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Top 5 Greatest JRPGs of All Time

Areiz

Banned
1 - Pokémon Gold, Silver and Yellow, the golden Pokémon age
2 - Final Fantasy XV, the best Final Fantasy since the ps1 era games
3 - Kingdom Hearts 1, the greatest ps2 game of all time
4 - Valkyrie Profile Covenant of the Plume
5 - Dark Souls 1
 
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amigastar

Member
One thing this thread has shown me-

There are a ton of amazing RPGs.

Definitely want to play Dragon Quest V,
VIII, Final Fantasy IV, VI and VII at some point.

Also Skies of Arcadia needs a full on remake. Its setting would be on par with Xenoblades in sheer beauty.
yeah, too bad that Dragon Quest V for the DS is so expensive.
 

Cutty Flam

Banned
Umm, you just said you haven't played any other than the two games in your list.
Paper Mario isn’t classified as a true RPG apparently, at least not by Nintendo last time I read. Was confused, I always thought Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door were technically RPG games
 

Cutty Flam

Banned
They are. Nintendo is just pretending those games don't exist anymore to hide the creatively bankrupt new direction of the series.
They should bring it back. Mario RPG/JRPG games can revitalize a lot for Nintendo. With what has been shown with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo can bring Mario games to new heights with their exploration and world building. All this hand holding and simplicity in the Paper Mario series is doing very little if nothing at all to move the games forward. I say bring back the hardcore elements you can expect from a great RPG games and watch the fans enjoy something that has been missing for some time now
 

Sushen

Member
My top 6 in no particular order

Final Fantasy 4
Final Fantasy 6
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Quest 8
Tales of Vesperia
Persona 4

Everything else is in different leagues
 

Bakkus

Member
They should bring it back. Mario RPG/JRPG games can revitalize a lot for Nintendo. With what has been shown with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo can bring Mario games to new heights with their exploration and world building. All this hand holding and simplicity in the Paper Mario series is doing very little if nothing at all to move the games forward. I say bring back the hardcore elements you can expect from a great RPG games and watch the fans enjoy something that has been missing for some time now
The direction of those games contradict Nintendo's current safe design philosophy. Koizumi is pretty much the only one doing something more with the medium working at Nintendo. It's because of him Mario Odyssey was so memorable. I know PM is Intelligent Systems, but they have also gotten horrible with their other franchises. Fire Emblem has been reduced from unique medieval story to generic anime with waifus. Advance Wars will never return either.
 

Trumpets

Member
Suikoden 2
FFIX
Xenosaga 3
Lost Odyssey
Chrono Trigger

I finished Yakuza Like a Dragon last month and it would probably be in my top ten, but it can't supplant these five.
 
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...

Dude, there's nothing in Dragon Quest as unsubtle as "two people becoming friends for life after eating from same star shaped fruit".

Plus the characters are leagues more interesting than Sora and co.

KH series for the most part is run of the mill. Ys: Oath in Felghana is where it's at.

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.

The only thing FF7 did better was make the characters interchangeable in combat (via the Materia system).

And I wouldve included more if it werent for you meddling kids and that gosh dar




Turn-based games are old and antiquated.

That's like saying 2d games are.
 

MeteorVII

Member
Dude, there's nothing in Dragon Quest as unsubtle as "two people becoming friends for life after eating from same star shaped fruit".
There are plenty of unsubtle things about Dragon Quest, but I mean your KH example doesn’t even make sense. What’s wrong with items having sentimental/memorable distinctions?

Plus the characters are leagues more interesting than Sora and co.
They’re more interesting than edgy anime Mickey? Badass ride-or-die Goofy? Douchebag Donald?

More interesting than Hades?! Maleficent?!

Doubt it.

KH series for the most part is run of the mill.

You clearly don’t have a single fucking clue what you’re talking about.

KH is the very antithesis to “run of the mill JRPG”.

In a sea of monotonous, mundane, generic weeb trash, Kingdom Hearts is the only one that actually stands out thanks to its Disney influence and charm.

The only thing FF7 did better was make the characters interchangeable in combat (via the Materia system).

And also everything else.

That's like saying 2d games are.

