Nose Master
Member
Thank you. Listing suikoden and breath of fire is absurd.
Gonna go with Brigandine for ps1. Fun srpg that I've never seen mentioned anywhere.
Growlanser is a bit more common, but 3/4 are some of the best rpgs of the era.
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What's the best JRPG that most people don't know about?
- Thread starter RedZaraki
- Start date
Thank you. Listing suikoden and breath of fire is absurd.
Gonna go with Brigandine for ps1. Fun srpg that I've never seen mentioned anywhere.
Growlanser is a bit more common, but 3/4 are some of the best rpgs of the era.
Silver on the Dreamcast was such a fun adventure... and have never seen another soul mention it. Was it the GOAT...no, but it was fun real-time comabat and had a great story that sucked you.
Edit: Just saw tat "J" in JRPG.... which this is not..... SHAME!!
Holy cow, I consider myself pretty well versed in RPGs but I've never even seen this before. It's on GOG for Windows. How does this hold up?
JetSetRadio
Banned
Witcher 3
100%TrophyMaster
Member
My vote goes to Terranigma. Great music, story, and classic SNES graphics. Never released in the US but if you enjoy Zelda/Secret of Mana I cannot recommend it enough.
thequickandthedead
Member
A lot of these should stay forgotten
It depends on how you define "most people". A significant amount of gamers now did not grow up playing PS1 JRPGs.
This reminds me that I wanted to resurrect the series by talking about Hybrid Heaven (I know, I know being released outside Japan, it's not obscure like something as Oriental Blue but its battle system is so original and really very few played it).
Instead I went for a more traditional LTTP thread which as expected got really few posts:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1253592
I know right. EO is one of the most low budget rpg series I've ever seen. Frankly, it's an insult to life itself.
malboroking
Banned
This reminded me of the existence of another game called Azure Dreams that was REALLY interesting.
Similar boxart kinda.
I lived Azure Dreams back in the day. I remember you got a motorbike to get around the town faster and I'll be damned if it didn't look like you were riding around on an erect penis. It was a cool little rogue-like, every time you went in the tower you kept your items and pet monster levels, but the main character would be reset. As you got higher in the tower you would unlock new buildings for the town. I was really addicted to it when I was younger.
Robert at Zeboyd Games
Banned
Feels like cheating if you're including games that never got an official English release. Of course, most people aren't going to know about games that require a second language or a fansub.
hydrophilic attack
Member
T_T
Time to see if ps Europe twitter really is the best twitter account (like that other thread said)
I am interested to hear what games in this thread you think deserve to be forgotten?
Is emulation an option? Just buy the game and then play it via emu, you don't need a demanding PC for PSP emulation.
![37663-Tecmo's_Deception_-_Invitation_To_Darkness_[U]-1.jpg](http://r.mprd.se/media/images/37663-Tecmo's_Deception_-_Invitation_To_Darkness_[U]-1.jpg)
hydrophilic attack
Member
Lufia 2! It's definitely my favorite RPG, and I think absolutely stands up against other SNES classics like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI.
The characters and dialogue are charming and quite endearing. The story hits some wonderfully high notes, with the heavier story elements evened out by levity and the chance to breathe. The fast pace of gameplay/dungeons is such that, even in the filler quests, the game never overstays its welcome.
Dungeons offer some challenging puzzles without being frustrating, lending to some nice gameplay variety. In-dungeon, monsters are visible on the screen, meaning constant random battles is never an issue. Avoiding battles is especially easy, as the enemies only move when your character does.
And it has one of the best pieces of side content in any RPG - The Ancient Cave! The random creation of the dungeon and nature of the setup (especially in the game's "Gift Mode") offers a ton of replayability and potential for challenge runs.
Wonderful game, and I'll always recommend it to people looking to get into a lesser-known JRPG.
The characters and dialogue are charming and quite endearing. The story hits some wonderfully high notes, with the heavier story elements evened out by levity and the chance to breathe. The fast pace of gameplay/dungeons is such that, even in the filler quests, the game never overstays its welcome.
Dungeons offer some challenging puzzles without being frustrating, lending to some nice gameplay variety. In-dungeon, monsters are visible on the screen, meaning constant random battles is never an issue. Avoiding battles is especially easy, as the enemies only move when your character does.
