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Help me decide which old JRPG to play next...
- Thread starter Fusebox
- Start date
I dunno, I'm a bit compulsive about needing to play previous games before jumping into a series.
It's why I'll probably never get around to playing Witcher 3.
I haven't played the Chrono Trigger port, but from what I see on Youtube it looks pretty comparable to the Anthology games with about 5-7 seconds of loading for battles, unless there's something else botched with the port
Yeah, Anthology usually runs 3-5 seconds for loading compared to the 5-7 of Chrono Trigger. The loading time on menus is probably the biggest killer if you've played another port for either game.
I dunno, I'm a bit compulsive about needing to play previous games before jumping into a series.
It's why I'll probably never get around to playing Witcher 3.
Oh man, you shouldn't pass on The Witcher 3 for that, especially because it's leaps and bounds ahead of the previous two. And I say that as someone who's actually a fan of The Witcher 1's gameplay. >_>;
Yeah I hear that a bit, one day I'm gonna play it!
So I'm an hour into TiTS FC now (sorry, I just love using the acronym TiTS) and it's great. Totally charming characters, nice music, some kind of ugly menus which don't bother me and some enemies hit pretty hard early on which was a surprise but overall I can feel it getting its claws in already.
So I'm an hour into TiTS FC now (sorry, I just love using the acronym TiTS) and it's great. Totally charming characters, nice music, some kind of ugly menus which don't bother me and some enemies hit pretty hard early on which was a surprise but overall I can feel it getting its claws in already.
edit never mind (misread OP)
Growlancer: Wayfairer of Time, great PS1 era JRPG (PSP dunno if it works on VITA)
Knight's in the Knightmare, Deep SRPG / Bullet hell hybrid, (PSP & DS, both have different control scheme to dodge the bullets)
Infinite Space DS Must buy if you enjoy Space Opera
Growlancer: Wayfairer of Time, great PS1 era JRPG (PSP dunno if it works on VITA)
Knight's in the Knightmare, Deep SRPG / Bullet hell hybrid, (PSP & DS, both have different control scheme to dodge the bullets)
Infinite Space DS Must buy if you enjoy Space Opera
Lumpy Onion
Member
One nice thing about Trails is that if you die in combat you can restart the fight with lowered enemy strength. "Retry offset" is such a nice feature and I prefer it over a static difficulty switch. Some of the later fights can get pretty brutal iirc.
Also be sure to do all the Bracer Quests you can, as the rewards are great once things get going. They are also really good at helping flesh out the world. Makes you feel like you are really part of something. Trails and Witcher 3 have great sidequests.
zero shift
Banned
Play Ys: Oath in Felghana. It is the second best action RPG ever made. Once you beat it you can then move on to the best action RPG ever made, Ys: Origin.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
PS1 version of FFV is easily the worst version of the game, between the loading times and the awful translation. Mobile version is pretty solid other than the art as far as I know, and it's great on GBA.
So OP picked Trails, good choice. Assuming you finish and move on to SC, I'd recommend giving yourself some time between them. SC takes place in the same country as FC and the first half or so of the game follows basically the same structure of going from region to region, with only a handful of new locations. So it could end up feeling a lot like "I literally just did this" and souring the experience a bit. Whereas giving it some time could make it feel more like a reintroduction.
So OP picked Trails, good choice. Assuming you finish and move on to SC, I'd recommend giving yourself some time between them. SC takes place in the same country as FC and the first half or so of the game follows basically the same structure of going from region to region, with only a handful of new locations. So it could end up feeling a lot like "I literally just did this" and souring the experience a bit. Whereas giving it some time could make it feel more like a reintroduction.
Thx for the pro-tips, I like the sound of that temporary difficulty drop too.
Good info, thx chaosblade, will try and remember to put some time between the games. I might do TiTS FC, Suikoden 1, TiTS SC and then Suikoden 2.
Nikkuthulu
Member
Of the games listed. I'd go: Ys:, FF3-6, and Xenogears. As they're more self contained experiences.
Trails1/2 and Suikoden 1/2 are great games, but I think a lot of the fun is when you involve the sequels as well. So maybe save Suikoden for when you got Suikoden 2 able to pick up as a lot of the charm comes from the connections you'll make / remember with part 1. Trails 2 having a direct sequel to 1.. well.. it's a novel like game, so play it best when it's still fresh.
Don't like Legend of Mana, so can't recommend it.
Edit: Just saw your order of Trails, Suiko, Trails 2 and then Suiko 2. That's a pretty good idea.
JumpJeff84
Member
I'd say Trails.
Suikoden's great, but I find it's easy to get lost if you put it down for a day or two.
Suikoden's great, but I find it's easy to get lost if you put it down for a day or two.
I haven't played Trails and I want to but out of the rest, Xenogears for sure.
