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Best Scifi JRPG's

bomblord1

Banned
Hi Gaf long time reader 1,975 time poster.

Personally, I am somewhat aversive to fantasy settings (although I will admit there are plenty of fantasy settings that are amazing). However I absolutely adore science fiction. Even as a young kid I would read all kinds of science fiction novels. The setting of scifi is just amazing to me.

It's magical to me to see what an artist's ideas of where humanity is going. Futuristic technology, sociopolitical changes, how humanity will evolve and changes is just so incredibly interesting to me. I am particularly interested in the Japanese Role Playing game version of this genre as I personally see a lot of western takes that rely too much on what I consider tired tropes of the genre (once again I will admit there are plenty that don't fall into this but I see it a lot) as I've grown up seeing the "westernized"scifi but Japan's cultural influence makes it still feel fresh.

So, I was just wondering what do you think are some of the greatest Scifi JRPG's?
 

Asd202

Member
Yeah gonna go with Xenogears and Xenosaga. Xenoblade is also great but it's not really that much sci-fi as the other Xeno series.
 
Ar Tonelico?

Fanservice aside I enjoyed my time with the first Ar Tonelico. And I hear the 2nd one is usually considered the best, having a decent combat system for starters. There IS still fanservice and waifu bait though, so play with caution. The soundtrack is godly though.
 

vocab

Member
Anachronoxcover.jpg
 

Krujo

Banned
I think Rogue Galaxy for Playstation 2 is one to consider. Although I didn't like it after unlocking the factory part. I should give it another shot.
 
I'm shocked we're like a dozen posts in and not 1 mention of Mass Effect.

That would be mine.

Unless you count FF7 as sci-fi. Then it would be that definitely.
 

HORRORSHØW

Member
i loved xenogears when i was younger: the schism between dogmatic religiosity and psychological angst against the backdrop of a supposed-utopian futurism was intriguing. now that i'm older i can see how the plot was contrived; nevertheless, it is still my preferred sci-fi jrpg.

I'm shocked we're like a dozen posts in and not 1 mention of Mass Effect.

That would be mine.
mass effect is not a jrpg.
 
That one looks really interesting I've never heard of it before

Keep in mind that there's a modicum of fanservice involved, especially in the third installment. First two are definite must-plays though, IMO. Soundtrack is very unique and top-tier throughout the entire series.
 

bomblord1

Banned
Keep in mind that there's a modicum of fanservice involved, especially in the third installment. First two are definite must-plays though, IMO. Soundtrack is very unique and top-tier throughout the entire series.

I'm not a fan of fanservice how bad is it? Are we talking Hyper Dimension Neptunia levels or just typical "oh japan" stuff?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Phantasy Star?
The best answer.

If the first 3 Phantasy Star are too dated for you, OP, Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium still aged very gracefully and it's amazing, one of the finest JRPGs ever made.

Xenogears is another excellent sci-fi one. I hate Xenosaga and Xenoblade though, so I wouldn't recommend those. FFVII might be too obvious to name, but it's pretty decent if you've never played it. FFVIII is an abomination though, avoid at all costs.

You should also be on the look out for Cosmic Star Heroine, a sci-fi RPG made by Gaffers that's heavily influenced by Phantasy Star and Chrono Trigger. Coming out hopefully in 2015. :)
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Never played it myself, but Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter always seemed kinda sci-fi to me.
 
Chrono Cross starts in a small backwater fishing village, but eventually involves the sci-fi themes you mentioned: "Futuristic technology, sociopolitical changes, how humanity will evolve and changes". And other sci-fi themes that are spoilers. You just won't find the usual laser guns and showy stuff.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Never played it myself, but Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter always seemed kinda sci-fi to me.
Oh good call on Breath of Fire. Lots of old-school jRPGs had sci-fi elements to them. BoF3 and 4 is clearly a hybrid of fantasy and sci-fi, so I assume 5 is similar. Wild ARMs is a mix of fantasy, western and sci-fi, and it's awesome, I'd recommend it to the OP too.
 