And it has one of the best pieces of side content in any RPG - The Ancient Cave! The random creation of the dungeon and nature of the setup (especially in the game's "Gift Mode") offers a ton of replayability and potential for challenge runs.
Wonderful game, and I'll always recommend it to people looking to get into a lesser-known JRPG.
As you might imagine... I strongly agree with this statement.
Come on now.
Just because it's not some apart of a well known franchise doesn't it make it some obscure RPG. Every major gaming website reviewed it and loved it, add that with the fact that Atlus had to reprint the game 2-4 times because of how insanely popular it was it's hard to call this game a hidden game.
Pretty much.
Super Shell Monster Story, Lagrange,, 7th Dragon, etc are good choices, a lot of the games posted here are well known by JRPG fans.
I remember this!
Such a shame it never got a proper English translation. Closest you can get is a rough English script online to read through while playing it.
It got my attention years ago because of the soundtrack and that Yoshitoshi Abe was one of the artists.
I don't think it even got an EU release because Atlus
Lumpy Onion
Member
7th Saga for SNES is one of my favorite jrpgs of the snes era. It takes place in a rather gritty post apocalyptic world many many years after the fall of a great advanced civilization. The remnants of machines and ruined cities are everywhere but nobody remembers how to use them. Essentially about the hunt for seven lost runes which each have a unique ability. It has realistic looking monster designs and monsters that actually animate. Battles are first person but you can see your characters fight a-la Phantasy Star 2. Town npc and character npcs aren't super deformed like many of the games of the time (looks similar to Phantasy Star 3) and look realistic. Because you only have two characters at any one time there is a simplicity to the combat that makes every move count...defending is actually crucial too. Because each time you defend the next attack after defending is enhanced. Another great thing about combat is that battles can be avoided on the over world because you have a small map which shows roaming enemies as dots. It's quite novel for the time.
Most interesting is that you select from one of seven different characters at the beginning and will meet up with the ones you didn't choose as either friend or foe. The scavenger hunt for the seven runes has the seven characters become cutthrought murderers to achieve their goals and it has an organic quality to it depending on who you chose to ally with. Characters are unique...an alien, a demon, a robot of the old civilization, a dwarf, an elf, etc.
And the music is haunting and has a lush quality to it. There are around seven over world themes and multiple battle themes.
The biggest issue for some might be the difficulty level. Each time you go out you might not survive because the enemies are brutal at times. But there is a certain satisfaction in making a long journey to a new town with just a sliver of life left. Fortunately dying just takes you back to the inn minus half your money like in Dragon Quest. Items can be bought to sell at full price which negates the money loss. Enix USA meddled with the stats and made it a far more challenging game compared to it's Japanese release (Elnard).
So that's 7th Saga. A unique jrpg for SNES I rarely hear mentioned here except to mock. I think it's a post apocalyptic masterpiece with a tone unlike any jrpg that came out at that time frame. If you want a challenge and a satisfying turn based battle system then this game might be right up your alley.
Most interesting is that you select from one of seven different characters at the beginning and will meet up with the ones you didn't choose as either friend or foe. The scavenger hunt for the seven runes has the seven characters become cutthrought murderers to achieve their goals and it has an organic quality to it depending on who you chose to ally with. Characters are unique...an alien, a demon, a robot of the old civilization, a dwarf, an elf, etc.
And the music is haunting and has a lush quality to it. There are around seven over world themes and multiple battle themes.
The biggest issue for some might be the difficulty level. Each time you go out you might not survive because the enemies are brutal at times. But there is a certain satisfaction in making a long journey to a new town with just a sliver of life left. Fortunately dying just takes you back to the inn minus half your money like in Dragon Quest. Items can be bought to sell at full price which negates the money loss. Enix USA meddled with the stats and made it a far more challenging game compared to it's Japanese release (Elnard).
So that's 7th Saga. A unique jrpg for SNES I rarely hear mentioned here except to mock. I think it's a post apocalyptic masterpiece with a tone unlike any jrpg that came out at that time frame. If you want a challenge and a satisfying turn based battle system then this game might be right up your alley.