It was a joke. I thought that would be obvious considering my favourite JRPG of all time is a turn-based game...
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
I'm not going to say GOAT because I certainly haven't played the majority of them, but here's my personal top 5:

1. Xenoblade 2
2. Xenosaga 3
3. Xenogears
4. SMT 4/ Apocalypse
5. Chrono Trigger

Nier Automata and Persona 5 are runners up.

I see a lot of people saying Xenogears which is great.

Also quite a few saying Chrono Cross; is it a good game? I've heard mixed reviews on it.
 
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fart town usa

Gold Member
I played a few hours of the first Kingdom Hearts and it was honestly one of the jankiest/boring games I've ever played. I imagine the sequels are better but definitely not my thing even though I thought it would be.

For me,

1: Dragon Quest 5 (the music, the story, it's so simple in it's design but man it's a damn good game)
2: Albert Odyssey: The Legend of Eldean (for nostalgia purposes, fantastic soundtrack, real easy game, fun Victor Ireland/Working Designs translation)
3: Final Fantasy 6 (what needs to be said, the best FF game IMO)
4: Shining the Holy Ark (the pixel art and monster design in this game is freaking incredible, easily the best JRPG on the Saturn, surprised it doesn't get mentioned more)
5: Panzer Dragoon Saga (just because it's insane what they managed to accomplish on the Saturn, it really is as good as people make it out to be, not the greatest game ever but definitely worth experiencing)
5: Super Mario RPG (damn fun, good music, fun twitch style battle mechanics)

Runner Up: Xenoblade Chronicles X. It's on my bucket list to finish this beast of a game but it really is as good as people make it out to be, even the weird music at times.
 
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fart town usa

Gold Member
I'm not going to say GOAT because I certainly haven't played the majority of them, but here's my personal top 5:

1. Xenoblade 2
2. Xenosaga 3
3. Xenogears
4. SMT 4/ Apocalypse
5. Chrono Trigger

Nier Automata and Persona 5 are runners up.

I see a lot of people saying Xenogears which is great.

Also quite a few saying Chrono Cross; is it a good game? I've heard mixed reviews on it.
Chrono Cross is great, lots of people hate on it because it wasn't Chrono Trigger. Ignore fanboys and just enjoy the game for what is it. The graphics are amazing, probably top 5 of the whole PSX library.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Aside from its art style and enemy designs, there is literally nothing unique or interesting about Dragon Quest. It is the most generic, by-the-numbers JRPG series ever made.
And that's why it's so damn good! lol. The games are super simple in their approach but it's all about the music, the characters, and the story telling. I love simplistic battle systems. The one game that will haunt me forever is Resonance of Fate....I frigging love that game, the music, art style, characters, but the battle system is so insanely weird and it hard locks you if you can't wrap your head around it. Such a shame cause I really want to play that game but I literally can't figure out the battle system and it's more advanced mechanics.
 
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laynelane

Member
I'm not going to say GOAT because I certainly haven't played the majority of them, but here's my personal top 5:

1. Xenoblade 2
2. Xenosaga 3
3. Xenogears
4. SMT 4/ Apocalypse
5. Chrono Trigger

Nier Automata and Persona 5 are runners up.

I see a lot of people saying Xenogears which is great.

Also quite a few saying Chrono Cross; is it a good game? I've heard mixed reviews on it.

Chrono Cross is a great game. Beautiful music, artwork, and environments, a fun battle system, and a story with a lot of twists and turns - plus a large and diverse cast of characters. I remember being late for work and not sleeping when I first played it because I could not put it down.
 

MeteorVII

Member
I played a few hours of the first Kingdom Hearts and it was honestly one of the jankiest/boring games I've ever played. I imagine the sequels are better but definitely not my thing even though I thought it would be.
Did you play it on PS2?

Cause I’ll say now: KH1 on PS2 sucks. Like, just flat out. It is absolutely horrendous to play.

The KH 1.5 Remaster on PS4 though? Heaven.

It is literally night and day.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Did you play it on PS2?

Cause I’ll say now: KH1 on PS2 sucks. Like, just flat out. It is absolutely horrendous to play.

The KH 1.5 Remaster on PS4 though? Heaven.

