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Top 5 Greatest JRPGs of All Time

MeteorVII

Member
Better the solid world and character building in well-worn but well executed JRPG mechanics (that started the genre!) of Dragon Quest than the corny friendship meets convoluted story threads wrapped in run of the mill ARPG mechanics of Kingdom Hearts.
Dragon Quest is just as much about “corny, friendship” Shonen shit as Kingdom Hearts, so not sure what you’re going on about there...

Also, KH2:FM is literally the peak of Action based JRPGs, whereas the best DQ wouldn’t even be able to leave a dent in the halls of the best traditional JRPG gameplay examples...
 
What a pointless, stupid thing to say.

Yeah, I could enjoy it less or I could enjoy it more.

For you, maybe your list could change over time. For others it could be set in stone due to that special connection they had.

Stop trying to change how other people perceive things.
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SantaC

Member
1. Skies of Arcadia Legends
2. Baten Kaitos Origins
3. Tales of Vesperia Definite Edition
4. YS VIII
5. Trails of Cold Steel III
 

MudoSkills

Volcano High Alumnus (Cum Laude)
Not necessarily my favourites but just to join my fellow Atlus bros with some further recs:

SMT Devil Survivor (DS)
SMT Soul Hackers (3DS)
SMT Strange Journey (DS)
Persona Q (3DS)

Also want to rep the Disgaea series. The first has the best writing but the game mechanics tend to get more complex with each iteration.
 
Trying real hard to not put multiple games from the same series:

Xenogears
Chrono Trigger
Tales of Eternia
FF VI
Seiken Densetsu 3 (action RPG are still RPG, and it's definitely Japanese)
 

Dunki

Member
My Top 5 All-Time Favourite JRPGs:

5. Final Fantasy VI

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4. Kingdom Hearts 3

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3. Kingdom Hearts

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2. Kingdom Hearts 2

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1. Final Fantasy VII / Final Fantasy VII Remake

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(Honourable mentions:
Final Fantasy XV, Persona 5, Persona 4 and Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch)

What are yours?
This list screems like name your Top 5 Anime and you only have watched Evangelion, Coyboy Bebop and Elfenlied.....


I need to think about my list but Top 5 will be difficult....
 

Traianvs

Member
I'm more of a wrpg player myself but of all rpg I played the one I loved the most were
Final Fantasy 8
Chrono Trigger
I replay them at least once every couple of years
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Oh god, THREE KH titles in the OP?

Oh well. Let’s see... in no particular order, I’d say:

- Chrono Trigger. Just the closest to perfection. Fantastic characters (and masterfully introduced too, without the need for cutscenes or separate text boxes - I’m looking at you, FF6). Fantastic twists, top graphics for the hardware, legendary OST, and perfect length.

- Dragon Quest 8. Just as beautiful, evocative and open-worldish as could be done on the hardware at the time, paving the way for countless imitators. Good gameplay, albeit a bit static, grindy and trollish (DQ8’s algorithms are pure Murphy’s law). Amazing characters, helped immensely by the British VA.

- Xenoblade Chronicles. Possibly the definitive “mankind vs deity” JRPG, the final form of a theme that steadily evolved since Xenogears and all through Xenosaga (with more than a few echoes in Chrono Cross). Amazing characters, unparalleled vistas, fantastic music, good gameplay.

- Dark Souls. The most influential game of the last decade, for good reason. Challenging, endlessly replayable, outstanding locations brilliantly interconnected.

- Final Fantasy 7. By far the best FF, and a game so ahead of its time that’s still unsurpassed in many ways 24 years later. Everything about FF7 is brilliant, and completely unthinkable just a couple of years earlier. This game came out of the blue and set a standard that still flies a quarter of a century later. Still holds up magnificently today.
 

MeteorVII

Member
This list screems like name your Top 5 Anime and you only have watched Evangelion, Coyboy Bebop and Elfenlied.....

It does seem that way, indeed.

Thankfully I don’t need to ingratiate myself with JRPG fans by putting as many different series as I possibly can, I just pick the 5 I liked the most. Shocking concept, I know!
 

MudoSkills

Volcano High Alumnus (Cum Laude)
Surprised at all the recs for Ni No Kuni. Looks fantastic and oozes charm but I remember the general concensus at the time being that the story and gameplay were really weak.

I remember you, terrible party AI.
 

MeteorVII

Member
Surprised at all the recs for Ni No Kuni. Looks fantastic and oozes charm but I remember the general concensus at the time being that the story and gameplay were really weak.

I remember you, terrible party AI.
The first Ni No Kuni is so unbelievably far and ahead of its contemporaries and every modern JRPG made that it’s honestly shocking how its only had 1 sequel by now...
 

REDRZA MWS

Member
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It's amazing how well the original Phantasy Star holds up today, considering it was a jrpg of the 1980s.
There were so many great jrpg’s/rpg’s over the years since then, but i always measure them up to this standard. One of the greatest games ever made.
 

