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Christmas present for big JRPG fan.
BoredGamer
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Registered User regular
I've got a friend who is a massive classic JRPG fan and had a big collection of them, but had to sell them due to money problems earlier in the year. Now i want to buy a couple of games to help kick start their collection but apart from the very obvious and famous ones (Final Fantasy VI-IX, Chrono Trigger) i've not really got much knowlege of what games are good or well loved. Any suggestions to games that i should try and hunt down?
Some of the games i know they owned are.
Golden Sun.
Chrono Trigger
Suikoden II
Final Fantasys V to X.
Some of the games i know they owned are.
Golden Sun.
Chrono Trigger
Suikoden II
Final Fantasys V to X.
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Xenoblade maybe? Heard good things about it. That's for the Wii. Not as classic.
Those are both JRPG's, but they are also both newer. If you're looking for older titles, you might want to check out Secret of Mana.
And while we're on the subject Dragon Quest 8 (PS2) and Dragon Quest 9 (DS) are amazing. Hell, all of the DQ games are amazing.
The Wild Arms games are pretty fabulous as well. I think you can get 1 and 2 for the PSP/Vita/PSN. Wild Arms 3 was a PS2 title.
Dark Cloud 1 and 2 were pretty good, those are action rpgs for the PS2 if I am remembering correctly.
Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre are splediferous if he is into tactics games as well. I think both can be found on the PSN, but only for the PSP.
Disgaea is another great tactics RPG and were released and re-released for just about every system. Twice.
The Grandia games are pretty classic as well. I originally played them on the Dreamcast but I know at least one is on the PSN.
The MegaTen (Megami Tensei) games are also fucking huge. Nocturn (PS2), Devil Survivor (DS), and Persona (PS2/PSN/PSP) are some of the big ones there.
I'm going to stop there but I'm sure there will be other people to fill in the gaps and/or disagree with me.
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Blue Dragon (360)
Earthbound (SNES)
Dragon Quest 4, 5 & 6 (DS)
Fire Emblem
Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole (Genesis/Mega Drive)
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (Genesis/Mega Drive)
The Last Story (Wii)
Opoona (Wii)
Shadow Hearts series (PS2)
Shining Force (Genesis)
Star Ocean: The Second Story (PS1)
Tales of Eternia (PS1)
Valkyrie Profile (PS1)
Ys series
Lost Odyssey (360, on the other hand, is mostly a traditional JRPG, but the story is fantastic. I admit I haven't beaten it yet (due to time constraints) but I love the writing. I definitely highly recommend it. Blue Dragon (also on 360) I only got to play a little because the disc ended up getting damaged by a friend... it seemed fairly good, but from what I played I would put Lost Odyssey WAY above it on my list. They're both about the same price though (<$20). I've heard awesome stuff about Tales of Vesperia (360-only outside Japan) but I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet. Apparently the characters are great, I keep hearing.
As for more classic stuff, yeah, on PS1 I would definitely recommend Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean: The Second Story... and Legend of Dragoon which is another of my favorite games (I know LoD is on PSN, and the first two Star Ocean games got remakes on PSP). On PS2, Dark Cloud 1 and 2 are also awesome and cheap (but as mentioned, they're action RPGs, crossed with dungeon crawlers and town-building)... umm... Oh, while we're talking PS2, I want to take a moment to plug a game nobody's ever heard of called Okage: Shadow King. It's definitely a traditional JRPG but with interesting, quirky characters. Again, it's pretty obscure, and I like it a lot, so I want it to get more attention! It was pretty cheap when I bought it, a number of years ago, but I don't know what the price is like now.
Oh, and Earthbound is awesome and all, but good luck finding the damn game since it's probably never coming out on Virtual Console due to copyright issues with the music (as far as we understand).
Anyway, those are my suggestions for now. I may be able to think of more later since I'm uhh, I've always been kinda big on RPGs. :P Can you tell?
But yeah, I was going to suggest the Shadow Hearts series. It's a bit less-known, I think, but I enjoyed it a lot (well, the first two, the third was so-so).