It is literally night and day.
It was PS2 and it was like years after the fact. I'm pretty easy going when it comes to rough gameplay but man, that game just felt like an absolute mess. The combat, the platforming. I stopped playing cause I got lost in the Alice in Wonderland section. Just had no desire to continue with it. I'm not of the mindset that the whole series is trash though, I figured the other titles vastly improved on what the first one was trying to do.
 
1) There are plenty of unsubtle things about Dragon Quest, but I mean your KH example doesn’t even make sense. What’s wrong with items having sentimental/memorable distinctions?


2) They’re more interesting than edgy anime Mickey? Badass ride-or-die Goofy? Douchebag Donald?

More interesting than Hades?! Maleficent?!

Doubt it.



3) You clearly don’t have a single fucking clue what you’re talking about.

KH is the very antithesis to “run of the mill JRPG”.

In a sea of monotonous, mundane, generic weeb trash, Kingdom Hearts is the only one that actually stands out thanks to its Disney influence and charm.



4) And also everything else.



5) It was a joke. I thought that would be obvious considering my favourite JRPG of all time is a turn-based game...

1) Dragon Quest has a lot more believable and earthy character stories within the minor characters, many laden with tragedy to boot.
2) Yes. Alena, Yangus, Sylandro, etc. are more interesting than the over-buckled/zipperfied Disney redesigns and glorified Disney crossover fanfic OGs.
3) KH is top tier weeb. The keyblades, the buckles, the zippers, the spiky hair.
4) 6 has a lot better game balance, more charismatic characters on the whole with varied motivations, a villain who actually succeeds in destroying the world, and actually makes you/the protagonists want to beat the stuffing out of him.
5) A little hard to tell given your divergent posts in this thread.
 

MeteorVII

Member
1) Dragon Quest has a lot more believable and earthy character stories within the minor characters, many laden with tragedy to boot.

As are KH characters.

2) Yes. Alena, Yangus, Sylandro, etc. are more interesting than the over-buckled/zipperfied Disney redesigns and glorified Disney crossover fanfic OGs.

If you find generic weeb trash interesting, then yeah I guess they could be seen as more interesting than KH’s badass interpretations of Disney characters and its FF-inspired OCs.

3) KH is top tier weeb. The keyblades, the buckles, the zippers, the spiky hair.

Keyblades are a more distinct and interesting concept than anything in Dragon Quest.

They are about as far removed from typical braindead weeb shit that’s just made to “look cool and that’s it” as possible. They can simultaneously look silly and badass, have multiple functions, thematic purpose and fit in with the aesthetic of the world.

The buckles, baggy pants, zippers and spiky hair aren’t an anime thing. They’re an early 2000s thing. Which is a really cool and awesome aesthetic cause that was an awesome era.

4) 6 has a lot better game balance, more charismatic characters on the whole with varied motivations,

Oh wow! CHARISMATIC characters! Amazing! ...Like...ok? Cool?

The Disney characters in KH are charismatic...

Fucking Cait Sith is charismatic...

I’ll take actual developed characters over “charismatic” characters any day.

And no, actually, it doesn’t have better game balance at all. This is straight up bullshit. You can basically break the game when you get the Blackjack by abusing Intangirs 1/3rd into the game.

And FFVII characters also have diverse motivations, so that argument is also null and void.

a villain who actually succeeds in destroying the world, and actually makes you/the protagonists want to beat the stuffing out of him.

Wanting to beat a villain more =/= a better game.

And WOW!!! No way! He destroys the world?! That thing you have no connection to and practically provides no consequence to any of the major characters at all?

Yeah, that’s totally a better villain than the guy who kills one of the 4 main characters of the entire game; a romantic interest nonetheless...

5) A little hard to tell given your divergent posts in this thread.

What exactly was so divergent?
 
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EdgeMaster

Neo Member
I'm not really into JRPGS, but these are my favourites:

1) Panzer Dragoon Saga
azel-panzer-dragoon-rpg-main-illustration.jpg


2) Persona 4: Golden
header.jpg


3) Grandia II
dda90eaaef08c0668c75730f79ca7fde.jpg


4) Dragon Quest XI
1535406437_478682_1535465350_noticia_normal.jpg


5) Chrono Trigger
1366_2000.jpg
 
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