It didn't.
Wild Arms XF always seemed interesting to me seeing that EXP is shared among the party after a battle like a regular RPG. One of the things in most strategy RPGs that always bugged me was characters only getting significant EXP on an individual basis for fighting or killing enemies, which led to me call them half "killstealing management sims". Like, micromanaging character growth is a form of strategy, but it's not really the strategy I enjoy doing much.
So when are you making a game with positional combat and a global timer?
It's such a shame that it garnered such a negative initial impression due to how different it was from its predecessors. I sometimes wonder if it would have done better as a new IP.
I really wish subsequent JRPGs had explored that direction more.
Pffff FF Tactics can't hold a candle to TO. Come at me bros.
Especially if you look at the PSP Revamp. Godly.
Lunarwhale
Member
Was about to mention Wachenroder! Only found out about it recently because Eisaku Kito, who did the sculpture for Baroque's Nerve Tower, did some work on this game as well.
Baroque's Nerve/Neuro Tower
Wachenroder
Baroque was already mentioned, and due to the remake especially isn't very obscure, but I feel obliged to bring it up again whenever I can. The original version (Saturn, then with an enhanced PS1 port) especially has such excellent aesthetics and, for me at least, a surprisingly addicting gameplay loop. It's such an exhausting game to actually play, but I love it.
This official trailer does an alright job conveying the vibe of the game, but actually playing it is something else.
I've got the World Guidance art/game design book lying around somewhere. It's worth picking up if you like the game's artistic direction. Even if you can't read Japanese, a lot of the art in it is gorgeous.
I don't know if any of the JRPGs I've played truly qualify as obscure since they're either part of a popular series or have vocal online fanbases. I think Koudelka is the closest I've got to "obscure" and that's still part of the somewhat popular Shadow Hearts franchise.
Well, I have some fond memories of that one Sailor Moon RPG for the SNES, though I don't know if it holds up today (it probably doesn't). I also remember liking a certain Tenchi Muyo SRPG for the same platform. There are a few Dragon Ball rpgs which I also found enjoyable back then. Legend of the Super Saiyan is somewhat well known, but I also thought Dragon Ball Super Gokuuden 1 (which covers the Pilaf-Red Ribbon-Piccolo sagas iirc) and 2 (23rd Martial Arts Tournament up to Freeza) were pretty entertaining if very simplistic. There's also a Hishouden game for the Game Boy which I'm pretty nostalgic for but I'm convinced it's not actually a good game. I can't speak for the sequel (Gekitouden) since I never got past the beginning. That game was hard.
Is Attack of the Saiyans for the DS well known? If not, I think that was the closest we got to a legit good Dragon Ball RPG (I haven't tried Fusions yet).
Well, I have some fond memories of that one Sailor Moon RPG for the SNES, though I don't know if it holds up today (it probably doesn't). I also remember liking a certain Tenchi Muyo SRPG for the same platform. There are a few Dragon Ball rpgs which I also found enjoyable back then. Legend of the Super Saiyan is somewhat well known, but I also thought Dragon Ball Super Gokuuden 1 (which covers the Pilaf-Red Ribbon-Piccolo sagas iirc) and 2 (23rd Martial Arts Tournament up to Freeza) were pretty entertaining if very simplistic. There's also a Hishouden game for the Game Boy which I'm pretty nostalgic for but I'm convinced it's not actually a good game. I can't speak for the sequel (Gekitouden) since I never got past the beginning. That game was hard.
Is Attack of the Saiyans for the DS well known? If not, I think that was the closest we got to a legit good Dragon Ball RPG (I haven't tried Fusions yet).
One of the main reasons I loved XF is that it favors strategy over grinding to a big degree. At no point did I stop to grind, the solution was always in adjusting my approach, classes etc.
It's approach to classes is also very interesting because it doesn't require you to grind like other games usually do for classes. XF allows you to assign any class (except for ones that are unique for certain characters) to any character and that character will be able to use all the abilities of that class right off the bat. This allows you to easily adjust strategies based on a given situation instead of being limited to using certain classes because they are the ones your character is good at.