Shadowrun: Dragonfall and and Fallout: New Vegas are two of the best sci-fi RPGs of the past decade.

As far as jRPGs go, I guess there's Xenogears. I haven't replayed it in a long, long time, but I remember the gameplay being average-to-good for the sub-genre and the story having an impressive scope. It teases an epoch-spanning mystery, and it delivers. Plus the music is pretty great.

EDIT: Oh, what about Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter?
 

entremet

Member
The Final Fantasy series in a nutshell is this. Well it's a mix of both, hence the name.

Phantasy Star as well. Both classic and Online.
 

Steel

Banned
The first Star ocean is pretty good, the remake on PSP is out there. That being said, while it is Sci-Fi(Space ships, travelling between planets etc.) you spend a lot of time in a fantasy setting.
 
That wasn't that bad she was still fully dressed she just shed the armor.

For this girl she ends up like that, some of the others do end up in their underwear though.

Either way, it's a really nice little franchise and if nothing else you should try out the first few PS2 games.
 
The first thing that came to mind is Xenosaga. I see a lot of good answers in this thread though.

Edit: I just picked up the Star Ocean PSP games, and I hear those are pretty good.
 

epmode

Member
Did Japan invade America?

"JRPG" has nothing to do with the country where the game was developed. It's a style. Anachronox is a JRPG.

And because you obviously disagree, I'll say that the other definition, where the country is the only thing that matters, is a lot less useful for discussing and classifying games.
 
Front Mission, maybe....It's a tactical RPG, emphasis on tactical rather RPG... and I guess it's about as near-future sci-fi as you could get. I'm not even sure some of the semantics of the gray areas of what's sci-fi and what's not. But it's in the future, and you got mechs..

But the reason it's still my favorite choice is because it has the best art, both characters and menu backgrounds, of any other title I think could qualify as a sci-fi JRPG. It's a simple game... can even get repetitive. But I liked the plot and it made me interested in the sort of 'war effort' the various groups were putting together, and it had cool mechs. The mechs were not too big, and seemed rather near future, even a bit blunt and clumsy at times (almost in a Ring of Red, sort of way, maybe?)... I dunno, I'm not a fan of most mech games where they're flying around and such, but in Front Mission they felt more just like advanced tanks, and I liked that. Combined with the gorgeous Amano art... Probably my favorite Japanese sci-fi setting and art.

Never really liked any other Front Mission game. I tried Gun Hazard but only in Japanese, so I never got into it at the time and haven't tried it since. And I tried some of the others since then, and I never enjoyed them.... just felt different than the original. Something about the scale, how the mechs looked and moved... just felt boring. Maybe that's just a trait that translated with into SNES sprites backed by Amano art but once you try do it in 3D it just doesn't work the same or capture the same mood. It just worked better for me, at least.
 
Shadowrun: Dragonfall and and Fallout: New Vegas are two of the best sci-fi RPGs of the past decade.

As far as jRPGs go, I guess there's Xenogears. I haven't replayed it in a long, long time, but I remember the gameplay being average-to-good for the sub-genre and the story having an impressive scope. It teases an epoch-spanning mystery, and it delivers. Plus the music is pretty great.

EDIT: Oh, what about Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter?

YSkNTAx.gif


Edit: To clarify, I really didn't like Dragon Quater back in the day, but after looking at the reviews maybe I need to revisit it. I was a big fan of 1&2 as a kid so many that colored my expectations.


I liked Xenosaga a lot back in the day, but never could get past 2; and I've heard the 3rd one is the best. Xenogears and Blade are fantastic though, and Blade X is looking more and more unbelievable with each new reveal. Star Ocean 3 would certainly like you to believe it's scifi, but go into with high hopes like I did and you'll be very disappointed.
 
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