I don't know how Suikoden 1 can be boring as it's so short and there's stuff nonstop happening. But that's the way I feel about Suikoden 2. The first 5 hours of Suikoden 2 is pretty boring and aimless. I don't know why people think Suikoden 2 is better than 1. The war battles were better with 1. 1 made me care about more characters. 1 had better music. 1 had a better translation. Some of the major actions of a few of the main characters in 2 really never made sense to me. It felt like 2 made you wait longer for everything.
I don't know how Suikoden 1 can be boring as it's so short and there's stuff nonstop happening. But that's the way I feel about Suikoden 2. The first 5 hours of Suikoden 2 is pretty boring and aimless. I don't know why people think Suikoden 2 is better than 1. The war battles were better with 1. 1 made me care about more characters. 1 had better music. 1 had a better translation. Some of the major actions of a few of the main characters in 2 really never made sense to me. It felt like 2 made you wait longer for everything.
Barrylocke
Member
I'm glad you went for Trails and seem to be enjoying it, OP. I'm actually a person who wants to try Suikoden after hearing so much good stuff about it and that topic that compared it to Trails.
I personally found this to be my least favorite of the series of games it's a part of (along with Yggdra Union, Knights in the Nightmare, and Gungnir) but it did have an interesting battle system. I feel like if a few tweaks were done to the game, it'd be much more playable, especially increasing the inventory limit. I'm not against inventories that max out, but considering the sheer number of items you get and their importance to the battle system, I feel like they should have let you carry 45 or even 30, not 15. And if they had a way to combine like items into one that would have also helped.
I personally found this to be my least favorite of the series of games it's a part of (along with Yggdra Union, Knights in the Nightmare, and Gungnir) but it did have an interesting battle system. I feel like if a few tweaks were done to the game, it'd be much more playable, especially increasing the inventory limit. I'm not against inventories that max out, but considering the sheer number of items you get and their importance to the battle system, I feel like they should have let you carry 45 or even 30, not 15. And if they had a way to combine like items into one that would have also helped.
punkmaggit
Member
FFVI- Nobuo Uematsu's absolute zenith of a soundtrack and a phenomenal story to boot.
Aside from Legend of Mana, every game on that list is worth playing imo. It just depends what you're currently in the mood for - turn based or action, gameplay or story focused. If you have a big chunk of time and want a longer RPG, Xenogears is the longest (~60h), none of the others come nearly close. On the other hand, both Oath in Felghana and Suikoden 1 could be beaten in 15-20h.
AntiFacebook
Member
either trails in the sky(so you can continue to SC), or suikoden (so you can continue to suikoden 2)
TheDarkKnight774
Member
Xenogears! My favorite JRPG
StereoVsn
Member
This is a great choice. Follow up by Witcher 3.
BassForever
Member
Trails in the Sky FC/SC or Suikoden 1/2/3
Both are amazing sets of games in amazing trilogies, I'd go
Suikoden 2 > trails 1/2 > suikoden 1/3
Trails 1/2 will last you a bit longer
Both are amazing sets of games in amazing trilogies, I'd go
Suikoden 2 > trails 1/2 > suikoden 1/3
Trails 1/2 will last you a bit longer
Silvawuff
Member
I'd play them in this order:
Ys: The Oath in Felghana - Short and sweet, you'll knock this one out in a day with some dedicated play. Excellent game and a good "warm up" for tackling the rest of your log.
Legend of Mana - This one doesn't really have an "end" per se. Well, maybe it does. It's very charming but if you're looking for a big narrative, look to Xenogears.
Xenogears - You might like this or hate it. Different parts of the game do different things. Disc one is full adventure mode, then things get weird and super narrative.
Trails in the Sky - Keep hearing good stuff about this.
Suikoden - Didn't play this but it must be good, right?
FFIII-VI - Yup.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana - Short and sweet, you'll knock this one out in a day with some dedicated play. Excellent game and a good "warm up" for tackling the rest of your log.
Legend of Mana - This one doesn't really have an "end" per se. Well, maybe it does. It's very charming but if you're looking for a big narrative, look to Xenogears.
Xenogears - You might like this or hate it. Different parts of the game do different things. Disc one is full adventure mode, then things get weird and super narrative.
Don't level the female protagonist.
Trails in the Sky - Keep hearing good stuff about this.
Suikoden - Didn't play this but it must be good, right?
FFIII-VI - Yup.
BassForever
Member
I missed this but excellent choices lol
Xenogears and Trails in the Sky are probably the best in the list. The first should be played if you like great music and love to find hidden items and you don't mind about an insanely high encounter rate.
Trials is a great game for people that don't mind to read insane amounts of meaningless text. I wish somebody would create a much shorter re-translation that comes to the point with 75% less blabber.
