you’ll fight, but it feels better
especially when you’re desperately trying to reach an exit.
Also there’s Ghaleon, one of the best non player characters ever written.
If you can’t find something to love about Lunar, you simply have no heart.
No JRPG list would be complete without
a 16bit entry from Squaresoft.
Many fans fondly remember the 90s as the glory days of the genre
and picking a beginning’s first RPG from their massive library was no easy task.
But I feel that Chrono Trigger represents everything that great about the genre,
it's fucking gorgeous, and manages to hold up just as well today as it did in 1995.
I’ve always been a sucker for Time Traveling storylines,
and for good reason - It’s just a lot of fun jumping back and forth between widely different eras.
One plot point may have you taking down massive dinosaurs
to aid a band of prehistoric nomads and the next battling futuristic robots in a dystopian society.
There’s never a moment of down time as your party frantically fights
their way to the end of time to undo the world’s complete annihilation.
But hey – no pressure. You have all the time in the world
to play mini games, seek out epic gear, and complete character backstory quests.
Like Lunar, Chrono Trigger does away with random battles
plus it rectifies the monotony of the menu-based battle system by incorporating
(a totally optional) action bar.
As time passes, this bar fills up and players and monsters alike can react. Even if you’re casually
navigating the spell list a monster can and will interrupt your turn. It may not always feel strategic
but it adds a flair of twitch gaming to an otherwise “thinking man’s genre”.
In the days before Capcom was a one trick street fighting pony
they were churning out great games from just about every genre – and RPGs were certainly not excluded.
Capcom knew that deep down all JRPG gamers secretly wanted to morph into dragons and roast their enemies
to a crisp – and so they delivered one great Breath of Fire game after another.
Like many of the titles on this list Breath of Fire 3 is ultimately a game about friendship,
and all the ups and downs that come with it. The ending may turn out to be bitter sweet
but the journey is so much more important than the destination.
Also just look at it, the game’s fucking pretty.
Breath of Fire 3 also introduces an important gameplay element that’s pretty common to the genre
– environmental puzzles. Every so often you’ll be exploring a dungeon, kicking ass and making good time
when you’ll run into a room full of shipping containers that just so happen to
conveniently block your path to the other side of the room.
Different party members have special abilities
and you’ll have to use the correct character to advance the game.
It’s a nice diversion to the monotony of dungeon crawling, and you’ll welcome the much needed break
from those pesky random battles.
And that’s my list.
So are these 5 games the greatest JRPGs ever released?
Probably not, but they’re all great games and really that’s what your first experience with the genre should be -
just immersing yourself in a solid game that grabs your attention from beginning to end and stays with you
years after you put down the controller.
That said, I’m willing to bet that if you’re going to enjoy JRPGs at all then you’ll find something in this list to love.
But hey, maybe you’ve got some great ideas of your own. Post your top 5 lists in the comments below.
Daria – out.
And once again thank you for watching.