I'll also conditionally second FF Tactics, but it's different than a traditional JRPG, so the results may vary.
...I can't seem to find most of my video games at the moment, so unfortunately I'm having to go from memory..
I enjoyed Legend of Mana for the PS, Legaia 2 for the PS2...
Legend of Dragoon for the PS is fantastic.
Some difficult Googling led me to the name of another good game, Threads of Fate for the PS. It's more action-y than a traditional JRPG, but I really liked it and I'm a big RPG fan, so it may be worth looking at.
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Also, y'all should be ashamed for not mentioning Nier.
Im surprised no one mentioned these, but these were probably some of the best rpgs of recent years, both on the DS.
Radiant Historia - Throw in some traditional jprg, some strategy rpg, some chrono trigger-esque messing with timelines themes and you have this awesome awesome awesome RPG.
The World Ends With You - Really really non-traditional. About as non-traditional as you could probably get. Takes place in modern Japan, action happens on both screens (which takes some getting used to) but it really all comes together to make something really unique and awesome.
Somewhat less obviously, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1) is a classic, and a very fun game as well. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA) and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS) were also amazing in that franchise. Aria of Sorrow may be quite difficult to get hold of.. in fact, all three of those titles might be. So if your friend has any love for those games and was forced to part with them, tracking even one of them down could be quite a meaningful start.
If he doesn't have either of these, this is what you should get him. It's got a lot of unique qualities to it that makes it stand out from most JRPGs but it has plenty of comfortable familiarities as well.
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Disgaea is an incredible PS2 title, infact all of the Nippon Ichi games from that period, Makai Kingdom, Phantom Brave etc.
Jade Cocoon was pretty swish, both one and two
the two dark cloud games are brilliant, although personally 2 is much better
as much as everyone seemed to hate them I really enjoyed all four .hack games
Vagrant Story
all of the persona titles
Shadow Hearts is absolutely amazing, really really interesting story line, I wouldn't bother with the third but 1+2 are well worth it
Chrono Trigger/cross
Legend of Dragoon had some good points
Secret of Mana etc etc
Alundra (Zelda for adults, the first one anyway, avoid the second like the plague)
Star Ocean the Second Story
Saga Frontier is incredibly beautiful, looks like an animated watercolour, it's pretty hard to get in to but once you're there, it's incredible
but yeah, I can't recommend Grandia 1 enough, it has such a brilliant combat system and the story is amazing, it's the only game I ever skipped school to play.
I would agree about the Castlevania games but I don't personally feel that those are really RPGs. :P They have RPG elements like some of the other games mentioned that aren't traditional RPGs, but they feel waaayyyy more like platformers first and foremost.
Edit: Oh yeah, and I can add Tales of Phantasia (GBA). Most of the "Tales of" games are good, but I think it depends on what kind of characters you like. Oh, speaking of, please don't buy Star Ocean: The Last Hope (360/PS3). I have a pretty good tolerance for characters when I like the gameplay, but holy god I don't think I even got halfway through that game before I wanted to kill myself, because the plot was awful and the characters were ridiculously grating. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2) is good though.
So fun, so good, I've played it three times and it never gets old and even though it came out 10 years ago. The story is still amazing and exciting
You can also skip the second in the series and get Bower's Inside Story, but I like the first as a way to ease into the game's style.
Both of them should be under $20 for the PS2, though they have been rereleased for the PSP and PSP Vita respectively, with added content. If your friend only has a PS2 though, those versions are still great.
If you have to pick 1, go with Persona 4. It is a really special game.
2+3 are just... beautiful and I really enjoyed Dragon Quarter too (another game I seemed to love and everyone else seemed to despise)
Legend of legaia
Star ocean games
1 in particular is a complete chore to play, even with the updates in the PSP version
Breath of Fire 3 is not, but you can get the PSP UK release off Amazon for a reasonable price
There's a lot of classics on the PSN like Vagrant Story, Front Mission 3, FF Tactics, and so on
This is the question. Is your friend a collector who had to liquidate, or someone who just likes playing JRPGs? You're mainly getting good advice for the latter; advice for the former is similar, but importantly different.