Trials is a great game for people that don't mind to read insane amounts of meaningless text. I wish somebody would create a much shorter re-translation that comes to the point with 75% less blabber.
Trails is awesome! Estelle has some of the best dialogue I've read from a JRPG teen protag, great music, great atmosphere.
It does look a little rough on the Vita though so I've just bought a PSP Go off eBay and will start again on that.
Started playing SAO: Hollow Fragment a bit while I wait for the PSP Go to arrive, ugh. What a sloppy-ass translation with lame dialogue compared to the greatness of TiTS, and then it crashed on me and I lost an hour of playtime anyway!
It does look a little rough on the Vita though so I've just bought a PSP Go off eBay and will start again on that.
Started playing SAO: Hollow Fragment a bit while I wait for the PSP Go to arrive, ugh. What a sloppy-ass translation with lame dialogue compared to the greatness of TiTS, and then it crashed on me and I lost an hour of playtime anyway!
Underrated
Member
If you're still looking for a 60 hour RPG after you're done with Trails, you should definately play Xenogears, thats how long it took me to complete it.
Well I dug out my old PSP 2000 last night and fired up TiTS. The graphics look a tiny bit crisper on the original PSP display because it's native resolution but the brightness and contrast is nowhere near as good as the Vita OLED and the analogue stick placement is awkward so I'm gonna keep playing it and finish it on the Vita.
Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, "I love TiTS!"
Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, "I love TiTS!"
I just finished Trails in the Sky FC yesterday, thanks for the recommendation guys I loved it. Such an amazingly charming, low-key RPG with terrific dialogue. Looking forward to getting started on SC but I'm gonna play something in between, I need a break after 60 hours of the same game mechanics.
In fact the dialogue was so good that I've just started Y's Oath in Felghana and I had to turn the voice acting OFF. I've never turned voice acting off in my life but those actors were killing my ears! The VA for Margo was probably the worst thing I've ever heard in a video game lol.
Great gameplay tho! The realtime combat is a refreshing change from TiTs.
In fact the dialogue was so good that I've just started Y's Oath in Felghana and I had to turn the voice acting OFF. I've never turned voice acting off in my life but those actors were killing my ears! The VA for Margo was probably the worst thing I've ever heard in a video game lol.
Great gameplay tho! The realtime combat is a refreshing change from TiTs.
play xenogears, it feels like a sister game to FF7. the story is intense and out there, but not as confusing as idiots online will make it seem. i just finished that convo with
and i'm loving it. it's hilarious to me that people legitimately couldn't follow this game's plot
the wave existence
I guess I should post my own classic JRPG backlog in this thread to maybe get some tips on what path I should take through all these games:
Already finished:
Final Fantasy IV
Swrod of Mana
The Backlog:
Secret of Mana
Final Fantasy V -- IX (already in the middle of V)
Radiant Historia (midway through)
Chrono Trigger (midway through but will probably start over)
Chrono Cross
Solatorobo (kinda early in)
Dragon Quest V
Dragon Quest VIII (will the 3DS version require the new 3DS?)
Dragon Quest IX (midway. people don't seem to like it but I'm enjoying it so far)
Golden Sun Dark Dawn (same)
Mother
Earthbound
Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tensei II
Shin Megami Tensei IV (kinda early in, how important is III?)
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Vesperia
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Breath of Fire IV
Vagrant Story (midway, will probably restart)
Grandia 1 (already played 2)
Legend of Dragoon
Already finished:
Final Fantasy IV
Swrod of Mana
The Backlog:
Secret of Mana
Final Fantasy V -- IX (already in the middle of V)
Radiant Historia (midway through)
Chrono Trigger (midway through but will probably start over)
Chrono Cross
Solatorobo (kinda early in)
Dragon Quest V
Dragon Quest VIII (will the 3DS version require the new 3DS?)
Dragon Quest IX (midway. people don't seem to like it but I'm enjoying it so far)
Golden Sun Dark Dawn (same)
Mother
Earthbound
Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tensei II
Shin Megami Tensei IV (kinda early in, how important is III?)
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Vesperia
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Breath of Fire IV
Vagrant Story (midway, will probably restart)
Grandia 1 (already played 2)
Legend of Dragoon
Werewolf Jones
Gold Member
Solatorobo is like 20 hours long if you don't care about being a completionist so just smash through that.
I'll go with this guy. Suikoden is fantastic and the second is one of the best rpgs of all Time.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
You have gaming ADHD like me lol.
I don't think DQVIII is going to require a new 3DS.
SMT III has only slight connections to IV. They are two separate stories in two separate worlds. The SMT Universe in and of itself is connected.
I'd say finish FFV, DQ9, and Radiant Historia first since you're in the middle of them. All great games too.
After that I'd say tackle the first two Shin Megami Tensei games, people wrongfully call the games dated because they're dungeon crawlers but that's not the case. They're some of my favorite games of all time and they have their own unique charm even compared to other MegaTen titles.