German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
If your list doesn't include Chrono Trigger your opinions are bad and you should feel bad.
Solid game, but I feel it's a bit over-rated.

I much prefer Chrono Cross.

If I expanded my list to top 20, it would get a spot somewhere in the 17-20 range.

Mostly I felt like the story felt kind of flat and uninteresting, I recall Star Ocean and Phantasy Star 4 having much better hooks, and both games kept me far more entertained throughout.

I also had really high expectations for it from all the hype.
 
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Pallas

Member
1. Suikoden II

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2. Star Ocean II

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3. Breath of Fire III

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4. Lost Odyssey

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T 5. Shadow Hearts

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T 5. Final Fantasy VI

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Bonus!(Because why not?)

Favorite JRPG to never make it statewide.

ルドラの秘宝 (Rudora no Hihou “Treasure of Rudra”)

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Honorable mentions: Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Persona 2 Eternal Punishment, Front Mission, Final Fantasy Tactics, Suikoden V, FFIV, Lufia 2, Breath of Fire 2. Final Fantasy IX, Wild Arms 1, Wild Arms 2, Thousand Arms, Kartia.
 

Faust

Perpetually Tired
Staff Member
Limiting my list to one per franchise otherwise it would look a little repetitive.

1. Final Fantasy IX
2. Trails of Azure
3. Seiken Densetsu 3
4. Bravely Default
5. Radiant Historia

I love Chrono Trigger, Lufia, Final Fantasy 1-6, Kingdom Hearts and so much more - but these games are what personally reach the highest echelons of the genre and are all must plays *for me*. Others will think differently of course :p
 

MeteorVII

Member
If your list doesn't include Chrono Trigger your opinions are bad and you should feel bad.
Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI are the actual 2 most overrated video games ever made. Like, by any and all objective measure.

Both are good games (in the case of FFVI; it’s actually a very good game). But that is it.

The amount of fucking mental gymnastics edgy, unemployed middle-aged men are pulling to pretend these games are really anything special now is frankly embarrassing.

FFVII did every single thing those games did well approximately 1 billion times better and it only came out a few years later.
 
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Pallas

Member
Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI are the actual 2 most overrated video games ever made. Like, by any and all objective measure.

Both are good games (in the case of FFVI; it’s actually a very good game). But that is it.

The amount of fucking mental gymnastics edgy, unemployed middle-aged men are pulling to pretend these games are really anything special now is frankly embarrassing.
Replace FFVI with FFVII and I’d agree with you and I’m probably in the minority on this but I like Chrono Cross more than Chrono Trigger.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
I cant choose but i
Ok, come on now. This is cheating.

(I know I put FF7 & Remake on the same spot as well, but at the very least it’s a Remake and not an entirely different entry in the series...)

I will be cheating too. Too many great ones.
I love KH too, its in my top 5
 

Lokaum D+

Member
1 - FF14
2 - FF8
3 - Persona 5
4 - FFX
5 - Breath of Fire 4

Honourable mentions:

FF7 OG , Persona 4 , Legend of Mana, Legend of Legaia
 

Pantz

Gold Member
1. Final Fantasy VII
2. Final Fantasy IV
3. Final Fantasy VI
4. Final Fantasy V
5. Lost Odyssey

I feel bad though, I've yet to play most of all the other popular JRPG's out there. I want to play them all but I play games way slower than most do.
 

MeteorVII

Member
1. Final Fantasy VII
2. Final Fantasy IV
3. Final Fantasy VI
4. Final Fantasy V
5. Lost Odyssey

I feel bad though, I've yet to play most of all the other popular JRPG's out there. I want to play them all but I play games way slower than most do.
Persona 5. Kingdom Hearts 2. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

These are the 3 games you absolutely need to play!
 
It's amazing how well the original Phantasy Star holds up today, considering it was a jrpg of the 1980s.
I've only played it recently on Switch. I agree. Usually games like this, I'm disappointed in if I didn't already have nostalgia for.

The Sega Ages version probably helped a lot with the addition of the map maker.
 

Aion002

Member
Radiata Stories
FFVII
Shadow Hearts 2
Xenogears
Suikoden V


No particular order... It's already too hard to decide a top 5. Also, there too many jrpgs that I love, so the answer might change depending on the day for me.
 
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FluffShake

Member
1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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Honorable mentions are Final Fantasy VI, X and XII, Growlanser III The Dual Darkness, Ys VIII, Radiant Historia, Fear & Hunger, Seiken Densetsu 3
 
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5. Final Fantasy VI
4. Final Fantasy IV
3. Final Fantasy VII Remake
2. Chrono Trigger
1. Final Fantasy IX

I'm really debating if I shouldn't put Dragon Quest VIII in there somewhere.
 
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