You can level classes but it's not to earn more abilities or whatever, it's to be able to use abilities available in a class across classes. So leveling basically let's you splice classes.
I really like the atmosphere of 7th Saga. It feels like a lonely, barren world outside of a few small urban centers. The dwindling robot race was a really cool idea and there are a couple parts of the game that convey their sort of loss of identity and purpose over the ages.
If its difficulty level hadn't been messed up, it could've been a really great game. As it is the US difficulty level is really punishing, especially at a couple points where the difficulty spikes.
It did a couple really cool things to make playing as each character different - IIRC some characters even had pre-set rivalries and events would unfold pretty differently based on who you picked. One section of the story can even change based on how long it took you to reach that point.
Arcana (or Cardmaster) was another SNES game that had a pretty different atmosphere, but it was a bit lacking in execution.
And of course Drakkhen also had that desolate atmosphere and pretty cool setting, but it was ported to a bunch of different systems. I don't even know if the SNES version is definitive.
Skyrender10
Neo Member
These are some good obscure RPG's
Gungnir: Great SRPG on PSP,I was engagged with the story, but then it ends abruptly
Rudras No Hihou: cool story, the graphics were like FFVI
Gungnir: Great SRPG on PSP,I was engagged with the story, but then it ends abruptly
Rudras No Hihou: cool story, the graphics were like FFVI
Transistor
Banned
Takeda Kenshi
blew Staal
SaGa 3 DS. Fixes the original while adding a lot of new content.
Drakkhen is actually a French-made computer RPG. It was originally developed by Infogrames for the Amiga and Atari ST.
E_Darkness
Member
SavoyPrime
Member
The Trails of Cold Steel series. Which is a shame. Cause those are QUALITY games.
cj_iwakura
Member
CIMA: The Enemy would be my suggestion. Very unique, gripping isometric RPG.
Ultimadrago
Member
RIP
I didn't know it was originally by Infogrames! That's pretty cool. I figured it wasn't really a JRPG, but I mentally lump it in with them. Sort of like the Ultima ports.
I was going to post this one. Pretty good game with different endings, a good amount of characters and the difficulty really goes well with the battle system.
Zippedpinhead
Member
Lufia 2: rise of the sinistrals.
Great SNES sprite work
No random encounters in dungeons (all enemies are visible)
Intuitive puzzles using items during dungeons
Great story
Capsule monsters are like Pokémon but they eat your old equipment instead of leveling to evolve.
Great music
And probably it's biggest feature
The ancient cave (a rogue 100 level rogue-like game within the game, I would honestly buy a game of just this dungeon style)
Cons (reasons it's not well known)
Remake completely screwed up (lufia: curse of the sinistrals on DS)
Sequels all never matched up (lufia: the legend returns on GB and lufia: ruins chaser on GbA)
Battle system looks standard at first glance.
Great SNES sprite work
No random encounters in dungeons (all enemies are visible)
Intuitive puzzles using items during dungeons
Great story
Capsule monsters are like Pokémon but they eat your old equipment instead of leveling to evolve.
Great music
And probably it's biggest feature
The ancient cave (a rogue 100 level rogue-like game within the game, I would honestly buy a game of just this dungeon style)
Cons (reasons it's not well known)
Remake completely screwed up (lufia: curse of the sinistrals on DS)
Sequels all never matched up (lufia: the legend returns on GB and lufia: ruins chaser on GbA)
Battle system looks standard at first glance.
cj_iwakura
Member
This too. Incredible game.
purseowner
Member
Bear in mind that a lot of gaffers aren't NA-based though. In Europe stuff like Radiant Historia, Strange Journey, Etrian Odyssey III and Jeanne D'arc weren't released and major EU sites often didn't review them because of that. Importing was the only way to play them and so they feel a bit more obscure than if you could buy them easily. Certainly nobody I talk to here (UK) about games would have heard of them, even if they play RPGs, due to the triple niche effect of being an imported JRPG on a portable. At least the DS and PSP weren't region locked.
Going back even further there's a shedload of JRPGs that perhaps form part of the collective memory of the hobby in NA, that don't mean quite as much or are a bit more obscure in the EU. It's been nice digging through the digital shops for stuff that didn't release here when I was a kid.