SMT 3 isn't important at all to 4's story, it's self contained. Only the first two SMT games take place in the same world/universe/reality
And DQ8 doesn't require a new 3DS
I vouch for Earthbound, Dragon Quest VIII, Dragon Quest V, Secret of Mana, in that order.
A shame that you played Sword of Mana instead of the better Final Fantasy Adventure.
Take off Mother 1 and add Mother 3.
What did you think of FF4, FF5, Chrono Trigger, Vagrant Story, and Grandia 2? What did you like best, what did you like least?
Maybe I should rephrase that: How good is SMT III compared to the other ones?
Anyway, I have to stress that backlog is spread out over years. I bought most of those games either when they came out on GBA/DS or several years ago used somewhere. Actually found that copy of Vagrant Story for like $20 at GameStop probably 10 years ago. Box, manual, demo disc, everything.
FFIV was alright, probably a big step forward back when it came out but has likely been surpassed by its sequels. Some memorable characters I guess. I played the GBA version so some of the last parts were pretty tough. FFV is my favorite so far gameplay-wise. Chrono Trigger (on DS) feels like a brand new game that was designed recently. That speaks less of Chrono Trigger and more of JRPGs that have been released since. Vagrant Story has great atmosphere (especially considering it's a PS1 game) but I have no idea how they came up with its rule set. Grandia 2 was actually probably the first traditional JRPG I finished back when it originally came out.
Anyway, I have to stress that backlog is spread out over years. I bought most of those games either when they came out on GBA/DS or several years ago used somewhere. Actually found that copy of Vagrant Story for like $20 at GameStop probably 10 years ago. Box, manual, demo disc, everything.
FFIV was alright, probably a big step forward back when it came out but has likely been surpassed by its sequels. Some memorable characters I guess. I played the GBA version so some of the last parts were pretty tough. FFV is my favorite so far gameplay-wise. Chrono Trigger (on DS) feels like a brand new game that was designed recently. That speaks less of Chrono Trigger and more of JRPGs that have been released since. Vagrant Story has great atmosphere (especially considering it's a PS1 game) but I have no idea how they came up with its rule set. Grandia 2 was actually probably the first traditional JRPG I finished back when it originally came out.
Wildschwein
Member
I'm about halfway through Suikoden right now, I think.
Its super nifty and you should play it.
Its nothing nuts, but the battle system is satisfying enough, there's a ton of likable characters that all feel shockingly unique considering the ridiculous size of the cast, and its neat to look at from the perspective of it being an early PS1 game. It feels like a SNES game with some "next-gen" bells and whistles that I bet were pretty fun for them to get their hands on at the time. Just having SNES type visuals with CD quality music is sorta of strange and great.
Also, wherever the question includes the title "Dragon Quest V" the answer is "Dragon Quest V"
Play Dragon Quest V.
Its super nifty and you should play it.
Its nothing nuts, but the battle system is satisfying enough, there's a ton of likable characters that all feel shockingly unique considering the ridiculous size of the cast, and its neat to look at from the perspective of it being an early PS1 game. It feels like a SNES game with some "next-gen" bells and whistles that I bet were pretty fun for them to get their hands on at the time. Just having SNES type visuals with CD quality music is sorta of strange and great.
Also, wherever the question includes the title "Dragon Quest V" the answer is "Dragon Quest V"
Play Dragon Quest V.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
I like how people are totally ignoring your bump and still responding to the first post.
Ys is an entirely different thing than Trails for sure despite being from the same developer. Oath in Felghana and Origin are two of my favorite games, if you have a functional PC from the last 10 years or so give Origin a shot too.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
SMT III is really good. For a lot of people probably the best SMT. SMT Strange Journey is also well regarded (It isn't named as a mainline title, but a lot of people felt it should have been named SMTIV).
Yeah I loved SMT Strange Journey. Gets a little repetitive around the 2/3rds mark but still a memorable experience.
Haha, yep. And I think I bought Origin on the last Ys Steam sale, ready to go!
Tbh I'm considering putting down Ys and playing Suikoden instead - Ys reminds me of TitS in a lot of ways but doesn't quite match the level of polish that TitS had. I could see myself loving it but not just right away.
RedSwirl are you set on playing the franchises in your backlog in release order or could you be tempted to skip from FFV to FFVII?
Haha, yep. And I think I bought Origin on the last Ys Steam sale, ready to go!
Tbh I'm considering putting down Ys and playing Suikoden instead - Ys reminds me of TitS in a lot of ways but doesn't quite match the level of polish that TitS had. I could see myself loving it but not just right away.
RedSwirl are you set on playing the franchises in your backlog in release order or could you be tempted to skip from FFV to FFVII?