A lot of this boils down to how many people don't like urban settings and instead want tropical islands and forests and stuff like that On the other hand, if verticality and an urban environment that seems to be influenced by old European architecture is your sort of thing, then IX is absolutely a blast (VIII still wins overall thanks to Dana in my book, but IX is still so damn close)
@@AceWing905 The problem with the urban setting is that it loses the sense of discovery and exploration you get in the other games. It also causes most of the game to take place in dungeons and caves which start to seem very "samey" after a while. It's still a great game though, and it wasn't until my second playthrough that I really appreciated the fantastic story it tells.
@@mbern4530 Idk I kinda disagree with that when it comes to this game. They do a very solid job making the dungeons feel distinct, and honestly hearing people say "the whole game takes place in the city" for the sake of spoilers is really doing it no favors. No, the whole game does NOT take place in the city, and it has plenty of settings it alternates between Is it as different as a giant island across multiple time periods like in Ys VIII? No. Is Ys IX better designed and more fun to traverse? Absolutely. IX would probably be the universal best game in the series if VIII didn't have Dana lmao (listen I love her character, but that game isn't much better as others would have you believe)
I did feel that Ys IX was a step down from the masterpiece that was VIII, but it was still an excellent game and my second favorite entry in a series of great games.
The game feels disjointed and is extremely easy. No real main protagonist to carry you through the story. Only a beautiful world but that's it. Gameplay is interesting but because it lacks difficulty you know you can breeze through stuff.
Yep, Octopath Traveler 2 is definitely a gem, so are many of these others. People who love JRPGs should certainly at least one of these games. Nice vid man.
Love Monochrome Mobius getting a shout out. One of my favorite games of last year after watching the full Utawarerumono anime. Excited to see what a sequel does.
I generally only play like 2-3 JRPGs a year because of lack of time, but when I say I binged Tales of Arise in like a week I was so hooked. Same with 3 Houses, I remember being unable to put my Switch down. I dropped Atelier Sophie a couple years ago, but I might pick it up again and then play Sophie 2 afterwards. Another game though that I got really hooked on was Tokyo Mirage Sessions- Encore came out in 2020 and while I played the original, the remastered version definitely elevated the game for me!
Man, I’m 20 hours into daybreak, still have to go back and finish UO, and still haven’t even touched some of the releases this year like IW or P3R. And now even more games to add to my list. Also it is crazy that FE3H came out 5 years ago now like you said.
I agree with Atelier Sophie 2. I really liked the synthesis mechanics and the game doesn't feel like it was dragged on for too long. I still love the other Atelier games but Sophie 2 is peak Atelier for me...
Lots of great stuff in here! Been meaning to get into Octopath Traveler 2 for some time now since I loved the first one so much! I'm surprised Unicorn Overlord isn't in here though!
Personally I would recommend *Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition (PC/Switch)* as a "modern JRPG" that is a "must-play" for anyone who loves video games! :) (I'm also re-playing *Monster Hunter Stories Remastered* at the moment and having a TON of fun with it too when it comes to collecting monsties and *changing their elements!* :D)
Ys IX brought me to the Ys series. I love its story quite a notch more than Ys VIII actually because the darker mood and it definitely felt like the turning point for his journey when he is being more known and we started to see how his previous actions starting to impact his journey. Being stuck in one city kind of bother me in the beginning but that quickly faded once the game mechanics and the area opened up. Now, I only wish that Monochrome Mobius comes to switch :/
I literally JUST finished Ys IX a few minutes before watching this video. It’s my first game in the series and I genuinely cried by the end. I challenged myself to finish it in a week which I never do and actually did it. It’s a truly fantastic game!
any plans on picking up persona 3 reload or Unicorn Overlord? Those were my top two experiences of the year so far! Ive had that musashi robot game on my wishlist since you first mentioned it, waiting for a sale
Playing SMT Vengeance now. Also playing Trails through Daybreak but focusing on SMTV. Finished the demo so I can just continue from Ch. 2. I'm excited for Ys X, even more so than TTD. I also am looking forward to Metaphor Refantazio and Visions of Mana. This year has still got plenty of JRPG goodness.
surprised I didn't see dragon quest 11 on this. it is incredibly simple for a jrpg which is good for new players but is polished to the max. Despite starting as a basic hero journey it very quickly drops a surprise twist to the adventure. Also great supporting cast.
Mannn Monochrome Mobius has been on my wishlist all year lol. Between FF7 rebirth (almost done) and now daybreak I have no time still but I wanna grab it eventually Also if I could respectfully add an 11th game to the list I’d put Eternights here. Underrated gem Thanks for another good video TKN
Ngl, I got so bored with the final dungeon of Tales of Arise, that upon recognizing we were nearing final boss time (and what a final boss) and both thinking I was ready, I spent the next twenty hours finishing the side quests I was now drastically overpowered for. And I’m so glad I did just to get all the character interactions. They were what kept me going.
