No hate against this game but the beginning is absolutely fucking awful. The tutorial level in the tower is the worst. They should have let you skip that shit.
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What's the best JRPG that most people don't know about?
- Thread starter RedZaraki
- Start date
No hate against this game but the beginning is absolutely fucking awful. The tutorial level in the tower is the worst. They should have let you skip that shit.
Lollipop Dave
Member
From a quick glance, most of the games I loved and played have been listed already, Though there was a PS1 rpg that I absolutely loved and it had multiplayer.
Blaze and Blade.
Blaze and Blade.
BuckRobotron
Member
Shadow Hearts, all three of them. Darker vibe in first; most everything done right in the second; third shifts setting but is fun with further refinement of battle system. Looking forward to returning to the third on PS2 soon (2/3 way through over the years). If selecting one, eh, go with the easy-to-recommend Shadow Hearts Covenant (2nd one).
AkelisRain
Member
This game was pretty fun!
If you have to think or try too hard it's not a JRPG people probably don't know about.
Xenogears, seriously? My mom knows about Xenogears. Anything with a sequel or more is probably known. Some good posts though, some gems and some I now want to try out. I love hidden gem games. You end up surprised, everything is unexpected and you know absolutely nothing going in with no expectations except that it will probably suck, but then it doesn't and it's great!
Xenogears, seriously? My mom knows about Xenogears. Anything with a sequel or more is probably known. Some good posts though, some gems and some I now want to try out. I love hidden gem games. You end up surprised, everything is unexpected and you know absolutely nothing going in with no expectations except that it will probably suck, but then it doesn't and it's great!
Stella Glow. I have no doubt that had it have come out during the SNES era, it would be a revered classic.
Stella Glow is fantastic. So surprised at how much I loved the game.
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Cornbread78
Member
Whoever answered Radiata Stories was correct.
Radiant Historia on NDS is excellent!
Borrows a lot of elements from Chrono Trigger!
So glad to see these three on the first page.
Radiant Historia is one of my favorite games ever.
qualitydisc
Member
I wish I had kept a copy of this when Gamestop marked them down to like $4 new.
I tried to get into Radiant Historia based on Gaf's recommendations but it didn't hold my attention after ~10 hours. I really wanted to like it. It has some good Yoko Shimomura compositions though.
The Horror the horror
Banned
Natural Doctrine
Pull_Shapes
Neo Member
Don't know if it's been said, but I really enjoyed The Last Remnant
striferser
Huge Nickleback Fan
Oreshika: tainted bloodlines for vita is a fun JRPG. Great art direction, resembling old Japanese painting, awesome soundtrack, option to choose if you want to finish it in short or long time. There's a difficulty spike in the middle of the game, especially during boss fights, other than that, it's great
I have fond memories of those two games :
The first one was a nice attempt of "Horror Jrpg", and the second was a great Tactical with some great battles (it was called Mystaria in West... at least in Europe)
I never see those two being quoted, and I loved them when I was a teenager
The first one was a nice attempt of "Horror Jrpg", and the second was a great Tactical with some great battles (it was called Mystaria in West... at least in Europe)
I never see those two being quoted, and I loved them when I was a teenager
Mechanized
Member
I'm skipping all the old stuff. By now people should know about them. Come on -- stuff like Dragon Force was well known by anyone who cared back then.
I nominate Stella Glow. An excellent SRPG that isn't a cakewalk, but also doesn't bog you down with systems and mechanics. Straight-forward and a JOY to play.
There's a demo for this on the eShop and I have to say I was really impressed by it. It reminded me of Luminous Arc for the DS.
Wireframe
Member
Guardian's Crusade was very unique, I remember liking it a lot.
You don't have spells or abilities, you summon living toys to do it, the pink companion evolve and learns ennemies skills, you can give him food or order him to search for items. It's been so long I need to replay it again.
So glad to see this on the first page!!!
Lumpy Onion
Member
I don't recall a tutorial level in a tower in Lufia 2. You sure you don't mean the cave the old man takes you to as you leave your home town at the very start? I did it last night and it took me seven minutes. Not too bad...hardly awful.
Maybe you are thinking of Lufia 1 where you play as the heroes from the past? That was a bit longer for sure.
Mechanized
Member
Treasures of the Rudras has an amazing spell system unlike anything I've ever seen, I was reminded of it by this thread, I think you collect runes, and make runewords which turn into spells. The thing is you can make really overpowered crazy runewords right off the bat if you experiment enough. It's really cool.
YankeeDonB
Member
It's a sequel to the series in all but name I'd say...
Nah, I'm thinking of the cave with the old man in Lufia 2. It was pretty bad imo, but I like the game after that section.