The SMT V canon of vengeance also has a hidden key item during the third act, where the plot begins to diverge the most, and it is called the Kiou Sword I believe. I’m very close to the end of the Vengeance route, and it seems like that sword can only be used while playing the original canon, yet can only be obtained during the vengeance route. The Robotic demon shows up and says “the sword has no function in the current timeline, let me hold on to it so that it may be passed on back to you in another timeline.” I don’t know how yet, but even the original canon should offer differences if you play it during your second playthrough.
Great video brother !!!! I've yet to play a ys game there next on my collection list an I'm pumped to play them! An I just got trails through day break !!! Trails is my all time favorite series so I'm excited to play it !!!!
Absolutely loved Monochrome Mobius. I agree, the best way to experience the game is have knowledge of the Mask games and excited to see what the obvious sequel will be since Monochrome doesnt line up with Mask of Deception
Yeah, definitely have to agree with Daybreak being a masterpiece. All of the pre-release marketing made out that Van was going to be some edgelord straddling the line between light and dark, but he's actually just a goofball and fits nicely into teh pantheon of Trails leads without missing a beat. It was also really refreshing to have a character not creepily hitting on all the young cast (I'm looking at you, Rean!) Tales of Arise was fantastic. Until the last dungeon anyway, but we won't talk about that because the rest of the game was superb.
I've played Ys IX, FE3H, XC3 and ToA, and I feel the same way about all of them. Almost; I think XC3 has better combat than XC2 (although maybe not than Torna), but that's a detail. As for the others, is Atelier Sophie 2 any good on Switch? I'm looking for a portable game for the holidays.
I recently came across someone who told me there's no good modern JRPGs besides Honkai Star Rail because "I can just hop on quicky then hop out" and "I don't want to waste my time in these long JRPGs". I told him, that he both dislikes JRPGs and gaming since he think HSR is good because he doesn't have to play for more than 5min daily and JRPGs are too long. Yet somehow he blamed me for not making sense and left in the middle of the convo. I didn't play too many JRPGs in the last year, but saying both the genre lacks good modern entries and is a waste of time? I sure don't spout such nonsense lol
I couldn't agree more that Monstrum Nox should be played. It might top Ys VIII for me, personally. I just liked all the characters that much. And I absolutely enjoyed all the callbacks and references. I still need to go through the Utawarerumono series. I have them all on Steam, but time is a terribly limited resource these days.
Megaton musashi caught my eye when I saw mazinger was in the game. I had no clue that getter robo was as well. I had it on my wish list for a while. Maybe I should go ahead and get it.
Glad to see love given to these great games. Ys9 was probably my 2nd favorite of the series as the gifts and verticality were such a blast to play with. Sophie 2 was my game of the year for 2022 and my favorite of the series I’ve seen so far. I really hope Monochrome Mobius brings more people to the series as imo Utawarerumono is one of the best stories I’ve experienced.
It's pretty much all on Monochrome Mobius. Physical copies of the visual novel are like gold dust, and it's fairly limited on platforms otherwise. The sequel to MM won't bring new players in either, I imagine it'll carry on immediately after the events of the first game.
Octopath Traveler 2 is the first game I've bought that actually made me feel guilty for waiting to buy it on sale... 😅 I didn't really like the first one, so I just ignored it for almost a year until I saw it finally go half off on Steam. But half way through, I realized why Steam reviews were "Overwhelmingly Positive." By the time I was done, I seriously felt so bad that I waited so long! The game DESERVES a sequel, and it'd be a shame if low sales somehow prevents that!
I think that was the biggest barrier OT2 had to overcome, it's first game put doubts in peoples minds. I never played the first, but I do know OT2 is a masterpiece.
I’ve just started playing tales of arise (I’m at the 4th lord so I’ve been playing for a couple weeks) and it is a really great game! Absolutely hate the dlc practices but the game itself is really quite good
2:28 precisely the reason why I love Ys IX more than Ys VIII. While the environment of Ys VIII is more colorful and exotic, the story of Ys IX felt more personal to me, especially with that Blue Feather side quest. And also Raging Bull is a lot more fun to control compared to Sahad.