![36626-Brigandine_-_Legend_of_Forsena_[U]-1.jpg](https://r.mprd.se/fup/up/36626-Brigandine_-_Legend_of_Forsena_[U]-1.jpg)
Shining Force Feather for the DS. Its an actual tactical rpg made by the summon night developers that plays kind of like Project X Zone without the grid. Setting up long combos where you just beat the stuffing out of enemies is fantastic. Plus, the story is basically a fantasy version of Outlaw Star. No translation but the game is very easy to play without knowledge of japanese and there are guides for the more advanced stuff.
Plumpbiscuit
Member
You'd be surprised, they've gained alot of traction since the release of Dark Souls.
Lumpy Onion
Member
Feel sad that they never released KF 1&2 on PSN. Seemed like a sure bet when Shadow Tower and Echo Night showed up but then nothing happened since.
Brave Story : New Traveler one of the best JRPGs on PSP
You should quote this. Also, I really wish this game was still available on the Vita :/ They had to take it down due to licensing issues. I tweeted at them about it a while back and they responded that they really wish they could bring it back
Rad Shadow
Banned
Radical dreamers.
Mechanized
Member
Isn't that just a Visual Novel?
I randomly stumbled across the Summon Night games as Gamestop was clearancing out their GBA titles years back. Excellent art style, Tales like combat, and weapon crafting. Best $4 I'd ever spent.
There's a Japan-only third one, and a DS spinoff that uses the stylus (this one actually came to the US). Cool series, the second is a marked improvement due to having a greater variety of locales, but the Tales-esque combat is pretty fun and each game doesn't overstay their welcome.
Guardian's Crusade was very unique, I remember liking it a lot.
You don't have spells or abilities, you summon living toys to do it, the pink companion evolve and learns ennemies skills, you can give him food or order him to search for items. It's been so long I need to replay it again.
Great game that does some really cool things - seamless world map and town traversal, a tamagotchi esque system with raising your pet, and unique flavor dialogue for most of the objects in the environment. Ridiculous amounts of charm, too. A bit simplistic for a veteran but a great 'starter RPG' for kids. Interesting that it was put out in the US by Activision of all companies, but iirc they weren't nearly as well known back then as they are today (pre COD, pre Guitar Hero).
I second this. Great game!
Tribes of Trusty
Member
I'd like to second the recommendations for Steambot Chronicles. I loved the first one and was gutted when the sequel was cancelled. They had a great demo at TGS
Steambot Chronicles is great, one of my favourite games ever and a really obscure PS2 game. But I think it may have aged horribly.
In fact I always post in threads about it or even remotely related to it ha ha.
Yes ! Bought the game at launch at 60€, worth it.
It's more like a SMT game with some FE sprinkled over it.
It's a truly solid JRPG, except if you hate JPOP.
Coriolanus
Banned
Game's rocking 85/91 on metacritic. How is that underrated?
Best powerwalking animation ever put in a videogame. Completely surpassed in quality by its spiritual sequel tho
Maintenance
Member
Trails saga (Ao, Zero, Kiseki, Sen).
Radiant Historia.
Infinite Space.
Radiant Historia.
Infinite Space.
Its neither very FE-ish or SMT-ish. I would describe it more as a great appetizer for Persona 5.
FallenGrace
Member
I hated that game so much. Really surprised to see it as a recommendation. It had no positive qualities except maybe the box and manual art?From a quick glance, most of the games I loved and played have been listed already, Though there was a PS1 rpg that I absolutely loved and it had multiplayer.
Blaze and Blade.
Each to their own as the saying goes XD
mcz117chief
Member
One of my all time favourite games
whyamihere
Banned
Lost Kingdoms was meh, but Lost Kingdoms II was pretty good.
This post made me so happy..... I saw that this thread was pages deep and didn't think anyone would bring up Tactics Ogre or any of the Ogre Battle games.
Ogre Battle 64 was a fucking gem and I only pray that a game comes out that is similar.
Yes, actually, loads and loads. Keep it up, peoples!
I only know Baroque because I found it for the Wii at GAME.UK for like a quid and bought it on a whim. One of my favorite Wii games, so weird and great atmosphere. Never seen it discussed before, though. I'm loving this thread!
It's one of the best games of all time so... It's hard not to underrate it.
Link1110
Member
So many great memories worth this one. I remember the genie having a voiced love when you teleport that I could never figure out until years later when I realized that he's saying "biast off" as in someone typoed blast off and voice acted the typo.Another just popped into my head. Defenders of Oasis for Game Gear. It was basically a proper portable FF RPG by Sega, which even Square wasn't doing at the time(lots of SaGa cosplay on GB). Wonderful little jRPG that, much like Brave Story on PSP(another overlooked gem), is traditional but comforting and pleasant.
The Japanese version had some names based on dictators, line general khadafi (Kohle on the us version) or the Kingdom of shaddam (as in the title, shaddam crusader)
Also it had an auto save every step, like something yours see in a mobile game, bit back in 1992
Hibiki Kurosawa
Member
Nice, only took a few posts for someone to get it right. Resonance of Fate is truly a missed gem. The story, characters, gameplay, and content. All excellent!