Such a wonderful list and I can't disagree with anything you've mentioned. I've yet to play Xenoblade, Ateliar and Megaton Musashi. On the topic of Trails, I do agree, Daybreak 2 was... disappointing, and quite possibly one of the weakest games in the series (story-wise), but by far one of the best when it comes to combat. I also noticed they removed "Crimson Sin" from the global version. I've still got my CE preordered and will absolutely play it again in English, as I did for Daybreak 1, which is one of my top favourites. CS4 is also another one of my top favourites in the series, so, glad you agree and F the haters! o7 Definitely excited for Kai No Kiseki in September! Already have my Limited Edition preordered from Falcom. I like seeing your love for Arise too. Arise made it to my top fav Tales game, right besides Berseria. Octopath 2 was my GoTY right next to the juggernaut, FF16. It was that good, so it's an absolutely mandatory recommendation. I've heard a lot of good about the Atelier series, but there's so many games and I'm not sure where to start and where to even begin. Maybe one day I'll get to it.
I LOVE Y’s Vlll. I just started my second play through but stopped in chapter 5 because I started Trails through Daybreak. However, I’m lucky and happy that I love Y’s lX too. I know a lot of people didn’t like it but I really really liked it. I agree 8 was better but I still loved 9
Every time i hear complains about Cold Steel 4 its always about Rean. Some i saw were genuinely offended that he got a happy ending. Im with you i love the game
I loved xenoblade chronicles 3, but the cutscenes were so long. It felt like every time you ran to a marker on the map, there was a cutscene. The story was confusing but still really good. Plus, the battle system is awesome.
Sophie 2 is the only one of the mysterious games I don't yet have. I played sophie years ago, and recently bought firis and L+S, and working on the firis platinum but plan on getting Sophie 2 at some point. i loved Ys 9, it was my favourite Ys title, I actually liked it more than 8 for the darker atmosphere and characters. I have sakuna but not yet played it, as I still have Ys 10 and Persona 3 reload in my backlog
Ys IX - Not as good as VIII, but refreshing to see a different entry highlighted. And to be clear, still an excellent game in its own right. Been hearing a lot of very positive things about Daybreak. Maybe I will make it that far in the series eventually. I've been trying to convince myself to go finish up Azure but just cannot find the motivation. Game is boring, sorry. I'm a hair's breadth from dropping it and just trying Cold Steel next year or maybe late this year at the earliest. The Atelier series has sadly been demoted off my "buy day 1" list. Part of it is that I have some older entries I still want to work through. Part of it is that Sophie 2 didn't really grab me at the time, then I didn't like Ryza 3 at all, then Resliana was freaking gacha trash. Once I find time to at least finish Totori, Meruru, and the Marie remake maybe I will give those newer entries another chance. But for now I feel like Atelier is circling the drain (AKA no longer offering what I want out them.) I am largely of the same opinion as you on Tales of Arise. I'm a little more down on it I suppose. I really enjoyed about half of it. Excellent graphical presentation and a pretty decent OST, standard Sakuraba Motoi fare. Most fun combat from Tales I can remember, simple but actually pretty well told story, and a cast of characters that I found to be a mixed bag, but at least they were colorful for the most part. Then "things" happen and it all goes south. The story goes off the rails in the worst way and the enemies get super spongy making combat a slog, capped off by a horrible last dungeon and a highly disappointing finale. That's everything I've played off that list. I do hope I enjoy Octopath as much as everyone else once I finally get around to playing it.
Serious question: Have you given the SaGa games a shot? The Octopath Traveler series kind of works as a spiritual succesor of those, specifically in the non-linear story part.
I love xenoblade chronicles 2 and think the gacha mechanic was done well, plus it's not like people don't tend to grind in jrpgs so grinding for additional party members shouldn't have been a issue. Xenoblade 3 has the best story for me, shame future redeemed is digital only
personally i would also recommend Scarlet Nexus, Fate Samurai and Caligula Effect Overdose and 2. Dropping everything in my backlog and going through Daybreak and i am totally enjoying it especially the new gameplay and orbament system, i concur that Cold Steel 4 is also my 2nd favorite with my 1st being Sky SC and 3rd being Azure. Kinda a bit shame that the OST isn't as good as those from past games, though some are good but its a lot less than before, my only issue with CS 4 is that the OP animation and art seems rushed hence why its quality isn't as good compared to the other Trails series but banger song though.
Where do I find more time to play these games? I've played some already but there are so many more I'd like to play! I need to find time to play Daybreak soon!
While I cant really disagree with these, Like a Dragon is in my eyes one of the elite RPGs of the last 5 years. Amazing protagonist (best of the last 5 years for sure imo), great supporting cast. Only real negative is the combat is basic (fixed in the sequel this year) but its certainly not bad.
@TheKisekiNut I am kinda surprised you liked Monochrome Mobius so much? I was a little disappointed by the poor visual quality and how generic the UI seemed. Maybe I should give it a second chance tho?
I trust I've been around long enough for you to not think I'm being ugly when I say this, but dawg I think you're crazy when you say Daybreak is one of the worst soundtracks! It's my favorite since at least the Crossbell days, and I actively listen to it more than any of the others the past year. The strong jazz throughline feels like a homecoming to Sky in some ways, while also being completely different. There's 2 or 3 tracks where I'm like "Why on earth is THAT instrument playing that part?" but other than that it is pure gold.
It's all opinions, I'm just not too sold on the OST for Daybreak. I prefer songs from CS4 for instance that felt more clean overall. It's the same reason why I prefer other Ys OSTs like Seven or VIII against Monstrum Nox which is more grungy.
12:29 totaly agree with you, i even think that game is more optimized than the ryza 1&2. like the frames, button inputs, seamless battle transitions, much more to elaborate. but yes because ryza is thikker it casts a shadow on sophie
Happy to see FE3H getting some love again. Seems like it’s typically an easy target for content creators recently because of the more obvious drawbacks and differences.but it’s a great game and the one that got me back into JRPGs. I’ve wanted to play Megaton Musashi since I first heard about it because of its namesake but was hoping for an English translation on a physical cart, even if it’s an Asian release.
I never had an issue with sound. The main problems I had were the 'faceless NPCs' that was a design choice and some other graphical glitches. They later patched the NPC's, I know that much.
That Megaton or whatever is a mess. I saw videos of it and it is way too complicated for its own good. It is not that good either to spend hours upon hours to customize your units. You are better off playing something else. The rest of the games in this list are amazing however.
Found it a bit funny how you were disappointed by Vesperia and loved Arise, meanwhile I ended up hating Arise (still put around 90 hours into finishing it though) and am looking forward to replaying Vesperia after knocking a few more games from my backlog.
It is a very strange opinion. I found Vesperia was the better game in it's combat, characters, art style, story... It was definitely the better game all around. Tales Of Arise was a slog to get through and so much of it was bland.
Not a single Final Fantasy title?, the list is invalid... /jk 😅 For this year alone, eiyuden chronicles i think would become cult classic down the road
I didn’t like daybreak until the last few chapters. My favorite characters weren’t part of the group. Couldn’t stand Agnes until last 2 chapters or so. Love Zin and Elaine. I have played all the legend of heroes games besides the liberal trilogy unfortunately. I hope daybreak 2 can get me to like some of the characters I didn’t like in the first one
I have some issues with Ys IX, mainly parts of the main story being dissapointing and I ended up regretting my purchase at the time, but I am now glad I played it even if it isnt my favorite. I have been meaning to get into Utawarerumono for a long time, but after keeping up with many big series for years I am a bit hesitant to dive in. Fire Emblem Three Houses is absolutely amazing, one of my all time favorite games and one where I have over 600 hours, my favorite FE by far even tho I do love Awakening as well, Engage was such a dissapointment to me. Xenoblade 2 and 3 are masterpieces in my eyes, both have some issues but overall these games and the dozens upon dozens of hours of story they offer, with their rich world and well written cast are among my favorites as well. Trails through Daybreak is an incredible breath of fresh air and a return to form for Falcom to me, I am one of those who isnt a fan of the CS arc as a whole and I do think CS IV is easily the worst in the franchise writing wise, but I adored Kuro I, the protagonist is such an incredible improvement I have no words, the cast is once again smaller and integral to the story, the setting is fresh and it finally takes itself seriously again, or as seriously as Kiseki game can, this game renewed my fate in Falcom after the relative dissapointments of Ys IX and in general CS arc which had dampened my adoration for Kiseki as whole (even if most of them are still at least good on their own, only really CS IV is in my opinion at best average, which is just super bellow par for Kiseki) So I laugh at your badge of "honor" :D But I fully agree with you about Kuro, I am playing Kuro II now, and the first half at least is great, my biggest issue so far is the split PoW, which also is my biggest fear for Kai, I love Van and his group and feel like there is infinite amount of things there is still left to do with this cast yet they already take away from their screentime, no other protagonist has been treated like this. CS really messed up the pacing of the story, with 5 games dedicated to the same cast and now that the franchise fatigue is in full force they have to rush :X Sadly Atelier isnt for me, I tried some of the games in the past but it just isnt my cup of tea, but I can appreciate it, especially with how high a quality the games are with such quick release windows. Arise is contentious for me, I love how it looks as well, combat is super fun and first half of the story (till the fire lady) is fantastic, afterwards it really fell apart for me, especially in terms of where the story went vs how it started and what I thought it would be. SMT V is great, I always prefer Persona personally but I do like some SMT games and this one is really strong. ...never heard of Megaton Musashi, which I guess is on brand given what you said, heh, I will take a look, thanks :) Never played Octopath Traveler either, wasnt that the one that released only on Iphones at first? I know of it but I have very little interest for some reason. Great video. Have you tried games like My time at Sandrock and the like? Its partially a farming/building sim but it also has a really solid and very long story, with plentiful world building and many characters to enjoy.
